KW Colour Inspiration #55

Kristina's latest challenge uses a very interesting color combination, but one I really enjoyed playing with. They aren't colours I would have thought to put together but I felt they worked really well together. The patterns from the skirt were more of the paisley style, but rather than pulling out my much loved Paisley background again for that sort of thing I decided to go with the damask-style image from the Friends 24-7 set. My basic idea was to use markers to ink it up, but it was really only once I got playing that I decided on doing a fully patterned panel. It was relatively time consuming to ink it up so many times, but I think it was well worth it. I had wanted to have some vanilla taffeta off the left edge of the main panel, but the way I wanted to do it would have required sewing and I just wasn't in the mood for that much hand sewing! I felt the next best option was the eyelet punch. I've based the layout of the card of the Elite Challenge Blogs sketch for this month.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: textured Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray
Stamp Set: Friends 24-7
Inks: Basic Gray (for edges)
Accessories: markers in Really Rust, More Mustard, Basic Gray; sponge dauber; Eyelet Border punch, dimensionals

KW Colour Inspiration #54

Kristina's latest colour challenge had my eyes bugging out of my head as soon as I saw it - they're an awesome combination! While I was tempted to make another boys card, I went with something non-descript, using another set that hasn't seen enough ink since I got it. I went back to some retired colours and accessories for this one too: Soft Sky for the blue because it worked much better than Bashful Blue (too blue) or Baja Breeze (too dark); and all ribbons are actually retired ones! All stamping is clear embossed, and I had intended to get the bleach out again and remove colour in a few areas, but in the end I let things be. The layout is based on AmyR's latest sketch, and below I have included a side-on shot so you can see how I built up the main motif to give it dimension without too much bulk.


All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Green Galore, Whisper White, Taken With Teal, Pumpkin Pie
Stamp Set: Circle Circus
Ink: VersaMark, Green Galore
Accessories: scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, Bold Brights brads, Flirty Ribbon Originals, District Ribbon Originals, Apple Green 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, clear embossing powder, dimensionals

KW Colour Inspiration #52

It feels like an age since I've been able to do one of Kristina's challenges. Now that things are finally settling down after Convention I took some time today to get to work on the current challenge, with such lovely colours it was hard to resist!

This card is somewhat similar to one I have been demonstrating at workshops this month. I think the Rock n Roll technique is so effective with these trees! I'm really loving this set, hope you don't get sick of seeing it on here!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamp set: Trendy Trees
Inks: Sahara Sand, So Saffron, More Mustard, Baja Breeze
Accessories: dimensionals

KW Colour Inspiration #49

Woohoo! It's been a while since I have had a chance to work on one of Kristina's colour challenges straight away, and they were nice strong colours this week. I teamed the colours with last weeks Weekend Sketch Chellenge, once again I played a bit footloose and fancy free with the sketch. I know I have said it before, but I use sketches as a starting off point and if the end result doesn't follow the sketch to the pixel so be it, as long as it got me going I am happy. I've used Petal Pizzazz again, I'm really loving the shapes of these flowers (I initially got it as a replacement for Bodacious Bouquet but I'm starting to love it in it's own right). I've also broken out another new set - On Your Birthday, which is another one I bought purely to replace another retiring set (It's Your Birthday). I feel there is a bit more variety in the sayings with this set so I can see I'll probably end up liking it in it's own right too! The other new things on this card are the Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain, and the Pewter Build-a-brad for the top flower center (insanely easy to use).

And I've finally remembered to upload my third card for the Elite blog, another card that uses Petal Pizzazz.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Basic Black, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Petal Pizzazz, On Your Birthday
Inks: Pacific Point, Rose Red
Accessories: Pacific Point "marker", Kiwi Kiss "marker", Rose Red marker, Basic Black marker, Pewter Build-a-brad, Rose Red double-stitched ribbon, Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: The Five People You Meet In Heaven

KW Colour Inspiration #48

What a lovely colour combination for this week's challenge from Kristina! However I didn't get a chance to play until last night, so I opted to simplify things for myself and combine the colours with Amy's latest sketch and short-cut the design process. The set I have used is Pocket Silhouettes, a lovely little one that is brand new to the catty. I've also used a new punch, the wide oval, which is going to be just fantastic for punching out all those sentiments that don't quite fit in the large oval. A little bit of paper piercing, and some trusty Chocolate Chip taffeta, and my card was done.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, textured Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss "marker", Baja Breeze "marker", wide oval punch, Chocoalte Chip taffeta ribbon, crafter's toolkit
Show watched while creating: Heroes

KW Colour Inspiration #47

Woot, I got a challenge done in time! Admittedly there were a number of other things I should have been doing but I just had to have a play this afternoon. This card is a combination of Kristina's latest colour challenge and AmyR's latest sketch (it's been an age since I have done one of those!). I pulled out one of my favourite sets, Boho Backgrounds, and teamed it with One of a Kind. I think these two sets make a great pair, so it is nice to see One of a Kind return for the new Idea Book & Catalogue (only a couple of days away now!). The only thing of note on this card is the big flower, which I inked in VersaMark and clear embossed on Chocolate Chip cardstock. I then put some bleach (Exit Mould) in an aquapainter and painted over the sections that I wanted to remove colour from. I had a little too much bleach in the tip of the aquapainter and it soaked under the embossing a little bit but it's not too bad. I went over the outer bleached section with my Tangerine Tango marker and left the inner section plain since the bleach changed the cardstock to something very close to So Saffron.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Confetti White, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Stamp Sets: Boho Backgrounds, One of a Kind
Inks: Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, VersaMark, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Boho Blossoms punch, Fire Circle Rhinestone brads, Chocolate Chip 1" double-stitched ribbon, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: Goldfinger

KW Colour Inspiration #44

What a pretty colour combo Kristina picked this week! Since I have played with similar colour combos recently I thought I'd pick a stamp set I wouldn't normally use these colours with, and I went with Touch of Nature.. yes, Touch of Nature two weeks in a row for a KW challenge! Since it is retired at the end of the month Imaking sure it knows it is loved . I may have over-done the ferns a little, but this is pretty much how I saw it in my head from the start. The butterfly was stamped off before stamping on the Whisper White so I had a paler second-generation impression.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Touch of Nature
Inks: Pretty In Pink, Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Berry Bliss DSP, Pretty In Pink tafetta ribbon, Earth Elements & Neutrals buttons, paper piercer, cutter kit
Show watched while creating: Aus v SAf test cricket

KW Colour Inspiration #43

Finally I've found some time to take part in Kristina's colour challenge while it's still current! And I just had to use the colours with one of my favourite sets from the retirement list, Touch Of Nature. I've combined two challenges in one for this one too, putting Kristina's colours with Beate's WSC (sketch by Lori). The only real thing of note with this card is I stamped the leaves on the left panel with StazOn before bleaching inside them (well, Exit Mould-ed them!) to remove the blue, then coloured over top with Olive.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Brocade Blue, Confetti White
Stamp sets: Floral, Touch of Nature
Inks: Chocolate Chip, StazOn, VersaMark; Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red also used for watercolouring.
Accessories: Old Olive wide grosgrain, Aged Copper Hodgepodge, aquapainter, bleach
Show watched while creating: Sarah Connor Chronicles

KW Colour Inspiration #37

What a fabulous colour challenge Kristina posted this week! Quite often when i am working on a colour challenge I will get out my swatches of the particular colours and then start thinking about stamp sets that might work with that. This week however I got out my swatches and then the matching ribbons and embellishments... from that this card fell into place . Which is probably why there isn't a whole lotta stamping, but I still like it.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Soft Sky
Stamp Sets: Paisley, Simple Delights
Inks: Soft Sky
Accessories: Felt Fusion flowers, Earth Elements buttons, clear buttons, Aged Copper Hodgepodge (for the measley little brad), 3/4" circle punch, Chocolate Chip 1" double-stitched ribbon, white cotton floss

KW Colour Inspiration #35

Here's my card for this weeks colour challenge over on Kristina's blog. I based the layout on Lauren's sketch, though as always I have made changes. Initially I struggled with this colour combo as I had done something very similar before, and I didn't want it to seem like I was just re-hashing that card! Initially I intended using more stamps from the Petal Prints set, but in the end just went with the leaves and opted for flowers from the Pretties Kit so it was a bit more textural. Keeping with the textural theme I broke out an old favourite, the Linen background, and stamped it on Sofy Sky using the matching ink.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Close To Cocoa
Stamp Sets: Petal Prints, Linen
Inks: Close To Cocoa, Soft Sky
Accessories: Chocolate Chip 1" double-stitched ribbon, Soft Sky double-stitched ribbon, Theater Ribbon Originals, Pretties Kit, aquapainter, So Saffron marker, Soft Sky "marker" (washed out marker + refill), Sage Shadow marker, mini glue dots, dimensionals

KW Colour Inspiration #34

Ooooh, now these are my kind of colours! I was very excited to see Kristina's colours this week (it doesn't seem to take much to get me excited, hey?) but it's taken me a while to have some time to work on it. I had this idea pretty much from the start, got a flower stamped and then didn't get back to it till last night... With the time difference I don't think I have a chance to wait for better light for a photo so this one will have to do for now so I get this in on time.

I based the layout on Amy's sketch #40, though gave my card a landscape orientation. I do really like Bordering Blue, particuarly in combinations like this, so I decided to use a lot of it and have the plums as accent. Very simple card, but I like it.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Bordering Blue, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Eastern Blooms
Inks: VersaMark, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum
Accessories: Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals
Shows watched while creating: Moonlight, Heroes

KW Colour Inspiration #33

Here's my card for Kristina's latest colour challenge. I based it on a sketch by Lauren Meader, and I did plan on having a sentiment where it is placed in the sketch, but I had the paper and ribbon stuck down before I remembered and I didn't like my chances of getting it to stamp nicely then (let alone it then being too close to the top). Still, I like how it turned out and in fact I am glad I didn't stamp the sentiment now!

When I first saw the colours I had no idea what I was going to do with them. I decided to rule flowers out, and have lots of Teal because I am on a real kick lately, and then started looking at my remaining stamp sets... as soon as I saw Ocean Commotion and thought of Guylian chocolates and it was a done deal . Hmm, this is becoming a trend isn't it, being inspired by chocolate... but there are worse things so it's all good, hehehehe.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Taken With Teal, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Ocean Commotion
Inks: Taken With Teal, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Bali Breeze paper, Chocolate Chip 1" Double-stitched ribbon, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Aussies, there are bound to be spoilers there (as with most I link to) but the page was taking that long to load I didn't see anything to worry about... but be warned!)

KW Colour Inspiration #32

Another fab colour combination for Kristina's challenge this week. I still have a few ideas going around in my head, but this is what I went with first - I wanted lots of white and a touch of metallic. The backgound stamping was done in silver and embossed with clear embossing powder. I didn't want this to stand out as much as other aspects of the card, so I went with the clear embossing as it gives a softer finish. I very nearly went with the Beachfront ribbon over the top of the Pomegranate satin but it was over-powering things a bit too much, and the spotty pomegranate ribbon matches the fun font much better.

In pox news, things are settling down and today has probably been the best day so far for both Tiarna and myself (even though I thought I'd be dead tired from staying up and watching Survivor - man I love fake immunity idols!). The cool weather may have had something to do with it, but I've found them much less annoying today.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Merry Merry
Inks: Encore Silver, Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: clear embossing powder, mini glue dots, Pretties Kit, 1 3/8" circle punch, White Aluminium circle tags, Beachfront Ribbon Originals, Sherbet Ribbon Originals, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: Heroes

~*~ETA: the pox didn't inspire the all the flat-back pearls, the silver beaded thing up the back of the inspiration photo inspired them.

KW Colour Inspiration #31

More fab colours this week for Kristina's challenge, however I did find myself struggling a bit. I think this was largely because I kept getting ideas for Summer Mini stamp sets that I have recieved in pre-order... and I'm not ready to show you those yet! This card was also based on Beate's latest sketch.

The stamping on this card is pretty straight forward, although for the Pumpkin and Sffron flowers I have used a cotton bud to remove the ink from the flower centers before colouring them with Elegant Egglplant. I also used the Pumpkin marker on the Saffron flower, simply colouring over the top with it since Saffron is a paler colour and wouldn't distort the Pumpkin too much.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Spring Solitude
Inks: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Fire Circle Rhinestone Brads, Elegant Eggplant marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, District Ribbon Originals, Theater Ribbon Originals, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: Aus v NZ test cricket

KW Colour Inspiration #30 part 2

I grabbed a few minutes this morning to have another crack at Kristina's colour challenge. I had this basic idea in my head from the start, but opted for the pretty flowers idea first time round... and when I say I grabbed a few minutes I really do mean just a few! This would have to be the fastest card I have ever made! I already had the flowers stamped, punched and layered, I just had to do the rest of the punching, stamp the sentiment and stick it all together. There's still no ribbon on this one but I don't think this one minds.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Old Olive, Whisper White, Sahara Sand
Stamp Sets: Boho Backgrounds, Happy Everything
Inks: Old Olive
Accessories: Old Olive marker, Certainly Celery marker, Sahara Sand marker, dimensionals, Certainly Celery and Old Olive Prints Papers, 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch

KW Colour Inspiration #30

Back to the more subdued colours for Kristina's latest challenge, though I have enjoyed the last few ones it was nice to go back to something like this. I love these colours together but I'm not entirely sure I've pulled off what I was hoping to with this one. Once again I've used my markers to ink up the image, omitting a couple of the flowers so I could get something like a straight line with them. I think what is "missing" is ribbon... I had about 4 different pieces out to use on this and ultimately decided they wouldn't work, they'd cover up too much of the pretty flowers. But I still have it in my head that they should be on there.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Stamp Set: Boho Backgrounds
Inks: none
Accessories: Old Olive marker, Certainly Celery marker, Sahara Sand marker, dimensionals

KW Colour Inspiration #29

Let's just say I was very happy when I saw Kristina's latest colour challenge. I have been thinking lately how neglected Taken With Teal has been this year, and I can't recall the last time I used Elegant Eggplant... and there she goes and puts them together in a challenge! Pumpkin Pie adds a great contrast, and the colours had me thinking of tropical butterflies. I wanted to combine the butterflies with ribbon to bring in some of the fabric textures from the inspiration photo, so out came the retired Flirty Ribbon Originals so I could use the Teal velvet ribbon. The card itself is pretty straight forward but I did want to point out that I used the crop-a-dile to punch the holes for the brads as this distorts the ribbon less (once you have pulled it back into shape) than if you just poke the brad through. I've used both mini glue dots and dimensionals to attach the butterflies, putting the glue dots under the body and the dimensionals under the wings so the wings are raised off the cardstock at an angle.

All supplies by Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White Stamp Sets: Priceless, So Swirly Inks: VersaMark, Pumpkin Pie, Taken With Teal, Brilliant Blue Accessories: mini glue dots, dimensionals, District Ribbon Originals, Flirty Ribbon Originals (retired), Bold Brights brads Show watched while creating: Fresh Prince of Bel Air (what? I had to see the 2 seconds of Chris Judge didn't I?)

KW Colour Inspiration #28

As you can see, I had a lot of fun playing with Kristina's latest colour challenge. The colours are quite autumnal, but the inspiration piece had me thinking of flowers from the get go and I think I was in just the right mood for them too. I started off making one card, then thought "the inspiration piece is a bag, lets make a bag for the card to go in". And if you are making a bag for one card to go in, you may as well make a few more cards to go in it. Above you can see all the items crammed into one little shot, but below are larger images of each item. I think "love you" is my favourite"




All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Sage Shadow, Whisper White, Outlaw paper
Stamp set: Always, Short & Sweet, Warm Words
Inks: VersaMark, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red
Accessories: Antique Brass Hodgepodge, Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain, sticky strip, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1/16" circle punch, 3/16" corner rounder, District Ribbon Originals, Sage Shadow marker, Ruby Red marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, mini glue dot, dimensionals
Show watched while creating: House

KW Colour Inspiration #27

Kristina's latest colour challenge coincided nicely with my desire to create a Hallooween-ish card for Shaelea (since Tiarna is getting Boo). We don't ever really do anything for Halloween but the girls do like dressing up and getting a bit spooky. Anyway, Shaelea likes pink and cats, and I felt like doing another Zindorf-styled card. However, after all the masking, brayering and stamping I realised my trees needed highlights and shadow. The highlights I did easily enough, using a blender pen to pick up Whisper White pigment ink, but the shadows... clearly my cold was starting to affect my thinking because I didn't think to go to Michelle's blog and she how she usually adds such shadows... and I winged it. I used my Purely Pomegranate "marker" for the shadow of the trunks, then thought that was going to be too dark for the shadow of the branches so I tried picking up colour using a clean blender pen. Big mistake! When the blending had dried I was left with a paler halo around the area I had tried shadowing, as the blender pen had caused a bit of colour to run. I tried scribbling colour out of my Purely Pomegranate marker (so the colour was less intense), but that didn't make much difference so I just had to use it as it was. In the end the bulk of it is covered by the ribbon and cat - which I had always planned on using, it wasn't like my mistake required embellishment to cover it up - and what you do see looks ok. I probably should have made the edges a bit darker too but I felt changing from Purely Pomegranate to Basic Black around the edge would be too dramatic. Anyway, it's pink and has a cat, I'm sure Shaelea will love it!

If parts of this post don't make a lot of sense please excuse me... the cold is still affecting my brain! I probably should go back to bed but wanted to cross a few simple things off the to-do list!

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Basic Black, Barely Banana, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Lovely As A Tree, Party Punch
Inks: Basic Black for stamping; Barely Banana, Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Purely Pomegranate for brayering; Whisper White for highlights
Accessories: Purely Pomegranate "marker" (blender pen + refill), blender pen, 1" circle punch, designer label punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, horizontal slot punch, Purely Pomegranate double-stitched ribbon, dimensionals

KW Colour Inspiration #26

Yay, another Kristina colour challenge! I had to skip last weeks challenge as my sister and her family were visiting, and then absolutely NO inspiration came in the hour after she left and before the deadline. I took one look at last weeks colours and thought "too primary (where's the purple?)" , and even though this weeks colours are similar this idea came pretty quickly.
I've been wanting to pull out All Through the Year for a little while, and when I thought about it again this morning it didn't take long to realise it would be a perfect set for this. In the end though most of the stamping on the card comes from the matching wheel Garden Annuals . The picture doesn't do the card justice, I've made the white a bit whiter than it was first appearing in the photo but I don't want to over-tweak it.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Whisper White, So Saffron
Stamp Sets: All Through The Year, Garden Annuals
Inks: Bashful Blue, Real Red
Accessories: Wild Wasabi "marker" (blender pen + refill), dimensionals, mini glue dot, paper trimmer to score lines, 3/16" corner rounder, double circle punch