Inkspirational Challenge #218

Today I'm playing along with the folks at the Inkspirational Challenge blog.  I could be mistaken but I think this may be my first time in joining in.  I will say that their current photo board is a tad bit creepy but I do love the colors. 

I have a polka dot cover die in my stash so that's the direction my card took.  I opted for a cute windmill rather than creepy tentacles however.  

The white panel was cut with a cover die and then embossed with a cover plate to give it some texture.  I did some Copic coloring on the windmill, mushrooms and sentiment.  The front panel was adhered to a red card base which shows through the circles.  I think the end result is cute.  

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Windmill stamp set

Queen and Co - Polkas Die

Papertrey Ink - cover plate

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours and Sketches #381

Are any of you having as much trouble keeping track of time as I am.  Some days I honestly don't know what day of the week it is.  Thank goodness for the ability to create and schedule blog posts ahead of time. (Sad, but being sincere here.  LOL!)  So while today is not Tuesday as I write this, it is Tuesday when it goes live.  Ha!  As you know that means we have a new challenge up for you at the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge blog.  This week we have a sketch created by Holly.

I recently created my first slimline card in a horizontal configuration so today (read that as last week...ha!) I decided to try my hand at a vertical one.  This is what transpired...

No stamping on this one.  I used card stock and a dotted patterned paper to create the vertical stripes.  The sentiment was die cut and layered to add some dimension and the leaves were added for some interest.  I finished it off with some glossy Nuvo drop.  Very easy to create.

Now that I've made a slimline card in both orientations I can honestly say I'm not sure I love the dimensions.  We'll see if it grows on me.

Supplies:

The Stamp Market - card stocks and patterned paper

Spellbinders - Warm Wishes die set

Spellbinders - Layered Colorful Blooms die set

Nuvo - Glossy Black drops

I hope to see your cards in our gallery!!!  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Inspired By Challenge #134

As promised, I'm back with a second beachy card for another similarly themed online card challenge.  It just so happens that the current Inspired By... theme is Beach Life.

I was drawn to both the beautiful sunset colors on the surfboard as well as that cute VW van on the cute shabby chic side table.  

I created the background with Distress Oxide inks.  I stamped two palm trees and then colored them in with a black sparkle marker.  (The sparkle is lost in the photography.)  I stamped, COPIC colored, and die cut the van before popping it up on the card front with some foam adhesive.  I finished it off with the sentiment and the same birds I used on my last card.  Looking back at the inspiration photo, I think I did pretty well.  :-)  (Don't burst my bubble and disagree.  LOL!)

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Surf's Up stamp set

Avery Elle - Sweetest (friend stamp)

PaperTrey Ink - On the Wagon (bird stamp)

Distress Oxides

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #165

It's time for another challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers blog and in keeping with the current animal theme, Edna is going a bit more domestic in her choice.   This fortnight's theme is D is for Dogs.

For my card I turned to another one of my go-to secrets.  Cocktails!   

There was a bit more effort put in to this card than looks on the surface.  The dog and cone images are from two different stamp companies so there was some surgery involved.  The cone stamp actually has a different dog stamped within it so I did some masking and fussy cutting to isolate just the cone itself.  I then stamped my chosen dog image twice as I needed to surgically remove his head and elongate the stamp a bit to make it fit with the cone image.  Am I making any sense? (Basically I colored and fussy cut out an entire dog and then colored and fussy cut out an additional head.)  I made an incision in the cone so I could insert poor decapitated doggie's head inside and then adhered the new head/cone over the torso.  I thought he needed a bit something/something so I dug through my stamp stash and found him a cute baseball cap.  Finally, because I'm sure that was traumatic for the poor little guy, I gave him a cushy little doggie bed on which to rest.  

For the background - I used a martini glass stencil for the panel and a brick stencil for the card base.  I intentionally kept the ink blending very light so as not to distract from the focal image.  I stamped the sentiment in a crisp black pigment ink and added a few little card stock circles to create the illusion of bubbles as well as to balance out the card design.

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Furry Friends

Skipping Stones - Really old and unidentified stamp set (cone and sentiment)

MFT - brick background stencil

Picket Fence Designs - martini stencil

Simon Says Stamp - Warm Christmas Wishes stamp set (ball cap)

PaperTrey Ink - Tipped Top Frames die

We'd love to see what you can create with our new doggie theme.   Snark is awesome but not a requirement.  I hope to see you in the gallery!  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #074

I'm finding myself rather hooked on the TicTacToe challenge boards lately and the current board is no exception. 

