Neon Holiday Wishes -- Pilin' On the Non-Traditional Holiday Colors

The theme this month at Pile It On is Non-Traditional Holiday Colors. The only real rule is to be inspired by more than one papercrafting challenge. We're sponsored by Crafty Sentiments Designs. I made a shaker card with a neon color palette.

The neon papers are from Target/Kid Made Modern; the treeline die is from Memory Box; the string of lights is from Elizabeth Crafts; and the frame & flamingo are dies from my stash. I heat-embossed the sentiment (Marianne Design) with white powder. The shaker is filled with shaped plastic confetti from Michaels/Recollections. I'm really liking the trend of bold letters on a black panel!

Inspiration/Challenges:
A Snowflakes Promise #46: Anything Xmas Goes
Crafty Cardmakers #201: Animal Magic
Make My Monday #60: Happy Holidays
Simon Says Stamp: Anything goes (2nd entry)
Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch #431

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Warm Flamingo Wishes

Our late-Spring weather has been lovely, but the humidity is slowing creeping up along with the temperature, so I decided to make a "cool" card.

The flamingo is from a Recollections stamp/die set. I cut the legs separately in order to turn them around to make it look like the flamingo is ice skating. I hand-drew the legs & tiny skates. The scarf is a piece of seam binding from Paper Sweeties.

The scenic embossing folder is one of my favorites; I got it for a steal at a yard sale. I used the top portion for the front flaps.

I used a page protector & my Fuse tool to create the shaker portion. The blue & pink sequins came with a Fuse kit & I added some snowy Flowersoft.

The sentiment (Marianne Designs) was stamped in Tumbled Glass distress ink. I added three sequins with Glossy Accents. The "lake" is made with a blue rubber tourniquet.

Inspiration/Challenges:
613 Avenue Create #180: Create Your Challenge: Shaker Card, Christmas, Sequins
Paper Sweeties: Color Inspiration

Update: This made the Top 5 for 613 Avenue Create #180!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Reflected Flamingos in Love

I've been having lots of fun getting extra-inky, especially since I organized my inks. Today I used my
Recollections flamingo stamps/die set & the foam stamp technique. The water effect was made with a wetwipe.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Less is More: Down Under + CAS (reflection)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes (3rd entry)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Pink Flamingo Feathery Pop-up

I recently acquired Karen Burniston’s Rectangle Pull Card die set from Elizabeth Craft Designs and am really enjoying it, especially the pop-up element.

 Sorry about the photos; it's been gray and windy here.

I used similar techniques as my CAS flamingo feather card. I decorated the paper base with Recollections flamingo stamps, using an outline stamps & a foam die-cut (make your own stamp tutorial). The feathers are from Silhouette & I cut them from light pink on my Cameo; I inked the top parts with the bright pink.

Inspiration/Challenges:
In the Pink: Anything Pink Goes
Great Impressions: Lovey Dovey (Valentine or Bird)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Something New (new die) / 2nd entry

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Feathery Flourish

I'm having lots of fun with my new pink flamingo die and stamp set by Recollections; this time, I cut the flamingo out of foam and used it as a background stamp. Did you see Monica's great make your own stamp tutorial for Die Cut Divas? Her card is so eye-catching, and let me tell you, this technique really works!

I used two dye inks: "Amaryllis" from Sweet Stamps and "Rose Bud" from Memento. The flamingo & sentiment are inked over the lighter pink flamingo, which I stamped with my foam die-cut. The light pink flourishes were inked over the darker ones. The feathery flourish stamp is from the Baroque Borders set by CTMH. I rounded the bottom corners ever-so-slightly.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Die Cut Divas: New (new technique, new stamps/die)
Freshly Made Sketches: Sketch #218
Heart2Heart Challenge: One (1 Layer, 1 color - Pink, 1 Flamingo) + CTMH product (Flourish stamp)
Less is More: One-Layer + Flourish + CAS

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Flamenco de Amor

If you follow this blog, you've probably noticed that I have a soft spot for pink flamingos; so you can imagine how excited I was to see a pink flamingo die and stamp set by Recollections at Michael's. Unfortunately, once I got it home I realized that the die faces in the opposite direction of the stamps. I worked around the issue, but it was annoying. Here, I cut the shape from a shiny pink paper & heat-embossed the stamp in neon pink. I also die-cut it from craft foam to pop it up.

The doily design was inspired by Desíre's folded circle embellishment; the white fronts are covered with a gray-dotted doily. The banner is decorated with tape and more of the gray-dotted doily; I stamped the sentiment (Latina Crafter) directly onto it with pink ink. The blue background paper is stamped in a platinum ink with a heart-shaped stamp from the same Latina Crafter set. The hearts are punched from a neon pink paper & inked with the platinum ink.

Inspiration:

Latina Crafter: Sketch + Color + Theme (+ Latina Crafter stamps)
Sweet Stampin: Something New (all stamps/dies are new)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's 2016! Here's what I was working on as the fireworks marked the occasion: this card for my husband to celebrate another wonderful year together:

The decorative tape was a Valentine's gift from said husband last year, and I backed it with paer to made the banners. The sentiment is a Fiskars stamp, the "16" is from a Dilo en Español set, and the pineapple & flamingo are from a Recollections set I bought (with an Xmas gift certificate!) during a crop with crafting friends at Michael's this week. They are heat-embossed in neon pink or gold. The base card is a black, glittered Core'Dinations cardstock. The flamingo was stamped on & die-cut from a gold foil paper.

Inspiration:
Little Red Wagon: Happy New Year
Make My Monday: New Year or Calendar
Simon Says Stamp: Party!

Thank you for visiting & best wishes to you in 2016,

Pink Christmas Flamingo

This is my second card inspired by Donna's gorgeous card at CASE-ing Christmas. My first card is here. This time, I was also inspired by Baltimore's plastic pink flamingos and our local use of the word Hon!

The dies are from a Memory Box set, and inked with green ink. The "Happy Christmas" sentiment is heat-embossed in hot pink, and the "Hon" is made with die-cut mulberry paper letters. The pink flamingo is a machine-woven adhesive sticker.

copyright Donna

Inspiration/Challenges:
CASE-ing Christmas: Inspired by card by DT member Donna (2nd entry)
Emerald Faeries Challenge #73: Oh Christmas Tree
Merry Monday Christmas Card Club: Pink, Green & White
Use Your Stuff: Leftover Letters (die-cut mulberry paper letters from my stash)

Update: This was chosen as a Highlight for Use Your Stuff #199 as well as a random prize winner for Emerald Faeries Challenge #73!


Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Baltimore Love

When in doubt, I often make a shaker card. It adds just the right touch of interactivity and is an easy technique. I use plastic packaging for the clear cover and two layers of foam tape to pop it up. I know folks who use chipboard or foam sheets instead, but I like the precision that foam tape gives me.

This card was partly inspired by the current UnstampaBelles challenge: National Symbols with option of your flag colors. Although I think this woven adhesive sticker came from Florida originally, the pink flamingo is a favorite cultural icon in parts of Baltimore City (you may be familiar with Pink Flamingos by John Waters), so I incorporated a rowhouse design to make this B-more Valentine:

Sorry about the photo...it was the best I could get on a cold gray Baltimore day! I used an MFT stencil & red brick distress ink to create the brick pattern on the red paper. The window is cut with a Memory Box die. The fence is an IO die cut from a scrap of woodgrain-patterned paper. The grass is that plastic grass you get with sushi!

This card would also be appropriate for the "Love" Challenge at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT). Check out my challenge list below, and join the fun!

Shaker Card Tip: I found that included some micro beads along with paper die-cuts helps to make the pieces move inside the shaker.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Inky Chicks #46: from (your country) with love
One Stitch at a Time: Love
Mojo Monday #383: Sketch (past sketch; not entered in the challenge)
Top Tip Tuesday: Favorite Color Combo or Tip
UnstampaBelles February Challenge: National Symbols with option of Your Flag Colors

Thank you for visiting,

Hello Hon!

I've lived in Baltimore about 16 years now, and I love its ever-mingling diversity. We live close to the historically working-class neighborhood of Hampden, which features a yearly Honfest, celebrating "Bawlmer Hons" and all things kitsch. As John Waters said, "Hampden is an uneasy mixture of redneck culture and hipster culture, which I love."

This card idea came to me in phases, but once I settled on a "Bawlmer Hon" theme, I knew I had to use this fabulous rubber stamp from Art Impressions. I adapted it a bit... the "feather boa" in this card is actually the top of her tutu in the original stamp. And Hons don't usually wear tiaras... although they would if they could! But her hair is a great beehive; To quote an official Hon (see video below), "The bigger the hair, the more we care!" 

Pink Flamingos are a huge part of the Hon culture (hence the title of John Waters' movie), so I knew I had to add one. For the flamingo cut files, I used an image I found online for the body, and created the wings in SCAL with a butterfly svg. The grass border is from a freebie set by SVG Cuts.

For the background, I used a white/brown sheet from Core'Dinations Whitewash Collection and embossed it with the brick-wall plate I made out of cardboard some time ago; I want to make another one with smaller bricks, I just need to rally the patience to glue a gazillion tiny pieces! I inked it with Terracotta and Brick inks (Memento).

The sentiment is set in Atlas (a font I've had for ages, but I can't find a link for), and digitally placed it in a frame by TLC Creations.
 
I used spellbinders dies for the circle, scallop, and card base. The window die is Memory Box's Small Madison Window with the partitions cut out (partly so you can see the Hon, and partly because that's the style of window in Hampden).

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Catz Challenge #174: Make Us Laugh
Little Red Wagon #176: Window
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 150: Shaped Cards
The Paper Players #136: Colour Combo

Update: This was one of the "Featured Windows" for Little Red Wagon Challenge #176.

Here's a great video of Honfest (it's absolutely worth watching the whole thing!):


Thank you for visiting,