CR84FN39 Color challenge

Hi all and happy Sunday to you!

I decided to play along this week in the CR84FN color challenge.....I haven't had time do a challenge in quite a while but who can resit these awesome colors! Love using orange, yellow and brown combo's. I like to add a little bit of red when I can sneak it in too...he he!



  I decide to use a new Penny Black stamp for my main image here. It just screamed to be colored using my favorite color combo!


Supplies used: Penny Black 4202L
Hero Arts ST508, Verve sentiment from Harvest Blessings VS-09-036
Assorted brown, orange, cream cardstock
distress inks antique linen, scattered straw, broken china, tumbled glass, brushed corduroy
Marvy & Bic markers: hemp twine & yellow gem


The image was stamped with antique linen distress ink- then I came back over the entire image and colored it in using markers. I used some scattered straw distress ink and a bit of brushed corduroy to make the ground- and used broken china and tumbled glass to make the sky. I really had fun coloring this image- all those little berries/leaves were a blast!! I used a few shades of orange, yellow, a few different browns, and a tiny bit of red.  I don't have very many Copics, so I mainly used my assortment of Marvy markers and (gasp!) some plain old Bic markers. The card base pattern was stamped using a new stamp from Hero Arts/Studio Calico- set ST508, and the sentiment is from Verve. The gem on the little twine bow is yellow...but it didn't show up very well in the picture....darn it! 

I'm loving these colors and the trees here in Wisconsin are in "full fall bloom" right now- they are amazing. Before you know it they will all be falling off and then it will be time to rake them all up.

Thanks so much for stopping bye and have a great day!

Inky Hugs..................................Anne 

Another Fall card

Just a quick simple card for fall using a Penny Black stamp and a Verve stamp.



I just picked up this tiny leaf punch at Micheal's the other day and thought it would work well with the PB tree stamp. I used assorted scraps of patterned paper and cardstock for the leaves. The tree was stamped with brushed corduroy and the sentiment was stamped with Adirondack cranberry.

The weather today is glorious- not a cloud in the sky and in the 70's. I'm headed out for a walk in a bit!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Inky Hugs......................Anne 

Fall is around the corner

Hi everyone!

The temps are getting cooler each day and it feels like fall is in the air here in Wisconsin. I've been seeing Halloween and fall cards all over blogland and I've been getting the itch to create for the upcoming season. I created this card using some  felt leaves from Hero Arts I picked up last fall and still had a bunch left over.



I stamped the woodgrain background using Stazon Timber Brown as the cardstock has a metallic sheen to it and all other inks would just slide right off. I used an EK Sucess border punch and some yummy Stampin Up ribbon. The sentiment is from Hero Arts as well. I can't believe I made a rather "clean and simple" card.......that's a stretch for me!
I'm entering this into the Hero Arts monthly challenge for September "everything autumn".


I even made a quick "kid"  Halloween card with some pre-made embellies and Hero Arts stamps.



And another Halloween card using a Penny Black image and Hero Arts background stamp. The fun sentiment is from Rubbernecker Stamps. Sorry abut the poor picture quality- my lighting was terrible that day I took the picture.

I'm looking forward to all the leaves turning colors in my yard, roasting marshmallows around the campfire, hot cocoa, comfy sweaters, and picking apples at the local orchard soon. It's hard to say goodbye to summer.....but this past one has been so darn hot I'm welcoming the cooler fall weather. I even got out some of my fall decorations today and baked up some pumpkin zucchini bread- loving this time of year!!  I"ll be updating my blog header real soon.....must change it up with something cute for fall.

I've still got some great stamps and other tools for sale- just take a peek over in my Flicker photostream.

Thanks for stopping bye everyone and have a great day!

Inky Hugs.........Anne 

Stamping with paint

Hello everyone! I'm here with a fun painted card project today:)

This is a card I made for 2 specific challenges: The Penny Black blog to use the colors red, cream, and gold....and also the Inspiration Journal challenge to use acrylic paint on a project.



I used the Penny Black stamp "butterfly ball" and stamped that using my Adirondack gold paint dabber. I also used the paint on the 2 small brads......they were metallic gold to begin with but I wanted them to match the butterflies exactly. The script stamp is by Hero Arts and was stamped using brushed corduroy distress ink and the embossed red panel is by Stampin Up. I like the way the paint has a little bit of dimension here giving the butterflies some texture.

I really had fun playing with the paint. My dabber was clogged up so I simply put some of the paint onto my non-stick craft sheet and used a small paint brush to layer it on the stamp. A little tearing and distressing around the edges of the paper and that's it. I left the front blank so you can add any sentiment you want on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great crafty day!

Inky Hugs.............Anne

Expiramenting ........

Hi everyone! Yup- it's been a while since I posted here- just haven't made the time to get it done.....it really can be time consuming with all the photographing and trying to fight with my hubby and son for some actual computer time.....I guess that's why I post so infrequently lately....sorry. 