I was once again drawn to the right column, this time featuring Adventure, Beach and Palm Tree.  I happened to have one stamp and die set that covered all the bases.

Because there is so much to this stamp set I decided to expand the real estate by trying my hand at a slimline card.  I began by stamping and die cutting the individual events.  I then stamped the beach sand and created a very soft ink blended sky.  After that it was just a matter of assembling the scene.  I added a bit of soft brown edging to add to the vintage feel as well as few soft birds in the distant sky.  As my final touch I added a retirement sentiment because ...  just how perfect is that?

Supplies:
PaperTrey Ink - On the Wagon
PaperTrey Ink - Sand Swatches


There happens to be another beachy challenge going on right now on another blog.  With any luck I'll be back in a day or two with another scenic card to share.

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

.

CAS Colours and Sketches # 380

It's Tuesday once again and I'm delighted to share with you my first DT challenge over at the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge blog.  This week is a color challenge and I've selected the following trio for you to work with this week.  I hope you like them!

For our color challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colors. You may also use neutral colors;  however, the challenge colors should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colors as closely as possible.  

I turned to one of my favorite die collections to create my card and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I began by choosing three shades of cardstock that closely matched the chosen trio.  (The mint card stock actually is Stampin' Up's Mint Macaron shade.  The other two are from different companies.)  As per the rules we are allowed to add in neutrals which for this card are black and white.  

I die cut the arch from a panel of smooth white card stock.  I then die cut the Vespa (sounds much cooler than scooter, don't you think?) four times, once each in blue, coral, mint and white.  The wheels were cut from black card stock.  From there it was just a matter of piecing it all back together.  It takes some finessing but I think the results are so worth it in the end.  I also die cut the balloons in each of the challenge colors.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto black cardstock.  I arranged and adhered it all onto the panel and then adhered the panel to my mint card base.  

Supplies:

Spellbinders - Enjoy the Ride die set

PinkFresh Studio - Braided Tag die

Taylored Expressions - Simple Sentiment stamp and die strips

Studio Katia - Silver Foil Pearls

I'd love for you to join me and hope to see your cards in our gallery!

PS:

There's a DT call out over at the Happy Little Stampers challenge blog.  I'm throwing my hat into the ring with this card for their Die Cuts team which starts back up in 2021. I've played along with their challenges many times and die cut only cards are one of my favorite looks.  Wish me luck.  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Seize The Birthday #195

Today’s card was inspired by the current Seize the Birthday challenge where the extra topping this time around is to use a non-neutral card base.

Colored card bases are a frequent thing with me so this didn’t require any extra effort on my part.  I grabbed a new stamp set from a recent online order and came up with this.

I stamped the balloon bundle in the bottom center portion of the card panel and then created a mask using a full sticky post it note.  Using the mask, I then stamped twice more, once to the right and then again to the left of the original stamped image.  I colored the balloons with COPIC markers and used the yellow shade to color the edges of a scalloped panel cut slightly larger than the stamped panel.  I quadruple die cut the word Happy, stacked the layers and adhered them to the card front.  The sub sentiment was heat embossed in white onto black card stock.  I finished it off by adding a thick layer of Glossy Accents to the word Happy to give the word some shine.  

Supplies:

MFT Balloon Bundle stamp set

MFT Bitty Happy Birthday stamp set
MFT Block Happy Birthday dies
Mama Elephant - Femme Frame panel die

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Altenew July 2020 Challenge

As promised, I'm back with another card inspired by a manufacturer's current color challenge.  Today I'm playing with the folks at Altenew where they have a very different color combination to try.

I really had to do some digging and experimenting to find ink colors close to those represented here. You'll have to let me know how I did.  

I combined two Altenew stamp sets to create the focal point as well as the sentiment.  I colored a piece of white card stock with the same ink as one of the florals in order to get the perfect match for the sentiment strip.  I popped the card panel up with some fun foam and added a few clear hearts as embellishments.  

Supplies:

Altenew - Golden Garden stamp set

Altenew - Wings of Hope stamp set

MFT - Brick Red dye ink

Catherine Pooler - Hot Tub dye ink

Ranger Distress Oxide - Tattered Rose ink

Ellen Hutson - Clear Hearts 

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

MFT Color Challenge #145

I haven't made time lately for the card challenges sponsored by stamp manufacturer's but this week I did create two cards for just that.  Today I'm sharing the card I created with the latest MFT Color Challenge in mind.  I love the quartet of colors that chose!

As luck would have it, I own three of the ink colors mentioned above so I only had to make a substitution for the kraft color. 

I just had to use that awesome butterfly stamp set again!  I added a sentiment from a different set, a few dots to mimic flight, and a splattering of clear sequins.  CAS wins my heart every time.  

Supplies:

MFT Brilliant Butterfly stamp set

MFT Heaps of Hellos stamp set

MFT inks - Tropical Teal, Berrylicious and Natural

Catherine Pooler - Sand Castle ink

Pretty Pink Posh - Sparkling Clear Confetti

Come back tomorrow for second card created for another manufacturer's color challenge.  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS(e) This Sketch #380

Today I'm playing along with the folks at the CAS(e) This Sketch challenge blog.  The sketch this week is very different and I've had a lot of fun watching to see everyone's take on it.

Any guesses as to what I saw in the design?

Ha!  Yep, Shark Time!  

I began the card with an ink blended stencil technique I first saw on Instagram by MFT designers Laura Devalo and Jodi Collins.  The stencil they used is a part of  MFT's latest release.  I ordered it immediately *blush* but because I don't yet have it, I did some improvising with a different stencil as inspired by my dear friend Michele.  I ink blended onto the stencil, turning it several times to get the water effect.  Very cool.  

In order to get the shark in the right position for the sketch I had to do some mirror stamping.  I find that I get the best results with this technique if I use a crisp black pigment ink so I heat set it with clear embossing powder prior to some careful Copic coloring.  I curved the sentiment along the line of the shark, matted the panel on a piece of black card stock and finished it off with some clear droplets.  

Here's a peek at the inside of the card....

  

This one was really fun to make and I love getting new inspiration for my favorite well loved stamps.

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Shark Hugs stamp set (shark)

Avery Elle - Hello Chum stamp set (greeting)

Avery Elle - Celebraytion stamp set (cupcake)

Vicky Boutin - stencil

Distress Oxide - Tumbled Glass

I'm off to see just which card challenge inspires me next!

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #072

This is my second post for today.  Please scroll down to see the new CC&S challenge card for this week.  

_______________________________________________________________________________

I've just returned from a wonderful little getaway to North Carolina where I visited my son and his family and wow, am I'm ever ready to move.  Seriously.  The heat here in Florida (and let's not even venture into our shameful Covid numbers) is unbearable.  I gave myself a couple of days before hopping back in to some of my favorite online card challenges.  

For my first challenge, I'm back playing with the folks at the Tic Tac Toe blog.  I'm especially excited to play once again as my very first card entry two weeks ago earned me the distinction of being Designer's Choice.  Here's this week challenge game.   

Today I've chosen the right column of Stitching/Circle/Ice Cream to create my card.  The circle and the ice cream are obvious in my design. The stitching is a bit more subtle and is easiest to see on her wrist.

I began my card with some alcohol ink coloring/die cutting of the ice cream cone which I topped off with a bit of Glossy Accents.  The hand was also die cut, followed by a touch of ink blending to create the skin tone.  The focal circle was cut from leftover stenciled card stock that I will share with you tomorrow. *teaser, ha!*  The holes were cut from the circle using a specialty die.  (I love being able to add a little bit of interest to the inner circle by backing it with some bright card stock.) For the background I used a panel die to create the chicken wire effect and then popped out all of the negative pieces.  I selected a few of these pieces to pop back in and blended them with some ink prior to placement.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white onto a scrap of black card stock.  I finished it off with a little jewel on her finger and must say, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.    

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Sweetest stamp set

Ellen Hutson - Handful stamp set, Hands die, Alpine Snowfall die

MFT - Stitched Stax Circle die

Kat Scrappiness - Woodgrain Frame Diamond panel die

I'll be back tomorrow with another challenge card.  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours and Sketches #379

Even in this crazy world of ours, time seems to go by much too quickly.  Today marks another Tuesday which means it's time for new challenge over at the CC&S blog.  Challenge #379 is a sketch from Jeanne.

I used an implied approach to both my focal circle as well as the large shape elements in her sketch as you can see here....

I began my stamping the half circle element onto a panel of smooth white card stock.  I then stamped the three piece butterfly image in three different colors of ink and the sentiment in a crisp black pigment ink.  Rather than incorporating two large shapes as illustrated in the sketch, I chose to balance out my design with the smaller floral and gem elements.  I matted the white panel onto a slightly larger black scalloped panel and then adhered the whole thing to a soft mint card base.  

Supplies:

MFT Brilliant Butterflies stamp set

The Ton - Pragmatic Wreath stamp set

WPlus9 - Sunshine Layers die set (scalloped panel)

assorted gemstones

I hope to see your creation in our gallery this week!

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #164

Hello Crafty Friends!  It's time for more fun over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge blog.  Our prompt for this next fortnight is Z is for Zebra.

While I do own a zebra stamp I was at a loss to come up with a sufficiently witty sentiment.  I did find a stencil with a somewhat tribal feel and knew I could make it work. 

Allow me to let you in on my secret.  When in need of some sass and snark, look no further than Art Impression old bitty stamps.  I chose an old bitty image/sentiment from one set, combined her with a cake hat from another set and added it all on top of a black/white tribal background.  Voila...Zebra!  Ha!

To create my card I began with the background.  I used an ink blending tool to apply the tribal design onto a piece of smooth white card stock using black pigment ink which I then heat set with a clear embossing powder.  I used a combination of Copic coloring and patterned paper piecing for Miss Bitty.  Like I mentioned above, the cake is actually a hat from different AI set.  I colored and fussy cut it out before placing it in Miss Bitty's outstretched hand.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white on black card stock.  When assembling the card my white background panel seemed a bit stark so I did a bit of ink blending in green, darker at the bottom with a fade out towards the top.

Oh!  We can't forget the inside of the card.  It's what really adds the final snark.

Yep!  Happy 29th Birthday from your 110 lb friend!   (I'm both, by the way.  *wink*) 

Supplies:

Art Impressions - Never Too Old to Laugh and Birthday Hat stamp sets

Hero Arts - Graphic Pattern stencil

Lawn Fawn - designer paper

Please check out our blog post and show us your inner zebra!  I will be looking for you in the gallery.

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours and Sketches #378

The new color challenge is up at the CC&S blog and I am in love with the selection!  Isn't this trio so pretty?

 

For our color challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colors. You may also use neutral colors;  however, the challenge colors should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colors as closely as possible.  

I went through my collection of alcohol markers in search of some that match closely to those above.  While Copic brand markers are my go to, I thankfully have many sets from various manufacturers so I was able to find just the right colors.  

I was thoughtfully gifted this stamp and die set from a dear friend and had to put it to use right away.  It was perfect for a color challenge but I particularly love these bold colors.  This card was fairly straight forward to create.  I colored the image using blue for the flowers, green for the leaves and purple for the berries.  I die cut three squares of white card stock and colored them in with one of each color.  I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment onto the green square and adhered them all to the inside of the stamped image.  I adhered the entire panel onto a card base made from 110 lb Neenah Solar White card stock and sprinkled a few white clay hearts around to finish it up.  

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - Window Frames stamp and die set

Kat Scrappiness - Clay Hearts

assorted alcohol markers

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Miscellaneous Masculine Cards

A couple of weeks ago I created a card set using bright fun colors.  I really loved how they turned out so I decided to create a similar set in using more masculine colors.  I just never seem to have the right ones in my stash when I need them so hopefully this will help.

I'm a sucker for bold color blocked stamping and really should do it more often!

Supplies:
Avery Elle - MOD stamp set
Ranger - Distress Oxide inks
Simon Says Stamp - thanks die set
Misc - enamel dots

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Thanks a Melon

Hey friends.  I squeezed in a little extra time in my craft room to create something non-challenge related.  I was itching to use some of my newest goodies!  Today's card is simple but sweet.  

After coloring this cutie with Copics I stacked her four high and adhered her to a panel from which I die cut out that adorable brick wall.  I added a thin black "hollow" mat so as to let the red from the card base show through.  A stamped sentiment and some black clay hearts was all that was needed to call this one was done. 

Supplies:
MFT - Pure Innocence Sweet Summertime
The Greetery - Brick Layer die.  (I can already tell this is going to be one of my new favs)

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules