Thanks for being You

Don't you just love all the pretty & proud projects folks are making for this week's CYDI? Peacock Challenge‽ I'm so pleased to have an excuse to use this beautiful Peacock digi stamp by Gillu's Gallery.

It's so funny where your creativity takes you... I had every intention of coloring the center peacock with the bold colors we're familiar with, but once I chose my papers I decided I wanted to portray the beauty of the white peacock.

The embossed white paper is from my stash, and the peacock-patterned DP is a Graphic 45 sheet that Mom just sent me. The image is actually two pieces; I adhered the white peacock in top, after coloring everything with Copics. I created the white "feathers" by running the piece through my sticker machine and covering it with Polar White FlowerSoft. I was able to rub off all the excess to reveal a nice layer. I used an eraser to remove it from the beak, eyes and feet.

The banner is embossed/cut with a Spellbinders banner die, and I trimmed off the "furl" portion. The sentiment is a stamp from SP & Company.

Thanks for visiting, and for being you.

Inspiration/Challenges:

CYDI? Challenge 6: Pretty Peacock (Inspiration photo on left; deadline is 4/9)

The Sweet Stop Challenge #152: Sketch (below left)

Blog candy news you can use!

I've run across a few great blog candy contests recently, so I thought I'd include them in one post:

Kona Krafter is celebrating the fact that Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps is running an ad campaign in Papercraft Essentials. You have 3 chances to win her awesome prizes! And don't forget to participate in the August Challenges at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT).

Whismy Stamps, another wonderful shop dedicated to digi artists, is offering a mystery prize to celebrate their new challenge blog. Challenges begin August 10; I know I can't wait!

And don't forget the Blogging is for Sharing Giveaway at Imagine.Create.Express. You can participate as many times as you like, and there's always great stuff being added.

And here's some fairly useless news: Priyanka of Gillu's Gallery shot me an email to congratulate me on making the top 3 at OSAAT! Thanks everyone, I'm super-honored! I had so much fun making my card; and be sure to check out their current contest; one of the DT members made an especially gorgeous card with the Bengali Bride image by Gillu's Gallery. Also, I see that there's a pre-colored version at her shop now!

Punch-flowers and a Pretty Girl

Stitchy Bear is having a month-long contest in August for cards to feature in their ad for the October issue of PaperCraft Essentials magazine. Looks really fun, so mark your calendars!

Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps Online Shop is such a great resource for many different brands of digi stamps. One of my favorites, Gillu's Gallery, is now selling there too. They have a challenge blog, One Stitch at a Time, and their current challenge is Flowers. Perfect opportunity to use the Pretty Girl digi from Gillu's Gallery, as well as to try my hand at a paper-punch flower technique I saw in PaperCraft Inspirations magazine (Jan. 2011).

I tried my hand at a paper-punch flower technique I saw in PaperCraft Inspirations magazine (Jan. 2011), and I'm really happy with the result. I didn't glue myself to it once! For the middles, I made some tiny buttons from shrink plastic (see my previous post), colored them black, and sewed them on.

I used the current Midnight Madness Sketch, but I chose the color combo myself. Everything's colored and/or edged with Copics, including the paper I used for the punch flowers.

I'm entering this card into Aud Sentiments Challenge #33: "Enjoy Your Day", thanks to this lovely sentiment by Marion.

Inspiration:
One Stitch at a Time Challenge #77: Flowers
Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #113
Aud Sentiments Challenge #33: "Enjoy Your Day"

Stamps: Pretty Girl by Gillu's Gallery, For all Mothers set by SP & Company, Happiness Ticket by When the Scrap Hits the Fun
Paper: Hammermill, Recollections, Core'dinations, shrink plastic from stash
Tools: InDesign, HP printer & ink, needle, awl, Fiskars papercutter, Recollections punches, Crop-O-Dile, Tim Holtz paper distresser & scissors, EK Success corner punch
Other: ZipDry glue, bakers twin, stash ribbon (Thanks Sandra!), Copic markers

Update 6/25/11: This card made the top 3 at OSAAT!

Culturally Inaccurate Blessings

I'll admit it's odd that I chose the sorta Buddhist colors of this week's SPCC challenge for my first try at the beautiful Rajastani Girl digi stamp I bought from Gillu's Gallery, and even odder that I ended up making my version of a Diwali card. The banner is made from actual prayer-flag squares Mom collected in Nepal. Nothing says American like a show of joyful confusion!

