some new challenge adventures

I've found some new challenges recently that appeal to my sense of adventure - I hope you enjoy them, and maybe even join in? 

Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda had a booth at the Scrapbook Expo I attended last year, and I bought some stamps I think will be great for art journaling.  They have very unique rubber stamp designs, and I've recently discovered they also have a challenge blog - yay!  This card from Fiona Bradley was so perfect for the orange and yellow prompt, I just used the same Stampin' Up! design she used:

stamp set - Flourishing Phrases; ink - Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight; Stampin' Write marker - Pumpkin Pie; card stock - Whisper White

Crazy Rebecca at Dances With Pit Bulls is doing her second year of #DWPB100ThingsChallenge.  The rules are pretty simple - make 100 things with the craft supplies you already own before you buy any more!  I needed a little book in which to record my 100 things, so my thing number one is these paper-napkin-covered journals made of flattened toilet paper roll tubes:

Thing number two is a sign for Rebecca to use in her YouTube videos. I don't want to post it before she sees it; if I remember I'll show you later, although it's not really all that special - just some clip art I copied and pasted, with a fun font, on metallic card stock.

Thing number three is a junk journal page for a swap - another new thing I've gotten involved with this year:

The base page is long-retired Flirtatious specialty designer series paper; the tags and pocket are bits and bobs from my stash.  It's not complete in this photo - I added a mini envelope to the front that I made from a scrap of deli paper.  I could have used vellum, but the deli paper was on its way to the bin, and seemed like a better choice for a junk journal.  I'm looking for something that says Mother's Day to put in the envelope, to tie into the monthly swap theme.  I hope to also add a decorated paper clip when I work on that challenge later this month.

And then thing number four is a postcard for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge I've just started following.  This week they're looking for crowns & wings - I added a bit of fun & fantasy:

stamp sets - Lucky Elephant (retired), Favorite Thoughts (retired), Extreme Elements (retired), Timeless Textures, Touches of Texture; ink - Pineapple Punch, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Tangerine Tango, Peekaboo Peach, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry, Strawberry Slush (retired), Lemon Lime Twist, Island Indigo, Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, Hello Honey (retired); card stock - Whisper White and Wisteria Wonder; punch - Pretty Label; Big Shot with Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die (retired) and White Tea Lace paper doilies (retired)

This is the first postcard I've ever made from scratch.  In retrospect I think I probably should have coated it, and possibly also added a second layer of card stock.  I mailed it in an envelope, though, so it will arrive safely in spite of my oversights.

adventure late in the telling

Months ago I saw the description of a new kind of adventure - Mynn's Pony CASE-Press - how fun & creative is that!  Of course, I signed up right away.  Last month, it was my turn, and I CASEd Mynn's card:

and mailed her the card I made (below), then Becca CASEd my card and mailed me the card she made!

stamp set - World of Dreams; ink - Versamark; Stampin' Emboss powders - Silver, Iridescent Ice; card stock - Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer, Brushed Silver (retired); designer series paper - Moonlight (retired); punch - Itty Bitty Accents; embellishments - Tea Lace paper doily, Silver Baker's twine, All is Calm sequins (retired)

You can see that in my CopyAndShareEverything version, I specifically copied the doilies in the corners - I  ♥LOVE♥ them - the sequins, the floral and inspirational themes and the layout.  I also used the purple and white colors from her version. This is one of my favorite cards, and Pony CASE-Press is one of my favorite projects.  I know why people sign up more than once - won't you join, too?

Star Struck Stampers masculine adventures

Our assignment for Star Struck Stampers team meeting today was Father's Day or masculine.  I thought I would take the leftover kits from Card Buffet for this card.  It was going to need a few minor changes to bring all the supplies to current, so I set about to do that this morning and discovered there were *no* leftover kits!  Card Buffets this month were busy, and so much fun - I love all the chatter and the new ideas I get from the creative participants!  

Since I needed to start from scratch, I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch to make it easier:

stamp sets - Crazy about You, Gorgeous Grunge; ink - Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey; card stock - Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon; bakers twine - Crushed Curry

I also needed a 3D (anything but a card or scrapbook page) swap.  I thought about a mini bag or box, but didn't have any treats to fill them with (with which to fill them). I considered a gift card holder (my husband and my grandson's fathers will all receive gift cards), but that seemed too card-like.  I settled for an old stand-by and re-covered little note pads, because I had them on hand:

stamp sets - And Many More, The Open Sea; ink - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Night of Navy, Always Artichoke; card stock - Very Vanilla, Soft Suede; Stampin' Sponge

I've been totally captivated by collage-style stamping recently, and these were a lot of fun.  I may be a little too proud of myself for deciding on colors and stamp placement all by myself - no CASE-ing or challenge prompts involved!

