SISC #26 It Happens in 3’s!

I lurve me some Thrusdays! Why? “cause that’s means it’s time for the Groovy Gurlz to show off their latest StampInsanity creations!!! This week, we have a sketch with a twist!

The “twist” is that when using this fab sketch, you are also to use elements of THREE! Three buttons, brads, designer/pattern papers, etc! Have fun! So, here’s my card:

So it’s pretty obvious that I used 3 buttons… and originally I only had 3 patterned papers…but I had to make a decision. Very serious, I know… I felt that my upper right corner needed something, so I added that little corner piece. We all have to make sacrifices, especially in the name of art! ;} Yes, I have lost my mind…

Say “Hello!” to Birthday Maddie, once again. She was released last week, and I think she’s awesome. And, like all of StampInsanity’s images, she is a blast to color!!! Stop by the shop to pick her up!!!

I think the card is super happy and cheery…just like a Birthday Card should be! Now go take a peek at the rest of the creations by the Groovy Gurlz.

Beth {Owner} Erica Jacquie

Jennifer Juanita Julia (Guest Gurl)

Lisa Margie {DTC} Sugar (Guest Gurl) Suzi

And, I have 2 special things to tell you about! First, you’ve got ONE more day to shop StampInsanity at 50% off!!! Just one! Make sure you use the code: BDAY2010 during checkout. This sale won’t happen for another year! Second, how would YOU like to be a Groovy Gurl??? You see how much fun we have each week, and ya know YOU love to play along too! So why not be part of our awesome team??? Click HERE for all the deets!!!

How’s that for exciting??? Have an inspiring day!

Challenges:

Bee Crafty: Anything Goes

Tutorial: Coloring Bombshells with Distress Inks

I am going to show you a simple tutorial for coloring in your Bombshells Stamps with Distress Inks from Ranger. You can create some beautiful effects with these inks using only a few supplies. I will be working with the Pirate’s Life set.
Here's what you need:
Distress Inks- I usually use about 4 or 5 colors. For this project I used Antique Linen, Milled Lavender, Tattered Rose, Weathered Wood and Walnut Stain.
Cut-N-Dry-Nibs- Also from Ranger
Cream Colored Cardstock- I used Butter Cream from Prism
Brown Dye Ink- I used Chestnut Roan from Color Box

Let's get started!
1. Stamp your image in brown onto your cream cardstock. We use brown because it's so much softer looking than black, and a dye based so that it dries quickly and doesn't blend with the Distress Inks.

2. Starting with Antique Linen, rub a Cut-N-Dry Nib in a circular motion into the pad. You'll be using this color for her skin. Test how much color you have on the Niob on a scrap piece of the same cream cardstock.Color in the lowlight, or more shadowed areas of her body. You can use either a circular or linear motion, depending on the look you want.

Here's a photo of one leg colored in. Please note that it's not colored in entirely...I just colored in what would be the shadowed areas. Let the cardstock work for you by creating a nice base color!

3.Finish her body using this same technique.

4. Pick up a new Nib and start coloring in her outfit using the Milled Lavender. Make sure to use a different Nib for each color! I like to keep each Nib on top of the color I used so that I don't mix them up. You don't want the colors mixing on the Nib! Again, color in just the shadowed areas, not the entire section.

5. Apply some Tattered Rose to her outfit in what would be the most shadowed areas of her outfit. It not only adds more color, but even more dimension.

7. Then, using Weathered Wood and Walnut Stain color in her accessories. Leave some cream showing!

8. Don't forget her makeup! Experiment with your colors to make her look fabulous!

Here she is completely colored in.

9. Now you can cut her out and add her to a card! But don't forget to use some of the awesome elements in your stamp set! Here's my completed card

Check out her parrot!

And here is another card I made in July using the same technique but different colors.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial! If you did, then I recommend that you visit the Bombshell Stamps forums, where you will find not only some amazing inspiration, but other fantastic tutorials! Have an inspiring day!

