Lunagirl Moonbeams are Showing off Autumn

Lunagirl Moonbeams are showing off autumn in their creations this week.  Karen of Lunagirl is giving away two prizes at the end of her challenge Sunday.  Below is one of my samples for the challenge.


I love this image of an owl.  You can see him trying to hide in the trees.  The background was actually a piece of striped cardstock.  I embossed it and then used two different distressed inks and highlighted the embossing.  I cut around the owl so he would become a part of the background.  The sentiment is made with tag alphabet stickers.

We're Friends

Here is a card I made for Beverly's Classy Cards and Such.CCNS04 Embossing Folders Challenge.  I took a piece of designer cardstock and used the Dots embossing folder and highlighted it with Tuxedo Black from Momento.  I really like using this particular folder as it givess texture without destroying the design in the cardstock.

The image in the corner is "Friends" from Just Some Lines.  Isn't this cute?  Can't you image two girlfriends leaving from school the last day before summer vacation.  They are arm on arm dreaming of what they are going to do during the summer.  The image, which is colored with Copic markers, is cut and placed on a Spellbinder Nestabilities diecut.  Both the die and the embossing folder are carried by Classy Cards and Such.

If you have a chance drop over to Just Line Lines store and check out the other great images there.

Asian Influenced Card

Here is a card that I recently submitted to CS Designs as Guest Designer for September.  It is another Asian card.  This is a card that was created with a classic style in mind.  The image is Framed Geisha 2 by CS Design.  She is colored with Copic markers.  The image is placed on a background of designer cardstock on which I did a technique call Cuttlebug Highlight using an embossing folder and gold ink.  As an added embellishment, I included a scroll made with a Spellbinder diecut.  Small thin corners of gold foil add a final touch.

I am submitting this in Crafty Boots' "Anything Goes" challenge.

With Sympathy

This is a card I made for a close friend who lost someone in her family this past week.  I hope she likes it and that it shows I care.  If of all I embossed the designer paper which was the background mat.  I highlighted it with cranberry ink.  Next I wrapped the mat with a piece of lace which was punched from white cardstock.

I then stamped my sentiment which is by Stampin' Up and then cut it out with a Spellbinders die.  I cut a second mat using the same die, but a little larger.  Finally I layered flowers on top of each other giving the flower spray dimension.  There are approximately 3 layers for each flower.   Finally a little bow was added to the flower stem.   The second picture was a little difficult to take to show the layers.  I found it hard to click the camera with one hand and hold the card with the other without moving.  It is like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.

I hope she likes it.

I am also submitting this card to Let's Ink It  Up who is having a Design Call.

Challenge ##24 -" Portraits"

I hope everyone likes the variety that I have tried to put in my challrngs. This time we are thinking about portraits..These should be "head shots" using your stamps or digis. It should not have the whole figure shown.. And yes, you can have animal portraits also.

Vicki

Every time I thnk of portraits I think of old ones that may have been found in someone's attic. This is the thought as I made my card. I took the designer paper and did a little Cuttlebug Highlighting on it in gold ink. It blended in perfectly with the paper, but gave it a little more dimension. The image was distressed and torn a little to give that antique portrait appearance. I finished the card off with a lace ribbon.

Barbara

For my portrait image I chose Marie Antoinette from Stampsmith. Isn't she regal looking? I stamped her on glossy cardstock. (Sometimes the glossy affects the scan with a checked look, but she looks like a photo in real life.) Behind Marie is a vellum doily cut using a Cherry Lynn die. The background is paper which is embossed with glitter flowers. To finish off the card I added a bling fleur de lis made from pearls (Prima)

Michele

For my Portraits and; People Challenge piece I grabbed a favorite Stampsmith stamp -- an image of Diana Ross & the Supremes. Stampsmith images are mostly gorgeous photographic images. They have a lot of movie stars and famous musicians in addition to many beautiful vintage images. So here are the original "dream girls." Colored with markers and enhanced with colored pencils, I cut out my image and placed it on designer paper. I added the hearts (stamp is by Hero Arts), some flowers, lace and shiny, sequin-y stickers. I hope you'll join the fun creating art involving people or animals.

Valerie

For my DT piece I have made an altered canvas, perhaps rather unorthodox for this theme. The canvas was one which had already been used and *stripped* to give it a new lease of life. I made a background of torn paper which I painted with gesso. There was some gold leafing round the canvas before, so I left some it as it was, and painted the rest with gesso, which turned it a nice greeny grey colour. For the main picture I have used a postcard of a self protrait of Stefan Lochner, which is one of the wonderful pictures in Cologne Cathedral, painted in the middle of the 15th century. The pictures of the woman and the hands underneath it are part of some wonderful carvings in Bamberg Cathedral, carved my the great master Veit Stoss at the beginning of the 16th century. I used different embellishments - lace, sack-linen, some torn pieces of a map, some prima leaves, a flower made from antique book sides and coated with Utee, and two Rafel Angels. And of course, one of my little leopards is running through the picture. At the top I have used a silver brooch, which has a small piec of Roman glass in it, bought from the Roman-German Museum shop in Cologne.

