Lily Pad Cards Challenge - Frog's Whisker's Ink Fabric/Felt Challenge

I have been dying to try out a new stamp set of mine from Stampin Up! called Kimono Kids.  I have these need/obsession to always nab any stamp sets that showcase cultures and/or are in a language other than English.  I've learned that if people don't purchase these cute stamps, they'll disappear.  So to avoid missing out, I usually grab them right away.

Why?  Because I believe everyone deserves the chance to celebrate every aspect of themselves in the paper crafting world.  So to find stamps that celebrate that (though unfortunately often with very standard cookie cutter imagery), I choose to support.

I love this stamp set because of the adorable saying - "One good friend is worth a thousand relatives."  The East Asian culture is very similar to the Latino culture in terms of embracing/including members well beyond the nuclear family.  So I find this saying precious and appropriate (because it is to me).

Anyway, Lily Pad Cards posted a challenge that asked us to incorporate fabric/felt.  Having done a similar challenge on the Cricut blog not too long ago...I knew what technique I wanted to use here.

I was going to once again stamp on fabric....color the image in with copics...and adhere it to paper with my xyron to make it sturdy enough to use.  I distressed the edges with a Tim Holtz ink called Pumice Stone and frayed them to showcase the fabric.

I didn't want to inundate the card with too much, so I kept it simple and absolutely love how it turned out!

The Rubber Cafe Challenge #31 - Through the Window

This week's Rubber Cafe challenge asked us to create a window scene.  They actually have a really cute new stamp set that I might just have to get, but because I didn't already have it...I had to get creative.

At the Scrapbook Expo in Chicago this past weekend, a vendor stopped by the crop to donate a bunch of chipboard.  Yup....DONATE to a bunch of crafters. You can probably already imagine the mad dash to pick some up before it all went away.

I realized that this was the perfect material for me to work with.  So I pulled out my exacto knife and self-healing mat (I had brought them along in case I had time to work on some papel picado projects).  I created my own little window with panes and "painted" the chipboard with white pigment ink.  I'm sure you can already imagine the layers of ink I had to add to the chipboard as it soaked it all in.  

Once it reached a happy level of white, I proceeded to create my little "outside" scene.  I had some paper from a stack that used photos instead of graphic design.  There was a pretty orange speckled page (I'm still unsure what it was a photo of exactly), but I thought it would be great to create morning (dawn) in my window.  I used some coredinations mustard-yellow card stock to create my sun.

I inked a bit of the sun with Stampin Up More Mustard classic stamping pad.  Just to create a little shading.

To offset the oranges of the dawn, I used some "jean" paper from that same photo paper to create the wall paper on the inside of my house.

I added a little bird and flowers from a Hampton Art clear stamp set called "Tree."

The "thinking of you" stamp was from a Fiskars sentiments clear stamps - "love"

I added some glossy accents to all the stamping to bring out the color of the inks.

The Rubber Cafe - Banner Challenge

Last week, there was a funny hiccup on the Rubber Cafe blog...the poor blog writer was soooo swamped that she forgot add the little widget that allowed people to submit their banner challenge submissions. It was supposed to be challenge #30, but this week it's been folded into challenge #31.

Well, that little hiccup helped me out a ton because I didn't have time to create one in time to post, but because the challenge was extended one week, I had the chance to catch up.

I will immediately apologize for the poor photo.  I finished this project last night (a pre-made album for a baby shower today), so I had terrible lighting and not enough time to take a better picture.

Anyway, I used a baby onesie banner on my cover page to the album for my cousin's soon-to-be-born little girl, Ariana.

I'll have to try and steal it back one of these to days to take better pictures.  Little Ariana isn't due until October so I have some time before mom and dad have photos to add :)

And for my friends that know me....this is probably my first pre-made album ever.  It was soooo hard!  I live for creating with images and found it quite challenging to create layouts that were "generic" enough to support any kind of imagery.  I plan to incorporate pre-made albums into my scrapbook business this year, so I need to start creating soon.  I also have to be careful about other manufacturer items (like stamps), because I can't legally use their products for my business.  Oh the challenges!  At least all the restrictions were removed when it came to my cousin's album because it was a gift!

