RRR September Challenge - Anything Goes

This month at Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent, the theme is a favourite of many people: Anything Goes. All that is required in order for an entry to qualify is to have something recycled on the project and to let us know via your post what that something is. Then just link up to our blog and we'll visit. Love that part.

This time around, I was a little stumped for an idea until I started pawing through some small wooden pieces in a bin in the basement. I found two wooden checker pieces and that's all it took. "Wheels!" says I. Then the question arose "Wheels for what?" Well, I had the top half of the metal gift card container and a huge desire to use the quote "Never let 'em tame you". That's how this project started.

I decided to make the metal case into a vintage-type circus wagon that could cage some wild and unruly animal. For the background that would show through the cage bars, I turned to a thrift store find: a children's book with puzzles on each page. I glued the section I wanted onto a piece of heavy cardstock (after I dropped it and had to test my puzzle making skills). That piece was adhered to the metal case. A frame was created out of black cardstock and bars made from wooden skewers were glued to the back.

Pirouette by CS Designs was my choice for the star of this show. She is such a free spirit, ready to dance or fly as it suits her. I coloured her with Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut her out. Small flat back pearls were added for her eyes. Then, because of the cage idea, I added wings to Pirouette by colouring a butterfly recycled from a card I had been given using alcohol markers and Stickles. I wanted to show that she cannot be contained in a mere cage but can fly away at will.

I found a "Don't Feed the Animals" sign on the internet and made a banner using baker's twine, small handcut flags, and alpha stickers. The message was computer generated and cut out with a die. The checker pieces were painted with silver acrylic and gears and nailhead stickers were attached to the centers before gluing them to Pirouette's wagon. Finally, a clock key was glued to the left side.

I always find it amazing when I look at a finished project and think that it all sprang out of one small inspiration point. Creativity is such a blast! I hope you'll join us this month at Recycle, Re-Purpose & Re-Invent. After all, anything goes :) Be sure to visit the challenge blog to see the amazing projects that the rest of the DT came up with. Leave a little extra love for our guest DT member, Wendy Pettifer. We're so happy to have her on board.

Thanks for stopping by.
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP August Blog Hop - Sarah Scribbles

Welcome to Stamp N Plus Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!!

If  Beverly sent you over for a visit, then you are exactly where you are meant to be. If you just happen to be visiting then you  might want to head over to Stamp N Plus for the beginning of this fabulous hop!

 This time I have two different cards made using the Sarah Scribbles line of stamps. The first stamp is I-SEA003 which is the tulip girl. She was stamped with Black Archival ink and coloured with Prismacolor pencils. Then she was cut out using a Spellbinders die. The oval was inked and doodled around the edges.

The background papers are from October Afternoon's Fly a Kite paper pad. They were inked with Distress ink and then layered on dark brown cardstock. The sentiment was computer generated, outlined using a template, and matted in green cardstock. Eyelets were used on either end and baker's twine was threaded through and wrapped to the back. Three buttons were added to the top right corner once they were threaded with brown floss.

The second card uses image F-SEA007 which is the sweet fairy on the mushroom. This image was also coloured with Prismacolor pencils. Glimmer from a Sakura pen was added to the wings. She was then cut out using a different Spellbinders die, inked on the edges and doodled around. The background papers are the same as the first card. The sentiment is a Stamp N Plus stamp cut out with a punch, inked, doodled and layered on green cardstock. Two small banner flags were cut from brown scraps,  buttons added, and the flags adhered with foam tape. Easy-peasy.

Now it's time to visit  Melissa and the rest of the DT's fabulous creations using the new Sarah Scribbles stamps from Stamp N Plus Scrap N. Remember to leave a comment at each stop in order to qualify for the prize..

If you get lost along the hop here is the complete line up:
Julie Ericksen - http://julesericksen.blogspot.com
Beverly Montez- http://sugarstamper.blogspot.com/
Bonnie Irvine-http://artfuldigits.blogspot.com
Melissa Pinter-http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com/
Kathy Hering-http://khering.blogspot.com
Tina Keller (Crafty and Green)-http://craftyandgreen.blogspot.com
Paulette Akagi-http://paulettesapaper-artzy.blogspot.com/
Jackie- http://papermoments.blogspot.com/
Cindy Groh-http://cre8ivecindy.blogspot.com/
Chalk Blog - http://chalk-ah-lot.blogspot.com/

Thanks for hopping by. See you soon, I hope.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP Happy Bird-Day

Good Wednesday morning!

