Wing It

I actually had a stamp set in my stash that included a pair of wings, SU's "Fashion Statements" so that was my first idea for this challenge, F4A378 at Splitcoaststampers. I stamped the wings with Versamark and embossed them with gold EP, then washed over them with sparkly LuminAire watercolors. For the front I embossed the leaf design with white EP, then smooshed Gina K inks in Island Dream over the top. I embossed the sentiment with clear EP over Brutus Monroe onyx ink and dressed up a couple of the letters with a gold calligraphy pen.

Wednesday Sketch Challenge at Splitcoaststampers

The challenge was to create an element that hangs outside the center 2.5" x 3.5" rectangle. I wanted to also make a card for a neighbor who is going through some scary medical issues. The poppy stamp is from Penny Black. I used Brutus Monroe Detail ink to stamp and colored the poppy with watercolor pencils, blender pencils, and an aqua pen. I added some cute little diamond dewdrops but thought it needed a little more sparkle, so out came the Versamark pen and Pear Ex. The sentiment was hand-lettered because I realized the only room I had to stamp would require stamping across the edge of one card layer, which has never worked well for me!

One of the things that makes cardmaking fun for me is that it's so easy. Still, I'm almost embarrassed to post this card, it was so easy! I was having stamper's block trying to create a card for this week's Less is More One-LayerSpots and Stripes challenge when I came across a piece of scratch paper I'd used to test some older stamp pads. Stripes. Spots. Lots of white space. Perfect!

I created the stripes by stamping direct to paper, (masking the ends so they didn't look like what they were, rectangular ink pads), using Stampin Up! Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie, and Always Artichoke. Then I took my aqua brush and created a little watercolor. The circles are from the vintage Simply Circles stamp set. I hand-lettered the sentiment with a narrow calligraphy marker. Fast and fun!

The other day I found a challenge that inspired me to make and give cards to people I may not even know.  Jennifer McGuire at www.jennifermcguireink.com
has a great video that explains her new campaign and giveaway, #ShareHandmadeKindness. Here is my first contribution:

 

I loved her sentiment backgrounds, but since I don't have the wonderful Turnabout stamp set from Concord & 9th yet, I decided to use what I have now. I brought out Close to My Heart's Make My Day set for the background and used Modern Anemones from W Plus 9 for the flowers. I stamped the sentiment with  Gina K inks then added a sheet of vellum to soften the background and make the flowers stand out. For the flowers I used both copics and distress markers after I stamped and embossed them with clear embossing powder.