My first digital stamp card

Because I don't have enough to do (ha!), I've decided to submit my information to the Card Cupids Design Team call.  If chosen, I would be asked to post 1 new project per week and participate in the Card Cupids events.  

I love how this is one of many agency's that allows me to marry my love for cardmaking/scrapbooking with a cause.  Charity Wings and Crops of Luv are two other great orgs that support specific causes in their own unique ways.  I'm actually a volunteer blog writer for Charity Wings, so I'll admit to being a little bias there :)

If you don't know about Card Cupids (whom I've mentioned before in this blog), do check them out!

Part of the submission process asked us to use a digital stamp to create a card for a young person. I honestly didn't even know where to begin - as I've never worked with digital stamps.  So I had no clue where to find one to use.  Thankfully google helped me with that obstacle and I found a cute digital stamp from Back to Paper.

I was dreading being forced to work with one because I couldn't imagine making it work with my style of card making.  I decided to challenge myself and played around, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I might have to start finding other cute digital stamp sites to see if there is an I want to play around with next.

I've actually also really lucked out on this one...it also follows this month's Lily Pad Cards Sketch Challenge!

The Paper Variety Challenge (Week 47): Threads

I spent all weekend taking part in the Scrapbook Expo group crop.  I went in with a plan to finish many projects, especially for all the challenges I had ignored during my busy summer months.

The Paper Variety always has some clever challenges, and I'm happy to share that they'll be celebrating their one year anniversary in early September.  Check out my new blinkie helping them celebrate!

This week's challenge is to use Threads on your project.  I loved this challenge because it gave me an excuse to pull out my embroidery floss (my other craft love is cross stitching) so any excuse to stitch makes me happy.

I also wanted to make a kid-friendly card to eventually send to a Card Cupid Cutie.  Sooo, I remembered I had a really cute hedge hog stamp that had yet to be used..and I went for it.

The stamps itself is pretty tiny, so I had to get creative in "finishing" the card.  I opted to create my own version of the flower on the stamp and I added a few rub ons to fill in the "white space".

Inside, I stamped the message, "Hello Friend."

My "own" papel picado pattern

Oh my goodness...this was so much harder than I thought it was going to be.  I'm still laughing at myself.

After watching my second session of my papel picado class, I decided I was ready to give it a full force try.  I watched Patrick draw his guidelines, his overall pattern and cross grid.  So of course I dove in confidently.

I soooo did not expect that it would be as complicated as it was!

So I started off with a drawing...I used some die cuts I had as stencils to help with the "shapes".  I'm not the best drawer in the world so I thought this would help with the symmetrical look.

Pre-coloring in....I thought I was all set!

The second step is to color in your design.  I added more cross-grids because the scale didn't feel right in my template.

I clearly didn't think through the letters!  Ha ha ha.....I'm definitely going to need to practice letters.

I'll pat myself on the back for the first attempt.  I think it would pass, don't you?!  I'm eager to learn more and see what I can come up with in a few weeks!

Card Cupids: Bookmark Challenge

I've had a lot stored up to post!  

But I've also been in a crafty mood tonight.  One of my other challenges (Card Cupids) asked me to make a bookmark.  Since I adore the Delicate Doilies stamp set and the color scheme from the Lily Pad Challenge, I figured I might as well use it all to make myself a bookmark.

I had a cute Inkadinkado stamp set (Creative Words) that seemed perfect to pair with the bookmark idea.

Considering I have a goal of reading 34 books this year, I am most definitely in need of a bookmark myself.  I'm currently using a old CTA bus card - Ha!

Please send me any book recommendations too!  I'm only book 7 of my 34 goal.