Paper craft project no. 287: Believe you can one layer card

Guess what? Two weeks have flown by so it’s time for a brand new challenge at Time Out Challenges! This time around, we’re getting inspired by this phrase: Birds of a feather flock together. Use the entire phrase as a starting point, or just pick one or two words — your call. Your project can be anything you like, not just a card. We’d love to see your Inspired by Words projects so don’t be shy about adding them to the TO gallery/linky! This time we’ve got the super-creative Jill V. of My Life in Paper guest designing, and you should see her awesome take on this fortnight’s challenge! And my lovely TO teamies created beautiful projects as well…come see our project parade, be inspired, and play along :o)

I went with a one layer card and focused on “feather” in the phrase. Sounds pretty simple, right? Not entirely. This is attempt #3 because the first 2 attempts were stamping disasters.

Attempt #1: I dropped the acrylic block with the inked feather stamp right smack in the middle of the card just as I was stamping the last feather. I blame it on the tripod for when I’m shooting videos. I leaned over too far and I hit my forehead on the protruding bar for attaching my video camera. That’s what I get for being too lazy to put the thing away when I’m not shooting videos. Stunned me silly (I saw stars) that I dropped the block onto my card :o)

Attempt #2:  To transition from one color to the next, I inked the feather in two colors. So when I was transitioning from orange (tangelo) to red (morocco), it wasn’t after I had stamped the darn feather that I saw that I had switched the two colors. I gave myself an imaginary face-palm as soon as I realized my mistake. No one to blame but me for this goof-up, because I refuse to be sensible and do a test stamp on scrap first. DH has suggested that many, many times before, and each time, I give him a cheeky response: “I stamp dangerously,” and he’d roll his eyes. I know he’s right, but then I think I’m allowed to have my own method of madness…and again, I stamp dangerously ;o)

Linking this autumn feathers card to the following fun challenges: One-Layer Simplicity #8 – Turning to Fall and Crafty Sentiments – Use a Sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shery

Supplies: Stamps – Vignette: Trendy Feathers, Typografia by STAMPlorations; Inks – Memento Tuxedo Black, Dandelion, Tangelo, Morocco, Rhubarb Stalk; Stenci – The Crafter’s Workshop; Paper – Neenah

Paper craft project no. 283: Hello one layer card

Hello! Popping by to share a card I made to remind you that there’s still a week left to play with us over at Time Out Challenges.We’re CASE-ing the talented Heather Telford and giving our project our own twist. I took inspiration from the colors in Heather’s card and went with a fall-themed card.  My twist? I did a one-layer card :o). I stamped the fun leaves from Trendy Leaves in various Memento dye inks: cantaloupe, tangelo, morocco, and rhubarb stalk and finished it with a simple sentiment.

Linking up my card to these fun challenges: Simon Says Monday Challenge – O is for… (mine is a one-layer card); One Layer Simplicity Challenge #10 – Turning to Fall; Virginia’s View Challenge #8 – Clean and Simple (entry #5); and Everybody Art Challenge #296 – Leaves.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 237: Hello, dear friend

It’s a brand new challenge at Time Out Challenges! This fortnight, it’s CASE with your own twist. Whose card are we CASE-ing this time around? It’s by the fabulous Anita of My Paper Craft World! We also have Shona of Twine Around guest designing with us! I hope you’ll check out the blog and see how our guest designer and my teammates CASEd Anita’s card.

I took my cue from the blue/aqua/teal color and embossing on her card and gave it my own twist: I made a one layer mixed media card. First, I applied Gelatos (Mango) onto my daisy stamp (from the Bloom Sketches set), spritzed it with water and then stamped. I masked the image before stamping the other daisies the same way. Next, I applied modeling paste through a stencil and let it dry before watercoloring in some Twinkling H2Os (blue zircon) and letting it run and bleed along the side. I stamped my sentiments (from the Boxed Blooms & Bold Sentiments and Bloom Sketches sets) in Memento tuxedo black and Hero Arts tide pool inks. I splattered some metallic mint Gelatos and finished the card by rounding one corner.

