Sandy’s Craft Bag

The Altenew March Inspiration Challenge was a pretty picture of beads. I had a lot of ideas, and was all set to use a tutorial by Jennifer McGuire, but then got my Altenew Pattern Play - Diamond stamp set in the mail. I’ve been looking forward to this like crazy. I simply love all the things you can do with it! So, I changed my mind. and decided to use those jewel-tone colors with my new stamp. First I heat-embossed it with Ranger Navy, then colored the diamonds partway using watercolor markers. I used a water brush to bring the color down into the uncolored sections, this gave me that shaded/ombré look. Once dry, I dotted the corners with a fine point white Posca paint pen. I cut it down, added a navy blue mat, attached it to a white card base, and added a sentiment & some rhinestones. Done! Thanks for stopping by! Sandy

I simply love the House Mouse stamps from Stampendous. I’m usually not into little critters or cutsey things, but these guys are an exception. I finally got one, “Party Blow Out”. The  MFT Color Challenge 162 used some colors that I thought would work really well with this. I had a white slimline card base ready, so went with it.  After stamping the image on alcohol marker cardstock using MFT Extreme Black, I colored it in using Copic markers. I then die cut it using a stitched rectangle die. I also cut some “grass”, using the stem die from a miniature poppy die set, in a light green. Next, I cut a chiffon yellow mat and ran it through my Cricut Cuttlebug twice using the Cuttlebug Kaleidoscope embossing folder, carefully lining up the design for the second run so it would be long enough. I then blended some Catherine Pooler Coral Cabana, Lime Rickey, and Limoncello inks on a scrap of white cardstock and die cut some balloons. After cutting a small piece of white & tan butcher’s t

This is the Sneaky Kitties die that I got from Simon Says a while back. It’s so cute! I’ve been looking for an opportunity to use it and the  MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - Sketch 534 offered it. I could use the sneaky kitties for the stripes! I also have the PinkFresh Argyle stencil that I’ve been wanting to use as well, so I decided to put them together. Now for a color palette - it needed to work for the plaid and the kitties. Here is what I found: I’d use the teals and yellow for the plaid and the grays for the kitties. I began by lightly blending Distress Oxide Salty Sea on some white cardstock, after letting it dry for a while, I taped the 1st stencil down & blended on Mermaid Lagoon. I let that dry and used the 2nd stencil with Squeezed Lemonade.  Next I cut a  rectangular mat from the plaid using a PinkFresh die.  After die cutting the kitties in 2 shades of gray (4 in medium gray & 2 in heather gray), I used a white sentiment from Simon Says that I did earlier &

When you think of springtime & the color blue, it can stand for rainy days or blue skies, so blue & yellow seemed a fitting palette for the  Simon Says: Whatever the Weather challenge. Could there be a better palette for spring? I think not! I pulled out the Stampin’ Up Painted Harvest stamp set that I purchased used off eBay and stamped a flower in blues and one in yellows. The colors I used throughout were Hero Arts Soft Sky Shadow Ink, and Catherine Pooler It’s a Boy, Stone Blue, Limoncello, & Shea Butter inks. Hint: if you’re just starting out this is a great way to build up your stamp & die stash. Most have been used very little, if at all, & you can find not only some great bargains, but some really cute sets that are discontinued. I’ve taken great advantage of this. After stamping the flowers, I die cut them. I also die cut a scribble circle in yellow, and some leaves using scraps of an ombré blue paper that I also used for one of the mats. A larger mat i

The colors for the  MFT Color Challenge 161 are so pretty! With spring on the way, April showers & May Flowers came to mind, so bright cheery chrysanthemums with a watery background would fit the bill. I embossed 2 Mondo Chrysanthemums in white on watercolor cardstock and used watercolor pencils to color them in using shades of pink, yellow, and orange. After using a water brush to activate the colors, I decided to make it brighter and added more color using watercolor pens. I added some aqua color around the outside of the flowers and blended it out using a water brush.  Cutting it down, I then added it to a white mat to which I had glued a strip with a stamped aqua design left over from another project.  After adding it to a taupe card base, I added a small sentiment and some turquoise rhinestones.  Thanks for stopping by! Sandy

For the  Simon Says: Use 2 Or More Patterned Papers challenge, I found this card by SimpleStampin to use as my inspiration: I knew I had a lot of different black & white prints I could use, so what a great idea! After cutting almost everything using my Cricut Maker, I die cut the sentiment in black and attached to the side. I put everything together and added some liquid pearls. Thanks for stopping by! Sandy

