Time Out #262 - Photo Inspiration

Kim Heggins used to be a design team member at Time Out and is an incredible seamstress.  She made the inspiration for our challenge.  

Kim has an Etsy shop called Running Stitch Design and is offering the winner of our challenge a $25 credit to her shop.

I took my cue from the brown checked fabric on the bottom of the bag and the dogs in the print fabric.  I have always loved this dog from Gerda Steiner, stamped him on a panel cut with MFT's wonky rectangles and colored him with Zigs.  The checked background is a stamp from Concord and 9th.  The sentiment from the GS set was stamped and cut with an Altenew speech bubble. 

Need inspiration other than that fabulous bag?  The Design Team has plenty to show you.  

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Just Us Girls #646 - Color Week

Lisa K is our host for Color Week at Just Us Girls and these are the colors she chose. 

You will see a different card from me this week.  No flowers. (Gasp!) I couldn't figured out what to do at first but then pulled out my NBUS MFT Pawty Time and made this.

I'm not a big critter user and not very good with alcohol markers but I think these critters are cute and since they were on sale I bought them for cards for my great grandkids and other kiddos on my birthday list. 

What do you see making with these colors?  For inspiration check out the blog where our guest designer Cathy Roffey and the rest of the Design Team have some wonderful cards to show you.  If you enter, you may have a chance to be our next guest.

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Twofer Challenge #41

I am sad to report that the Twofer Challenge will be closing after this month.  Our Darling Darnell has given us a wonderfully fun challenge for the last four years but family and health issues require more of her time and as we well know that takes priority.  Many thanks to you and your team, Darnell, for all the creativity we've seen on this unique challenge.  

Here's the prompt.

I'm so glad I brought stamps with me that I can use for this final challenge.  I would have hated to miss it.

The images are from Gerda Steiner, colored with Zigs.

Here the little bulldog is all forlorn that he forgot someone's birthday.  The 'doghouse' is cut from paper from a Honey Bee Stamps pack with an MFT die.   The card base behind was inked with Altenew using a blender brush.

Here he is consoling his little cat friend.  After masking the horizon, the sky was ink blended with Altenew and then the top was masked and the grass added.  The little speech bubble just happened to be in the stamp set - one I computer generated a while ago.  

I hope you'll make a card for this last challenge.  Or at least stop by and give the design team some love before they ride off into the sunset.

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Inspired By #171 and Time Out #186

I love it when a plan comes together.  I had what I thought was a perfect stamp for the Inspired By challenge.  See photo below.

I smooshed the background with Distress Inks and cut it with MFT's wonky stitched rectangle.  The bulldog is from Gerda Steiner and his party hat from Winnie and Walter, both colored with DI.  The sentiment for the speech bubble was computer generated.  Now for the inside sentiment?  What do you think it is?  Or should be?

I don't have any pets but I'm sending this grumpy fellow to Time Out for their challenge. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Time Out #154

I made a bunch of valentines and hoped one or more would fit a challenge along the way.  I think this one that went to my great grandson fits the bill for the Time Out challenge "Affectionate".

The background was made with Distress Ink and an MFT cloud stencil, faint though they are.  The little RC pup is colored with Zigs and on an action wobble.  I thought the bow tie was perfect since Connor was wearing a bow tie in some of his 1st birthday photos. Before you yell at me, I do know there's a warning on the action wobbles but I'm sure he won't get his hands on the card.  Mom and Dad will just wobble the puppy for him.

Thanks for dropping by.  I love it when you do.

CAS Christmas, Watercolor and Mix-Up

I thought I'd make it easy for the gals who run the CAS challenges and show all three of my cards on one post.  No going from post to post to comment. 

First up is CAS Christmas where the prompt is tree.

I started with three layers of UTEE embossing powder on a scrap of cs and added glitter.  The paper was too thick to cut with the SSS tree so I trimmed the edges and just cut the outline from green and glued it on.  I found the star brad among my embellishments and have no idea where it came from. The SSS sentiment is cut from red foil, layered on white for stability.  Here's a close up.

The prompt at CAS Watercolor is sunflower and I used the PTI botanical block.

The image and sentiment from Verve are embossed with copper and the flower is colored with Zigs.

My favorite is for CAS Mix-Up.  We were to do stencil monoprints, and they have several videos listed on the blog to give you ideas on how to proceed.  I played around with a couple ideas before I ended up with something I liked.

I made my own tattersall plaid by inking up the SSS grid stencil with Distress Inks in Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo.  When it was dry I reinked with Blueprint Sketch and aligned the stencil between the first stamping.  The little dog from Gerda Steiner was laying on my desk and the colors worked beautifully with the plaid so I popped him up and added the sentiments from the same set. My choice is watercoloring and die cut.

It's been fun and I hope you like them.

Merry Monday #283

Look at this cute photo.

At Merry Monday we are to add a puppy to our Christmas card.  Not having a specific Christmas puppy I had to improvise and I'm glad stamps from different companies work so well together.

I took the Santa and sentiment from MFT and added the little dog from PB.  Both are colored with Zigs.  For the background I used my Clarity brush to make a soft winter sky and then stamped it with a snowflake looking stamp from CPD in Fairy Dust.  I thought a little shine was needed so I embossed on some glitter.  I used texture paste to create a snowy ground and popped up the images.  I think that little pup is glad to hear that he can expect something good from Santa this year. ;)

You're all on my nice list too.

CAS(E) This Sketch #261

It's another CAS(E) This Sketch retro challenge with this sketch.

I'll show you my original below but first the new one I agonized over.  With all the DT cards and a flurry of others I had been working on completed, all of a sudden my inspiration flew out the window. I've been sitting here for days with nothing accomplished until late yesterday.  I had an idea and worked on it, didn't like it, worked on another, didn't like it and went back to the first one.  And here it is.

The stamp is from PB, colored with Zigs on Bristol.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I didn't buy critter stamps for a long time because I didn't have a way to color them until I got my Zigs, and then I wasn't sure they (or I) did a good enough job.  I'm getting better and some of the images are just so cute how could I resist.

The previous card was before critters and Zigs, back when I did a lot of flowers and all my coloring was done with Distress Inks.

Now that I look at it, it was also before my watermark and light box.  Boy have things changed.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I hope you're continually learning and changing in your craft life too.

Addicted to Stamps and More #279

Here's another Addicted to Stamps and More challenge for those of you who love a clean and simple card.  Here's mine.

I did this a while ago right after I got the darling Gerda Steiner dogs and it was just waiting for a challenge.  He's colored with Zigs and popped into an MFT peekaboo cut.

The Design Team has some fabulous cards to inspire you and we hope you'll make a clean and simple card for our gallery.

Addicted to CAS #116

Kel is the host for Addicted to CAS this week and she has chosen the word

I recently made two card featuring bicycles but since it's the only stamp I have with wheels I had to come up with an different way to use it again.

The cat and dog come with the SSS stamp set so I put them on the bike as the 'good friends' in the sentiment.  Everything was colored with Zigs.

We'd love to see your CAS card with wheels.  Need a refresher on what CAS means?

Check out the Design Team for inspiration and enter your card in the gallery for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate from Happy Little Stampers.

Tag You're It! #68

It's time for another challenge at Tag You're It! and the guest designer is Gayatri Murali.  She has this cute tag for our inspiration.

I recently got some PB dog stamps and I used one to make my tag.

The dog is colored with Zigs, fussy cut and foam mounted on the HA tag cut from brick paper.  He is just so cute I thought 'hugs' was the perfect sentiment for the tag and used a die from SSS.

We hope you'll make a tag and enter it in the challenge.  For inspiration, check out the TYI design team's tags on the blog.

Addicted to CAS #104

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS with our host Carolyn.

When I saw this code word I had to order some new stamps because I had nothing for this unless I used a farm animal.  I was going to use a chicken because I did have one as a pet when I was in high school but now I can do something a little more ordinary.

I love this little laughing dog - at least I think he's laughing - from Penny Black.  I colored him with Zigs, added some Distress Ink through a stencil and popped up a computer generated sentiment.

How about you?  Any pets you would like to put on a card?  Try it and you may win a $15 gift certificate from our sponsor Happy Little Stampers.

Just Us Girls #379

It's word week at Just Us Girls and Lisa has chosen the word "dogs".

I have to admit that I did not have one dog stamp. That's right.  Not one. single. one.  I'm glad I get these challenges ahead of time because it gave me time to order a couple of sets.  Yes, I couldn't stop at one. ;)

This little cutie caught my eye and I thought she'd be perfect to get my valentines started.  I cut a circle from Bristol board and embossed the remaining panel with a hearts folder, popping it up on my card base.  I stamped the dog on the circle, colored her with Zigs and inset it back in the opening.  The inside says "Doggone it!  I want you for my valentine."

Our guest designer for February is Michelle Greenwood.  She and the rest of the Design Team have some wonderful cards for you to see.  Head on over to the blog and check them out.  If you enter a card in the gallery, you may be chosen Chic of the Week and be eligible for a guest designer spot in April.

I hope to see you there.

ETA:  At Loll's urging I'm going to sent this card to the CAS Watercolor Challenge.