Challenges:

Cowgirl Sunday: Anything Goes

Spoonful of Sugar: Animal

Pear Tree Designs: Animal

Stamping With Dargon: Eyes Have It

Bunny Zoe's: Vintage

Stamp & Create: Pearls & Gems

Crafts & Me: Gems & Sparkle

The Res Q Challenge: Use Scissors

Custom Wedding Album

I am making a Custom Wedding Scrapbook as a gift for the happy couple. I used their beautiful invitation as inspiration for the entire book, which is 8x8.

I blurred some of the info out, which is why the invitation itself looks a little weird. If you click on this or any other photo, you can view it in a larger size.

 

I just love the simple botanicals and the subtle damask print in the background. You can see here that I added some Dew Drops with some Stickles for a touch of sparkle.

Because of the lovely damask, I decided to go with this print (from DCWV) on some of the pages. It works perfectly with the invitations. And I think the brown (taken from the invitation as well), makes the pages look rich.

Titles, especially on such a small scale can be really time consuming for me. So I was happy to find some great stickers from K & Co. that can be used throughout the album. Here are one of those stickers, which are layered beautifully, and have a bit of glitter on them. To enhance that sparkle, I used more Stickles on the background paper, to define the swirls a bit. I also added some pearls, inspired by the itty bitty ones on the sticker. The white cardstock (which will become a mat when a photo is added), has a hint of sparkle as well. You can see it better in the next photo.

You can see it just a bit in the bottom of the photo. Ignore the peach color…that’s just the color I photographed the pages on.

I just love making custom albums. They are the perfect gift for yourself, your family, or anyone really! I am hoping that I will get a couple more album orders in before the Holidays. If you are interested, please leave me a comment with your email address and I will get in touch with you. Have an inspiring day!

Water Goddess and an Amazing Announcement!

So let’s start with the announcement, shall we??? I’m a Bombshell!!! No, not just in my husband’s eyes… I’m no longer Ms. July! I’m a full Design Team Member for Bombshell Stamps!!!!! I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilled and honored I am to be a part of such a magnificent team! I was really hoping that, in honor of my new status, I would be able to show off a new layout featuring one of the fabulous stamps, but, alas, my printer is acting wonky and I cannot print my photos properly. So, it’ll have to wait. But in the meantime, I have a card I made for one of the other fabulous Design Teams that I’m on…Smeared & Smudged!

This is obviously the Water Goddess from Smeared Ink, and I just love her. She’s so serene and lovely. Her face is so peaceful. More like a lazy river than a choppy ocean. I was inspired by this month’s S&S Sketch challenge. Here’s the sketch:

It’s a loose translation, but I think it works for the challenge!

I painted in my Goddess using Twinkle H20’s. And she is just soooo shimmery! I love the effect! It really looks like faceted water on a sunny day in the Mediterranean.

If you click on any of the pictures, you’ll get to see them bigger. Look at that shine! I just love painting with those Twinkles. I really need to invest in some more colors!

I added some smudges of Waterfall Stickles to the bottom of the card, just for a little more oomph. But, I didn’t want to do too much, as it would take away for this lovely Goddess.

So, why not play along with this sketch challenge? You have all month long to play, and there is a fantastic Graphic 45 prize up for grabs!!! So come on over to Smeared & Smudged and learn more!

Happy Birthday StampInsanity!

Stamp Insanity is 1!!! How fab is that? And to help celebrate there is a brand new Birthday set that is getting released today!!! And to add to the celebration, for one week only, you can get 50% off your StampInsanity purchase!!!!!! How is that for insane??? Just to be clear, from Thursday Sept. 2- Thursday Sept. 9, you can get 50% off of your purchase by entering BDAY2010 into the coupon code section. This is a once a year sale so hurry on over to the StampInsanity shop! Well…after you check out my lil card, ok?

Here’s beautiful, new Birthday Maddie! Ain’t she sweet? She’s holding a delicious piece of Birthday Cake…just for you!

