FS511 - hello there

I found out that Christine Alexander (It's a Card Day's Night) was a Featured Stamper at Splitcoaststampers this week. She is on the Design Team of CAS Watercolour Challenge, which I love. So I wanted to celebrate her by joining the challenge FS511.

After enjoying her lovely SCS gallery for a while, I decided to CASE this card. I have the same stamp set, and a similar die to what she used for the card.

 
And here's my card:

As you can see, I kept her basic layout and used the same bear stamp.
Christine used a Bubble Breeze die, and I used a Heart Breeze die. The sentiment stamp is different and I placed it on the right side.

I've been wanting to use this color combination from Design Seeds since I saw it last week. So I used it for my card today.

I pasted strips of cardstock in shades of red and purple behind the negatives of the die-cuts. 

Thanks for the inspiration, Christine!


Stamp: Polar Bear Pals (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Cherry Cobbler, Blackberry Bliss, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaFine (Onyx Black - Tsukineko), Zig Real Brush Markers (Pale Pink, Blue Grey - Kuretake)
Accessories: Heat Breeze Die (Simon Says Stamp), Uni-ball Signo Gel Pen (Silver - Uni), Thin 3D Foam Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)

CAS(E) this Sketch #236 - you rock

I made a girly card for a change today - glitter diamond, hearts, hot pink, what else do I need to be a teenage girl (at least at heart)?  😉

Donna's sketch for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch is my design inspiration:

I realized that I didn't use any stamp or ink today, and this often happens when I make a card purely intuitively. Hmmm....


Paper: Stacked with Love DSP, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Glimmer Silver Paper, Vellum,  (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Die-namics Blueprints 11, Diamonds (My Favorite Things),  Mini Hearts Outline Dies (Simon Says Stamp), Thin 3D Foam Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)

Thanks so much for your visit!

CAS Mix Up Challenge - adventure begins

I finally received the alcohol inks I ordered online last week, so I wanted to make one more card using the new inks before the CAS Mix Up Challenge link up closes. 
And here's my card:

I applied a few colors of alcohol inks to the Ink Applicator Tool, and stamped it on the acetate sheet. Then I added a few drops of Blending Solution to the tool, and stamped over the background to blend the inks. Finally, I stamped the tree image and the sentiment with Archival Black Ink on the back of the sheet, and adhered the sheet to the card base.

Part of the fun of playing with alcohol inks is that you don't exactly know what results you'll get. I've just scratched the surface of this technique, so I'm sure I'll experiment with it more in the future. The alcohol inks are a great addition to my stash. 😊
Thank you so much, Nancy, for hosting the challenge this month, and introducing me to another fun medium! And thank you, Trina and the Design Team, for the inspiration!

Stamp: Tree image & sentiment included in Alcohol Ink Kit (Ranger)

Paper: Window Sheets, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Alcohol Ink (Sunshine Yellow, Botanical, Mermaid) Archival Black Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: AI Ink Applicator, Blending Solution (Ranger)

CAS Mix Up Challenge & CAS(E) this Sketch #234 - enjoy

The Alcohol Ink (AI) journey continues ... 😄
I made another card using the paper I colored with AI inks earlier this week.

I die cut a bird and cut a strip from this paper.

As I wrote in yesterday's post, I dripped the AI inks on the Yupo paper, spritzed with a lot of blending solution, and pounced the blending solution and the gold ink with a cotton ball.


Donna's sketch for this weeks' CAS(E) this Sktech is my design inspiration.

Gold foil sheet was too bright for the sentiment, so I heat-embossed a piece of white CS in Gold Rich Pale, and die cut the sentiment. I liked that the shade of the gold matched that of the AI's gold. 

I'm entering the card in the CAS Mix Up August Challenge, too.

Paper: Yupo (Ranger), Woodgrain White (Simon Says Stamp), Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Alcohol Ink (Red Pepper, Stream, Sunshine Yellow, Gold - Ranger), VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Bird Shapes Die (Ellen Hutson), Painted Enjoy Die (Simon Says Stamp), Die-namics Stitched Snow Drifts (My Favorite Things), Embossing Powder (Gold Rich Pale - Wow), Stick It Adhesive Sheet


Thanks for stopping by!

CAS Watercolour Card Challenge - so sorry

Earlier this month, I used coarse sea salt for a watercolor background, so today I sprinkled regular table salt instead, and made this card.

Well, actually, my first try with table salt was this:

I liked the darker background, but the paper was not wet enough for the salt to react much. The salt effect was a little too subtle ...


The salt effect below looks like tiny flower petals flying away in the sky. I really liked the result.

This is a sympathy card, and I didn't want it to be too flashy, so I layered white glimmer paper under half of the front panel, showing just a little.

I'm entering the card in the CAS Watercolour August Challenge.

Stamp: So Sorry (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper (140 lb), Whisper White, Glimmer Paper Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Gansai Tambi (Kuretake), VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Die-namics Mod Rectangle STAX (Favorite Things), Embossing Powder (White - Hero Arts)

Thanks so much for your visit!

CAS Mix Up Card Challenge - you inspire me

The CAS Mix Up August Challenge is Alcohol Ink.

I didn't have any alcohol ink, but as soon as I saw the beautiful cards of the Design Team, I knew I wanted to try it. So I ordered supplies online at the beginning of the month. 
I received only Yupo paper this week, and was notified the inks would be delivered next week. (Sigh...) I watched all the tutorial videos provided on the CAS Mix Up page, and I was ready to dip my fingers in the ink! 😉
Being impatient as I am, I drove to a Michaels and bought an ink kit after all.

I used all the inks included in the kit (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Gold), and made my debut with these alcohol ink backgrounds:

Top: I used a straw and blew the inks.
Bottom: I dripped the inks on the Yupo paper, spritzed with a lot of blending solution, and pounced the blending solution and the gold ink with a cotton ball.

It was intriguing to see the totally different results using the same colors of ink!

I used the top background, and made this card today.

I die-cut the rectangular panel, heat-embossed the sentiment in gold, and raised the panel with foam tape.

 Close up:

Stamp: Perfect Words (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: Yupo (Ranger), Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Alcohol Ink (Red Pepper, Stream, Sunshine Yellow, Gold - Ranger), VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Stitched Rectangles (Simon Says Stamp), Embossing Powder (Gold Rich Pale - Wow)

Thank you for visiting me today!

CAS Watercolour Card Challenge - thanks

It's August, and the CAS Watercolour Challenge for this month is Salt!

My supervisor went to Cape Cod in MA for summer vacation, and brought me a lot of souvenirs last week. One of them was this:

So, when I saw the challenge theme of this month, I thought this was a great opportunity to make a thank-you card for her, using this sea salt!

I die cut the sentiment from a white panel and raised the panel with thin foam squares. I love the interesting salt effects with this cobalt blue.

The salt technique reminded me of a science experiment in grade school, and it was so fun making this card this weekend! I'm already thinking about trying it again with regular table salt. 😄


Paper: Canson Watercolor Paper (140 lb), Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Gansai Tambi (Kuretake)
Accessories: Stitched Rectangles Dies (Simon Says Stamp), Die-namics Big Thanks (Favorite Things), Thin 3D Foam Squares (2L)

Thank you for dropping by!

CAS(E) this Sketch #233 - home sweet home

I was looking forward to playing along with CAS(E) this Sketch this weekend!
This is Hannelie's sketch for this week #233.

And here's my take on the sketch:

I actually made 3 cards with different backgrounds (ink distressed, watercolor, and watercolor with salt added), but my trusty personal critic (my husband!) says the soft ink-distressed background best fits the sentiment and the peaceful scenery die-cut, and I agreed.

If you are interested, these are the other cards. Interesting variations, aren't they?

 (watercolor)

I was inspired by the colors of Nancy's these creations.

 (watercolor with salt added)

I was inspired by CAS Watercolour August Challenge.

I wanted to use a sentiment stamp with typewriter font to match the atmosphere, but I didn't have one. Instead, I used MS Word to create a sentiment (font: my underwood), and printed it on the cardstock.

Paper: Bristol Smooth White (100 lb), Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Distress Ink (Ranger - Candied Apple, Spiced Marmalade)
Accessories: Sleigh Ride Edgelits Dies (Stampin' Up!), Mini Hearts Set (Simon Says Stamp)

Thanks so much for your visit!