Bliss & Counting.........

.......the weeks. Let's see if I can adapt this set to Simply Stampin's weekly challenge for the next 5 weeks as it will probably be that before I have another stamp set.

This was quite difficult to photograph in order to show the black as black & not brown & to show the sparkle of the heat embossed background.

front of card - angled to show holographic sparkle

of heat/wet embossed background

close-up of image panel

close-up showing dimensional gloss 

of wet/heat embossed sentiment

close-up of metal dragonfly &

 shaped punched leaves

close-up showing shaped leaves & stippled grass scenery plus 

contrast of matt & Moondust black cardstock layers

inside of card

close-up showing leaf embellishment & contrast

between matt & Moondust black cardstocks

(click on images to enlarge)

For the sketch of Simply Stampin' 4 (which I flipped over from the left) I made a small scene to resemble the view from a window or that seen in a painting. I used a punch to make the sun shaped mask from a Post-It note & then stippled blue ink round it to portray the sky, removed the mask & added yellow ink to the space left for the sun. The hills were created by stipppling along torn paper edges.

Although this card is intended as a Wedding Anniversary card suitable for someone who does not favour cute images, it is also a fitting tribute to the Simon Says Challenge Blog who are celebrating their second anniversary with an "Anything Goes" theme & a blog hop.


Recipe
Stamps Stampin' Up Bliss (sentiment & background).
Inks Memento Bamboo Leaves, Cantaloupe, Dandelion,  New Sprout, Pear Tart, Summer Sky & Tuxedo Black (focal image scene plus inking some cardstock/paper edges); VersaMark watermark stamp pad with Stampendous Detail Black (sentiment) & Kaleidoscope (background).
Cardstock An assortment of blacks & greens in various finishes from stash.
Papers K&Co Brenda Walton Madeline.
Punches etc. Woodware (sun-flower 2 for mask forming a sun shape, oval & scalloped oval used for sentiment, corner rounder, small Maple leaf, ), Carl (all other leaves), Fiskars (decorative corner); Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Ovals Small & Classic Scalloped Ovals Large).
The ribbon & pearls are from stash & the lace was in a bundle of candy from Kath.

Challenges Entered
Simply Stampin' Challenge 4 - Sketch (see above)
Simon Says..... Anything Goes (see above)
Stampavie & More Challenge 139 - Pearls
Timbroscrapmania Stamping Challenge 25 - Metal & Lace (the metal is there - my dragonfly is a metal brad with the legs cut off & I have a piece of lace across the top of my scene - a bit like a window with a lacey valance)

Easter Symbols

front of card

close-up of floral arrangement

close-up showing shaped stamped flower

close-up showing heat embossed butterfly

close-up of shaped & glittered butterfly

inside of card

close-up showing corner detail

& paper pierced scallops

(click on images to enlarge)

The theme for Simply Stampin's third challenge is Easter. I had to think a bit how to approach that with my Bliss Stampin' Up set (I have another month to go before the party & some new stamps). 

What does Easter mean? It's remembering Jesus' Crucifixion & Resurrection; & if we are Believers that is central to our faith & hope. My Mum was an Ordained Minister of the Church in her later years & she would have liked this card. The butterflies represent new life; the cross the crucifixion; I've used an embossing folder to create a semblance of a stone wall with trellis along the top; it could be the wall around a cemetery where the cross is the headstone for a grave, but also Jesus was crucified outside the city wall.  A garland of spring flowers adorns the headstone - I've used brown pearls for the centres & couldn't help but think of the Kingdom of Heaven being likened to a "pearle of great price" (King James Bible Matthew 13:46). As I was putting the card together I had to laugh when I realised I'd unwittingly used a predominance of chocolate brown cardstock & Rich Cocoa Memento Ink for there we have Chocolate Easter Eggs. 

Recipe

Stamps Stampin' Up Bliss.

Inks Memento Tangelo & Rich Cocoa; VersaMark watermark stamp pad with Stampendous Detail Clear Embossing Powder.    

Colouring Stickles Glitter Glue (Cinnamon).

Cardstock An assortment of colours in various textures & finishes from stash, Craft UK white card blank.

