I don't know if you all know this - what with the million challenges out there relating to the subject - but October is breast cancer awareness month. One challenge you ALL should participate in is the Jingle Belle's Challenge. For every entry they receive to their Pink Christmas challenge they are donating $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. There's no limit to how many entries. So this challenge is getting a BIG call out here.
CLICK AND SUBMIT! Just go do it! You can be creative AND do good!
So, with the premise Pink Christmas, I knew I wanted to create something sparkly and pink. I broke out my snowflakes and stamped them into some embossing ink. I spread some holographic embossing powder over them to give them a real shimmer. Next, thanks to the Ombre challenge over at Just Us Girls, I used my distress inks to create shades of pink and really make the snowflakes shine.
I used the following pinks: Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberries.
To create a tag for my card, I used a bunch of wintery sentiment stamps and arranged them all together in a pattern. I squished some inks on a craft mat and spritzed with water then stamped my image into the watery ink, before stamping onto the tag. It gives a really blurry watercolor feel.
I think the end result is just stunning! I never would have thought to create a pink Christmas card, so thanks Jingle Belles!!
I used this sketch from the Retro Sketches competition for my card layout:
I'm also going to enter this into:
Simon Says Stamp's Use Watercolor challenge
STAMPlorations's Stamps and Embossing challenge
Penny Black's Get Ahead for Christmas challenge
To those of you who leave me a comment: Bless your little hearts. They make my day.
It's amazing to me, now that I've started creating again, just how many reasons I can find to pull out my ink and stamps. I can hardly keep up with all the things that could use a lovely handstamped card!
Tomorrow, my aunt Julie turns...erm... well ladies never tell, right? I won't spill her secret, but I will show off the beautiful (if I do say so myself) card I created to pop in the mailbox tomorrow.
In searching for challenge blogs, I came across STAMPlorations stamps and immediately fell in love. The beautifully sketched stamps jive so well with my aesthetic, so I joined their stamp club and now will get amazing stamps mailed to me every other month. Just a lil' sumpin' sumpin' to anticipate and keep me inspired.
I received my first set two days ago and have been eagerly anticipating getting to put it to use. I felt delighted when I opened the package and received a handstamped, handwritten card (shared above) from the owner of the company. What an amazing touch!
I unwrapped it and immediately began creating. I wanted something cheerful, which can be hard to accomplish with distress inks, but I think I pulled it off.
First, I created a background using Mustard Seed Distress Ink and one of the daises from the "Bloom Sketches" set. Next, I created a 2-inch panel and cut out a 3-inch half circle in the middle to make room for my daisy. I used Old Paper Distress Ink and a sponge to give it a worn look and embossed over it with gold. Then I squished some ink onto my craft mat, spritzed lightly with water and dabbed until I got the effect I wanted
Next, I embossed the gorgeous daisy with the same gold and fussy cut and glued some of the petals to create a layered effect. I colored the center using Spectrum Noir markers and used mounting tape to lift it.
Lastly, I added the saying and called it a night! I think it will brighten my aunt's day.
Since I created my own background, I'm adding it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Make your own Background".
I'm also entering it into STAMPlorations's current challenge: "Stamps and Markers". I love the challenges on both of these sites because you don't have to use their stamps to play along. (Perfect for my limited budget!)