Sometimes I start with a sentiment or purpose for the card and sometimes I start with an image with no idea where it will end up. This was one of the latter times. This parrot from Stamp N Plus is such a detailed, gorgeous stamp that it was a "must have". I was anxious to colour it because of the challenge of shading white. First, I googled parrot images to check out colours and markings. Do you ever do that or am I just obsessive?

When I had all my feathers straight, I used my Prismacolor pencils to colour him, using OMS to blend up into the feathers. A beady little black half pearl was adhered to Pete's (Pete the parrot) eye and then he was fussy cut, mounted on brown cardstock, and fussy cut again.

The background Core'dinations cardstock was embossed with a bamboo folder and then sanded to expose the lighter green. That was matted on cream, then brown, and then adhered to a cream card. Brown grosgrain ribbon was glued horizontally across the top and bottom of the green/cream section and metal buttons were foam taped on. The sentiment was computer generated, cut out using a label template, and Distress Inked. A brown cardstock arrow was die cut and adhered beside the parrot.

I might not have known where this card was going but I do like where it ended up...phew! You just never know :)

Thanks for stopping by and thanks also for all of the wonderful comments you leave. They just make my day.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

CYP Challenge 125 - Embossing

Well, it's Monday again. Time to get your mojo working for another great challenge at Craft Your  Passion. The theme this week is Emboss - wet or dry. I couldn't choose so I did both :) I was excited to use this stunning butterfly digi from one of our sponsors, Cardmadfairy Creations. There were so many cool images to choose from that I had a hard time deciding.

This butterfly was printed on white cardstock and then coloured with my trusty Prismacolor pencils. I went for the brightest ones I had! Love orange and  hot pink together. Once it was fussy cut,  the butterfly was mounted on foam tape to add dimension. The body and head were coloured with a Versamark pen and clear embossed. Two eyelet pins replaced the antennae on the image.

Three layers of paper were added to the card base, alternating black cardstock with a butterfly print from my scrapbox. The top black layer was dry embossed using a dot folder. It was then cut out with a die. Once all of the papers were adhered to the card, vintage black buttons and some clock hands stickers with bling centers balanced the two corners.

Love this image and the bonus is that because it's digital, I can resize it over and over again. I'll be using this one a lot! Can't you just see it small as an embellie? How about different sizes in a cluster?


Now head on over to the Craft Your Passion blog to check out the amazing designs my fellow DTers created. You are sure to feel inspired enough to play in this week's CYP Emboss challenge. Can't wait to see what you create.

Thanks for visiting.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Halloween ATC

One of the swaps I'm participating in at SCS calls for Halloween ATCs. That means I get to use all of that colourful paper and those stamps I only see once a year. I don't even know who made the stamps I used today because the packaging is long gone from my Halloween bin.

What I do know is that I coloured this sweet little witch with my Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. The paper comes from the DCWV Doodlin' Around stack. Little Recollections spider and web stickers were added to the atc with a doodled string. The Boo sentiment was stamped on white cardstock, fussy cut and matted in black. Black corners were added to three corners for an extra detail.

Love this atc. It's cheerful and cute. Hopefully it'll bring a smile to those I swap with...and maybe to you, too.

Thanks for visiting today. It always makes me happy.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP Miss You

This cozy chair stamp from Stamp N Plus makes me want to grab a good book and curl up in one. It reminds me of my favourite chair growing up. It also reminds me of The Friendly Giant television show from when I was little...yes, we did have TV back then, Smartie Pants! Anyway, I digress.

I stamped the chair twice, once on green cardstock and another time on pink. Then I coloured the flowers and stems in the fabric and shaded the chairs with Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend a little. Next, I coloured the Hello Kitten stamp because she misses you, too. The images were fussy cut and foam tape applied to the chairs.

