ATSM #321 - A piece of my heart

Oh my goodness, today it's "Anything Goes" for the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge!  How much fun is that?  I love it when I can just go off and do what I want, don't you?  And with a new House Mouse stamp having arrived, can you guess what I'm using for my card this week?

This one is called Paper Clip Heart and sweet little Maxwell is offering Amanda a heart which he's just created out of a paper clip.  I used my Watercolour Pencils and Aqua-Painter for the colouring.  Of course once I got into the paper clips, I turned to my Silver Gel Pen.  And for a few of those paper clips, I turned to my Gold Gel Pen.  After all, don't we all have a mix of both?

For the paper clip heart I decided that I would give it a bit more of a 3-D effect and used the Silver Liquid Pearls for that.  Before adding my coloured image piece, I put the base through my Big Shot with the Falling Petals embossing folder (retired).  It just continued the heart theme.

This was such fun to create.  I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else links up as their "anything goes".

Check out the creations by the rest of the Design Team and link your own project up HERE.

I've also linked up to the following:

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge #280 - Anything Goes

ATSM #319 - CAS

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about CAS (clean & simple).  While it's fun to put together a really detailed and layered card, sometimes it's great to see how much impact you can have by keeping it rather clean and simple.

When I saw the adorable snowmen created by Bonnie Krebs for Art Impressions, I knew I had to have the set.  It's perfect for this challenge, too.  I decided to use the image of the joy-filled snowman, skating along and using Christmas lights as a banner.  I knew he'd be fun to colour and decided that the "Oh What Fun!" sentiment included in the set would be perfect.  With all the wonderful details and the amount of colouring, this worked perfectly as a single layer added to a base.  For that base, I used the brand new Gorgeous Grape colour and love it!  It compliments the same colour which I used for his vest.  

I used a watercolour wash of Balmy Blue for the ice.  Before I added the wash, I sketched a few lines to show blade marks on the ice with my glaze pen and those lines did not take on the colour.  Love that!  

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

I've also entered my card in the following:

Crafty Sentiments Designs - Snowman

Stamping Sensations November Challenge - Get Ready for Christmas

ATSM #317 - Make Your Mark

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about making your mark.  What does that mean?  We'd love to see any creations for which you use your pens, pencils, watercolours, markers, anything that creates a mark. 


For my card I decided to use my Stampin' Markers as well as my inks and Aqua Painter.  To add a bit of interest, I also used a Glaze pen over some of the design.

I used a fun Penny Black stamp called Cup of Java to make a card for my daughter who, some days, just can't find a coffee cup large enough for the amount of caffeine she needs.  I used my Stampin' Markers for everything but the soft yellow background which is a wash of So Saffron ink, painted on with my Aqua Painter.  I also used a wash of Coastal Cabana inside the cup and at the bottom of the cup.  The flourishes on the cup and the stitched "ribbon" frame were both coloured with my Melon Mambo Stampin' Marker and then made glossy with the Glaze pen.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

ATSM #313 - Holiday

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about Holidays.  Such fun!  Especially as we have a number of holidays within the next few months.

For my card I turned to Hallowe'en for inspiration.  My family has always embraced that spooky holiday and I love making cards for it, from the simply cute to the downright scary.  I found several retired stamp sets which, with a little additional help from me, created a suitably ghastly scene.

On a base of Basic Black, I added a piece of embossed cardstock which I had sponged with a variety of greys, greens and some black.   The murky tones really set the stage, don't they?  I used the large jar from the Jar of Love set for the rather ghastly solution with the eyeballs floating in it.  Those wonderfully gruesome eyeballs are from the retired Jar of Haunts set.  I used the mug from a retired set and stamped it with a skull and crossbones from the retired Toil & Trouble set.  The sentiment is from the retired Merry Cafe' set  and the spider's web at top right is from this year's Cauldron Framelits dies.  I had fun with the colours and creating that line of pouring liquid.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

I've also entered this into the following challenges:

Use Your Stuff Challenge #333 - Autumn/Halloween

CWS #31 Hallowe'en or Leaves (Creative With Stamps Challenge)

Die-Cut-Divas - Dies R Us Autumn & Halloween

ATS&M #309 - CAS

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about CAS--an acronym for "clean & simple".

While on the surface a clean & simple (CAS) card should be a "slam dunk", it's not as easy as it seems.  You have to leave a good deal of white or empty space.  You want your card to grab the attention of your viewers with a minimum of detail.  I love making this style of card.  They make me think and plan a lot more than many of the much more detailed cards which I create.

For my card I turned to the Enjoy Life stamp set.

I spotlighted the wonderful sentiment by stamping that pretty Pineapple Punch background using the image from the Love What You Do set.  Then, after the yellow had completely dried, I dusted it over using my "embossing buddy" and stamped the sentiment with Versamark before heat embossing it with Black embossing powder.  I love how well it shows up using that technique.  I decided to keep with primary colours and so stamped the image of the girl using Lovely Lipstick ink and that sweet little butterfly using Blueberry Bushel.  To finish up I added three pale yellow sequins and the card was done.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

ATS&M #307 - Make Your Mark

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about making your mark.  What does that mean?  We'd love to see any creations for which you use your pens, pencils, watercolours, markers, anything that creates a mark. 

For my card I decided to use my Watercolour Pencils and Aqua Painter.  

I've used the new Country Home stamp set from the soon-to-be-released Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalogue.  I love the old milk can with that gorgeous bouquet of cotton bols, eucalyptus and dried florals.  

From this angle you can see the shine of the metallic inks I painted onto the milk can, over the original shaded grays of the watercolour pencils.  I also added some copper ink to dress up the milk can.  It looks great against the silvery body of the can as well as the copper ribbon, doesn't it?

Here you can see the details of the shading I did with the watercolour pencils.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

ATSM #305 - Photo

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about the Photo Inspiration shown below.

For this card I've turned to my Lemon Zest stamp set.  I think it carries off the photo theme rather well, don't you?  My background is a sprinkling of the Brusho Gamboge on Mixed Media paper, lightly sprayed with water.  I love the yellow, gold, orange and red tones which resulted.  After stamping various images from the stamp set using Crushed Curry, Mango Melody, Pineapple Punch, Lemon Lime Twist, Grapefruit Grove and Granny Apple Green inks on Whisper White, I fussy cut them all.  I turned one of the lemons into a pear by adding a hand-cut Soft Suede stem and one of the stamped leaves.  Another lemon turned into a lime.  Overall, the fruits worked out beautifully and made me a bit thirsty.  My sentiment is from the retired Sharing Sweet Thoughts set.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

ATSM #303 - Holiday

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge.  This time it's all about Holidays.

For this card I used one of my favourite Christmas sets (sadly retired by Stampin' Up!) called Christmas Magic.  I think it's magical the way the holiday train is coming out of that tunnel, carrying all those wonderful gifts.  I've gone over parts of the train and snow with some H2O sparkle.  In real life it makes a dazzling difference.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the Design Team and link up your card HERE.

I've also entered my card in the following:

Crimbo Crackers Challenge #163 - Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges #183 - Christmas in July

ATSM #301 - Anything Goes

It's time for another Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge.  This time it's an anything goes.

For this card I used the sweet Moon Baby stamp set (sadly retired).  I coloured the images with my Koh-I-Noor Colour Pencils and Gamsol.  Those embossed hearts on the background textured blue cardstock echo the star hanging from the baby's hand.  Unfortunately the photo doesn't pick up the sparkle of the Wink of Stella on that star.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the team and link up your creation.

ATSM #299 - CAS (Just a Little Note...)

I'm so excited to begin as a member of the Addicted to Stamps & More design team.  Since this week's challenge is all about clean and simple, I went wading through my stamps for inspiration.  Thanks to Tim Holtz, inspiration didn't take long in coming.

I love this coneflower!  It was such fun to colour, especially since these wonderful flowers come in a variety of colours.  For this one I stuck to my mauves and lilacs, using my beautiful Coloursoft pencils by Derwent and then smoothing them out with Gamsol.  For my sentiment, I used the brand new Highland Heather ink which came out in the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.  To finish up and add a bit of pattern, I cut the white matte onto which I attached my fussy cut flower with a new Gina Marie designs set of dotted-line dies.

Check out the awesome creations by the rest of the team and link up your creation.