Playing along with PaperSmooches Challenge Week Ending July 21!

So this week is a color challenge... and a fitting color choice for July:

I pulled out my Cyber Cafe set to have a go at a technique I've seen from both Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire lately.

And made this card..the technique that inspired me was to stamp an image in white ink and stamp over that image in a color but offset it a bit.

Here is the result:

I really think it turned out super cute!

I was so excited about the technique, I made a video to go along with it!

Gelli Plate Class!

Ok so Scrapbooks Plus which is my LSS has some AWESOME CLASSES! Recently I took a class called: Magical Gelliplate Trilogy. I learned many MANY techniques on using a Gellipolate, which I HAVE to reccommend! OMG you can make the most lovely things with inexpensive acrylic paint, and the Gelli plate. I had heard of the Gelli plate before on PaperClipping Round Table's podcast (you can subscribe through iTunes or listen online.) Julie Fei-Fan Balzar was the first person I heard talking about the Gelli plate. I can't tell you how fun and how immediate these results are!!

The class was really ambitious. We were supposed to complete THREE books while in class, one book is a sample book that is basically a list of techniques we used with an example of each. And guess what...I finished all three books in the 5 hour timeframe we had for the class!!! I was OVERJOYED!!

Here are my projects:

My favorite is that lovely canvas book that has the measuring tape closure... the outside of the canvas is gelliplated. I can't tell you how quick it is to make awesome art with this plate! I didn't buy anything else to take this class, just the plate I already had a lot of acrylic paints and I used them (used several of them up). I had Claudine Helmuth's Acrylic paint but people brought whatever brand they had and they all worked beautifully. I borrowed some of my tablemate's colors that I didn't have and they worked equally as well. I can see myself using these pages for different things and I do have other ideas!

Lawnscaping Challenge #62

I must admit, when I first started papercrafting, I didn't understand the big deal with stamps. They were artsy and cute, but I couldn't see myself investing a lot of time an money into them, they seemed bulky like the wooden blocks would take up so much space... then I learned about clear stamps. OH MY GOODNESS!!! And now... well, let's just say I'm trying to make my own 12x12 step program to use my stamps.

Lawnscaping is a bi-monthly challenge blog to get you using your lovely Lawn Fawn Stamps. Yesterday's post shows my take on their Challenge #61 that I didn't finish in time be entered into the challenge, but no matter, I have a layout that I love inspired by my take on the challenge. This one I did finish in time... so here is my take on the paper piecing challenge:

I used the sets Bon Voyage and Home Sweet Home and used Kate & Co by My Minds Eye for the piecing. I LOVE this paper pad and the one I have is now falling apart because I'm just YANKING out patterns and using them so much! This makes me VERY HAPPY! And those houses... HOW CUTE!!

Ok folks, I'm off to see what everyone else is creating! 

Challenging myself out of blockage!

I have been participating in the Papersmooches Sparks Blog challenges lately (I could NOT come up with anything for the ocean inspiration to save my life... so I did miss that week). I have several sets of their stamps, I love the funky vibe they have! And I am MUCH happier if I'm creating... even if I'm having trouble being inspired on my own. I've also tried a challenge for the Lawn Fawn Challenge blog... but it didn't go as well... timewise. I finished the challenge a full day after I was too late to submit it. This was my take on Challenge 61.

This is what I came up with and I'm SO happy about it! I LOVE those embellies stamped from Home Sweet Home . 

Here is a detail shot of the banners, those gems are from Creative Imaginations and have been in my stash so long, I had to add adhesive for them to adhere :)!

Do you have secrets for getting your mojo to flow? 

Let me know what they are...

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge Week Ending July 14th

So if you like these stamps, be sure to play along... I think they are ADORABLE!! I missed last week just from being stumped... mojo blocked as you will. I did make a card for this challenge using my own most recent Paper Smooches Stamp Purchase this set is called Cyber Cafe. I think it's really really cute and different. This week is the Designer Drafts Challenge

Here is my take on the sketch:

It's Clean and Simple, but I thought it was adorable. I recently got this Kate and Co "Cambridge Court" 6x6 paper pad from my LSS Scrapbooks Plus. I am digging these florals and the yummy colors. This card reminds me of a particular friend of mine... I hope she likes it. 

Phone Photography Class

So I'm taking an awesome class at Big Picture Classes it's called: The Phone Photography Project. I signed up for this class to inspire me to do more with the photos that I take with my phone. I am a fairly recent Android convert (from iphone) and am really loving the camera on my Galaxy S#! I have created an Instagram account for myself(I'm Scrapfaire... so you are welcome to follow me) and am playing with photography apps to jazz up my photos. As I'm posting this I have a from scratch blackberry cobbler in the oven... it will be a double crust so I can't wait for the first one to come out and dunk it back in. I'll leave your mouth watering with this:

I hope that whatever you are doing today you are having a blast and being creative. 

Coloring can be theraputic...

So I've been watching some coloring videos by Kristina Werner over at the Youtube. Every Wednesday she does a coloring video, she also colors lots of images for her regular Monday and Friday card videos. I love the watercolor look of distress markers, but I have a TON of distress inks and lots of markers, copic, sharpie, skerpie... so I don't really want to invest in more of the same. I have one blender pen from Stampin' Up that someone gave me more than five years ago and it still works beautifully for coloring with my distress inks. I took some time one day and some adorable Paper Smooches Stamps and just colored.

I only used distress inks for coloring, and I do not own them all. I think my collection totals 25 distress inks. I have been collecting them slowly over time. You can get some lovely shading effects with these and I love the look of the water coloring. I made a little card to send to a friend using these same inks for coloring and some Lawn Fawn Stamps that I got recently:

Because it was the closest black ink that I had, I did use Momento for this coloring and I think Staz-On would have been the better choice. I also just picked up a Faber-Castell artist big brush pen with black india ink inside so I may just use that in the future. You just want something waterproof if you are watercoloring.

I do love the shading, The chocolate cone is stamped with Jenni Bowlin Ink in Brown Sugar. I love those dye inks as well btw... :)

What's your favorite way to color your images? I do also enjoy some copic coloring but am LOVING the ease of the water coloring. You can also use a brush and actual water or one of those cool water brushes other than a blender pen for you coloring. I also tested using a blender pen with Prismacolor pencils and that worked ok as well.