Challenge Up Your Life With Splatters

Hello friends and happy April 1st!  We’re moving right along into Spring now and it seems that I’m still waiting for the warmer temperatures to come rolling in any time now.  Hope that you’re enjoying the season wherever you are. 

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Today I’m super excited to be joining the “Challenge Up Your Life” challenge blog as a guest designer!  I had previously won a Top 3 and a future guest design spot from a past challenge I had entered.  So today their new challenge for April is “SPLATTERS“.  Hope you can share your splattering makes with us this month!  (Check out the challenge blog for details and inspiration!)

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Here’s the card that I’ve created for this month’s challenge:

I haven’t used my alcohol inks in a while and I just got some new Black Alcohol ink cardstock to try out.  I started by dropping some alcohol ink “mixatives” and added a few other metallic and non-metallic alcohol inks over it.  It seemed that the Pearl “mixative” was a good base to layer other colors over top of it.  I pushed the colors around a bit with an air blower where I wanted, but left some black area in places too.  I then took a brush and loaded it with some silver metallic alcohol ink and splattered over the panel.  I thought the black made for a really easy galaxy style background with great results.

Once I was finished with the look, I also took some silver foil that picks up places over the “wet looking” areas of the alcohol inks.  This is such a shinny and shimmer look!

The stamp I chose to use for the card comes from the Taylored Expressions Gus & Gertie-Best Buds stamp set and dies.  I stamped and colored the image on white cardstock, then cut it out with the coordinating die.  The die also cuts the stars next to the image, but I just cut this die out again in silver mirror cardstock for just placing the stars where I wanted them on my card.  I also took a strip of regular black cardstock and silver heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set and layered it over more silver mirror cardstock. 

The alcohol ink panel as layered over the silver mirror cardstock and attached to an A2 sized top folding black card base.  And before popping up the colored image with foam tape, I splattered some yellow over the moon and then once dry I covered it with a glitter brush pen.  It’s so hard to capture it all in a photo, but hopefully you can see some of the details if I point it out.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today with the “splatters” theme and come join in the challenge with us this month!

Thanks so much for stopping in and enjoy your day!

Challenges:

  1. Krafty Chicks – Anything Goes
  2. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes
  3. Fab ‘N’ Funky – masculine
  4. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  5. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

*Vicki*25 Comments

Classes, Donation and Challenged

Hey friends!  Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and will be enjoying the first ‘official’ day of Autumn tomorrow!🍂 Yay!  I know that this is my most favorite time of the year and today it seems like it has finally cooled off a bit which is very welcoming to give the air condition a break!  Decorating for Fall/Halloween is also a favorite thing I like to do along with being outside…so I’ll be doing that this week and weekend for sure!

Today I have some creations that I’ve been working on.  The first one comes from a challenge that I wanted to enter along with breaking out a new stamp set, but excited about using an older embossing folder and some paper that has been in my stash for far too long:

He even looks like a wise old owl…and I thought he would be cute with a little bow around his neck too!  This is not a ‘new’ stamp set from Inky Stamper, but it’s the first time I’ve broken out to use this Owl stamp set!  Their challenge issued this month was “embossing” and so I pulled out a VERY old embossing folder (remember the Cuttlebug days?! LOL)  I think it was one of my very first ones!  Plus, I pulled out some Coordinations Sandable textured and colored cardstock.  It is weathered looking, but when you sand over it, the color comes out underneath…really cool stuff that I haven’t used very much!  You can get the coordinating dies for this ‘Owl’ set which also cuts out the owl and the leaf in the set.  I’ve colored them up with Copic markers and used the die to cut them out with.

For the embossing folder card front, I took a piece of the Coordinations paper, die cut it out and then ran that piece through the selected embossing folder and then sanded over it with a sanding block.  I also die cut a frame the same color as the card base and took a separate embossing folder from Stampin’ Up! to go over that with and sanded it a bit as well before popping it up on the card front.

