Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Let it SNOW!

It's true my friends - only 57 days till Christmas...I think I have 2 gifts bought to date. From Millan.Net How how about you? How many have you purchased? Well my card this week for Prickley Pear Stamps makes me think of CHRISTMAS...although we've been enjoying some summer temperatures this past week - think 90 degrees! But alas, Christmas will be here soon and I need to get a few cards ready to go! I used this adorable snowman from Prickley Pear and added a little birdie to his hand! The layout is Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch #242 (layout below). Some pretty paper, embossing, and lots of glossy accents finish this little guy off. I added a big ole button, some twine and decorated the inside too; stamped that little snowman with MFT's Kraft ink.
inside
Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a GREAT hump day and we'll see you again soon! Hugs,
WHAT'S IT TAKE?
Stamps: Prickley Pear Stamps Snowman and Papertrey Ink Little Bitty Bird
Papers: Copic XPress It, PTI Dark Chocolate and Rustic White,DP By MME
Ink: VersaFine Black, MFT Kraft and Hot Fudge Hybrid Ink Accessories: clear Wink of Stella, glossy accents, MFT Blueprints, white gel pen, Copics, snowflake embossing folder, misc. button, Lil Inkers flag die Challenges:   SSSC242

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Sparkly Flowers with Michele!

Hi friends - welcome back to another little creation for Prickley Pear Stamps! This time I'm using one of their red rubber images - Black Eye Susan...and to spice up my life...and yours (HA!), I used it 3 times in different color combos. These cards are completely CAS (clean and simple) yet so sparkly IRL! So grab a cuppa and settle in for picture overload!
  From Millan.Net 
Have you seen Jennifer's YouTube videos of coloring with sparkle? You can find it HERE and I followed right along with these cards. I used water color paper, distress markers and a clear Wink of Stella pen for coloring the flowers, highlighting around the image and word as well as creating the border around the main panel. I hope you can see the sparkle in this gorgeous image!!

I added distress marker directly to the edge of the main panel which is popped up on dimensionals; then a fine line underneath the main panel and color washed it out to the edges with the clear Wink of Stella.
Hugs,
WHAT'S IT TAKE?
Stamps: Prickley Pear Stamps Black Eye Susan and Verve Visual Because of You
Papers: Strathmore water color paper
Ink: VersaFine Black  Accessories: clear Wink of Stella, MME enamel accents, washi tape, Distress Markers Challenges:

Monday, October 20, 2014

Lotsa Fall an a Touch of Christmas!

Happy Monday!  Thanks for popping by and taking a peek at what the design team has been up to!
Check out the fabulous use of dies on Barb's card and then to finish off the post check out Angela's ingenious use of dies!  Pop on over to the girls' blogs to read more details on how they made their cards.  We would love to hear what you think!




Saturday, October 18, 2014

Barb's Bokeh Tutorial

Hi Everyone,

Barb here to share a technique with you today called Bokeh.  It's a Japanese term which means blur or haze and is used in photography.  Here is an example of what I mean:


Here's what you need to get started: craft sheet, different sizes of circle dies, I used Spellbinders 
circles LG and I only used the 3 smallest ones plus 2 small punches 3/4 and 1/2 in. Clear plastic
to cut a stencil, cutting machine, inks in 3 to 5 shades of the same color family I used ColorBox pigmant inks, finger daubers to apply ink in circles and tape to mask.

The first step to cut your stencil with the dies and punches.
I chose to make 5 sizes.  Try to work in odd numbers. Keep the circles spread
apart when you cut them out as shown above.


Next, stamp tree with VersaFine ink and emboss 
with silver embossing powder on white cardstock.


Now its time to start adding the circles.  Starting with the largest circle and your lightest
color tape down the image and the stencil and add 5 light blue circles using your finger
dauber to color in each circle and leave some white space. See below.


Here's how that first color should look. 5 circles.



Wipe stencil off between colors and start with the next smallest circle
in the next color.  Work colors lightest to darkest. Work Circles largest to smallest.
It should look like this example. 2nd color, 5 circles.


3rd color, 7 circles



4th color, 7 circles 


With the smallest circle I stenciled some silver. Always
working in odd numbers. 5th color, 9 circles.

 


Lastly here is my finished card.  I decided to add some white ink dots
with a finger dauber to tone the darker colors a bit. Also you can take a 
tissue when dry and go over your image to remove some ink if you like.  I did.
I love this technique!  I hope you will give it a try.  Happy Stamping!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Guest Designer Post - Week 2

Hi friends! I'm back with 2 CAS cards today - LOVE these bright colors with the striking black and white...and a little gray thrown in there! These butterflies are from the Butterflies 2 set; seriously, such gorgeous, gorgeous images! You can see all the Prickley Pear images HERE. I die cut and embossed each butterfly and colored them with just 2 Copics. To the polka dot butterfly I added glossy accents to each solid circle; both butterflies were given a coat of clear Wink of Stella - love me some Wink of Stella! ;) Their antennae were coated with black Wink of Stella. I added a solid black butterfly underneath to help them "pop" and only attached them together at their body.
The rest is simple card stock, designer paper, some dainty embossing, a gray circle and that's it - clean, simple, yet striking. Be sure to check out all the Prickley Pear images here and have a GREAT week! Hugs,
WHAT'S IT TAKE?
Stamps: Prickley Pear Butterflies 2
Papers: Misc. White, PTI True Black, Raspberry Fizz and Hawaiian Shores, DP by MME
Ink: VersaFine Black, MFT Black Licorice Accessories: clear embossing powder, clear and black Wink of Stella glitter, MFT Stitched Circles, Mama Elephant Femme Frames, Prickley Pear butterfly die, embossing folder Challenges:

Monday, October 13, 2014

Meet our New Design Team Members!

Welcome to Inspiration Monday!  Today we are welcoming our two new Design Team members Melissa and Rita.  Special thanks to Maureen who joins us for one last Monday!  Our focus today is on fall.  Enjoy!




And today we have new Design Team Member Melissa to introduce to you:
I am a Midwest SAHM to four, ages 1-10.  I'm a registered dental hygienist by trade, but only work one morning per week right now as we raise our children.


I love the creative side of life and find crafts & photography are my outlets as I navigate through motherhood!  There is nothing quite like a quiet hour or two spent in the craft room or roaming with camera in hand!  I tend to create clean and simple designs, challenging myself to come up with something that effectively portrays a message in the simplest of ways.  I am so excited to be back with Prickley Pear and can't wait to see what's in store for us in the months ahead!  I love getting to know other creative people in the blogosphere, so I hope you'll come visit us often here on the blog and leave a comment now and then so I know you're out there!


Designer Melissa Chipperfield using:  FF0104Wheat Stalks,


Designer Rene Koehn using:


And today we also have new DT Member Rita Wright to introduce to you!

Howdy!   Since I live in Texas, I just have to start off with that!   My name is Rita, but these days I go by Mama.  I have a precious two year old who is the sunshine of my life.   I'm married to an amazing man, Jason, who totally supports and enables my love of papercrafts.   We share our home with three spoiled cats and four fish.   

I have been stamping for seven years and it is the best therapy money can buy.   I started off scrapbooking, just intending to do a book for my wedding, and now I make cards almost daily.   I love to color now and am enjoying learning to use the Copics that Jason and Laila gifted me on Mother's Day this year.   I am excited to be on the Prickley Pear team and can't wait to get started.