Its Hip to Be Square!

Its Friday finally!  And its time for a new challenge from Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge!  This week its  a square card theme.  I used Cocoa's Latte and paper pieced the coffee cup and sleeve with brand new Basic Grey Christmas papers.  

Cocoa is colored with my Spectrum Noir markers in BG6, BG4, BG3 and BG2.  His ears and nose are CR5, CR2, FS8, and FS2.  The matching sentiment is from Hot Cocoa Sentiments.

I hope you get a chance to play along with us this week!  And have a fabulous weekend!

Dreamweaver Thursday

 This is the last week to play with the Getting Inky challenge at Dreamweaver Stencils then we are on to a new challenge!  Today I took Lee Kellogg's idea from last week which you can see HERE.  I am in love with the look!

I used Paintbox Red, Bubblegum Pink, and Fresh Lime Dylusions Ink Sprays on my background and then sprayed water through the LJ896 Flourish Stencil to get a ghosted effect.

After that was dry I spread Glossy Black Paste over the new LJ891 Heart Ornaments stencil.  I added Diamond Dust to the branches to mimic ice on the trees and tied some itty bitty green bows on the ornaments.

I hope you'll join us this week!  The winner gets to pick their own stencil this month!  Please be sure to check out the rest of the Inky fun from the DWS team:

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Halloween Art Journal pages

I've been playing in my Art Journal again...this is a set of pages that I started a week or so ago and finally finished this morning.  I started by spraying my pages with water and then Squeezed Oranges, Lemon Zest and Crushed Grapes Dylusions ink sprays.

I did Dyan's ghosting technique with the Chequered Dots stencil and a water mist.  I then used the same stencil and added new Tim Holtz Metallic Distress Stain in Antique Bronze.

The letters on this page I drew myself mimicking Dyan's style :)  The spider, web and cat are from the Bits and Bats stamp set by Dyan Reaveley.  Also added some doodling with my favorite white gel pen from Signo.

Here's the kitty closer...and we all know I love anything feline!  I created a fence for him to sit on with a chevron stencil and Black Marble Dylusions ink spray.

This is the facing page.  Same colors and techniques on the background.

The trees are from the same Bits and Bats stamp set.  Stamped in Versafine Black and then colored with Crushed Grape Dylusions spray and a Ranger water pen.

The letters for this page were traced through the Ho Ho Holly and Let it Snow stencils then doodled in and colored with Squeezed Orange Dylusions and a water pen.

And finally the two pages together.  As a scrapbooker at heart I have a hard time not doing two-page spreads sometimes...and especially when it comes to my favorite time of year...Halloween!

Supplies:

Dylusions Rubber Stamps: Bits and Bats

Dylusions Stencils: Chequered Dots, Hoho Holly & Let It Snow

Dylusions Ink Sprays: Crushed Grape, Lemon Zest, Squeezed Orange & Black Marble

Tim Holtz Metallic Distress Stain

Versafine Onyx black; Ranger Water pen

Signo White Gel pen; Copic Multi-liner pens

Jillibean Soup Sketch Challenge

There's a fabulous Scrapbook sketch this month at Jillibean Soup and I found the perfect photo to use!  This is a shot of Michael and his pals at Field Day this Spring...are they doing field day?  No, they're watching Call of Duty videos on my phone!

For my layout I printed all the papers from the Monster Stew Digi Paper Collection thin cut strips, added some ribbon scraps and some zig-zag stitching in black.  Easy peasy and it turned ut bright and fun!

My letters are die cut from QuicKutz Splendid alphabet.  (Star on the "i" was cut from the JB paper)

Here's a closeup of some of the stitching and I added a journal half-circle that I die cut.

For a few extra embellishments I cut a star and a monster out of pieces of the pattern paper...

And here's the sketch if you want to play along too:

OK, that's it for this afternoon, I'm off to pick up my cute little monster at school :)

Skipping Stones Design Sketch #147

Its sketch time again at Skipping Stones Design and this week we are also featuring the sets Grunge  and Grunge2.   We hope you'll play along with us this week ;)  Here's the sketch:

I used Grunge to create a wood panel on Kraft cardstock using Sepia Versafine ink.  I kept the card CAS to try to keep it masculine (two things very hard for me!)  My pp are from We R Memory Keepers.  Tough Guy sentiment is also from the Grunge set.

Be sure to hop over and visit my teammates blogs and leave them some love too :)

Toreads Sneak Peek

Crafter's Companion is releasing a whole new line of Toreads in a couple of weeks and we got the go ahead to sneak peek them!  (These are live in the UK already!)

Meet Xeru.  Duuude. Is he cute or what??  I used this weeks Split Coast Stampers sketch for my layout and Allspice papers from My Minds Eye.  He is of course colored with my Spectrum Noir markers.

Here's a closer shot of him:

Spectrum Noir colors used:

GB10, GB8, GB6, EB8

BT9, BT6, GT3

TN5, OR3, EB1

FS8, FS3, FS1

The sentiment is from the same set.  I used some of my old SU! punches and some bling from Bazzill and My Minds Eye.  The felt flowers are from Basic Grey.

Challenge List:

Pile It On: Fabric or Felt

Simply Create: anything goes

Craft Door Magazine: anything goes

No Matter which: dies or punches

Dutch Dare: all things boys

Some Odd Girl Facebook Fun Day Challenge

I cant believe I didn't get to hang out all day yesterday for the Some Odd Girl Facebook Fun Day.  Boo!  I DID however get one of the challenges done today...to make a gatefold card.  The tutorial can be found HERE.

I used the new Cowgirl Mae digi stamp for my card and paired her with some digi papers that I printed from Jillibean Soup called Chicken Noodle Soup.  This is the outside of the card.

Here's a closeup of Mae on the inside, all colored with my Speccies.  Isn't she a hoot rounding up her piggies?  Bwahaha...couldn't resist!

A closeup of the sentiment (from The Cat's Pajamas) and the lasso I created:

And here's a shot of the inside of the card:

Thanks for moseying on over today, hope you had a great weekend!

Spectrum Noir Challenge

Have you noticed that our first challenge is up on the Spectrum Noir Blog?  Its a Holiday challenge so pul out those Christmas/holiday stamps and your Speccies and come join us! 

I played along this week using one of the newest Strawberry Kisses stamps from Crafter's Companion, Love You.  I love my kitties and this one was just screaming for me to color her!  I kept her in pale shades of grays using CG3, CG2, and CG1.

Her Santa hat is colored with my Spectrum Noir markers in  DR4, CR11, CR8 and CR4.  Other colors used: JG4, LG4, CR2, and FS8.  I also added a wet nose with my Sakura Glaze pen and fluff to the hat with a Quickie Glue pen and Stampendous! White flock.  Berries on the holly are Candy Cane stickles.

Supplies:

Stamp: Love You (Crafter's Companion)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Tim Holtz Barn Door, Worn Lipstick and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink (Ranger)

Paper: Neenah Solar White; Winter Tortellini and Spinach Soup (Jillibean Soup)

Accessories: Labels 4, Standard circles dies (Spellbinders); Snowflake Circles embossing Folder (Cuttlebug); White Fun Flock (Stampendous); Quickie Glue pen & Glaze pen (Sakura); Candy Cane Stickles (Ranger); Winter Tortellini and Spinach Soup sticker (Jillibean Soup); ribbon (May Arts)

Spectrum Noir Challenge Info:

Our first challenge is Holiday Cards/Projects.  Create any card or project for ANY holiday (it does not have to be just Christmas!), use your Spectrum Noir pens, and you can play along with us!

This month, to celebrate the start of our new challenges, we will be awarding one participant (drawn at random from all valid entries) one set of twenty-four pens (winner chooses the set – Brights, Lights, Darks, or Pastels!) and any one holiday stamp of the winner’s choice (from Crafter’s Companion UK or US).

This challenge is open from September 15, 2012 through October 14, 2012.

Here is some basic information:

• To be eligible for a prize, you must:
  • enter a valid, direct link to your project (links to general blogs or galleries will be deleted)
  • use ONLY Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to color with
  • create a new project for the challenge (entries to projects that pre-date the challenge will be deleted)
  • if possible, mention and link to the Spectrum Noir challenge in your blog post or gallery upload
• You may use any stamp or image from any company
• The challenge is open internationally (prizes will ship from either Crafter’s Companion USA or Crafter’s Companion UK

Sweet 'n Sassy Digi Challenge Blog Hop

Its time for the Sweet `n Sassy Digi Challenge and Blog Hop for our September Digi Release!!

While you're hopping, be sure to leave some love on each of the blog hop posts…One of the ladies below is a mystery blogger and she will be picking a random winner from the comments on her blog post!!

The winning prize will be the whole September Digi Release!! (The winner will be announced here on Friday, September 28th.)

