postcard

 hello lovely stampers!

This fortnight the new challenge at AAAcards #203 is for a one inchie + optional twist of masculine.  

I am intrigued and a little bewildered by the inchie. What is the best way something so tiny can still deliver an interesting card? I decided a one inchie didn't need to be a one layer or a one colour, so that formed the basis for my idea. 

My plan was to pack in as much as possible in that one inch.  I do have a stamp set Darkroom Door Seaside Inchies and the lovely DT over at perfectlyCAS have as their theme this month, 'Tropical' so I decided to combine the challenges.

I chose the inchie stamp with surfboards so it also satisfied the optional twist of masculine.

I began by stamping the inchie on a white card scrap with an area blended with distress oxide ink for the sky. The stamp was masked and stamped separately for the sky edge and the sand background. Then I stamped the whole stamp onto various ink blended scraps, with various colours of distress oxide ink and black ink, then chose the best ones to fussy cut each of the surfboards. 

MANY variations later... 😅 I chose a combination I liked. The surfboards were glued in place onto the background stamp, then the inchie was cut out. I'm thinking it was like paper piecing, but with ink blended card instead of paper. The sentiment was stamped with memento tuxedo black onto ink blended scrap (the same sand colour) using Altenew Sentiment Strips, then cut, edges inked and popped up on foam tape. The edges of the inchie were also inked with black to make it stand out on the card, then also popped up with foam onto a white card base using the rule of thirds and placing the inchie at the top right intersection.

Phew* I think it looks like a teeny tiny postcard!

Thanks for stopping by!

fabulous

 hello stampers!

Today I had a little spare time and gravitated toward my craft space - lucky me! I was inspired by the AAA cards challenge this week #197

I like the idea of a 1 inch strip - everything has to fit into that tiny little area and it certainly brings out your creative side. I recently received some stamps (finally!) so I searched for an interesting one that would fit within the 1 inch.

I started with a card panel that I had previously smooshed with watered distress oxide inks - blues mainly. I wanted to make it look like a lagoon for the beautiful flamingo so I blended more colours for the sandy swamp area at the base. Using my Misti, I stamped the flamingo several times with spun sugar and abandoned coral getting nice drifts of the colours, to look like feathers. Lastly I stamped just the beak with black. I cut the strip at 1 inch.  Another smooshed card base was used for the sentiment and hearts - this one was in pinks. I die cut the hearts, stamped the sentiment and then glued them onto the strip, trimming the sides.

Using a coloured card base doesn't feel CAS, funnily enough but I just had to go with blushing bride, as it matched the distress oxide colours I had for the flamingo. I found the card base was too stark with all the watercolours so I laid a panel of vellum over the card base, gluing it under the strip only. I think it lends an ethereal feel to the scene.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe!

ingredients: 

inks: distress oxide spun sugar, abandoned coral, scattered straw, vintage photo, tumbled glass, salty ocean, memento tuxedo black

stamps: stampabilities trendsetter, altenew under the cherry blossom tree

die: recollections

explore

 hello again stampers!

Today I made a card for the perfectlyCAS challenge #15 Repeat stamping. 

Although I like the CAS card designs, I do find them challenging - mostly because of my inky fingers! lol But today I liked the thought of repeat stamping and I had quite a few ideas swimming around in my head. (see what I did there?)

I began by stamping the fish inchie on the lower corner, masking each one before stamping the next. The seaweed was also stamped using masks over the inchies. I wanted to make the solo swimmer stand out so the word and the fish were stamped using my MISTI then stamped again with Versamark ink and clear heat embossed. I did the embossing twice to make it nice and smooth. Then I glued the panel to another panel the same size, then glued onto a card base, keeping it nice and white.

Even though we may find ourselves in a metaphorical box, perhaps sometimes we need to break out, take a leap of faith and explore. It's a big world out there but we can all find our place in it.  Sorry - didn't know I was going into some deep thinking.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

supplies:

stamps: darkroom door seaside inchies, under the sea, wildflowers vol 1

inks: altenew, versamark