Here’s Anita’s card:

I’m playing along these fun challenges: One Layer Simplicity Challenge #8 – Shades of Summer (I picked #3); Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #3 – Stencils with Modeling Paste; Simon Says Wednesday Challenge – Summer (I went with summer colors and flowers); and The Pink Elephant #263 – Stencils.

 

  

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day :o)

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 208: Cherish you forever one layer card [with video tutorial]

It’s time for a new challenge at Time Out Challenges and this time, it’s CASE…with your own twist! We’re CASE-ing a card by the talented Donna Mikasa. We also have Marzena joining us as guest designer. Check out the projects by my teammates, our guest designer, and even Donna herself and see how we CASEd Donna’s lovely card!

As for my card, I went with Donna’s color scheme, the tone-on-tone (watermark) stamping, and the gold embossing. My twist? I did the water stamping technique using a stamp (instead of using a stencil as a stamp), used a stencil as a stencil to create the subtle honeycomb watermark, and did an OLC-ified version. The flower stamp is one I illustrated (currently my favorite stamp – I’ve been using it on my cards lately) and the sentiments are from the new set from STAMPlorations (Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments). I used gold embossing powder by Stampendous and the reversed chicken wire stencil by The Crafter’s Workshop.

I’ve got a video tutorial showing how I did the card from start to finish. It’s a short video (4 minutes, 5 seconds) — in fast-forward motion, captioned, and accompanied by Mozart (just like my other videos).

Watch the YouTube video tutorial HERE

I’d like to enter my card to the following fun challenges: Cards und More #108 – One Layer Cards (my second entry); Crafting from the Heart #23 – Always Anything Goes; Stempelgarten #26 – Floral Dreams, One Layer Simplicity #6 – I’ve Been Framed, and Simon Says Monday Challenge – Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 207: Heartfelt thanks one layer card [with video tutorial]

Popping by with another one layer card I made last night. I based the layout on the current sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. For the colors I used to stamp the “heartfelt” sentiment, I was inspired by the photo at Addicted to Stamps and More, where they’re celebrating their 2nd birthday! And because I’ve got my flower stamp in a frame, it fits the current One Layer Simplicity Challenge – I’ve Been Framed. I’m entering my card to two more fun challenges: Crafting by Designs June Anything Goes Challenge and Cards und More #108 – One Layer Cards.

I used archival, dye, water-based (distress), and pigment (in the form of Inktense blocks) inks, as well as some watercoloring on my favorite card base (cold-pressed watercolor paper) so you could say this is a one layer mixed media card at its simplest. I went with good old-fashioned stamping and used STAMPlorations stamps — SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Thank You and Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments. The flowers are ones I illustrated and turned into stamps.

The card is a pretty simple one to make, and I’ve got a video showing how I created this card from start to finish. The video is another shorty (5 minutes, 44 seconds to be exact), in fast-forward motion, captioned, and accompanied by Mozart. Yes, I love classical music, especially by Mozart. When I’m crafting or writing or even when I’m at the gym, I’ve got classical music playing in the background, as it helps me to relax and as weird as this may sound, the music stimulates my brain cells and I’m able to visualize [when I’m doing art], think [when I’m writing], or focus [when I’m working out] more. Actually, it isn’t weird if you’ve heard about the Mozart effect (or the effect of music you enjoy listening to), as research has found that listening to music [in this case, Mozart’s] induces a short-term performance improvement of one’s spacial-temporal reasoning. [Don’t make the mistake of thinking it increases IQ — there are no definite research results on this, and the researchers who did the study on the Mozart effect made no such claim that listening to Mozart makes one intelligent or that it raises IQ.] In any case, music by Mozart and all the other classical composers was what helped me get through university (particularly on those days that I crammed for finals) and it helps me get through deadlines (particularly on those rush writing projects from clients) — and hey, doing 12k on the rowing machine for an hour becomes fun and easy! Aannnyyway…back to the video. Again it’s a real quickie so if you’re up for a few minutes of brain stimulation while watching me create this card, head on over to YouTube. Feel free to leave me some love over there ;o)

