Tea Loving Cardmakers

Happy Fall! A new season means a new Blog Hop with the Coffee Loving Cardmakers, and I always enjoy playing along.

We've been enjoying some lovely Autumn weather here in Baltimore. Soon we'll get some gorgeous hues of leaves, but right now we just have bright yellow leaves falling from the Black Walnut trees... the squirrels have been busy in our yard, hiding their walnuts for winter. I made this card for my neighbor, because we sometimes get together for tea.

I made this shaker card featuring teapot & cup dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs. The spaces are filled with green and orange leaf and flower sequins.

For the background, I inked an embossing folder with Vintage Photo distress ink before running it through my BigShot on an olive green, textured paper. I did this twice, to leave a gap. I temporarily ahdered it to some thick foam and die-cut the teapot & "tray" shape (SU!) from both pieces at once. I removed the top, and sandwiched it & the foam with scrap plastic. Before die-cutting the teapot & cups, I backed copper & yellow metallic papers (Recollections) with a double-sided adhesive sheet. I colored some of the yellow pieces with orange or red-orange Copic markers.

I edged the foam piece with orange ribbon, and backed it with more copper paper. I colored the sentiment sticker with orange markers. The card is finished with a topping of brown leaf ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays #157: Shaker Cards
Coffee Loving Cardmakers: Fall-themed Coffee/Tea-inspired project
Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch #370

Thank you for visiting!

One touch of Geometry makes the whole world kin

I've been having a bit of a creative lull lately ... you know how it goes. That's one of the reasons I enjoy papercrafting challenges so much: it's nice to have some focus. I started at Less Is More, as I find the clean-and-simple style very challenging yet rewarding. This week's challenge is "Diamonds" which I found extra-challenging. The "Geometric" theme at Lawnscaping inspired me to use diamond shapes to create a pattern. I don't have a diamond stamp, so I used a hexagon punch to make 3 diamond shapes, cut 2 from foam, and adhered them with double-sided tape to a stamp block in a chevron pattern. There are so many possibilities with the foam stamping technique.

I used masking paper to mask my new Cardinal rubber stamp from Repeat Impressions before stamping the diamond/chevron shapes. The bird was stamped in Memento black ink & colored with Copic markers. The sentiment (a Shakespeare quote) is from Clear Art Stamps.

This was my first attempt. The shapes were stamped in Olive distress ink. I didn't like all the white space between the bird & the sentiment, so I added a branch from a Prickly Pear Designs stamp set. I'm entering this card into Less Is More #294: Diamonds.


Here's my second card. I used Pine Green pigment ink, inking the foam stamps just enough so that the ink pad lends texture to the final stamp. I'm entering this card into Lawnscaping #138: Geometric.

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today (September 19) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so here's my traditional Pirate-themed project!

I've had this Little Pirate rubber stamp by Lili of the Valley for 5 years. Be sure to check out the special Talk Like a Pirate Day cards featured on LOTV's blog, Ideas to Inspire.

The image was colored with Copic markers; I used TH's "Old Paper" distress marker for the newspapers. The patterned paper is from Graphic 45. The sentiment stamp is from Recollections, and it's popped up with some actual fish net. 

Inspiration/Challenges:
Kreativeinkauf-challenge: Easel Card
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers: A is for Aaargh

Thank ye for visiting,

Quilt Shaker - Pilin' on Autumn

The theme this fortnight at Pile It On is Autumn Colors and/or Theme.

The frame is a rubber stamp from Repeat Impressions. I stamped it in Memento black on linen-textured paper; I traced all the lines with a Recollections pen and drew the stitches by hand. The image is colored with Copic markers. I cut out the middle of the piece to create a shaker card. I used scrap plastic for the window, and placed the sentiment sticker directly onto it. I filled the shaker with sequins from Paper Sweeties and metallic leaves. I used white foam to pop the shaker. The background is made with textured cardstocks; I added more dashes & some lovely ribbon.

Inspiration/Challenges:
City Crafter Challenge: Add leaves
Crafting By Designs: A Stitch in Time
Fairy Tale: Falling Leaves
Make My Monday: Autumn Colors
Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge: Dots or Dashes
Perfectly Created Chaos: Stamp It

Update: This won a prize at Crafting By Designs!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Fairies/Fantasy at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our theme this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies, chosen by teammate Granmargaret, is Fairies/Fantasy. I bought this cute Motivet digi stamp years ago, and this sentiment to make a easel card.

For the patterned pieces, I inked the designs of an embossing folder with Persimmon distress ink before running it through my BigShot. I colored the image with Copic markers; I used heat-activated puff paint for the marshmallows. I finished the card with a touch of gold ric-rac.

Inspiration/Challenges:
AuroraWings Challenge: Fantasy + hand-colored stamp
CMD-Challenge: Dragon + Copics
Creative Knockouts: Winged Wonders
Cutie Pie Challenge: Cute + Birthday
Fantasy Crafters: Anything Fantasy Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon: Things with Wings with Ribbon or Trim 

Thank you for visiting,