Petra

Beauty without Words

This Lady has been tempting me since I had bought the stamp (La Blanche). I stamped her with Memento ink onto Prima Marketing paper without any further colouring and then layered it on patterned paper. The edges of the paper is slightly distressed. The embellishments are mainly from my stash, the charm from Robin and the embellished lace from Lucy. The flower is made of lace, cheese cloth and a fabric bloom.

Stampsmith Art Rubber Stamps

The Stampsmith is known for the super realistic photostamps but also carries a wide variety of images. They do custom stamp work as well. You can see the lineup at www.stampsmith.net (the website will be updated and revamped soon) and you can see the movie star photostamps here: www.stampsmith.net/ssstamps.htm. Email estelle@stampsmith.net with any questions or to order.

Stampsmith is graciously offering the winner, who will be chosrn by random generator, a $10 gift certificate.

Challenge # 21 -" My Favorite Background"

This post will remain at the top as long as this challenge is running.  For current posts, please scroll down.

How excited I am to have hit 100 entries on this past challenge!  Thanks to everyone who entered.  The entries were amazing.  They were all so different.    Since I hit a 100 entries, I will send a small prize to a second winner and put her project also in my winner's spot on the sidebar.

The challenge the next two weeks is a little different in a couple of ways.  Firstly, I will be going on vacation before it is over.  I didn't want to cut the challenge period short as I am leaving on Friday before it  closes.  Therefore, I will announce the winner the 18th of July.   As usual, I will notify the winner by e-mail and post her project in the winner's spot. There will not be a challenge July 11; the next challenge will be July 25

Now the theme--"My Favorite Background".  You can either create an original background yourself or you can use one of the techniques from Technique Junkies, my sponsor.  You do not need to show how it was done, but either give the name of the technique or tell that you used-- ink, chalk, markers, etc.

Below are the inspirations from the Design Team at The Cheerful Stamp Pad:

Vicki

I love to play around and make new backgrounds.  My first card is the result of doing that very thing this afternoon.  I uses one of my favorite tools, my embossing folders.  I call this Glassy Baroque.  When working with backgrounds I personally like to have very little covering them up.  This card uses a digital from CS Designs and was also done for a "B" challenge on that blog.

Vicki

My second (above) is completely different.  This time I used Cuttlebug Highlights, a Technique Junkies technique..  I would guess  I have used this technique more than any other. It was done on the blue cardstock to make the white stars.  The digital is from DigiDarla for her" Lady in Red" challenge.  The background curtain was a digital from Digital Collage Sheets.  I thought this wouldd be perfect for my patriotic card for the July 4th holiday coming up.

Barbara

Oh, I'm in my glory. It's a challenge to use favorite background techniques. The only problem I have is deciding which background is my favorite. You see, I love creating different backgrounds using different techniques. I've been a member of Technique Junkies for years, so I try lots of backgrounds. My card today actually shares two very different techniques. The background panel is done using the technique Createx-Creations from the April-May 2008 TJ newsletter. Just smoosh some Createx paint between two pieces of glossy black cardstock and wonderful things happen. The image and sentiment are from Artistic Outpost stamps. The background behind the image is called Pulled Glimmers from the Jun/Jul 2010 TJ newsletter). This is a technique I use quite a bit in my work. I love the glimmery look and the lightly colored background behind a black image. I look forward to seeing the techniques you love.

Here is Valerie. One of my favourite backgrounds and painting techniques is the 5S method - splodge, smudge, smear, spray and scratch. Here I have used some metallic acrylic paints, and then sprayed with some spiced marmalade, diluted with water. Then comes the fun part - heating and bubbling. Use your heat gun, watch the paint bubble and twist and crack and make new effects. When it was dry it looked like this:

I then distressed the edges with some TH inks in stormy skies and forest moss, and stamped some floral motives (LaBlanche) at the bottom edge. Then I added a setting sun made out of a scrap of material, and a die cut tree and bird in black, and a few black flowers. Then I put part of a leopard strolling in from the left side, and finished!

Valerie

Petra

Versamark Resist Technique

Creating backgrounds myself instead of using pretty papers seems to become more and more part of making cards, atcs, ... . For this card stamping with Versamark ink and Non-Sequitur stamp, embossing with clear embossing powder, Faded Jeans Distress ink and ironing with my iron was all what was needed for the background. This is such an easy technique and I so love the result. I mounted the background onto a plain square white card. The stamped image is from Red Lead Paper Works which I only coloured around the edges with Faded Jeans Distress ink. The finishing touches are some ribbon and a little house charm.

Michele

I love Technique Junkies! I;'e been getting the newsletter for about three years now I think. It is not possible for me to name a favorite technique. I don't even think I can identify a favorite technique per newsletter! For today I have created something using the very first Technique Junkies technique that I ever tried-- Depth of Field. My stamped image is from Rogue Redhead Designs, the new "Floriculture" sheet. The embellishments are all from K & Company. I would encourage you to subscribe to Technique Junkies. You will learn a lot of fun new ways to make your creations beautiful!

