Monday, February 28, 2011

Moxie Fab World - Stamp It Challenges

I was inspired by the CR84FN Colors and the Moxie Fab World challenges for paper piecing and stamping with markers. When I was working on my CR84FN projects I was trying different techniques and ended up creating a smooshed background using acetate, water color markers and my water mister.

The flower (Hero Arts) and butterfly (Memory Box) are stamped on the background created from the watercolor markers. The flower was stamped six times and cut out and curled and layered. The background was stamped using a light green dye ink and the Hero Arts Flourish. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

The next card is a baby card. I had this sweet sentiment from Verses called: Wee bit of Heaven (FM0241-F) and the greens and pinks seemed suitable for a baby card.


The little hippo and bird were stamped with Versafine Smokey Gray and colored using watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.

Have a lovely Monday!

Suzz


Saturday, February 26, 2011

CR84FN17 - Spring is Coming

There are some beautiful spring colors for the CR84FN17 challenge this week.  I paired them with brown as my neutral to make them really pop.



Here is the gorgeous inspiration photo: 

All the stamps are Memory Box: E1711 Circle Word Background, E1713 Wonderland Butterfly, C1714 Cocoa Bean Butterfly, G1720 Birch Branch Print, F1328 First Flight, E1335 Springtime Wishes Block.
The inks are Versafine Vintage Sepia, Memento RoseBud, and Adirondack Brights Citrus.

I ended up making three cards using these colors as they were so pretty. I will share them all later this week.

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

Check out the beautiful cards from the  CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Meredith MacRitchie * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville

This is the last week with our wonderful and talented Guest Designer Stella Schenkel  stop by and leave her some love!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

Friday, February 25, 2011

Texting Birthday Messages

Our oldest (GULP) child is turning 16 in a month.  I have been trying to come up with a clever card that is appropriate for a 16 year old boy.  

Cath has a fun challenge over at the Moxie Fab World Get Daring with Decorative Tape.  The challenge was the inspiration for my son's birthday card.




The tape is from 7 Gypsies and it reminded me of a tape measure. I decided to cut a strip that showcased the number 16.  I started with a circle of gems around the number 16 and it was too blingy. So I searched in my odds and ends bins and found the tag rim instead. The background is stamped with Hero Arts designblock Special Day Words.  The phones and messages are from Stampendous. I purchased the set a long time ago and this is the first time I used it. Although now my tween daughter has seen this she is already requesting more cards with the phones and text messages. :) 
A big thank you to Cath for the letters (Thickers) I won from the Moxie Fab World blog the American Crafts collection awhile ago and you would not believe the amount of fabulous papers and Thickers that showed up in my mail. 

The Arrow came off a set of stickers that were a RAK from Louise. (Thank you Louise!) 



Have a wonderful weekend! 

Suzz


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Embellish Challenge - Birds and Colors

I am still playing with the colors and birds challenge from Embellish Challenge.  I was admiring the beautiful cards and tags on  Jacqueline's blog and tried to capture her beautiful style in my cards. 

I first created this card:


and then I shared this card with a friend. She mentioned that my words on my backgrounds and the eggs were going the wrong direction. So I redid my card and rotated the background papers.

So which design do you like?  I ended up liking my first project better even with the words/script going the wrong direction. :) 


I love this paper from 7 Gypsies called Conservatory and used it for the background on the cards. The bird is from Impression Obsession called Chickadee on a Candy Cane.  The sentiment is from Verses QQ-1007D Hope Feathers.    The background is also from Impression Obsession and is Nest Definition stamp. The birdcage is from Hero Arts.

Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Suzz


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Layers of Colors Cake Decorating Party

Today I am participating in a fun Cake Decorating Party hosted by Layers of Colors and a fantastic lineup of chefs who cooked up some delicious fat free projects.   :)


I was so inspired by the beautiful flowers that I created a wedding cake for a layout. I purchased a frame made for scrapbook pages and this will become a gift to my Mother-In-Law.


