Warm Flamingo Wishes

Our late-Spring weather has been lovely, but the humidity is slowing creeping up along with the temperature, so I decided to make a "cool" card.

The flamingo is from a Recollections stamp/die set. I cut the legs separately in order to turn them around to make it look like the flamingo is ice skating. I hand-drew the legs & tiny skates. The scarf is a piece of seam binding from Paper Sweeties.

The scenic embossing folder is one of my favorites; I got it for a steal at a yard sale. I used the top portion for the front flaps.

I used a page protector & my Fuse tool to create the shaker portion. The blue & pink sequins came with a Fuse kit & I added some snowy Flowersoft.

The sentiment (Marianne Designs) was stamped in Tumbled Glass distress ink. I added three sequins with Glossy Accents. The "lake" is made with a blue rubber tourniquet.

Inspiration/Challenges:
613 Avenue Create #180: Create Your Challenge: Shaker Card, Christmas, Sequins
Paper Sweeties: Color Inspiration

Update: This made the Top 5 for 613 Avenue Create #180!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Enjoy the Mess

It's one layer week at Less is More; Clean & Simple stamping is such a skill, and I feel more confident with every try. That being said, clean & crisp isn't really my style so I like to get a bit artsy with it! Here's a Father's Day card I made for my Brother-in-law.

I used 3 inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Barely Banana, and QuickQuotes Coral. The splatter, smudge, and sentiment stamps are from a Recollections "Color Splash" set. I spritzed the stamps to create a messy effect. I used my index finger to stamp the prints, and doodled on them with a fine black pen. Super easy & fun to make!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Less is More #280: Splatters + One Layer
YNS #41: Sketch

Thanks for stopping by,

Pilin' on the Traditional Recipe

The theme this fortnight at Pile It On is Something Old, Something New, Something Blue. We're sponsored by Eureka Stamps, but this time I made a Father's Day card featuring patterned paper & a sentiment piece from the "Handyman Hero" collection that came free with an issue of PaperCraft Inspirations. 

Old: Papers & wood from stash
New: Memento dye inks (Desert Sand & Gray Flannel)
Blue: Papers

I made the nut-patterned paper myself. I used a die, a punch, & hand-cutting to make the stamp out of foam. I made two stamps, one for each color.

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Cards in Envy: Male (flat cards only)
2. Cardz 4 Guyz: Father's Day
3. Craft Rocket Challenges: For A Man/Boy
4. Crafty Boots: Masculine
5. Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Patterned Paper
6. Ooh La La Creations: One for the Boys
7. Live & Love Crafts Challenge: Sketch
8. The Male Room: Father's Day
9. Simon Says Stamp: Father's Day / For A Guy
10. Going Grey With Scrap-Creations: Father's Day/Masculine

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

Crafting a dragonfly with Crafting at Dragonflies

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we want to see your Cards with Dragonflies/Butterflies as the main focus.

I made the wings from maple keys that I picked up during a walk this week; the head & thorax piece piece is a tiny black walnut from my backyard. It was a very windy day, so these items had blown off their trees still young & green. I used a craft knife to cut the still-spongy walnut in half. I coated everything with Glossy Accents. The abdomen is made from a Starbucks stir stick that I heat-embossed with copper enamel & two green powders.

The background is one piece of cardstock; I used an SU! woodgrain embossing folder to stamp the "water" with two blue distress inks & the top with SU! Barely Banana ink. I went over the bottom portion with a lighter blue chalk ink.

The clouds were cut from plastic hummus containers with an IO die. The sentiment stamp is from Graphic45, and I used tape to stamp each section separately with black StazOn ink. I cut the sides of the base card and sandwiched some yellow mesh between the background & base. I finished the card with burlap threads I got from my stash.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafting with Dragonflies: Dragonflies and/or Butterflies as focus
The Paper Girls: The Great Outdoors
Stampotique Designers' Challenge #248: All Creatures Great and Small



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

Wonderful Dragonflies and Butterflies at Crafting with Dragonflies

This fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies we want to see your Cards with Dragonflies/Butterflies as the main focus.

I was inspired by Mary's Split Panel Card tutorial at Cardz TV to make a card using my new Fuse Tool. I used a free printable for the dragonfly template. I printed the wings onto vellum, stamped them twice with a stained glass-patterned rubber stamp from DRS Designs, and heat-embossed it with a mix of glitter & two blue powders. I colored the backs of the wings with a blue Wink of Luna pen. The body was printed on regular white cardstock, colored with the same blue pen, and decorated with chunky glitter & Flowersoft. The ringed portion was made with a border sticker, double-sided adhesive, and more vellum. I sprinked the sticky part with the same embossing powders I used for my mix.

The pre-embossed, handmade blue paper is from my stash; I stamped the Recollections sentiment directly onto it. The top & bottom stripes are covered with my blue/glitter embossing mix. I used a cellophane bag to create the shaker portion, and filled it with butterfly sequins & blue microbeads.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafting with Dragonflies: Dragonflies and/or Butterflies as focus 
Lawnscaping: Off Kilter (something on an angle)
WOW! Embossing Powder Challenge: Anything goes with embossing powder



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