Happy as a Clam!

It's ATC time again, and one of the themes is "Build a Scene".  My friend Karen had this marvelous Sea Horse stamp from Gina K Designs, and when I saw it, I immediately thought of using it on my ATC.  She also had the Stampendous goldfish clear set, and I filled in elements from that.  Lots of Stickles later, here is my ATC "Build a Scene".  I rummaged all through my stash for an appropriate saying, and found this one in a little box of sayings I got from Stampin' Up years ago.  The sayings came as one stamp, but I cut each one apart and I just use a little bit of dot runner to attach them to an acrylic block for stamping.  I think the yarn makes excellent seaweed on that sandpaper sea floor!  The background of the ATC is brayered Tsukineko Kaleidacolor "Fresh Green" onto glossy cardstock.

Denami Challenge: One Layer Card

This one's just for fun!  I have absolutely no (well, maybe one) DeNami sentiment stamp, so I saw on their blog someone had hand-written a sentiment.  So I decided to have some fun.  What did the first swan say to the other?  "Hey, I used to think you were a duck!" Corny, I know, but fun.  The rest of the inside greeting says,
"I hope you have a happy, fun-filled birthday!".  Who wouldn't want to get this card?  I think sometimes as cardmakers we focus on the pretty outside scene, when people would really like a little smile or grin.  Now, the front of my one-layer card was very pretty before I added my choppy little writing.  I drew some clouds to use as a mask and sponged around them with Broken China Distress Ink.  The actual card is glossy, so the dye ink really pops.  I gold embossed the swans and then masked them to sponge the sky and water.  (Yes, that is water below the swans--their lake is rather greenish!)  I then did get a set of cling DeNami stamps recently with a few little butterflies.  The only thing is, there was a flower amidst the butterflies, so I promptly cut that part of the stamp off so I could make bunches of butterflies.  These are stamped in black and colored with Tombow watercolor markers.  So what else could one swan say to the other?  "W-a-a-a-y down upon the Swanee River....!"

Looking Clearly at Clearsnap: Happy Fiesta!

Happy  Fiesta!  This little card is one of a series I created with Fiesta greetings in mind.  The design is the current layout challenge from Hero Arts:   http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/april-2012-contest-details/
I used various colors of cardstock, cut them into rectangles, and then inked them with coordinating colors of Clearsnap chalk ink.  Since the featured stamp is a clear set (Hero Arts CL510) I wanted to stay with pigment or chalk inks.  I like how these inks provided a tone on tone look as I chose colors to match the papers.  The inks did not disappear into the paper, like dye inks would have.  The scallop circle dies are an older set I own from Quickutz, now Lifestyle Crafts.  The center circle punch is an EK Success nesting punch in a 1 1/8" size.   I love using a circle punch to punch out an already stamped saying. Even with using a clear stamp, it's very hard to stamp right in the center of a small circle!  As a finish to a festive look, I added little sparkly gemstones all over the card.  Enjoy!

Card Patterns Sketch 161

Here is Card Patterns Sketch 161:

And here is what I did with it:

I needed a "wedding" card for an upcoming class, so I used black and gold for my base.  The stripe cardstock is from Reminisce, and the gold metallic is Bazzill.  The interior scallop is Bazzill mirror gold, and the interior patterned circle is Autumn Leaves.  The die cut letter is Quickutz.   I couldn't wait to use my new Ornamental Iron 2 Cricut cartridge, so I cut some flourishes from black card.  The interiors of the flourishes looked like hearts, so I thought, how appropriate for a wedding!  I backed the "hearts" with pink card, and added a perfect sentiment from an older Hero Arts cling stamp set.  You never know what you are going to need!  The little dots of Pearl Pen from Viva Decor complete the project.  I can see this card made into other papers with different color schemes and maybe a central picture image, rather than a letter die cut.  This sketch is so versatile!  The best part:  I already have a vellum envelope to fit!

Card Patterns Sketch 160

I just got this sentiment stamp from Inky Antics, and I just love the quote.  I don't know if you can see in the picture above, but when I watercolored my stamp direct to stamp from marker, I spritzed it with Ranger Perfect Pearl mist before stamping.  Also, this is a second generation stamped image, so the colors are quite muted.  The stamp image is called "Efflorescence" from Penny Black.  I think it is a lovely image and I have spent quite some time coloring it with watercolor markers.  Yes, I still use my Tombow watercolor markers.  I love them!  I tried out three or four different stamp images for this card, and I think this one works the best with the flowers, which are required for the sketch.  Here is this week's actual sketch from Card Patterns:

I turned the sketch to be landscape format, to suit the format of my stamped image.  That made it a little problematic for my sentiment, which I had first chosen to be on this card!  I hope you find it pleasing how I worked out all the elements.  Thanks for looking!

Looking Clearly at Clearsnap: Periwinkle, anyone!

When my friend Donna (who by the way does awesome cards and projects) needed an inkpad in the color of periwinkle, she of course asked me if I had one she could use, since I own about a gazillion inkpads.  But I looked and looked and couldn't find a pigment pad in the shade she wanted.  So a lightbulb went off in my head--I had just won these fantastic uninked inkpads from Clearsnap (see previous post).  What if I took two reinkers and mixed the colors myself onto one of those inkpads!  I chose True Blue as the base, and added Thistle to it.  I first mixed the colors onto a piece of freezer paper, and then used a popsicle (okay, craft) stick to work the ink into the uninked pad.  Voila!  We have periwinkle!  Donna was happy with the color combination and said it worked perfectly for her project.  And I learned a new idea!  Now I am sure Clearsnap makes the shade we needed, but I didn't own it and didn't know where to get it, so the color mixing was a perfect solution.  Now, if we need matchy, matchy, we know how to do it!

