CYCI#139 Rainbow of Color Challenge

The challenge this week at Can You Case It? is a color challenge... CYCI#139 a Rainbow of Color challenge!! How fun is that?!? I had a whole bunch of ideas swirling through the noggin' but I knew I wanted to try out the Rubber Cement resist technique. It's been on my 'to do' list for a while.

I decided to use the mini raindrops stencil from The Crafter's Workshop. I taped the stencil down over my 5 x 3-1/4 piece of watercolor paper and painted a thin layer of the rubber cement glue over the entire stencil. (My stencil wasn't completely flat which is why some of the rain drops aren't as defined but I still liked the way it turned out.) It didn't take very long for the glue to dry since I did a thin layer. Once it was dry, I watercolored the background colors using Ken Oliver's Caribbean Brights Color Burst. The background was a bit brighter than I had wanted so I grabbed a piece of vellum card stock to make a layer over it. I added the sentiment from Unity's Your Own Rainbow kit using black craft ink and black embossing powder. I ran the whole vellum piece through my Xyron sticker maker and adhered it to the watercolor background. I wrapped black licorice twine around the panel a few times and then tied a bow. I popped up the panel using stampin' dimensionals and called it done!

I would love to have you join us for the color challenge this week. Head on over to canyoucaseit.com to see all the other Rainbow of Color creations from the Can You Case It? Design Team!

Thank for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

A Fun Birthday Card for a Stamping Friend

I love to send birthday cards! I just love it! Sometimes, I will make several cards that are the same or at least similar. Other times, I will make a card just for a particular person. In this case, I made this card for a stamping friend that some of you know, Ginger! Happy Birthday!

This card was pretty quick to put together once I decided what I wanted to do with it. I stamped the Hardwood background stamp from Stampin' Up! using Baked Brown Sugar ink (retired SU!) on Whisper White card stock. I sponged all over the background with the same ink. I didn't want it to be too dark. I added the flower outline from an older My Paper Pumpkin kit and then I decided I wanted to add the inner pieces for the flower. I colored them using a copic marker - YR09. I added a few more flowers, also coloring them a bit in the center with BG72 and BG75. I decided that I just had to add some sparkle so I used the clear Wink of Stella to make the whole flower shine. I placed the iced rhinestone (retired SU!) in the center of the flower. All that was left was the sentiment... I stamped the sentiment from the Endless Wishes set in Tangerine Tango ink on a pre-cut piece of white card stock from the paper pumpkin kit. I popped the sentiment up using stampin' dimensionals. To finish the card, I popped up the entire panel using stampin' dimensionals and adhered it to a White card base.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

A Rockin' Birthday

We've been celebrating my husband's birthday all weekend - actually a four day weekend for us! I thought I would share the card that I made for him... he really liked it!

I saw a similar card idea on one of the many stamping related facebook groups that I am in. I just knew I had to do a guitar theme for Marcus' birthday. It's a pretty simple card. I used Kraft card stock for the card base and also for the guitar. I did the guitar-like shape freehand in pencil and then cut it out. I stamped the Hardwood background stamp in Baked Brown Sugar ink (retired SU!) and then sponged some Soft Suede ink along the edges and a bit all over. I cut out a True Black circle and then used a smaller circle die to make it look like the hole in a guitar. I added some silver cord for the strings and a quick sentiment from Endless Birthday Wishes also on Kraft card stock. To finish it off, I added a few black/silver sequins and splattered some silver silk.

I hope that you like this card. I recently added a tab on my blog for those that want to follow my crafty adventure. You just need to enter your email address and you'll get updates through your email when I have a new blog post... just that easy!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI#138 Shaker Sketch Challenge

This week's challenge at canyoucaseit.com is a Shaker Sketch Challenge. I'm a bit intimidated by the mighty shaker card. I think I've made four now, including this one. Really, though, they aren't that scary once you get the gist of making them.

I have some unused My Paper Pumpkin kits laying around... don't we all?! It just so happened, one of those kits is a shaker card kit called All Shook Up. I decided to change it up, of course, for this challenge. I still had the color combo from last week's challenge in my mind so you may notice my color choices are similar.

Another view of the card, with a bit less glare.

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Touches of Texture (SU!), Timeless Texture (SU!), Blissful Bouquet (SU! - My Paper Pumpkin)

Inks: Smoky Slate (SU!), Blushing Bride (SU!), White StazOn

Copics: YG03, YG63, R43, W3, W1

Sequins and Beads: 6mm Powder Pink, 4mm Granite Grey, B&W Classic, Going Green (katscrappiness.com)

Miscellaneous: bauble (unknown), ribbon (unknown)

Here is this week's CYCI#138 Shaker Sketch Challenge...