She is colored in with my pencils, of course, and I think she looks so festive!!! And check out that spotted paper…it’s got a really pretty shimmer to it! It’s from Reminisce and I really like it.

Who doesn’t want to be Queen for a Day??? The sentiment is of course from this brand spankin’ new set! I printed it on white paper and then chalked it in pink and purple. Now it matches her dress and my papers perfectly!

Now it’s time to check out the rest of the Groovy Gurz’s projects! And, we have 2 new Groovy Gurlz!!! Welcome Julia and Sugar!!! Happy Birthday StampInsanity!!!

Beth {Owner} Erica Jacquie

Jennifer Juanita Julia (Guest Gurl)

Lisa Margie {DTC} Sugar (Guest Gurl) Suzi

Smeared Ink Release Hop!

It’s finally time! Finally time for the HUUUUGE release from Smeared Ink stamps! There are so many new sets!!! The Smeared Ink Fall release will feature 5 brand new rubber sets, and a new line of digi images that will be available as sets or single images. They will be available in the shop today and rubber sets will begin shipping on Monday the 6th.

So. Each of the DT members were given one new image to play with. I got a fellow named Lonely Boy and his spider friend Puff. Here is what the entire rubber set looks like:

And here is my creation:

I gotta toot my horn a bit…I LOVE how the coloring came out on Lonely Boy. I originally was going to go a different route with my colors, but I am SOOOO glad I changed my tactics!

You can click on any of the images to see it bigger.

Check out little Puff, tipping his hat to you!

Did you notice that the card is actually a tombstone? I had gotten the image from Cheeky Magpie, and I altered it a bit so that it would actually be the card…and not just stuck on it.

I distressed the hell out of it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and even added cracks using the same color ad applying it with Cut N Dry Nibs. I drew in the “RIP” with watercolor markers. Lonely Boy is pop dotted so that he appears to be floating past the tombstone.

I cut out some grass (and I sure wish I had the Martha Stewart punch that does that!), and added the Walnut Stain to it as well. Then there’s the inside…

More Distress Ink, cracks, and a sentiment that is a part of this set. I didn’t go too crazy, as I’m not sure what I’ll be writing on the inside.

Now, I’ve got some other fabulous bits of info that have to do with Smeared & Smudged.

Smeared and Smudged will be adding in a new challenge called the Photo Inspiration Challenge, and in honor of this new challenge we will have a very special giveaway of 2 G45 paper pads: Transatlantic and Fashionista. In order to qualify for the prize drawing you must participate in all five S&S challenges- Sketch(one or both), Oh the Horror, Rock N Rolla, Guest DT Challenge, and Photo Challenge. Those who participate in all five during the month will be entered, and you can combine challenges if you want as long as you post your project in each challenge thread so it will be counted.

Also, and I am very excited about this… is the 31 Days of Halloween. It all started last year with Terra and Kelli, who vowed to make and share one Halloween or Day of The Dead stamped project for each day in October. We had a huge response from others who enjoyed it just as much as we did. So this year, we are going even bigger!

We'd like to invite YOU to join in this year and participate in our 31 Days of Halloween month-long event. We're offering up some cool prizes at the end, and know that you'll have a blast! There are a couple of ways to participate and some creep-tastic prizes up for grabs! Grab the blinkie below and click HERE for all the deets! Sign ups begin NOW!!!

I know…this was a super loooong email, but it had to be! Now, please hop along to the rest of the Smeared & Smudged Design Team. Everyone created some amazing things that are sure to inspire you! Have a fang-tastic ay!!!

Terra ~ Tori ~ Alison(that’s me!) ~ Kelli ~

Kathi ~ Danielle ~ Black Dragon ~ Kim ~

Lady Brayton ~ Meredith ~ Jean

An idendium: I just realized that Lonely Boy totally works for this week's Macabre Monday! "Creepy Cute"!!! And if you don't agree, just check out the comments! I see a bunch of "cute" in there!!! I'm stoked this works for that challenge! It's a great one, as usual.