CAS Mix Up Challenge: Flight

Hey, there!  It's a watercolor challenge this month at CAS Mix Up, and our host, Viv, has given us the prompt of "flight".  So... show us your watercolor of any kind as long as your card illustrates flight somehow.

I reached into the oldies for a bird in flight by Inkadinkado and watercolored with Tombow markers.  Sometimes my efforts at clean and simple leave me feeling my card is lacking something.  Seems like there should be another bird, a birdhouse, flowers... something.  Maybe just a bigger sentiment.  I could go on.  Maybe you're familiar with that feeling?

 

The background piece is one I made a while back, just goofing around with no technique in particular, but I'll bet there is a name for it.  I had stamped some leaves on cardstock, but felt they were too dark so I sprayed with water and then blotted with another piece of cardstock.  This is that piece.  I'd like to do it again because it's a nice effect.  I think you could call the background a watercolor of sorts, too.

A closer look...  I love this pretty bird.  Very fun to color any which way.  Dots of Stickles Stardust glitter glue appear almost like tiny gems on the bird's body.

By all means, have a look at the gorgeous card samples by the CAS Mix Up team and our lovely guest designer, Joyce (Cards-by-the-Sea).  I know I'm going to enjoy seeing everyone's entries.  Watercolor has always had my heart.  See you again soon!  Take good care.

Stamps:  Inkadinkado Patterned Birds and Bugs, Lawn Fawn, Wavy Sayings, unknown leaf stamp  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White card base, Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor  Ink:  Various greens, Palette Noir, Tombow markers for watercolor  Other:  Spellbinders Scored and Pierced Rectangles, sequins, Stickles Stardust and Black Diamond Stickles

Please Disregard My Previous Post

Well so much for that!  I tried Sendinblue email subscription service, but it turns out it is not ideal for me and I do not recommend it for your average, everyday stamping blogger!

Please bear with me while I try to figure this out.  Thank you!

A Message to My Subscribers

Hello stamping friends!  I'm writing this note to test a new email subscription service.  Many of you probably realize Feedburner will no longer work as of July 1st, so we bloggers are scrambling to figure out how we can continue to serve our valued email subscribers.  There's a chance you may receive this message in two emails from Running with Scissors -- the current provider and the new trial -- and, as I write this, I have no idea what the new email will look like, or if I even set it up correctly.

Honestly, Feedburner was so easy.  I hope I can learn to love something new.  Change is hard!

When I signed up for the new service I imported all my current subscribers, so if you were receiving emails before, you should continue to receive them.  We'll see what happens when I click "publish".

If you're reading this on my blog, you may notice the new Subscribe by Email form in my sidebar.  The service I'm testing out is Sendinblue.

Thank you so much for your patience during this transition.  If you have questions:

Rainbow Leopard Jungle

Welcome to the jungle!  I know ... what kind of jungle is this?  Well, between me playing with stencils and rainbow colors, and Laurel Burch's fantastical artwork, this is the jungle that came out of my stamp room.  Color overdrive!

I colored the stamp with Tombow markers and blender, then cut out the whole thing.  Die cut and colored a grassy knoll and assembled the works against my insanely colorful sunray background.  Maybe we can imagine it's the very edge of the jungle and the leopards are stepping out into the light.

Just having fun.  I hope you're having a good day, too, and will be able to enjoy the Memorial Day weekend with family and/or friends if desired.  Keep it safe.  Hugs!

Stamps:  Stampendous Laurel Burch Leopard Jungle  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White ll0 lb card base  Ink:  Various Stampin' Up colors for background  Coloring:  Tombow markers and blender  Other:  MFT Ray of Light stencil, Poppystamps Stitched Landscapes

Blossoms in Bloom

Happy Monday, friends!  I hope this finds you well and ready for a brand new week.  We continue to carry on here with the work around the house, checking things off the list.  I'm ready for the day everything returns to normal routine.  Before I temporarily lose my stamp room I'm getting a few cards done and some posts written up.  I would not want to lose touch with you all!

Today I have a couple of cards made with the SU Blossoms in Bloom set which I received as a very nice gift from a dear friend.  I'm playing around, getting a feel for the stamps and I can see there are a lot of different ways to use them.  The first card is a  4 3/4" square, all filled up with flowers, and just for fun I added a bird from a Spellbinders die set.  It was already made up and set aside so I might as well use it, right?

The next card is fun and simple with only the smaller flowers scattered around.  The letters were cut from a stamped piece left over from the first card.  The scalloped card base is from a full and fabulous package of goodies sent by another friend.  I'm a lucky girl to have such friends.

Colors and other card details are listed below.  We do have fun, don't we?

Seeing as how this is a first time use of Blossoms in Bloom I'm going to share over at Darnell's NBUS Challenge #26.

Thanks for dropping by and I'll see you again soon!

Stamps:  Stampin Up Blossoms in Bloom  Paper:  SU Whisper White, Ballet Blue, other yellow  Ink:  SU Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, So Saffron, Ballet Blue, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Old Olive  Other:  Corner Punch, unknown scallop die for card base, Spellbinders bird from Sweet Birdie Thanks Scene, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers, Memory Box Wooden Alpha

Picture Perfect Smiles

Hi, there!  Having fun "just because" with today's cards.  I had an urge to play with designer paper and, in the process, finish something that's been bagged up for a while.  I had all the not yet used stamps from my MFT Picture Perfect set all stamped out and cut into squares, with a few spare parts thrown in the bag for possible use.  Their time had come.  I'm sharing two of them today.

The first card has a frame that was the leftover after cutting a square die.  I covered it with designer paper and sanded the edges.  Die cut the "smile" into the orange strip, then filled it with white letters that were left from something else.  Added a cute floral border and a single flower for embellishment.  The glitter dot in the flower center is a 1/4" punched circle with glitter added, then covered with glossy glaze.

Just scraps of designer paper on the next card, figuring a way to use it without being the same old same old.  The orange smile letters are what popped out of the first card.  I layered over two more spare sets of smile letters.  The card measures 3 1/2" x 6".  All coloring was done with Copics.

This was a lot of fun!  I'm determined to use up this pad of designer paper that I've had for years.  It has been a favorite and it's almost gone.  Being a fan of designer paper and having a vast hoard, it sometimes bothers me that I don't use it more often.

Have a good day and take care till we meet again!

Stamps:  MFT Picture Perfect  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80 & 110 lb, SU Bermuda Bay, My Mind's Eye Notable designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black  Coloring:  Copics  Dies:  MFT Die-namics #captions, square die for frame cut out, Poppystamps Floral Dotted Border, Sue Wilson String Flowers, Die-namics Wonky Stitched Squares  Other:  Stickles Stardust Glitter Glue, 1/4" circle punch

Finally Forever Fern

Hello on a Monday!  I hope you're all well.  Even though my posts have been scant, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  Our home improvement projects are taking up most of my time, but we're currently on somewhat of a break before everything is turned upside down for the floors.  I'm stamping while I can, and trying to get other things done, as well.  Please bear with me, friends!

I finally sat down to play with my Stampin' Up Forever Fern set.  By the time I bought it I'm sure everyone had had enough of looking at it, but that was a long time ago... it's been in my NBUS basket for quite a while.  It really is the most lovely stamp set and I'm glad I took a turn.  I started out with the Split Four Technique, but after the initial stamping I added more here and there.  I needed to enhance my stash of sympathy cards, so each card has a beautiful old SU sentiment on the front with a nice sympathy message inside.

I'm still using my original SU inks, which are listed in the recipe at the end.  To attain a more saturated ink color I re-stamped two or three times using my old Stamp-A-Ma-Jig for assistance.  The cardstock bases are in matching colors.  All bases were embossed with the SU Subtle embossing folder for texture.

Just a couple of extra pictures...  The gold cord on the card below helps to disguise a stem that was floating in mid-air.  The sentiment on this card may appear black in the picture, but is, in fact, Handsome Hunter.  These old colors still serve a purpose.  I have all the reinkers, too, so I'll be using them until the pads wear out.  In almost 20 years I've had only one pad wear out, and that's because I was abusing it by rubbing it on background stamps.

The next card is the result of dropping a stamp in the middle of the white space, sheesh.  I almost discarded the whole piece, but decided to cover it up instead.  It seemed a bit too busy at first, but it's growing on me.  I quite like it, actually.

So there you have it.  We need to talk about how the current Feedburner email subscription service is going away.  I'm too preoccupied to wrap my head around the issue right now, but I still recommend Feedly for following blogs.  See options in my sidebar.  If there's something I can fix about the emails, I will certainly do that.  July 1st is the deadline.

Lastly, I'm popping my cards over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge #26 (never before used schtuff).  She gets a lot of entries!

Thanks for visiting with me today.  Hugs all around!

Stamps:  SU Forever Fern, SU All Year Cheer (2002)  Paper:  SU Whisper White, Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Soft Sage  Ink:  SU Brocade Blue, So Saffron, Soft Sage, Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Handsome Hunter  Other:  Gold Cord, SU Subtle embossing folder for card bases, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

CAS Mix Up Reminder: Rainbow with Stencil

Hello everyone!  It's time for our CAS Mix Up reminder:  Rainbow ink blending or colors, and a stencil must be used on your card.  I honestly never did much with rainbow colors until this challenge, but now...  somebody stop me!

My stylized scene has a blend of water and sky with a setting sun.  Rules out the window.  Imagination required in this fantasy world.  I hope my card imparts a sense of peace and happiness.

Clean and simple is a rule for this challenge.  My card's 3 1/2" width narrows down the available white space, but I would definitely call it CAS.

 

Our team and guest designer, Michele, have a whole new batch of inspiring samples today, and the CAS Mix Up gallery is looking mighty pretty and colorful with all the card submissions.  Have some fun and join us with your card, too!  Don't forget to use a stencil.

Sending happy wishes to all!

Stamps:  Hero Arts Moments sentiment  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 110 lb, SU Real Red, Brilliant Blue & Yoyo Yellow  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Yoyo Yellow, Green Galore, Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, Orchid Opulence  Other:  Echo Park Sail Away Stencil, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers, Impression Obsession Sailboats