Big Announcement and Monthly Challenge Card for January 2017

Good morning! I have some exciting news to share with you all today. I am now proud to announce that I'm part of the Spectrum Noir Design Team. I can't explain how thrilled I am to be a part of this team with these amazing talented artists.

If you have noticed, I use Spectrum Noir products in almost every project I've created for quite a while now. And every new product that gets introduced, I fall more in love. I've used so many different products and none compare to the ones offered by Spectrum Noir. 

They're affordable, and just amazing to color with. Check out the blog over at at Spectrum Noir to see all the products offered and get design inspiration across the board. You'll be in awe of the creations!

Spectrum Noir Website
Spectrum Noir Blog

Every month, Spectrum Noir offers a different challenge. Check out this month's challenge HERE.

• Ready for a brand new challenge? Color up ANYTHING you want using your Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, Sparkle markers, blendable colored pencils, watercolor pencils, Spectrum Aqua markers, or AquaTint inks, put it on any card or project, and you can play along with us! Share your work with us, enter below and you’ll be in with a chance of being chosen for our Card of the Month or Top Three spots!
•  *PLAY ALONG WITH OUR BONUS THEME: USE A COLORING PAGE
• Want to be in with a chance of winning $30/£30 in Spectrum Noir or Spectrum Aqua products? Color a project using our bonus theme, like our Design Team did, and you’ll be entered to win loads of coloring goodies! Please remember to use only Spectrum Noir products for coloring; you may enter up to five times. Click on the above link for details on how to enter.

Here is my card for the monthly challenge. I color images in my Colorista coloring pads while I'm out, usually at my oldest's Boy Scout meetings. While he's in his meeting, I sit down and use my time to color. This way, I have images that are colored and ready to make into something like this card below! It's a great way to pass the time AND have images ready to create into a card (or other item) quicker. 

 
 This page is a part of the Colorista coloring pad called Butterfly Garden. It has gorgeous gold accents on the butterflies (not captured above) that really add elegance to these colored images. 

I used a small tag with a sentiment stamped in Versamark ink and embossed with white embossing powder. I then applied a distress ink over that and flicked on some water to create a splotchy effect. I pulled a piece of orange ribbon from my stash to coordinate. 

 

I chose a purple card base to accent the colors in the butterflies. See how much punch you can pack with just coloring 2 butterflies?

 

The Colorista colored pencils blend beautifully together. You adjust the amount of color with the pressure you apply while coloring. That's where the white and light areas come in. Less pressure = less color. More pressure = more intense color. I thought I loved the markers until I used the colored pencils! Plus, they're easy to take along with you. 

I keep a few coloring pads, Colorista markers and colored pencils in my bag ready to just grab and go. I love how easy it is to relax and color. 

Have a blast entering your project into the monthly challenge, and good luck! 

SUPPLIES USED:

• Spectrum Noir Colorista 5x7 Pad with Foil, Butterfly Garden
• Spectrum Noir Colorista Colored Pencils: Set 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 
• Lawn Fawn, Hello Stamp
• Versamark Ink
• White Embossing Powder
• Distress Inks: Scattered Straw and Spiced Marmalade

Lawnscaping Challenge #143: Let It Snow sponsored by Ellen Hutson LLC

 

It's that time of year...winter. You either love it or you hate it. I'm going with the latter just because after years and years, and years, of shoveling/dealing with frigid temps, it's not the most fun time of year. I prefer summer and fall, thank you ;)

On to our sponsor - Ellen Hutson! Certainly you are familiar with her and her store, but if not, a little bit about the store in her own words:

Ellen Hutson, LLC began their adventure in November 2006 as an online web store committed to bringing you the finest paper crafting products and related product education. They are always looking to provide their customers with quality products, excellent customer service, and education and inspiration for the products they carry. You can shop with Ellen by clicking HERE. As well please join them to be inspired and learn some fun techniques in the CLASSroom, or stay up-to-date on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and/orPinterest.

Ellen Hutson issponsoring our first challenge of each. The prize? A $25 gift certificate to the online store! Thank you Ellen!

 

 

I must admit though, snow is really pretty. Especially when it's night and it's so silent falling outside your windows. That's what this card reminds me of - a town in the evening hours with snow falling for them to wake up with a blanket covering everything in the morning hours. 

 

I hope you enjoyed my card (and my rant about snow) today for this challenge. Create something fun with the Let It Snow prompt and head over to the Lawnscaping blog. Thanks for stopping by. 