Punches etc... Woodware (butterflies, small daisy, circle & scalloped circles), Martha Stewart (edger & corner), Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Tiny Bubbles).

Pearls Bunny Zoe's Crafts.

Challenges Entered

Simply Stampin' Challenge 3 - Easter
Simon Says....Emboss It (I have used both dry embossing & wet/heat embossing)

Floral Easter Bunny & Gardening Companion

front of card

focal image panel

close-up of image showing brown leaves

 used to "ground" the image

close-ups of inked & shaped flowers

inside of card

close-up showing flowers & paper pierced

 scallops of message panel

(click on images to enlarge)

On Monday's Penny Black Post Jenyfur issued this week's Reader Challenge of "Flowers" writing:


"Flowers can be found on many of our stamps including our Mimi collection and hedgehog stamps. If it’s a Penny Black flower, it works for this challenge! "

Although I do have floral Penny Black stamps I wanted to do something with an Easter theme & to use the watering can shaped base card that I'd made for my earlier card but not used. This little rabbit with his feathered friend from the aptly named Garden Friends set fitted in nicely & I particularly liked the fact that the robin (I coloured the bird as an European Robin) on the spade added to the gardening idea already suggested by the watering can - & what else do people do during the Easter Holiday? Garden!


I'd have liked to have made some daffodils but nothing I tried looked remotely like them. I settled for making my own yellow fantasy flowers & inking the edges with red to tie in with the red-edged yellow roses the rabbit is holding.


Recipe
Stamp Penny Black 30-021 Garden Friends
Inks Memento Tuxedo Black (image), Memento New Sprout (inking the watering can cardstock edges; Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade & Vintage Photo Distress Inks (inking various cardstock edges).
Colouring Derwent Artists pencils with paper stumps & Sansodor; Inkssentials White Opaque Pen.
Cardstock An assortment of colours in various textures & finishes from stash.
Punches/Templates Woodware (circle & scalloped circle, scalloped oval, brown oak leaves, green leaves, outer flower petals), Xcut (inner flower petals); WS Tempting Templates Watering Can.
The yellow gems are from stash.


Challenges Entered
Penny Black Weekly Reader Challenge 11 - Flowers (see above)
Penny Black Saturday Challenge 147 - Easter Extravaganza (see above)

Timbroscrapmania Challenge 24 - Self-made Background 

Simply Stampin' .......

........ with these colours

& my set of Stampin' Up stamps - Bliss.

This will have to be a very quick description as the deadline is 6pm & as I type I have just an hour left to complete the inside, photograph & type the post.

The inks I used are Memento (Sweet Plum, Angel Pink & New Sprout) for stamping & edging cardstock. The pot for my flowers & their stems came from a Petaloo Florist kit & the leaves are punched with a Nellie Snellen Punch. The corner punch used on the inside is a Fiskars & the remaining corner punches plus the circle & scalloped circle are all Woodware. All the cardstock & the pink pearls were from stash. I stamped 10 of the flowers from the Bliss set, cut them out & shaped them with a ball tool then layered them in pairs & added just a touch of Ice Stickles Glitter Glue (Cherry Ice) as I wanted the stamped spots of the flower centres to be visible.

front of card

close-up showing stamped flowers, flourish detail

& sparkle of cream cardstock

angled view showing layering

& sparkle of glittered stamped flowers

inside of card

close-up showing paper piercing

& corner decoration

(click on images to enlarge)

Challenge Entered

Simply Stampin' Challenge 2 - Colour: Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi, Bravo Burgundy & Pink Pirouette (see above)

10 minutes left to link - apologies for the photographs.

You Wouldn't Believe.......

ETA 17/4 - somehow I got my wheelbarrows & watering cans mixed up; I should have written watering can below; not until Deb left a lovely comment on my watering can card where I referred to this post did I notice. Thanks Deb.


