October HYCCT cards Part 2

Here's a few more of my cards for the challenges:

Sparkling Season - make a glittery holiday card. I used glitter paper for the punched snowflake, clear embossed snowflakes on the background and used a star dust pen on the dots of the sentiment to add sparkle.

Stamps: Penny Black-snowflake, PrintWorks-sentiment    Paper: DCWV-Linen closet-glitter & matte   Ink: Memento black, Versamark     Other: Clear Embossing Powder, EK Success large snowflake punch, Sakura Stardust pen

Keep it under wraps-decorate/alter a notepad. I liked the glossy brown cover this little notebook had so I just added a strip of pink polished stone background with this encouraging artsy Life stamp and foil (ish) butterfly stickers. The font really is like that. :)

Stamp: Stampendous    Paper: Glossy    Other: Alcohol, SU reinkers, Corner rounder punch, 

Studio C purse book, Sticker King stickers

Strength of Steel - use metal on card. I adhered a foil container cover (from prescription eye drops, a nice long rectangle) to cardstock then embossed it with a folder and colored with alcohol inks.

Stamp: Inkadinkado  Paper: DCWV  Other: Foil, Darice EF-Fall Leaf Background, 

Ranger Alcohol Inks, JoAnn's fall ribbon

Mixing it up-Mixed media. It was fun to pull out some of my different things I was hoarding to try something like this 'someday'.   I painted textured paper with the metallic acrylic paint, both sides, then let it dry for about 20 of the 24 recommended hours. It die cut & embossed nicely. The grunge paper (for sentiment) was painted with metallic pearl with dabber then smacked with the paint brush of the colors I used for the flower, as I finished painting each color. I had to use a stamp-a-majig to restamp the sentiment a couple more times to make it show up boldly.  It would take off some of the acrylic paint the first couple of times I had to peel the stamp off of it. The background was made with a stencil & Perfect Pearl mister in gold. I love the gold tone of the paint and the shimmer of everything, tho hard to photograph!

Here's a close up:

Stamp: Stampendous  Inks: Stazon (stamp), Lumiere Metallic Acrylic Paint-Met. Olive Green, Halo Violet Gold, Adirondack Met. Acrylic Paint Dabber-Pearl  Other: Spellbinders Poinsettia dies, Heidi Swapp Chevron Stencil, Perfect Pearls Mist-Heirloom Gold, Stickles-gold, May Arts black mesh, Gold wired fringe

October HYCCT cards

As most of you know, October is breast cancer awareness month. Splitcoast Stampers (SCS) sponsors a month long Hope You Can Cling To (HYCCT) challenge.  36 Daily card making challenges,  a few extra at the start & close of the month, are posted on their site.  The cards that are made for the challenges, plus any extra people want to include, are sent to MD Anderson, Univ of Texas, Cancer Center and are available to be used by the patients & their families.  The challenges are creative, fun and motivating, and all for a great cause!  The added incentive is even if you can only make one card and upload a picture of it to the SCS gallery, you're entered into a drawing for prizes donated by several different stamp companies.

Every year it's a challenge for me to find the time to participate, especially not till after 10/15 - the IRS tax extension deadline.  I don't think I was able to start this year till after the 22nd.  But with late nights & trying not to overthink it, I actually got all 36 challenges done!!  It helped that they give us till midnight (9pm AK) on Nov 7 to upload pics.  Another big (added) challenge is that since MD Anderson is associated with the state of Texas, we are not allowed to use Bible verses or anything religious on the cards.  We can use the word 'faith' but in the general sense, not tied to any one religion.  That always cuts out most of my word/sentiment stamps!

I've read that about 215 people participated this year and over 4600 cards were sent to MD Anderson!  I'm still slowly working my way through the gallery of challenge cards, viewing everyone's creative interpretation of the challenges, so inspiring!

Here's a few of the cards I made (with the challenge listed first):

Colors of Cancer: use colors representing cancers family & friends have had. I used Pink-Breast, Dark Blue-Colon, and Black-Melanoma

Stamps: Hero Arts-saying, Sweet n'Sassy Stamps-New Beginnings butterflies & dies, Bo bunny denim paper

Hope you have a great day - make them smile or laugh, a cheery card. I used an old sketch SC38 posted on SCS as my layout.  

