FISHING FOR A COMPLIMENT

The current 2-week challenge at Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers is #209 "U is for Underwater". How could I pass that one up? I've used this fish stamp a couple of times in the past - it's an old favorite. I didn't really have any appropriate sentiments, so I made up my own.

I had a couple of sheets of this lightweight printed paper that seemed like it would work for the background of an underwater scene - however, it was not very easy to work with as it's just a bit too lightweight. I stamped and Copic-colored directly onto the paper and over-stamped the branches for seaweed. I used my computer for the sentiments and die-cut them and glued onto the face. 

Pretty simple and certainly silly enough to share with the ladies at SOSS! 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: SOSS #209 U is for Underwater

Added May 17, 2020:

AMAZING

 I had two challenges in mind when I started this card - "Freshly Made Sketches #533" and "Color Hues #39 - Purple & Green". But, alas, the Color Hues challenge had expired before I finished my card, so this goes only to FMS.

The sketch by Jen B features three vertical bars cut through with a sentiment. I had this idea about using a large floral image (Hero Arts + Gina K PR 101) stamped in black, masking off three vertical bars, and Copic coloring only the images within those bars. It worked but might be just a bit subtle. The dark purple (not black) horizontal sentiment is from Hero Arts DC152, using white embossing powder. The final touches were a narrow green satin ribbon and a couple of pale green gemstones.

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #533 - A Sketch by Jen B 

COLOR THROWDOWN

It felt like kismet yesterday when I arrived home after a foray of a local craft store where I purchased a quilt square die and then opened up the current challenge at "Color Throwdown #690" featuring a quilted pillow - it was meant to be!

 The die I used was Momenta #2046076 and scraps from my stash in navy, gray, mustard, and a blue small print. The sentiment is one I use frequently that I've had for years, and I stamped it with PTI "Enchanted Evening" die ink. I mounted the quilt square to the face of a 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" folded card and layered a frame over that with dimensional foam. Light is low today, and I had a very hard time getting the navy to show as navy and not black. Also, by having to manipulate the colors to get navy, the mustard changed to more of an ochre - oh well, you get the idea!

Color Throwdown: Color Throwdown #690

Added May 5, 2022:

ART INTERRUPTED

The last time I showed my face in this space was well over a month ago - life often interferes with art! I've just been very busy with a couple of the other 56 irons I have in the fire at any one time. I took on a new interior design project for a financial institution and now the contract documents are completed and submitted for permits, so I'm off the hook on that one until construction begins (Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be retired...). I can now catch my breath and take out my cardmaking supplies.

For this first card I was inspired by Cecile's photo over at "Just Us Girls #629 - Word Week". I did a bit of a loose interpretation.

Yesterday's mail brought me a new set of dies I've been wanting for a while - some Sizzix deckle-edged rectangles - and I wanted to try them out. I started with a scrap of printed polka dot cardstock that I die-cut and then stamped the sentiment on one of the circles with VersaMark ink and embossed it with Zing! Purple embossing powder. To accent the sentiment, I stamped a small circle of dots with purple ink and threaded a piece of purple twine through a couple of holes I punched in the circle. I mounted a deckle-edged rectangle that I textured by blind-embossing to an ivory card base. I also die-cut a couple of Alexandra Renke "Asterella" flowers from the same ivory cardstock and layered one on the face of the card and sandwiched the other two between the two deckle-edged rectangles.

So, that's my re-set back into cardmaking. Here's the photo inspiration:

"Just Us Girls" Challenge: Just Us Girls #629 - Photo Week (justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com)

Added May 3, 2022:

A IS FOR ATC

Today is my second Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers Guest Designer slot - "A is for ATC (Artist Trading Card or Coin)". Besides it being my second one this year, it's also the second time the challenge is to create something I've never tried before (the first one using a gelli plate background). So, not ever having made an ATC, I headed to Pinterest to see what it's all about. I can see these could be addictive! I didn't try my hand at coins because, surprisingly, I don't have any 2-1/2" diameter circle dies or punches.

So, here's me dipping my toe into the ATC waters, while keeping it snarky: 

I started by blending some aqua and yellow inks onto watercolor paper using a Tim Holtz Mini Stencil. I over-stamped some outline flowers from a VERY old set with Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink and started coloring with some Copic markers. The sentiment is from Unity Stamps "Itty Bitty" rubber stamps, and I heat embossed it on black cardstock with Zing! White Embossing Powder, cut it out by hand, and glued it to the card. I came back into the card with a black marker and white gel pen.  

This was so much fun that I think I'll go back through all of my paper scraps, pull out all of the pieces that are small (or large) enough to use for ATCs, and store them separately.

Thanks for dropping by, and if you're inclined, try your hand at ATCs!

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: SoSS 207 A is for ATC