Using Some New Stuff

Yesterday I decided to play with some of the yet-to-be-used stuff that's languishing in The Abyss (that area at the foot of my desk, and the surrounding floor, that collects all the stuff I haven't used so I can't put it away). It's getting tougher to move in there, so it had to be done.

First, I grabbed my Art Impressions Girlfriends stamp set and I made this:

 

By now you know I don't like to color, so I thought I'd paper piece the ladies' clothing. This turned into a WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!? moment, or should I say several hours. Not that it would have taken me less time to color them, but at least with paper piecing I can cover up mistakes or change my mind.

See those hands? Yeah, problems. I ended up piecing the clothing with the hands intact, then stamping, coloring and fussy-cutting the hands separately.  It was actually easier, and the hands have some dimension now. Also, the shirts don't fit perfectly into the space above the slacks, so I called it "their camisoles are showing". They be stylin'.

Two rare tools used here: A Wink of Luna silver brush marker for the earrings, and an ultra-fine-point Sharpie to color their upper lips a very bright red.

The sentiment proved to be a problem. Since I'm generally opposed to making other than an A2-size card, it just didn't fit anywhere to my liking. I was going to put it under their feet, but it didn't feel right. There 's another more-square sentiment in the set, but I really wanted to use this one, so I stamped it on vellum with Memento Luxe black ink and clear-embossed it. This way you can still see the image and handsome paper piecing.

The colors of their clothing were chosen based on the current (current, I know!) Nacho Average Challenge colors:

I used paper from the Echo Park Simple Life 6x6 pad for the green and orange-red, and Basic Grey PB&J for the navy.

ETA: Wheee! I won Top Nacho with this card!

For my second card, I followed the now-expired City Crafter Challenge to use a house on a project. I immediately thought of my cache of wood veneer houses, and I made this:

 

Just because a challenge is expired doesn't mean I can't use it; it's still a good challenge, especially if it gives me an idea to use up some stash!

I used the colors from the now-expired Color Throwdown challenge:

I used Hero Arts Tide Pool ink for the Bermuda Bay, Copic R08 for the Real Red, and Copic N2 for the Smoky Slate. I like the color combination, a lot! I colored the houses with the Copics, and used the Tide Pool ink to sponge in the sky and grass. So what if I have a green sky?! It's ART!  (Thank you, Lydia, for helping me to justify my color choices.)

I put the white panel onto a piece of Hero Arts Mixed Pool layering papers, and attached it off-center to a white card base. The sentiment from Clearly Besotted was stamped in Hero Arts Charcoal.

I kinda like how this one came out.  :)

I'm headed back in to work on some more challenges. I'll be back to share if anything turns out to be blog-worthy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stuff I used:

For the Girlfriends card: Basic Grey PB&J 6x6 paper pack, red ultra-fine-tip Sharpie, I listed the ZIG 2-way glue pen, but I used my SU 2-way glue pen since it was closer and works just as well -- I have both), and the following:

InLinkz.com

For the Houses card: Wood veneer houses from my stash, A*Muse Studio cloud dies, and the following:

InLinkz.com