For the background, I wanted to create the look of wallpaper (from MME Lost & Found Rosy stack)and wainscotting plus a carpet on the  floor. I used my Scor-Buddy to create the look of the wooden slats and the trim on cream cardstock. This was lightly brushed over with Antique Linen Distress ink. The brown textured cardstock formed both the matting for the scene and the floor. To make the scene a little more inviting, and to indicate that time is passing, a clock charm was glued to the wall above the chairs. Three half pearls embellished the top corner and faux stitching framed the entire card. The sentiment was computer-generated, layered on the two background papers and popped up on foam dots. Silver nailhead stickers finished it off.

This card makes me smile which is always a good sign. Hope it does the same for you.

Thanks for visiting. Come back soon. I'll keep the chair ready for you :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

CYP Challenge 124 - Power of 3

Time for another challenge at Craft Your Passion! This week's theme is the Power of 3. To play, you must use 3 of something on your project: 3 brads, 3 flowers, 3 papers. 3 whatevers. Fun!

 For this challenge, I got to work with this sweet fairy digital image from one of our sponsors, Crafty Sentiments Designs. It's called Flora With Flowers and has those adorable manga-type eyes. I coloured Flora with Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. Once her eyes were coloured, Glossy Accents was applied to add some shine. Because the background paper was busy, I remounted Flora on brown cardstock after fussy cutting. It helped her stand out from the green flowers and leaves behind her. I wanted her to look like we just happened upon her in the forest. You do have to look closely to see fairies, you know :)

The computer-generated sentiment was printed on peach cardstock and mounted on a reverse scallop edged scrap of green striped paper with brads. Then the sentiment piece was popped up on foam tape to allow the image to be tucked under it. Three layers of paper made up the background. The theme of three is also seen in the three pieces of bling next to the mulberry flower.

By the way, can you guess what the inside of the card says? You guessed it...Wild Thing.

So now, it's time for you to head over to the Craft Your Passion blog so you can check out the inspiration provided by the rest of the DT and our guest designers.  Awesome projects!  Then you can join this week's challenge of the Power of 3 by linking up with us. Check out the generous prizes offered by our sponsors.

Thanks so much for stopping by. You know I love that!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Two more PAT atcs

I'm swapping in a Pick-a-theme atc swap over at Split Coast Stampers so I thought I'd show you two more of my creations. In PAT swaps, each person choses a theme and the rest of the group makes her atcs following that theme. So fun...I create atcs in themes I never would have thought of and often outside the little comfort zone.

The first atc fits the theme Love Letters. In this one, I imagined that the lady had just read or perhaps re-read letters from her sweetheart and was composing her love letter to send back. The image is from the Internet. The letters I wrote using a teeny font and lots of mushy. The envelope is a folded piece of vellum and the hearts were punched.

The second atc was created for the theme, Dr. Seuss, who is one of my favourite authors. I chose the book, The Lorax, to illustrate this theme. The image is a fussy cut Internet image. The background is watercoloured with my Neocolor II crayons. The tree trunks are hand doodled and fussy cut and the tops of the truffula trees are pompoms with sparkly bits in them. The letters are stickers which spell lorax and the quote is computer generated but comes from the book.

I hope my swapmates like these. I know I do :)
Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to the art store for MORE Prismas. Could be dangerous :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP Puparazzo's in the Loop

This little scene with puparazzo and his friend, Bee, is so cute. It's a Stamp N Plus Scrap N stamp called Good To Ear From You which is the sentiment it comes with. I coloured this stamp with my Prismacolors, using OMS to blend. When he was finished, I cut out the rectangle and rounded the edges so that the image would fit inside the Spellbinders Eyelet Square.

The background started with the shiny plaid paper from a stack that has gone missing in my scrap room...can't tell you who makes it. I layered cream cardstock under some dotted olive cardstock. The die cut Eyelet Square was layered over that and Puparazzo was adhered on top.

The message was computer-generated and cut into two banner flags. Faux stitching and inking finished off the edges along with copper nailhead stickers. The sentiment flags were popped up using dimensional foam tape. A heart button from my stash threaded with natural twine was glued to the image corner. It echoes the hearts in the image and adds a pop of colour.