This past week I played a bit with making some of my own background paper. I just sat down one day and got out my watercolor paper and some distress inks and other metallic inks I have and thought I would goof around and see what I could create.       
                             
                                                   I ended up making these funky and fun papers!
                           One of these is alcohol inks too (the yellow greenish bluish one in the middle) 
I started out soaking the paper well with water, then just dropped some ink here and there  and moved it around a bit with a paintbrush.....lots of trial an error here. 

Today I finally sat down and got busy creating something with them. There is a color challenge over at Hero Arts hosted by one of the newest hostess's Sally ......and I grabbed one of the papers to make some flowers with.  (Sorry- I forgot to take a picture of that particular paper I used before stamping on it and cutting it up).


                                                  This is what I came up with!



The paper was rather orangey red with a few splotches of brownish yellow here and there. I think I used Scattered Straw, Barn door, Worn Lipstick, and Vintage photo distress inks on this paper. I stamped the Hero Arts small striped flower in white, embossed and cut out, and I added a bit of gold paint to the centers. The stem for the flowers is a Hero Arts stamp "Real Daisy"-stamped and embossed as well. The background is another Hero Arts stamp " Old letter writing" and the "dream" stamp is from Inkadinkadoo.I just love the great multicolored flowers this made!

Next up I made this card using a favorite Penny Black stamp and one of the greenish-blue papers I created.



This just made me think of a rainy Springtime day......hence the sentiment (which was made on the computer). It's hard to see but the paper has a nice splotchy metallic sheen to it that reminds me so much of raindrops.

                                                Here is a much better view.




I sure had fun playing with making my own background papers- I hope you will try it too! I simply cut up some Hero Arts white watercolor paper.....soaked it really well with water....then dropped some distress ink refill ink onto the paper....then moved it around a bit with a wet paintbrush. Then I flicked on some watered down metallic paints I have with another paint brush and let it all dry. I had to try to flatten out the papers using a stack of heavy books and letting it sit  for a few days as the paper gets all warped and funky.....and they still seem a bit warped........thank god for heavy duty adhesive so they actually lay flat!

Thanks for stopping by everyone and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Inky Hugs, 
Anne

Winter cards and and Wee Memories Challenge card

Well this was a rather lazy weekend at home. We woke up Saturday to 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow and it continued to snow all day long. We went nowhere and just hung out at home most of the weekend. My little guy and I threw many snowballs at each other and got soaking wet.



I got busy and made a few winter cards seeing their was a fresh blanket of beautiful snow to inspire me.


I used a few Penny Black stickers and some Hero Arts paper and gems for these 2 cards.






Then I decided to get out some patterned paper by Basic Grey and make a card for Wee Memories challenge # 31. I used my Walzting Mouse stamps and distress inks on here as well. I love this paper but also find myself struggling with it sometimes..... I guess I'm more of a "ink to paper" kind of crafter.




I shoveled some more snow and filled up the bird feeders today, then  baked a ham and homemade augratin potatoes for dinner- yummmm! It was a lovely weekend to just relax and not do much of anything......just the way I love them!! The snow is very pretty.....and seems to be melting a bit- not sure of it will stick around or not.  







Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Inky Hugs, Anne

Unity and Penny Black Christmas cards

Just wanted to share a few quick Christmas cards and a gift tag I made this week. I stopped by the not so local  "Anchor Paper" in St. Paul when I was working in that neighborhood and picked up some much needed stamping goodies. Lots of distress ink refills (the only place I can get them locally) , a few new stamps, and some Penny Black stickers.

First up here is a really quick card using a Unity stamp. I also finally cracked open my Tim Holtz embossing folders I got at Scrapfest....and dug out my little stash of bakers twine from last year. Kept is very simple using kraft, red, and chocolate brown.



Here is my super quick card using one of the Penny Black stickers. I remember buying some of these last year and using them on a few last  minute Christmas cards.....they are great when you are in a hurry and don't have the time to color in an image. Got out my Stampin Up embossing folder and found a green card base that is a "white core" so I could sand off the top layer a bit.



And finally just a sweet little gift tag that I will be using for my son's Christmas present. We are finally going to get hime a Wii game set and this tag will work perfect for that. I found the die cut tags at a local shop in Stillwater MN that just opened up- they had tons of prefolded card bases and envelopes in many colors and even had a great selection of May Arts ribbon- wohooo! No stamps unfortunately....but I urged the gals working there that they really ought to get some stamps for sale soon....especially my favorite line- Hero Arts!



I used my Hero Arts flourish background and the sentiment stamp is by Stampin Up. I thought I would use up some of these cute Jolee's stickers as well since they were just sitting here......love how they are all glittery and kind of look like little frosted cookies. That's it for now.....hope to get a few more Christmas cards done over this coming weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Inky Hugs, Anne