BLACK AND WHITE at Moving Along With The Times Challenge

Wow! Two posts from me in the same week!

I'm using one of my "own" newest stamp sets - partly from the digital set, and partly from the rubber set. These cards are inspired by my friend Paula D and by my MAWTT Teamie Debbie who chose BLACK AND WHITE ONLY theme.

It's time to share a Project for the new Moving Along With The Times Challenge!

Challenge #97's theme is BLACK AND WHITE ONLY - for the next 2 weeks upload your creations that feature your BW creations!

The digital set of my new VINTAGE PEONY stamp set has 17 colored and black and white items in it. My cards were printed with the background stamp in 3 sizes, and then stamped in rubber with Noctourne VersaFine Clair ink. The digital set comes with colored and BW versions independently, and also already masked for you so that the words cannot be seen in the flower petals and leaves.

To receive an additional 10% off, please use the code DonnaDT10 when checking out.

Each of my images has a printed background from the above digital set.

Each was stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne on top of the digital background. However, the digital set does offer flowers with the background already done, so that the letters don't show through the petals. I wanted the letters to show through.

First is this card with the clear glitter mat, glossy black frame, and simple image:
 

Second: Stamped with VF Clair Nocturne, and heat set with a black glittered EP. It has a white background, black glossy mat, and glittered interior mat:

Lastly, I stamped the flower three times, cutting petals out and popping them up. The edges are also stamped with more leaves. All the leaves have been coated with a Zig 2 Way glue pen, and clear white glitter (sorry, it photographed rather blue):

The mat is a black glitter cardstock (I cheated!):

The sentiment comes with the set, was stamped in VF Clair Nocturne and heat set with clear EP:

For me, the black-and-white ONLY challenge was difficult, not being able to shade with gray to provide depth. But it was fun! Hope to see your card uploaded to the challenge!

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. Shopping Our Stash #395 "May Flowers" 5/13
2. World Wide Open DT Challenge #4 AG DT 5/15 
3. Corrosive Challenges #5 Anything Goes 6/3
4. Dare2BArtzy (May 5) "May Flowers" 5/29
5. Crafty Gals Corner #191 May Flowers 5/22
6. Creative Moments #168 Anything Goes 5/22

Stamping Hugs,

de

Chirp! for the Birds!

Hello, blogging friends! I hope you are all enjoying milder weather and things are going well for you and your loved ones.

It's May First and that means a brand new
Challenge at Two Crafty Critter Crazies 
where we love to celebrate any project with a critter on it!
Critters include mythical creatures, animal toys and everything alive
(except humans and flora)!

Today I'm sharing a pretty set of SEVEN cards
 BUT also hanging my head in shame.
(giggle)
My friend Anne B and I got together LAST AUGUST to make some cards using her "Best Birds" Stampin' Up! set. I have finally finished mine, and it's time for show and tell. First, a preview:

My newest stamp set is out and available digitally for a mere $2.50.
It's called simply "Kindness".

Pink-Brown

Bold Blue:

Melon:

I wish the gold sparkle had showed up below:

Blue-Yellow

Blue Tan:

Blue-Round:

Products Used:

• Images: "Chirp" SNS Bonnet Birdie rubber stamp set (also available digitally), Hero Arts mini sentiments, SNS Kindness rubber stamp set (also available digitally), Stampendous 8x8 Decor Music background stamp
• Stampin' Up! sets: "Best Birds", "Touches of Textures", "Bloom with Hope"
• MS Punch laurel leaf border, Twine, Distress Inks, Tombow Markers
• Embossing Powder: SNS Gold Tinsel EP385 (very glittery)
• Dies: SB Grand Labels One, SB Decorative Grand Labels One, SB Detailed Scallops, SB Teardrop Circle, Sue Wilson "Melbourne", SW "Australian Background", Crafts Too Presscut die set "Love Stitching Heart" PCD101, 

Challenges Entered:

• ScrapyLand Challenges #113 AG with SL dies (listed above) 5/14
• Crafting from the Heart #242 AG 5/12
• Make My Monday #95 "wings" 5/12 
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #104 AG 5/3
• Try It On Tuesday Challenges (Apr 30) Things With Wings 5/14

stamping hugs,

Imagine That Stamps at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Greetings, Friends! I hope you are well, and staying warm.
Like everyone else, here in central Florida, we are experiencing strange weather patterns. But for us, it has been unseasonably warm for the most part. With the exception of a few freezes and frosty mornings, we have been experiencing May Temperatures, not winter temps!
The farmers don't know what to do. Plant or not to plant?
Jack planted pole beans and black eye-peas (field peas) in our garden yesterday. Black eyes are traditionally a summer crop here (June - September), so that gives you an idea of how warm we are.

