SNP Iris Fold Christmas Ornament card

I cannot believe how the time is flying. I do this every year thinking that I have lots of time before I start making Christmas cards for my Mom and for me to send. Then all of a sudden, I check the calendar and "eek", I have to go into overdrive. Good thing I love making Christmas cards :)

I love making iris fold cards. They are like drawing Zentangles, so repetitive and calming. Also, instant gratification because they are easy but very dramatic when completed. For this card, I used this stamp from Stamp N plus Scrap N. It was stamped on dotty design paper with the tiny holly leaves coloured in with Prismacolor pencil. Bling and Sakura pen were added after the iris folding was completed.

Once again, I inked the folded edge of the red paper to show off those folds better. The card did get a little lumpy bumpy but my good friend, Paulette the iris fold Queen, gave me some great tips for next time to reduce the bulk. She doesn't fold the paper in half but rather creates a narrow fold which reduces the bulk a lot. She also uses thinner paper like wrapping or floral papers for a thinner end result. The other suggestion was to lay some double stick tape down on the back of the card to catch the first few layers. That means less tape so you are eliminating several thicknesses. All great suggestions. I'm going to make another card using the same stamp and show you what a difference these tips make. Another solution would have been to mount the thin dotty paper to stronger cardstock before stamping and cutting out. That way, I could have added foam tape to the back to compensate for the bulky layers. Thanks, Paulette!

I kept the rest of the card simple by adding a scallop of music DP and ribbon at the bottom and kraft cardstock and ribbon at the top. A button was added to the top right and a computer-generated sentiment printed on kraft to the top left corner. Simple matting and a scrap of gold metallic paper added to the center of the ornament finished off this ....my very first Christmas card of the year. Go me! Check out the Stamp N Plus blog to see some other ways to use this stamp...so gorgeous!

Thanks for visiting today. How far along are you with your Christmas cards?


Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP - Iris Folds and Red Hair

For my Stamp N Plus post today, I made a card combining two of my favourite techniques: iris folding and colouring red hair. I love doing both of these things because it's like instant gratification. I always get to the end and think magic happened. Both are easy but you get a big bang for the buck :)

I started this card colouring this SNP image, International Fairy bust (P3763), which had been stamped on white cardstock. I used my Prismacolor pencils but skipped the OMS because the face is small and the hair didn't need it. I inked around the edge of the image where I knew it would show through the opening using Distress ink. The faux stitching was done later.

I cut my printed cardstock to size and stamped on the back with the iris folded square stamp (T-IR056), centering it. Using an exacto knife, I cut out the stamped section in one piece, taped that square to a scrap piece of cardstock and taped it to the front of the card so the stamped square showed through the window I just cut. Next, I cut my orange strips, folded them in half, and inked the folded edge. I really like the effect of this because the pattern of the folds shows up so much better. Then I just started taping down the layers following the lines on the stamped piece and overlapping with the inked side of the strip down (facing the front of the card).


When you turn over the iris folded sheet, feel free to exclaim "WoW!" It does look so cool and complicated even though it isn't. The coloured image was glued in place so that she was centered in the diamond and the faux stitching was doodled. A ribbon with a brad over the knot was adhered to the bottom of the card and three metal buttons were affixed to the top right corner. Finally the entire layer with the folds and image was glued onto the white card leaving a thin border.


Thanks for dropping by today. I hope you will try iris folding on a card very soon. There are so many amazing iris fold stamps at the Stamp N Plus store...for any occasion.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Art With No Boundaries Asian challenge week 2

This is week 2 of our Fortnight challenges of Anything Goes and Asian Inspired at Art With No Boundaries. This week we were able to play with two new designs by Chris Stern at CS Designs. The first one is a more traditional Geisha style domino design and the second one is a Harajuku style image. I just learned about this fashion style and am absolutely smitten...not for myself so stop rolling your eyes. I love the design possibilities and the inspiration this style provides. It's kind of a cross between Edwardian and Alice in Wonderland...with a little steampunk fashion thrown in. Think of the character, Abby, on NCIS. It's very funky and extreme but so fun. Google it, especially the Lolita style. Harajuku is a fashion district in Japan where people dress in this style and then congregate to strut their stuff.