Watch the YouTube video tutorial HERE

  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 205: You make me smile one layer watercolor card [with video tutorial]

We have a new sketch challenge at the STAMPlorations blog. And we’ve got another returning guest designer, Deepti of Dee’s Art Utopia. You’ll have to check out the blog to see how she and the STAMPlorations girls interpreted the sketch. And, judging by the inspiration projects, two of the July stamp sets appear to be favorites :o) We’re gearing up for another blog hop because STAMPlorations turns one year old this month! (There’ll be prizes on all stops in the hop, so follow the STAMPlorations blog if you don’t want to miss the hop!) Here’s the sketch:

For my DT project, I went with an artsy one layer card. I stuck with a simple color palette (Pale Ochre archival ink and Dried Marigold distress ink by Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black, and yellow and green Inktense blocks by Derwent). I used stamps from the May release (SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Happy, SENTIMENT BUILDERS: Thank You, and SUBWAY ART BUILDERS: Dare), a new release (Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments), and a soon-to-be-released (the flower stamp, which is one of several that I illustrated). I used the same watercolor stamping technique I used in this card I made the other day — only this time, I made a video tutorial. It’s a shorty — just under 5 minutes — and I demo how I created the  soft watercolor background — it’s really simple! And yeah, it’s in fast-forward motion, captioned, and accompanied by Mozart :o)

Watch the YouTube video tutorial HERE

I’d like to enter my card to the following challenges: One Layer Simplicity Challenge #6 – I’ve Been Framede (my third entry); Keep It Simple #42 – Splatters (my second entry); Just Us Girls #245 – Watercolor Stamping (my second entry); Crafting at the Weekend #2 – Anything Goes; and Sweet Stampin’ – Say It With Flowers.

   

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 204: Hello one layer watercolor card

This one layer card was inspired by 5 challenges. I’d been wanting to ink these new STAMPlorations stamps since they got here Friday but they had to wait until things got a little less hectic here at home. (DH has been sick since Wednesday.) The big daisy flower stamp is flower #2 in the series of flower stamps I illustrated that will be available in a couple of months. (I received the samples and I want to test these flowers out first to see how they stamp and all before releasing them.)

Over at Just Us Girls, it’s watercolor stamping. (I don’t think I’ve participated in this challenge before but two talented ladies inspired me: Vicki and Shirley.) I was also inspired by the colors, images, and sketch at Fusion. I smooshed distress inks (Fired Brick, Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, and Spun Sugar) onto my craft mat, spritzed with water, stamped my daisy flower stamp on, and then stamped on my watercolor paper card base. I started with the red daisy, dried it up with my heat tool, and then masked it before stamping in the other colors.

At Less Is More, the challenge is one layer off the edge, so I had two of my flowers with petals going off the top and bottom. I also took my Hero Arts newspaper background stamp, inked it up with Memento Rich Cocoa, and partially stamped it on the left to create a border.

It’s all about splatters at Keep It Simple so I took my fan brush and splattered yellow, orange, and red Inktense blocks. I stamped my sentiment (from the new Boxed Blooms and Bold Sentiments set by STAMPlorations) in Memento Tuxedo Black. I finished the card by drawing a simple black frame around the flowers with my black Spica pen (the black ink is a little glittery IRL), so I’m entering my card to the One Layer Simplicity Challenge #6 (frames) too.

I don’t think I’ve made a card that came together so easily and was inspired by this many challenges (that all go to together rather nicely)! I love the artsy-ness of this simple card so I know I’m going to be making a ton for my stash.

Oh, and I hope you’ll check out the current challenge at Time Out Challenges (where I’m part of Sandie’s and Nonni’s DT). It’s “Summer with the optional twist of flowers” and it’s open until Wednesday, June 18th 5pm GMT. This is a special challenge for those who choose to twist along with us, as CAS-ual Fridays is sponsoring us with a $25 gift voucher (randomly selected).

      

Thanks a bunch for stopping by!

~Shery