SOS572: Up, Up and Away

This fortnight at Shopping Our Stash, the challenge is to make a card that contains something you'd see in the sky. Such as? Well, there are birds, butterflies, balloons, airplanes, a rainbow, the sun, the moon, satellites, or... in this case... clouds!

Having decided on clouds, I had some trouble choosing WHICH of the many well-hoarded, cloud-bedecked patterned papers I should use, so I finally chose two for the card and one to stage with. I broke out one of my all-time favorite classic stamp sets (and yes, by "classic" I mean "OLD" lol!) My Favorite Things' Polynesian Paradise, colored the adorable hula girl, a pineapple, some flowers and YES, why not add a handsome toucan for one more sky-centric element.

 Hop over to SOS to see what the rest of the crew have made to inspire you. Challenge 572: Up, Up and Away runs until the evening of Monday May 4th, so you have lots of time to join the fun.

Fruity Sticker Mandala

The Ranger Shop recently added a bunch of fabulous journaling and planner items including LOTS of these Bande Washi Stickers. I only allowed myself to choose three varieties (so far!) but I'm pretty sure they're going to become an obsession. So I'll say "You're welcome" or "Sorry" in advance, lol. I've used two of my choices in this fruity mandala: Sliced Fruit & Vegetables and Strawberry Wreath. 

I added a central circle and punched hearts to beef up the design; and a few miscellaneous star stickers on the outside ring.

Bird is the Word

This is the very last page in my 6" Dina Wakley Kraft Journal, although I think there *might* be an unfinished mandala or two that needs completing before I can declare the volume officially finished. 

Some time ago, I made these little slide mounts filled with trading stamps and tiny critters cut from some of the border pages in my friend Gina's awesome Clip Art Book; I just re-found them and decided they'd be perfect to go in the very back of the book. I cut out a few of Gina's larger whimsical birds to accompany them and made a background of torn paper (English dictionary paper, Chinese dictionary paper, part of a map and part of the map's index) plus some glorious Greenstamps and called it a day

You can get your very own copy of the fabulous Gina is Arty Clipart Book on Amazon; a purchase I can highly recommend if you love collage, cardmaking, cute critters or mixed media art!

Vintage (wk 2)

We're still celebrating all things with a vintage or retro vibe at Jingle Belles and we'd love for you to come Walking in a Vintage Wonderland, by which we mean creating a card with a vintage or retro design. Either by incorporating actual vintage/retro elements; OR using new products that have a vintage style; OR using stamps or images that convey a vintage vibe; whatever says vintage to you. 

And to add a little extra incentive, we're sponsored by my very own Etsy Shop... Just Enough Stuff, so there's a sweet little pack of vintage Christmassy things for one lucky card maker who links-up their vintage design.

This week, I made quite a random collage of torn and layered vintage and found papers including: some sheet music; a dictionary page with a reindeer (technically a caribou but work with me!); an order form and an advertisement from a vintage Christmas Ideals magazine; some rather splendid S&H Green Stamps and... ok, I think that's it, lol. Since the background is quite busy, I only needed a fussycut Authentique bauble (which luckily had a bold sentiment!) and a few Katie Pertiet Christmas Collageable Banners that I machine stitched while I was doing the edges.

JB2608: Walkin' in a Vintage Wonderland runs until 6pm (Eastern) on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hop over to the original post at Jingle Belles to see the prize and link your own vintage/retro masterpiece(s).

Stellar Blooms

Simon Hurley's Stellar Inks from Ranger are, of course, outstanding for stamping and stenciling, but I also love to use them for watercoloring! I painted these big bold blooms by (sequentially) smooshing Stellar Ink (in Rosy Cheeks, Prom Queen, Slippery When Wet, Later Gator and Fore!) onto my craft mat, picking the color up with a waterbrush, and splashing it around on Simon's smooth, bright-white Watercolor Paper. When my blooms were dry, I added a dotty background plus a few outlines and details in similar shades of marker. 

HERD It's Your Birthday

If farm cards are your jam, Eyelet Outlet has all the brads you could possibly wish for. This scene features the cows from our Cow and Goat set; plus Sun and Cloud Brads, not to mention a soaring Eagle and a Tractor Brad; all set inside a border of Farm Animal Washi Tape. The Old Barn and Tree are from an older Art Impressions stamp set that I painted with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors.

Down on the Farm Shopping List:

Cow and Goat Brads

Sun and Cloud Brads

Eagle Brads

Tractor Brads

Farm Animal Washi Tape

There are also Pig and Sheep Brads, Horse and Pony Brads, Chickens, Roosters, Llamas and more. Check out the entire selection of farm animals, jungle beasts, pets, reptiles, dinosaurs and pretty much every critter you can name... all in the Eyelet Outlet Store!

Perfect Pearls Mandala Monday

I don't always fill an entire page in my Dina Wakley MEdia Watercolor Journal, but this time I was having so much mixing Perfect Pearls powders with clear water and painting shimmery concentric rings, that before I knew it I had gone from the bottom right all the way up to the top left corner.

After my rings were dry, I added lots of lines, dots, scallops, hearts and faux stitching with my Letter It Fineliners et voila: another Mandala Monday in the books!