October Stamping Challenge #6

Hello!  Here's my quickie card for today.  I had this card base with the accent strips in my scrap box, obviously made up and rejected for some project in the long-forgotten past.  I also had a scrap of some sort of wax paper resist background in a dull grey, which sort of went with the colours in the paper on the card.  I stamped the wax paper resist background with this pretty (and as-yet uninked) bird song stamp (Crafty Individual).  I sponged a bit more distress ink on (Stormy Sky and Shabby Shutters) to bring in the blue and green.  Next was the little sentiment stamp, the perfect complement (and also as-yet uninked) from a Crafty Secrets set (Bird Notes).  I stamped it straight on the patterned paper, but it didn't show up as well as I would have liked so I re-stamped it on some cream cardstock and punched out the centre and popped it up on foam tape.  I also accented the bird with some pencil crayon for interest.  The finishing touches were some Avocado liquid pearls.  Another challenge card done and dusted in under 15 minutes, using only scraps from my scrap piles and using only previously un-inked stamps.

October Stamping Challenge #5

Hello!  Here's today's project.  It was a quicky thanks to a lovely chalk ink panel and a die cut Dylusions butterfly that were on my desk.  This is a little notecard - only 3 1/4" square.  The die cut is from Memory Box and I don't remember what stamp I used on the chalk ink background.  In real life it's a little softer and mistier, but Sauron the Scanner doesn't deal well with soft colours and I don't deal well with my photo editing software.  I stamped (Orchid Pastel Colorbox Fluid Chalk) the butterfly with a pretty Crafty Individuals stamp, all flowers and birds and swirls and things, just to give it some texture.  I flat taped the centre of the butterfly and put a bit of foam tape under the wings so it has real dimension on the card.  The finishing touches were some Worn Lipstick distress stickles and Rouge Liquid Pearls.

Hope you get some inky time today!  Happy stamping!

October Stamping Challenge #4

Hello!  Here's the next installment of my October Stamping Challenge.  I used that same nice ginger jar die cut and a scrap of alcohol ink glossy paper.  I stamped the flower (Impress Rubber Stamps) and embossed in gold.  The card base is stamped with the same stamp and its solid image counterpart in Azurite chalk ink.  The chop (Blockheads) is stamped in Barn Door Distress Ink on an unintentionally jaunty angle.  Serves me right for adding it after everything was done!  The focal panel has a lovely background stamp (Impress) stamped in Versamagic Aspen Mist.  I added a bit of a ground shadow with a Bruynzeel pencil crayon.

Not bad for 15 minutes!  (I never said they would have to be Earth minutes....this one was more like Neptune minutes, but only because I fussed and faffed over the layout.)  This card was mostly scraps - the only new piece was the card base.

Thanks for stopping by!  Time to go watch TV with hubby and work on my Opal Dot scarf (Kaffe Fassett pattern).  I'm auditioning colour combinations on swatches and teaching myself to knit with two hands at once. This girl knows how to par-tay!

October Stamping Challenge #3

Hello!  Here I am with the third installment of my October Stamping Challenge.  In real life it looks much better.  For some reason, the file is saving as 83 kb, so no wonder.  My husband was using my scanning program and obviously changed the settings.  I don't have time to fix it now, but I will try to get a better scan, because this card is really lovely.

Edited to add:  hubby showed me how to fix the file size issue.  This one has come out much better!  I can stop blaming Sauron the Scanner now that I know it was a box that was selected three layers deep in the Save dialogue box.  Silly me for not finding that!

I used a die cut for the ginger jar, and stamped it in gray flannel Memento ink using a pretty little floral stamp (newly inked) from Impression Obsession.  I coloured it with Copic markers and added some shading with Stormy Sky distress ink around the edges.  Then I gave it a good coating of Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy and set aside to dry.  When it was dry, I sponged on more Stormy Sky into the cracks.  The background pieces are all scraps.  The background panel is stamped in Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Soft Olive) using a Local King rubber stamp.  The card base is a lovely dusty green textured cardstock.  I accented the card with a couple of dots of Viva Decor dimensional paint.  This morning I realized the jar needed gold trim so I added it, using the outside of the die cut paper as a mortise mask so I didn't get any on the card itself.  The card is 4 1/4" square.  This challenge did take a little longer than 15 minutes, but only because of paint drying time and I am also not counting the time it took to colour the first ginger jar which I stamped upside down. 

