a2z Scrapbooking

I posted over at a2z Scrapbooking. This card would work for this month's challenge

We'd love for you to participate in this month's challenge. Be sure that you highlight a Hero Arts product. If you are looking for Hero Arts products, check out a2z Scrapbooking etsy store. When your cart exceeds $25, use my code sue15 for 15% off.

Here's the card

I was testing out a new technique - alcohol ink on vellum. I tried heat embossing on the reverse side. I didn't like how muted the colour was. So, I tried again, this  time embossing on the alcohol ink side - much better. The colour was more vibrant. It was the look I was going for, for this card.

I used Hero Arts K6214 Artistic Dahlia. I fussy cut the flowers out - removing the leaves (which of course, were red!) I hand cut leaves from a grey/green cardstock. It felt that I needed to do a bit more to add a bit of interest. So, I embossed using a vertical stripes embossing folder. The sentiment is from Hero Arts CM124 Color Layering Fuchsia.

Thanks for visiting
sue

Calling All Sistahs - February Edition

It's that time of the month again ... 

Calling All Sistahs is a campaign started by Michele Gross of CAS-ual Fridays after her discovery of breast cancer. The idea is to remind our sistahs to do their monthly self-examinations and annual mammograms. Michele designed the CASual Fridays' Calling All Sistahs collection during her cancer treatment and donates 50% of all proceeds of sales of that line to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Did you know that one in 8 women in the States and one in 9 women in Canada will be develop invasive breast cancer during their lives. Take a look around, do you see 8 (or 9) women? Think about it, on average, one of them will develop breast cancer. We can do something to reduce the incidence. Annual mammograms and monthly self-exams (here's your reminder!) are one way for us to take an active role in reducing the incidence. 

We'd love for you to join us on an upcoming Calling All Sistahs blog hop. We're looking for people to help us spread the word. The only restriction is that you need to use a CAS-ual Friday product, although something from the Calling All Sistahs line would be great.

Last month, my special package of Sistahood Sparkles was held up by the post office. I was unable to use them on my January card. I made sure to use them this month on my card.

The stamp is from CAS-ual Fridays Dream then Do stamp set. I felt this sentiment fit with this month's theme of "With love from your sistah". I used white embossing powder and heat embossed the sentiment on white cardstock. I then applied distress inks (spun sugar and picked raspberry) with ink blendng tools.  I then also white heat embossed the sentiment on a piece of hot pink cardstock. I die cut a heart, trying to capture the word "Love". I super-imposed the hot pink heart directly over the original sentiment for a fun effect. I used three of the sequins from the beautiful Sistahood Sparkles to complete the card. 

This month, Michele is going to give 2 gift certificates to people who comment on cards found on the blog hop. As an added incentive to those participating in the blog hop, Michele randomly gives a gift certificate to a blog hopper (is that a thing?)

Next on the blog hop is

Taheerah

Here's the full list ...

Cas-ual Fridays Stamps

Theresa Knopf

Jeanne Jachna

Lori Kobular

Kelly Griglione

Gwendolyn Goh

Lisa Lahiff

Kara Stainbrook 

Lydia Evans

Rahmat Gouse

Kimberly Rendino

Penny Ward

Melissa Miller

Sandi Pressley

Shona Chambers 

Sue Nagata

Taheerah

Mary Moisan

Claire 

Vicki Dutcher

Heather North
Ceal Pritchett

Thanks for visiting
sue

STAMPlorations February CAS Card Challenge

Finally, I've had time to create something for the CAS Card challenge at STAMPlorations. I check over at their blog each month and think that I have time. It never fails, it's the end of the month before I know it. Not this month ...

The challenge is 




Here's my card

I used the beautiful STAMPlorations SKETCHED: Tulips stamp which I used with white embossing powder on white 96 lb bristol. I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pink marker along the top edges of the petals. Using a waterbrush, with minimal water, I pulled the colour towards the base of the tulips. For the stems and leaves, I didn't want to distract from the hot pink, so I lightly used a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pale Gray marker and the waterbrush. Here's a close-up

The sentiment is from STAMPlorations Helenium Large stamp set.

Thanks for visiting
sue

TIME OUT Challenges #76

I happily was creating in my craft space and was inspired by the current "inspired by words"  challenge at TIME OUT Challenges where the words are

'Friends are connected heart to heart, distance and time can't break them apart'

I thought of connected hearts and Simon Says STAMP's Heart Parade die. I used scraps of bright patterned paper. I used the outline of the connected hearts to guide the placement of the centres of the hearts. Here's my card

I chose to use black cardstock as the base and used black dimensionals to pop up the bright hearts. They look like they are floating. Here's a close-up.

The "friend" sentiment is from Simon Says STAMP Flowers on My Mind stamp set which I used with versamark ink, white embossing powder and my heat tool.

Thanks for visiting
sue

Simon Says STAMP Wednesday Challenge

The current challenge at Simon Says STAMP Wednesday Challenge is

The Color Of Love 

It will be Valentine’s Day soon so anything with a love theme.

When I saw this challenge, I knew what I needed to do. I was inspired by this card by the incredible Virginia Lu




When I originally saw Virginia's card, I had to order the die right away. It's likely that without Virginia's inspiration, I would not have made this purchase. It's Simon Says STAMP Heart of Flowers die.

