Sylvia's Stamping Corner

COLOURQ CHALLENGE #237....SPRING...HAPPY EASTER!

It is another Tuesday, also tax day in the US, also the Tuesday before Easter, so Happy all of those days to you! This week at the ColourQ we have some happy Easter colors. As always I start to do something else and end up making a card with flowers, birds and butterflies! Arielle chose these colors for you to play with, Basic Gray, Peach Parfait, So Saffron, Baja Breeze and white. Be inspired, check out the other designer's projects and play along again with us this week.

Card base is Baja Breeze and it is matted with two white mats. The top mat is a frame with an oval die cut window, dry embossed with the wood grain ef. The second mat serves as the background for my wood grain stamp(gray), the sky(Baja Breeze) and my flowers(Peach Parfait, So Saffron, and Basic Gray). I stamped the bird, butterflies and flowers. in the colors then water colored, fussy cut and glued?popped up with dimensionals. the card has no sentiment, I think the picture says it all. I love these colors, they just say Spring!

Our Monday was stormy and cold, the winds of March are still with us and the temps down from 89 into the 50's. Our weather is still on that roller coaster! However it seems just like Easter weather here. Have a beautiful Tuesday, and a beautiful Easter. Hope it can be spent with family and friends! Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CCCB....ANNIVERSARY WEEK 206!

This week City Crafter Challenge blog is having their 4th Birthday! I used to have lots of time to play and have not missed a birthday, at least I don't think I have. I actaully am running late tonight and thought this card had to be finished, joke on me, deadline is tomorrow at 11:59. So you have time to play and wish the gals over at the City Crafter Challenge Blog a big Congrats! There have been several new designers and several who are missed but the one constant is Kirsty vittoe, the owner. She continues to have wonderful challenges and inspire many. So a big Hug goes to Kirsty!

I chose project #2 to CASE...ie.. take things from project #2 and make a card of my own. Hey guys that does not mean copy and I am so glad as it is always fun to design something of your own! The theme is Enjoy the journey...I know Kirsty has enjoyed the journey of having a challenge blog. I am sure at times it was a little rough especially when she had to say goodbye to friends. However I know her journey for the most part has been a happy one. I used happy colors red, yellow, and blue, tags, baker's twine, flowers, sequins and of course some arrows pointing the way... which way? Whatever direction , this way or that. Our lives seem to go that way, I think that is part of the fun we call life!I used the bicycle, Enjoy the journey and some flowers as well as lots of layers and papers. Hope you enjoy the journey of this card!

Well, that is all for me, I am so glad I thought the deadline was Sunday....I am finished early and did not miss out on the fun! Thanks Anna B for the great card to CASE...Now who is the famous Anna B.? Have a wonderful Monday everyone...we are supposed to have storms, I just hope they are agreeable ones!

Credits to Basic Grey Serendipity paper...baker's twine Timeless Twine... sequins from stash...old music paper(?)...all other supplies and stamps...Stampin'Up!

BIRTHDAY WISHES.....FOR THOSE OF YOU BORN IN APRIL!

It is April and I have neglected to wish everyone who has an April birthday...Happy Birthday. I have not had as much time to make things or post lately due to illness or prior commitments. I was able to make a quick card using some flowers I had left over from my ColourQ card. so after I finished packaging what I was working on, I made a card to share. Unfortunately I smeared the sentiment and had to do the mat again, but I did have all the pieces done.

I used the other half sheet of Cool Caribbean cs left over from yesterdays card as the card base. The colors are Bermuda Bay and Soft Sky, Lucky Limeade and Pistachio Pudding. Notice the background embossing as well as the stamping. I added some lovely iridescent pale blue sequins. I love the sheen on the card front.

It was a beautiful Wednesday, we were up to 82, it was sunny with a wonderful breeze. Have a terrific Thursday and thanks for stopping by!

COLOURQ CHALLENGE #236....LOVELY COLORS!

Happy Tuesday! It is another bright Tuesday morning, cool  but actually the perfect temperature! We have some pretty colors for you to play with this week. Arielle picked two blues and two oranges, Bermuda Bay, Peach Parfait, Cool Caribbean, Tangerine Tango and white. Check out the ColourQ for inspiration and join in the fun this week.

