Growing in Unity Hop + Prizes

Boy (or in this case girl) - do I ever have an exciting couple of minutes planned for you. I'm so jealous because you guys (or girls in this case) get to hop through some AMAZING talented cardmakers AND you get the chance to win some awesome prizes from Unity Stamp Company.

If you're here from the hop, you're on the caboose of the talent train. 

Here's the official order:

Terri Burson from Waving My Wand

Sarah Vait from Sarah's Stamping and Stuff

Deborah Adams from A Creative Life 

Becca Cruger from Damsel of Distressed <-- YOU ARE HERE

Here in North Dakota, we saw the first snow of the season this week! Naturally that put me in a Christmasy mood (aka the pre-Christmas panic of realizing I haven't made any Christmas cards this season and I now have exactly ONE MONTH to get crack-a-lackin'). 

I bought the Unity Itty Bitty stamp set All is Calm All is Bright stamp set last Christmas season and never opened the package. So now I'm killing two guilt birds with one stone! I get to use a never-before-used-schtuff (in the words of Darnell Knauss) AND start my Christmas card spree. 

I stamped my image and then sponged over it with some Broken China Distress Oxides. Then I spritzed it with a little bit of water. 

To add a little texture and shimmer to my background, I schmeeeared some Heidi Swapp metallic white embossing paste through a stencil. 

Instead of letting it air dry, which would have produces flat circles, I used my heat tool to dry it. You can see that this causes the paste to bubble and crack, producing a yummy texture (and helping impatient crafters like me get on with their business). 

I put it all together, and got this little lovely! I even think I can get away with mailing it with no extra postage. Woot! 

Thanks for popping by! If you're new to my blog, I'd love for you to give me a follow. I love teaching new mixed media techniques and sharing my processes with you all - so you won't be bored! 

Now get to hopping and win some prizes!

Seize the Birthday Surprise Party Guest

That's right, folks, you get not one - but TWO - lovely postings from me today. 

That's because I'm the Surprise Party Guest for Seize the Birthday's latest challenge. 

I'm so thrilled to be playing along with their uber talented team again. 

For the "toppings" this go round, they want you to create a card using a kraft base. But don't worry, if you don't feel like getting krafty, you can just create ANY kind of card with a birthday theme and still link up. 

I wanted to play with my new Feathery stamp set from STAMPlorations (available for 20% off in the STAMPstore by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA) so I pulled out a sheet of vellum and got to embossing. 

To give my kraft background a little pop of texture and dimension, I used some Ranger Texture Paste through a Winnie & Walter stencil. 

I loved the sketch put out by CAS Colors and Sketches this week and used the heck out of it. 

Taaadaaaa here's my full card.

I'm also going to play along at:
Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes


Thanks for popping by! Now go check out the rest of the awesome creators over at Seize the Birthday!

Distress Oxides + InkaGold + Autumn Leaves - Oh My!

Inky goodness happened in my studio earlier this week thanks to a super fantastic inspiration image from the Fusion Card Challenge. I almost couldn't wait to share it with you all because I squealed all over the place when I finished it.

The gorgeous inspiration image I referenced is this one from Fusion:

 

I just loved that blue bokeh background. If you have never played along at Fusion, you can choose either the inspiration image OR the sketch OR mash 'em together and create "Fusion" in your design.

For my card I chose to use both the sketch and inspiration image, because I'm an overachiever like that. 

I made my leaves by using the STAMPlorations Trendy Leaves stamp set. I love these artsy leaves, and I double stamped them, once with the solid base and then again in a different color with the text overlays. 

 I used a variety of red, yellow, and orange Distress Ink and Distress Oxides. 

 

 Then I splattered them with a coppery InkaGold and water slush.

I used a combo of blue Distress Inks and Distress Oxides along with the Distress Ink Double Dipping Technique to create a background filled with depth and vibrant color. 

As you can see, I also sprinkled the background with InkaGold. Oooo

I put it all together, along with some gemstone embellishments and funky bits and bobs. Charming, nontraditional Fall! All in one little card. 

I'm also going to join the fun of playing along in some bloggy challenges. 

Shopping Our Stash has a theme called "That's Sketchy" this week and wants you to choose a sketch challenge to play along with (I'm obviously using Fusion). 

Country View Crafts has a challenge all about Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues. 

I hope you all consider joining us for Fusion this fortnight!

Elegant Wedding Card

Challenge time, challenge time, let's all go for a challenge time. *humming*

I'm always in a good mood when I have a great challenge to play along with and today is no exception.  STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch challenges are back for the year after a short summer nap. 

This month our theme is Stamps & Two Colors and here's the sketch: 

 

For my design, I used an embossed card base and watercolored in the florals with a light shade of pink and a shimmery blue. 

Then I used the CUTplorations Forever Word die in a shimmery gold and added some gold splatters. 

OOOO! I'd say that is all sorts of elegant and a perfect design for a CAS wedding card.

This guy is also going to play along at Tuesday Throwdown's Clean and Simple challenge.
 I hope you'll come play along in our STAMPloration challenges! 

Watercolor Autumn Leaves Card

CHALLENGES ARE BAAAACK!!!
At STAMPlorations that is. We may have taken a little summer hiatus, but we are back and better than ever!. 

This month our theme is Stamps & Two Colors and here's the sketch: 

 

If you want to play along, we make it easy peasy. You can use either the theme or the sketch OR both. And you can also use stamps from any company you want!

I chose to use the theme this go-round.

I also wanted to take part in the first birthday shindig for CAS Watercolour Challenge. So I stamped and clear embossed some leaves from the Trendy Leaves stamp set and used my Kuretake Gansai watercolors to add a splash of vibrant color.

 I've loved playing along in this challenge throughout the year. Happiest of birthdays! 

Their theme this month is watercolours and fall leaves.

I finished my card by stamping a sentiment from the Holiday Expressions: Thankful For Autumn onto a thin strip of vellum. I splashed the leaves with some red Distress Spray Stain and added a little bit of glimmer using some clear sequins. 

There's so much gorgeous inspiration over on the STAMPlorations blog so pop over and have a peek!

Card Concept - White Pumpkin

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! 

At least over at The Card Concept it is, anyways. We've unrolled a new challenge with a nontraditional, but still very cozy take on Fall! 

When I first saw this image, I new right away that I wanted to pull out my Wendy Vecchi Sunburst Stencil to mimic that rusty little pinwheel wall hanging thing-a-ma-bob (I'm pretty sure that's the technical decorator's name for it). 

Speaking of non-traditional, I was really wishing that I had some metallic silver embossing paste and then I remembered I had some Nuvo enamel drop stuff. I squeezed a bunch of it into my stencil opening and then sccchmeeeared it all around with a palette knife. 

Over the top of that, I added some Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain and then I dried it with a heat tool. Because I heat dried it, it began to crackle and crinkle and bubble and create all sorts of yummy textures. 

I stamped a pumpkin from the STAMPlorations Holiday Expressions: Thankful for Autumn stamp set and colored it in using a white gel pen. For my leaves, I used some Forest Moss Distress Oxide Inks and a damp paintbrush. 

Put it all together and what do you get?
A graphic, funky nontraditional Fall card. 

This card is going to play along in the following challenges: 

Addicted to Stamps and More: Make Your Mark

The Card Concept is such a great challenge because our designers all work in different styles. While I used a Mixed Media style f, there's a whole gallery of inspiration ranging from Clean and Simple to Shabby Chic. Go check it out and play along with us!