The Card Concept Gets Colorful!

Hello Card Concept Fans!

Welcome back to The Card Concept Challenge.  Lesley has picked another amazing color combination for this challenge~

I struggled with this combo initially, but once I settled on an image, it was easy peasy!

I love this now retiring Field Flowers set.  The flowers are stamped in More Mustard and Curry.  The leaves and stems are Smokey Slate.  I heat embossed the sentiment on vellum as I thought the shiny texture mimicked that of the black heels in the inspiration photo.  

My card is made in the Classy and Elegant style, which I represent on the blog.  The multiple layers, textured white layer, vellum, heat embossing, and bow work together to make this a classy and elegant card.  

There is lots more gorgeous inspiration on The Card Concept blog, so why not head on over and check it out.  Hope you can play along with us!

Have a blessed day!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies Used-
Stamps- Stampin' Up Field Flowers, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper- SU Basic Black, dsp, vellum; Neenah Solar White
Ink- Versamark, More Mustard, Curry, Smokey Slate
Other- Black ep, Polka Dot ef, dimensionals, MFT Fishtail Flag Stax Die-Namics, Black ribbon

The Card Concept- A Challenge

Hello friends! I have wonderful news today!

 Many of you may know the talented Lesley Croghan and the many challenges for stampers that she hosts throughout blogland.  I have participated in many of them myself!  Lesley's latest venture is a challenge called The Card Concept, which allows one to explore the various styles of stamping- 6 of them to be exact.  I am thrilled to have been asked to be one of the designers representing the Classy and Elegant style.  What is the Classy and Elegant style you ask? 
It may include these features-

• polished
• shiney finish
• sparkling elements
• rich color scheme
• sophisticated sentiments
• regal
• sweeping
• dramatic
• monochromatic
• layered textures
• awe
• impress

That is quite a list!  I personally tend to use a lot of layered textures such as dry and heat embossing, fabrics, and mixed media.  I also tend to reach for sophisticated sentiments and images-frequently florals, like the card below-

As you can see with this card,  I have used a sophisticated sentiment and floral image,  have lots of texture with mixed media, have a dramatic flourish and have added a bit of bling. 

We start in January; I hope you will join us for some great challenges!  Keep up with the news by following The Card Concept blog and 'like' us on facebook! 

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies Used-
Stamps-Stampin' Up Field Flowers, Word Play, Everything Eleanor
Paper- Crumb Cake, Whisper White, First Edition dsp
Ink-Gumball Green, Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, Blush Blossom, Always Artichoke
Other- gesso, SU Apothecary Framelits, pearls, bubble wrap, dimensionals, glitter
  

Mixing with the Color Wheel

Hello All! 

I found some time to play along with the SCS Mix-Ability Challenge.  This week we are to play with color wheel.  Use a cool color and add a pop of a warm color or use a warm color and add a pop of a cool color.

 The best thing about this challenge is if you don't like the way something is turning out, you can just cover it up with your choice of medium and try again! 
I started with a background cs in Naturals White and stamped orange flowers on it.  That did not work AT ALL, so I covered it with blue acrylic paint.  That did not work either, so I added a layer of gesso.  I painted a small swatch of burlap with blue acrylic paint and randomly daubed it on the background.  It was a little too intense and with too much contrast, so I painted over the whole thing with a wash of purple reinker.  Then it was too dark so I spritzed it with Mister Huey's calico white ink.  I dry embossed it to give it some dimension and then dabbed a craft white ink pad over the raised areas.  Called it done! 
The oval was cut out with a SU oval Framelit.  The frame is popped up on dimensionals.  I added some threads of burlap to give added texture to the frame. 

Thanks so much and have a blessed spring weekend!

Lee Ann  :)

Supplies used-
Stamps- Field Flowers, Tiny Tags
Paper-Whisper white, Naturals White, Crumb Cake
Ink-So Saffron, More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Craft White, Elegant Eggplant
Other-SU Oval Framelits, Crumb Cake seam binding, Mister Huey's Calico White spray, gesso, Vintage Wallpaper ef, pearl flourish from Micheal's, Flourish die (unknown), Jewelry tag punch SU, burlap, dimensionals

Working on the Workshop

I had so much fun making the center step card earlier this evening, but now it is time for getting down to business- Stampin' Up business that is.  I had to work on workshop card designs and the sketch at Stampin' Queen's Sketch Challenge provided a perfect sketch.

 Two Panel Daisy- Stampin' Queen Challenge Winner

I punched the Blossom punch x2 and the scallop circle punch in Barely Banana, the Little Leaves die in Wild Wasabi and then embossed 2 Whisper White panels with the houndstooth embossing folder.  The houndstooth panels were layered on Basic Gray CS and then onto Whisper White.  The whole unit was then mounted onto a card base of Basic Gray. 
The tag is stamped with stamps from the Tiny Tags set and then punched out with the Tiny Tags punch.
Thanks for looking!







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 This card uses stamp sets Field Flower and Nature Walk.
Ingredients include:
Ink- Concord Grape, Wisteria Wonder, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Stazon Black, and edges were sponge with distress ink.
CS- Concord Crush, Naturals White, Crumb Cake
Edges were pierced with the paper piercer and mat pack, which I could not stamp without!  The butterfly was placed with the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig and colored with the bending pen.  Hemp twine was added for the finishing touch.
Thanks for stopping by!




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 And one more addition to the workshop variety of cards- This one again uses Field Flowers, but shows the versatility of the stamp. This set goes from vintage/shabby chic to formal. 

Stamps include Field Flowers and Tiny Tags.
Other ingredients:Stazon black ink, Stampin' Up's edgelit die, adhesive pearls and some patience trying to get the two pieces of cardstock with edges trimmed with the egdelit to match up well!
Thanks for visiting my blog! 

Brayered Seascape for OWH

I almost titled this blog "Help!"  This is my very first brayered card.  If it weren't for the fact that there are some incredibly nifty looks one can achieve from brayering, this might be my last!  Please, please, please-anyone out there good at the brayering technique?  I could certainly use some suggestions.  I can't seem to get rid of the "lines" of the different color inks and the colors are just too linear.  Also, can you tell that the big black blob in the sky is the silhouette of a bird, or does it look like a big black blob?

This card is for the "sand and sea" or "blue and tan" challenge over at OWH.  Cardstock is Whisper White and Bashful Blue (Stampin' Up).  Inks are Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Buckaroo Blue and Night of Navy (brayered inks).  The grasses and sentiment are Chocolate Chip.  The big black blob... or bird, well, is black. 
Anyone with thought or constructive criticisms, your ideas are greatly appreciated here!!

Belleek Pottery Technique

Today I noticed so many beautiful cards over at the Splitcoast gallery and they all had 1 thing in common-they were made using this week's Technique Lover Challenge(TLC361) technique- creating a card that looks like Belleek Pottery from Ireland.  I had not done a Technique Challenge before, but decided to give this one a try.  I combined it with the challenge over at Stampin' Sisters in Christ, which is to have a heart/hearts be the focus of the card AND I combined it with the MOJO Monday sketch challenge over at Verve.  Phew!  I have not combined multiple challenges before and it was just that- a challenge!

I really liked this technique-I inked the negative image of an embossing folder with Crumb Cake ink(we were required to use a subtle color to resemble pottery).  I then punched out embossed/Belleek squares and cut out fleur de lis rectangles with a spellbinder.  The hearts were punched with a Stampin' Up punch and inked with Chocolate Chip ink, followed by Regal Rose ink.  I added them to the squares and then re-embossed them.  The "With Love" square was stamped with the sentiment at the time the heart was added.  The rectangles and squares were popped up on dimensionals, adhesive pearls were added to the "With Love" square, and organza ribbon and SU Crumb Cake seam binding finished off the card.  I think I like how this turned out, although this may be version 1 of 2 versions!

Thanks for looking!  Constructive criticism is definitely welcome on this challenging card!!

Update-There IS a Version 2

Just by adding flowers, I think the look of this card changed significantly-for the better. What do you think?