It's a circus in here

A girlfriend gave me a stack of doorhanger bases in confetti white cardstock.  I'd never made a doorhanger before, so I tried to think of reasons why I would hang one on a door.  This one could be for a playroom, perhaps.

I had the "under the big top" stamp set handy, so I stamped the tent image from it, and then grabbed a bunch of gel pens and went to town.  The distress ink covers a multitude of smudges, including future ones (from hanging on a doorknob). It's not glamorous, just fun.

Challenges:

• Ditzy Craftymess - baby (have you ever visited a house with a new baby in it?  yeah...)
• Fussy and Fancy - anything but a rectangle/square
• Glitter Geeks - humorous/fun
• Craft Us Crazy - anything but a card
• Shelly's Images - stripes

Butterfly Thinking of You

I needed a sympathy card.  I always like butterflies on a sympathy card.

The butterfly is from The Angel Company. It's a 2 step stamp, but this is the first time I've used the stamp for the color inside the wings.  Usually I just color it myself.  It's a little off, but somehow that looks all right to me.

Challenges:
Rainbow Lady's - butterflies
My Mum's Craft Shop - stamp it
Ribbon Carousel - anything goes (3 spooled items)
Stamp N Doodle - embossing
Use it Tuesday - uninked stamp

Cool elephant trick

I showed you my least favorite stamp in the "under the big top" set, now I will show you my favorite.  I love the lines of this elephant, but one was not enough to command this card, so I considered how to get more of them on here.  Circus elephants can do this, right?

I have to say that I tried it both ways, and fussycutting 3 elephants is easier than masking.

I had fun practicing my copic coloring, and I got to cut into to some papers I had purchased a while back but hadn't yet used.  The bright colors really work with the circus theme, I think.  It's so loud as it is, it doesn't need any embellishment.  I made this card for the sketch challenge at Blessings Ink and these others:

• Phindy's Place - animals
• Southern Girls - red blue yellow
• Freshly Brewed - dots
• Little Red Wagon - CAS
• Scrapalicious - fussy cuts

Steampunked

I asked my friend Chris for some stamps I could color with copics, and she handed me the "under the big top" set, which is great for little kids' birthdays - it has good images for boys and girls, and no scary clowns.  However, I don't know any little kids who are having birthdays...

If you know me, you know I can be contrary.  Sometimes I'm playing the Devil's Advocate, and other times I'm just cranky, but I always argue, even with myself.  for example, when looking at a stamp set with a lot of stamps, I will invariably think "I could use these, but I would never use that one", and then, being the difficult person I am, I will force myself to use the one stamp in the set I really don't want to ever use.  In this case, it is the ringmaster.

With the top hat and tails, and handlebar mustache, I wondered what he could be besides a ringmaster for a circus.  Maybe he could be steampunk?

Steampunk is not my strong suit - other than gears (my poor cog punch hardly ever gets used) and a grungy palette, I don't know what would really qualify this card as steampunk, but I did achieve my goal of getting ink on the ringmaster.

Challenges:

• Sarah Hurley - steampunk
• Cards Und More - sketch 
• Waste not Wednesday - all paper here is scraps
• SJ Crafts - 1 ticket, 2 sizes of gears, 3 balloons; 3 stamps from the stamp set 
• Sassy Studio - paper piecing

I wheely like you

I was pouring myself a cup of coffee this morning when the idea behind this card hit me.  I immediately ran downstairs and grabbed a sheet of paper and started stamping.

Isn't this stamp perfect for this technique?  I never had a stamp I thought would work with it before. And after I stamped on ribbon for my last card, I decided to do the opposite on this one - that is a strip of paper with a knot tied in it.  The background paper is the Tim Holtz  Shabby Chic - a clean image like this bicycle can really benefit from a messy background paper.

Challenges:

• Paper Pretties - new technique 
• Everybody Art - friendship
• There's Magic in the Air - less is more
• Guylou's Inimitability - monochome

Enjoy the Ride - Zindorf style

The first thing I thought when I got my hands on this stamp set was that it would be perfect for a Michelle Zindorf style card.   Unfortunately, I didn't commit to the larger size her style requires, so...

The ribbon was stamped a few days ago, just as an experiment. I didn't really intend for it to be on the card, but it was looking a little too symmetrical for my taste, and I needed to break it up.  The ribbon is ordinary cheap 1/4 inch satin ribbon, and I used plain black ink to stamp on it - the sentiment is from the same set as the bicycle.  It it took the ink really well!  Those are brads in the corners; they are reflecting light funny since I smashed them with a hammer.

Challenges:
Paper Playtime - masculine plus sentiment
The Artistic Stamper - travel
The Craft Garden - inspiration
Crafting when we can - for boys
Sentimental Sundays - metal

Speedy Recovery

You know what I haven't used in a very long time?  My Technique Junkies subscription.  Sometimes I get stuck using my same techniques, over and over, and I forget there are always new ways to do things.  For example, I used the Simple Swipes technique on this bicycle; that is a technique from the latest newsletter.  The background uses the Distressed Cuttlebug technique, which is perfect for the white core papers that a*muse studio sells.

I love the "speedy recovery" sentiment because it is good for so many more types of ailments than the usual "get well soon".  There are 12 different bicycle sentiments in this stamp set!

This card was created for the color challenge at Blessings Ink and these others:

• Pals Paper Arts - sketch
• 2 Sisters - spots and dots
• Waste Not Wednesday - forgotten stuff
• By Lori Designs - colors
• Divas by Design - colors

Dandelions

I noticed a dandelion in my yard, and I guess it says something about me that the first thing that I thought after seeing it is that I didn't have a dandelion stamp.  I did, however, have the Marvelous Marigolds from a*muse studio - I had to see if I could get a different flower out of it.

The flowers were done by dabbing twinkling H2Os onto the stamp, then stamping the paper.  The leaves were done freehand.  The sentiment is from a cuttlebug folder/die combo. This is not a great work of art, but I like how it turned out - very springy!

Challenges:

Crafting for all Seasons - green and yellow

Paper Pretties - thank you card

Simon Says Stamp - green

Papercraft Star - green

Diecuttin Divas - colors

Colorwash bicycles

The name of this a*muse studio stamp set is "enjoy the ride", which is one of the dozen sentiments that comes with these two bicycles.  However, after I made this colorwash background piece, I was really resistant to covering any of it.  however, my need to gop up a perfectly good card prevailed, and I used this cuttlebug diecut word - it barely covers anything, yet is large enough to make a statement.  I avoided buttons, ribbons, and flowers - too girly.  This will make a great guy card.

I want to tell you a little secret.  When I first glued the colorwash piece down, the glue picked up the colorwash ink and made a smeary mess all over the white border.  To fix it, I peeled off the colorwash piece, flipped over the base, and more carefully glued it on that side.  To cover up the other side (really ugly with smeared blue glue), I cut an extra large piece of blue cardstock (5 3/4 by 4 1/2) and glued it to the back.  That's right- the blue border is on the back, not the front.  The card looks clean, and I didn't waste my base.

Challenges:
Anything Goes - masculine
Crazy Amigo - bike
Elke Kaart Een Feestje - no special occasion
Try It On Tuesday - watercolor (colorwash is a watercolor, right?)
Ooh La La - on the move

More Marigolds

I have been playing like crazy with this Marvelous Marigolds stamp set from a*muse studio - it's been a long time since I played with bold images.  I have now a ton of background papers, and clear embossing powder all over my kitchen.  I even managed to get some caught up in my tape gun.  I did, however, want to get a complete card finished, and resorted to some techniques I haven't used in a while.

This uses the Penciled Twinks technique to color the focal flower (yes, it sparkles!).  the gold background paper uses tone on tone stamping, and for the green background paper, I clear embossed the leaves on the background.  This set (and marigolds in general) seem to want to be in autumn colors, but I really wanted a little bit of spring brightness in my palette.  I made this card for the following challenges:

• The Crazy Challenge - no designer paper
• The Paper Girls Challenge - stamped background
• Totally Stampalicious - all flowers
• Gingerloft - Spring
• Sweet Sunday Sketch - sketch

Marvelous Marigolds

I've been playing with the Marvelous Marigolds stamp set from AMuse Studio, which I think is a good stamp set for techniques - it has both bold and outline stamps.  It has flower heads and a leaf, but no stem, which I thought was weird, until it hit me that a stem is not that hard to draw; my experience with long skinny stamps would suggest that a stem would be easier to draw than stamp.  so, I put it to the test:

The confetti paper is pretty good at disguising my overstamping.  I started out with the rock and roll technique, then brushed over the stamped bits with a water brush to blend the color even more.  The letters are diecut (Sizzix Wingo Zingo) - I love diecut sentiments, but they are a pain to piece together.

Drawing the stem was fun, and I like that the next marigold I stamp can have a completely different shape.

Challenges:
Kaboodle Doodles - Flowers
Lollipop Crafts - CAS
Let's Ink It Up - Flowers
Stemplesonnen - Blumen
Crafty Purple Frog - yellow and green
Gingersnap Creations - only 2 colors

Scalloped Die

Even though I have a number of border punches, I had to have this scalloped die from Amuse Studio.  It's six and a half inches long, so you can cut a strip that is as wide as your card, even a larger card, and even cut offset scallops like these.

The sentiment is an Amuse Studio stamp, and it is stamped on an Amuse Studio Vintage Labels die.  Patterned papers are Tim Holtz Retro Grunge, with go well with the Amuse Studio kraft cardstock.  I think it is pretty masculine for having ribbon and scallops!  This card is for Amusing Challenges and these others:

Catered Crop - ribbon
Crafty Catz - punches and dies
Hotshot Craft - masculine
My Creative Time - no electronic die cuts
Pals Paper Arts - color