I decide to create tags this time. I love tags and haven't done any in a while. I also wanted the contrasting styles of these two women to hang side by side in my craft room. The first tag uses the traditional geisha domino digital image. I printed the bamboo background on red cardstock and made it the base of both tags. A piece of black cardstock was embossed with a bamboo folder and then drybrushed with copper metallic acrylic paint. The domino image was coloured with Prismacolor pencils. Gold gel pen was added to her hair decoration as well as square blue bling. The background was painted with this shimmery irridescent watercolour that is sometimes pink and sometimes green depending upon the angle you view it. I wish I could have captured that on film becuase it really adds to the tradiotional feel of this tag. It looks like the inside of an oyster shell. The additional embellishments for this tag were the gold sequin trim, the metal tassel, and the dragonfly button.

The second tag used the same bamboo background image printed on red cardstock. The black band behind the image is also dry embossed using a more modern geometric pattern and no drybrushing. I wanted the stark black contrast to the red and the gray background of the image. I coloured this Harajuku girl with Prismacolor pencils, adding silver gel pen and bling to her shirt. Her hair ornaments were first covered in purple Stickles and then bling was added to the segments. A rhinestone flower with a purple center was adhered to the middle of the hair ornament. To further play up the edginess of this image, silver metallic stars were added to the design. Becuase she looks like a fierce warrior or rock star type, I used beads to spell out proud. The fibres attached to the top of the tag also have beads strung on them.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating these two tags: one so serene, natural, and traditional and one so edgy, with attitude plus. Check out the rest of the wonderful projects created by the other members of the design team at Art With No Boundaries. It's always so much fun to view the different interpretations of the same theme. Have you linked up yet? We'd love to see what you've been creating, too.

Thanks for coming by and visiting the three of us. It's always a pleasure to have your company.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

CYP Challenge 129 - Buttons & Bows

Another Monday...another fun challenge at Craft Your Passion. This week's theme is Buttons and Bows. You must include at least two buttons and a bow in your project design. Easy peasy, right?


This week I was able to play with Betsy the cow, a fun image from StampFairy. She's sure to bring a smile to the face of the card receiver. I thought I'd make a Thank You card just for that purpose. Betsy was coloured using my Prismacolor pencils and using a little OMS to blend. I didn't want my colours too blended because I was looking for texture and a hairy look :) Betsy likes to go au naturel. No waxing for her.

I used a template to cut the bottom of the white cardstock which held the image. Faux stitching and inking of the edges added detail. This was layered over black and white dot CS and then yellow CS. leaving a layer of the card showing around the outside. Black & white dotted ribbon was added in two spots and two red buttons were popped up on foam at the ends of the ribbons.

The sentiment was written on the computer, punched out, doodled, and mounted on red cardstock to bring a bit of red to the third point of the visual triangle. A red floss bow was added to Betsy's hair with a dot of Glossy Accents.

Check out the rest of the sweet projects the DT made this week on the Craft Your Passion Challenge blog and then come and join in the fun by linking up with us. Remember, 2 buttons and one bow. I'm looking forward to seeing your designs. "Moo"chas gracias for visiting!

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

Chalked Inchies Card Sept 23

I wanted to participate in the Chalk-Ah-Lot Cafe challenge this fortnight where the theme is Thinking of You. I'm having fun experimenting with the powdered chalks and accompanying products sold by Stamp N Plus Scrap N. I love the vibrant colours and the many ways that the chalks can be applied for different effects.

This time, I cut inchies (1" squares) from white cardstock. Each inchie was covered with Versamark ink, working one at a time. I needed the Versamark to stay wet which is why I did each one separately. Once coated with ink, I pounced three colours of chalk onto the square using three different scruffy paint brushes for each colour. I wanted to blend the colours where they touched but also wanted the colours to stay true and strong. After the excess chalk was tapped off from the side (much like embossing powder), I spritzed each inchie with a mix of Stardust chalk and water shaken together in a mini mister. It gave a very pretty glimmer to the cards. Then, just cuz, I rubbed my finger in the tiny bit of Stardust chalk left on the plastic spoon and smeared it over the background. Gorgeous! Far less subtle than the spritzing but so pretty. I dried the inchies with my heat gun because I wanted them to be very dry before I stamped and I'm impatient.

