Make Waves

I simply can not get enough of this mermaid tail from Julie Ebersole's Mermaid's Tail set from Ellen Hutson... I don't think I have ever used a single stamp more than I have used this one! This time I embossed the tail in gold on the card base, and die cut the top panel placing the aperture over the embossed tail.  I had used the stencil for another card. Afterwards, I left the distress inks on the stencil, sprayed it with water, and pressed it to a panel of watercolor paper. I love the soft, "foamy" effect. This card was made for a friend who needs a lot of support and encouragement right now. I just love the sentiments included in this set, and I thought these that I stamped on the inside were just perfect.

I'm playing at:

Inkspirational #141

City Crafter Challenge #375 - No Flowers

CAS-ual Fridays #180 - Friendship

No Grit, No Pearl.

This Mermaid's Tail set from Ellen Hutson by Julie Ebersole is getting a lot of use in my craft room. I LOVE it. I made this card for a craft gathering where each participant created 2 similar cards to share. It was a wonderful day. I used some techniques that were new to me on this one.  If you look closely, you can see some feint embossing on the DOX background. I used the stencil from Hero Arts May Card Kit for the embossing. This is a new technique to me, and I am using it frequently right now. I also used water to stamp the sea bubbles (Designs By Ryn) on the DOX ink background. I LOVE the effect. There is so much wonderful color and texture on this card. It's a keeper... or maybe a sender...

I am playing at:

Inkspirational Challenge #140 - I chose the colors and sea theme as my inspiration.

Watercooler Wednesday #130 - Feminine Anything Goes

Happy Peepster

Happy Easter, Happy Spring! 

I am playing at the following chllneges:

I used Freshly Made Sketches #282 for my design.

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies April 2017 Challenge

The three stitched squares are die cut with SSS Stitched Squares dies, and the peeps are die cut with SSS My Kind Of Peep dies. 

Inkspirational #132 - Spring

Pastel plaids (MFT) and peeps.

Darnell's 2nd Annual April Fool's Boo-Boo Hop and NBUS Challenge #11

I bought SSS My Kind Of Peep stamps and dies last year and never used them until today. I am also posting this card

for Darnell's My Big Fat Card Boo Boo. This was my first pass at Freshly Made Sketch #282. I loved it, and then I went back to read the fine print of the challenge, and saw the part that said that it's an all square sketch!  Oooooooops!!!!! My original card was 4/25 x 5.5. I love the sketch and wanted to enter the challenge, so I started over and made the square card at the top of this post. This cracked me up. Gotta leave it to Darnell to provide a place to share our bloopers!

Welcome 2017!

This card has a funny story behind it. I made it very recently for AAA Challenge #80, but when it got down to the last few hours before the challenge went live, I realized that the AAA challenge theme was SILVER. This card was GOLD. lol. So I remade this one in silver for that challenge. Don't tell, but I really like it much better in gold, so I am linking it to the following challenges:

Inkspirational Challenge #125-Photo Inkspiration

City Crafter Challenge Blog Week #343 ~ Hello 2017

CFC164 -- Celebrations

Challenge #374 ~ Hello 2017

Wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year. Thanks so much for stopping in today.

Crazy Halloween

 It's time for a new AAA Cards Challenge. Game #51 is Halloween 4 Everyone - All styles.

I just love these Stampers Anonymous Crazy Birds that are everywhere. I've had them for a while, and finally inked them up for this challenge.  This is a bit of a departure from my style of late, but I really love the way this one turned out.

I am also linking up and playing with th following challenges:

Retro Sketches #187 

Addicted To CAS-Spooky

Friday Mashup: Halloween With The Divas

This week's Mashup Challenge:

• Create a project for Halloween.
• Create a project featuring some Ribbon.
• or Mash it Up! and create a project for Halloween with some Ribbon.
• 
  

Inkspirational #94: Cute Halloween or Pumpkin/Owl

SimonSaysStamp.com Monday Challenge: Monster Mash

Thanks for stopping in to check out my post. I appreciate your comments so very much!

CHEERS!

The theme for this game is "It's SO Hot" - think summer activities, food, weather, beaches - whatever! 

Please head on over to the AAA Cards blog to check out the inspiration from the AAA Cards Team....

More news from AAA Cards - DT Call!

It is time for AAA Cards to add FOUR new members to the AAA Cards team :) If you are interested in becoming a member please write DT next to your name on your submission for this challenge.

Requirements:

1 CAS card creation every two weeks fitting the challenge theme

Ability to take a good photo with good lighting 

Comment on challenge entries

Winners will be contacted by Friday, August 21st!

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As for me, the Game #45 theme is near and dear to my heart, and when I thought about it, the adorable little penguins in MFT's PENGUINS IN PARADISE set immediately came to mind. This little one holding a colorful cocktail beneath a palm tree is the coolest!!! 

 Get your coolness on, and create something fun for AAA Cards Challenge #45, head on over to the AAA Cards blog, link up and play with us.

I am also linking this creation to the following challenges:

Muse Challenge #126

Inkspirational Challenge #88

Thanks so much for coming by today.  Your comments bring a smile to my face.

Absolutely In Awe

Challenge #31 - Grunge with the optional twist of embossing

My card was born of inspiration from THIS card by my fellow AAA Cards Design Team member Jane Taylor of Purplejet Loves Crafts.  Her creation was made for the current AAA Card Challenge : For The Boys - make a card with a masculine touch; Inspirational Colour Challenge - Purple; and Time Out Challenges #31 - Grunge with the optional twist of embossing.

I just loved Jane's purple inky background, and that touch of red really got me.  I decided to try my hand at the grungy challenge over at Time Out Challenges as well, and this is what I came up with.  

I inked the background with a few distress inks of purple hues, and applied a little red.  Love the way that looks!  Then I stamped my skateboarder (retired SU) and moved him to the right a few times to give the illusion of movement.  The main image needed to be bolder, so I filled it in with a brush and black distress ink. It still needed some "umph", so I brushed it with clear Wink Of Stella.  I popped up the inked panels with foam tape. The die cut "awesome" (4 layers thick) and the rest of the sentiment is from a stamp and die set from Simon Says Stamp. Nestled the die cut between the two inked layers.

I am happy with this one. Thanks Jane for the awesome inspiration! Thank YOU for stopping by today!

She Art

I met a wonderful woman while I was looking at blogs and commenting on the wonderful work that I saw.  We exchanged lovely comments about eachother's work, and even a little of our life's philosophy.  I LOVE it when that happens!  I also learned something new from my new friend, C.  Do you know what "She Art" is?  The challenge over at the Inkspirational Challenge Blog is She Art or an image of a woman.

If you are curious as I was, click HERE to get to Christy Tomlinson's blog.  From what I can tell, she is a She Art expert, and you can get a good idea of what it is all about.

Anyway, after I made this discovery, I was compelled to figure out a way to play this challenge.  I suddenly remembered some collage stamps from Hero Arts that I have had for a very long time and never used.  I pulled them out, and there was no turning back.  Although there is no woman or girl in the image, and this isn't really She Art, I think it works for the challenge. I heat embossed the image  in black, sponged it with Distress Inks, and gave it a spritz of gold shine with Gold Color Shine Spray from Heidi Swapp.  I thought about some words that would be fitting wishes for a special girl in my life.  So I typed the words Wisdom, Confidence, Strength, Dignity, Nurture and Love on my computer, making the type white and the background black.  I printed them on card stock, cut them out, covered with Glossy Accents and adhered to the sponged panel.  I then used a sentiment from Alt&New's Label Love set to finish it off.  Here is the end result:

The gold shine spray really looks fabulous on this card, but I could not capture it in the photo.  I am so happy that I learned something new.   She Art - who knew? Now I do, and I really like the way my attempt at this turned out.  Really took me out of my comfort zone.

I am also submitting this creation to :

 A Blog Named Hero - Bright & Bold

Happy Little Stampers - Sponging

ShowcCASe Your Style #10

Thanks so very much for coming by today.

Watercolor & Rain

I am so excited to say that I have been invited to join the Design Team at AAA Cards. 

Woo Hoo!!! The DT is a warm and welcoming, very talented bunch.  I am so happy to be a part.  The card below is my very first DT creation ever.  I took the inspiration piece quite literally with a little interpretive twist on the sentiment.

Now, it is your turn.  Go on over to the AAA Cards blog. Check out the beautiful DT creations, and give the challenge a go! Then please link up your creation on the AAA Cards Blog by Saturday, March 14th at 1:00 PM, Mountain Central Time.  

GO SPREAD A LITTLE LOVE AT AAA CARDS

I am also submitting this card for this week's Inkspirational Challenge #77

and this week's ATCAS Challenge : Code Word DISTRESS.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!!