A Red Nose Duel!

Time once again for the Dueling Darlings to show off their cards created from a fun kit sent by the team hostess for November!

Carol is the hostess for the Divas and Shelly is the hostess for the Dazzlers, and they chose Red Nose as the theme.  How fun!

Here's my card created with Shelly's kit:

And here's the inside:

Kit contents:

• Images: CC Designs on Recollections 110# stock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
• Papers: Buffalo Check by Recollections, Inside panel with holly/music/trees by Simple Stories, Santa/snowmen used for front panel by Echo Park and red-copper glitter paper used to mount sentiment by Best Creations, Inc.
• Red glittery sequins by Creatology
• Ribbons from Offray, Celebrate It!, Shelly's friend in Greece sent the beautiful green organdy

I colored up the adorable little friends with Spectrum Noir markers. 

Shelly, I have to give you a big "thank you" for such a generous and fun kit!  I just love the images and may "have" to go shopping for them <wink>

Thanks for stopping by to see my card.  Do yourself a big favor and go admire the rest of the cards made by the Divas and the Dazzlers.  Their names and links are in my sidebar!

Stay safe and healthy!

Halloween Gnomes!

Today is the 15th and that means it's time for the monthly Duel!  Dueling Darlings is a group of friends on Split Coast Stampers who are divided into teams, The Divas and The Dazzlers.  Each month one member of each team is the host and sends a kit to members on her team.  

The Dazzlers' host this month is the lovely Terry Serman.  Host for The Divas is the one-and-only LJ!  They picked Halloween as the theme, and as a Dazzler, let me tell you - Terry sent us a fantastic kit!!!

Here's my "side step" card made with the contents of Terry's kit:

I chose a side step card because of the wide assortment of great papers and embellishments!  

Kit Contents:
Images are Photoplay Gnome for the Holidays Halloween Shout out to the company for granting Terry permission to share with us!)
Papers are Photoplay potions & spells, hocus pocus and batty; Polka Dots by Paperstudio.
Embellishments included Gina Marie enamel dots, Paperstudio gems, an action wobble and assorted ribbons from Ribbon Boutique.

Well...I have never seen an action wobble before!!  How fun is that?  Here's a side view of it (behind the pumpkin)

I finished off the inside with more of the cute papers and colored the sentiment with a Spectrum Noir marker.  All images are colored with Spectrum Noir markers. 

   I had such a blast with this kit.

      Thanks Terry, for a really fun round this month!

A "Roaring Good Time" with the Dueling Darlings!

It's time for another Duel - the Dueling Darlings have a "Roaring Good Time" '20's theme brought to us by Heather for the Divas and Beth for the Dazzlers.

Beth sent the Dazzlers such a cute kit, choosing beautiful papers resembling fabrics and a super cute image and sentiments from CCDesigns: "The 20's Fellas". 

Here's my card:

Our dapper dude is colored with Castle Arts Premier Soft Touch colored pencils. 

The papers sent by Beth are "Typewriter" by Bo Bunny and the Leather and Denim are by Ella and Viv.  Below is a close up to show how rich the papers are:

The sentiment was lightly colored and mounted on a piece of the Leather paper, small copper brads and some brown gems finished off the card.

Beth, thank you for such a fun kit and creative theme!!  You really gave us something different to work with this round.  Check out the Divas and Dazzlers blogs or galleries for more good times - links are in my sidebar on the right!

September's Hot Mess: Brushos v2!

 It's the 12th of the month, and a group of friends on Split Coast have formed a "Hot Mess" challenge group.  The only requirement is that your project is messy to create!

Last month was my first time using Brusho water color powders, and I learned a lot.  So I decided to continue the learning and use them again.

Here's my 3rd or 4th attempt...who's counting? Hahaha!

This is a 6x6 card, because the stencil is about that size.  It's on 110# white stock, but not watercolor paper.  I misted lightly it with water, tapped out small amounts of Brusho powders onto a coated paper plate for a palette.  Then mixed water into each powder with a small paintbrush.

The sun is Lemon Yellow, the sky is Turquoise and the ground is Mossy Green with some added Lemon Yellow.

After allowing the panel to dry I sprayed temporary adhesive on the back of a thin plastic stencil: "Mini Butterfly Meadow" by The Crafters Workshop.  I used sponge daubers to add colors using Stampin' Up colors: Mellon Mambo, Emerald Envy and Bumblebee.

I really held my breath lifting the stencil up, fearing that it would tear my panel.  But slowly separating it was the key.

I did use glue to adhere each panel together due to the moisture in the image.  Finished off the image with some Stickles and a ribbon.

Hop to these blogs to admire their Hot Mess Successes:

Kelly

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

10 Year Anniversary of the Dueling Darlings!

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the Dueling Darlings! Our leaders, Jeanette and Kelly have really outdone themselves with games, prizes and other fun things in our thread on Split Coast Stampers.  Thank you for all of your hard work!

Kelly sent us all kits - and for a fun twist randomly assigned everyone to a team.  I am normally on the Dazzlers Team, but this month I get to be an honorary Diva!  Ha ha ha.

Here's my ticket and assignment.  I decided to use some of the kit elements to jazz it up a bit:

And here is my card:

This card is a bit over the top but hey - it's am important milestone!  I decided to add the party blower and some of the yellow crinkle filling that Kelly used to pack our kits.  Unfortunately, I ended up covering all of the ADORABLE papers she sent to us!  

Be sure to hop on over to all of the blogs or galleries of the other Darlings and admire their work!  Links are in my side bar.  Get hoppin'!

My First Hot Mess!!

I have been invited to join a group of friends on Split Coast Stampers and participate in a monthly challenge: "Hot Mess Success".  Each month on the 12th we are to post a card that we made which was messy during creation.

This is another way for me to stretch my creativity because when my card making gets messy, I get anxious and usually start over.  Strange that other hobbies like cooking or gardening can get quite messy and it doesn't bother me one bit!

Anyway...Here is my first Hot Mess:

The stamp and sentiments are from Club Scrap's July, 2020 kit, "Prism".  The crystal and "sparkle" sentiment were heat embossed using Ranger's Black Sparkle embossing powder.  

The crystal and the blue background panel are on watercolor paper and the messy part was using Brusho Crystal Colour.  This is my first card with Brusho's.

Here are a couple of pics showing what I did:

The green panel is my first attempt.  The image is embossed and then I painted water on the sections, and sprinkled turquoise, then yellow Brusho powder.  

The colors weren't covering the way I wanted so I tried adding more water with the paintbrush. Yep, you guessed it - green was my end result! Hahahaha.  So I tried misting with a spray bottle just to see what would happen.  Interesting lesson for the future.

The red and yellow one is my second try, after fussy cutting.  This time I made a small palette and painted the red and yellow onto the paper. I was much happier with the result.

Here's the background panel using turquoise Brusho paint. I sprayed the water color paper thoroughly with water then sprinkled on the Brusho, waited a while to see how much it would migrate on it's own.  Then I sprayed a bit more and was smart enough to quit while ahead!  Both the crystal and this panel had to dry overnight.

Day 2, I fussy cut the crystal and decided that I needed more sparkle!  Out came the Stardust Finishing Spray by A Muse Studios.  Holding my breath that the colors wouldn't run on the crystal image I lightly misted.  Some of the red bled onto yellow but not too bad and I was happy that more sparkle was added.

These were left to dry overnight.  Day 3 was assembly.

Below is a picture of the finished card at an angle to show the dimension and some of the glimmer from the finishing spray.

I had a blast doing this and still have some stains on my hands and one fingernail to prove the mess that I made!

Hop to these blogs to check out their Hot Mess Successes:

Kelly

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

Happy 10th to the Dueling Darlings!

Ten years ago today, the Dueling Darlings were formed!  I was invited to join some years back...in 2011 I think...

Kelly sent each Darling a packet with 3 felt banners which we were to use on the front of a card.  The concept is that together they would make a long banner representing our friendships over the years.

This is what I came up with:

I think that I may be disqualified as I now notice that her instructions said to only use a sentiment on the card...I decorated the banners with hearts and butterflies.  hahaha, sorry Kelly!

At any rate, we sure have been through a lot over the years - weddings, births, passings, divorce, baptisms, kicking cancer, relocation, job changes, retirement...The funnest I think is becoming Grandmothers!

Check out the other blogs and Galleries to see what the other Dueling Darlings created to mark this anniversary.  Here's to ten more years!

A Little Dueling Humor!

It's the 15th and that means another round of the Dueling Darlings-a group of creative friends on Split Coast Stampers.  We're divided into two teams, the Divas and the Dazzlers and each month one rep from each group provides a card challenge and a little kit.

Barb is the host for the Divas and the Dazzlers were dazzled by Tracie's kit!  They chose the theme of "Humor" because...let's face it.  We all could use a smile and a little humor this year!

Here's the card that I made with Tracie's kit:

The only thing from my stash is the yellow card stock for the base.

The image and sentiment come  from Crackerbox, "Sassy Girl".  I colored her with Castle colored pencils.

The cute papers are from Sunny Studio's "Spring Fling" collection.  Tracie also included a Tempting Turquoise panel by Stampin Up, which I embossed with hearts using an old Fiskars embossing plate.

Tracie also sent us a load of fun embellishments, such as the yellow ribbon, smiley faces and hearts all by Recollections.

Tracie, thank you for such a great kit!  It certainly did bring a smile to my face when I opened it up!

Be sure to go by the Divas & Dazzlers blogs and galleries to smile at their creations!  Links are in my sidebar on the left.

Stay well! 




  

Summer Mini Card Camp-Day 4

Have you been able to follow along and experiment with us?  I certainly hope so!  

Kelly @ sandcastlestamper organized four of us to host a Mini Card Camp - virtual of course!  The beauty of it being virtual is that you can join in on any day at any time.

The line up of camp classes and instructors this week are:

Monday/June 22 ~ Kelly @ Sandcastlestamper

Tuesday/June 23 ~ Darlene @ Accordingtobijou

Wednesday/June 24 ~ Jeanette @ Creativeplay

Thursday/June 25 ~ Barb
@ inkingintoretirement

Visit their blogs and try some of their great ideas!

I am late in posting my response to Barb's tutorial hosted on Thursday.  My sincere apologies Barb.

However, I learned a lot from this technique and had a lot of fun while I was making mistakes learning (haha hehe)

Barb's tutorial called for using a stencil, water color markers, an aqua painter and rainbow colors. 

The technique is to adhere the stencil securely to the water color paper.  Then using the water color markers and aqua painter, color in the open spaces of the stencil.  

Barb recommended Pixie Spray - a spray adhesive she applied to her stencil and then adhered the stencil to her paper.  I thought, "Well, I don't have any Pixie Spray but that's ok, I can do this".  

Then I set about finding a good stencil. I have DOZENS of stencils, but most are small and finely detailed, not great for this technique.  I thought "No problem, I'll improvise a little but keep the essence of her tutorial".

Well, here's the best of three attempts!  I blended rainbow colors (green, orange, yellow & blue) for the background.  So far, so good.  Then I tried various ways of taping down the Bamboo Stencil, holding it, etc. and using a dark green marker.  

First lesson: Paper needs to dry before trying the stencil and marker step.  So I started over.
Second lesson: More tape doesn't work!  Now I'm going to buy the Pixie Spray!  Started over.
Third lesson: every type of ink pad will not apply ink on the paper, it just stays on the stencil.  This is a thin plastic stencil so I thought that it would work!  Started over again!

Here's my finished card modifying Barb's tutorial:

The background is colored with Karin Brushmarker Pro markers, and blended with an aqua painter.  This bamboo is stamped on top after the panel dried.  I did honor Barb's black die cut element with the "Party Grill" die by Memory Box.  Added the seashells brad and my card was finally finished.

Thank you Barb!  I'm sorry that I had to modify the technique due to supplies on hand.  But thanks to you I did get a good testing of my new markers.  Plus I learned about Pixie Spray and how useful it is!

That brings the Summer Mini Card Camp to a close...but stay tuned for another version of Mini Card Camp this Fall.  We hope that you try some or all of our tutorials.

Summer Mini Card Camp-Day 3!

Modified Stencil/Modified Silhouette

Hello, Hello!  Have you been playing along with our Summer Mini Card Camp?  Go ahead - jump on in, the water's fine (virtually/figuratively of course!)

Want more information?  Check out Kelly's blog @ sandcastlestamper  
Kelly is the ringleader, and this was her brain child!  Check out her blog and get all the details!


The line up of camp classes and camp counsellors this week are:

Monday/June 22 ~ Kelly @ Sandcastlestamper

Tuesday/June 23 ~ Darlene (me!) @ Accordingtobijou

Wednesday/June 24 ~ Jeanette @ Creativeplay

Thursday/June 25 ~ Barb

@ inkingintoretirement

Today's Counselor, Jeanette inspired us with her tutorial on using a die cut as a stencil and then modifying a stamped image by coloring it with a black marker, making a silhouette.  Check out her great tutorial with the link above.

I chose this great Spellbinders Die, but since I bought it second hand, I don't know the name (sorry!) 

I cut out the image using 65# white card stock. Then I took a look at the mask of the image (the piece left over after cutting). Hmmmm...maybe I could use that as a mask also?

So here's my practice run:

Remember Creamy Caramel by Stampin Up? That's the card stock base.  First I sponged the green, which is quite striking, but too dark for a black silhouette image, so I'm saving it for something else.  The next was inked with Crushed Curry by Stampin Up and the silhouette is also from an old Stampin Up set.

OK!  Now I have the general idea so it's time to use the die cut medallion as a stencil.

First I cut out the panel, then sponged Crushed Curry ink onto the panel, using the die cut as a stencil.

Much to my surprise I actually have a stamp that works as a silhouette!  It is inked with VersaFine Black Onyx ink and stamped on top of the sponged panel.  

A bit of Crushed Curry polka dot ribbon from Stampin Up and the panel is ready to mount onto white card stock.

A big thanks to Jeanette for such a great technique!  I am going to be doing this again because it was a lot of fun!

Tomorrow, Barb is on deck!  Be sure to check her blog tomorrow for another great tutorial.  C'mon & join in the fun!

Welcome to Summer Mini Card Camp-Day 2!

I'm so glad that you're here!  Welcome to day 2 of Summer Mini Card Camp!  

As The Camp Counselor for Tuesday we are going to make our own Designer Paper.  I'm showing 3 options but you can do your own original idea or pick one of mine.  

We begin with a bit of a scavenger hunt around your home.  Look for items that you can ink up with water based ink (that way you can wash off the residual ink).  

For my tutorial I used the following:

• A piece of rubber gripping mat for under area rugs
• A nylon laundry bag with small holes
• A piece of bubble wrap (the kind with small bubbles)

Go search and see what you come up with!

My other supplies were:

1. 3 bright non-alcohol ink pads.  I used Stampin Up's Melon Mambo, Mango Melody and Emerald Envy
2. 2 colors of coordinating card stock 
3.  White card stock
4. Foam pad for stamping
5. Make up sponges or some other way to transfer ink to paper.  Sponge daubers probably wont work, you want to get it really inky
6. 2 nesting dies, largest should be around 3.25 x 2.25, ovals or circles in that general size range would work.
7. Images or sentiments that fit within the smaller nested die cut

Ready?!!!

First I'll demo the bubble wrap. Lay it out flat, and I used an 8.5x11 card stock.  I inked the bubble wrap with the stamp pads. (I was worried that using sponges might color between the bubbles, but if you have success, let me know!  Press it down with your hand being careful not to move the paper to avoid smudges.  Lift the paper carefully and admire your DP!

Close up of the crinkly pattern...I'm
thinking all red for Christmas...!

Here's your new Bubble
Wrap DP!

Now for my personal favorite - the laundry bag!  Place your foam stamp pad inside the bag, cover with a piece of scrap paper if needed to protect the pad from ink.  Put your card stock on top of the pad.  I taped my edges of the laundry bag to the counter to keep it from moving.

Ink up those sponges and go to town!!  Here are some photos to help you get the idea (but I think you get it!)

I found it helpful to tape the edges
of the bag to keep it from moving.

Bottom up inside the bag:
foam pad, scrap paper, card stock. 

3 Inks sponged on, holding bag securely

Carefully remove polka dot DP from bag

My mind is racing with the possibilities for this...such fun.

Ok, so my last one has a lot of potential, but I'm not thrilled with how my attempt ended up. I will definitely be trying again.  

I cut a piece of rubber rug gripper mat, cut it into a heart shape, then sponged ink onto it.  Then I tipped it over onto white card stock and "stamped" with my 

palm:

My first attempt didn't imprint very well, so I re-inked and tried again, being careful to press the edges of the heart. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feel free to stop here with a DP that you've created and make any type of card that you like!

Here's what I did with the bubble wrap and the laundry bag DP's:

Each were trimmed to 4.5 x 7.5 inches.  These are horizontal cards so score the 4.5" top to bottom at 2 7/8" and 3 7/8".

Fold the score lines:

Open the card stock flat and place on your Big Shot cutting pad.  Place the CENTER of your larger die on the 2 7/8" score line. Secure with post it note.  Place edge of top cutting pad even with teh 2 7/8" score line and run through your cutter.

Center of die and cutting pad
lined up on 2 7/8" score line

Run through cutter, LEAVE CARD STOCK IN PLACE.  Shift the cutting pad to the other side and line up the edge with the 3 7/8" score line.

Line up edge of cutting pad with
score line at 3 7/8"

You will NOT be cutting the one inch space between score lines!

When you're done you will have a swinging panel as you open & close your card!

Cut the 2 nesting dies using your matching card stock.  Glue to swinging panel. Nest the smaller die cut with your image or sentiment onto the swinging panel. There you have it! A Double Swing card!

Line up coordinating die cut

Only tape this coordinating layer
up to the 3 7/8" score line

Line up your large die cut with the swinging panel.  

Here's the important part:
only tape it to the LEFT part of the swinging panel (from the 3 7/8" & left)

Flip your card over.  Then using a second matching die cut, layer the other side. 

Layer the smaller die cut with your image or sentiment to the front and the inside of the swing panel.

Front sentiment panel

Inside sentiment panel

Here are my two cards: 

Inside

Front

Thanks for hanging in with me through the long post!  I hope you try one of these ideas - or even better - use it to spring board to your own idea!

Be sure to jump over to the other Camp Instructors and admire their work!

The line up of camp classes and instructors this week are:

Monday/June 22 ~ Kelly @ Sandcastlestamper

Tuesday/June 23 ~ Darlene (me!) @ Accordingtobijou

Wednesday/June 24 ~ Jeanette @ Creativeplay

Thursday/June 25 ~ Barb
@ inkingintoretirement