Well, enough of the weather (giggle).



Today I have a sorta-kinda distressed, textured project to share for a new Challenge at Two Crafty Critter Crazies 
where we love to celebrate any project with a critter on it! Critters include mythical creatures, animal toys and everything alive (except humans and flora)! Our very generous sponsor this month is:

Imagine That Digistamps.

They have an assortment of black and white and colored stamps, plus beautiful papers and backgrounds.

My project uses "Hello Kitties" with dotted background from "Ellie's Flower Costume"

Mini Digital Tutorial using free apps.

1. "Hello Kitties" is a freebie, that comes with a completely transparent PNG and an opaque JPG. After re-saving the JPG as a PNG, I made the outside of the frame transparent. I also made the area under the flowers transparent. (I did this using Preview App).
2. Using a free word processing app (I used Pages), I opened a blank page, dragged the cute gray and white dotted digital paper into it, and then dragged the newly saved Hello Kitties PNG on top of it. 
3. That enabled the appearance of layers. It looks like the part below the flowers is either popped up, or cut out, depending how one's eyes see it.
4. Size the background paper to suit your needs and print out the cute image.
5. The image was then colored with Copic and Prismacolor markers, including a few little "white dots" in yellow or amber, and the inside of the oval was also lightly colored in the same colors. To give a little more dimension, black dots were colored around the frame.

To keep the Dotted theme, I applied Memento Gray Flannel ink to the inside of my WRMK Dotted embossing folder. Carefully lining up a yellow-gold panel in the EF, I then ran it through the machine. The raised areas remained yellow, while the debossed areas turned "flannel gray". The edges were distressed with Black Soot ink:

The gray panel was embossed with Craftwell's Delicate Dots folder, and distressed with Black Soot and Pearlescent Yellow Brilliance ink.

Little Details: A piece of golden burlap was frayed for a fun fringe, white sides were added for contrast, sentiment was stamped with VersaFine Clair Morning Mist and heat set with Clear Detail embossing powder. Lastly, Memory Box Fanciful Flourish was smooshed with VersaMark and heat set with Spring Willow Cosmic Sparkle embossing powder.

Some PRODUCTS USED: **Images: Imagine That Digistamps "Hello Kitties" with dotted background from "Ellie's Flower Costume", rubber stamp sentiment from SNS "Kitty Celebrates" Stamp Set 926    **Dies: SB Mega Nestabilities Curved Rectangles, Memory Box Fanciful Flourish, SU Labels Punch **Colored with Copic and Prismacolor Markers   **Inks: Gray Flannel Memento Ink, Black Soot Distress Ink, VersaFine Clair Morning Mist, VersaMark, Pearlescent Yellow Brilliance ink  **Embossing Folders: We R Memory Keepers Dotted #1, Craftwell Delicate Dots   **Embossing Powders: Spring Willow Cosmic Sparkle, Clear Detail 

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. Show Us Your Pussycats Challenges #39 Furrything Goes 3/5 (sep post)
2. Crafty Animals #24 AG with Animals 4/1 (sep post)
3. Crafting With Friends #81 Anything Goes 3/15
4. QKR Stampede Challenge #337 Anything Goes 3/8
5. Love to Scrap #119 Anything Goes Option Monochrome 4/1
6. Sparkles Forum Challenges #113 Include an Animal 3/15
7. Your Scrapbook Place (March) AG 4/1

On A Personal Note:

Kilo turned nine years old on the day I wrote this 2CCC blog post!

What a good boy, hanging out with his daddy! (behind him is the cultivator for the tractor).

The Tulip Tree (a type of Magnolia) was blooming on Valentine's Day. In the background you can see a Southern Magnolia, lots of "Pothos" growing and climbing trees, and a ton of Spanish Moss hanging from the trees and cross-fencing.

The Oak Trees tower over the azaleas and tulip tree, bringing much needed shade during the summer and protection from freezes in the winter. These were taken on an overcast day with heavy frost that morning:

Closer. The oaks are in the process of dropping their leaves. They will be bare around March 1, and pollen squigglies will appear, burst open, and coat everything in yellow. Even the squirrels will have allergies when that happens:

In a few days, the petals will drop, and new leaves burst forth. This is the first tree we planted in 1989 when we first moved to this little "farm". Of course, the towering Oak Hammock was already here:

wishing you all the best!

hugs,

Bonnet Birdie visits 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Is everyone staying warm? Yikes! It's been cold.

Today begins a new Challenge at Two Crafty Critter Crazies 
where we love to celebrate any project with a critter on it! Critters include mythical creatures, animal toys and everything alive (except humans and flora)! Our very generous sponsor this month is Sparkle N Sprinkle, so join us with your crafty creations this month for a chance to win and be recognized.

My project features this sweet SNS Bonnet Birdie Digital Stamp Set available with the bright blue bird which was hand colored by my friend Anne Temple.

However, today, my birdie is sporting canary yellow plumage!

I have colored this bird with Copic markers in yellow - like a canary. For an additional 10% off your entire order, please use the code DonnaDT10.

My background was made on dark ivory colored cardstock:

To make the background, a stencil was used. I spritzed and dabbed some mica powders that had been diluted. First green, allowing it to dry, and then placing the same stencil on top and doing it in blue, allowing only a small amount of the green to show through. After it was dry, I wanted a little "canary yellow" in the background, so I stamped with Hero Arts Leaf With Stitching rubber stamp and heat set with Firefly Embossing Powder. Because that EP is fine, and semi-transparent with a little glitter, I used Cheerful Yellow VersaFine Clair ink instead of VersaMark ink.

The pretty die cut is done in turquoise vellum (that's why you can see the stenciling through it).

Next the colored panel was added using the "out of the box" die cut technique:



The cute sentiment comes with the set. It was printed on vellum in turquoise and immediately dredged with Sparkle Embossing Powder. This provides texture on a digital stamp. I also used a Gelly Roll Bright White pen to make some dots on top of the Peacock Feathers ink.

Green Glittered Greenery (say that 3 times fast) adds some sparkle to the dimensional floral spray.

The same Hero Arts stamp was used on the inside, with the yellow also heat embossed. Warm Breeze VersaFine was shadow stamped for dimension:

Products Used:

Sparkle N Sprinkle Bonnet Birdie Digital Stamp Set
Hero Arts Leaf with Stitching stamp
Tonic Ribbon and Bow layering set (3 dies)
Cottage Cutz Greenery 4x4 die set
SNS Firefly Embossing Powder
SNS Sparkle Embossing Powder
Copic Markers, Prismacolor Markers, Gelly Roll Bright White pen
Peacock Feathers Distress Ink
SNS Cheerful Yellow VersaFine Clair ink
SNS Warm Breeze VersaFine Clair ink

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. Classic DT Open Challenge #2 AG DT 3/1 (sep post)
2. Colour Crazy Challenges (Feb 1 Week 4) AG Colored by hand (for image I used Copic Markers, Prismacolor Markers, Gelly Roll White pen, Peacock Feathers ink)  2/15 (sep post)
3. Crafting With Friends #79 AG 2/15 
4. Crafty Creations #383 Anything Goes 2/6 ?
5. Creative Fingers Challenge #156 AG (2/8) check 2/26
6. Scrapy Land Challenges #106 AG SL die (Tonic Dies 3) 2/6 (sep post) 
7. The Paper Funday Challenges #1 AG ends 2/3 (announced 2/6)

Stamping Hugs,

I'm Resisting - Back to Basics and Beyond

Hello, blogging friends!
Wishing you all the happiest of seasonal preparations throughout the month!

It's time for a brand new Back to Basics and Beyond Challenge!

For the next two weeks, join us by uploading an "Anything-Goes" project as long as you use any resist technique on it. The team has all kinds of inspiration and a variety of styles to view, so take a look! Hope to see yours there.

My card is a magical night time dance of snowflakes using two rubber stamp sets from Sparkle N Sprinkle:

Hanging head in shame... because my planning was not satisfactory for this card. The watercolor paper should have been trimmed before stamping the images. The snowflakes were stamped with VersaMark and heat set with White Detail EP. The paper was then spritzed with water and Color Burst watercolor powders" were puffed" onto the wet paper. Both colors were very intense and made a magical night time party of snowflakes.

The edges of the watercolor paper are distressed with VersaFine Clair inks in Purple Delight and Warm Breeze Turquoise, then heat embossed with sparkling Sangria Star EP and Cerulean Star EP.

Embossed the Happy Holidays sentiment on vellum with Sangria EP (no glitter compared to Sangria Star EP)

Products Used:

Products:

• Images: SNS Rubber Stamp Sets ($9.99 each) Dancing Penguin, Crystal Snowflakes, Happy Holidays sentiment
• Embossing Powder (for resist) White Detail EP298, Sangria Star EP and Cerulean Star EP, sentiment in Sangria EP
• Coloring Medium: Color Burst in Pthalo Green and Violet
• Paper: Watercolor, Vellum, Razzelberry, White
• Inks: VersaMark, VersaFine Clair inks in Purple Delight and Warm Breeze Turquoise

Challenges I'd like to support:

1. City Craft Challenge #442 "Snowflakes" 12/18

Happiness Hugs,