Bingo Mojo

Whenever I want to make a card 'just because' I like to look at the Feline Playful blog for challenges to inspire me. I was spoiled for choice this week and opted for two challenges.

 
I've worked to a sketch from Mojo Monday challenge #221 and also the BINGO challenge #50 at Ladybug Crafts Ink.
 
I tried to go for a 'full house' but didn't have any charms or buttons that fit the bill. I've managed three lines though; Felt, Flowers & Pearls, Felt, Ribbon & Embossing and Ribbon, Flowers & Die Cuts. I didn't have any pearls either but I had a little trick up my sleeve that I'll share later.

 

First of all I cut out my card base (Tempting Turquoise) using Sissix Framelits and embossed it using the Stampin' Up! polka dot embossing folder. I cut oiut more layers in White, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip.

The image was stamped in three steps, first the flowers in Melon Mambo then the stems in Old Olive (2nd stem added after masking off flowers and 1st stem) and finally the sentiment in Black. The set is 'Daydreamer' by Papertrey Ink. I added two types of ribbon, including the gorgeous Choc Chip scallop dots ribbon from SU!, and then added felt flowers in two colours. 

The 'pearls' on the flowers are actually brads that I've pearlised myself. I did this by holding the brad 'legs' with a pair of twezers and covering the 'head' in Versamark ink before dipping it into silver pearl embossing powder. Keeping hold of it with the tweezers, I heated the brad with my heat gun then immediately dipped it back in the embossing powder to add a second layer. I repeated this step several times until I was happy that I had a thick enough layer to make a convincing pearl. Neat eh?

A Gem of a Challenge #36

After all the Christmas cards I made it was a welcome change to have a birthday card to make instead. I chose to base it on the sketch provided for the Pink Gem Challenge #36.

As the birthday girl's name begins with A, I decided that the Cheerleader Anya digi from The Greeting Farm was just the job for the main image.

I coloured Anya with my trusty Promarkers and added a bit of bling to her pom-poms with a glitter gel pen and some rhinestones.

I stuck her, using Stampin' Dimensionals, onto a Lucky Limeade circle with a patterned paper mat. That is placed on top of a square of Rich Razzleberry card that I've embossed with the new Stripes embossing folder. I embossed it twice to give a chequered effect, which you can see better in the pic below.

I've made my own background paper using a stamp set from Papertrey Ink and Rich Razzleberry ink. I've added some details with a Lucky Limeade marker.

Finally I added a sentiment, made using the Basic Phrases set and Word Window punch, and some tiny flower accents.

Catch up on cards

I realised that there are a few cards I've made recently and not posted on my blog so I'm catching up and putting that right.

First up is a card I made for my Sister-in-law's birthday. One of my fave colour combos is Melon Mambo and Black as it just POPS!

I have a stamp set from the US called Up Up and Away, which features hot air balloons. However, I really wanted to see if those balloons could be used as petals on a flower and yes they can! I stamped each one and added ink to the edges and lines to the middle to add depth. I cut them out then curled them slightly with my bone folder. I stamped the large flourish from Baroque Motifs and assembled the flower at the top using Stampin' Dimensionals and Tombow glue, adding a black faux brad as a centre.

For my Father-in-law's card I chose a masculine combination of River Rock and Night of Navy, with accents in Basic Gray, River Rock, Soft Suede and Night of Navy. The accents are stamped using the Circle Circus set and punched out with a circle punch.



Finally, I was challenged to make a card featuring snowflakes and lots of sparkle. I followed a tutorial from the latest Impressions magazine (exclusive to Stampin' Up! Demonstrators) that showed how to make a snowflake using the Lace Ribbon Border Punch. For the base of the card I embossed some Whisper White card with a snowflake background and then highlighted some of the snowflakes by adding glue and a mixture of Tempting Turquoise embossing powder and glitter. The main card is Pool Party cardstock and I've added a pretty bow from matching Ruffled Ribbon.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC109

As soon as I saw the colours for this week's challenge at The Play Date Cafe I felt all warm and fuzzy. Their choice of Smokey Purple, Blush and Champagne is so rich and reminds me of cashmere pashminas. For the purple hue I instantly thought of Wisteria Wonder, the new In Colour from Stampin' Up! I teamed that with some patterned paper in Blushing Bride and added Crumb Cake to the mix for the Champagne hue.

I've been dying to use my 'Beautiful Wings' Embosslit and thought this was the perfect project. All you have to do is pop your choice of paper into the little metal folder, run it through the BigShot and, voila!, you have a clutch of beautifully embossed butterflies already cut out for you! I made two lots of butterflies in both the patterned paper and the crumb cake cardstock and trailed them up the card. The sentiment is from a US Stampin' Up! set called Up, Up and Away.