Next, the inchies were stamped with black ink using a Stamp N Plus image called Mountain Ash (L1584). The inchies were adhered to a strip of black cardstock which had borders cut using an MFT die. This was glued to a piece of script printed paper from MME's Reunion stack which was mounted on the same black cardstock The entire background was then adhered to the cream card leaving a thin cream border showing. The sentiment, also an SNP stamp, was stamped on a scrap of the script paper and embossed with black embossing powder. Once it was matted on black, tiny orange brads were added to each end to bring some of the inchie colour down to the bottom. Foam tape was added to the back for dimension. The card was finished by adding three small buttons to the top left corner.

I'm having fun learning what these powdered chalks can do. Be sure to check out the Chalk-Ah-Lot Cafe blog for tutorials on Fridays, challenges every second Sundays, and lots of inspiration all the time. Order up some of the chalk yourself and play along with us. You'll be amazed!

Thanks for stopping by. Love it when you do that!

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

SNP Girl...you've got style

The Patti's Kids stamp line at Stamp N Plus Scrap N has some of the most fun images to colour. This stamp is called Laurel Dressing Up J2815. I coloured her with Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. Then she was fussy cut and a button heart was added to her stamped necklace. The heart was filled with Stickles to make Laurel happy...she loves sparkly things. She was then adhered to  brown cardstock cut with the TH Baroque die. Faux stitching around the outside repeated the brown and white dotted stripe in the paper and helped frame her.

The background of the card has a  piece of brightly coloured paper layered over the same dark brown cardstock. This was adhered to the card base leaving a thin border of white showing. The sentiment was computer generated, cut out in an oval shape, and matted with brown. Faux stitching and button brads were added before the oval was popped up on foam tape.

To complete the card, six butterflies were punched using an MS punch. Three were glued to the card while the remaining three were adhered to  the first three only down the center allowing the wings to lift. Small half pearls were added to the body of each butterfly. Easy, breezy, beautiful...hey, maybe Laurel can be a Cover Girl, too.

Thanks for visiting Laurel and me today. If I'd known you were coming, I'd have dressed up fancy like she did :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

AWNB - Asian Inspired Challenge

The challenges we have for you this fortnight at Art With No Boundaries are Anything Goes and a bonus round of Anything Asian Inspired.Once your project is completed and posted on your blog, link up that specific post with our challenge blog, remembering to mention AWNB in your post.

This week, the Design Team chose images from CS Designs from one of two categories: Darlings of the Orient or Asian Montage. The choice was difficult because all of the images are just so striking and inspiring. For my project, I decided to play with the Asian Square Masami/Beautiful, one of the darlings of the Orient. I coloured Masami's face and hair with my Prismacolor pencils using OMS to blend. Tiny rhinestones were adhered to her eyes to create a sparkle. Masami was matted on some Asian style paper and then black cardstock. Foam tape was added to the back to create dimension.

The background layer is another part of the recycled bamboo placemat I had used in a previous design. The edges were inked to draw the eye in to the center. A moon was cut from textured pearlized cardstock and edged in blue ink. A tree branch was cut from kraft cardstock and then inked like crazy with three different colours to get the depth and variation I wanted. Then the grain detail was doodled in with a brown marker. Punched flowers were "cupped" using a stylus and piece of foam to make the cherry blossoms. A small spiky punched circle and a pink flat back pearl were added to the center of each blossom.

Because Masami is a woman of mystery, I chose  this particular CS Designs sentiment to accompany her image. This was printed on handmade paper. I drew around the sentiment with a water brush so that it could be torn rather than cut. Masami keeps her fan close at hand in order to lend an air of mystery to her image. The fan is made from origami paper and a piece of a doily and is tied with gold metallic thread. To finish off this piece, a string of pearls was added to the fabric band at the bottom both to soften it and to bring some white to the bottom. After all, Masami is the pearl of the Orient!

