Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Mother's Day or Special Girl

This week's challenge on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Blog is Mother's Day or a Special Girl.  I made this card:

I started with a white notecard and added a piece of rose-patterned paper.  I then stamped two Memory Box stamps--E1760 Gorgeous Bloom and B1761 Gorgeous Mini Bloom--repeatedly on watercolor paper using Hero Arts Raspberry Jam Ink.  I smooshed Worn Lipstick Distress Ink onto a craft sheet, spritzed it with water, and used my waterbrush to paint the multiple roses.  When they were dry, I fussy-cut them in a variety of ways so I could stack them to make a dimensional flower of seven layers. I added leaves cut with PoppyStamps Lorelai Leaf 839 die and the leaves from the Memory Box Lovely Aster die # 98510.  I placed the rose in the lower left over one printed on the paper.  I cut a banner using a Simon Says Stamp die and added the coordinating stamp "SO SWEET!".

DCC312: Flower Show Challenge for Repeat Impressions

This week's Designer Choice Challenge 312 for The House That Stamps Built (the blog for Repeat Impressions) is Flower Show.  I chose the Repeat Impressions square Iris Stamp 919-I.  I stamped the image in archival ink several times on watercolor paper.  I lightly colored each square using Distress Inks smeared on a craft sheet and spritzed with water--Evergreen Bough, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, and Shaded Lilac--using a Niji Waterbrush.  Once these were dry I mounted them on Memory Box Key Lime Distressed Dots Paper and then onto a layer of purple cardstock before adding them to a Memory Box Key Lime notecard.  I tied a wide purple and pink plaid ribbon around the card.  Then I used a Simon Says Stamp Banner Die cut from a piece of the Key Lime Distressed Dots Paper and stamped the "hello spring" sentiment from the coordinating Simon Says Stamp stampset.  I like the way I looped the banner over the knot in the bow.  Unfortunately the subtle coloring in the flowers didn't photograph well--they really are lovely many-shaded images.

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday Week #43 Challenge

This is the inspiration for this week's challenge:

And this is what I created:

I began with a printed piece of paper cut down to sixteen images, four by four.

I punched a wasp image from a postcard, inked the edges, and added it to the bees/wasps in the upper lefthand corner.  For the second and fourth images in that first row, I cut out copies of the book pages and adhered them with dimensional foam tape.  I added a piece of gold metal filigree to the Thesaurus page.  I die cut the letters for "FLORA and FAUNA" and glued those across the top row.

For the second row, I cut out another set of the three butterflies and stuck them on top of the paper image, lifted up the wings for dimension, and added tiny black gems for their heads.  In the second box I glued a real seahorse over the printed seahorse image.   For the third box, I added a piece of floral and butterflies paper and one butterfly sticker for a little color.  The last box in that row has a bottlecap embellishment I put together.

I started the third row with another bottlecap embellishment.  For the dragonfly box I cut out a second set of wings, glued them on, and lifted them up a bit for more dimension.  I pop-dotted another D into the next box and added a flower sticker edged with Tea Dye ink in the last box.

The bottom row begins with another bottlecap embellishment.  In the second box, I added a different piece of floral and butterflies paper and more butterfly stickers.  In the next box you'll find a tiny brown bird embellishment from Webster's Pages at the bottom.  And for the final box I cut out another seahorse and pop-dotted it over the printed image.

I backed this paper with bookboard and placed it on a metal stand on the fireplace mantel.  I really love the dimensionality of this piece and I finally have a unique way to display the seahorse I've had since I was a girl.

Sketch Challenge at Repeat Impressions Blog #M514

Here's the sketch for this week's challenge at The House That Stamps Built, the blog for Repeat Impressions.  I used the Pets Quartet 8502-U stamp, choosing"Pets leave paw prints on our hearts" and the section with the heart in the paw print to create these three cards.

I used the two images from the Pets Quartet stamp to make the "window" shape, added a strip of chenille rickrack, two fussy-cut cats from the paper scraps in my cat and dog box, and then added a button between them.

For this card, I used another paper scrap and fussy-cut the little cat and placed it above the sentiment for the "window" shape.  I cut triangles from some pawprint paper scraps and added two hearts layered in between the triangles.

And this card doesn't follow the inspiration sketch at all!  I really wanted to use the black cat--the last scrap from those papers--because he reminds me so much of my cat Mr. Jones.  I added a tag with the images from the Pets Quartet stamp and some blocks to spell CAT from Tim Holtz paper.  The finishing touch--some pawprint stickers.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Distress

For the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge--Distress--I decided to make a tag that actually turned into making three tags which I tied together.  I tried to use as many Distress items as I could on such small surfaces.

Materials Used:

• Ranger Inkessentials #8 tag and two smaller tags of different sizes from my stash
• Distress Inks--Old Paper, Tea Dye, and Walnut Stain
• water spritzer--water added to inks on a craft sheet to create background spatters on tags
• Archival Sepia Ink used with Stampers Anonymous splotches stamp U1-1261 also added to tag backgrounds
• Tim Holtz Wish Tickets
• Tim Holtz Plain Ticket
• Tim Holtz Ephemera Pack
• Tim Holtz Playing Cards
• Tim Holtz Loop Pin
• Tim Holtz Trinket Holder on chain
• Tim Holtz Copper Paradise Charm
• Tim Holtz Imagine Charm
• Tim Holtz Wishbone
• Tim Holtz Crinkle Ribbon colored with Distress Inks and water on craft sheet
• Other ribbons from my stash

Close-ups of each tag:

Today's Post for Memory Box on the Outside the Box Blog

Stencils + Dies = Great Spring Cards

I posted this today on Outside the Box, so I thought I would share it again here in case you didn't see it. 

I'm still working on ways to combine stencils and dies on the same card.  This is what I came up with for today's post.

Materials Used

• Memory Box Parchment Notecard
• Memory Box Garden Fronds Stencil No. 88502
• Hero Arts Green Hills Ink
• Memory Box Tulip Stems Die No. 98782
• Memory Dots Distressed Dots Paper in Key Lime and Squash, flowers and leaves layered with pop-dots

Materials Used

• Memory Box Parchment Notecard
• Memory Box Garden Vines Stencil No. 88523
• Hero Arts Green Hills Ink
• Memory Box Adorable Posies Dies No. 98837(die cut six sets of petals and layered, bent up petal edges for more dimension)
• Memory Box Distressed Dots Paper in Squash
• Martha Stewart tiny yellow pearls for flower centers

Materials Used

• Memory Box Dill Notecard
• Memory Box Calm Countryside Die No. 98779, cut into the front of the notecard
• Memory Box Distressed Dots Paper in Pool for the clouds

and inside the card:

Materials Used

• a scrap of Memory Box Pool Notecard
• Memory Box Distressed Dots Paper in Pool
• Memory Box Texture Disperse Stencil No. 88507
• Hero Arts Tide Pool Ink
• Memory Box April Showers Stamp B1912 or CS1912B
• Hero Arts Black Ink
• Memory Box Adorable Posies Die No. 98837
• Martha Stewart tiny white pearls for flower centers

I don't know about you, but making cards for spring actually gives me hope that it might just show up this year.  Plus setting our clocks ahead over the weekend gives us more daylight into the evening hours. More snow on the way this week, however.  THINK SPRING!!!

Happy Crafting!

featured today on PaperCrafter's Corner for my feathers card

This is what they posted today:

Anne T.

Papercrafting Challenge: Magazine Mondays – Week Forty-Two Submission by Anne T.

Papercrafting Challenge: Magazine Mondays -Week 42 Submission by Anne T.

Anne created a fun and unique note-card.

It appears that she was inspired by the words, colors and design of the inspiration piece, and the circle shape in the magnifying glass.

Her piece includes a lovely quote – be sure to stop by Anne’s blog and check out the quote and the other papercrafting projects she’s created.

I was one of three featured projects for this challenge!  Woo-Hoo!!!