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