SUPPLIES USED:

• Lawn Fawn Little Town Border
• Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together
• Memento Luxe, Wedding Dress
• Memento, Nautical Blue
• Distress Ink: Tumbled Glass and Dusty Concord
• Mister Huey's Opaque White Mist
• Spectrum Noir Watercolor Cardstock

 

Sown with Love

 

Good morning! It's funny because I love these gardening type sets and I don't garden! I have a black thumb I always say. But I'm hoping that next spring, I can start and maintain a successful garden full of herbs and veggies for us. Fingers crossed ;)

 

I know a lot of people who love to garden and these sets are perfect for it! 

 

The little seed packet die is probably my most favorite. This would be a great way to gift a gardening lover some seeds for either veggies, fruit, or flowers as part of a gift basket!

Thank you for stopping by. Pop on over to Crafter's Companion to see the other Sheena gardening inspired sets!

SUPPLIES USED:

Sheena Perfect Partners Home Life, Sown with Love Stamp Set and Dies
Sheena Perfect Partners Home Life, Herb Garden Stamp Set
Spectrum Noir Watercolor Cardstock
Spectrum Noir Aqua Markers: Sepia, Fawn, Terracotta, Leaf Green, Evergreen, and Moss
Versafine, Onyx Black
Memento Luxe, Pistachio
Distress Ink, Scattered Straw

Lawnscaping Challenge #139 sponsored by Ellen Hutson LLC

The wonderful, fabulous Ellen Hutson! is sponsoring this challenge!!! Certainly you are familiar with her and her store, but if not, a little bit about the store in her own words:

Ellen Hutson, LLC began their adventure in November 2006 as an online web store committed to bringing you the finest paper crafting products and related product education. They are always looking to provide their customers with quality products, excellent customer service, and education and inspiration for the products they carry. You can shop with Ellen by clicking HERE. As well please join them to be inspired and learn some fun techniques in the CLASSroom, or stay up-to-date on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and/orPinterest.

Ellen Hutson issponsoring our first challenge of each. The prize? A $25 gift certificate to the online store! Thank you Ellen!

 

And now on to my take on the challenge! I had a blast with this since fall IS my favorite time of year! They say that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, welllll I think fall is!

 

For this card, I used the Stitched Leaves dies from Lawn Fawn and partially diecut them onto some watercolor cardstock. I placed paper shims in the die cutting machine to make sure they didn't cut all the way through. I did have 2 that did, but I just glued a plain white piece of cardstock behind that diecut panel. It kept everything in place. 

 

I used some white pearls colored in with a gold Sharpie marker to add some dimension.

 

The leaf background was created using Distress Inks, water and a brush. So easy and so rich looking.

 

I added the striping under the panel with a simple gold Sharpie!

Have fun with this challenge!! 

PRODUCTS USED:

• Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Leaves
• Lawn Fawn Into the Woods
• Lawn Fawn Booyah
• Distress Inks: Festive Berries, Scattered Straw, Dusty Concord, Tea Dye, Iced Spruce, Orange Marmalade
• Gold Sharpie Marker
• Memento Luxe, Wedding Dress
• Spectrum Aqua Watercolor Cardstock 

Lawnscaping Challenge 136 Sponsored by Ellen Hutson

 

It's Monday and you know what that means...a NEW Lawnscaping Challenge is here! This theme is Punny Time. You can use a punny sentiment or create your own for this challenge. Have fun with it! Cheesy is punny! See what I did there?! ;)

Our amazing sponsor is Ellen Hutson LLC. Check out her site for all the amazing Lawn Fawn products and so much more. It's a one stop hide-your-checkbook-from-you-know-who shop. 

 

 On to my design for this challenge. I really had fun with it and it's totally punny, but simple, too! I wanted the simple look and it to really be focused on the sentiment and simple imagery. I think I TOADALLY nailed it. 

 

Are you laughing?! I hope so. I did. Ha ha ha ha.  

 

A little side shot so you can toadally see the dimension and fun inking I did.

I could have definitely gone with WARTS UP?! Hmm. Another card might get made with that one!

Enjoy this fun challenge and be sure to enter your PUNNY card over at the Lawnscaping Blog!! 

SUPPLIES USED:

• Lawn Fawn Dad + Me
• Lawn Fawn Milo's ABCs
• Lawn Fawn Hello Baby
• Lawn Fawn 6x6 Paper Pad, Let's Polka
• Distress Ink-Tumbled Glass
• Memento Luxe-Pistachio
• Memento-Tuxedo Black
• Radiant Neon-Electric Green
• Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers

Watercolor Butterflies

I totally loved creating this card using the no-line watercolor technique. I tried a different set than I normally would have for this card, but I'm seriously in love with the end result. Don't ever be afraid to experiement!

