CSSC #4 WINNERS

Thank you to all who played my fourth sketch challenge. I'm encouraged that so many of you tried new things to meet the challenge!

Here are my picks for May.

Top prize goes to June for this card:

I love that she went to the way-back machine and stamped her own background.

And the two runners-up are Cat:

Why yes, I am a sucker for blues and greens. :)

And Stef:

who made her own bold sentiment with lovely masculine colors.

Congratulations, ladies! Feel free to grab your badge from the CSSC Rules & Badges page, and display it proudly on your blog. You've earned it!

And June, please email me (link on the right) to select your ink colors!

I'll be back on the first with a new sketch!

Thanks, again, for your support! xo

SOS #203: Play Misty For Me

It's Tuesday, and time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash. This week's title is Play Misty For Me, and we'd like you to use a mist or spray of some kind on your project.

I don't know about you, but I have a small collection of sprays and mists I've amassed over the years. I don't go out and buy ALL THE COLORS like some people, but I get one or two in my favorite shades to try. Most of them are collecting dust on my shelves.

This led me to realize I could just make my own when I needed them, and I have a small collection of mini misters that contain my experiments. I've made some from Gelatos, from reinkers, and from Perfect Pearls. I think the Perfect Pearl one is my favorite, as it adds some shimmer to anything you spray it on.

Anyway, here's my card, then I'll explain:

This card is about my fourth attempt. I started with some purchased sprays, but they failed me. I actually made a few card fronts, but even after several hours, the ink hadn't dried, so those cards and card parts are toast, as are my fingers.

For this card, I went to my home-made sprays. There are three here: one made from a Spearmint Gelato, one made with Distress Peacock Feathers reinker, and one made with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearl powder.  Both the Spearmint and Peacock Feathers have some Perfect Pearl in them, so they shimmer. In theory, so does the gold, but I had so little of it left, it's difficult to see. You may just need to believe me on that one.

I sprayed the Spearmint and Peacock Feathers mists onto a piece of Distress Water Color paper, then added a few spritzes of the gold. Then I dried it with my heat tool.

The rest of the card is from left-overs. I had a piece of SU Poppy Parade out, so I used it to die-cut the two words from my Winnie & Walter Big, Bold, and You Cutaways. I also cut the words from a scrap of fun foam. You can see it peeking out from under the red card stock.

So, got sprays? Why not dig one out and use it, then come over and play at SOS this week!? We'd love to see what you make!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff I used: SU Poppy Parade card stock, and the following:

InLinkz.com

SOS #202: Silver & Gold

It's Tuesday, and time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash. This week marks our four-year Blogiversary! Yep, four years of using our stash!

The poor ladies on the SOS DT have the challenge of living with my ear worms. While thinking of a (hopefully) catchy title for the challenge, my brain wandered back in time to Girl Scout camp, and started singing:

Make new friends,

But kee-ee-p the o-old,

One is silver and

The other's gold.

You're welcome.

So silver and gold it is, and here's my card:

This card is about 185% different than what had been running through my brain all week. I don't know if that happens to you, but once I started playing, the idea kept morphing into something completely different. So much for a week of planning, huh?

I started by taking out my embarrassingly-large stash of SU Brushed Gold and Brushed Silver card stock. I stamped a Hero Arts background in Versamark onto a piece of gold and embossed it with silver. I liked it, so I embossed a smaller piece of gold the same way, and die-cut the sentiment, thinking I'd line it up so it blended into the background. I wasn't feeling the love.

So I die-cut a piece of SU Poppy Parade to add a shadow between the die-cut and the background. Meh.

Then I thought I'd try just the sentiment by itself. The poppy color made me think about the Hero Arts Night & Day Flowers stamp set, so out came the MISTI, some watercolor paper, and my black Archival ink. I stamped the flowers a few times to get it dark enough (re-inking might also help me there), then water colored it with some Distress inks. Then I just added the sentiment and attached the water color paper to a white card base.

To finish things off, I added some clear Wink of Stella to the flowers and some Gold Liquid Pearls to the flower centers.

So, got some silver and gold stash you'd like to disappear? Now's your chance! Why not join us this week at SOS and play along?

Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff I used: SU Brushed Gold card stock, SU Silver embossing powder, SU Poppy Parade card stock, and the following:

InLinkz.com