And as a final visual treat, this is one of the cards we made, from a teammate's design.  It was a Father's Day card, but I need more birthday cards, so I switched the sentiment, making it perfect for the Seize the Birthday challenge Anything Goes:

stamp set - And Many More; ink - Pacific Point; card stock - Whisper White, Real Red, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black; punch - Modern Label; Big Shot with Arrows embossing folder

fixation adventure

I hope you have followed one (hopefully more) of our llama hops - we also swap!  We make a card for each participant and mail them to each other.  In most swaps, I think all the cards (or whatever is being swapped) are mailed to one person, who divides them so everyone gets one of each and sends them back to the participants.  Llamas don't tend to be herd-followers, though, or at least not the llamas (and one alpaca) that I know.  We've been swapping ideas from the new Stampin' Up!® annual catalog this month.  Here's the one I sent:

stamp set - Blessings from Heaven; ink - Basic Black; card stock - Island Indigo, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight; designer series paper - Summer Smooches; Big Shot with Chevron textured impressions folder; Stampin' Dimensionals

I've been a little fixated on rainbows for a couple of months, now, as you can see on my Pinterest board.  I loved how the papers in the Summer Smooches package fed right into my fixation!  I take the swaps I receive to work  and show them to my coworkers.  I include the one I've made but don't identify it (unless they ask) - it's fun to see if they guess which one is mine.  Last week one of them asked what this style would be called.  She knew it wasn't vintage, or whimsical, or one of those descriptions, but couldn't think of what described this - I suggested bold graphic. 

Another fixation I admit to is Christmas. Although I did better last year at early card-making, I'm starting to feel the pull again now, and found another challenge blog to stimulate my imagination in Nicole Derendorf's Festive Friday.  This week she's offered a sketch, and I did this with it:

stamp sets - Netting, Word Play; Stampin' Around wheel - Music Notes; ink - Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Versamark; Stampin' Around marker - Riding Hood Red; card stock - Very Vanilla, textured Chocolate Chip (retired), Riding Hood Red; punches - 1-1/4" circle, 1-3/4" scallop circle; Stampin' Dimensionals, sponge dauber

Oh, and there's my fixation on music, too...  I'd also like to thank Paper Players for encouraging those of us with Christmas fixations by posting a Christmas in July challenge this week!

adventures in cardmaking

I have several cards to share with you today.  I made the first one last week for the Shopping Our Stash challenge to "sift thru those piles of Un-Finished Objects and pick one complete it!"  The actual "sifting thru" resulted in this:

Way too many pink bits!  There was a scored piece of Pretty in Pink card stock and a strip of designer series paper from an extra 10-for-$10 stamp-a-stack Valentine card, some flowers from the retiring Birds & Blooms sizzlit pack that were left over from a Mother's day 3D swap, and some Pink Pirouette scalloped rectangles cut with the clearlit when I was trying to make a window card.  I tried to use the other pink bits you see, too, and make them all go away, but that would have been two pink cards in one go or one too, too busy card.  Eventually all the sorted stuff should go back in the shoebox, but that would mean un-sorting it; I can't make myself do that yet.  Maybe little sandwich baggies would keep them sorted for a while...

After much adding and subtracting and eye-squinting, this resulted:

Even the little baker's twine bow was leftover from an earlier project.  The stamp set is the new Stampin' Up!® (of course) hostess set, Swirls & Curls Verses.  Except for the overwhelming pinkness, I rather like it.

Then I made this card during my lunch hour today, still on the UFO theme:

I needed to put a check in the mail - I meant to mail it a couple of weeks ago, so I really wanted it to go in today's mail.  The envelope was already stamped with the Vintage Vogue flower - I've forgotten why - but it has been sitting around waiting for a card for a long time.  I also had pre-cut the 6"x6" Crumb Cake card stock from a scrapbook page shoebox swap, so I had a preselected stamp set and the beginning of a color scheme.  I filled out the colors with Not Quite Navy and Daffodil Delight, cut a Top Note shape with my Big Shot and Top Note die for a focal point, punched out the Thoughts & Prayers sentiment with my Decorative Label punch and added some Very Vanilla seam binding.  Done - and I still had time to pick up a sandwich from Subway.

I've been working on more cards all evening, possibly because the basement is such a pleasant place to spend time on a day when the air conditioning in the office quit during the afternoon, while the bright sun shone directly in my window.  Or maybe because I needed a sympathy card for a coworker, and couldn't decide what to do, so I fiddled around doing unrelated things.  Whatever.

A few months ago I received many "swap" card fronts from my Watercooler Llama friends.  Because Stampin' Up!® is retiring stamp sets at the end of June to make room for new designs next month, I sorted out the ones that would become non-current and at the same time, turned all of the card fronts into full cards.  I mounted the full cards that will remain current on my bulletin board:

Aren't they beautiful?

Then, I decided on a framed one-layer card for the new Less is More challenge.  This one went together pretty quickly, even considering planning time.  

If I were doing it again, I'd leave out the squiggly lines on the sides. I thought they might highlight the implied frame shape when I just had the butterfly, background, and top and bottom elements, but it seemed too subtle, so I drew the entire frame, making the extra side lines redundant.  All of the stamps are from the new Stampin' Up!® set Strength & Hope ($2 is donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® for every set purchased).  I used our Naturals Ivory card stock because I love the heftier feel for one-layer cards.  The colors are Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and River Rock.

I did finally finish the sympathy card by covering the inside of an existing way-too-mushy card with a more appropriate sentiment.  The color scheme was Basic Gray, Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy, so I'm pretty much un-pinked-out now.