Challenge: Spots & Dots

I'm participating in the latest Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp: Spots & Dots. Now, I can't seem to help myself - whenever I think of dots, I usually turn to a Hero Arts stamp set I've had for a long time with 4 different sized circles. It's called "Box of Dots" and I bought it years ago when my husband and I were in San Antonio. I talked him into a stop at the famous Stamp Antonio store. (Side note - that made me wonder if they are still in business; apparently they closed in March of this year.)

Anyway, I always seem to gravitate towards bright colors when I use this set. For another challenge post where I chose to use this set, click here.

For this card, I stamped my dots in various bright inks from Stampin' Up! I also used another circle stamp (the one in yellow). I like the overlapping of the circles and the additional colors that result. The sentiment is (I think) a Heidi Swapp stamp which is meant to be stamped in a single line. I cut it apart so that I could stamp it as shown. I added a bow with sheer pink ribbon and mounted the stamped piece onto a turquoise card base. This one was pretty quick and easy, and I always enjoy using bright colors.

Happy crafting!

Immi

Challenge: Cure for the Monday Blues

I stumbled across another card challenge this week and decided to participate. This involved taking inspiration from an image provided in the blog post. Apparently, this is a regular feature on this blog, and I thought it would be fun to play along. Here's the image:

The colors alone are enough to cure Monday blues! I knew right away that I wanted to incorporate a lot of white space with the yellow stripe at the top. I also wanted to include the pink and turquoise and somehow use circles. Here's what I did:

I started with watercolor paper, and used Distress Ink in Squeezed Lemonade with a little water to paint the yellow stripe across the top. I roughed up the edges of the paper with my Tim Holtz distresser. The flower image was stamped on a piece of white cardstock and colored with pencils. The dots are stamped with some old-school Stampin' Up! inks. I mounted the stamped panel on some matching turquoise cardstock, then adhered it to the watercolor panel. That was then mounted on a pink cardstock base. The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of white cardstock with the ends notched to make a banner. That was mounted on yellow and put on top of the card with some dimensional adhesive dots to make it stand up a little from the card base.

I am quite happy with the way it turned out - I love the bright colors! It was also an interesting experience for me to look for inspiration in an image that had nothing to do with stamping. I enjoyed the whole thing, from beginning to end!

Happy crafting!

Immi