Looking Clearly at Clearsnap: Stamped Scrapbook page

This scrapbook page features the Clearsnap Fluid Chalk Limited Edition new colors of Guacamole, Arctic Sky, and Sea Crystal.  To coordinate with the colors of ink, I used the two Bazzill cardstock shades of Lizard and Calypso.  I first cut my mats 6 1/2" x 4 1/2" and set them as "placers" on my page.  I wanted to stamp onto plain white Bazzill smooth cardstock so the colors of ink would really pop.  I inked up the Hero Arts stamps Treasure Block E3676, Great Block E3674, and Special Block E3675 with the new shades, stamping these randomly over the remaining white background.  I stamped the letter blocks for the title with Hero Arts LL845 Pastel Pop Alphabet using the same three shades and cut the letters out with a 3/4" punch.  To add a little interest, I also stamped at diagonal corners Hero Arts A2183 Tiny Background, one square in each of the three featured colors.  I added some embellishment to the page with larger punched squares and additional stamped sentiment blocks, along with some pre-made flowers and some little dots of gel pen in olive and turquoise.   I do already have my pictures picked out for this page, and they look wonderful against this colorful background.  Aren't these colors yummy?  They remind me of a swimming pool set in a lush tropical garden!  I am so there!

Here is a stamped out chart showing the entire collection of new Fluid Chalk inkpads:

Looking Clearly at Clearsnap: Fiesta Wall Hanging

I wanted to use my Clearsnap Rollagraph supplies to create a miniature quilt, so with Fiesta fast approaching, I chose a couple of wheels and inks and got busy.    With the aid of the Rollagraph guide, I stamped out sombreros in purple ink and a primitive geometric design in red ink onto plain white muslin.  I then cut the rolled designs out and stitched them together in alternate strips.  I painted the designs with Smooch paint, using Siren, Banana Custard,  Sweet Melon,  Lettuce, an emerald green, and gold on the red strips, and I used Cape Cod, Azure, Plum, and the emerald green and gold on the purple strips.  I love how the Smooch seeped into the surounding muslin and dyed it shades of red and blue, while still leaving the lustrous metallic glimmer on the surface of the fabric!  The resulting appearance is that of lovely delicate handkerchief print.  Here is a closeup of the design:

I added borders of first a gold metallic rick rack then red fabric with a red seam binding.  To add to the unity of the design I spritzed white rick rack with Tea Party, Gingersnap, and a lovely shade of blue Smooch spritz and added this dyed rick rack around the design.  In the same way, I spritzed white flowers (Prima) with the same shades and added a little flower embellishment with happy colorful streamers.  With Fiesta coming up this is the perfect little wall hanging to use as a backdrop for displaying festive photos or souvenirs of fun times at the parades and fiesta events!  Thanks for looking!

Card Patterns Sketch Challenge 159

I really like how this card turned out!  It was a lot of trouble, however.  I couldn't find a reverse dot stamp or a reverse dot purple paper in my collection.  So what do you see in the picture?  Fabric!  I scanned some purple dot fabric I had, printed it out on paper, and used it on my card!  What do you know!  The "regular" dot paper on the right side is an Outlines border stamp in Clearsnap Violet, heat embossed with clear powder.  Here is the original sketch, so you can see why I chose the dots:

I know the dots just mean a patterned paper, but I didn't really have any two that worked well together for this card idea.  So I stayed with the dots!  

The cross stamp is from Stampabilities, one of my new favorite Easter stamps.  I colored the cross with Smooch paint in shades of Plum, Cape Cod, and Siren, similar to a post I did earlier with this stamp.  

I think the royal purple is perfect for Easter, so even though this is Good Friday, He will rise on Sunday as King, so I decorated my cross with bright purple flowers, like some churches decorate the cross for Easter morning.   

Looking Clearly at Clearsnap: Easter Chick

 I wanted to do a card using pastel Easter shades, and this Hero Arts egg stamp and Easter chick were perfect!    Lots of background stamps used in the project, and lots of ink!   I used the Clearsnap Colorbox Petal Point Easter Eggs pigment inks, using Daffodil, Glacier Ice, Rosebud, Pistachio, and Thistle from that wheel of colors.   I first stamped the Easter Egg (Hero Arts Pattern Egg D5182) in several of these colors on a white card background.  I adhered this background onto an A2 card I made using WorldWin ColorMates Light Groovy Grape cardstock.    I then stamped Hero Arts G4131, Polka Dot Swatch in Thistle on separate white card and cut it out.  I then stamped the chick (Hero Arts H529 Flower Chick) onto the polka dot swatch with black dye ink.  I also stamped Hero Arts H1963 Large Background Shadow stamp in Daffodil onto separate white card.  I overstamped the chick onto this background with black dye ink and cut it out, adhering it to the stamped polka dot swatch image.  I also stamped Hero Arts E3479 Rectangle Stitched Edge Background in Glacier Ice and CG247 Fabric with Flower with Rosebud onto separate white cardstocks.  I stamped just the "clothing" onto those backgrounds, then cut out the parts I wanted and adhered them to my chick.  To build the card,  I adhered a yellow mat (Bazzill)  to the card background and added the layered chick to that mat.  A final Easter egg in Glacier Ice completes the card, and this chick is ready to roll!  In case you got lost in all the directions above, here is a picture of (well, most) the stamps I used and how I stamped each one to get an idea of how the chick is pieced together: