Dare to Get Dirty continuted

A little blast from the past here.  I love cone flowers.  I have them in my garden and I end up with a ton of pictures of them when we go to the arboretum.  I missed getting this set when it was current, but a sweet friend sent me hers because she knew how much I love the flowers.  I thought the silhouette of them would look pretty on a yellow and orange background.  And, remember Tiny Tags? Now that was another favorite of mine and I added some of those too.  That's one set and punch I'll keep for sure.

The other night before I went to bed I made a few backgrounds and left them to dry.  This was one of them.  I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up and saw how it turned out.  Hopefully it reminds you of a beach?  lol  That big huge acrylic block from Stampin' Up! comes in handy for backgrounds sometimes. I tapped on two blues and two browns of distress ink, spritzed it, and laid it on watercolor paper to try.  Doesn't get much easier than that!

Oh look! More cone flowers.  lol  Power Poppy had this beautiful digital stamp, so of course I needed it.  Since I had Tiny Tags on my desk, I used the friends stamp to add a little sentiment. I am really liking digital stamps lately, but my printer gets a bit grumpy about it.  I need to make sure the next one we get has an option to feed the paper differently.

We went school clothes and shoe shopping today.  I can't believe it's so close!  It does start later here on the 28th, so a little while longer at least.

Dare to Get Dirty Day Something or Other

I'm back!  This card here totally derailed my creativity.  I struggled forever to find a layout that worked and tore it apart several times.  I had to color the girl a couple times.  It almost made me give on the challenges, but I'm back in the game now.  :)  I love this sweet little image.  Perfect get well card for a tea lover.

I've been trying to play with my watercolors a bit more, so this one is pretty simple.  A watercolor wash and then the die cut and sentiment.  I decided to add some sequins because I have so many!

I woke up at 5am today and couldn't go back to sleep. I figured I'd come color a bit.  I ended up with this card.  I love these little critters and it's been ages since I'd used them.  I don't have a lot of birthday cards for kids, so this will be gladly added to my stash. 

And finally this guy.  I don't have a clue about steampunk, but I found this image and thought it would be the closest to my style that I'd find.  It was fun and HARD to color, but I did it!  Whew!

I'm off to shower and then head out to the doctor.  It's a rainy blah day, so maybe I'll get more cards made when I get back.  :) 

Dare to Get Dirty Day 2 cont.

More fall colors.  :)  I tried a new technique using tissue paper and distress inks.  It was fun and the result is pretty neat.  I need to try it again with some brighter colors.  I think yellows would be pretty, maybe some blues?  If you want to try it, cut out some tissue, spread some distress inks on a craft mat, spritz with water, lay the tissue over it and let it absorb the colors, and then carefully pick up the tissue and lay it on a paper towel to try.  It works beautifully with Stampin' Up! inks, so I might give those a go!

Finally a simple card.  I think bees and hexagons make a cute card.  Plus yellow and black are a favorite color combination of mine.  I got a new little bug and insect set to make notes for Laila, so I borrowed the cute little bees for this one.  

And finally a little Christmas card.  I figured I should get at least one Christmas in July card made before we start a new month.  Not much stamping here.  I just added a little of the Stampin' Up! Dictionary background stamp on the birch trees.  It adds a little interest, but doesn't take over the card.  I'm hoping my cardboard deer doesn't look like he's been flame broiled at Burger King.  lol 

That's it for today. I didn't manage to get any of the challenges for today done, so now I'm five behind.  Oh well.  I like to try to do them all, but life gets in the way sometimes.  This is one of the rough weeks of the year for me with Eli's birthday coming up on Wednesday, so I try to distract myself by creating.  I hope you're not getting tired of all the posts.  

Have a nice week.

Rita

DTGD Day 2

A bonus second post today!  I've been working away as much as I can today.  I have three more finished and three more to go to be caught up.  I don't know if it will happen. lol I'm getting tired.  I wish it didn't take me so long to make them.  I get caught up and it gets out of hand.  I don't even know how long this one took.  Have you tried the cling wrap background?  I thought it was easy and came out really neat.  It was a perfect under the sea background.  I love trying new techniques, especially the ones that work. :)  I'm doing good on my plan to use my Cameo more.  The seaweed was done with that.  I need to buy less dies, so that should help.