Hope you'll play along with us at canyoucaseit.com.

Thank you for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Let's talk Turkey...

Just a quick card today. I just got this turkey stamp from Unity - it's one of the adorable stamp of the week stamps!! I knew as soon as I saw him that I just had to pair him with this paper from Fun Stampers Journey.

Gobble! Gobble! Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI#137 Color Challenge

I'm back with another fun challenge at canyoucaseit.com. 

I usually get excited when I see a color challenge, but for some reason this color combo stumped me. In my arsenal of coloring mediums, I only have one item that is chartreuse - Ken Oliver's Color Burst chartreuse! I decided to go ahead and watercolor a background piece. I also added a touch of splatter with Fun Stampers Journey lime green silk. It's more on the green side but the shimmer is almost chartreuse so I thought it worked!

This adorable owl is from the Lil' Bloomin' Owl kit from Unity. I stamped him in Memento Tuxedo black ink on Papertrey Ink's white card stock. I used the following Copics for the sweet owl - N2, N4, N7, and C1 for the body; R43 for the heart and the flower petals; YR04 and YR07 for the beak; YR04 and YR24 for the center of the flower; YG00, YG06, and YG63 for the leaves. I added a touch of white with a white gel pen and some glittery goodness with a Sakura Gelly Roll clear pen.

A close-up of the glittery goodness.

I cut out the owl with a small circle die and distressed the edges. I thought it needed some color to help it pop so I colored it with Copics, of course! I used YG00 and YG06. I added some Basic Gray twine from Stampin' Up! and stamped the sentiment (also from the Lil' Bloomin' Owl kit) in Basic Gray ink. Hope you like it! Come play along with us at canyoucaseit.com!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal 

Life is better in flip flops!!

I have a quick card today that I did for the challenge over at CASology. I couldn't resist the challenge of a clean and simple beach card!!

I knew right away what I was going to do! I just had to use the Flipping Out set from Papertrey Ink! I stamped the flip flops and the sentiment in versamark ink and Baked Brown Sugar ink. I embossed the images with clear embossing powder and then heat set. I sponged the panel with Fine Linen ink and Hawaiian Shores ink. I knew I had to limit the layers so I split the card stock diagonally and adhered my main panel. I tied a quick bow with linen twine around the panel. I adhered the panel to the white card base with stampin' dimensionals. Done! Making this card was quicker than me typing up this blog post! 

I hope you like it and head on over to casology.blogspot.com to check out this challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI#136 Sketch Challenge

I'm almost speechless while writing this blog post, which isn't good when you're writing a blog post! :)

I was absolutely blown away when Eva asked me to join the CYCI Design Team. I'm so very honored to be a part of this team of amazing paper crafters and artists.

The challenge this week at canyoucaseit.com is CYCI#136 Sketch Challenge.

I love all the layers for this sketch! It was perfect for a Color Burst watercolor piece that I had done a bit ago. I just knew I had to use it! I used Lime Green, Orchid, and Fuchsia from Ken Oliver's Color Burst collection on a large piece of watercolor paper. 

I cut the watercolored piece out with Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Rectangles. I stamped the sentiment from Unity's Have a Little Faith kit in white craft ink and embossed it with detail white embossing powder from Stampin' Up! 

I wanted the stitching to show a bit better so I added some white gel pen and wiped off the excess to soften the white. I used a heart die from Stampin' Up!'s Snowflake Card Thinlits Die set. I colored the edge of the heart with the white gel pen and popped it up with dimensionals. I tied some white twine from Stampin' Up! and added a little bow.

 For my other two layers I adhered a piece of Whisper White card stock on Kraft cardstock and then used Cucumber Crush, Elegant Eggplant, and Melon Mambo SU! markers to splatter the background. I adhered the splattered background to a card base of Thick Whisper White card stock. The last touch was adding my focal piece and I popped that up with dimensionals. 

I really hope you like my creation inspired by this week's challenge. Come play along with us at canyoucaseit.com.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Quick Birthday Cards

Just a quick post today... I needed some birthday cards quick and had just happened to receive the latest My Paper Pumpkin kit in the mail. Now if you are not familiar with MPP - it's a monthly subscription through Stampin' Up! where you receive a box of stamping goodies. Sometimes it's a kit to make cards, other times it's another paper crafting project. Anywho, I received mine just in the nick of time...

The only issue was that it made just a few regular sized cards and then the rest was notecards... I don't want to send notecards. So, I turned the notecards into regular cards. This is my alternate take on MPP from last month. I had fun with this one so I made another...

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal