Christmas Challenges

Hi everyone I'm still in the creating cards for Christmas mood. I happened to come across the blog Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge  This is the link for their current challenge. They also right now have a call for guest DT members. :-)

The other challenge is the monthly Christmas challenge over at The Happy Little Stampers. Check out all of their challenges. Here is the link for their Christmas one. http://www.happylittlestampers.com/2017/08/hls-august-christmas-challenge.html
Alas I discovered that I don't own a Poinsettia stamp nor did I find one at Michaels. :-(

I encourage you to check out both challenges and either get started on creating your Christmas cards or add to your stash. You know the holidays will be here before you know it and if you send cards wouldn't it be nice to have them all done. O.k. enough yakking! Here is the card I did this week.

For my background I used a retired Sizzix embossing folder. I thought of sanding after embossing but decided to leave it as it is.

I bought this Santa stamp from a friend a couple of years ago and oh the shame this is the first time I've inked it up.  The stamp is I believe called Christmas Wish. It is by Stamper's Anonymous and it looks like it is available as part of a clear stamp collection by Tim Holtz.

I inked the stamp up with Ranger Archival black ink and then colored using Tombow markers. I managed to score a couple of sets this week at Michaels on sale.

I hope you are finding time to craft as Summer quickly winds down. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Retro and Watercolor Challenge

Hi everyone I'm once again caught up with my obligations for the design team so while I wait for images I thought it would be fun to play and enter a couple of challenges.  While searching for challenges I found a site which has challenges using stamps which are a year or older. The challenge right now is colors.

Details can be found here:

http://www.retrorubberchallengeblog.com/my-blog/2017/08/challenge-68-colors.html

The other challenge is Happy Little Stamper Watercolor challenge 

 

Details can be found here:

http://www.happylittlestampers.com/2017/08/hls-august-watercolour-challenge.html

Here is my card.

I love playing. Both the window panel and behind the window was created using glossy photo paper which is waterproof. On a piece of plastic I dropped drops of moss green re-inker. Then I dropped water on the plastic causing the re-inker to spread and placed the photo paper in the ink. While still wet I quickly placed plastic wrap. For the window backing I used the Moss Green and Festive Berries ink.

I used a Spellbinder die to cut my window. Then used double sided foam to attach the red panel.

For my butterfly I used the first rubber stamp I bought back in the 80's. Although the copyright is 1981 I think it was more like 1982 or 1983 when I bought it. Alas as far as I can tell the company in Seattle Washington is no longer in business. I  stamped it with Ranger's Archival Ink. Then I painted it with  iridescent pan watercolor paints.

The sentiment, flowers and bee is from Simply Defined Aviary Blossom,Floral Corner Set which I found this week at a thrift store. After stamping and cutting with the dies I once again painted with the pan water colors.

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Pocket Full Of Posies Color Challenge

Hi everyone can you believe it is already the first Saturday of August. With it being the first Saturday that means it is a color challenge over at Hiding In My Craft Room. This week the challenge is being sponsored by The Cutting Cafe who generously supplied me with the Pocket Shaped card file which I created my inspiration piece with. Even if you don't have a cutting machine you can use the files from The Cutting Cafe. One lucky person will win three cutting files.

Here is this week's colors:

I had to use a lighter blue as the navy blue was too dark and covered the print lines but I tried to come close to the rest of the  colors For some reason my camera wouldn't photograph the red as dark as it is on my card.. Here is my inspiration piece.

There are so many pieces in the Pocket Shaped card file that it was difficult for me to decide which to use. I finally decided on the back pocket shaped card base along with the printed pocket topper. I used two different blue Spectrum Noir markers along with the blender marker in my eBrush in order to create my pocket with the look of being denim. After airbrushing I happened to spy a scrap of rickrack which was perfect both in the length and width. Sometimes it pays to hoard small scraps of trim. LOL! As well as to shop for trim from your stash like I did with the lace for the heart.

Adhesive was adhered everywhere but at the top of the topper leaving an opening near the fold of the card base forming the pocket when placed on the card base.

The file comes with the flowers and stems all as one as well as with separate pieces. I decided to piece my flowers together. After the pieces were cut out I airbrushed the stems trying to get as close as possible  the green for this challenge.  I decided to use a muted pattern paper for the flowers. I glued squares of the paper over my cutout flowers and trimmed the paper. I didn't get the paper down tight in places so in places the white of the card stock shows but I decided that it is time I stop being such a perfectionist. I used a dark red marker to color the dots for the center. I placed the flowers in the pocket but decided I either needed to do more flowers or add something. I opened up the misc file which comes in the set and there was the heart. After cutting the  heart out I doodled with my airbrush and a dark red marker. Then after placing it in the pocket to see how it looked decided to add  narrow lace around the heart.

I normally don't use these colors and to be honest I probably would not use this combination. Sometimes though it is good to get out of your comfort zone and use different colors and combinations. I encourage you to try creating with colors you might not normally use.

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!