Thanks for stopping by to visit with Masami and me. I'm excited to see what you create for this challenge. Be sure to visit the Art With No Boundaries blog to check out what the rest of the Design Team created to inspire you. All of the projects are so beautiful...love the Asian theme.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Craft Your Passion Challenge 128- Bingo

We have a Bingo challenge for you this week at Craft Your Passion. They are always fun because you have so many options. All you have to do is pick a line from the Bingo card shown and  make sure you  include all three things on your project. For this card, I chose the middle horizontal line with pink, ribbon, and border punch.

I was able to play with this sweet image from The Paper Shelter, one of our amazing sponsors. It's called Learning is Fun but I call her Sydney after my grandniece who has such a great sense of style. I coloured her with my Prismacolour pencils, using OMS to blend. I loved colouring  Sydney because she has so many fun details, being the fashion diva that she is. I fussy cut her and adhered her to a Lost & Found Rosy paper which I inked around the edge.This was layered over another paper from the same pack. I  punched a stamp border twice and layered those on the edge of the dot paper.

The background layers consist of the white card, hot pink and black cardstock, and some funky paper from Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook pad. Love that paper! The top left corner was embellished with a corrugated cardboard arrow and a metal word sticker. The lower right corner has two chipboard hearts covered in plain cardstock, layered, and tied together with ribbon. Had to get that ribbon in there :) The pink lines on the one heart are just doodled with a Sharpie.

That's it for this bright and sassy card. I can now officially yell Bingo because I completed my row. Go me! Check out how the rest of the DT did with their fabulous creations by clicking over to the CYP Challenge Blog. I'm sure I'm hearing Bingo called out all over the place. Then pick a line and join the fun. Remember to link up to your specific post and not just your blog in general. We want to find what you have created.

Thanks for visiting and thanks for all of your wonderful comments. I truly appreciate them.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

You are fintastic!

Stamp N Plus has a sister blog called Chalk-Ah-Lot Cafe which features the powdered chalk sold in the SNP store. Cindy Groh has been doing a wonderful job every Friday posting tutorials on the many ways that you can use powdered chalk in paper art. She also posts a new challenge every other Sunday on the Chalk blog. I don't have a lot of experience using chalk to create backgrounds or colour in stamped images but I have been following Cindy's tutorials very carefully in order to add one more medium to my repertoire. I've admired the effects she is able to get using chalks and wanted to learn how.  Love choices, love new techniques. Thanks for taking the time to teach us, Cindy.

For this card, I sponged SNP Buzz N Magic paint onto white cardstock a section at a time. While it was still wet, I sponged two colours of chalk, Jade and Jules Blue over the paint, twisting my sponge a bit as I hit the paper. Once the card was completely covered, I dried it with my heat gun (because I'm impatient). Next I used Versamark ink and the Bubbles background stamp (J1834) to randomly and messily stamp the chalked background. While it was still wet, I dipped a paint brush into Dizzy blue chalk and scrubbed it into the Versamarked bubbles. Again, I dried it with my heat gun (same reason).

The image called Large fish (F963) or Ruby in my world was coloured with Prismacolor pencils. Then she was fussy cut and mounted on foam tape. She waited patiently while I put the background together.


The chalked piece was adhered to a layer of blue cardstock and then to the card leaving a thin layer of white showing. A strip of the same blue was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and glued to the chalked background. Glimmer Misted cheesecloth was wrapped around the card and adhered to the back on each side. Ruby, the fish, was popped up over that cheesecloth. Her little bubbles are Dew Drops. Three buttons were threaded with white floss and glued to the bottom right corner. The sentiment was computer generated, punched out, inked, and mounted on blue striped paper. Faux stitching and foam tape were added to the sentiment piece.

This background is so shimmery and gorgeous IRL. I wish my photography skills would allow me to capture the sheen and depth of colour. These powdered chalks definitely have me intrigued. I'll be keeping an eye out for more of Cindy's tutorials. I see more Chalk-Ah-Lot challenges in my future :)

Thanks for dropping by to visit with Ruby and me. We're happy you did.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Craft Your Passion "All Star Sports" Blog Hop

Welcome to Craft Your Passion Challenges "All Star" Sports Blog Hop!!