Here's my card

I made my card a bit differently from the way Virginia describes on her blog. I made little scribbles with distress crayons (mustard seed, spiced marmalade, picked raspberry, festive berries, twisted citron, seedless preserves, peacock feathers, mermaid lagoon). With a waterbrush, I blended the colours. I tried to position combinations of colour to coincide with different areas of the die. It was a bit time-consuming to adhere the small pieces. However, I'm so happy the way it turned out. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches Word Salad. 

Thanks for visiting
sue

Freshly Made Sketches #273

Fortunately, with all this snow here in Vancouver, I've been staying home and sitting at my crafting table. This makes my heart very happy. I saw the sketch for the current challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and just knew what I would do.



Here's my card

So ... my inspiration was to use three pieces of washi tape. Wait .... WHAT???? Use washi tape you say? You mean it's not just for collecting???? I know ... such craziness! I chose three washi tape that reminded me of a party. So - I chose the sentiment from Paper Smooches Birthday sampler stamp set.

Thanks for visiting
sue

MFT Card: Sketch Challenge #318

It's been awhile since I was organized enough to join the sketch challenge at MFT. Here's this week's sketch



Here's my card

I love the clean & simple look to the sketch. I started with MFT Spotlight Sentiments stamp set. I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink, covered with clear embossing powder which I heat set. I then added distress inks with ink blending tools - twisted citron, mermaid lagoon and peacock feathers. I found a scrap of black embossed paper to use on the right edge. I added a few sequins to finish the card.

Thanks for visiting
sue 

Less is More; Challenge #313

So, I finally took my distress crayons out to play with them. They are so creamy - I love applying them to paper. The current challenge at Less is More is 

It's Recipe week and we're looking for 
1 or more balloons on your project

I knew what I would do. Using some 96 lb bristol paper, I blended a few colours of distress crayons together - seedless preserves, picked raspberry, twisted citron, peacock feathers, spiced marmalade and festive berries. I used a water brush (with very little water) to blend the colours a bit. I let the paper dry and then die cut balloons using WPlus9 Whole Lotta Happy dies and MFT DIe-Namics Birthday Wishes & Balloons dies. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches Birthday Sampler stamp set. I drew in the balloons strings with a black fine marker. Here's my card

I love how the distress crayons and water brush created a mottled effect. I thought that the card needed "something else", so I added a thin border of patterned striped paper.

Thanks for visiting
sue 

Christmas Card Throwdown January - Colours

Even though we've just gone through the busy hectic Christmas season, it's never too early to start making Christmas cards - right?  Check out the current challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown




Here's my card

I started with a cream coloured card base. I used SU's Early Espresso and Hero Arts Mint to Green Ombre ink with Neat & Tangled's Bright Baubles stamp set to make this Christmas card with mono-chromatic tree decorations. It's actually a one-layer card too!

Thanks for visiting
sue

Muse Card Challenge #201

I'm the self-proclaimed Queen of Procrastination! It's something I'm working on. Happy to announce that I'm ahead of the deadline for the current challenge at Muse Card Club. This week's Muse is the super talented Valentyna.  Here is her stunning card.



I was inspired by
- the use of die cuts
- the colours
- the sentiment - combination of capital letters and script
- the general sketch with lots of white space

Here's my card

I used MFT DIE-namics Fancy Flourishes die and Poppystamps Groovy Flower die. The sentiment is from Simon Says STAMP Lots of Thanks stamp set.

Thanks for visiting and thank you to Valentyna for such a beautiful card to be inspired by.
sue

a2z Scrapbooking - February Challenge

It's February 1st, so it must be time for a new challenge at a2z Scrapbooking

The challenge this month is 

Here's my card

I was inspired by the awesome Virginia Lu in this post. Here's her card



I "made" my own red vellum by rubbing my Hero Arts Strawberry ink pad over 100 lb vellum. I let it dry overnight. I then used white embossing powder with Hero Arts Happy Mother's Day stamp set flowers and heat set them. I find that the vellum warps less if I let the heat tool heat up before applying the heat to the vellum. I find that by minimizing the time that the heat tool is over the vellum, the vellum tends to stay "flat-er". I then fussy-cut the flowers. Using the same white embossing powder, I heat embossed the sentiment from Hero Arts Color Layering Graphic Flowers stamp set on black cardstock. I added some red sequins to add a bit of shine.

Thanks for visiting
sue

House of Cards - February Challenge

Hi! Where did January go? It feels like it was just New Years Eve. Well, seeing that it's now February 1st, then it must be time for a new challenge at House of Cards

FEBRUARY 2017

Love Theme and/or Colors

Here's my card

I was inspired by the striped hearts and the stripes of colour on the photo inspiration. It reminded me of paint swatches from the paint store. So, I went to a local paint store, pretending that I was looking for paint colours (shhhh ... don't tell) in the pink family. I die cut hearts of two sizes using Memory Box Cherub Hearts dies.

I masked off a 1.5" area with post-it tape and added Hickory Smoke distress ink with an ink blending tool. I carefully removed the post-it tape. I assembled the hearts in a bit of a random fashion. The sentiment is from Simon Says STAMP's Handwritten Sentiments.

Thanks for visiting

sue