A Week at Camp Create

Camp Create was a week-long bonanza of fun over at the My Favorite Things blog. Each day last week they showcased a different technique and invited us "campers" to play along. I learned a few new techniques during my week at camp. So here you go... enjoy!

Day 1 was "Fantastic Foiling" - I have a Minc machine, but opted to used some foil paper for my background instead.

Day 2 was "Coloring on Kraft" - and I had never done that before! So this was a great new technique that I learned.

Day 3 was "Inlaid Made Easy" - and this is another technique I had never done. I will definitely be using this again.

Day 4 was "Magnificent Masking" - this is a fun way to use your background dies!

Day 5 was "Background Bonanza" - and I absolutely loved the coloring that Francine did on her card. She is a true talent!!

Under the wire!

I was inspired to get a card in the for the last SugarPea challenge, the Mix It Up #5, so here it is. This set is called Quackers, and it has a matching die set. So cute!

To do this card, I diecut the ducks out, and then placed them on a sheet of acetate that I had sandwiched between two layers of a framed drop-pennant. I also stamped the ducks on the acetate with Stazon before I glued them on so the little rings of water showed up. (I apologize for the photo - does not show the colors and acetate off well :-(   )

More SugarPea fun

I am so enjoying using my new SugarPea stamps, especially the set that this stamp came in. It's called Talk is Chic and I got it for free with my last purchase! SugarPea has a great incentive program that earns you free stamps,  so check them out!

This card goes into their week 2 challenge - Mix it Up #2

Practicing my Copic coloring

I had so much fun making my coffee card, I decided to continue practicing my Copic coloring to make a card for the SugarPea Designs Weekly Challenge #4.

I took a Copic class a long time ago, and am quite out of practice. So any chance to use them now is welcome. The stamp set I used is by SugarPea and it's called Hot Diggity Dog.

Coffee... how I love thee!

I saw a challenge for coffee lovers a bit ago, and although I missed the deadline for that one, I decided to make a coffee-themed card for the SugarPea designs MixItUp Challenge #3 for June.

I used SugarPea's Caffeine Addict stamp set and also their Coffee Words diecut. I couldn't agree with this sentiment any more... as a matter of fact, it's time for a cuppa right now :-)

Loving Pan Pastels!

I recently picked up a few sets of Pan Pastels to work with. I literally knew nothing about them until I kept seeing them used by a couple of designers whose blogs I follow. I am always up for trying a new product, so I made the investment in several sets, and have had some nice results with them.

An artist I am not, so it is fun to play with different techniques with these super soft colors. And the best thing about them - if you mess up, you can erase them!!!

Here is a sweet card I made using Pan Pastels for the background, as well as the hay bales and the straw stuffing.

This is another die by Elizabeth Craft Designs and the stamp is from Hero Arts.

I am entering this in the following online challenges.

Frilly and Funkie: Let There Be Light!

Jennifer McGuire's Share Handmade Kindness Challenge

Crazy for Challenges C4C311

Guest Designing at Frilly and Funkie

After my last blog post, which featured a card I made for my mom's birthday, I had a wonderful surprise come my way. My project was chosen as the favorite by the wonderful team over at Frilly and Funkie, and earned me a chance to be Guest Designer!!

I am so excited to have the chance to do a project for these wonderful people, and the theme for the challenge is "Something Wicked." I do hope you'll join the party for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Frilly and Funky online boutique and/or earn a guest DT spot.

I am particularly eager to have this theme, because with the downsizing that I did in my recent move, one theme of the supplies I held onto was Halloween. I enjoy doing Halloween cards, canvases, 3d boxes, popups, etc. I love the colors of this holiday - orange, black, green and purple; the critters - bats, owls, cats, and props - coffins, candelabras, and skeletons. So this challenge is right up my alley.

I had just done a card, so I wanted something different. What to do, what to do... Rifling through my dies, I came across Elizabeth Craft Designs Rose 1 (#997), designed by Susan Tierney-Cockburn. So I decided to do... wait for it... black roses!! Very spooky!! So I set out make a bouquet of creepy black roses any "ghoul" would love to get.

I die cut the petals and leaves from black card stock and using the leaf and ball stylus tools, worked the fibers of the paper to be able to form the flowers. As you can see, I cut a lot of petals and leaves. After shaping each individual petal, I formed the flowers - enough for a lovely bouquet. I painted some flower stems black, and adhered the leaves to the stems. I used Tarnished Silver Distress Paint to highlight the petals of the roses, and gray PanPastel to shadow the leaves.

Once I had my bouquet done, I needed something to hold the flowers. I settled on making a vintage-y looking vase using Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint. This stuff is tricky, as you have to spray the opposite side of the glass to get the mirror-like finish. My chosen vase had a very narrow neck, but I made it work by spraying the paint down the neck and swirling it around the inside. Several coats are needed to achieve the finish, but it dries quickly.

A Graphic 45 label from their Steampunk Spells collection (which coincidentally had "Thorn of a Rose" on it), completed the vase. I needed a few more things for my spooky scene: I found this tutorial for a coffin, shading it with more gray PanPastel, and added a Dollar Tree owl and a skeleton head from my stash, along with some Tim Holtz diecuts.

 I hope you enjoy my version of "Something Wicked," and that you join in the fun on this challenge.