Pilin' On the Outdoor Fun

This week at the Pile It On Challenge our theme is Outdoor Fun and we're sponsored by Inky Impressions. They have so many adorable digi stamps, but I was really drawn to their Best Wishes Banner.

click to enlarge

This lovely lady on a pier with her parasol is one of my favorite rubber stamps; I got it as part of a "grab-bag" I won some years back. I actually ended up fussy-cutting each piece separately: the figure & umbrella were stamped on coated Hammermill cardstock and colored with Copics; and the pier was stamped on a beige cardstock, embossed with an SU! embossing folder (which I just won from Words to Scrap By; thank you Bernadette!), and inked with Vintage Photo & Antique Linen distress inks.

If you follow this blog, the wave background might look familiar... I used the same technique just last week for the Crafting with Dragonflies' Artist Trading Card Challenge. What can I say, I still had the supplies out on my table! This time, I used two sizes of the wave border cut file from SVG Attic's Just Beachy set (I have a photo and description of how I did this here).

I added some sandy texture with a Versamark watermark pen and ZING Brown Sugar embossing powder. The house brads & metal charm were gifts from my mom (thanks Mom!) and I added a bit of Pink Paislee twine to the boat for good measure. The corner seaweed embellishment was made by gluing green tulle onto a green cardstock and cutting with a Spellbinders die.

This design really came together for me when I realized how much it reminded me of Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth... I'm sure that was my subconscious speaking, as I have a very personal connection to that particular painting. So the balance achieved with the two houses was inspired directly by the painting, and I ended up using their bright colors as my main colors.


Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Crafting Musketeers #14: Stamped Image
2. Cuttlebug Mania: Use a charm + Manual die-cutting machine (I used a SU! embossing folder and a Spellbinders die on my BigShot)
3. Graph'It Colour Challenge #26: Anything Goes with Alcohol Markers (I used Copics for the image and shading on the banner)
4. Inky Impressions Challenge #165: Anything Goes
5. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Product or Technique you wish you used more often (making my own background, especially with stencils & ink)
6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes
7. Sparkles Forum Challenges #57: At the Beach/ Summer Fun
8. The Crazy Challenge #174: By the Sea
9. WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Uplifting Goes

Update: This was  selected as one of the Top 3 projects for Inky Impressions Challenge #165. Thank you!

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Message in a Bottle ATCs

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we're challenging you to make a Set of 3 Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). We have two sponsors, Pickled Potpourri Designs and QKR Stampede, and I used this fun Wish in a Bottle Digi Stamp by QKR.

An artist trading card (or ATC for short) is a 2.5x3.5 inch piece of art created with the intention of swapping or trading it with another artist. I'll admit that I've incorporated this challenge into the ATC Swap we're having within one of my other Design Teams (OSAAT). I was inspired by the "Great Outdoors" theme for that swap. My Crafting with Dragonflies teamie Susan used this same digi stamp for her ATCs as well, and I love her take. Be sure to check out all the DT projects!

The Bottle digi stamp was printed directly onto the paper; I also printed them on masking paper so that I could ink the background over top. I then colored the bottles with Copic markers, using the Blender Texture technique for the underwater parts.

The background was made using a wave border cut file from SVG Attic's Just Beachy set as a mask. I don't do this very often, but it was tons of fun! I found it pretty easy to mask and ink using the die cuts and their negatives, plus plenty of painter's tape. Here's a photo of how I did this (sorry, I took it after doing the inking!):

The banner paper and sentiment are from Graphic 45's By the Sea collection. I hand-cut the banners and attached then with these glittery brads so that they move.

The "beach" is made with a coffee sleeve. I used some green mesh from a bag of avocados for a little texture, and the sandy landscape base is from Camel Digital Stamp Pack by Coosty Creations.

Inspiration/Challenges:
ABC Challenge: N is for Nautical
Craft my Life All Crafts Challenge: Anything but a Card
Jellypark Friends Friday Challenge: Seaside/ Beach/ Nautical
Moving Along with the Times: I would like to be beside the seaside

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,

Gone Fishin' with OSAAT

This week at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT), our theme is Anything Goes. StitchyBear's Digi Outlet has hundreds of digital products from many wonderful artists, and if you use one of our products you'll be entered to win the super-duper June prize pack of 7 digis. If you don't use a store image, you'll still be in the drawing to win a $3 gift certificate.