Stamps: Rubber Stampede-bee, Memory Box-saying; Spellbinders circles, Stickles for the wings

Use a message or image to reflect a message to or from a group of people, to send & receive a group hug. The EF was inked up before embossing. Glimmer Mist was added to give it a shimmer/sparkle. Flower brads embellish as well as help hold the sentiment down, in case the adhesive doesn't stick well on the embossed/misted background. :)

Stampendous stamp, Spellbinders Labels 18, Cuttlebug EF Bit of Paisley, SU ink, Glimmer Mist,flower brads

I heart you - make a heart shaped card or a card with hearts.  :)

Spellbinders hearts, Cuttlebug Love Language die, Stickles

Warm & Furry Fuzzies - use an image with a furry animal :)

Stamps: Crafters Companion, Mulberry Wood-Gone Fishing colored with Tombow markers

Peace & quiet, no words, just an image.  Wonderfully simple, and blue to add to the peaceful image. :) Stamp-Impression Obsession

Sending Flowers - Flowers are my favorite stamp image yet I decided to use some 3D flower stickers I had in my stash for this challenge! I loved the soft yellow of the flowers, paired it with my leafy die on an earthy base with corresponding sentiment. :)

Stamp-Printworks, Memory Box-Fresh foliage die, Jolee's Boutique flowers

Bursting with hope, create a Starburst/Sunburst with papers, not stamps or ef.  My horizon wasn't straight so I kept adding paper rays. :)  I can email the tutorial that was provided, but it also helped me to watch a video of the technique on YouTube 

Stamp-Morning Star Stamps, Paper-DCWV Fresh Floral

Make a pocket full of hope, in pink or orange with hearts or stars

Stamp-Inkadinkado, Paper-BoBunny, DCWV, McGill round envelope punch, Spellbinders-hearts, 

Cuttlebug EF-language of love, ribbon, brad

Peaceful Leaves.  I just had to look outside to be inspired for this, swirling fall leaves!  

Endless Creation-stamp, Darice EF-Fall Leaf Background, McGill-Oak leaf punch, 

corner rounder, TH Distress Inks, sponges

Use the KISS technique- adds texture to solid stamps.  KISS also stands for Kindness in Showing Support. (HA, probably not what you thought I was going to say!)  I used a stamp combo (the block background and flowers) I had used years ago, when my Mom & sisters were just showing me the fun of stamping (1998?!).  I smooched the block background stamp with a new to me checkered background stamp, trying a few different soft color combos before settling on this one. :) 

Stamps: Hero Arts-blocks, Poppy Stamps-checkered background, Rubber Soul-vase of flowers, 

Memory Box-ToY; Hero Arts shadow ink, Memento Black

Stand Tall - tall/skinny card.  I had some tall floral stamps that I thought of immediately for this challenge. I colored the rubber with markers, huffed & stamped!  It was a bit of a challenge to color red rubber with markers that barely showed, or looked like the ink dried right away, hoping I wasn't going to end up with a putrid mud color or something!  Thankfully, with much huffing & puffing, this came out on the first try. :)

StarvingArtistamps-Backlit Blooms Orchid, Tombow markers

Black & White card with a pop of color.  I always enjoy seeing cards like this made by others so thought I'd play with tape & inky sponges myself.  Thankfully the 'removable tape' only tore the card near the opening edge so I could trim it off.  The black did not stamp as solid as I liked but I found a black Zig pen that matched and touched the image up a bit. I think it added some texture/dimension! :)  

Sweet n'Sassy Stamps-Landscape Silhouettes, Memento blues, Versafine black

Let's punch out breast cancer - use punches and or dies.  My sister had punched a bunch of these 6" squares with the WRMK corner punches for me so using this makes for a big card!  The flower die was just a big so it fit just right, after trimming the stem. I have seen a few people make bows with brads, it's not easy tho. Darn tiny brads with stiff ribbon, lots of tugging & twisting but I like it!

We R Memory Keepers Mini 8 punch-Vine, Memory Box die-Bella Bouquet,

 DCWV- Fresh Florals paper, Stickles, Ribbon, brad

 Inner Strength - use a dimensional image on the inside that can be seen from the outside.  I embossed the Love You stamp & added a heart shaped rhinestone on the inside.  The embossed cover was sponged with pink and several hearts highlighted with pink Stickles.

Stamp-PSX, The Paper Studio EF-Doodle Hearts, Spellbinder Heart die, Stickles, Clear EP, Rhinestone heart

It's a cover up - with a hidden message to be uncovered not just by opening the card.  My extra front flap became a front pocket on my card when I taped the 3 sides shut!  That's what I get for not having a clear picture in my mind (focus!) as to what I was going to do.  I like the pocket (tho a bit big) so went with it & made a tag with the 'hidden message' to put into it.

Stamps: Sweet n'Sassy Stamps-Wildflowers, SU-friends saying; Paper-DCWV Fresh Florals; 

Deckle Edge scissors, tag die, ribbon

Our brief Fall

Outside of working, here's a summary of our month of October in pics.  Sissy & I like to walk through the woods. It was raining leaves on this breezy day. 10/3

I can see you, can you see me??

