Win a Stamps / Dies Set over at Snippets!

Di over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop has invited me to Guest Design and offer up a prize for the new challenge in the Snippets Playground.  I had a hard time deciding what to offer up but decided to go with something representing one of my other crafty passions - knitting.

The prize is a set of matching stamps and dies - Hero Arts "Knitting" and "Knitting Frame Cuts".

Do lots of you have a stash of white and cream snippets?  I sure do.  There is always a pile like this on my craft desk, mostly created by cutting cs down for square cards:

 

I made two cards using some of the stamps and dies and using up some of the snippets of white cs.

 

I used the same stencil for both backgrounds but on the first card I did a stencil monoprint (see the video tutorial here) with a couple of shades of blue Distress inks, and on the second I lightly and somewhat randomly coloured through the stencil with turquoise and purple Distress inks and my blending brushes.

The images are stamped and coloured (with Inktense watercolour pencils for the first card, and regular coloured pencils for the second), then I die cut the coloured image and a second one out of more snippets, glued the two together for more dimension and added to the background.

Please note that the sentiment "Sweater weather" is not part of the prize.

Please come and join us over at Pixie's Crafty Workshop for a chance to win this set of stamps and dies.

Supplies:
Stamps - Hero Arts Knitting, unknown "Sweater Weather" sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black, various shades of Distress blue, purple, and turquoise
Paper - white and black cs, mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square and A2
Accessories - Hero Arts Knitting Frame dies, Inktense watercolour pencils, regular watercolour pencils, Tim Holtz knitting stencil

Twofer Balloons and Ghosted Snowflakes

I've been lying low with a nasty cold but finally today I felt more energetic and got three cards made so that I can squeak in under the wire for a couple of challenges!

First up, Darnell's Twofer Challenge - one that truly is a challenge for me!

I could only think of two stamps I have with a balloon and one of them only works for Christmas, so had to go with the other.  Here's the Twofer:

The one on the left is the full stamp - the girl and the balloon are a famous Banksy image, and are one single stamp.  I used a simple "love you" sentiment - it will be a Valentine card.

For the second card, I stamped the bear, then used just the balloon part of the Banksy image, stamping it multiple times in different colours, having all the strings converge at the bear's hand.  I coloured the bear with coloured pencils and trimmed the image with a stitched circle and used a contrasting colour for the card base.

For both cards, I popped up the focal panels on fun foam and went over the balloons with Glossy Accents.


Next up is this card:

 

Right back to my comfort zone of blue and white, and Christmas cards!!

I smooshed a piece of mixed media cs with a couple of blue Distress inks, and then laid a snowflake stencil over it and removed some of the colour with a baby wipe - the "ghosting" technique.  I added a reindeer die cut from white glitter cs and a sentiment using a Tim Holtz rub-on.  I popped the panel up on fun foam and added a few small die cut white glitter snowflakes around the card base.

It's going over to the following challenges:

CAS Christmas - Deer

CAS Stencil - Ghosting

Christmas Kickstart - Moves on Hooves

 

Thanks for hanging in for such a long post!!

Supplies for 1st card:

Stamps - Viva Las Vegas "Banksy Girl with a Balloon", PTI sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Rhubarb Stalk

Paper - white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, Glossy Accents, fun foam

Supplies for 2nd card:

Stamps - Viva Las Vegas "Banksy Girl with a Balloon", AE bear, Lawn Fawn sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, and various colours for the balloons

Paper - white and mottled brown/beige cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - coloured pencils, Lil Inker stitched circle die, Glossy Accents, fun foam

Supplies for 3rd card:

Ink - blue Distress inks

Paper - mixed media and white cs, SU white glitter cs

Size - A2

Accessories - PaperArtsy snowflake stencil, Cheery Lynn snowflake dies, unknown reindeer die, fun foam

Sparkle Paste Snowflakes

Summer starts in the month of June and here's me making a winter / Christmas card for my Design Team card for the June CAS Mix Up challenge!  This month we are looking for:

I'd been meaning to do a card for last week's SCS Ways to Use It challenge, "Kids & Pets, the Perfect Mix!" since I'm such a dog lover and I have the perfect stamp for it in my NBUS box.  It occurred to me that it was ideal for embossing paste snowflakes so I decided to do it for CAS Mix Up, and post late to the SCS challenge.  Here it is:

I stamped my image on Bristol vellum cs - ideal for coloured pencils.  I used my Prismacolours and Gamsol to colour the image.  Then I laid the Memory Box snowflakes stencil over it, masking off any snowflakes that interfered with the image (like a huge one right on the dog's head).  I used the beautifully sparkly Cosmic Shimmer Frosty Dawn embossing paste.

I added a thin border of sparkly cs and popped it up on fun foam.

Here's a close-up of the embossing paste snowflakes:

Because of the proportions of the image, I made this an unusual size of card - 4.5x5" instead of the usual 4.25x5.5".  So it was a good opportunity to use my envelope maker and a piece of dp from my stash to make an appropriately-sized and co-ordinating envelope.

Please head over to CAS Mix Up and check out the other cards by the fabulous Design Team and our June Guest Designer, Marianne of Marianne's Cards 'n Stuff.  You have until June 24th to link up a card that includes stamping, embossing paste or gel, and at least one other option from our list on the right hand side of the CAS Mix Up page - I have stamping, embossing paste, stenciling, and coloured pencils with Gamsol.

And if anyone knows the brand or name of the stamp, please let me know.  It's unmounted and disappeared into my NBUS box with no note of where I got it!

Supplies:

Stamps - ? dog and child stamp, Northwoods sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - white glitter, white, and Bristol Vellum cs

Size - 4.5x5"

Accessories - Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Memory Box snowflake stencil, Cosmic Shimmer Frosty Dawn embossing paste, fun foam

A Valentine Balloon

This week's Less is More challenge is to use one or more balloons on a card.  I went with one balloon.

I put the stamp in my MISTI, inked up the girl and string in black and the balloon in red, using the little Memento dew drops ink pads - made it easier than my big ink pads. Added a simple sentiment and popped it up on fun foam on a red slightly shimmery card base. I added Glossy Accents to the balloon.

I'll be back with some more Valentine cards soon.

Supplies:

Stamps - Viva Las Vegas Banksy Balloon Girl, PTI sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Lady Bug

Paper - white cs, red with slight shimmer cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Glossy Accents, fun foam