Before placing all of the elements on the card front, I decided to add some white and black paint splatters over the background.  I also copper heat embossed the sentiment underneath the owl, die cut the strip and popped it up with one of the leaves over top. (You can also see along the edges that I’ve heat embossed too!)  I popped up the owl, but left him grounded to the frame and then finished it with copper sequins filled with glitter drops.  The copper twine bow was a last element decision.  LOL🦉    

Speaking of sanding, it reminded me of this class I took with Inky Stamper making these cards. (couple weeks ago)  I believe there are still a few kits available in the store if interested.  The directions are recorded and saved on their You Tube channel.

Anyway, the sanding reminded me of this class because at the bottom of the card, the kit included sandpaper for the beach.  Really love the look it gave to the design with the texture and tiny bit of sparkle in it!

 

And the same day I had the class above, I had this class from Craft Fancy during their OOAK event.  These were made from their “Alcohol Pearls Butterfly card kit” (I think they have some left in store if interested).  The kit came with one alcohol ink color in Celestial Pearls, which is beautiful, but I decided to also add some copper metallic from my stash for another bit of color.  I also went on my own a bit with the white heat embossed sentiments at the bottom.  I really had fun playing with the alcohol backgrounds and being able to cut them out in one pass for different looks.

I thought this set of four cards would be perfect to add to my donation box to The Butterfly Project in support of domestic violence.  So I was able to send off a batch of cards for that this past week too.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my mixed collection of projects here and I’m sure I’ll have more fun things coming soon!  Thank you for stopping in!

Challenges I’d like to enter for OWL CARD only:

  1. Inky Stamper Inkspirations FB Sept Challenge – Embossing (heat or dry)
  2. Let’s Squash It! – embossing folder (Cuttlebug & SU! used on mine) with letters or #s and sand it
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Allsorts – ‘real’ animal/creature
  6. My Time to Craft – embossing (heat/dry)
  7. Splitcoaststampers – SC871 Wednesday SketchSC871 Color

*Vicki*26 Comments

Purple Day Epilepsy Awareness Blog Hop

Hello friends!  I am very honored to be joining my friend Fikreta Posavec to support her efforts in “Purple Day” for Epilepsy Awareness.

 Please take a moment to read:

Purple Day is a global grassroots event formed with the intention to increase worldwide awareness of epilepsy, and to dispel common myths and fears of this neurological disorder. Further intentions of this movement are to reduce the social stigmas commonly endured by many individuals afflicted with the condition; to provide assurance and advocacy to those living with epilepsy that they are not alone in their ongoing endurance; and to initiate individuals living with the condition to take action in their communities to achieve these aims.

The day occurs annually on March 26.

 Formation and history

The concept of Purple Day was initiated by a 9-year-old named Cassidy Megan and was motivated by her own struggle with epilepsy.

The Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia helped to develop Cassidy’s idea, and the first Purple Day event was held on March 26, 2008, and is now known as the Purple Day for Epilepsy campaign.

In 2009, the New York-based Anita Kaufmann Foundation and Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia joined to launch Purple Day internationally and increase the involvement of numerous organizations, schools, businesses, politicians and celebrities around the world. On March 26, 2009, over 100,000 students, 95 workplaces and 116 politicians participated in Purple Day. In March 2009, the official USA Purple Day Party launch was organized by the Anita Kaufmann Foundation. Canadian Paul Shaffer of the Late Show with David Letterman attended the official launch at Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York City.

In March 2012, Purple Day received the Royal Assent and became a legal day for epilepsy awareness in Canada.

In December 2015, Electronics retailer Dick Smith had arranged a major corporate partnership with Epilepsy Action Australia to support Purple Day in Australia with a $50,000 cash sponsorship, prizes and exclusive distribution of Purple Day merchandise. A week prior to Purple Day celebrations in 2016, Dick Smith was placed in receivership. Later, the Retail Food Group provided a $50,000 donation to match Dick Smith’s previously promised sponsorship.