....... I spent all morning making my ATC (see here for photos etc...) into a card. Excepting the Timbroscrapmania challenge which Gio suggested I enter, I had all of the Challenges listed below in mind when I made my ATC & thought that all I had to do to transform it into a card was to make a side stepper base, decorate that & add my ATC.  How wrong I was! The ATC was so complete in itself that it didn't look right with anything else; I even tried making a wheelbarrow shaped base card from a template & had it all cut out but that looked wrong too. A tag wasn't right either & since the Lily Pad Cards Challenge - whose colour challenge formed the basis of my colour scheme - deadline is imminent settled finally on this:

front of card

angled view

inside of card

close-up showing paper pierced scallops

& textured navy cardstock

(click on images to enlarge)

I have listed the items I used for the ATC element again but added in blue the extra items used to make it up into the card.

Recipe
Stamps Penny Black 30-020 Hugs! (image & sentiment).
Inks Memento Tuxedo Black (image) & Memento New Sprout (inking cardstock edges); Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed & Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks, plus  (inking some cardstock edges); VersaMark watermark stamp pad with Stampendous Detail White Embossing Powder (sentiment).
Colouring Derwent Artists Pencils with paper stumps & Sansodor; Inkssentials White Opaque Pen & Uni-ball Eye Needle Point Black Pen; Ice Stickles Glitter Glue (Crystal ice) & Flower Soft (ivory).
Cardstock Textured navy (I've used the reverse smoother side for the small "hugs" tag); pearlescent turquoise & green; orange & yellow all from stash.
Punches Woodware (large tag, oval & scalloped ovals), Xcut (small tag), Fiskars (ornate corner).
The navy bow came out of a packet of pre-tied bows amongst my stash as did the floral & turquoise gems.
The miniscule gem above "hugs" is Papermania.

Challenges Entered
Lily Pad Cards Challenge 1 - Kathy's Color Throw Down (see above)
Penny Black Saturday Challenge Wk 146 - Say it WITH Flowers
Timbroscrapmania Stamping Challenge 24 - Self-made Background (thanks to Gio for recommending that I enter)

Say it With............

.......... hugs,
.......... flowers,
.......... an ATC...... & turn it into a card.


My initial steps in crafting & very flat non-dimensional colouring were in the realm of ATCs - back in May 2008; so when the Penny Black Reader Challenge theme for this week (the tenth week already) was announced as an ATC last Monday I decided to do some thinking around the subject & to incorporate my ATC into a larger project. With sorting out our Broadband - it turned out to be a corroded telephone wire 130m from our property which needed repairing - I've run out of time to do the second part but that just goes to show that the ATC is complete in itself. It has also worked to my advantage for a couple of challenges have been posted which I'd not have known about had I started earlier but which provided the catalyst for some unlooked for inspiration - but more about those in my card post which will follow in due course.


First things first. What is an ATC? This Penny Black post explains:


"A little about ATCs; Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards, 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (63 mm X 89 mm), and small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets. The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland. Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc.), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc.), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc.) or even metals or cloth. The cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold. "


It is also customary to put the artist's name & contact details on the back together with the title or theme of the ATC plus the date.

ATC front

ATC back

close-up showing bow, heat embossed sentiment

& different textures of navy cardstock tags

close-up of focal image

angled photo to show dimension of 

glittered Flower Soft & flower

(click on images to enlrage)

Although I frequently shape punched butterflies & flowers using an embossing/ball tool with an embossing mat  I've not previously shaped small elements to 3D in the way that Debby does. However, I was particularly struck by her Hero Arts Poppy Card, so I decided to have a go at adding some physical dimension to the flower above my cuddling mice. I also wanted to give a furry texture to the flower head but as I only have Ivory & an unknown Mixed Pot I thought I'd add some Stickles Glitter Glue to the ivory to make it more interesting. 


ETA 11/4 - See my link in the sidebar or here for Kathy Racoosin's use of Flower Soft when it comes to flower centres, especially the post here on the Penny Black blog or  here on her own blog. In fact it was Kathy's use of Flower Soft over the past few days that reminded me how useful it can be. Although I had no idea of today's post I doubt I'd have thought of using it with glitter if I'd not seen her post here using brown.


Recipe
Stamps Penny Black 30-020 Hugs! (image & sentiment).
Inks Memento Tuxedo Black (image); Tumbled Glass Distress Ink (inking some cardstock edges); VersaMark watermark stamp pad with Stampendous Detail White Embossing Powder (sentiment).
Colouring Derwent Artists Pencils with paper stumps & Sansodor; Inkssentials White Opaque Pen & Uni-ball Eye Needle Point Black Pen; Ice Stickles Glitter Glue (Crystal ice) & Flower Soft (ivory).
Cardstock Textured navy (I've used the reverse smoother side for the small "hugs" tag) & pearlescent turquoise from stash.
Punches Woodware (large tag), Xcut (small tag), Fiskars (ornate corner).
The navy bow came out of a packet of pre-tied bows amongst my stash as did the floral gems.
The miniscule gem above "hugs" is Papermania.


Challenge Entered
Penny Black Weekly Reader Challenge 10 - Artist Trading Cards (see above)

Blue Butterfly Bliss

front of card

close-up of background stamping

close-up showing glittering & dimensional shaping

 of stamped butterflies plus paper piercing  

close-ups of textures, stamped elements & gem embellished border 

close-up of paper piercing & corner detail

on inside of card

inside of card

(click on images to enlarge)

Apologies for the different colouration in the last photo - I spent hours trying to get the full frontal & full internal shots in focus on the non automatic setting, after using up the whole of a newly charged camera battery I resorted to the automatic for the last photo as I just could not get it to focus properly on my manual settings; but then the colour differed! 

Simply Stampin' is a new UK based Stampin' Up Challenge which launched with a sketch challenge this week. I have one set of Stampin' Up stamps so shall endeavour to enter the challenges using that until I have some more supplies. I have a full set of Memento Dew Drop inkpads so for the moment I shall be using the nearest equivalents to the Stampin' Up colours that I can find from amongst those, providing of course challenges permit my doing so. I always thought Stampin' Up synonymous with CAS but have recently realised that is not necessarily the case so I have some exploring to do.  I have already been looking at the Stampin' Up Color Coach  & found some very helfpul information about Colour Theory.

I was just playing about with the butterflies & had used my ball tool & embossing mat to shape them after cutting out to see how they might look - I was surprised & pleased by the outcome so decided to use a couple for my focal panel. 

Recipe

Stamps Stampin' Up Bliss (background, butterflies & sentiment).

Inks Memento Danube Blue.

Colouring Ice Stickles Glitter Glue (Silver Ice).

Cardstock An assortment of whites & blues in various textures & finishes from stash.

Paper Textured blue from stash.

Punches Martha Stewart (border), Woodware (scalloped ovals), EK Success (Fancy Photo Corner).

The gems are from stash.

Challenge Entered

Simply Stampin' Challenge 1 - Sketch (see above)

Black & White Plus Yellow & Pearly Wet Embossing

front of card

close-up of image showing paper piecing

close-up showing pearlescent tone on tone

wet embossing & shaped glittered butterfly

inside of card

close-up showing corner embellishment,

textured white & Moondust black cardstock

(click on images to enlarge)

This week's Penny Black Reader Challenge is "Wet Embossing." This is the first time I have come across the term but I believe it is exactly the same as Heat Embossing. My colour inspiration was taken from the April Penny Black @ Allsorts Challenge of "Black & White plus One."

I used the wet embossing technique to create a pearlised tone on tone background using the same stamp as for my focal image which I have paper pieced with an assortment of yellow cardstock.

Recipe
Stamp Penny black 4104K Christmas Star.
Inks Memento Tuxedo Black (image); VersaMark watermark stamp pad with Stampendous White Pearls Embossing Powder (background); Black Soot & Mustard Seed Distress Inks (inking some cardstock edges).
Colouring Letraset Fine Line Drawing Pen & Uni-ball Eye Needle Point Black Pen; Stickles Glitter Glue (Black Diamond).
Cardstock An assortment of blacks, whites & yellows in various textures & finishes from stash.
Punches Woodware (corner rounder & butterfly), EK Success (Fancy Photo Corner).
The yellow gems & the white pearl are from stash.


Challenges Entered
Penny Black Weekly Reader Challenge 9 - Wet Embossing (see above)
Penny Black @ Allsorts April Challenge - Black & White plus One (my one being yellow)
Allsorts Challenge Week 97 - Blooming Blossoms