Mad for Paper

Hi there, Today, I am playing along with the  A Blog Named Hero Challenge. I fell in love with this stamp, Antique Bee and Flowers, the moment I saw it.   The detail on the bee is amazing and it embossed beautifully. A little Copic coloring on the wreath. The background was made with the Hero Arts Honeycomb stencil and Butter Bar ink. The sentiment is StampinUp. Thanks for visiting Ang

Hi All, It is time, once again, for my part in the House of Cards monthly challenge . Check out this beautiful inspiration photo: This is a gorgeous shot, but I gotta tell you, these colors are hard for me.  Yellow is my least favorite color to work with.  Purple pulls up a close second.   I was struck by the kind of ethereal quality of the photo, with the blurred background.  Tried to go with that. Between coloring the bird and getting the splats right, I think it took about 5 tries.  I colored the bird on the back of vellum and smudged it about 5 times.   I am not patient when it comes to waiting for things to dry. So, here is my card:  Even as I was putting my last version together (having waited for everything to dry) I was sure it wasn't going to work.  But, once I got the vellum leaves down, I really started to like it.   I added dots of Stickels in ice and pink.  A cheery sentiment and antiqu...

Mmmm, makes me think of In-n-Out burgers.  Haven't had one of those in years. Today I am participating in two challenges with two cards! First up, Seize the Sketch #19 .  I really like the sketches they provide:   Secondly, I am participating in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge . This week is anything goes.  Since I am using some new Simon Says Stamps and dies on both cards, I figured why not.  I colored the flowers with Copics.  I need to use them more, I really like the outcome.  A couple of fun "Hello"s, and we are all set.  Thanks for stopping by, Ang

Hi There, I am playing in the Seize the Sketch Challenge #18 today.  The inspiration:   I was also inspired by this beautiful card, from Vicky Dutcher , I had Pinned a while back.   I just love the colors,  teal and green is my favorite color combination,   I am always drawn to it.   My card, again:  I snuck a little bling in there too. Thanks for stopping by, Ang

Hi, Today I am, hopefully, participating in the challenge over at the Waltzingmouse Fanatics Website . I say hopefully because my card does not exactly match the sketch.     I made my card a few hours after looking at the challenge and thought there were three boxes along the bottom.  Finished my card, went to post and realized there are four boxes!  I couldn't have fit 4 of my images anyway, so I hope my card will be acceptable.  I just love these Little Lanterns from Waltzing Mouse Stamps.   I embossed them with SU Pewter EP.  Love that stuff too.  Thanks for visiting! Ang

Hi Everyone,. It is a beautiful Saturday her in the SF Bay area.  Love it. (sorry if you are dealing with bad weather) Today I am participating in  Seize the Sketch #17. Here is the sketch inspiration.   I had planned on participating in the Waltzingmouse challenge also, but reread the requirements and my card doesn't really fit. I only have one WMS set with sentiments.   Oh, well. Here is my card again:  Can you tell I love color?  I own a lot of scrap-booking supplies, especially patterned paper.  Maybe 5% has pastel colors.  I am just drawn to bright colors.  Remember when we all had our colors done?  Wow, I am really dating myself. It was the early 80s, I think.   I was called a winter; dark hair, fair skin.  I already knew that bright colors work best for me.  I don't think I own any pastel colored clothing either.   A little embossing and shine with my WMS Funky Flowers, that I lo...

I can't believe it is already time for the HOC April Challenge .   Wasn't it just new years? Anyway, this month we have a sketch for you at HOC: I wanted to play with some new Avery Elle stamps and dies.  I love this set, Bottle it Up.  My card is a little shabby; I wasn't so sure about the vintage part of my assignment.  I figured, we had terrariums when I was a kid and I am "vintage".  So, I am calling it good. I popped up the top layer.  You can't really see it in the photo, but I added a clear sheet behind the die cut to look like glass.  I also gave the inside of the image a little spray.  A little bit of cork for the top. I love the font on this set, there are several basic sentiments in it. Pop on over to HOC and join us this month.  It's a lot of fun! Ang

Hi everyone,  We have an extra week in March which means we can sneak in another challenge over at the House of Cards Challenge Blog . Make any style of card using this inspiration photo: I just love the fresh look of this photo. I used a new (to me) technique on this card.  I took a class at my LSS recently and learned a new way to use my Copic markers.  This technique works best with brush stroke style stamps.  This was another plus since I love the look of brush stroke stamps but always had trouble using them.   Not sure to color them or not. With this technique, you color right on the stamps using Copics.  You can layer the colors too.  The ink will dry out on the stamp but that is OK.  When you are done coloring, you spritz the stamp with Copic blending solution and stamp.  The more solution you use, the more the color will spread.  It was fun and every time you stamp you get a different look. The instructor t...

Hi,  Today I am  participating in a new (to me) challenge.   It is the Stamplorations Blog Sketch challenge. Here is the sketch:  These simple sketches are often the most challenging for me.   I have a very hard time with clean and simple (CAS) cards.  I always want to add more. The beautiful embossed medallion is from Waltzingmouse stamps. Those Washi tapes are actually stamps that I won from Inspired by Stamping on another challenge.   Aren't they fun. Thanks for stopping by, Ang

Hi, Today I am participating in Seize the Sketch Challenge #16 , here is the inspiration sketch:   more details of my card:  You can't see it very well but there is a little bit of Wink of Stella on the large mum. I actually made this card yesterday and the little flag in the upper right was very different.  It was a pink flag with a big bling on it.  It was OK but I wasn't thrilled with it.  When that happens I usually walk away, wait a bit and then something will come to me.  That didn't happen, after a few tries, yesterday. However, last night, I had a dream.  It was just a real quick shot of someone cutting a piece of ribbon to use for a flag like this.   Slept some more.  About 10 minutes after I woke up, I remembered my dream.   I had this fun pink ribbon lying around, cut a quick piece and made a new flag.  Perfect! Thanks for visiting. Ang

Hi Everyone,  Today I am participating in Iwana Palamountain's Sketchbook Saturday Challenge .   I have probably mentioned it before, but I am a huge fan of Iwanas.   Her cards are always incredibly beautiful and so inspiring. Here is the current sketch: And a little more detail on my card.   I wanted to use this very delicate die cute sentiment.   I cut it five times and stacked them.   I am really happy with the way it came out but it was a little bit of a pain to put together.  The flower is from a new SU set.  I embossed in white on vellum and used markers to color it on the back.  Then I cut it out.  The leaves are various dies.  A little bling and I have a card with a lot going on but, to me,  it retains a sereneness, which is what I had hoped for. Thanks for visiting. Ang

I haven't participated in a whole lot of challenges for the last month or so.  I missed them, especially the Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenges . We were given this inspiration sketch:   I knew I wanted to do something bold with my WMS Funky Flowers set.  Not sure what it is about these flowers that appeals to me so much, but I am in love with them.   I also have been trying out several new inks and picked up up Versacolor Pigment in Indigo.  If I can remember to let the pigment inks set and not smear them, they give super impressions. I made a mistake on this card.  Can you tell where? I planned on embossing the sentiment directly onto the white paper.  Instead of getting out my Stamp-a-ma-jig like I should have, I winged it twice with Versamark and both times it was crooked.  Found a piece of scrap vellum on my desk; mistake all taken care of! Thanks for visiting. Ang