The card base and frame is Cool Caribbean, the only thing I have left of this beautiful color. I have a white mat. I stamped and stamped off flowers and dots for my background in Bermuda Bay. The smaller flowers are stamped in Peach Parfait and the larger ones in Tangerine Tango. The sentiment and butterflies are in Bermuda Bay as well. There are sequins for the flower centers, they are Peach Parfait in color, although they are not named that. The blue sequins are the color of the Cool Caribbean. They are iridescent in color and add a little sparkle to the already bright card. If you are loving these sequins, they will be in my Etsy Shop soon. I do love the sentiment, "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful". Every time I post a card, I always think of something that I could do different. Then I stop, I have to realize that nothing is perfect, yet it is still nice to try!

I just managed to finish before posting card. It has a Cool Caribbean card base and is matted with white.  The background  and all elements use the same colors except the bird, which I had to use Soft Sky ink as a replacement for Cool Caribbean. I think I am totally loving this card. I am glad I did another with these colors. sometimes you just have to do and redo to get it like you want.

What almost seems perfection can be found in the photo below, I took of the first beautiful moth of the season. I haven't seen any of these since I was little. I can't remember the name but Sunday evening we were blessed to have this emerge from it's cocoon and shelter in our garage. My husband came to tell me and when we left the house, it had come to the outside door. I moved it out of the wind to some grass I had pulled up, to give it some shelter until it was strong enough to fly away. As a child I collected butterflies and moths...only ones that had died, but I always love watching their wet wings unfurl after they hatched out of the cocoon. Have a blessed day, I think we are going to have many more wondrous sights as we have had a wet fall, winter and spring. 

It almost looks like velvet! Happy Spring!

COLOURQ CHALLENGE #235.....SPRING IS HERE!

Hello April! Happy Tuesday...and that is no April Fool's joke! It is going to be a beautiful day! Spring has finally come and it is getting warm! time to get out in the garden and clean up all the mess I did not take care of this winter. It is time for another challenge over at the ColourQ. Arielle has chosen these colors for us this week, River Rock, Primrose Petals, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, and white. Now these colors are challenging because if you don't have them and have to substitute, they might look weird. If you don't have the retired River Rock, use Sahara Sand or kraft. This was not one of my favorite colors, so when it came time to sell it, I tried, but no one wanted it so I still have it! Anyway, have fun with the colors, I know I did...it took me forever to make this card and it wasn't because of the fussy cutting.

I used a piece of textured Coastal Cabana card stock, for the card base. I matted it with a piece of designer paper in the same color. I die cut the frame then dry embossed with that Tulip ef. I stamped my little Easter girl(also retired) in River Rock and die cut with a smaller die. I stamped leaves, stems, and flowers, fussy cut them then rubbed them with their colors.  I used, River Rock and Coastal Cabana for the leaves and stems, Primrose Petals and Calypso Coral for the flowers. I love mixing those two colors, but in the end it is hard to see the Primrose Petal color in the photo. Sorry, but it was too late to make another card. The effect was beautiful anyway!

I die cut, glittered and added rhinestones to the butterflies. As the glitter glue was drying the wings kept changing position, they reminded me of the first time I saw a butterfly coming out of a cocoon. It's wings were wet and the butterfly crawled up onto a branch of the bush and basked in the sun. As the wings started to dry, they unfolded and changed shape until they formed the wings. Totally amazing! Sorry to digress, I hope you are having a fabulous Tuesday, thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!

 

COLOURQ CHALLENGE #234....MORE SPRING FLOWERS!

Hello Tuesday...it is time for another color combination over at the ColourQ. Arielle has given us more beautiful Spring colors to play with, they areGoing Gray, Apricot Appeal, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral and white. Hope you will find some inspiration and play along this week. As the daylight hours get longer and the temperatures get warmer, I find I want to be outside again! Do you have the same problem? We are having a late surge of cold weather this year and I have been quite content to be indoors in the craft room! Sunshine is going to change all that I am sure!

This card has a kraft card base and is matted with white. I wanted a whisper of a fence behind my flower fields so I applied Going Gray ink to the stamp in only those areas I wanted it to be. Then I added some Coastal Cabana with a sponge dauber. The sentiment is in Going Gray as well. I stamped flowers and butterflies, water colored, fussy cut and glued them to the mat. I will apologize for my lack of photography skills. The last time I used Apricot Appeal on my flowers it looked yellow. The color here again looks yellow and I don't know how to correct it, but I did use the listed colors.

My 12 year old computer died on Saturday and although I had not used it for much, I lost my shared file which allowed me a place to put my photo's for my blog. I have had to adjust a little , so the posts have taken me longer, but I am getting used to it.  I am just glad I was not using the old one for anything but the email program and everything was backed up, thanks to my son, who did it at Christmas. So, thanks for stopping by, have a terrific Tuesday, and enjoy the sunshine if you can!