My baking on this project went much better than my cooking in real life! :) I suppose if I spent as much time practicing my baking as I do my crafting it might be as good. LOL! 

I had so much fun creating this beautiful wedding cake using the lovely Floweret Cling Stamp. I stamped the flowers  multiple times using Versafine gray pigment ink. Painted on the color with Twinkling H2O's and a water brush.  Added shadowing with a grey watercolor pencil. I cut layers of flowers to give it depth. The layers of the cake are just rectangles of white cardstock with the corners rounded and sponged. 

Behind the cake I created a big doily with a circle punched around the edges using a corner punch and stenciled using the beautiful Belle Brocade Art Stencil and Memento Rose Bud. The paper is My Minds Eye Lost & Found Portabella Road. I cut out the center and placed a picture of my Mother in Law and Father In Law.
The sentiment was printed and die cut.  The next step was to sponge soft pink dye ink with the beautiful stencil.  I then added the finishing touches on the die cut and the background.  
The sentiment was stamped up in the right hand corner using the Happy Wishes clear art stamp set. 
If you arrived here from Sherri's lovely blog you are in the right place.  Next stop on the hop is the Layers Of Colors blog and you have finished the hop! You're invited to feast your eyes on the Layers of Color Design Team and Guest Designer's Cake Party treats!

Be sure to swing by Layers of Color Boutique and grab a FREE Cupcake Card Template! In celebration, there are SALE items and Special Bundle offers with fabulous pricing on Spellbinders Dies! And when you subscribe to the LOC blog and leave a comment, you will be entered into the  Party Favor Drawing to have the chance to WIN this yummy Layers of Color art stamp set!...
http://www.layersofcolor.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SCG-0406-011_art_stamps.jpg
Birdday Party art stamp set
Go and enjoy some delicious goodies from all the chefs who have cooked up some wonderful projects! 

Suzz

Chicken Soup?

The Embellish Challenge is to use earthy colors and a bird on your project. I have the cutest Cat's Pajamas get well set and this funny little chicken sitting in a soup bowl. So I thought it would be funny to create a card using the chicken.

I had this tiny little charm that says aspirin for a long time and decided to add that to the card. Now I have a card on hand to send to a friend who might not be feeling too well. : )

The image is stamped with brown StazOn ink and colored with markers. The background is stamped with the Memory Box Alpha stamps using Hero Arts Shadow Ink Soft Sand.

Here is the inspiration photo


Hope your day is filled with sunshine!

Suzz

Saturday, February 19, 2011

CR84FN16 - Fields of Ranunculus

I blended the  CR84FN16 colors and the Moxie Fab World Stamp It Techniques - Stamping with Shimmer Mists challenges to create this card. 

Here is the gorgeous inspiration photo: 

The flowers (Ranunculus Fields - Stampendous)  were stamped using Tattered Angels Pomegranate Glimmer Mist as ink and colored with watercolor pencils.  The script (Old French Writing - Hero Arts) was stamped over the background using Memento London Fog.  The sentiment (Impression Obsession)  was stamped using StaZon gray. The bumblebees (Impression Obsession) are stamped using the dark gray StazOn ink.  The background damask (Hero Arts Large Fabric Pattern)  is stamped using gray dye ink.

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

Check out the beautiful cards from the  CR84FN Design Team and our wonderful guest designer Stella Schenkel.

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Meredith MacRitchie * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville

Have a blessed Sunday! 

Suzz

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Sing from the Soul

What a beautiful sentiment "sing from the soul". I think with everything we should do it with feeling or from our soul.


The flower image is from Artistic Outpost Bloom and Grow. The background on the panel on the card base was stamped and lightly colored using the same flowers as the main images.  The background behind the flowers is the Ephemeral Backgrounds ledger and the birds and sentiment are from Song Birds.  I thought it was fun using the postmark as the sun for the bird to be swooping over.  The inks are Versafine Vintage Sepia and Hero Arts Shadow Ink Soft Sand.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Bubble Wrap and Mists

Cath over at the Moxie Fab World has multiple challenges going this week for Stamp It Techniques.  I immediately was inspired by the Stamp It techniques - Stamping with Mists and the Stamp It techniques - Stamping with Markers.  I created two mini cards and one square card using the same images and techniques for both the challenges.



