In a Galaxy Far Far Away

At Shopping our Stash Weekly the theme is "In a Galaxy Far Far Away".  I just stumbled upon this blog.  And I love the way they the challenges encourage you with some unusual topics.

To create the background, I used Color Bursts and Brusho (black).  I sprinkled some powder around and the spritzed with water.  It is a really cool technique, as no 2 backgrounds will be exactly alike.  Very pretty!

The stamps from Neat and Tangled (Time Warp and A Long Time Ago) were embossed in white.  I used a stencil (Simon Says Stamp - falling stars) to add some small gold stars.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is to make your own background.

I am also putting this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #6 - where I finally got to use all these never been used before goodies on this card.  And where I finally got to enter one of her challenges.  Darnell has a great blog, if you've never been - try it!

Busy busy - I feel like the rabbit that keeps going, and never stops.  

So, I Gotta go - thanks for taking a peek! 

PTI Balloons

Paper Trey Ink is celebrating their 9th Anniversary -- Their's is one of the first stamp companies I fell in love with.  

For their first challenge with the new release we were asked to pick a color palette to use on our card.  

It was so hard to choose, but one I fell in love with is Lexi Daly's colors.  

I also used the sketch from Always Playing with Paper Challenge

And of course the colors from Lexi's palette.  

All the stamps and paper are from PTI.  I stamped the balloons first with white pigment ink, then stamped over them with dye inks.  There was a bit of masking to get the desired effect.  I put some Wink of Stella over the balloons (which is very pretty IRL), and some sequins and done.  

I am also putting this into 30 Day Coloring Challenge .  Now I don't get to color and play with my cards often enough.  Work takes a lot of time -- then there is the usual housework, and hubby and family time.  But  . . . I had another snow day today (one on Friday too) so it was awesome having some extra craft time.  And I even baked cookies today!  Woo Hoo!

This will also go into the Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge - for CAS 

It is still snowing a bit.  Perhaps we'll have a delayed opening tomorrow.  

I hope you are having a good day.  Thank you for looking and your comments.  

PTI Butterflies & Always Playing with Paper

Paper Trey Ink is celebrating their 9th Anniversary -- Their's is one of the first stamp companies I fell in love with.  

For their first challenge with the new release we were asked to pick a color palette to use on our card.  

It was so hard to choose, but one I fell in love with is Maile Belles' card and colors.  

  

I also used the sketch from Always Playing with Paper Challenge

And of course the colors from Maile's palette.  

All the stamps (3 different butterfly sets) and paper are from PTI.  I stamped the butterflies first with white pigment ink, then stamped over them with dye inks.  There was a bit of masking to get the desired effect.  I put some Wink of Stella over the butterflies (which is very pretty IRL), and some sequins and done.  

I had another snow day today (one on Friday too) so it was awesome having some extra craft time.  And I even baked cookies today!  Woo Hoo!

Now it is off to shovel a bit of snow.  I hope you are having a good day.  Thank you for looking and your comments.  

Skating to a Happy Birthday

My niece (#6 of 6 - no nephews) will be turning 12 in 2 weeks.  She is really into figure skating competitively.  She is on a synchro team, individual and pair skating.  Her mom and dad bring her around the northeast area to competitions.  She does very well, but most importantly she enjoys it.  

This is for her birthday.  

I got this stamp from Your Next Stamp - I think it is retired.  But fear not, they have lots of other little girl ice skater stamps (I may need to place another order - lol, but seriously!).

My niece's favorite colors are teal, pink, and purple.  So when I went to the current Your Next Stamp Challenge, imagine my joy to see the colors match what I want to do, and the sketch is perfect for this stamp set.  

Here is the sketch and color challenge:

 

The teal/aqua paper is from a Stamping Up pack, and the silver snowflakes (which are embossed and glittery) are from DCWV pack.  I colored the little girl's face and hair with Prima watercolor pencils, and the rest with Zig watercolor pens.  

I used some Aleene's glitter snow for the ear muffs, and added some Crystal effects at the bottom for the "ice". 

I am also putting this into these challenges:

Send A Smile 4 Kids - the challenge is Birthday cards - they have information about donating cards for kids -- I will need to look through my stash and send some.  

I'm also putting this into Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge - which is "Anything Goes" 

The die cut circle actually goes over the edge of the card.   I'll need to cut it to fit the card into an envelope.  But I kind of like it hanging over the edge, so I may just get a bigger padded envelope (or make my own envelope) to fit this card.  Hmmmm - decisions -- what do you think?  

I hope you are having a nice day.  We are warming up here in NY.  And no snow in the immediate forecast -- a definite plus.  

Thank you for looking!

Poinsettia Thank You

I wanted to create a special Xmas thank you card for a friend.  This is for her.

The stamps are old "Outlines" - that I watercolored with Mica watercolors, and cut out.  The paper is NEW from a holiday set made by DCWV that I got on clearance the other day. I was really bummed that the water color of the bottom layer of flowers smudged as I adhered it onto the green base .  Ugh -- but I wasn't going to do it again.

I am putting this into the Just Us Girls Word Week Challenge.

I am also entering this into the Fusion Card Challenge I am just using the photo for inspiration.  The paper pack was marketed as a snow flake color pack.  But the back sides of many of the pages had this great wood grain pattern -- I just loved that!

Well that's all for now.  Back to work tomorrow -- I really enjoyed the time off.  I guess I won't get to do much creating for a while - :( 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Have a great New Year!

Warm Wishes

I made this card, just because -- for no one in particular.  I enjoy reading Sandy Allnock's blog and watching her You Tube channel.  One of her you tube's is the 3 Most Common Mistakes Crafters Make .  It hit home with me -- the part about actually needing to create.  So here it is.  

So my creating journey for today started with this card by Lydia In her blog she explains how she used Frog Tape to create the the mask and water colored the inside.  She really stressed using the frog tape as a mask.  I thought, really -- let me try just using a stencil and used removable adhesive to hold it down.  I should have taken a picture for you - because it came out as a blue, green, brown, blob  of mushed up colors.

So I wandered the internet for some more inspiration and found these challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches  and Paper Sweeties Inspiration challenge --

  

I was inspired by the colors (and the snowflakes)

And the Curtain Call challenge of "Frozen" 

The snowflake stamp is from Outlines - a company now out of business.  I embossed it with pewter embossing powder and water colored it.  Then to try to keep to the idea of Lydia's card, splatter some diluted water color around the outside.  I'm not sure if you can see the embossed lines to create the square shape around the snowflake for the sketch idea.  But it is there and looks good in real life. 

I didn't want this to be a holiday card -- just something I could maybe send to someone over the winter.  

No go create!!  and have fun doing it.  If you get to share it whether on a blog or send it,  that's even more wonderful.  Have a Happy New Year.  

And thanks for stopping by.

Party Animal

For my Hubby's birthday- he loves these balloon animals.

I used the sketch from Just Add Ink  and the colors from ColourQ

The pattern paper is from Stampin Up - the Balloon Animal and sentiment is from Avery Elle -- I used archival inks to ink the balloon and die cut it and popped it up.  

It was really simple to put together.  

Hope all is well with you!  Thanks for looking.