Hello and thank you for visiting my blog.  A lot of you have left me some really great comments and well wishes and I so appreciate it!  I’m feeling the love, lol. 

Seriously,  I’ve received a lot of requests for more tutorials, so my plan is to put a new tutorial on this blog each weekend, hopefully Saturday mornings, schedule permitting.  So be sure to check back often and please leave me feed back on tutorials you would like to see.

But for today. . . . . .

This card was created for the February 2008 Dirty Girl challenge.  Every month on the 20th the new and old Dirty Dozen girls (Splitcoaststampers.com Design Team) do a challenge.

This month we were to use a stamp that was designed by a Dirty Girl, past or present.

I used Mona Lisa (Lisa Stahl) designed Cracked Montana Earth Background Stamp.  It can be purchased at    www.cornisheritagefarms.

I combined it with Stampin’ Up All the Best and Season by Season.
The theme was Spring time colors.

Cracked Montana Earth was the only stamp I had on hand to work with on this challenge so I really had to put my thinking cap on. 

If you would like to see all the cards created for this challenge, check this link out:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?si=DCS208&limit=&x=13&y=7

Such talented ladies!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Monalisa (Lisa Stahl) Cornish Heritage Farms Cracked Montana Earth, SU All the Best, SU Season by Season

Paper:  Whisper White, Cool Carribean, Lavendar Lace

 Ink:  SU Taken with Teal, Apricot Appeal, Blue Bayou, Distress Ink Peeled Paint, Adirondack Aqua

Accessories:  Stampin up Markers, Eyelets, Post It Notes, Sponge

Recipe:

Stamped Cracked Montana Earth Backgrounder on lower half of Whisper White Card stock with Adirondack Aqua, brayered Apricot Appeal, Blue Bayou, Taken with Teal on top half of card stock.  Put post it notes along horizon line and sponged Adirondack Aqua at edge of them.  Colored Stamp with markers and huffed on it, then stamped it.  Put a shadow on flower and stem with markers.  Stamped sentiment on each corner with Distress Ink Peeled Paint.  Assembled card and added eyelets. 

This was created for Splitcoaststampers.com color challenge.  We were challenge to use the colors Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie and Orchid Opulence.  Here is a link to the challenge:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325717

I started out on Whisper White card stock and brayered on Orchid Opulence on the top for the sky and Pumpkin Pie for the hills in the background.  Stamp the hills in Pumpkin Pie and grasses in Certainly Celery.  Cut two pieces of Certainly Celery card stock for the grass with an Exacto Knife, sponge Certainly Celery at the bottom of both pieces to simulate shadow.  Stamped Trees in Black and flowers in the trees with White and Pumpkin Pie.  Stamped Sentiment in White and went over it with a White Gel Pen to make it more noticeable.

Stamped Sheep on separate piece of Whisper White card stock in Black and cut it out with an Exacto Knife.

Assembled card and stamped the flowers along the bottom of card with Craft White. 

Flowers were punched from Whisper White and Orchid Opulence card stock.

Hope your day feels like Spring!

I created this card using Beate’s weekend sketch challenge layout found here:  http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/category/weekend-sketch-challenge/

If you haven’t visited Beate’s blog, you may just want to.  It’s one I visit all the time.  She posts a new sketch every weekend and they are always so original.  Thanks Beate!

Recipe:  Started out with two pieces of Whisper White card stock (top main panel & 3rd from the top) sponged them with Adirondack Aqua ink around the out side edges working towards the middle in a circular motion.  I left the middles of the card stock white for highlight.  Stamped vines from Basic Grey set Winterland in Aqua ink on both pieces of Whisper White.  Stamped Stem Silhouette on top panel using Distress Ink Aged Mahogany.  Assembled card , except for bottom layer and stamped Winterland vines again, this time in Stampin Up Bayou Blue.  I highlighted the Bayou Blue vines with a Not Quite Navy Marker and White Gel Pen.  Extended the Stem Silhouette’s stems onto bottom layers with a Bravo Burgundy marker.  Stamped Bird with Aged Mahogany and highlighted with a white gel pen.  Added bottom layer and brads.

Note:  You can get so much dimension in your pieces by stamping in layers, to bring things forward in your scene, stamp them in a darker color.  To push images back, as if in the distance, stamp them in lighter, cooler colors.

Enjoy your day!

This card was created for the Splitcoaststampers.com inspiration challenge IC115.

I tried to achieve some dimension by stamping the birds on Whisper White and cutting them out and adhering them to the card front.  Also, by stamping the vines in two different colors and highlighting the more prominent black vines.

Complete recipe:  Stamped a piece of Chestnut Design paper by Karen Foster Designs with Stamping up Background stamp “Weathered” in White craft ink.  Stamped Vines from SU Set Baroque Motifs with Ranger Adirondack ink “Ginger” on River Rock Card-stock.  I did stamp off on scrap paper once to get a more subtle vine color.  Adhered Design paper to River Rock CS.  Stamped Vines again with Palette Noir Black Ink, sponged River Rock and Distress Ink Faded Jeans to create a shadow.  Highlighted vines with a White Gel Pen and then stamped Sentiment with Faded Jeans ink.  Attached ribbon and brads.  Stamped birds on Whisper White Card-stock and colored them with Prismacolor Pencils, cut them out with an Exacto Knife and adhered to card and drew some feet on them.

I really love the inspiration challenge each week, it gives my creative spirit a kick.

Now what to say, lol.

I will be back later with a project.

One of my all time favorite techniques to use is emboss resist and I used it here on the light colored flowers in the Background.   When you heat emboss an image using embossing powder it resist any ink put over it.   This technique adds so much dimension to a piece.

Helpful hint:  When creating a scene using emboss resist, work first with your images that are in the fore ground, middle ground second, back ground last.  In other words, work front to back with your scene.

I started by stamping the flowers on Whisper White with Versamark and heat embossed them with Clear EP. Brayered Old Olive over entire piece of Cardstock. Stamped Sanded Background stamp over it with Bravo Burgundy, over stamped flowers with flower again using Always artichoke and Bravo Burgundy. Sponged Bravo Burgundy around top and over white flowers so they would take on the appearance of pink. Wiped ink off of embossed flowers with a paper towel. Brayered Black along bottom.
Stamped Main image by Rubber Romance – Flower, she can be found here: http://www.eclecticpaperie.com/rurounru.html
on another piece of Whisper White with Palette Noir Black ink, colored with Prismacolor Pencils, cut out with an Exacto Knife, assembled card.

Ahh, she looks so Zen like.

Please bare with me, blogging is new to me and I have lots to learn.  🙂