Thanks for stopping by!

October Stamping Challenge #2

Hello!  Here's Day 2's stamping challenge card.  This was an easy one because the whole card was ready made, except for the accent strip and Thank You medallion.  I think this was another reject from working up class samples for Heather.  I used the pretty leaf sprig stamp (Memory Box) and Dylusions sprays, then sponged with distress ink.  It's stamped on the hot press watercolour paper and matted on dark brown linen paper, and popped up on a cream linen card base.  The Thank You stamp (Rubber Soul*) is embossed in gold ink on brown linen paper and punched out with a 1 1/4" punch.  This card came together well within the 15 minutes, and make good use of a card that was almost finished and just waiting to come together.  Also, I am pleased because this card used a scrap of gold paper that I found under some things on my desk and I didn't make any new scraps either. 

* I think Rubber Soul has to be the best name for a stamp company.  So clever!

Thanks for stopping by.

October Stamping Challenge #1

Here's my first card for my October Stamping Challenge (see this post for the details).  I used a pre-done focal image that was a reject for a class sample at Heather's.  It's stamped on kraft with a leaf image from Sunshine Designs and painted with Twinkling H20s.  It's layered on kraft, and then on blue shimmer.  The card base was cut new, but the accent strip was from the pile next to the paper cutter, so counts as a scrap.  Should I confess to the three additional scraps I generated for this card by cutting and rejecting accent strips?  Probably not.  The new stamp I used was the background stamp - a lovely stamp from nature prints by Fred B. Mullett.  Sorry about the mustard coloured watermark on the card, and the terrible scan.  Boy, Sauron the Scanner has really started doing terrible things to my cards.  On my monitor it looks like I used my card to blot bacon.  In real life it is much less blotchy and not bad looking.  Unfortunately, it's bed time and I don't have time to figure out how to change the font colour on the watermark or threaten and/or cajole the scanner into submission.

This card did squeak in under 15 minutes, but I am going to have to be a lot more decisive or start cheating change the rules on future projects since I used the whole 15 minutes for the layout on this one considering the focal panel was completely done.  All I had to do there was doodle the border.

Hope you found some time to stamp today too! 

October Stamping Challenge - Play Along With Me!

Hello!  Three things have happened in quick succession for me.  First, my stamping friends asked me to blog more frequently.  Second, I have a number of new stamps that need inking.  Third, I cast my eye over my stamping area and it is a disaster!  I have tried to tidy it up but whenever I do, I can't bear to throw out this bit great paper, or that scrap of handmade background or this little treasure or that.   How do I fix all these things all at once?

I put on my thinking cap and decided set myself a stamping challenge for the rest of October - to make at least one quick project every day.  Here's my plan:

• Spend no more than 15 minutes on each project
• Make each project primarily out of scraps
• Use at least one as yet uninked stamp  

So what do you think?  Are you with me?  Do you have a scrap pile that needs denting?  This might be a great way to get a head start on Christmas cards, birthday cards, or just padding the stash of ready-made cards.  I will have some sort of prize draw at the end for people who play along with me.  I'll figure out the details and post them later. In the meantime, set your timer for 15 minutes and get inky!

"Wait!"  you say.  "I always use my stamps the minute I get them!   I am a tidy stamper that hoards no scraps.  Can I still play along?"  Absolutely.  If you are this kind of stamper, because you have my (somewhat skeptical) admiration, you can play along too.  Just stamp something every day.  If you have the time and inclination to spend more than 15 minutes a crack, that's fine too.  I just needed a manageable time frame for myself.  The only thing that has to happen is that you make a project every day from now until the end of October.

And because every post needs a picture, here you go!  It's a random picture from my stamping past.  If memory serves, this was a class I did for Heather's Stamping Haven using Sunshine Designs stamps.