 

I really love how it turned out! Check out all the wonderful supplies Crafter's Companion sells for watercoloring. The possibilities are endless. Happy crafting! 

SUPPLIES USED:

Sheena A Little Bit Scenic, Flying Colors
Spectrum Watercolour Cardstock
Versafine, Onyx Black
Distress Ink, Tea Dye
Spectrum Aqua Markers: Sepia, Wildflower, Red Violet, Gold, Spice, Heather, Sunset, Begonia

Lawnscaping Challenges #128 Sponsored by Lawn Fawn

We are sponsored by the always amazing Lawn Fawn! They are sponsoring this challenge with a free stamp set of the winner's choice!

I love using sketches every now and then. It really helps me to think about a card design/layout because I normally just wing it when I craft. And this is another of my favorite cards I've created in a while. It was a very spring-like day when I made this card, so that's my inspiration for the color palette! 

I knew I wanted to create my own background of sorts here and I did that by using the umbrella stamp only from the Hello Baby set and I stamped it with Distress Ink in Old Paper onto watercolor cardstock. I wanted this card to have a soft feel to it, not super feminine, but a neutral and light color palette. I have a bridal shower to attend for my brother in law and future sister in law, so I wanted it to be able to be given to either of them. I chose a palette of olive green, tan, very light mauve and peach. I simply used my Spectrum Aqua markers to color in the umbrellas and I used the fine tip of those markers to dot in the sections of umbrella like the stamp has. It's very subtle but I love how this came out. 

I then took two strips of patterned paper that coordinated and cut them to glue on the diagonal just like the sketch above. 

For the rectangle in the sketch, this is where I wanted to place my sentiment/main focal point. I cut out the shape with a die in my supplies and stamped the sentiment in Memento, Tuxedo Black at the top center of the shape. I then stamped the butterfly from the Flutter By set in Distress Ink, Old Paper below that. For more dimension and texture, I stamped the same butterfly onto watercolor cardstock in the same Distress Ink and colored in with the Spectrum Aqua Markers. After fussy cutting that out, I adhered it right over the butterfly image I stamped onto the diecut shape with some foam adhesive. 

Very simple, yet colorful card! We'd love for you to participate and create a project based on the sketch above and enter over at the Lawnscaping Challenges blog. There you will find all the rules and instructions for uploading your project to enter to win the fab prize from Lawn Fawn. Happy crafting!  


PRODUCTS USED:

• Lawn Fawn Flutter By
• Lawn Fawn Hello Baby
• Spectrum Aqua Watercolor Cardstock
• Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth Premium White Cardstock
• Distress Ink, Old Paper
• Memento, Tuxedo Black
• 6x6 Teresa Collins, Blessed
• Stampin' Up Framelits, Chalk Talk Dies
• Spectrum Aqua Markers: Marigold, Olive, Jasmine, Leaf Green, Topaz, Fawn, Begonia, Yellow, Peach, Spice, Desert, Gold, Moss, Sunset and Chestnut   

Watercolor Bunches of Love

I have another bright and cheery card up today for you! The bit of nicer temps inspired me to create these more spring-like cards. I'm definitely anxious for spring. Winter's around here are looooooong, so we embrace the 50 degree days!!

 Of course I grabbed my favorite little buddy, Bebunni, for this card. He's so much fun to color. I stamped him onto watercolor cardstock with Distress Ink in Old Paper to mimic the no-line watercoloring technique. If you haven't tried this, definitely give it a go. You'll be hooked!

I used the Spectrum Aqua Markers to color him in and for the "sky" around him, I used the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens. In person, you can definitely see that pretty shimmer that the Sparkle Pens give. It's beautiful. I love that you can use them just as you would the Spectrum Aqua Markers with just a bit of water and a brush.

I assembled the card onto a soft yellow cardbase and I went landscape this time. Most of my cards are portrait style, but this was really cute when I turned it.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I created with another Bebunni set. Check them all out over at Crafter's Companion. I'm still trying to get them ALL! :) Happy crafting!

PRODUCTS USED:

• Bebunni Floral Collection, Bunches of Love
• Spectrum Aqua Watercolor Cardstock
• Versafine, Onyx Black
• Distress Ink, Old Paper
• Spectrum Aqua Markers: Slate, Charcoal, Peach, Spice, Topaz, Bud Green, Aquamarine, Kingfisher, Sunflower, Sunset, Orange, Magenta, Red Violet, Scarlet, Peacock Blue, Marigold, Sea Green, and Black
• Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens: Blue Topaz and Moonstone