This is such a fun image to colour. Pup (that's what his friends call him) has the sweetest look on his face and this stamp makes a cute change from "a little birdie told me". Thanks for dropping by to visit Pup, Bee, and me :) We're glad you did.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

AWNB The Rhythm of the Sea part 2

It's the second week of our Rhythm of the Sea and Anything Goes challenges at Art With No Boundaries. I really love this theme...anything to do with the ocean and sea life really floats my boat (bad pun intended!) I've been enjoying the wonderful entries our talented friends have been posting for the two challenges. All of that creativity is truly inspiring.

For this week's project, I started with this very cool stand designed to hold 8x8 scrapbook pages in protectors. I scooped it up a while ago at Michael's with a 50% off coupon, thinking it would make a wonderful display for altered art. I can easily change it to feature my latest favourite or with the seasons.

I chose Loreley Sand and Shells as the CS Designs image I wanted to play with this time. Love the expression on her face...like she knows something that we don't or maybe she's dreaming of adventure. I also love all of the grasses and shells...perfect opportunity to use the bright colours I favour.  I coloured  this 6x6" image with Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. The sand was coloured over texture plates because I wanted to create texture and movement. Flat back pearls highlight her eyes for a bit of extra sparkle and dimension. Loreley was matted with dark brown cardstock and popped up on foam tape.

For the background, I recycled the cardboard that was inside the sheet protectors package. I adhered coarse grit sandpaper to the cardboard and then sprayed sparkly ink through some plastic netting, the kind that comes on those clementine boxes. It makes a wonderful, subtle pattern that adds interest and shimmer without detracting from the star of the show. Plus it's so easily rinsed and readied for the next time.

I had a roll of outdoor gardening burlap so I rough cut it, frayed both ends and rolled it a bit before stapling it onto the bottom of the piece. It would form the netting to catch all of the sea bits. Shells, starfish, sand, sea glass, and a pearl were all glued to the burlap overlapping Loreley a little to tie the sections together and create flow.  For the two sides, more shells were added, as well as a clock charm and a key charm. I included those because mermaids are notorious for collecting shiny bits and bobs from shipwrecks, I also included two word charms: dream and journey because that's what I think she's doing. She loves to explore the vast ocean wonders...she's that kind of mermaid :)

I love how rustic and natural this piece looks as well as how beautiful Chris' faces are. The combination of Loreley's beauty with the rough sandpaper and burlap appeals to me.

Hey, thanks for dropping by. I really appreciate the comments that you leave, too. Come play in our Art With No Boundaries challenges this week. I'd love to see what you've been up to. Be sure to visit the AWNB blog so you can see what the rest of the DT has been creating. Very inspiring, to be sure.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

CYP challenge 123 Gone Buggy

It's Monday so you know what that means....a new challenge at Craft Your Passion. The theme this week is Gone Buggy so we want to see a bug in your image.

Oh my goodness, this sweet little digital image from one of our sponsors,  Bugaboo Stamps,  just tugs at my heartstrings. She is so sweet:)  I coloured her up with Prismacolor Pencils using a little OMS to blend. White gel pen touches along with a little glitter pen add highlights. Next the image was cut with a die, inked on the edges, and given a doodled border with a Micron pen.

The ladybug background paper came from TPC Studio's Bugs and Butterflies Stack. It was trimmed shorter than the black cardstock to accommodate the punched scallop edge and the sentiment banner. A length of baker's twine covered the seam where the scallop met the paper.

The sentiment was written on the computer and coloured in with Micron pen. I glued a  black rectangle behind the image piece and the card was finished. I think I'll be using this little cutie again and again. She has so much to say!