However culturally inaccurate it may be, I'm totally pleased with how it turned it out. Mom, if you're reading this, thank you so much for the paper (and, as always, the inspiration)!

I love love love that SPCC is including Copic colors in their challenges. I had two out of 3: instead of YR16 I used a combination of YR09 & YR04. Once I colored this beautiful image and found inspiration at Sketch Saturday, the rest of the card just fell into place. Don't you love it when you have everything you need?!

I even added some orange flocking to the large bells. I enlarged the digi to create these; it's not something you should do all the time, but I just couldn't resist! The bells swing on the brad.

Inspiration:
Color: SPCC #108
Sketch: Sketch Saturday #163

Stamps: Rajastani Girl by Gillu's Gallery, sentiment from Regal Greetings set by {ippity} Stamps
Paper: Recollections, Core'dinations, handmade from stash
Tools: HP printer & ink, Marvy heat tool, Fiskars papercutter & corner emboss/punch, Tim Holtz scissors & paper distresser
Other: ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pen, Stampendous embossing powder & flocking, Versamark ink, Sakura GellyRoll pens, Making Memories brad, CraftSmart embroidery thread, Offray ribbon
Copics: YR09, YR04, E08, E50, YR00, E13, E17, E37, RV11, RV02

A couple other things:
In case you haven't heard, Make It Crafty and Tiddly Inks are releasing Mix & Match sets. Both company's digis are so pretty by themselves that I almost hate to color them! Christy at Tiddly Inks is having a super giveaway through July 13 to celebrate, so check it out.

Also, I had tons of fun making my card for the Fathers Day Challenge at Scrap InnoVations, and, since I was the only one who entered, I won the candy! Thank you IslandV! I'm not always good at thanking ya'll for your RAKs and candies, but please know that I just get too excited and craftily distracted to reply in a timely fashion, and that I do adore & appreciate everything. Happy blessings to all!

Celebrating with a Pretty Girl

This week's project for the Cardmaking group at the Scrap Shack is a tent card, which I've never made before. The DT projects are gorgeous, and I just had to jump in and try it, with two stamps I've been itching to use: Gillu's Pretty Girl digi stamp & a banner rubber stamp from the $1 bin.
The banners on the background are just stamped and colored, but the hanging ones on the front really are hung onto the string. Thanks to All Things Paper for another fantastic tip!

The photo on the right is the back...geez, banners make everything look good!

Inspiration:
Digi stamp: Pretty Girl by Gillu's Gallery

Supplies: Relax, Hammermill and Recollections cardstocks, Memento ink, HP printer & ink, SCAL & Cricut, banner stamp from StudioG

Copics: RV11, Y08, Y13, Y17, Y02, Y000, E50, E51, E11, E37, E35, E17, YR09,YR04, YG67, YG63, YG03

Download my Tent Card cut-file template (please leave a comment and let me know you're using it. And I'd love to see any resulting cards!):
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Kashmiri Flower Card

I first discovered Priyanka's Creations when I saw her gorgeous bed card, and now that she has her images for sale at Gillu's Gallery, I just had to buy her Kashmiri Girl.

Kashmir is known as one of the most beautiful places in the world (Priyanka told me it is called Heaven on Earth), and the people bring most incredible varieties of flower to market in small boats. Kashmir is one of the few places where Saffron grows. We always have saffron on hand, for favorites such as paella and tah chin, and once you see how it is grown you'll understand why it's so prized: Just two threads of saffron grow in one delicate purple flower. I love the color combination of purple and red, despite being from a culture that mostly doesn't like it, so I took the opportunity to use it! I made the sentiment in PhotoShop, and you can download it through the link at the bottom of this post.

The colors of her cloths were inspired by this photo on Flicker.

Inspiration:
Crafty Ann's Challenge #39: Fancy Folds
Digi stamp: Kashmiri Girl by Gillu's Gallery
Pop-out flower cut file: 3D Flower Cards set from SVGCuts.com

Adobe Garamond Sentiment: Download

Supplies: Relax, Recollections, and X-Press Copic cardstocks, Recollections vellum, Copic markers, Sakura Gelly Roll pens, Stampendous clear embossing powder, HP printer & ink, SCAL & Cricut