Another Playful Friday

(I intended this to go live on July 22...Technical difficulties!)

Hello again, everyone!

It seems Friday has become my primary stamping day recently.  Despite looking at challenges throughout the week, I just don't get around to the actual creation part.  But since I am trying to complete the Paper Players 2016 challenges, and I started late any way on this goal, and Friday is their LinkUp deadline...well there ya go!  Instead of doing all of the Clean and Simple Challenges at once (last week I caught up on color) I decided to do the two recent ones.  Each is combined with a challenge from Splitcoaststampers.  

(Once again my camera is not uploading to my laptop...grrr.  So this will not make the deadline.  Clearly, I should have started sooner!  LOL)

The first card uses a watercolor with a fresh color challenge:  so saffron, calypso coral and crisp cantaloupe.  I stamped images from "Fifth Avenue Floral" on  watercolor paper and used my aqua brush to paint the colors.  The sentiment is from Stampabilities, punched out with the scalloped circle.  After adding thick bakers twine, I mounted it onto coral card stock, and then a saffron base.

Next, today's Free4All challenge is all about Christmas in July, which works out since I missed that one from The Paper Players a couple of weeks ago.  Since July is nearly over, I decided I better get this done!  My card base is SU brushed gold.  The dp is a Karen Foster Designs piece that I purchased YEARS ago at a big box store.  I bought it for scrapbooking, which I never do anymore, so I think I'll make a few more of these cards with the rest of the sheet.  The sentiment is from SU "Delightful Dozen" on an oval already cut and in my stash.  Gold brads and gold embroidery thread add some holiday glamour!  

That's it for today.  I hope to participate in the upcoming Dare to Get Dirty challenges...and maybe even post a few cards!


Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim

Playing with Colorful Paper

Hello Friends!

It has been almost 2 weeks since I have posted, and it feels good to drop by again.  I had a speaking engagement this past Tuesday; it went very well, and hopefully will help launch more events.  After a traveling day on Wednesday, I expected to get my hands full of ink on Thursday.  I made just one card (below) but I am feeling more alert and creative today.  *My good camera was having issues today; photos would not upload to my laptop. So I used my cell phone...and the results are less than impressive!  And now, my laptop is slowly installing updates, so I am finishing this post on my phone.  All so I get it done by the Paper Players deadline!  LOL

My first card is for the current challenge over at The Paper Players.  It is a color challenge, but it uses 2 colors I don't have.  I have not purchased new ink or card stock (though as I type this, I do remember buying ribbon before it retired).  Any way, I am using some substitutes that I hope work out.  I used sage shadow instead of mint macaron, and orchid opulence instead of sweet sugarplum.  My card base is thick whisper white.  I added a layer of "Holiday" dsp, since it features island indigo.  I stamped grass from "Inspired by Nature," flowers, butterfly, and swirly sentiment from "Flight of the Butterfly," and the thank you from "Because I Care," all from SU.  I had one half sheet of orchid left, which I will use sparingly any time sweet sugarplum comes up in a challenge! My decorative label and scalloped oval punches frame the sentiment.  The ribbon is from a big box store...also from YEARS ago!









Now I have a card for an earlier color challenge from The Paper Players, using soft sky, pumpkin pie, mossy meadow,  and melon mambo.  By finally doing this one, I am caught up on the color challenges from this blog for the year.  I used a pumpkin pie card base, and added a layer of soft sky, embossed with the cloudy day folder.  Using markers,  I colored the image from SU "Upsy Daisy," then cut it out with the labels framelit.  After sponging the edges,  I popped it up with dimensionals. I added one of the sentiments on a scalloped oval to mimic the clouds. Thick bakers twine finishes it off.

  Next, I have a card for this week's color challenge at Splitcoaststampers: mint macaron, night of navy, and flirty flamingo.  Again, I used sage shadow, but also regal rose as a substitution.  I dry embossed a layer of very vanilla with the Cuttlebug folder "stylized flowers," then sponged the edges.  Some striped navy grosgrain ribbon adds texture.  I made my own pattern paper using "Vintage Vogue" from SU, and even pulled out my old ticket corner punch.  The sentiment is from"Polka Dot Party," colored with markers.

Thanks for coming by. Loads of technical difficulties, but hopefully I can fix those later. Bye!




Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim

Featured Stamper Time

Hello everyone!

I set a goal to complete all of the 2016 Featured Stamper challenges from Splitcoaststampers, but fell behind right away.  I actually had this post in my drafts SINCE MARCH!  By the original text, I could see that I intended to post several cards, but only had one so far.  So there it sat and sat.  Since I had ignored this particular goal, I never got back to it.  Until now.