One more of the cutie :)  

10/7 View from Scout's Loop hiking path above the Palmer Hayflats.  The Glenn Hwy  is across the flats, along the mountains (Rt-S to Anchorage, L-N to Palmer/Wasilla).

Garden update:

10/22 - no snow yet. Brussel Sprout plants are still growing but no stalks like I've seen in the grocery store. These look like 2 different plants but came from the same seed packet.  Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage & Carrots are also still growing, slowly in the cool temps.

Sprouts found under the right leafy plant (prev pic). Look like little mini cabbages, brussel sprouts I take it. :)

Sprouts found under the left leafy plant, sprouts but not the same brussel sprouts. I wonder what the difference in plants are.

Sissy isn't wanting the baby carrots to go to waste, she's cleaning them up for me

Mmmm, yeah, tasty, but not as sweet as the Scarlet Nantes you usually plant. :)

10/26 - We welcome the sunshine coming through the clouds & trees

11/1 - Melting frost. The temperature has been dropping but still just rain is forecasted.

Fall Pumpkin cards

A few days after making my fall Kitty card for a different challenge, JustRite issued their current Friday Challenge 106 - Color Inspiration for the same colors in the paper I had used.  So, I grabbed more of it & my JustRite stamps to see what I could come up with.

The stamps I have are from the original style that they had before changing to cling & clear and have (sadly) been retired in the past year or so.  The Pumpkin image is from the Autumn Blessings & Borders oval set.  The sentiment is from the Give Thanks Nested Frames set.

I stamped 2 images in case I really screwed one up like drop an ink pad on it, glue it upside-down & backwards, get startled by the dog's sudden bark while coloring...anything can (& has) happen! Since one card was completed without incident I went on to make a 2nd card.  Whoo hoo! 

Here I used the Spellbinder Nested Maple Leaves, largest leaf die as the backdrop for the pumpkins.  To make the black border around the leaf, I embossed the die on the black cardstock then cut it out using the outside embossed edge as my guide. In my excitement to quickly finish this card this evening, since I had it all laid out ready to glue together a few nights ago, I forgot I had colored baker's twine on my desk to put on here!  I see that now that I'm looking at my picture here.  Grrrr, oh well!

Stamps: JustRite Stamps-Autumn Blessings (pumpkins), Give Thanks Nested Frames (sentiment)    

Ink: Memento-Tuxedo Black, Tombo Markers    Paper-DCWV Fall Matstack    

Other: Spellbinders- Nested Maple Leaves, Ovals; Cheery Lynn Designs-Mini Flourish; Sakura Stardust pen

Thanks for stopping by!  I'm off to make some Birthday cards!!

Misc Garden pics

Sunflowers - very pale yellow & only about 5" across, bushy plant

One row of beans picked!!  8/23/13

Celery, looking good! 9/13/13

Broccoli, flowering & the bees love it. It didn't really form any big heads, 

just tall stalks with sprouts at the top. I waited a tad too long to harvest them.

Neighbor Lore's Lilies - couldn't resist sharing these little pretties!

Quick harvest before the anticipated frost this week. 9/16/13

Cabbage, Zucchini (our one zuc!), Beans, Snap Peas, Cucumber, Thyme

Nasturtiums, before the frost.

We had frost the past 3 nights. :(  Tho I'm enjoying the cooler temps, I'm not looking forward to the fast approaching winter.  It hasn't been a hard frost yet, but it doesn't take much to kill the bean, cuc, tomato & zuc plants.  The cole-crop plants (broccolli, cabbage, Kale, Cauliflower) are still alive but I brought in the remaining cabbages, just in case! Time to pull up the carrots & beets and clean up the garden!

SSS228 Fall Playful Kitty

A fun sketch from The Sweet Stop

Stamps: Sweet n' Sassy Stamps-Pumpkin Kitty, Be Encouraged      Paper-DCWV Fall Stack    

Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, TH Distress Ink Dusty Concord     Other: Spellbinders-Squares, Prismacolor Pencils

The full image of the stamp used here is a kitty popping out of a pumpkin.  I carefully inked the head, paws & tail to stamp in various positions on the squares.  I stamped a couple of extra images on scrap, one to use as a mask to sponge the background purple to match the fall paper.  The 2nd was to cut out the tiny paws to glue on the center square, like he's holding onto the edge.  Since this wasn't intended to be a Halloween card, with the typical black cat, I left the kitty white, adding touches of color with pencils. Quick & easy, compared to coloring a black cat anyway!  Hmmm, could this be considered a contra-Halloween card? White cat, "be not afraid", with the cheery color combo?!  Or a just a fall colored kitty card?  I did stamp the full image of the kitty in the pumpkin on the inside of the card. I think he's cute. :)