The Simon Says Monday Challenge was: Recycle , so I decided to pull out my box of components that I never used & put some of them together. I found a Lavinia black on yellow stamp piece, a yellow-gold background, and a piece of a light olive green cardstock. All together, they could make a pretty card on a darker green card base, so I went with it.  It’s really nice when you can put something together this easily isn’t it? Since the  DRU Challenge #165 theme is “A Magical Day” I’m going to enter it there as well. Thanks for stopping by! Sandy

For the  MFT Stamps Wednesday Sketch Challenge - Sketch 533 , I decided to make a background using the sketch and pull out one of the Stampin Up Garden Collage stamps for the focal point. This is the sketch: Here is the color palette I chose: I cut a white card base from heavy weight cardstock and, after importing the sketch into Design Space, cut it from white medium weight cardstock. Using a music stamp and MFT Extreme Black ink, I stamped the sketch portion of the card front, then the bird stamp of the Garden Collage set on a piece of marker paper. Using Distress Oxide Scattered Straw, Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky, Aged Mahogany, Ripe Persimmon, and Hickory Smoke, I blended them on the background portion of the card. I colored the Garden Collage with Copic markers, then after blending on Scattered Straw, I cut it using a stitched square die. I attached them to a black mat just 1/8” wider than the design, then to the card blank. I cut the “Hello” sentiment using a Simon Says die, gl

I’ve been wanting to make some floating frame cards ever since I saw this video by Jennifer McGuire, so when the latest Simon Says Monday Challenge was Beautiful Blossoms, I figured it was the perfect time to try.   Since I have the Altenew Spring Daisies stamp set, I decided to use that.  This is the color palette I chose. I don’t have enough dye inks in shades of red, so I used my Distress Oxide ink pads (note to self: find dye inks in a wide range of reds). I used Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, and Barn Door for the reds, plus Hickory Smoke and Weathered Wood for the grays.  After stamping with this set, I wasn’t happy with the way the flowers & leaves looked. This set only stamps an outside line design and 1 layer of color that leaves the rest of the flower blank. To fix that, I added a second, different, shade of ink to each one using a small paint brush. After cutting them out with the coordinating dies, I wasn’t happy with the white edge the dies leave around t

This is the sketch for the  MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - Sketch 531 . The card I ended up making was inspired  by jillianavery8222  on Flicker.  I began by cutting an A6 red card blank and matching mat at 4 1/8” x 5 7/8”.  I also die cut 2 white rectangles using my stitched frame set.  I blended Distress Oxide Forest Moss ink on the 2 rectangles, shading the edges darker than the middle. Next I stamped them each with ferns from a leaves set from MayMayStationary  using Catherine Pooler Eucalyptus.  The red mat I dusted with Brushos OST Red and lightly spritzed it with water, then once the powders began dissolving I blotted it with a paper towel. After drying, I then used the top layer stamp from the smallest butterfly in my layering butterfly stamp & die set, and stamped it randomly with Versamark ink and embossed it with Stampendous Antique Red.  Next, I stamped 2 each of the larger layering butterfly on white cardstock using Catherine Pooler Rouge for the bottom stamp, then e

For the  The House That Stamps Built - Theme Challenge F1721 ~ Get Well , I wanted to make something bright & cheerful, but not hurt your eyes bright. When I was looking for ideas I saw a great card by Michelle Zindorf on Splitcoaststampers and decided to use it as my inspiration. I think she used watercolors, but I’m not sure how she did it. I wanted to use my watercolor pencils, I’m trying to get more practice with them, so that’s what I did. The color combo is awesome, so I kept it the same, although mine are not as vivid. The stamps are from the Stampin’ Up Painted Poppies stamp set and the die cut for the sentiment from the coordinating Painted Labels die set. After attaching all the layers, I added some rhinestones. Not bad, I do like it. Would this cheer you up if you weren’t feeling well? Thanks for stopping by! Sandy

For the  MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge - Sketch 53 , I wanted to make something pretty and a little more delicate. This is the sketch: First, I embossed a mat of light tan cardstock using an Inkadinkadoo Flourish stamp, Versamark ink, and Hero Arts detail white embossing powder. I had to move the stamp down and repeat to get the whole length included. Next I stamped the largest flower from the Hero Arts Protea Flower set on alcohol marker paper using My Favorite Things Extreme Black ink. After coloring it in using Copic markers, I cut it out using the matching die. I embossed a black piece of cardstock in white with a sentiment from the protea flower set. After cutting a piece of vellum 2 3/4” x 6”, I put it all together and added some black rhinestones. I love this, don’t you? I also entered it in the The House That Stamps Built Anything Goes Challenge ~ F2421. Thanks for stopping by! Sandy