This was one of those throw things at it and hope it comes out looking okay kind of cards.  I can't really do the collage look very well, but I love trying it.  The background is made with Brusho.  I love the Stampin' Up! Butterfly dies.  Laila has already asked me to make a Monarch with it after she saw this one.  :)

This one is super simple.  That image is so pretty that I wanted it to be the focus.  I love trying to color it.  It is a nice test of using neutrals and coloring apples.  Plus, HEDGEHOGS!  Who doesn't love those!

Now I have to take a break and run back to the store.  We decided to have quesadillas tonight, so we need a rotisserie chicken.  At least it's only one thing to go get and there's tons of choices of where to go. 

Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow for more cards! 

Dare to Get Dirty Day 1 Continued

I managed to get four cards and a background for the fifth completed yesterday.  I swear it's impossible to stamp without interruptions, so I'm proud that I was able to knock out that many.  Why do husbands need you to come look at stuff when you're busy crafting?  I swear it's ONLY when I'm stamping.  There's nothing that needs looked at any other time.  lol  Crazy! Anyway, I thought this card was kinda fun. The paper seemed to go well with the sentiment.  I kept it black and white to match that. I used the Geek is Chic set from My Favorite Things, as well as their Blueprints 18 that I scored in the retirement sale last week.  It's been on my wishlist for ages, so I had to get it while I could.  :)

This was my card I made after everyone was in bed last night.  It was way too messy to attempt with a kid and kitten constantly invading my room.  I don't usually like heat embossing because I make a mess and it always looks bad.  I think this one turned out okay.  The distress inks distract from any bad embossing. ;)  It's made with the Flora background and Sketch Ranunculus sets from Simon Says Stamp.

I'm off to watch some morning shows and try to do a bit of creating before laundry.  Enjoy your Sunday!

DTGD Day 1

Happy Saturday! I hope you are finding some time to get crafty today.  If you are a member over at Splitcoast, the Dare to Get Dirty challenges start today.  I've been working on a couple this morning and thought I'd share them.  This first one is for a fun challenge from Lydia.  She always has fun ones that push me to try something hard.  I think the result is fun, so yay!

The second challenge was from Dina and I enjoyed creating for it as well.  I feel like we need more rainbows and sunshine in our world right now, so I may make up a few of these to send out.  It was a pretty simple one, so that shouldn't be too hard.

That's it for now. I'm going to go grab lunch and then come back to work on the next challenges.  I found a good comedy to keep me company.  There's nothing better than creating and laughing!

PTI Make It Monday Color Blocking

Still enjoying Fall in my stamp room. :)  I saw the PTI Make It Monday challenge to do some color blocking and thought it might be fun to use this pretty mum set.  I probably should have used some different colors to make the middle layer of color stand out better, but I like how it turned out anyway.  I do want to try it again with one of the different techniques they shared.

August is my busiest birthday card month, so I need to get some made! My best friend from grad school is my next one, so I'm working on a cute science themed card for her right now. I hope it turns out okay.

Happy Friday!  Enjoy your weekend.
Rita

Papertrey Ink Mum's the Word
Inks: PTI Terracotta Tile, Canyon Clay, Cocoa Bean
Gansai Tambi Watercolors
Canson Watercolor Paper
Stampin' Up! Early Espresso cardstock

SSS Flowers on My Mind

Over the weekend I came in my room to stamp and felt stuck.  I decided to pull out a card kit from Simon Says Stamp and try to recreate one of the samples.  Shari Carroll made an amazing card on the reveal post so I decided to try it.  Mine isn't half as awesome as hers, but it was fun to work on it.  I appreciate her ability to layer and do a collage type design.  I learned that I need a medium gray ink pad though.  My SU Basic Gray crapped out and they don't make it anymore.  Hopefully I can find something similar as I love that color as use it a lot.

I'm not feeling creative today either as I have a headache, but I'm heading to my desk to try it. I might have to have another sample recreating. :)  There's actually a lot of learning involved in that, so I might need to do it more often.

I hope you are having a great week!