My teamie CraftyGirl chose this fun set for us to work with, Fishn with Ole Rover Stamp Pack #2 by Reece's Scrap Pieces, so I made this Shadowbox card:

I used the Shadowbox Card tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers, but I changed dimensions to 4.25 inches tall by 7.5 wide, scoring each long end at .75 and 1.25 inches. I cut the hole with a PageMaps die on my BigShot. The green base and blue background are Core'Dinations cardstocks. All the patterned papers, including the paper-pieced overalls, are by SMIRK. Mom sent me the actual fishing net as well as this adorable fishing pole sticker from Little B.

I colored this adorable image with Copics, using the Blender Texture technique for Ole Rover's fur. The sentiment is from the same Reece's Scrap Pieces set; I inked it with my Antique Linen distress ink pad and filled in the letters with a black PITT pen and a Sakura glitter pen.

Here's the back with a message section:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Animal Friends Challenge #15: Hobby + Animal
Aud Sentiments Challenge #109: Two Word Sentiments
Creative Moments #45: Anything goes/for the boys
Hanna & Friends: Cute Person/Animal Stamp + Paper Piecing (the overalls are paper-pieced)
House That Stamps Built DCC 618: Shaped or fun fold cards
Love to Scrap: Use a hole in your card so your stamping shows through
My Craft Creations: Always Anything Goes
Wags 'n Whiskers: Fancy Fold

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at One Stitch at a Time,

Wrong but Right with Pile it On

This week at the Pile It On Challenge our theme is Wrong but Right (use something in a way that wasn't originally intended). In my case, I used a lot of recycled items: The tire is cut from a foam coffee cup sleeve; the land and the boy's hair were made from a textured cardboard coffee cup sleeve; and the water was made with two medical face masks. Our challenge is sponsored by Pickled Potpourri Designs, so I used one of the sweet images from their Summer Boys set as well as two of the sentiments from their Affirmation Badges set.

The leafy branches and "beach balls" were cut with metal dies. I made the outer frame in SCAL using a grass pattern from a SVGcuts set, and cut it on my Silhouette Cameo.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Aud Sentiments Challenge: Any Sentiment for a Guy
Craft-Room Challenge: Sun Sand & Surf
The Crazy Challenge: For little ones
Creative Corner: Just For Boys
Hambo Hoedown: Summer
MarkerPop: Anything Goes
Paper Shelter Challenge: Summer
Papertake Weekly: For the Boys
Whimsy Inspiration: Tic Tac Toe (Diagonal left-to-right: Summer, Die Cut, Sentiment)
WordArt Wednesdays: Anything Uplifting goes

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Zentangle + Black & White Card - New challenge at Crafting with Dragonflies

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we're challenging you to use the Zentangle technique to create a Black & White Card. This is my first time using this technique, and I was inspired by the tutorials at Tangle Patterns and the beautiful creations by the Crafting with Dragonflies Design Team.

This challenge is sponsored by Bugaboo Digi Stamps and Eureka Stamps, and I had fun doodling inside two different sizes of Eureka's Stained Glass Sun:

Although I've always admired people who do beautiful the Zentangle designs, but honestly I didn't feel like a good enough of an artist to do such design-specific doodling. It seemed overly complicated, but once I started looking at Tangle ideas and projects, I found that it sort of simplifies doodling.Once I got comfortable with some basic designs, I kinda just did my own thing. I was specifically inspired by the Knightsbridge Zentangle, Ko'oko'o by Mary Kissel (the braid pattern), and Reticulated by Livia Chua. The doodle on the wood owl is based, very loosely, on Warangaie by Sandra Strait.

The sentiment, a quote from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, was printed and heat-embossed directly onto the shiny black paper. I hand-cut the frame and doodled in it. The big sun is on a large bard, so it spins!

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Crafting with Dragonflies,