COLOR THROWDOWN #152

Ooh, I think I've found a new favourite colour combo!!  This week's challenge at The Color Throwdown is to use these colours together:

 

I've been for a walk, with the dog and my little man, in the beautiful sunshine, and now have time to sit down and play again!

It is a loooooong time since I've used my Eastern Blooms set; time to give it some love.  I randomly stamped the small flowers, on Whisper White card, using ink in all four of the challenge colours.  They look beautiful together, which I must say came as a pleasant surprise!  I especially love how River Rock and Melon Mambo complement one another.

Here is the finished result, which looks so much better (really crisp) in real life!

Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Afterthoughts

Card: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, River Rock textured, Soft Suede

Ink: Melon Mambo, River Rock, Rose Red and Soft Suede stampin' pads, white gel pen

Other: Wide Oval punch, sponge dauber, Mat Pack and Paper Piercing tool, Sweet Stitches Designer Button, mini glue dots

EASTERN BLOOMS FRIENDSHIP CARD - JAI #56 and COLOUR Q #72

Phew - that's a bit of a long title for today's post, hey?  I have inked up a couple of my 'flowery' stamp sets that have been sitting unused for far too long.  I wanted to make a 'rustic' looking card for this week's Colour Q Challenge #72, using these scrumptious colours:

Plus, in an effort to improve my time-management skills, I made a card that fits Amanda's sketch challenge at Just Add Ink this week.  Here's the gorgeous sketch that I based my card on:

............. and, here's my card:

Stamps: En Francais, Wonderfully Worn, Eastern Blooms, Friends Never Fade

Card: Crumb Cake, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Baja Breeze

Ink: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler stampin' pads, Versamark inkpad

Other: White embossing powder, sponge dauber, Scallop Edge punch, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, kraft taffeta ribbon (retired), mini glue dot

JUST ADD INK #24

Today is the last day to enter this week's Just Add Ink challenge.  I've been meaning all week to come up with something, but the school holidays seem to have just swallowed my time!  I'm loving having time with my boys, and being at home.

This week the team at Just Add Ink have a sketch challenge, encouraging us to make something using this sketch as a starting point:







Now, I LOVE the sketch, but I don't love Clean and Simple - at least, when I try to pull it off!  I'm not good at leaving a lot of white space, despite the fact that I admire it greatly in others' creations.  I always want to add brads, buttons or ribbon, or a few layers!

The idea that I had in my head really didn't look right when I put it into practice.  So, I found myself adding an extra flower to balance out my card!  Here's what I ended up with:





This past week I've been playing around with the 'chalkboard technique', which is a lot of fun, and is a great way to use those Stampin' Pastels (chalks) that have been sorely neglected for far too long!  I stamped the gorgeous flower, from my Eastern Blooms stamp set, using Whisper White craft ink on Elegant Eggplant card.  Then, using a cotton bud (I like that I can control it better than a cotton wool ball), I picked up colour from my pastels, and applied it in a circular motion to my stamped flowers.  I love the rich colours that resulted.  Here's a close-up of the flowers:





The Stampin' Pastel colours I used are Taken With Teal, Whisper White and Lovely Lilac.



Here are the other ingredients used to make my card:



Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Occasional Greetings

Card: Kraft, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White

Ink: Whisper White craft stampin' pad, Elegant Eggplant and Sahara Sand stampin' pads

Other: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, White 5/16" brads, sponge dauber, paper snips, dimensionals




 

BABY WIPES .... not just for babies!

Even though I'm way past the days of needing baby wipes for, well, the obvious, I always have some on hand in my craft room.  I must admit that I've been guilty of cleaning my stamps with them (not recommended .. the rubber turns white after a while), but now that I have my fab-o Stampin' Scrub, those days are over.  I still use them to wipe up stray glitter, and to attempt to clean my inky fingers, among other things!

I'd heard of the 'Baby Wipe technique' in stamping, but really didn't know what it was, until I came across Beate Johns' great video.  Check it out - it's great fun.  Now that I actually own some re-inkers, I was able to give this technique a try.

Here are my first two humble attempts at using this technique, that I'll be sure to play around with some more.

First up is a card that uses one of many panels I'd embossed with Stampin' Up!'s Manhattan Flowers embossing folder.  I went a little crazy when I first got it, and now have dozens of embossed panels that need to be made into cards - I'm sure plenty of you can relate to this affliction!  It's an inherent danger of having a new die-cutting and/or embossing machine -  anything that doesn't move, gets put through it!

The colours of my cards were determined by the re-inker colours used.  Firstly, I used Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, and So Saffron.





Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Organic Outlines (sentiment)

Card: So Saffron, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

Ink: Versamark inkpad, So Saffron stampin' pad, Ruby Red marker, Re-inkers: Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron

Other: Manhattan Flowers embossing folder, Butterfly Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Ruby Red brads, Wide Oval Punch, Haiku Designer Series Paper, dimensionals



For my second card, I used re-inkers in Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose and Pink Pirouette.  Not so keen on the finished card (I think it's a bit 'heavy' looking) .... plus, hubby likes it, so that in itself concerns me!  I'll show you anyway, since I spent a bit of time putting it together!




Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Best Yet

Card: Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White

Ink: Rich Razzleberry stampin' pad, Versamark inkpad, Re-inkers: Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette

Other: XL Two-step Bird Punch (leaves), Rich Razzleberry grosgrain ribbon, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" Circle Punches, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, dimensionals

FLOWERS AND STARS

Even after an absence of several days, that's about the most exciting post title I can come up with??!!!  I haven't had much crafting time this week; apparently I have been neglecting the family.  Soooo, after a self-imposed exile of a few days from my craft room, I snuck back in there and enjoyed a little 'me' time.  It took me a little while to decide what I felt like making.

I drew inspiration for my first card from the Stampin' Up Idea Book & Catalogue.  I love the colours in the Haiku Designer Series Paper, and my eye was drawn to some cards on page 76 of the catalogue.  The base of my card is So Saffron (LOVE this yellow), and I've used a panel of So Saffron Designer Series Paper.  The beautiful flowers, both small and large, are from the Eastern Blooms stamp set.  This is a really versatile set, that gives stunningly different results depending on colours used. I used my Boho Blossoms punch to make the tiny flowers from a piece of Old Olive paper, from the Haiku pack.  How cute are they?!  A bit of ribbon, piercing, and some pearl brads finish off the card.  I am really happy with the end result, considering I started off with a blank brain!



Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Upsy Daisy (sentiment)

Card: So Saffron, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla

DSP: So Saffron Prints, Haiku

Ink: Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, So Saffron

Other: Boho Blossoms punch, pearl brads (from Pretties Kit), Apricot Appeal 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, edge distresser, paper piercer, dimensionals, stamp-a-ma-jig, sponge dauber



This next card I thought would be good for a (female) friend of my teenage son, but when I excitedly showed Jack, he said "Ah, no Mum", and slowly shook his head!  Anyway, I like it!!!  I love the simplicity of it, and the co-ordination of the ink, paper and ribbon.  I used my Classic Stars jumbo wheel, and Baja Breeze stampin' pad, to make the background panel.  My friend Kerry made a card at one of our recent stamping nights, using the stars in this colour, and I just loved it, so I must credit her with the inspiration!  (The link to Kerry's blog is in my side bar.)  The raised star is just one I cut out from the 'patterned paper' I had created, with the edges sponged to give it some definition.  I mounted it on a piece of Urban Garden DSP, cut to form a border.  Here it is, folks - hope you like it as much as I do, or at least more than Jack does, LOL.



Stamps: Classic Stars jumbo wheel, On Your Birthday

Card: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze

DSP: Urban Garden

Ink: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze

Other: Silver brads (from SU's Vintage assortment), Baja Breeze 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, baja breeze button (from Button Bouquet), dimensionals, mini glue dots.



Thanks for stopping by, friends.  I'll be back when I have had some more 'play' time in my craft room (this "working full-time" thing is just not right!!).