The new digis:

Pumpkin Kitty $3.00

Autumn Collage $3.00

Happy Flowers  $3.00

4 Petaled Flowers $4.00

And now for today's challenge:

Add "Scoring"for your creation!

Just a few things to keep in mind as you play....

Please remember to use digital images ONLY for the challenge.

~You don't have to use SNS digi images to play along but we sure do love when you do!

~When uploading to online galleries, please use keyword SNSDC72.

For my card I used the new Autumn Collage.  I think its just beautiful and I had a blast coloring the panel.  I pulled out my Spectrum Noir markers t match this older paper from Authentique that just says Autumn to me.

I added a few lines of scoring with my scor Pal to the bottom pane and then sponged them with Gathered Twigs Distress ink.

And here's a closeup of the stamp:

And now its off to hop!  Heres's the whole hop order in case you get lost:

Cynthia Olheiser (Guest DT)

Sarah Miller (Guest DT)

Ceal Pritchett

Cyndi Bundy

Makiko Jones

Melinda Gleissner

Crafty Math Chick

Patricia Hays

Stephanie Wright

Wendy Jordan

Every card you enter into our challenges throughout September, you will get one entry to be eligible for winning 3 digis of your choice from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps store.

Every week, we spotlight one participant who uses SNSS digi images for their card or project.

Tips and Tricks Thursday

Good morning!  Today is my turn for Tips and Tricks at the Skipping Stones Design blog and I want to share with you some fun ways to use my favorite Dylusions  ink sprays and a few other  techniques with your Skipping Stones Design sets.  For my tag today I used SSD sets Grunge 1 , Grunge 2, and Garden Stamp Kisses.

First I started by spraying water and then Dylusions ink sprays onto my tag.  (I used Cut Grass, Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime, and Melted Chocolate)

Next I used a roll of paper towels to soak up the excess water then finished drying the tag with a heat gun.

This is what the tag looked like at this point.

Next I sprayed water onto one of the border stamps from Grunge 1 and then stamped that onto my tag for a ghosted effect.

Let the water set for a few seconds then dry to see the ghosting effect begin to show.

Then I wanted to add some random stamping in the background so I used another border from Grunge 1, inked it with Versafine Ink then rolled it onto the tag so I would only get partial images from the stamp.

This is what it looked like at this point.  (I also used the same technique to add the speckle border from Grunge 2 using Mowed Lawn Distress ink.

I then added a main sentiment from Grunge 2 and the crow from Garden Stamp Kisses in Versafine ink.  It was still a bit bare so I added some of the little Fleur de Lis stamp all over and doodled a bit around the edges.

My final step was to re-stamp the crow in Peacock Feathers Distress ink, cut him out and ink the edges in Brushed Corduroy and pop him up over the black shadow of the crow.

Dreamweaver Stencils is still getting Inky!

Have you joined us this month for our Getting Inky Challenge at Dreamweaver Stencils?  You could be the winner of the stencil of your choice!

Today I pulled out my Alcohol inks from Dreamweavers to create the background you see below.  I started with silver piece of Aluminum and debossed the Star Dream Christmas Tree using my Cuttlebug.  I then added Iceberg, Citron, and Sugarplum Color Solutions alcohol inks.

Here's a closeup shot at the tree:

I hope you'll play with us this month!  And be sure to hop around and visit the rest of the Dream Team's blogs for more inspiration today!

I've been Dylusioned...

Dylusions.  (Noun)  Ink Sprays and Stamps by Dyan Reaveley for Ranger

Dylusioning: (Verb) The act of spraying inks onto a surface

Dylusioned: (Adjective) What happens to your hands when you have Dylusioned something

So, while hanging out at Betty's Scrapbook Room this afternoon we were totally dylusioned!  We had a blast with our sprays and stamps while making some samples for a display board.  I'm going to share a couple of the tags I created today :)

First is what turned into a Fall tag that was sprayed with Vibrant Turquoise, Fresh Lime, Melted Chocolate, and Postbox Red Dylusions Sprays.  I used Dyan's ghosting technique with a chicken wire stencil and water spray.  Then I added Black Marble Spray through Dyan's Chequered Dots stencil.

I added a spider, bamboo and skull from Bits of This stamp set.  Sentiment is from Say What You Mean stamp set.

I also added a zig zag border from the stamp set Inbetweenies.  The leaves on the bamboo are colored with a water pen and Vibrant Turquoise Dylusions spray.

 That's it for today but stay tuned for tomorrow when I walk you through these steps for a Skipping Stones Tips and Tricks Thursday post!