The background bubbles were created using bubble wrap and glimmer mist. It was so fun to spray the bubble wrap and stamp it onto the cardstock.  Then I cut random circles from the inky background. The edges were sponged with dye ink to add depth.

The images are stamped and colored using watercolor markers. The images are Imaginisce, Hero Arts, Inkadinkado.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I had a few more Valentines created that I wanted to share with you.

I created this one at the same time as my other stencil card. I loved both of them and thought I would share this one with you on Valentine's Day. It looks very similar to the other card but it was created using distress inks over a glimmer mist background.  The stencil and sentiment are from Layers of Colors. 

The next two valentines were for my son. I wanted to create a Valentines that used baseball cards. (I had to ask my hubby for some that he had triples of and I still felt bad cutting them up!)  The stamps are from Artistic Outpost - Cracker Jack plate.  


This last one my teenage daughter claimed as she saw it when I was playing around and liked the strong colors. I wasn't happy with the end result but she liked it!


Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours! I hope your day is spent with your loved ones.

Suzz

Saturday, February 12, 2011

CR84FN15

We have some yummy colors this week for CR84FN15. A wonderful combination of blues, greens and yellows. 

My card is based on fun paper from Little Yellow Bicycle - Lucky Me Collection.  The yellows and greens were already blended so beautifully together and all I had to do was add a stripe of blue.  I created an alcohol ink background and stamped the butterfly with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. Stamp stitching along edges of panels and emboss with white embossing powder. Stamp sentiment using versamark and emboss with green embossing powder. Accent flourishes and swirls with white gel pen.

Products: Verses Rubber Stamps Troubles Be Less MC0336-D, Hero Arts Antique Engravings,  Technique Tuesday, Alcohol Inks - Broken China, Lettuce, Mustard Seed, White Embossing Powder, Signo Uni-Ball White Gel Pen, Lost and Found Charms

Look at the lovely colors inspiration for CR84FN15:


For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog.

For more inspiration go see the lovely projects the CR84FN Design Team and our fabulous guest designer Stella Schenkel have created.

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Meredith MacRitchie * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Sheer Butterflies

I am  so happy to join the Chapel Road Stamps design team. My official start is in March but they have an introductory post today at the Class Act Blog. Here is a card I made to celebrate joining the team:

When I saw this beautiful stamp full of butterflies floating off the page I knew I wanted to stamp them on acetate to allow the feeling of floating to appear. What I didn't realize was it would be hard to get a good photo of the card. :)

The beautiful stamp is called Butterfly Background and the sentiment is part of a lovely set of sentiments called Birthday Edwardian.

The background is stamped using StaZon (Teal) onto acetate two times. The second time I cut the wings from the panel to pop dot and layer on the first panel. Cut card base 5 x 7 and cut a frame in the front to accommodate my translucent butterfly panel.

Stamp sentiment in corner using same teal ink.

Different angle to show off how the card looks slightly open: 

Very simple but pretty card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Friday, February 11, 2011

Songs of the Heart


The Ephemeral Backgrounds plate and the Songbirds plate from Artistic Outpost work beautifully together. The music image from the backgrounds highlights the instruments and lovely birds. 
The image was stamped using black ink and colored with watercolor markers. The music background is stamped using a brown pigment ink. The edges are sponged with brown and gold dye inks. The edges of the circle was distressed with a distressing tool. 

The black pattern paper is Webster Pages Sweet Life The ribbon is black silk.

Thanks for dropping by! 

Suzz

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Dreaming of an Iguana

I am mixing my post between two very different cards today. Hence the funny title! 

Earlier this week, I pulled out my Hero Arts stamps to play with the technique of Kissing as this month's Hero Arts Challenge is about love and friendship with kissing as the technique.