There is no way I can catch up with months of challenges in a single post, but I will  show a few.  Gotta start somewhere, right?  Cleaning up my blog drafts is a lot like cleaning out my email inbox. It feels good to finally do it!

This first card was made on Super Bowl Sunday (I remember because I was stamping while hubby watched the game), for Featured Stamper Beatrice, who is a scrapbooker.  As much as I want to get into scrapping, I knew that wasn't happening right away!  I chose THIS PAGE as my inspiration.  I chose a similar color palette.  I also chose wavy lines in embossing, as well as how I cut my dsp.  The black striped SU ribbon also mimics her design.

My card base is basic black.  The layer of sage shadow is dry embossed with the Cuttlebug divine swirls folder.  My dsp is from SU's "Nouveau Chic."  The stamps are from "Fox and Friends" and "Just Sayin'" using sage and basic gray, plus some apricot appeal sponged on the edges.  The images are popped up...featuring a scallop circle and Word Bubble framelit.  The bakers twine is from Joanne's...can't remember the brand.  This card was for my nephew-in-law who still looks like a teenager!

Next, a card I made today.  That's 5 months between cards...how weird is that?  Any way... an online blogger friend of mine joked about being available all month for birthday gifts, lunches, etc.  I told her if she sent me her address, I would send her a one-of-a-kind card.  She is not a paper crafter. She blogs about faith and family.  I thought it would be fun to connect beyond the internet.  Her favorite color is purple, so this week's color challenge at SCS is perfect.  The Featured Stamper is a new one for me:  Kendra, aka jksand.  She must be new to a lot of people, because many projects in her gallery have 0 comments...but they are GORGEOUS!  Just shows how big the stamping community is, and how hard it is to catch everyone!  I chose THIS card to CASE.   I kept the white card base, jewel colors, and diagonal sentiment.  Instead of stamping in color, I stamped images from SU's "Mixed Bunch" in versamark, and clear embossed.  Then I sponged the challenge colors generously. The colors are rose red, elegant eggplant, and island indigo.  My sentiment is one stamp, so I used markers to add variety of color.  Enamel dots finish it off.  The card is about 5x7 inches, larger than my usual.  I bought a lot of A7 envelopes, getting ready for Christmas projects, so I thought I would try that here.  I like the bigger size!

I was considering waiting until I finished another FS card, but I better not.  This post could sit for months all over again!  LOL  I'll work on catching up another time.  Thanks for stopping by!


Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim

Playing in a Virtual Ocean

Hello and Happy Friday again!

So one of my 2016 stamping challenges is to complete all of this year's Paper Player challenges, and I have fallen behind again. I was at a women's conference last week, and prayed about how I am spending my time as a self-employed person.  Frankly, my work...writing and speaking...truly needs to garner more of my attention if it's truly going to kick off.   That means I will stamp and blog here less often (it's been slow any way!) but I still want to complete my goals.  I considered doing the three most recent PP challenges, and I may update this post later tonight just because.  *wink*




This week's challenge at The Paper Players is a nice clean sketch.  I wanted to combine it with a VSN challenge, even though that event is over, out of courtesy to my fellow hostesses.  I decided on Jeanne's challenge to "Dive Right In."  Next I searched for a color challenge that used lost lagoon, so I could incorporate this "Moonlight" dsp since it fits the water theme.  There are very few color challenges with lost lagoon, and I had already completed the most recent ones on SCS.  But this one is from the end of 2015: island indigo, lost lagoon, and pea pizzazz.  Perfect for an ocean scene!  I used markers to color the script stamp from SU's "By the Tide."  The coral is stamped in black.  The fish is also stamped in black, colored with markers, cut out, and popped up.  The scene is on a piece of whisper white cut with a Labels framelit.  I added the "Teeny Tiny Wishes" birthday greeting, along with SU bakers twine and sparkly enamel dots from Hero Arts.  I made this quickly, but really like the final result!

Ok, so now I am adding to my original post.  This card fits Paper Players #299, Jan's VSN challenge to use red white, and blue, and today's Free4All challenge on SCS, which has a beach theme.  I used a sahara sand card base, and dry embossed my cherry cobbler layer with the diagonal stripes folder.  On whisper white, I created this beach scene, using stamps from Lawn Fawn's "Life is Good."  I colored with markers and sponging, using sahara sand, creamy caramel, cherry cobbler, and not quite navy.  (I don't have any dapper denim.)  I should have made the shoreline uneven instead of rigid, but I forgot.  I so rarely create scenes like this! My sentiment is from SU's "Happiest Birthday Wishes," stamped on a scalloped oval.  I had one tiny scrap of cherry cobbler bakers twine which barely wrapped around my card!

Well, I better clean up today's mess.  Hope to be back before next Friday.  Thanks for stopping by!




Inky {{{HUGS}}}
Kim