A Daisy Wedding

The daughter of one of my bosses is getting married today.  We are invited to their reception here in the valley this evening.  The kids' (19 & 21) colors are Purple (his favorite) & Yellow (her favorite) and their flowers are daisies, purple & yellow daisies.  I looked up images of purple & yellow daisies on the internet for ideas.  All of the variations did not help me, only added to the questions as to what their flowers of choice looked like, what shade of purple, etc.  I said a quick prayer and just started coloring samples with different shades of purple, different inks & implements and matched with different papers then just picked one and went to work!  I had stamped the Vows on the vellum last month for another wedding card I was trying to make but it didn't dry fast enough so I had changed my design to not use it then.  Now I wanted to use it here.  With that in mind I knew I could color the daisies rather brightly to show through the vellum, but not too boldly that the words couldn't be read across the image.  After playing a bit I decided to use Prismacolor pencils for the flowers & markers for the stems.

I sponged some yellow ink  around the daisies to tone down the white cardstock.  To make the purple frame to cover the tape on the vellum, I used a rectangle die the height that I wanted for the width of the opening, following? :)  Using it twice I had the height of the opening in the frame.  Thankfully the frame didn't need to be any bigger & it still fit through my Cuttlebug!  I like how it came together, even with the time & patience needed to line it all up! I finished with 2 hours to spare before the reception :)

Stamps: Stampendous Daisy Stem Trio, To Have & To Hold        Ink: Versafine Black Onyx (words), 

Memento Tuxedo Black (image), Memento Dandelion, Tombow Markers    

Papers: DCWV, Vellum      Other: Prismacolor Pencils, Spellbinders rectangle die, Offray Ribbon,  Double Hearts charm (JoAnn)

SSS227 Trust in the Lord

Another fun sketch from The Sweet Stop

Stamps: Sweet n' Sassy Stamps-Landscape Silhouettes, Our Refuge        Paper: K&Company super stack   

 Ink: TH Distress Ink-Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Black Soot, Versafine-Black Onyx  

Other:  Spellbinders-Circles, SU-Square punch

Thinking of you Cocoa wishes with Blue Poppies

Stamps: Great Impressions (bear), Biblical Impressions (ToY)    Paper: Echo Park, DCWV     

Ink: Memento-Tuxedo Black, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers    Other: Deckle Edge scissors 

Hello!  Thinking of you!  I have a few minutes before my bed time and since the hubby is already sleeping, I can't craft up there, so I thought I'd pop in here for a quick post!  I made the above card for hubby several months ago.  I think this is one of my first attempts at coloring with my new Spectrum Noir markers.  Oooo, that reminds me.  I received an email notice from Crafter's Companion announcing their release of redesigned Spectrum Noir markers on October 1st!  Some of the changes include: new shape, reformulated ink, and compatibility with a new brush nib (sold separately)!  They say they will still carry the refills & nibs for the old style tho they won't sell the old design after Sept 14. Whew, 'cause I think I have the whole set (darn it!). Here's a link to their store & announcement.  

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Stamps: Sweet n' Sassy Stamps - Sweet Cocoa & Hot Cocoa Sentiments digis    

Ink: TH Distress Ink    Paper: DCWV, BoBunny    

Other: Spellbinders-ovals, wonky rectangles, MS Snowflake punch, Prismacolor Pencils

I made this for the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps September release challenge to use a warm beverage on a card.  They have a line of cute Cocoa the Mouse stamps & digital images.  I had this one I thought was appropriate. : )  I'm not ready for winter or snow yet!  We are into Fall here in AK; raining every day, leaves are turning colors other than green, temps are dropping; definitely cocoa (& hot tea) time for me!

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Stamps: Sweet n' Sassy-Poppies digi    Papers:  DCWV    

Other: Spellbinders-ovals, Prismacolor pencils, Eyelets

Here is the 2nd of 2 blue poppy images I had colored a couple of weeks ago. It was waiting to be matched with papers & assembled into a card.  I made this for the Sweet n' Sassy Stamps September release challenge to make a card using Blue, White and a third color.  My choice, green.  I was skimming through some old Splitcoast sketches and SC99 caught my eye for this image & the papers I wanted to use.  My adhesive wasn't sticking to the green glitter paper very well so I dug out my stash of eyelets to anchor the corners down. I have a rather large stash, I need to use them more often... : )

Good night!