MOJO103, CC235, CAS231 Elegant Prayers

• Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Linen
• Paper: white, Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive
• Ink: Basic Black, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive
• Accessories: black brads, black ribbon; foam mounting tape, SU markers
• Technique: 3D/dimensionals

Triple challenge time!  WAHOO!!! :0)  This card combines this Monday’s MOJO #103 sketch and SplitCoast’s Clean and Simple (CAS31 – “Pop It Up”), as qell as Tuesday’s Color Challenge (CC235 – “Elegant Basic Olives”).  I didn’t really expect to do a sympathy card last night but the Thoughts & Prayers set was looking like a great one to use with this sketch and color combination, and it’s always a good idea to keep a few sympathy cards on hand anyhow!  I had to modify the sketch a little bit in order to make it work with the tree stamp, which is quite a bit larger than the space reserved for the main image in the Mojo sketch.

This card came together fairly quickly (for once!), so I hope that allows it to qualify as a “clean and simple” card, despite the additions of ribbons and brads.  It just didn’t look finished without them! :0)

Thanks for stopping by and please take a moment to let me know what you think!  If you leave a link back to your online gallery or blog, I’ll be more than happy to do the same for you!

Blessings,

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SC243 WT 234 A Merry Season

• Stamps: A Beautiful Season, Linen, Woodcut Holly wheel
• Paper: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, cream
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red
• Accessories: brown check ribbon, gold Sharpie, dots embossing template, Big Shot, Sizzlits letters
• Technique: sanding, embossing

Today I am bringing you another “double challenge” card. The first challenge was from last week’s Sketch Challenge at SplitCoast (SC243). It was a nifty sketch and I printed it out on time last week but never got a chance to work with it. I had it in my stack of such sketches and pulled it out this afternoon and decided to have a go of it! The second challenge was for this week’s Ways To Use It challenge: WT234 “Sand It.” Stampin’ Up cardstock isn’t really the best cardstock to use this technique with because they dye their paper all the way through, where some of the lesser-quality papers don’t and when you sand it you’ll actually reveal some of the white underneath the dyed portion. However, I like the effect on the Old Olive panel here where it just roughs up the perfect circles that I had embossed with our Big Shot and helps them blend into the design of the rest of the card a little better.

I decided to test out our previously-untouched alphabet Sizzlits templates for this card and I had fun doing it! I originally cut them out in the same cream-colored cardstock as I stamped the snowman image on but it just wasn’t quite right. I determined that with the help of a gold marker I could make it work and I think it did! Not quite the “fancy” sort of font that would fit the theme of this card the best, but close enough!

THANK YOU for stopping by and I truly hope that you will take a minute to let me know what you think of this card!

Blessings to you and yours,

SC241 Fall in the Country

• Stamps: Country Pleasures, Print Pattern, Linen, Antique Cracking, Happy Everything 
• Paper: white, Basic Black, Not Quite Navy, Really Rust, Old Olive
• Ink: Versamark, Old Olive, Really Rust, Not Quite Navy
• Accessories: black embossing powder, aqua painter, watercolor pencils, silent setter, eyelets, black gingham ribbon, twine
• Technique: embossing, watercoloring

Today I’m thrilled to bring you my creation for yesterday’s Sketch Challenge (SC241) over at Splitcoast Stampers!  With all the Christmas cards I’ve been doing lately, I was looking for an opportunity to do something else, and when I saw this week’s sketch the first set that came to mind was Country Pleasures!  I purchased this set off of eBay last year and I absolutely adore it.  There’s something about the three little scenes that makes me want to move right in!

I chose the autumn scene from the set because the fall season is just around the corner and I was really in the mood to work with that type of color scheme.  Usually I get out the cardstock I want to use and figure out my color combination before I start to color my images, but this time I decided to color the scene first and then found cardstock to match.

I first got out all my supplies to do the Gamsol Magic technique but then I got to thinking about my small, neglected collection of watercolor pencils and decided to give that a whirl instead.  I don’t have any watercolor paper (I hope to pick some up tomorrow!), but if I go easy on the amount of water I use I can usually make it work out alright on regular cardstock.  Before I began, I stamped my image in Versamark and embossed it with black embossing powder to really give it a finished look.  With the natural “frame” around the stamped image I knew it would be perfect to frame each panel in black also, so the embossing on the image just seems to make everything flow just a bit better.

I fininished all my stamping (background images on the Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, and Really Rust panels were stamped in matching ink) and assembled the card, I was really happy with the result, but wanted to do something more to just really take it over the top (in a good way!).  After a few minutes of standing there staring at the card I spotted some of our gingham ribbon and decided to tie a bit of that and a bit of twine on the edge of the Old Olive panel by first setting a few eyelets along the side and tying them through that.  Viola!  It was finished!

Thanks for looking and please take a moment to let me know what you think – if you leave a link back to your blog or online gallery, I’d be more than happy to return the favor!

Blessings,

MOJO99, CC231 King Of All

• Stamps: Miracle of Christmas, Linen, Cheesecloth 
• Paper: white, cream, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red
• Ink: bleach, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive
• Accessories: sponge, brads
• Technique: bleach stamping, sponge distressing

I was happily able to combine two fun challenges for this card.  I am on sort of a “Christmas kick” this week I guess and the set that I thought would work best with the sketch part of the challenge was the retired Miracle of Christmas set from Stampin Up.  I especially love to use faith-based stamps on my Christmas cards as Jesus *is* the reason for the season, so these sorts of cards are extra-special to me.

The Sketch Challenge came from the Mojo Monday blog, and this week’s sketch was a fun one, and unlike anything I have ever done before!