My own experience with epilepsy revolved around someone in my childhood school.  She was constantly made fun of because of certain behaviors she had due to epilepsy and I wasn’t aware of her condition, but naturally felt sorry for her.  Due to me trying to be nice to this person, I quickly became someone who was also made fun of for it.  Children can be cruel, but I’m sure that the long term affects of what this person went through were very traumatic and long lasting.  I watched her collapse in her yard with a seizure and was so scared. (This is how I learned about what she had.) She was embarrassed about it and didn’t want to talk with anyone about it.  I have since lost contact with that person from school years, but think of this time with my heart still going out to that person and wishing her a happy life.

My hope is that there is more education about this in the school system and especially since it can be very dangerous and children need to be aware of it along with what to watch for and/or to tell a teacher what is going on or how to help.  If other children are more aware, then maybe stigma can be less severe for children with epilepsy.  It would be so hard for a child to speak out about something they are being made “ashamed’ for.

Fikreta has brought us together for a fun blog hop to bring awareness to PURPLE DAY and educate people about this condition that her husband has.

Here is the special card that I’ve made for this blog hop:

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I had so much fun with this card!  I first started out by making a panel with alcohol inks over some Yupo paper.  I didn’t have the MFT Triangle dies, so I made myself a stencil and cut out my own from the alcohol background I made.  I then white heat embossed the sentiment from the MFT All About You stamp set and cut out the black strip and attached in the center between the triangle layout.  I then cut out this panel with the MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle die and added some splatters with some Brutus Monroe purple “basket grass” Aqua pigment and water.  (Love the shimmer it created too!  See the photo below.)

Next, I cut out the “you” die from some Brutus Monroe Spring collection glitter stock and placed it underneath the black strip sentiment.  Lastly, I stamped one of the cute little Yetis from the MFT Beast Friends stamp set and colored him with my Copics.  I popped him up over the bottom portion of the design with some foam dots.  Lastly, I’ve added some Brutus Monroe Unicorn Bottlecap Sequins and filled the centers with Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops.

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Here’s a closer look at this cute little guy and how I’ve colored him up.  I’ve used a light purple tone marker to color the outer “fur” portion of his body.

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Here’s the card lying flat, and you can see in the light how those splatters shimmer!  Those aqua pigments are very awesome to play with!!

challenges I’d like to enter:

  1.  My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge – MFTWSC429
  2. Creative Moments – Anything Goes
  3. Pammies Inky Pinkies – PIP1912 Anything Goes

*Vicki*63 Comments

Stamp Convention Photos!

Hello friends!  Hope you had as great of a weekend as I did!  I came back Sunday evening from a wonderful stamp convention in Collinsville, IL and created, purchased, spent time with some amazing people too…it was so fun!  It was fun to talk to other stampers and just enjoy our time there!  I thought I’d share some of the fun I had with you!

First, I would like to say that I was honored to finally meet up with a wonderful blog friend who inspires me with her creative art, Patti from Cherish Each Precious Day.  I was so happy to actually see her in person and meeting her lovely friends as well!  I really wish I had remembered to take a snapshot with you though!

This was my first time in many years that I had actually even been to a stamp convention, and I really hope to go to another one again next year as we had such a great time!  I always love going and seeing demonstrations and make-n-takes from the vendors…so of course I had to take part in the fun and here are some of the cards that I made there:

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This was made from the Stamp On It vendor (Kim was the lady who taught the make-n-take) which sold these amazing kits with a variety of stunning images printed on acetate sheets.  You would use this sticky glitter adhesive to go over it and create this amazing look.  Of course, it’s much more stunning in person!

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This make-n-take was made from the Rubber Cottage vendor.  I just fell in love with that gorgeous floral background image and bought it! 🙂  The lady that taught the make-n-take showed us a clever way of keeping the card protected while the stickles glitter dried.  Again, it’s so pretty and sparkly in person!

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These fun designs were from the Marco’s Paper vendor.  The “Woohoo” card was created with Nuvo paste at the bottom corner and a strip of Nuvo glitter with score tape.

