Watercolor Congratulations for So Suzy Stamps

Morning everyone! I'm blogging over at So Suzy Stamps today about how I created this 'grown up' dinosaur card:

Be sure to head on over and read about some funny things that happened while creating the card!

I'm also linking up to:
CAS-ology Week 151 - Kids
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use Your Favorite (for me, my Distress Inks and heat embossing)

Happy Crafting!

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So Suzy Stamps: Raaawwwwrrrrrr!

I nearly forgot to share the ridiculously cute dinosaur card I created for the So Suzy Stamps blog yesterday! Go read all about it!

So Suzy Stamps: Raaawwwwrrrrrr!

Also linking up to: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, Make it Masculine

Cozy Greetings

Hi there everyone! Brrrrr is it getting chilly up here - 50 degrees in the morning, 65 all day...sweater & boot weather is here! Before long it'll be time to get the heat going in my craft room.

All this fall weather does put me in the mood for winter cards, though...like ones with BUNNIES! I might have heavily shopped the new Lawn Fawn releases and gotten the adorable Snow Day, the hedgies, their coordinating dies AND the new Argyle Backdrops set. Heh.

But, I mean, BUNNIES!

The card base is some Hero Arts Tide Pool cardstock stamped with the argyle set in Tide Pool and Simon Says Stamp Slate. I used my Spellbinders scalloped circles to make the middle bits and sandwiched the vellum banner between them. The sentiment was heat embossed with the Ranger Fine Detail Black (wow is it good, and wow do I need an embossing buddy!).

The bunnies I colored in with my Spectrum Noir markers then easily cut out with the matching dies. Eegads is it amazing to do that! I stamped the heart with Hero Arts Pale Tomato then used foam tape to attach everything. Some white Wink of Stella on their tails and some clear Wink of Stella on the heart and I was done!

I am linking up to:

Lawnscaping Challenge - Critters Galore

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Make Your Own Background

Don't forget that there's still time to link up your fall cards over at Mountain Plains Crafters!

Happy Crafting!

Two Cards for the June Unity Challenges

Hi again everyone! I'm having some serious fun playing along with several challenges this week. Today I'm showing off what I came up with for both the color challenge and the card sketch challenge over at the Unity Stamp Challenge blog.

For the colors, I had some fun with several of the Unity stamps:

Yes, that might be the bird/french fry stamp...again...

I've had the idea of making a pile of notes for a bit now, like a messy desk. I stamped up several notes to self, then added on various sayings from several of the stamp sets. To tie in the gray, I made a little "don't forget" reminder and popped it up to give the card some height.

Side view

View from above

I like how it came out. The patterned papers add interest and the wood grain embossing on the chocolate brown gives a nod to the desk feeling I was going for.

For the card sketch challenge, I pulled out one of the older SotW sets - butterfly kisses.

You can never have enough butterflies

I pulled out one of my MME 6x6 paper pads and found this lovely butterfly print. The pink banner is actually the reverse of the butterflies. I love it when I can use an entire 6x6 for a card. Less waste! A little ribbon trim and some shimmery punched butterflies finished off the card. Here's a fun trick - to keep the ribbon from fraying, I squeezed some Glossy Accents onto my finger and used it to seal the edges. It works great!

Side view of the butterflies taking flight

View from above

I'm also linking the butterfly kisses up to:
CAS-ual Fridays CFC104, banners and/or flags
Simon Says Stamp Challenge, Simon Says...Transport

Happy Crafting!

Flowers and Stamps and Birds, Oh My!

Hi everyone! Yes, I know, I've been absent again...I'm also still waiting for the power to come back on from Wednesday. We had some massive thunderstorms up here in Upstate NY, complete with a few tornadoes! Oh yeah, fun fun...thankfully no one was hurt and everyone's possessions are safe and sound. It certainly makes you stop and appreciate life for a bit though, doesn't it? It also makes you hook up the coffee pot to the generator for your morning dose of caffeine! LOL

Despite all the excitement, I did manage to finish up a gorgeous wedding invitation order and I got my latest Unity Stamp of the Week in the mail. Now, I love stamps. I love getting new stamps to play with. However, I think this is the very first time I opened the envelope, saw the stamp, and RAN upstairs to immediately make something with it! The heck with no power, I had plenty of sunshine and ink pads don't need electricity. So what's the stamp that made me run upstairs? This little beauty:

I might have yelled 'squee'. Can't prove it though, the boys weren't home and the cats aren't telling. O.M.G. You have to understand, my family has gone up to the coast of Maine since my baby sister was 5. We always go and feed our leftover french fries to the seagulls at the beach and watch the little sparrows hop through the outdoor patios looking for leftovers. So this little stamp and saying made me think of all those fun times again. So instead of starting with a card, I decided to make a little canvas piece for myself.

Eek, mind the camera phone picture...

I used my Distress Stains in Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage, Evergreen Bough and a bit of Frayed Burlap to color in my little canvas after stamping the bird with the Distress Paint in Picket Fence. This is a fun technique; stamp in acrylic paint onto canvas first, then let it dry. You can speed up the process with a heat gun, but only if you have power...which I didn't...so I attempted to be patient and let it dry. The paint resists color so you can then go color-crazy over the top of it! I just kept layering colors until it had the beachy feel I was looking for. Once everything was dry, I simply stamped the sentiment onto the canvas using my Memento ink.

Did I mention the canvas has a cute little easel? I scooped a whole bunch of these up at Joann's on Black Friday. They were so cheap, I couldn't not buy them!

Yeah, I love it. I'm keeping it. Look at that, I made something for myself for a change! LOL

I mentioned flowers, didn't I? Well, the baby poppy plants I added to my garden last year are starting to bloom. Yowza! Aren't they beautiful?

I'm linking up to the Unity Stamp Friends With Flair and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.

Happy Crafting!