Thanks for visiting! Take some time to stop and visit with the ladybugs. And be sure to check out the fun Gone Buggy projects featured on the Craft Your Passion Challenges blog created by the rest of the DT. A-dor-able! I'm looking forward to seeing what you create for this fun challenge. Be sure to link up for the opportunity to win a great prize from our sponsors.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Smile tag

Lately, I've been obsessed with trying new colouring techniques  and this week it's colouring on kraft. It's very different from colouring on white cardstock. First of all, you need to undercoat to keep the colours true. Secondly, there's more texture and tooth to the page. I love the results though, so it's worth the extra layer. The blending is easier, also. I could have used OMS on this tag but I chose not to...call it an experiment :)

Meljen's challenge theme this week is tags so I decided to use this as a vehicle for my mad scientist (mad colourist?) session. I printed two Meljen's Designs digis on kraft and coloured them with my Prismacolor pencils after first colouring everything with white. I touched up the black ink with my Micron pen and added a few black flat back pearls on antennae, the dot on the i and one ladybug's head. Baker's twine separated the two stamps and tied up the ribbon at the top of the tag. Distress ink darkened the edges to frame it up.

Definitely a fun tag to colour. Next I want to try a face on kraft. I know ...I'm just a wild woman. LOL I'm entering this tag into the Meljen's tag challenge. Come and play along.

Thanks for dropping by. You know I appreciate that :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP Happy Birthday Superstar!

I love this fun Patti's Kids image from Stamp N Plus. It's perfect for a boy's card but would also work for so many other occasions because you can write whatever your little heart desires in the star. I coloured him with my Prismacolor pencils, using OMS to blend. Then I stamped him a second time on yellow patterned paper so that I could paper piece the star. The sentiment was printed on the computer. The fussy cut star was adhered to the printed computer paper with repositional tape and put through the printer again. Then all I had to do was glue the new star over the old. The little fellow was popped up on foam squares to give him some dimension.

For the background, a rectangle was cut out of scrap green patterned paper and blue rickrack was added top and bottom to form borders. Bright green buttons were threaded with white and glued to the bottom band to echo the circles in the patterned paper. Easy peasy card but so cute! Fun to colour, too.

Thanks for dropping by.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP Challenge #3 Flowers

Wow! Another month has come and gone. The good news is that it's time for a new challenge at Stamp N Plus.The theme this month is flowers and you must use a Stamp N Plus stamp on your project to enter. There are tons of flower stamps on the store's website to choose from.

I chose this gorgeous rose corner stamp for my card focal. I coloured it with my Prismacolor pencils using a little OMS to blend the leaves. Then I fussy cut the image and popped some foam tape on the back to add a little dimension. The great thing about this stamp is that you can use only the center three roses fussy cut if you want a smaller version. Love that!

The background paper is from MME Lost and Found Rosy stack. It's double sided so I split it on the diagonal and flipped one piece over. The space in the center was covered with green satin ribbon. Green dot textured cardstock was used for the flourishes, the corner piece, and to back the computer-generated sentiment. Lots of flat back pearls were added to the flourishes and rose centers to add shine and more texture. Black Soot Distress ink was smudged on the outside edges of the card to frame it.

Thanks for looking at my challenge card. Be sure to check out the projects from the rest of the DT by visiting the Stamp N Plus blog and their individual blogs. It's worth the trip :) I hope you'll join our challenge this month. I look forward to seeing all that creativity in action.

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie

AWNB Sea Nymph collage

This fortnight at Art With No Boundaries, our challenges  are Anything Goes and for the bonus round The Rhythm of the Sea. For my DT project, I chose the gorgeous Sea Nymph digital image from CS Designs. Love her with that script behind her, the letter tiles, and starfish.

I started with a bright orange shadowbox bottom. We're talking neon orange and eye-popping. No way was that going with the sea greens and blues, the calming water colours that I envisioned. I had a lovely scrap of paper with glittery white sea coral on it that was perfect for the background so I used 3 colours of acrylic paint to sponge a soft watery background to cover the orange. Once dry, the scrap paper was cut to fit and glued inside the box.

I took my colour palette starting point from the paper and the painted background and coloured this awesome image with my Prismacolor pencils and a little OMS to blend. I checked out a bunch of real starfish images online. Who knew they came in such gorgeous colours...perfect to add in a little contrast and excitement to the turquoises and greens. When she was all coloured, I backed Nymph on black cardstock to frame her and mounted her on a triple layer of foam tape...after checking with her about  her feelings  towards heights, of course.

Before I mounted Nymph inside the box, I misted some cheesecloth with a few colours of shimmery ink and hot glued it on the diagonal across the box. Nymph was adhered on top of this so that I knew where to place this fun collection of shells, starfish, and sand dollars.They were hot glued to the cheesecloth and background. Then I used MuddPuddles which has sand mixed with glue, and another with sea glass mixed with glue, applying them with a palette knife to create a sandy ocean floor on the bottom of the box. All that was left was to add the metal word, DREAM, which really captures the  expression on Nymph's face. Wonder what she's dreaming about? Maybe she's a mermaid who is thinking about that sailor's handsome face she glimpsed just the other day. Or maybe she's like me and longs to see the ocean again.

Anyway, thanks so much for visiting with Nymph and me. Be sure to check out the other projects created by the CS Designs DT. They are phenomenal! I hope you'll join us in this fortnight's challenge at Art With No Boundaries, either in the Anything Goes category or in The Rhythm of the Sea Bonus Round for a chance to win one of Chris' fabulous designs. We love it when you play along :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Craft Your Passion Challenge #122

Yippee! This is my first post as part of the Design Team at Craft Your  Passion Challenges so I'm pretty pumped. The challenge this week is Anything Goes. I chose the lovely Nurse Heather from our sponsor, Sassy Studio Designs, for my card. She was a treat to colour with my Prismacolor pencils, using a little OMS to blend her face and hair. Nurse Heather was fussy cut and layered over a dark brown cardstock rectangle with the corners rounded. A little white faux stitching framed her up nicely.

The background consists of two patterned papers from my scrapbox. If I don't keep using up those scraps, I'm going to need a scrap trunk! Two thin strips of brown cardstock were glued to either side of the horizontal paper to provide better contrast with the red and white stripe. The image piece was adhered with foam tape for dimension.

The sentiment was computer-generated, cut into banner flags, and brads attached to the flat edges. The flags were also mounted on brown.

Be sure to check out the designs by the rest of the DT on the CYP Challenges blog and enter  this week's Anything Goes challenge for the chance to win awesome prizes from our sponsors. I can't wait to see what you create.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Zombie b-day card

This new Zombie bunny image from Meljen's Designs is absolutely hilarious. It just cracks me up every time I look at him. Because the Meljen's DT and Challenge blog has the theme of birthday cards this week. I decided to use him as a birthday bunny zombie. He's so flabbergasted at the card-getter's age that he's gone into shock :)

I coloured this image with my Prismacolor pencils using OMS to blend. The white dots on his patch are made with acrylic paint and a stylus. His pop out eyeballs are flat back pearls and his tongue sticking out got a little dose of Stickles just for fun.

The background paper is from  the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook paper stack. The original piece had blue at the bottom but I needed the piece to be shorter so I cut it off. Then I took a blue pencil crayon and coloured in some of the rings to put that blue back into the card. When in doubt, improvise :) The sentiment was computer-generated and coloured with Micron pen and pink pencil crayon. Three flat back pearls repeated the pearls in his eyes and pulled the pink to the top of the card.

Zombie made me smile. I hope the person who receives him finds this card equally amusing. Of course, it won't be you because you and I are so darn young :) I am entering this card in this week's Meljen's challenge.

Thanks for dropping by.
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

SNP Sunflower thoughts

I'm a huge fan of sunflowers, partly because I love yellow and also because they are so bold and showy. They make me smile whether I see a single one or a whole field. That's why this Stamp N Plus sunflower stamp was calling my name.

I coloured the image with my Prismacolors and fussy cut it  before gluing it to black cardstock. That piece was popped up on foam squares and layered over green dot paper from MME's Rosy Lost and Found stack. Another layer of black with punched edges was adhered under that to create good contrast and a little interest. Finally a layer of yellow dot from the same stack was matted with black and layered so 1/8" of the white base showed.

The sentiment was computer-generated and mounted on black with nailhead stickers at each end. Although the design of this card is simple, the overall appearance is dramatic because of the bright colours, strong image, and high contrast. It was fun to colour and even more fun to put together.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have time to get craft-messy today.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie