Going scrappy

In the beginning of the month I showed you my scrap pile. I since used it for several projects (here and here and some off camera). And today it was time to use it again.

 

There was enough left to select some green, blue and shimmery stripes and weave them together for a background. This was inspired by a color challenge.

 

I was inspired by some other challenges as well. One was for frames, so I was going to use two rectangular dies for that. The other was a challenge to use an old stamp. 

I rummaged through my stamps and found a good oldie, a flower by Stampendous. I have had it for at least six years, but it is certainly older than that. It has one flaw: in one place the petals make a noticeable gap, so I either cover that up or double up this part. That's what I did today. 

 

Then I die cut the background and its frame, stamped the sentiment and the flower and colored it in with my GT watercolors. I attached a white die cut sprig to give the card more dimension.

 

Entering this in the challenges that inspired me today:

Inspire. Create.Challenges: #223 Use up your scraps 

 

AAA Colourful: #31 Colourboard

Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb 279 AG with a stamp older than a year 

 

All About Papercraft: #8 Frames

 Paper Rock Scissors: #19 August challenge - paper+ scissors for cutting out the flower.

 

Well hello there

Today I was again ispired by several challenges to create a card. 

And I needed so many supplies! One of the themes is tropics, so I selected a crocodile stamp that I have had for at least three years now. But also the flower in the "Winter foliage" set looks like it would be at home in a tropical setting. 

 I started by ink blending the background with a medium pale green of the ink set. Then I stamped a canopy of leaves with the darkest ink. I did this directly onto the card base. 

I then stamped the flowers and the crocodile and colored them in with markers. Crocodile has to hide, so I made him/ her blotchy, but went all out on the flowers. I then die cut the tropical greenery and also colored it with markers to match the crocodile.

The 'hello sunshine' die cuts were left overs from the sunflower card, but they seemed very fitting here. 

 

Entering this in these inspiring challenges:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #278 Off to the tropics - all stamps used today are older than a year.

Pick 3 : #7 July-August I went with 'Tropics- Sunshine- Sequins'.  

Passion for Markers: #850 Dies and/ or punches

Crafty Gals Corner: AG / Summer vibes optional. I am playing with Summer vibes

The Crafting Challenge: Buongiorno luglio 

 

Enjoy your day

 I was so happy to see that there were a few challenges that I could combine with each other: create a background, work according to a sketch, use older stamps and depict flowers, birds and butterflies. So satisfying!

I purchased this set of Carabelle Au Grand Air stamps a year ago (and they are still available worldwide, I just checked). The butterfly stamp from a TH collection is a veritable oldie, I must have had it for at least 5 years if not longer. 

 

I also used a gelli print and my Gansai Tambi watercolors.

I stamped, heat embossed and watercolored three pictures: a bird, flowers and a nature scene. I also stamped, heat embossed and watercolored the butterfly and fussy cut it. Then I adhered all to that gelli print background according to the sketch. I added the butterfly (on foam strips) onto the center picture. The sentiment says: "Enjoy your day".

 

 Entering this in these challenges that were my inspiration today:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb 276 Sketch time

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Make your own background 

Triple B: AG w/ birds, blooms, butterflies 

Festive Friday: #FF0214 National Friendship Day, Pick 3: I picked flowers, birds, butterflies 

 

 

Will she like geometry?

 Some fabulous challenges were calling my name today. How does a mix of prompts like 'back to school', a color palette, something beginning with a B and using stencils sound to you? To me it sounded like fun.

Out came the supplies: a stamp of a girl which I have had for some years now - ETA: I bought it in 2023 - , a die by Simply Graphic, a French company, of brackets (how cool!) and a stencil by Viva with mathematical equations and some geometry. My GD is starting middle school in fall and this will be a great card for her.

 

I stamped the girl, (but omitted her arms) and colored her in. The color palette is perfect as my GD has red hair and green eyes and petrol looks good on her. I fashioned a tiny book cover and made it look like she was holding it by drawing the fingers on each side. Behind the hands there is a flap that is glued to the outline of the girl.

Before adhering the girl with her book to the card I stenciled the background, then brought in two brackets. Not only do they have their good use in geometry, but they also frame her. The sentiment says "a little hello for school start".

 

I am showing this card in the following inspirational challenges today:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Back to School 

Retro Rubber: #rrcb275 Bold summer colors 

Fab 'n Funky: #640 Something beginning with a B - which is book 

Allsorts Challenge: #853 Stencils

A Perfect Time to Craft: #7 Open challenge 

Love to Craft: #93 AG 

 

 

Fun with fruit

Today I had my eye on a few challenges that could combine well for a card for a person who is not opposed to childish themes.

I have this fantastic circus themed stamp set (by My Favorite Things) that I have had for two years. (I used it here.) I thought I could combine this with two fruit stamp sets. The last time I used the cherry set (Hero Arts) was two years on the day (here). I had just acquired it then. The mixed fruit set (Sizzix) is also from that same year.

 

The card was straightforward to make: stamp, cut, color. Finding the right background took the longest. Finally I settled on a paper with a leaf print and a piece of green gelli print.

 

Entering this in these very inspiring challenges:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb274 Taste of summer

 

Creative Knockouts: #573 Summer fun

Girlz and the Art of Letters: #29 De letter van C van... circus!

Papercraft Challenges: #131 Sunny days & bright hues  

Lavender and old paper

 It's been a long time since I have done anything with my Distress Oxides. For a 'thinking-of-you' card I chose the colors milled lavender and old paper. The latter is basically a soft green but looks more yellow  in the finished card. A nice sketch and a row of tic-tac-toe pointed me to a direction.

This was the first time using my diagonal stripe stamp which I bought at for Christmas before last. The floral stamp is even older than that, tiny bluebells and the saying were bought pre-Covid. I stamped the background with Milled lavender and I really like the uneven coverage that stamping with Oxides provides. I then colored a die-cut circle with the Old paper. Once that was glued down I proceeded to stamp the flower. I then colored it in with alcohol markers. The saying was stamped with Versafine and the strip was edged with the same marker color as the flowers.

 

I am entering this in these challenges that inspired me today:

Retro Rubber: #rrcb273 x-x-o - I chose the top row 'die cut - stripes - your choice' which was coloring

As you See It: #374 Sphere of influence  

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Add a sentiment 

Addicted to Stamps and more: #519 Any occasion - my sentiment is: Thinking of You

 

Moonshadow

 This text stamp must be one of my oldest stamps, I must have bought it around 2007 when I started paper crafting. It is a poem,  but I have no idea if it is by somebody or whether they just made it up at the stamp company. (There is no maker on the wood block.) Yes! It is on a wooden block. I recently pulled out my box of wooden stamps - they are too easily forgotten.

I created the background using distress oxides and water, then stamping a bit of texture in form of hazy clouds. The moon phases were cut up from a gelli print.

Entering this into these great challenges that served as my muse:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb223 Winter blue ombré    

The Paper Players : #PP674 Sketch

 #woodblockwednesday: January challenge 

TioT: Add some text

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: AG

Mixed media for Christmas

 Today I wanted to play with acrylics and metallic flakes. I have a set of mixed metals, gold, silver, brass and bronze. Back when I purchased it, seven years ago, I thought I would just pick my metals, but it is not that easy. These metal flakes are small and have static,, they cling everywhere they are not supposed to. Anyway, I made two backgrounds, a pink and a pale turq.

I was inspired to pull out my old rubber stamps with musical notes. I purchased them as long ago as 2007 from Above the Mark.  I used two die cut snowflakes, a golden one in the back and the one cut from my gold flake card stock in front. I also used a Altenew circles border stencil for the side strips.

Entering this into these lovely challenges that served as my guide and inspiration:

Simon Says Stamp: Use dies in Die-cember

CreativeArtistes Challenge: #100 Anything mixed media goes

Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb 221   - I was inspired by the sheets of music

Shopping Our Stash:  #SOS511 Whatever weather - it is snowy weather!

Atlantic Hearts Challenge: #555 sketch --- I went very literal with the sketch, it was just too beautiful!

Thank you

 There is always a reason to be thankful. I am thankful for my friends, and on a trivial note, for card challenges that make me think harder and catapult me out of my comfort zone.

It all started with a sketch today, and the need to use old and forgotten rubber stamps, give them some love they needed. I decided to work with my gelli printed and mixed media papers (neglected too often!). And gold embossing just seemed so suitable...

The result was this card. The sketch is awesome, it is a great basis for all types of cards.

Entering it in the challenges that  inspired me:

Retro Rubber Challenge: rrcb#2017 Let's sketch 

Simply Clean and Simple: AG / opt. use the word "Thanks"

Stay Crafty with a blog named Hero : Thanks to a friend

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Thanks/ Thanksgiving

Just us Girls: #705 Word week

Life is wonderful, says the cat

 There are a few challenges again that collide in the nicest possible way and provide a lot of inspiration. The basic idea for the card comes from a tic-tac-toe row of die-cut / stencil / own choice (=stamping). Now when it came to the die cut I remembered another challenge which wants to see four-legged friends (my choice is a cat). And because Humor is always high on my list I chose to stamp fish and a sentiment that gives a humorous spun to the card.

Both the sentiment stamp and the fish stamps were purchases from two years ago. The speech bubbles are much older. When you add up everything this is what I got:

The text reads "Life is wonderful".

Entering this in:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #211 Tic-Tac-Toes! - I selected diagonal "your choice - die cut - stencil"

Friendship Challenge: #89 Tiere / Animals

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Four legged friends

The Alphabet Challenge: H is for Humour 

Addicted to Stamps and more: #450 Die cuts and/or stencils- I used both

It's summer - enjoy!

 Summer on the beach, at water's edge - the idea came to me when I saw a scrap of an old gelli print. Th seals were also stamped on a gelli print, a hardly visible speckled grey. That stamp is several years old, it's from a set but all other parts of it have been traded so I have no idea who it is by.

The layout was inspired by a challenge (even though my base rectangle is longer - I could just not bear to cut it shorter and lose the grass...)  

(The text reads: Enjoy)

Entering this in:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #201 Sketch Time!

Stamps&Fun=Creativity: #436 Sommer und/oder Meer

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Summer Moodboard 

Allsorts Challenge: #735 Summertime

This little piggy -

- wants to say: Happy Birthday!

I have a new piggy die (by Creative Depot) and an old four leaf clover stamp (bought in 2009 at Papersource!!) and now it was time to combine the two. 

I stamped the clover once directly to the card and once on paper, then cut it out and adhered behind the die cut. I colored the clovers in with watercolors, and then some of the background. (Which would have been easier to do beforehand had I thought about it...)

The text is a die cut as well, green peeking behind the pink as a shadow.

Entering this card in the challenges that inspired its creation:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb209 Summer scenes

Craft Rocket Challenges: #104 Use dies

AAA Birthday: #50 Watercolors

Try Stamping on Tuesday: #612 sketch 

Double Trouble: #141 Something, Anything - Claiming  THING 1 and THING 3 (twice!).