Inspiration is Messy

Hey, y'all!  Have you ever started making something and it just WOULD NOT cooperate with you?  That was my first try at this card.  I chucked it in the trash and that's when the kid started making noise like he was done with naptime, so it took me two days to get this card made.  But, in the end, I'm fairly pleased with it.  And my fingers are multicolored.

All hail watercolor paper for the background!  I tried doing a rainbow effect with sponges and that part was kinda sorta okay, but then I tried embossing some flowers on it and that part was NOT okay, hence my trashing it.  So here's how I made the background on this card:

1.  Tried something different, hated it, wished I could tell it that it was a disgrace to the Empire in Klingon but my Klingon is rudimentary at best.*
2.  Start over with watercolor paper.
3.  Smoosh an acrylic ink block onto an ink pad (I started with the Melon Mambo I think), spritz it with water, and then smoosh it on the watercolor paper.
4.  Speed up drying time with a heat tool.
5.  Repeat ink-spritz-smoosh with the remaining colors, drying the paper in between.  The colors blend a little bit where they overlap, but don't get too muddy.  I did do the Pineapple Punch twice though, it got overwhelmed by the darker colors at first so I smooshed it a second time and that worked nicely.

*I'm not sure this step is necessary, but just in case it really is integral to the process...there you go.  Note to self:  take classes in Klingon.

Okay!  So then I had my rainbow-y background done, and of course the paper was a little wrinkly from being wet so many times, so I sat on it for a while.  Sounds weird, but I do this a lot.  I have an old pillow on top of my chair in my craft room, so sometimes I put a piece of cardstock under my leg and sit on it.  Helps flatten out slightly wrinkled paper, helps remind a card base that it's actually supposed to fold, and in this case it also helped make sure the adhesive was really good and strong holding the watercolor paper on the card base.  I put a LOT of Tombow on it because I didn't want it to go anywhere ;)

All that to say, yay rainbow inspiration!  And my inspiration came from the Global Design Project challenge this week:

Obviously I was inspired by the rainbow-type background, and my sentiment is also white on black.

I paired that with the Sunday Stamps sketch challenge:

Typically I scribble down challenges that I want to do in a little notebook and take that into my craft room with me; I craft sans computer.  So sometimes the finer details of a sketch get a little forgotten while I'm working--like my strip goes all the way to the right edge, and I put my flowers in different places, but I think the spirit of the sketch is still there.

And finally, don't forget the SUO Challenges floral challenge is still open:

If I made a card every day using a different current SU! flower stamp set, it would take me probably a month.  If I included all my retired stamps too...well, we'd be seeing flowers forever!

That's it for me today. y'all.  Cheers!  And don't worry about the ink on your fingers, it will wash off.

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Bouquet, Part of My Story
Ink:  Pineapple Punch, Coastal Cabana, Melon Mambo, Gorgeous Grape, Whisper White
Paper:  Pineapple Punch, Basic Black, Thick Whisper White, watercolor paper, How Sweet It Is DSP
Accessories:  Tailored Tag punch, Bouquet Thinlits, Dimensionals, white baker's twine, glitter enamel dots, white EP

China: Going Home

We made it, folks.  It's the very last China Sunday (on a Monday because I didn't have time to do this blog post yesterday).  Here's the very last page in my China albums:

We took these two pictures at the Beijing airport on our way out of China.  It was like 4 a.m. so that's why we all look so tired :)  Fun fact:  that dragon stamp is one of the very first stamps I ever bought, back when I was still in college.

Today's color palette includes Not Quite Navy, Summer Starfruit, Ruby Red, and Very Vanilla.  I always think of a primary color combo like this as the Superman color scheme, though my colors aren't quite as bright as Supes' costume.

Well, it's cold and raining and we're still going to the gym today.  Gotta do my first run of the week.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Rough Type
Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red
Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit DSP
Accessories:  Layering Circles Framelits, Lettering Template

Opportunities for Embellishment

Mornin' y'all!  I was hoping to post this card yesterday, but thanks to the glossy white paper I used the ink was wet and I decided to let it sit overnight before I finished it up so here it is today instead!

The background is sort of watercolored on the glossy paper--I smeared some Crushed Curry ink on a plastic placemat, then sprayed water on it to water it down and smooshed the paper in it.  I dried it with my heat tool and that's how I got the drippy look.  I stamped the greeting on there and WHOOPS it was still wet when I tried to get a little bit of fuzz off the card front--it smeared.  And now you know why that little butterfly is right there touching the sentiment ;)

Anyway, I used the Color Throwdown colors:

I used Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, and Real Red for my colors.  I also used this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

And my card fits the theme at Global Design Project as well:

Glad I took the opportunity to play with the new Butterfly Gala stamp set; I haven't even scratched the surface of what I could make with those stamps, I need to play a lot more.  Lately I've been obsessed with a cross stitch project before we go on our Disney cruise (Disney Princess bookmarks!), so when we get back from that, I'll definitely be spending more time in the ol' craft cave.  In the meantime, cheers peeps!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Butterfly Gala, Touches of Texture
Ink:  Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Crushed Curry, Glossy White, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Butterfly Duet punch, Dimensionals

Floral Sympathy

Mornin' y'all!  As I mentioned yesterday, I made two cards for the current SUO Challenge.

This was actually the first card I made:

I needed a sympathy card, so I decided to use Pressed Flowers, one of the host sets in the back of the catalog.  It's easy to forget about those stamp sets, isn't it?  I used Fresh Fig, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede, and Pear Pizzazz for the colors on this one, and Very Vanilla for the main panel.  When I made the card I shared yesterday, my goal was to make something with the same layout as this one, but with a completely different feel.  I think it worked pretty well :)

Anyway, it's time to get some breakfast so Ryan and I can hit up the gym again today.  Hope you have a great day, peeps.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Pressed Flowers, Rose Wonder
Ink:  Fresh Fig, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede, Pear Pizzazz
Paper:  Fresh Fig, Thick Very Vanilla
Accessories:  None

Bright Bouquet

Hey y'all!  It is time once again for a new challenge at SUO Challenges! 

This time it's all about flowers, and Stampin' Up! has a LOT to choose from for that!  I pulled out Beautiful Bouquet for this card.

I wanted some super bright and cheery colors, so I went with Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, and Shaded Spruce.  I actually did a different card first for this challenge, but I'll share that one tomorrow.  For today I wanted something happy :)  I believe that Daffodil Delight self-adhesive sequin was from last year's Occasions catalog, but everything else is current.

Hope you'll hop on over to the SUO Challenges blog to look at the other pretties from the design team, and then give the challenge a whirl yourself.  Cheers!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Beautiful Bouquet, A Big Thank You
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce
Paper:  Melon Mambo, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Bouquet Thinlits, mini Dimensionals, retired sequin

China: Gala Dinner

Hey y'all, it's China Sunday!  Oh wait, it's Monday....okay, I forgot to post this yesterday!  So we're doing it now and guess what.  This is the next-to-last China layout.  Woo!

The Great Wall Marfon people had a "gala dinner" after the race, so that's what these pictures are from.  It wasn't extremely terrible, but it wasn't all that great either, and when we took these pics I think we were all ready to go home the next day.  The So Saffron pattern came from the Sweet Pea DSP stack which is not quite 12x12, which annoys me endlessly, so that's why the yellow strip doesn't go all the way to the edges of the layout.

Color palette today:  Cameo Coral (that's been retired forever!), Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron, Marina Mist, Basic Black, and Whisper White.

Gotta get the kiddo up so we can get breakfast and head to the Y.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, mostly SU!
Stamps:  Rough Type, A Beautiful Thing, Moroccan Nights
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Memento Tuxedo Black, Basic Black marker
Paper:  Cameo Coral, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Whisper White, Sweet Pea Stack DSP
Accessories:  Lettering template

Count Me In For Cake

Happy Friday y'all!  Ugh, my new year goals for scrapbooking aren't going so hot...BUT I'm making lots of progress on my stitching projects!  Maybe I can get some scrapping done this weekend?  In the meantime, I have a sunny birthday card to share today.

It's been C - O - L - D here this week, but clear skies and sunny so that's something.  Next week we'll be up in the 60s and 70s again.  But anyway!  I made a sunny cake card today with my brand new Piece of Cake stamp set that is much fun.  I splurged on stampy things since my birthday was last week, now I just need to USE all the stuff I got ;). Oh hey, this is my first time using the Rectangle Stitched Shapes Framelits, those are way cool!

Check out this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

This sketch is FABulous for using up scraps of paper!  I don't know about you, but I've got tons of strips that are 1/2" wide, so I was super thrilled to use up a few of them on this card.  I could make a dozen more cards with this layout and still have tons of those 1/2" strips.

I also used this week's Color Throwdown colors:

I used Pool Party, Delightful Dijon, Crumb Cake (should have gone with Soft Suede for more contrast with the Delightful Dijon), and Daffodil Delight.  Cute little owl in the pic.

That's it for me this week.  Ryan and I will soon be off to the Y so I can run and do yoga while he has fun in the nursery.  Cheers, y'all!

Supplies, all SU!
Stamps:  Piece of Cake
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Delightful Dijon marker, Stampin' Blends in Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, and Crumb Cake
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Delightful Dijon, Thick Whisper White
Accessories:  Rectangle Stitched Shapes Framelits, Dimensionals