The other piece you see was something that was made using a gel press and oxide ink pads.  We just had fun playing around with it and got some great tips from the lady sharing it.  I have a gel plate but have yet to use it!  Hopefully I can pull it out soon and just play now that I’ve actually seen it in action! 🙂

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This card was made from The Stamp Pad vendor.  She does not have a website as of yet, but she is a store located in the small town of Kimmswick, MO.  I was talking with the owner, and she was explaining what a nice little town it was.

We used stencils with distress ink and Nuvo paste.  I thought the butterfly and papers were so pretty.  The sentiment was already previously stamped when given the kit.

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This card was made from the Taylored Expressions vendor (You can actually see another version of this card on the front of her website!).  From what I heard from others at the event, she was new to this stamp convention, and she seemed to be a very busy vendor there!  She had many different things going on with demos and several different make-n-takes.  I just loved her products, and you will see something below that I got there! 🙂

This card was just a matter of adding the decorative paper in the background and then placing the colored card stock popsicles over the already cut out border.  We stamped the sentiment using the MISTI, colored the popsicle sticks with a Copic marker and added the twine.  She even provided an envelope.  Taylor helped me with my bow! LOL!  When I got home, the only thing I did was add some sparkle with my Spectrum Noir glitter brush.

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Lastly, we created this alcohol inked background card from The Paper Cut vendor.  The lady there showed the different looks you get from dabbing verses twisting the applicator.  I twisted my background.  The frame was already die cut, but I ended up saving those tiny dots from the die and added them back onto it.  (We were provided with enough rhinestones for each dot in the sentiment as well as the corners.)  We used the alcohol inks to color the rhinestones in the corners and then we popped it up with foam tape.  An envelope was provided for this make-n-take too.

The stamp convention also held a card contest where you could make up two cards based on the theme provided for each day.  The themes for this year were Saturday:  “Ahoy Matey!” and Sunday:  “Time for a Nap”.  I decided to send in the limit which was two cards per theme.  Of course, silly me didn’t remember to take a photo of the cards BEFORE I mailed them off…so sorry about the quality, but I took photos on my phone of the cards that I made that were displayed:

Ahoy Matey contest pirate

I made this card using of course a My Favorite Things stamp set called Party Like a Pirate.  Where you see the girl pirate inside the port hole looking out, this is actually cut out with real wood veneer paper, and it acts as a flap to open the card from the center so you can see the line where it opens.  I had so much fun with this one!

Ahoy Matety contest map

this is the second card I made in the same category.  I used stamps and a marker to make a map background and distressed the edges.  The skull and treasure chest come from an older set in my stash from a company no longer in business.  The parrot is from the same stamp set listed in the above card.

Nap time context snoopy

For the second day Sunday’s contest of “Time for a Nap”, this is one of the cards that I made.  It’s so hard to see the details in this photo, but obviously I’ve used a Snoopy stamp and colored it with colored pencils on kraft card stock.  I took a play on the sentiment and added the “Z”s in place of “be” that would be there.

Nap time contest penguin

And for my second card in this category, I’ve made this fun penguin beach theme using the My Favorite Things set called Penguins in Paradise.  I thought it would be fun to add a summer beach scene with a penguin taking a nap!  LOL!  The sky and the water were masked to create the different looks.

I have to say that it paid off in sending in my cards!  On Saturday, I had no luck at all with any prizes.  On Sunday, when they announced 3rd place, 2nd place and then the first-place winner…. I was so excited to find out that my penguin card won 1st place at the stamp convention!!  My prize award was $100 to spend with ANY vendor there at the show!  Believe me, it didn’t take long at all to spend it!!  LOL!

stamp convention winner

So I thought I’d just share a quick photo of some of the items that I got while I was there!  Notice the bag I’m holding above…so it gets MUCH bigger after that! 🙂

I had no problem spending the prize winnings there!

So after the exciting weekend, long drive home…I ate a late great supper that hubby made for me and pretty much collapsed that night.  Yesterday, I had been sorting, photographing and trying to “catch up” with normal life now. 🙂

Hope you’ve enjoyed my share and thanks for stopping in!  Hope you can share a smile with someone today!

*Vicki*25 Comments