ART ESCAPE 2014...AUSTIN, TEXAS VENUE....ARE YOU COMING?

It is still Wednesday, although I did not get this posted earlier, I have been working all day! My daughter is hosting Art Xscape 2014, in a few weeks. A lot of preparation goes into putting an event on of this scale. Teachers and students come from all over and for this even, I am her help. There are welcome bags to fill with goodies, so I volunteered to make 60 tags for the bags!If you would like to check the event out visit Amy's site at Art Xscape 2014 and break the boundaries, or just relax and have fun!

I have been stamping, stamping, and more stamping for the last few days. Here are the earlier ones I made to sell at the event, I have 60 tags fronts ready for jars, butterflies and sequins, then they will be glued to the backs, already finished. then I will round the corners, punch the holes and add the ribbon, bag and tag!!! I still have 200 butterflies to punch, and 54 jars to cut out, some of them are not colored yet! so I still have a bit of work to do. then it will be on to the next project, some curtains to enclose the office at the event.

These tags are made with Stampin'Up! products and stamps (wood-grain and retired French Foliage) in conjunction with My Yellow Bicycle(the jar,the swirl and the two sentiments). Hope you enjoy viewing these tags as much I have enjoyed making them. Happpy thursday to everyone! thanks for stopping by.

 

COLOURQ CHALLENGE #233..."YOU MAKE ME HAPPY"

Happy Tuesday, everyone, it's time for another challenge over at the ColourQ. The colors Arielle chose this week are Going Gray, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral and white. I can't wait to see what you will make with these colors. Check out the other designers for inspiration and play along with us this week.

As I wrote this post, I realized that I used Basic Gray....that is how tired I was when I made this card. Do things like that happen to you? My card base which is hidden of course, is kraft and it is matted with white cs. It is dry embossed with a larger dots ef then rubbed with inks. The flowers and leaves were stamped in Gray, water colored and fussy cut, then glued/popped up with dimensionals. Sorry to use the same flowers and leaves, but when I see these colors, I think of a poppy field. Unfortunately I don't have poppy leaves, but I love these. I used all the the above colors, don't forget and leave one out!

My days are really busy, how about you? I am working on tags, curtains, and other things for an art retreat my daughter is hosting in under three weeks. There are welcome bags to fill. I am working on 60 tags all the same, now. I will have a sneak peek later this week...maybe Wednesday, but don't hold your breath! Have a wonderful Tuesday, we are supposed to be 80 later today! thanks for stopping by and God Bless.

TOP OF THE MORNING TO YOU....HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Happy Monday, wishing you Irish blessings on this St. Patrick's Day. I made some tags a few weeks ago. They are digital images from an Etsy shop and although I did not do a lot to them I wanted to share them as I have been so busy, I really did not do anything special for the holiday! I backed the image with Soft Suede card stock, added some glitter glue, a rhinestone and some ribbon and there you have it, a holiday tag! I made 8 in all, but these are two of my favorites, one for the gentlemen and one for the ladies. enough blarney now....here is the photo!

Have a beautiful day, rain or shine....I will be back at midnight with another card!

COLOURQ CHALLENGE #232....HELLO SPRING!

Hello Spring and Happy Tuesday! Okay, I am sure some of you are still experiencing snow and cold weather. I am truly sorry, but where I live it has been a roller coaster ride, with 20 for a low and 80 for a high. Today it is supposed to be in the 80's again after a week of cold and rainy weather. As for the challenge colors over at the ColourQ , Arielle has chosen these colors, Basic Black, Kraft, Lucky Limeade, Newsprint and white. Hope to see you at the ColourQ this week and play with this fun combo!

I have seen a lot of art being made by just digitally adding an image to a book page. I have always loved stamping on word paper so I have made cards like this before. My card base is kraft and is embossed with a dot ef. I stamped a frame, fussy cut it, rubbed it with ink and glued it to my back ground cs. I actually stamped my background book paper on white cs, then stamped greenery, Hello and my bird. The bird did not stand out as much as I wanted so I stamped another bird, fussy cut, rubbed with ink and glued him on top. The rose was stamped with Versa Mark and embossed with white ep. I then rubbed with kraft and Lucky Limeade ink. I stamped and piece of greenery then fussy cut it and the rose out before gluing them down.The last bit was to add the crow, the rhinestones and the pearls. Placing the frame on top of an embossed background gives it depth and looks like it is popped up with dimensionals, but it isn't.

An early St. Patrick's Day howdy to everyone and for those of you who don't celebrate or have any Irish in you, enjoy your week! Have a beautiful Tuesday and thanks for stopping by!