Party Time for the Creative Crew!

Hard to believe that it's mid April already and time for another challenge for the Creative Crew. Terry is our hostess this month and she chose "It's Party Time!" for our theme.

Terry gave us really fun images already die cut! "Festive Balloons" by Simon Says Stamp.  Also included were some great designer papers by Stampin' Up called "Pattern Party".

I colored the images with some borrowed Copics and also colored the floral strip of paper. Then the balloons were given some Wink of Stella to create shine.

The sentiment was trimmed and mounted on the reverse of one of the DPs and the final designer paper was placed inside.  I like that all of the papers were included on my card.

Please use the links below to drop by the blogs and galleries of the whole Creative Crew gang. 

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie

Terry, you really gave us a fun and versatile kit to work with! I'll be putting the extra images to good use for upcoming birthdays.  Thank you!

Hot Mess with Alcohol Inks & Yupo Silver Sparkle

Hot Mess = Success Day is the 15th!  Every month a group of friends challenge ourselves to get messy. We can do any sort of card or technique, as long as it meets our personal definition of getting messy.

This month I decided to play with Yupo Paper and some Alcohol Inks by Tim Holtz/Ranger.  I took two sheets of Silver Sparkle Yupo paper and applied the ink with a blender sponge tool that Tim Holz uses.

Here are my two panels:

This one used 2 colors on the sponge, Dijon and Lagoon.  Of course they blended to a green. Which I liked so I used it.  Look how glittery that paper is!

The second panel has just the Lagoon blue ink applied.  The photo really doesn't do it justice.

Here's the finished card:

The balloons were die cut from a section of the green panel.  Turns out that Yupo paper is REALLY hard to die cut. Who knew?

Once I separated out the left and right balloon pieces from the die cut, I traced around them and hand cut the blue inserts to make the blue ones.

The rest of the green panel was embossed with a striped design and the balloons were glued onto the embossed panel. Hint: it would have been better to use the clear glue dots rather than liquid glue. The liquid glue moved around too much.

The Birthday sentiment is by Taylored Expressions and colored with markers.

All in all, I learned a few things about working with the ink, paper and die cutting it. That makes me happy!  I will be trying this again soon.  Maybe for next month's Hot Mess challenge. 

Be sure to stop by the Hot Mess Team and admire their creations!  Here are their links:

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

The Creative Crew Tackles National Poultry Day!

 Carol is our host for the March Creative Crew Challenge. She informed us that March has a National Poultry Day on the 19th.  Who knew? Not me!

She gave us the "Rustic Rooster" image by Stampin' Up and designer papers from The Paper Studio's "Country Road" pack.

I really like the papers from Carol's kit.  The brick paper was especially realistic.

The papers are mounted on Close To Cocoa card stock by Stampin' Up.  Probably my all time favorite color!  

I embellished with some brown gems and blue ribbon from my stash.

The image is colored with Castle Premium Soft Touch pencils and leftover inks on yellow and green blending brushes were used for the background.  The edge of the die cut has a bit of brown applied with a blender brush.

Here's a closer look at the brick paper and the rooster.

Carol, thanks so much for a great kit this month! The card really seemed to come together easily (once I looked up how to color the rooster, hahaha)

Please drop by the blogs and galleries of the whole Creative Crew gang. Here are their links:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie

Hot Mess = Success in March

On the 12th of the month a group of friends and I have a "Hot Mess" Challenge.  We are to make any sort of card we like, as long as a mess is made in the process. 

I decided to play with a variation on a card made in last weekend's virtual card classes during Stamp Joy, which is hosted by Taylored Expressions.  Here are my first and third attempts.

Ink is applied directly to white card stock using ink pads. I really like this technique because it yields rich colors faster than blending brushes. 

Then I used Gold Glitter Glaze by Brutus Monroe and a dot stencil by Taylored Expressions for card #1.

The paper is saturated from the ink so the Glitter Glaze took a really long time to dry. Despite using my heat gun on the reverse side of the panel.  I just left it overnight to dry throughly.

Time for the 3rd attempt.  This time, using the same stencil I used Slippery When Wet (gold) Lunar Paste by Simon Hurley. Winner, winner, chicken dinner! 

I left it to dry overnight also.  

Both cards feature sentiments that were included in Taylored Expressions Stamp Joy kit. They're stamped onto a small piece of white with the same inks blended on to it. They are cut with a couple of dies from my stash.

These are flat, easy to mail cards.  Currently I am going back to flat cards so it's easy to pop one into the mail.

What happened to my 2nd attempt, you ask?   Well...let's just say it went wrong in so many ways. I wanted black polka dots on my blended panel.  But I also wanted some shine. So I dug out some Raven (black) embossing powder by Brutus Monroe that also has glitter in it.  

Now...I know better, but was in denial I guess 😂  When you ink blend a panel, the powder has a wicked preference of sticking to the paper, even though it's treated with a duster to prevent that issue. 

When I lifted the stencil, there was so much black glitter everywhere on the panel that I just put it in the trash. While attempting to knock some of the powder off by flicking the backside of the panel, I sent the panel across my desk, and right through the loose black glitter/powder.  HOT MESS.

I actually had to tell myself to remain calm. Glitter gives me anxiety under the best circumstances...heavy sigh.

Later, after the mess had been cleaned up I was laughing to my friends at my rookie mistakes and subsequent panic attack.

This morning, Amazon dropped off this little Lady!  (It's a small vacuum).  Thank you Barb!!  Her name is Nelle, short for Coccinelle, which is French for Ladybug.  Nelle should save me during future Hot Mess card making!

Be sure to stop by the Hot Mess Team and admire their creations!  Here are their links:

Jeanette

Barb

Terry

Carol

Unity Stamps for February Double Duty

On the 22nd of each month some friends challenge ourselves to create 2 different cards repeating the same image, sentiment, etc on each card.  We have a predetermined list of the stamp company or specific challenge for each month and then...away we go!

This month we feature any stamp set by Unity Stamp Compapny and I decided to go their "The Owl & the Moon" stamp set.  As Gramma D in my other life, it's pretty obvious why I bought this set!

I had big plans for this card...but at the last minute I made a decision that didn't work out. 

I stenciled the stars using Simon Hurley's "Slippery When Wet" Lunar Paste and loved the result. The sentiment is heat embossed in gold. So far, so good.

I colored the image with blending brushes and inks, masking off different sections as I went along.

Then the bad decision. I decided to use the Lunar paste on the moon. I am not happy at all with my results.

The second card was colored with markers, using "Twinkle" Stickles on the moon.  There's a random piece of leftover DP for the background panel, but I have no clue what company to credit.

I consider these two cards my practice cards before Gramma D makes something worthy of her Little Man!  As Gina K famously says, "They're better than horrible".  But just barely, hahahaha 

Please visit the blogs of the other Double Duty members:

Barb

Jeanette

Carol

 

A February Birthday Creative Crew Challenge!

Jeanette is our hostess for February this year, and said:

"I thought I'd do something that isn't specifically winter because if you're like me, you're ready for winter to be over!"

So she gave us a "Birthday" theme this month. 

Jeanette gave us the "Nice One" image by Penny Black and the Happy Birthday sentiment from Technique Tuesday's Lots of Sentiments set.

The papers she included were from DCWV and Paper Studio.

I used Spectrum Noir markers to color up the happy guy and color the Happy Birthday sentiment.

I used Card Layer Dies 1 & 2 by Jaded Blossom to cut the papers and they are layered onto brown and green stock by Stampin' Up.

Thank you, Jeanette! This was a bright and fun kit and it was easy to work with!

Please drop by the blogs and galleries of the whole Creative Crew gang. Here are their links:

Barb - Barb's Inkin' In Retirement

Carol - Lost in My Craft Room

Jeanette - Cre8tive Play

Lorraine - SCS Gallery

Terry - It's Totally Terry

Tracie - Crafty Creations by Tracie

Double Duty with Sending Hugs

On the 22nd of each month some friends challenge ourselves to create 2 different cards repeating the same image, sentiment, etc on each card.  We have a predetermined list of the stamp company or specific challenge for each month and then...away we go!

This month we feature any stamp set by Stampin' Up and I decided to go with Sending Hugs stamp set and matching die.  

This is the first card. The image is gold embossed and then painted with my watercolors by Yasutomo. I love the mica in these watercolors and on black card stock it really pops!

The panel is layered on a blue embossed foil paper from DCWV's pack.

The second card duplicates the black and the blue embossed foil paper using the matching die. 

The "Hugs" sentiment was die cut and layered on top of the black letters.  The whole die cut is popped off the foil panel with foam strips under the letters.

My first idea for the challenge was to paint the image similar to the first card except on white card stock. I wasn't happy with the results so my second card is Plan B.

Both of these are going to two dear friends who are grieving the recent loss of their son.  They will travel in a little box of some heartfelt things that are specific to their son.  In time, perhaps it can make them smile. It will take time. And love.

Please visit the blogs of the other Double Duty members:

Barb

Jeanette

Carol