The Hero Arts large flower pattern stamp has lots of background rubber to capture the impression of another stamp. Ink up the flower pattern with brown ink lay the Hero Arts Antique brocade flower stamp over and take off a little of the ink. Clear emboss.


Because I love the flowers I kept any additional touches to a minimum. The flowers are colored using the watercolor pencils with a touch of white gel pen.
I also had to create a birthday card for my brother Danny. I usually make him a Valentine's birthday card as his birthday is on Valentine's day. My mojo wasn't going there so I opted for another route. I have this fun set of Inkadinkado stamps that have little quips and cute images and I thought it would be fun to create a card using the iguana and my Hero Arts number stamps. 


Just a fun little card that I think he will get a chuckle from. 

Hope your day is filled with laughter. 

Suzz

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A Touch of Spring

I decided to use up a few scraps I have had on my desk and play in a couple of challenges. Wee Memories challenge #42 this week is to use up scraps and Flourishes challenge is The Winter Thaw Challenge .

Here is what I created:


Here is the inspiration photo from Flourishes:


It felt good to create a card using flowers and butterflies! LOL! The three backgrounds on the sentiment and card have one piece from pattern paper and two I created to look like the other one. (Frustrating as I only had one scrap of the PP and couldn't find any others so I had to create my own two backgrounds. :) Can you tell which is the pattern paper?

The rest is stamping, embossing and coloring using a variety of techniques. (copics, watercolor pencils)

Products: Verses QQ0830-D Spring, Hero Arts - DesignBlock Large Flower Pattern S5471, Hero Arts Antique Engravings, Old Letter Writing S4878

Hope your day is wonderful!

Suzz

Monday, February 7, 2011

Friends Forever

Here is my card based on the MFT Wednesday sketch using MFT stamps. Thanks Stephanie for the Adorable inspiration! :)

I used My Minds Eye and October Afternoon paper and two different MFT Pure Innoncence sets to create my BFF's sharing an umbrella.

The ribbon was an awesome gift from Donna! Thank you Donna!

The sentiment is from Hero Arts and I thought it was appropriate as they looked so sweet together under the umbrella.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Saturday, February 5, 2011

CR84FN14

The  CR84FN14 challenge this week is  yummy valentine colors: light pink, bright pink and chocolate. 


Here is the delicious looking inspiration photo: 


The background was created using pink glimmer mist from Tattered Angels. The beautiful Vintage Medallion Art Stencil from Layers of Colors was laid over the glimmer mist background and Versamark was applied over and all around.  Heat emboss with a light pink embossing powder. Sponge edges of the medallion with brown dye ink. Stamp your sentiments on pink cardstock with brown pigment ink and layer it up! :)

The lovely sentiments are also from Layers of Colors and are called Happy Wishes art clear set

Another simple little card created using the colors this week:

The background was stamped using Artistic Outpost CrackerJack background another card that started as a card for my son and ended up being to feminine. :)  The little hearts are from Memory Box and the sentiment is Hero Arts.


For all the details on the challenge  go to the CR84FN blog.

Go take a gander at all the beautiful projects that the CR84FN Design Team and our fabulous guest designer for February have created.

Feb Guest Designer: Stella Schenkel 


Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli * Meredith MacRitchie * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville

Happy Superbowl Sunday!

Suzz

Shimmery Heart

I have been playing around with a few hearts and making cards. I decided to cover this heart with glitter tape. It was easy to create the heart and add a few accents. I then pulled out some beautiful Kaisercraft paper all in blacks, greys and white and used that for the background.  The sentiment is from Verses QQ0806-C Grow Old   and I embossed it using a glittery red powder. A little messy but pretty. :)


That's it for today, but later tonight I have a new CR84FN post with some very pretty colors and a few cards I created using the colors.

Hope your day is wonderful!


Suzz

Friday, February 4, 2011

ColourQ Challenge #70 - Monkey Love

A fun little card for the ColourQ challenge #70 and the Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge #41.  I saw this monkey  stamp from Imaginisce and thought wouldn't it be sweet to have him juggling hearts.  I really was making a V card for my son but unfortunately the cute monkey has a skirt on so I ended up creating it for a little girl.  


Product info: The sentiment is from Hero Arts Valentine clear set. The border punch is Martha Stewart. Image colored with watercolor pencils.

The inspiration photo:

Sketch from Wee Memories:


Hope your Friday is fantastic!

Suzz

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Thinking of You - CR84FN13

I was playing around with the CR84FN13 colors and created another card.


Recipe:
  1. Glimmer Mist the craft sheet. Ink up the rubber cling (Hero Arts). Stamp on white cardstock.
  2. Heat dry.
  3. Stamp flowers (Stampendous) and Sentiment (Hero Arts) and bird (B Line) using versamark or brown pigment ink.
  4. Heat emboss using Zing Chestnut embossing powder.
  5. Color outline flowers with red glimmer mist and white gel pen.
  6. Cut rectangle leaving sentiment dangling. :)
  7. Layer onto card with doily punched border.
Well we are now just enjoying frigid temperatures but the snow and drifting have stopped. :)

Hope you are having a fabulous day!

Suzz

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Orange and Turquoise

I saw the wonderful colors for the Stampotique challenge and wanted to play along.  I love the colors of orange and turquoise together. They are so striking.  Stampotique's challenge is to use Stampotique stamps and the colors orange and turquoise. The Altered Alice blog challenge is to create a project with something altered or a dress form and Louise's Tag Tuesday Challenge is to use more than one circle. 

I combined all three challenges and used the  Stampotique  mushrooms and sentiment to create this tag. 



The circles are punched from pattern paper and a backgorund I created using the Layers of Colors Art Stencil Belle Brocade and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Patina. 

Everything is sponged with Ranger Distress Ink Rusty Hinge and Memento Rich Cocoa. 

The butterflies are actually created from the smallest mushrooms. I cut the tops off and used them for wings. (My altered touch along with the fact that butterflies start as caterpillars) All working into the Altered Alice challenge. :) 

Storm update:  We have snow blown into a big pile by the front door which is at least 4 feet high.  The poor dogs are having issues getting outside. Every trip requires me to go out there and shovel away a couple feet of snow and a path. The puppy doesn't like it as she isn't used to this.  The older dog just wants to get out and back in as soon as possible. :) (I know the feeling) 

Have a wonderful day... By the way, I am so happy that our power has held, the heat is on and we are all home safe and together. 

Suzz 



Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Workshop Excursion

I decided to get going on my masculine valentines after seeing all the challenges based on love Simon Says Stamp and Show some Love, The Artistic Stamper - Love is in the Air and Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - FTCC103 - Valentines Card.  

I did a stealth mission down to my hubby's workshop. I went looking for sandpaper to create my hearts from. The wonderful thing was he had this almost white colored sand paper in addition to the natural tones so I was able to create two tones in my hearts. The other wonderful thing was the back side of the white sandpaper had this wonderful red colored surface. I actually went back down to see what else I could snag. :) Unfortunately my DH is very organized and very neat so there weren't any other scraps or items I could purloin. :)

If your hubby is more messy I bet there would be more fun bits and pieces to sneak back to your crafty space.

The card was easy to put together after the hearts were die cut, stamp Hero Arts image using Ranger Archival ink on sandpaper. Sponge edges with Ranger Archival ink. (I used a sponge that was already ragged and ready to be thrown out as the sandpaper rips up the sponge)

The rest was just cutting the sandpaper to size (used my rotary cutter to handle the roughness and flipped it over to paper side. Distressing the edges and sponging with the black ink. I was going to stamp my sentiment but couldn't find a Be Mine so I pulled out some stickers.

We are waiting for the blizzard to hit. The kids are getting out early today from school and pretty sure they will be home tomorrow for a snow day. (Which they are very excited about). One of the downsides to working from home is if we do get snowed in I still have to work. :)

Thanks for stopping by..

Suzz