I headed over to SplitCoastStampers yesterday to see what the Tuesday Color Challenge had in store, as I thought it would be fun to try out a new color combo as well.  Much to my surprise, I saw that the color challenge this week (CC231) was actually more of a technique challenge:  Pick a base color of card stock, and stamp your image in bleach on it, using whatever color it turned to as another color in your color combo.

Anyway, here’s what I came up with!  I like how the image of Mary holding baby Jesus is subtle yet still very noticeable.  I chose slightly less “traditional” Christmas colors as I wanted something that would play off the lighter, “prettier” feel created by stamping in bleach.

In addition to using background stamps on the Old Olive and Chocolate Chip panels, I sponged matching ink on the corners to distress it further and add interest.  In addition, I stamped baby Jesus Himself inside the card in Old Olive ink and stamped the sentiment over that in Chocolate Chip.

Thanks for looking and please take a moment to let me know what you think (I *always* return the favor if you leave a link back to your online gallery or blog!)

Blessings,

Summer By the Sea wedding

• Stamps: Summer by the Sea, Floral (background stamp on sage panel), Linen (used on sand panel), Elegant Inspirations (sentiment)
• Paper: White, Close to Cocoa, Sage Shadow, generic sand
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Sahara Sand
• Accessories: Twine, scallop-edge scissors, sponge, distressing tool
• Technique: sponging, distressing

I apologize for the lack of a description here but I actually created this card over a week ago, and I’ve just been far too busy to post it!  Basically, we’ve got a few weddings coming up later this summer so we were in need of a few cards.  A lot of times we’ll use elements of the invitation and create a custom wedding card for the couple, but in these cases we aren’t particularly close to any of the couples so I just got creative and made a few “generics.”  While I was at it I made a duplicate of this one also as we need several cards!

Thanks for looking – please let me know what you think!

Blessings,

LSC195 SC120 Changing Seasons Masculine Birthday

• Stamps: Changing Seasons, It’s Your Birthday, Antique Cracking, Linen
• Paper: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, cream
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa
  

  LSC195 SC120 Changing Seasons Masculine Birthday

• Accessories: SU Markers, sponge, gold brads, gold leaf pen
• Technique: sponging, direct-to-paper ink distressing.

I did this card for this week’s limited Limited Supplies: Charlie & The Chocolate Factory (LSC195) challenge at SplitCoast, which specifies using “chocolate” in some form for your card. So, I used both “Chocolate Chip” and “Close to Cocoa” colors. I also did a random search of the Sketch Challenges and found SC120, from April 17th of 2007 and used that as the design for this card.

Because of the more masculine color scheme, I decided this would be a great opportunity to make a masculine birthday card, and this image from the retired Stampin’ Up set “Changing Seasons” fit the bill perfectly.

First, I stamped the image of the bridge and the sentiment (from “It’s Your Birthday”) in Chocolate Chip on cream cardstock. Colored certain parts of the image with various SU markers. Stamped portions of the “Antique Cracking” background stamp in Close to Cocoa ink around the outside of the main image to form a sort of frame. Sponged Close to Cocoa ink in the corners of the same panel. Distressed edges with distressing tool. Mounted on a panel of Chocolate Chip cardstock. Added antique gold colored brads to all four corners.

Stamped “Linen” background stamp on the three Close to Cocoa cardstock panels. Sponged corners of the panels in the same color ink and brushed the stamp pad itself lightly over them to add additional distressing.

Finally, stamped Antique Cracking stamp in Chocolate Chip ink on the back panel. Sponged Chocolate Chip ink on corners as well. Finished by running a gold leaf pen on the edges of the background panel.

Thanks so much for looking!

Blessings,

Warm Wishes Moose

• Stamps: Walmart clear holiday stamps (moose & sentiment), SU! Print Pattern and Linen
  

  Warm Wishes Moose

  (background)

• Paper: White, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Real Red
• Ink: Versafine black, SU! Markers
• Accessories: colored pencils, baby oil, red ribbon, red & gold glitter, sponge
• Technique: “Gamsol magic,” sponging

About a week ago, I came across this thread on Splitcoast stampers where someone had discovered that Walmart had created their own line of clear stamps for the holidays and were selling them nationwide.  I fell in love with a set with porcuppines, a bear, an owl, and a moose and after calling our local Walmart to be sure they were in stock there, I headed out promptly after work to pick up my new treasure.  However, although I had given the lady on the phone the SKU # of the stamp set (thanks SCS!), and she had assured me they had them (6 in stock, to be exact), after an hour-long exhaustive search of the entire store and asking no less than four associates if they knew where I could find them, I left empty-handed.  I replied to the thread the next day (Tuesday) with my dissapointing news, and soon received a reply from Bonnie, a very generous regular on SCS who offered to pick me up a set at her local Walmart and send them to me, charging me only what it cost her!  My stamps arrived in the mail on Saturday and I finally had a chance to work with them last night.  Here is what I created!  (For those of you who want to go check out your local Walmart for these stamps, please let me warn you that people have had a very difficult time locating them at their Walmarts also as it seems they are not usually in with the rest of the craft items.  One lady even found them in a display in the pharmacy department!)

Notes about this card:  Moose was stamped in black ink and body colored first using baby oil and colored pencils.  Leggings colored using SU! Markers and glitter.  Put gold glitter over coloring on antlers. Main background panel design created by using Real Red and Always Artichoke SU! Markers on the Print Pattern background stamp and then stamped over with linen background stamp and Always Artichoke ink.  Sponged Always Artichoke ink on edges to give it a little more dimension.

And also, please take a moment to visit Bonnie’s blog (Creative Minds) and her gallery on SplitCoastStampers and thank her for sharing her talents with us so we can all gain inspiration from her creative mind! :0)

Thanks for looking and make sure to let me know what you think!

Blessings,