If you have hopped over from Louise G's blog
then you are in the right place. If you just happened to stop by (thank you!) and would like to join our hop from the beginning, please go to Craft Your Passion Challenges and follow along for a chance to win some AMAZING blog candy along the way and PRIZES at the end.

All Craft Your Passion DT members are going to be playing along with some very special guest designers. These talented crafters have really outdone themselves for this hop.

 Love it!

Each designer along the way is featuring a project that showcases a digital image from at least one of our amazing Blog Hop Sponsors.

What’s  really fun is that you can participate too by creating a project and linking it up over at Craft Your Passion Challenges for a chance to win one of several prizes.

Once you have finished the hop & left a comment for everyone, we  hope you will create a Sports themed project using at least one STAR and enter it with our Linky tool. We can't wait to see your creations.

While you are hopping, be sure to check out the blog candy some of the designers have to offer you. You don't want to miss out on any of it!

Here's the card I made for this challenge. The image is called Carl Cutie Bear and comes from Robyn's Fetish, one of our fab sponsors. Carl is coloured with Prismacolor pencils and then fussy cut. The background papers were Recollections Basic. The little stars were punched and the zigzag border die cut. The sentiment is computer generated and coloured with red Prismacolor pencil. Carl's buttons are stickers and the buttons on the stars are threaded with baker's twine. I think Carl is a cutie, for sure.
Now you can hop on over to Cathy's blog , to see what she has in store for you today.

Remember, once you have hopped to all the stops and left your comments (we will be checking), it's your turn to show us your "ALL STAR SPORTS" project.

Make sure to include a STAR somewhere on your project, and link up your project over at Craft Your Passion Challenges by Midnight CST September 16 to be eligible for the prizes. Winners will be announced on our Monday, September 17th Challenge post.

Here's the line-up for today's hop:

Craft Your Passion -- Start
Evelina
Jenn

Theresa
Lisa
Niina
Shell
Joanna
Melissa
Alethea
Louise G
Bonnie - that's me!
Cathy
Caz
Ginny
Jodi
Michelle

Torrey
Craft Your Passion -- Link your project

Thanks for visiting and good luck!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP Chicks With Attitude

If you have been following my blog, you've probably realized by now that I have an off-the-wall sense of humour which I thoroughly enjoy :) There are so many funny things in this world and I just love that. As soon as I saw this stamp, 3 chicks (J1259), on the Stamp N Plus store site, I immediately thought, "Oh, chicks with attitude. I love them!" instead of the little fuzzy farm animals many people would see. I think it's the way the one is standing with her legs apart and her "hands on her hips"...hey, if chickens have fingers, they must have hands :) Anyway, I added the stamp to my "must have" list because I had a plan.

Once I stamped them twice, I coloured these beauties with Prismacolor pencils but didn't use OMS to blend. I wanted the lines to show to create fuzz. Tiny black half pearls were added to give them beady little eyes. The image strip was inked around with Vintage Photo Distress ink and then double matted on brown and coral/orange cardstock. Faux stitching was added to the top and bottom edges of the orange. Yellow cardstock with white circles was adhered to the white card leaving a slight border of white showing. Faux stitching was added to that skinny border

The two sentiments were created using the computer with the top one coloured in with a Micron pen. Again, faux stitching was added to the oval to create repetition which ties elements together. The bottom sentiment was mounted on brown cardstock and a 1/2 inch circle of the same brown was added to the short ends. These circles were punched and threaded with embroidery floss which was glued to the back of the yellow layer before it was adhered to the white card. Three small flat pearls were added to the top right corner of the card for balance. The oval sentiment was popped up on foam tape for dimension.

Do they not make you laugh? Can you not think of at least one person who would love to receive this card? I know I sure can! Thanks for checking out my post today. I hope it gave you a smile.

Life is good; so is art.
 Bonnie

AWNB - There's a new Sheriff in Town

Hello, my name's Bonnie and I'm addicted to art dolls...LOL. And I have no intention of getting help. I'm just going to enjoy the ride :)

Welcome to Week 2 of our Art With No Boundaries Such a Doll challenge. This week we had the pleasure of working with the new Sheriff Art Doll template from CS Designs.The expression on his face makes me laugh. It's that " Don't mess with Miss Kitty" look that he learned from Marshall Dillon :) How cute would he be on a birthday card or scrapbook page.

Sheriff  Joe's face was coloured with Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. His handlebar moustache ( think Sam Elliott, the actor) is actually a sticker that I have been itching to use. His hat is cut from cardstock using the template in this kit. A hat band was added along with a feather. An extra brim section was cut to pop up on foam tape for dimension. All edges of the hat were inked for depth and shading.

Sheriff Joe is dressed for action. His shirt and pants are from two different scraps of cardstock, shaded with Prismacolor pencils and doodled with white or black pens. His little shirt buttons are Liquid Pearls although he likes to think they are mother-of-pearl. A little vain is our Joe :) His boots are made from some funny bubbly paper from my stash that Joe thinks looks like snakeskin. Brown cardstock was cut to look like a leather layer at the bottom. Again, all edges were inked and faux stitching added because the details make me smile. His neckerchief was cut from red velvet ribbon and shaded with Prismas. Joe doesn't know it's velvet...he just thinks it's soft. I wanted the texture.

Joe's gunbelt was hand drawn and a gold belt buckle was added along with a printed sheriff badge. The badge comes with the CS Designs template so I coloured a piece of white cardstock with gold acrylic paint and printed the star from the digital image. I only had shiny gold paper which doesn't take my computer ink well which is why I used the paint. The buckle was punched and the belt and buckle doodled. Chris is coming out with a line of accessories for this Sheriff template. Joe and  I can't wait to see them. He thinks he needs a Deputy...or two. And maybe a dirty rotten villain to capture:)

Joining Joe today is the town's school marm. Yep, I made another one!

 I used the same Funky Art Doll 1 template from CS Designs but this time I switched out the face, using the one from Chris' Little Babushka 1 digital image, Anastasia. I also used the Striped Circular Petal Frame, another CS Designs digital image. I coloured Anastasia's face with my Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. The I just started doodling tangles with my Micron pen. I filled in the hair on the Anastasia image, then doodled in some of the white spaces on the striped circular petals image. I cut the body and limbs from heavy white cardstock using the template for the shapes and just played. It's very relaxing to doodle like that with no plan. The repetitive patterns are very calming.

Red brads joined her arms and legs to her body allowing her to pose and dance. A red heart was the only other spot of colour I added. Anything else would take away from her busy outfit.

I hope you enjoyed meeting the tangled version of Anastasia. Maybe you'll feel inspired to make an art doll of your own and link up to Art With No Boundaries so I can visit her...or him.

Zip over to the Art With No Boundaries blog to check out the rest of the posse made by the other DT members. They are so creative and fun. I hope you'll join in this fortnight's Such a Doll bonus round challenge or our Anything Goes Challenge at AWNB. I am excited to visit your blogs and view your creations.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

CYP Challenge 127 - Blast From the Past

Love the challenge at Craft Your Passion this week. It's called Blast From the Past and the idea is to choose a favourite CYP challenge from the past year and replay it. The only stipulation is that it can't be Anything Goes. Fun! For my first card, I chose Challenge 97 which had the following recipe: 1 ribbon or twine, two different patterned papers, and 3 or more buttons.

The image I got to work with on this card comes from StitchyBear Digital Stamps and is called Lunchtime. It's so cute! A perfect opportunity to work on my fur-colouring skills. I've discovered that a very choppy almost zigzag stroke works well for this, using three different colours of Prismacolor pencils and no OMS. You don't want to blend but want that individual stroke look with the bottom colour showing through. That creates depth and fuzz. I did use OMS to blend the other items coloured with Prismas. A template was used to trace the shape around the image. Vintage Photo DI was layered around the edge and brown marker dots created the border. The image portion was mounted on brown cardstock to add weight and tie it in with the brown matting elsewhere. Foam tape was added to the back for dimension.

The background papers come from October Afternoon's Fly a Kite paper pad. The sentiment was computer generated on a scrap of the same paper and cut out with a punch. Four buttons were threaded with a piece of baker's twine and glued to the corners of the card.  There you have it: 1 piece of baker's twine, 2 patterned papers, and 4 buttons. Recipe complete. Wish cooking came that easily to me :)

The second card I made used a fun image from Kenny K, another of our wonderful sponsors. This one is called Freida Flapper and she is a fashion diva ready to party. The challenge I used was #107 which is the photo inspiration from above.

I coloured Freida with my Prismacolor pencils. I added sparkle to her shoes, beads, boa and headband with Stickles, Sakura pen, and bling. Freida was cut out with an oval template, The edges were doodled, inked, and mounted on dark brown cardstock.

The background papers were scraps from my stash, matted on dark brown cardstock with the largest mat scallop punched. The sentiment was computer-generated, inked, matted, and popped up with foam tape. Freida was also popped up on foam dots. The four flowers are punched and stacked with bling in the center. I use my white scraps and preassemble these ready for the centers and spraying if I want. Three flat back pearls balanced out this card.


Thanks for visiting today. Be sure to check out the awesome projects from the rest of the DT which you can find on the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog. Then browse through past challenges to find the one you want to replay. Can't wait to see what you pick.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP A Peony for Your Thoughts

Greetings stamp fans :) I like to keep Thinking of You cards on hand because they suit so many occasions or needs. I decided to use the Japanese Peony stamp from Stamp N Plus Scrap N to make the focal of this card. I used my Prismacolor pencils and a little OMS to colour this image which I had stamped in black Archival ink three times. I pounced a little white acrylic paint over the centers of the flowers and then cut them into twinchies (2X2"). The edges were inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink. Tiny brads were fitted into the corners and foam tape was adhered to the back of each.

The background started with Recollections Habitat paper covering the card front. Then a piece of K & Co. Wild Raspberry paper was cut using a template to trace the shape. Faux stitching was added to the edges before gluing it to the green. Another piece of green was cut to fit across the yellow and contain the three images. Once all that was glued down, it looked a little plain so I lined the top and bottom of the green strip with hot pink satin ribbon. Yummy! It's amazing how such a small detail can perk up an entire card design.

The sentiment was computer generated, printed on green scraps, and half circles were cut with a punch. Faux stitching around the tops of the semi-circles tied them in with the  rest of the card and also made them show up better next to the patterned paper.


This is a very simple but effective design which could serve as a starting sketch for many other types of cards. The ink distressing and doodling make all of the parts work together. Hope this gives you a little Wednesday inspiration.

Thanks for visiting. It makes my day.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Stamp N Plus Back to School Challenge

It's a new month and that means a new challenge at Stamp N Plus Scrap N. The theme this month is Back to School. In order to qualify for Stamp N Plus  prizes, you must use a Stamp N Plus stamp on your entry.

I used two stamps on my entry this month. The first is called Lunchtime Name Tag and comes from the Patti's Kids category (X2544). The second stamp is the cute crayon (L661) and is actually an office stamp with the word "received" in the middle. I replaced that word with an oval that says the crayon colour. I printed the words from the computer, stamped an extra crayon, and cut out the oval to trace around the words. All of the images were coloured with my Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. The images were also fussy cut and mounted on black cardstock to help them stand out against a busy background.

The background paper is older paper from my stash. The hand drawn chalkboard was created from black and kraft cardstock. The kraft was coloured with Prismas but not blended to create the look of wood. The lettering on the board is hand done. A small star button threaded with baker's twine accents the corner. The opposite corner has a chipboard apple from my stash. A small baker's twine bow repeats the twine on the button.

Just a fun little card to wish everyone who is heading back to school a wonderful year! Be sure to check out the cards made by the rest of the DT for this Stamp N Plus challenge. They are sure to provide lots of inspiration for this theme. Come and play along with us. It's always fun to see what you create. Thanks for visiting.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

AWNB Such a Doll Challenge

When I was little, we'd go to visit my grandmother who lived in an apartment. She didn't have a lot of toys on hand but one of my favourite activities was to cut out people from the Eaton's catalogue and stage my own fashion shows. I also used to cut out the Betsy McCall paper doll from McCall's magazine every month when my mom brought it home with the groceries. Thus began my love of paper dolls :)  So you can see why I was so excited to learn that our bonus fortnight theme at Art With No Boundaries is Such a Doll. To qualify for the bonus round, each project must include at least one srt doll consisting of more than one piece (images of dolls do not count).

Chris gave us the new Funky Doll Template from CS Designs to play with. Love her! She has the sweetest face and is jointed so posing her is such fun. So many faces  from Chris' other designs can be substituted in creating completely different characters. Chris is also coming out with accessory packages and sets of faces with different expressions which just send the ol' mojo into overdrive!

Allow me to introduce you to one of my creations, Sunny. I coloured Sunny's face with Prismacolor pencils and used a die to cut her sun rays. Tiny rhinestones gave her eyes sparkle.The paper came from MME and was used on her body, jointed arms , and jointed legs. Brads gave Sunny the ability to pose and dance.

After colouring the face, the details are my favourite part of creating art dolls. Sunny was no exception. All edges were inked to indicate roundness and faux stitching was added to her sleeves. Tiny flat back pearls were adhered for buttons on her blouse. Her skirt was created from a hand gathered piece of lace with a "you are my sunshine" ribbon as the waistband. Little bee buttons were added to her skirt and top. Sunny desperately needed shoes but she does get a little warm so flip flops seemed in order. A chipboard sunflower (of course) and wrist and ankle bracelets completed her ensemble (that's fashion-speak). How cute is she?

Now, meet Suzette, a very stylish sweetie from France. Suzette's face was coloured with Prismacolor pencils using OMS to blend. Her head was adhered to a black paper flower and a crown sticker was added. Did I mention that she descends from royalty? Her outfit was made of toile and dotted cardstock. Black brads allow her arms and legs to move and black half pearls form her dress buttons. A piece of black pleated trim with gold accent thread makes the ruffle at her hem and cream lacy trim adorns her sleeves. Ankle height black cardstock boots with pearl buttons and faux stitching are her footwear of choice. Suzette completed her outfit with metallic thread and pearl bracelets. A small butterfly (sticke)r is her constant companion.

 These sweeties  need some friends. Won't you help  them out and play along in this fortnight's  bonus round at Art With No Boundaries. Be careful, though, because art dolls are very addictive! Check out the rest of the DT's creations for some fantastic inspiration. We all had a blast with this challenge.

 While you are visiting the blog, be sure and follow the link to the blog of our September guest artist, Wendy Pettifer. We are delighted to have her join our team. Her art is very cool.


Thanks for coming by to meet Sunny and Suzette. I can't wait to visit your creations.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

CYP Challenge 126 - Flower Power

Hey there! Craft Your Passion is hosting another challenge this week. This time the theme is Flower Power and to qualify for prizes, you must have a flower in your image. Remember, when you enter, link up to your specific blog post for this challenge and not just your blog in general.

Our sponsor this week is Delicious Doodles. I love this floral watering can image. I printed it on Kraft cardstock to gain a little more practice and because I love how the colours pop. I used my Prismacolor pencils on top of a layer of white pencil crayon. Once coloured, I traced a template shape and cut it out, inking the edges with Distress Ink to draw the eye inward. A doodled border and three flat back pearls were added.

The background papers were from my scrap box. They were both mounted on brown cardstock and the strip of green was then matted with white to repeat the white of the card that shows around the outside of the card.

The sentiment was computer generated, cut out using an oval template, and faux stitched and inked. It was mounted on the same brown cardstock to give it weight and then popped up on foam tape for dimension. Once the sentiment was adhered to the card, a small green dragonfly brad was added to the top left corner to balance the card.


Now zip on over to  Craft Your Passion Challenge blog to gain more inspiration from the fabulous projects the rest of the DT created. We can't wait to see what you come up with this week. It's always so fun and inspiring to check out your creations. Thanks for dropping by.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie