Mixed Media Flowers - Mixed Media Card Challenge

It's my first challenge over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge!! I'm pretty thrilled to have another reason to get all messy and inky, and am pumped (say that in Arnold's voice and you'll laugh) to bring you this card today.

The theme over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge this month is:

Blue can be taken a number of ways - literally the color, sadness, or maybe even you want to get all funky creative and channel Picasso during his blue period. 

As for me, when I set out to make this card, I was having a bit of a mixed media block. So I did what I always do in this situation and broke out the gesso and a palette knife.
 

The scariest thing about mixed media is staring at a white page, so whenever I'm having troubles, I just start slapping things on and hope for the best. 

Lo and behold - as soon as I had some texture on my page a plan shaped in my mind. I used my Cricut to die cut an elaborate frame and then I painted it with a shimmery layer of deep blue Perfect Pearls. 

As you can tell from my whack-a-doodle process photos, it was late when I was making this. :) That's ok, I've decided that I'm going to be like the Rachel Ray of cardmaking. I'm going to be real! I always think it's super weird when I see process photos that have a pristine white background. Like what happened?! Did you really take the time to clean up the mess between each photo?

Anyways, back to the show. 

I ultimately opted to incorporate the optional vase element into my design. I cut out some heavy weight vellum and scored it to look like a vase, then I applied a layer of rock glitter. 

To that, I added some stamped, fussy cut flowers (from the Dee's Artsy Impressions - Blooming Buds set) that I colored with layers of gelatos. I also used Old Paper Distress Inks to make the gesso texture in the background pop and speckled it all with some Perfect Pearl splatters. 

Et voila!

My card, for your perusal. 
I'm going to join in the fun at
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Dots or Spots (my splatters)
Sparkle and Sprinkle - Use loose glitter, flocking, embossing
Glitter and Sparkle - Must have a sentiment

Isn't it blue-tee-ful? (You didn't really think you were getting out of here without at least one bad pun, did you?!)

So come get blue with us over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge! You'll be happy you did! 

STAMPlorations Birthday Bash Blog Hop Day 2 - $100 in Prizes!

Pssssst! If you haven't heard yet, STAMPlorations is turning the big 2! I've been so blessed to be able to be involved with this amazing company and I'm so happy I get to put on my party shoes and celebrate with them!
 

In honor of the big celebration, they are giving over $100 worth of prizes away over at the STAMPlorations blog, including 3 sets of the new birthday-themed stamp releases.

I got to play with Party Mates, an adorable stamp set filled with all sorts of party-themed schtuff. I saw these candles and my head just popped with the idea to do a shaker card surrounded by them. 

So here's the result!

I added in some shimmery, teensy stars to the center shaker part and surrounded it with a shimmery star yellow paper. The inside of the shaker is also stamped with a sentiment from the new Party Time sentiment stamp set.

I'm going to play along in the following fun challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown - It's in the Stars
Corrosive Challenges - Leave a Little Sparkle 

We've got some amazing guest designers partying with us this week. Today the fabulous ANNI LERCHE is strutting her stuff with us! 

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all birthday blog hop projects here.

There are two different ways to get in on the mega-prize-giveaway-action:

1. You can hop along with the STAMPteam and comment 

2. You can link up a party/celebration/birthday project! (Using ANY products)

Remember there are over >>$100<< of prizes that will be given away, so you don't want to miss out!


Thanks for popping by!

STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop Bash Day 1 - $100 in Prizes!

Today is a day for celebration, my friends!! 

STAMPlorations is turning 2!!

If you've stopped by my blog, you know how much I love this stamp company. It's owned by the incredibly thoughtful, generous and talented Shery Russ and I'm so proud to support them. 

We would LOVE for you to celebrate with us! And to win some of the amazing prizes that are available!

In honor of STAMPlorations 2nd birthday, there are three new birthday-themed sets available and I am loving them. 

We've also got a stellar guest designer celebrating with us today - Amy Tsurata of Tsurata Designs! 

For my day one card, I played around with the  PartyGirl and Party Time stamp sets and made this card:

Isn't it fun and bright?! I stenciled fun Distress Ink colors with the Confetti Circles ARTPlorations stencil and paper pieced a matching dress for my Party Girl. I embossed the sentiment and added in some texture with some green sparkly mesh. A perfect card for a celebration!

Check out what the rest of the team made! You'll find links to all birthday blog hop projects here.

There are two different ways to get in on the mega-prize-giveaway-action:

1. You can hop along with the STAMPteam and comment 

2. You can link up a party/celebration/birthday project! (Using ANY products)

Remember there are over >>$100<< of prizes that will be given away, so you don't want to miss out!

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On a more personal note - I just got back from a 3-day kid's camp and will be making the rounds to visit all of you kind folks who left amazing comments for me. I haven't forgotten about you!

Googly Eyes!! ATG at Crafty Gals Corner

Well folks, it's my swan song over at Crafty Gals Corner. I can't believe I've spent a whole term with the fabulous ladies on their DT, but it's true! I've been inspired, cheered on, and beyond honored to spend the last few months creating with them. 

A giant thank you to fabulously talented Samantha of Designs by Sammy for giving me the opportunity and for crafting the challenge blog from scratch. You are incredible!

So for my last card, I knew I wanted to do something crazy, outside the box, and fun. Luckily the sponsor of CGC this week is Rick St. Dennis who is KNOWN for crazy outside the box digital images. Woop!

I chose to work with Cat Glasses, a funky sassy retro woman. 

Here's the card I made:

I can't even look at it without laughing! Haha! I chose some funky wild papers from Bo Bunny and I chose to put googly eyes on her to make her look a little ga-ga. 

Did you catch that sentiment? It's not what you think at first glance. Here's a close up:

It's from a hilarious Lil' Inker Designs stamp set that's packed with snarky sentiments like this. And it also has a little illumination stamp for the inside, just in case the recipient misses it the first time. 

I'm going to link this up to the following challenges:

Retrosketches - thanks for the awesome sketch!


Inkspirational: Wild


As for you all - you should head on over to Crafty Gals Corner and link up any and all creations you have made! We'd love to see them and you could win an amazing prize: 

Our sponsor this week is:

Rick St. Dennis

Etsy Shop / Zibbet Shop

Prize: 2 Digital Images or 25% Coupon to Zibbet Shop

By the way - if you don't hear from me for the next week, please don't think I've forgotten you. Starting tomorrow I'm heading off to a 4-day children's grief counseling camp where I'll be paired up with a kiddo and we'll do all sorts of fun things. But I will be completely away from the interwebs and will come back completely pooped out if last year was any indication. 

But I promise I'll make the rounds to see what you've all been up to when I come back. :) 

Sharing Some Happy Dance News!!!

No card today, but I do have big news! When I first started blogging last September, it was my one goal in life to make it on to a design team. And when I did it was the most exciting thing ever! I've had the pleasure to serve on Eclectic Ellapu, STAMPlorations, and Crafty Gals Corner teams.

And then I started really thinking about the TYPE of cards I love to make and realized that I wanted to focus a little bit more on mixed media, so I kept my eyes peeled for a good team to join and when the Mixed Media Card Challenge team call came open I pounced!

And I just found out I made the cut! Wooooohoooo!!! Please share in some happy dances with me because I'm beyond thrilled!

As long as I'm here, I may as well mention that our challenges over at STAMPlorations run for a couple more days:

                   

You should go play along because there are awesome prizes!

Anyways, I'll be back tomorrow with a hilarious card for Crafty Gals Corner. Hint - it involves snark and googly eyes!

Clean and Simple and Oh-so-Retro

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd been commissioned to do some cards and I have the other two cards to share with you today. 

By the way, a BIG thank you to those who took the time to leave advice or encouragement for my card-selling venture. It was very helpful!

The first card I'm going to share sprang from this request: "I want a birthday card for my boss and she's got a BIG sense of humor". When it comes to humor, my favorite way to create is with snarky retro girls. Horrible puns are a close second. 

Luckily, I just bought some new retro girl stamps from Viva Las Vegas stamps. 

I created a sweet banner with my favorite retro color combo - teal and red - and then paired the retro girl with a semi-snarky sentiment. Mission accomplished!

I'm sending this card over to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Use your Favorites
Seize the Birthday - ATG with option to use neutrals
Paper Players - Color challenge (just eeeking in!) 



Card number 2 was a little more challenging. She asked for a card for her friend who recently just lost her dog (heartstrings, you have been pulled!). She also didn't want the card to be too sad. 

For some reason, my sympathy cards are always clean and simple. I immediately got an idea for this card and ran to my craft room before I lost it. 

I used some very old (and I seriously couldn't tell you the manufacturer) paw print stamp set that I inherited from my Grandma and made it look like they were fading off into the distance by using an ombre effect. Then I tied on a big ol' chevron bow with ribbon from Pretty Pink Posh. 

Lastly - the sentiment. How to not go too sad? I thought about the Noteworthy stamp set from STAMPlorations and this sentiment seemed to fit perfectly. 

This card is going over to:
Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple (PS! Happy 3rd Birthday!)
Friday Mashup - Use stenciling OR create a monochromatic card

 

So these cards are a little different from my normal aesthetic, but I think they turned out perfectly for what the customer was asking for.

Thanks for popping by! I'm only >>25<< people away from reaching 200 followers and I would LOVE to hit that mark. A big thank you to all my newest followers! You make me so happy!

Red, White, and Blue-tiful - Crafty Gals Corner Challenge

If you want a REAL challenge, try taking colors that only usually exist in one way and using them on a project that's totally unrelated to their traditional use. 

For example, Red, White, and Blue. To me, those colors are usually used as a combination together on patriotic creations. So when we got our color scheme challenge for Crafty Gals Corner and a totally non-patriotic sponsor image to use, I was initially stumped. But I dove right in and gave it a go. 

Red White and Blue 

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge

I wanted to build up my stash of graduation cards (because I'm going to my first grad party this weekend and have ZERO cards. Yikes!). I began by using a digital image from STAMPlorations that I loved. Sketchy butterflies and a grungy background? Yes, please!

I used Fired Brick Distress Ink and a wiry brush to create some splatters. 

So I had my red. Now for the blue. I colored the butterflies with Spectrum Noir markers and grunged them up using some stamps from the STAMPlorations Mixed Media Grunge stamp set. 

Then I sponged Old Paper and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks onto my background and then used even MORE stamps from the Mixed Media Grunge set (seriously, this is probably my favorite set because it makes getting grungy, distressed backgrounds SO easy).

I raised up the butterflies to give them dimensions, added some eclectic embellishments from the Bo Bunny Carnival collection and stamped a sentiment from the STAMPlorations Noteworthy set.

I had my doubts about how this was going to go, but I sure showed myself! Stop having doubts, self!

 I'm sending my creation over to the following challenges:

 613 Avenue Create - Your country's flag colors 

Clear it Out - Your country's flag colors

Corrosive Challenges - Pile it On

 Sentimental Sundays - Graduation cards

Anyways - why am I talking so much about STAMPlorations when it's a Crafty Gals Corner challenge? Because STAMPlorations is sponsoring us this week, hooray! Which means YOU all get the chance to win some STAMPlorations goodies! 

The winner will receive

STAMPlorations

Prize: $10 Gift Certificate 

So get to crafting and come play with us!
Thanks for stopping by! Follow my blog or leave me a comment and I'd be happy to come say hi to you, too!