Now for my great sponsor, Technique Junkie Newsletter.  Pat Huntoon, with the assistance of her Design Team, publishes a newsletter every other month which is packed with numerous techniques.  It is professionally printed on glossy paper with many pictures and  step by step instuctions on how do to the many techniques.  It is perfect for the beginner to the expert stamper.

From time to time Pat produces a CD and it is one of these CDs she is giving away.  If you are really serious about learning how to stamp and make your cards look great, you have to get the newsletter and belong to her Yahoo group.  The newsletter is also available online. 

If you feel at lost for this challenge, then you really need to join Technique Junkies. 

This challenge is open to everyone. You do not have to belong to Technique Junkies and any type of background is acceptable for this challenge......just get messy and have fun!

Looking Good-Both Ways

Here is a card I did with a big flap that I think looks good both ways.  When you make a comment  tell which wasy you like it...The first is potrait.  The second is landscape.

 

I chose red and gold so I could enter Gingersnap Creations' GC100 Color Challenge of red and gold.  The background of the card was done with the Highlighted Cuttlebug technique.  I used a gold pen to do the highlighting.  The image is a Darla Digi and I think it looks great going either way.  Coloring was done with Copic markers.  Finishing up the card is a scrap piece of red and gold ribbon.  I also entered this is Darla's first challenge "Mother's Day" (flowers).

Challenge Ends Soon

Here is another card to remind everyone that my challenge of "Life in Times Past" challenge will be ending Sunday at midnight.

I thought these two old ladies should be a picture that might have come out of an old albumn, torn and distressed.  The background is numbers signifying age.  It is made by highlighted cuttleburg numbers.  The stamp is by River City Stamps.  The saying is computer generated.

 If you have a chance, come join in the challenge as I am pleased to say that Unity Stamps is sponsoring this challenge.  To enter go to the end of the top post.

Still Decorating for Christmas

Following the theme of my current challenge "Deck the Halls" I also chose poinsettias.  Krisha in the previous post created a delicate card using poinsettias.  I used a little different approach on mine.  I chose to make  them bold by coloring the poinsettias with Copic markers.  The stamp is by PSX and the beautiful gold matting is by Paper Temptress.  The tag uses highlighted cuttlebug.

Won't  you go back to the top post and enter Challenge # 5 "Deck the Halls"?  There are manty ways you can deck the halls so pull out those Christmas stamps.  The prize is a grab bag and a gift certificate from  our sponsorWild Frog Creations.

Wrinkle-Free Distress

Here is my sample of Tim Holtz's Wrinkle-Free Distress technique.  This is a very easy and stress-free method of coloring your paper.  It is my entry to Studio L3's  Compendium of Curiosities Challenge for Week 16.  Other challenges this is for is Gingersnap Creations' "Punches" and Simon Says Stamp and Show's Distress Challenge

The mat is using Highlighted Cuttlebug and I have a Out of the Box label.  All stamps are from Scrolls Work. As an added touch I made a fence out of a lace border punch and put in a little Flower Soft for flowers.

Creative Connection

I am participating in a GC Creative Connection. I heard about this month’s GCCC - Haunted - from Ali at New England Stamper.   Why not play along?   Post a creation to your blog mentioning my post and the Creative Connection post on Gingersnap Creations.   Let’s all craft it forward and see how far we can get this connection to go!

I found out about the connection through Gingersnap Creations and Ali Manning.  Have you seen her "haunted" post?  It is terrific.  You have got to go to her blog and see it along with all her other great creations.  Just click on her name above for a speedy trip.

Double Challenge

This tag was created for a double challenge.  First of all I did a mask for Studio L3's  Compendium of Curiosities Week 14.  This challenge is spotlighting Tim Holtz's Mask Basics. 

The second challenge  is for Soartful Challenges' Isn't She Lovely.

I had hoped to enter a third challenge, but the date sneaked up on me.

This tag uses not only a mask but Cuttlebug Highlight on top of it.  The woman stamp is by Chix Art.  The greeting is part of uinknown stamp.  the woman is stamped in gold embossing powder and the leaves are highlighted with a copper pen.

Let's Go Digital

The next couple of cards will contain digital pictures.  I hope you like them.  The first one is a digital from Sweet and Sassy.  Behind the girl colored with Copic markers is a frame using the Highlighted Cuttlebug technique.  The majority of the card is in layers using a border punch.  The greeting is from Rubber Stampede.

Cool Tilda on a Hot and Spicey Card

This is my first Magnolia stamp and I'm showing her off using Copic Markers.  She is Cool Tilda on a Hot and Spicey card.  Hot and Spicey is the theme for Week 57 Challenge on Just Magnolia.

The stamp is placed in a Torn Frame and the background is  Highlighted Cuttlebug.  The added spice to the card is the handmade flower which has been distressed with ink.