PaperFections

DDA Dog Days Challenge

Once a month the Splitcoaststampers.com Dirty Dozen & Alumni Designers get back together for a reunion and someone issues a challenge. This month, the challenge was to use some kind of dog image or dog-related saying, to represent the dog days of summer. I had forgotten about the other required element of this challenge until I just went back and read it -- to use a "heat of summer" color scheme -- i.e. orange, red, mustard. Whew, I lucked out on that one, LOL! This orange striped Basic Grey paper just happened to be laying on my desk and things took off from there. I thought this would be a good birthday card for my brother, so that's where the custom label-maker sentiment came into play ... I hope he likes my sense of humor! I didn't think I'd be playing in this challenge since I couldn't remember if I had any dog stamps but my sweet, kind friend, Jami, took pity on me and mailed me some images -- thanks again, Jami! This cutie is from Whipper Snapper. I colored him with these Copic markers: YR12, YR04, YR09, E31, E33, E35, E25, E27, YG63 & W1. I used this... Read more →

Snowflake Santa

Isn't this the cutest Santa you've ever seen? He is from Anna Wight's new Whipper Snapper Gifts of Christmas cling-mount set. I've been wanting to try coloring with Copics on kraft cardstock and I finally got around to doing that . . . I love the look when paired with red and white! I stamped Santa on Papertrey Ink's kraft cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored his suit with Copic R37, shaded with R39 -- I really like how the red pops against the kraft cardstock. Then I colored all the white areas with white Prismacolor pencil and highlighted his suit a little with it, too. Santa's boots are colored with Copic T5 & 100 and he's shadowed with W2. Santa was cut out and matted with Spellbinders Classic Oval Nestabilities and popped up over the BasicGrey Wassail paper. Spellbinders Snowflake Wonder die set was used to cut Neenah Classic Cream snowflakes. They are highlighted with bronze metallic rub-on cream. Clear adhesive gemstones accent the centers of the snowflakes. I used CPS#87 for the layout of my card. I didn't get the chance to post that "new/first time for me" project last week, but it's coming tomorrow! Read more →

Snowman for Peace!

The title of this new stamp set by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper just cracks me up! Anna's whimsical style and humor really shine through in all four new sets being released today. You can visit Anna's blog to see what each of the new sets look like, along with Anna's faboo sample card. I chose my favorite of these new sets for my card today . . . Snowman for Peace! I adore snowmen and this one has all kinds of accessories to dress him in, along with five different words for his blank sign (including "Let there be Peace")-- how clever is that?!! I chose to dress my snowman in his stocking hat and scarf but you know with those stiff arms, he couldn't quite get his mittens on! His hat and scarf were stamped, colored, cut out and adhered with dimensional foam tape. He was stamped with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neeneah Natural White cardstock and colored with these Copic markers and a little clear Spica glitter pen: The blue dotted Copic on the left is a custom color my sweet friend Lori created for me using BG10 Copic reinker, thinned down with Copic Colorless... Read more →

WSC60: Harvest Home

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #60 was a totally different kind of layout for me (Interpretation: a bit of a challenge for me, LOL!). But that's what I like about these challenges -- trying to figure out what elements I can use to fit the sketch. If you've never played along, I encourage you to try it -- you just might discover a really great new layout that you love! Finding the right coordinating papers (Crate Cowgirl) really helped my card come together -- this is what I came up with: I also knew I wanted to use Anna Wight's Whipper Snapper latest stamp release and I ended up combining two of the sets: Harvest Blessings (bird house) and Give Thanks (sentiment & bird). I stamped the bird house (omitting its normal star shaped opening on the large house) with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Classic Crest Natural White cardstock and colored with these Copic markers & Spica glitter pens: I used E11 to pick up color from the tip of the darker E08 marker -- blended together, this color matched the rust colors in my paper perfectly. Then I used the E08 to make the new heart shaped... Read more →

Give Thanks Tree

Here's another card made from Anna Wight's newest release of Fall stamp sets for Whipper Snapper. I used her Give Thanks cling set. I began by stamping the tree with Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Neenah Natural White cardstock. Then I cut the image with Spellbinders new Labels 2 die (due to begin shipping next month). While the image was still in the die, I airbrushed it with Copic G24 Sketch marker. I didn't want to worry with trying to make a mask and cutting out all those little leaves, so I used Copic Colorless Blender marker to remove any green airbrushing that got onto any leaves and then colored them back in with the markers and glitter pens shown below: I cut a mat of BasicGrey Mellow paper, sanded the edges and layered it behind the tree image. It is popped up on dimensional foam tape on a card base of My Mind's Eye Out & About Card Pack (Michael's, also sanded the edges). Then I had fun with stamping a sentiment from the same Give Thanks set with Black StazOn onto natural twill (Stampin' Up). The twill was tied up with a Making Memores aged copper brad.... Read more →

Whipper Snapper Release: Harvest Blessings

I'm very excited to be a Whipper Snapper Featured Designer for the next two months, especially since I'll be using a sweet friend's and (albeit transplanted!) fellow Texan's wonderful illustrations. Anna Wight's whimsical fall drawings have been transformed into rubber for you to enjoy in two new cling-mount rubber stamp sets, Harvest Blessings & Give Thanks. A third set is also being released this month . . . Crazy for Chickens. If you know Anna and follow her blog at all, you know she IS crazy for chickens and shares some of her own farm chicken tales with you on her blog, SweetMissDaisy/Sassy & Sweet Notes. You can view the contents of all three sets over at Anna's blog today and you can visit Whipper Snapper to pick them up. Anna signs the first 100 stamp sets of each release, so you'll want to be among the first to purchase them! I adored the sweet scarecrow girl in the Harvest Blessings set, so that's what I chose to work with first. If you know Anna, she's infamous for her fabulous watercoloring and her images are perfectly designed for it. So I dusted off my reinkers & watercolor brush, watercolor paper... Read more →