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

Trapeze dare

Shelly double dog dared me to make a trapeze card.  I'm thinking that I must have done it wrong, because Shelly's is so much prettier!

Stitching is done with scrapper's floss, so I didn't need a needle, but it was perhaps too thick and stiff for this technique.  The stamp is an old TAC one, and the patterned paper is Tim Holtz Shabby Chic.  The heart is punched and embossed, but you can't see the embossing well in this scan, I'm sorry to say.

Challenges:
Bunny Zoe - celebrations
Crafty Bloggers - shabby chic
Lexi's Creations - monochrome
Scrapper's Delights - love
Penny Black - tuquoise, white, blue

Love is in the Air

I found it curious that theme for a great many challenge blogs is "Love is in the Air". Not just plain Love, but specifically in the air. Why is it is the air? Why not under water? Why not between the sheets (much more interesting challenge, I would think)?

 Here is my interpretation of love in the air:

Why yes, I did buy a lot of that rose paper; thank you for noticing.

Love is in the Air challenges:

Crafting for all Seasons

Fab n Funky

My Mum's Craft Shop

Penny's Papercrafty

Simon Says Stamp

Iris Window card

I found this cool card at CraftsUPrint - a window card with a popup interior that goes through the window.  My print is terrible at printing color (red doesn't print well), so I touched it up a little with my markers, but the basic design is the one in the kit.  This is how it looks folded flat:

I used a nestie die to cut a window and frame, rather than handcut it from the template.  The floral panel is a scrap from a previous printing (I was trying to resize it to fit a standard US card size (most of the cards on that site are bigger).  This is how it looks open:

Lots of fussy cutting, but it is not as hard as it looks.  I'm going to have to buy some duplex paper if I'm going to make more of these.

Challenges:
Clearly Inspired - colors (that blue is really purple)
Delightful Challenges - diecut
Incy Wincy - flowers
Crazy Challenge - flowers
Sparkles Forum - new craft item (digital kit to make the card)