Michael's Sept. challenge

Michael Strong's challenge to the enjoyMichaelStrongStamps yahoo list:

Our card making challenge is a little different this month. There is an old standard called "September Song" composed by Kurt Weill in 1938. It's a wistful almost sad song. Here are the words:

"Oh, it's a long, long while from May to December But the days grow short when you reach September When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame One hasn't got time for the waiting game

Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few September, November And these few precious days I'll spend with you These precious days I'll spend with you"

 

Your challenge this month is to express any part of this song in a visual composition. It's you choice, pick any part of the song for your inspiration. Colors and images are also up to you. It is not necessary to use a MSRS. "

The stamped oval image is one of Michael's stamps. The rest are die cuts and punches with Distress inks and copper embossed dots for texture and color.

Lynda's Gold & Sparkle card

In the enjoyMichaelStrongstamps Yahoo list we are doing a mingle. the challenge was to make the card with gold and sparkle and a Michael Strong stamp. It has been years since I last did one and this has been a blast. Lynda sent me this amazing card! She created this beautiful painted paper with some sort of mica powder and gold paint on a black background. If you have tried to photograph metallics and sparkle you already know I was not capable to capturing how this really looks. Still here is the best I could mange.

Inside the card were these die cut butterflies made with the painted papers and a panel with Michael Strong's heart stamp (small version) as the focal point.

Closer versions of the butterflies and the panel.

Michael Strong's May challenge

This month Michael gave us a digital image to use on our card and the challenge to use only black, gray and white. The red is just a paper on which I photographed the card for some contrast. The digital image is the central rectangular image on the card. You can find it here- http://strongstamps.blogspot.com/2012/05/may-card-making-challenge.html I added some Spellbinders die cut circles, the sentiment Spellbinders ovals and the Sizzix heart eyelets. There are clear gems for bling. The sentiment is a Cornish Heritage Farms stamp. The gray printed paper circles are cut from envelope liners. I do love using those!

Simple and masculine

This is my sketch card for May's enjoyMichaelStrongStamps group. My Easter card was selected for April's home page image and included with the honor was a new Michael Strong stamp, his Cloisonné Fleur De Lis set. I used the smaller of the stamps as the focal image on this card. Love how classic the image is! The printed background papers are actually wallpaper samples. They have just the right look to go with Michael's stamp.

Easter is coming!

The eggs and dish are created with Michael Strong stamps. The nice egg shapes were cut using Spellbinders dies. The sentiment strip was heat embossed and the edges punched using a Martha Stewart border punch. It was fun to create an Easter card that isn't quite traditional colors but definitely says "Easter".

Outlines sketch challenge #42

This is a pretty soft colored card. Blue and yellow is one of my favorite combinations. The floral band across the card was created with an Outlines border stamp used twice, once on each side and black embossed. I'm still on a Twinkling H2O run so that is what I used along with a bit of white acrylic paint. The sentiment is a Stampendous sticker. Somehow I don't seem to use those very often this was a good opportunity.

Lisa Silver's sketch for Outlines is square but I stretched it into a rectangle. You can see it here-

http://outlineswithkathy.blogspot.com/2012/03/challenge-42-march-sketch-challenge.html

Outlines St. Patrick's Day challenge

Not being a sender of St. Patrick's Day card I had to think a bit about my stash of Outlines stamps to come up with something for this challenge. It isn't precisely a card for the holiday but I hope it is close enough! The shamrock is made from a heart stamps printed & embossed 4 times, painted with Twinkling H2Os, and trimmed out. I used the stem stamp that hasn't gotten much use over time. This was a good opportunity.

The sentiment letters are die cut and the gold shamrocks are punched. The shamrock center is punched, dry embossed, sanded and inked with gold. I wanted a flatter card than using a button would give me so I made an embellishment instead. You can't tell in the photo but there are Gloss Gel gems on the shamrock leaves.

http://outlineswithkathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/challenge-41-st-patricks-day.html

Stars & Stamps sketch #110

Before Valentine's Day I had been playing with this cool stamp from Purple Onion Designs. Hadn't made a card with it but when I saw the sketch this week on the Stars and Stamps blog I knew right away I was going to use the panel I'd made. The ribbon and silk cording have been in my stash for ever. The faux heart buttons are thick watercolor paper die cut using the smallest Spellbinder heart die. Usually it takes me forever to make a new card but this one came together in a snap.

Outlines' Make it Square challenge

It is unusual for me to make a square card although I love how they look. Mostly my cards are going to me mailed at the US first class rate and square cards are at a higher rate. Outlines' challenge gave me the excise to just go square anyway!

I particularly love this stamp. It is fun to layer and can be made into a masculine card or a feminine one. I heat embossed the image 3 times. As I am on a roll with the Twinkling H2Os I colored with them. Cutting carefully I managed 5 layers popped up.

http://outlineswithkathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/challenge-40-make-it-square.html

S&S sketch challenge #109

It has been ages since I did a sketch challenge for the Stars and Stripes blog. The base of this card is piece of faux paste paper I made long ago. I love the bright colors and texture. The bird collage stamp is from Art Journey, the sentiment from the dollar bin at Michaels.

It was fun to do a S&S sketch again!

Hurray for Hollywood challenge

Michael Strong challenged the group to make cards in honor of the upcoming Oscars. I used his star set on the background and embellishments. Veronica Lake had such star appeal! That photostamp is from The Stampsmith and the sentiment is from Verve stamps.

Feb sketch Michael Strong group

Not a great photo I'm afraid but it is what I have. The circle stamp is a Michael Strong image layered over a square stamp from Outlines Stamps. Both were black embossed and colored with Twinkling H2O watercolors which are sparkly with mica. Love them. I had fun using bits from my ribbon stash which have been patiently waiting for me to play with them.

Red, black and white challenge Outlines

This week's challenge on the Outlines blog was to use the colors red, black and white. The cupcake was heat embossed in black and paper pieced. I added a bit of Stickles to the frosting. The patterned papers are envelope liners. There are some red gems and red ribbon to embellish

the card. Due to the shadows in the photo the popped back window looks off but it really is centered. The cupcake is popped up too.

http://outlineswithkathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/challenge-39-color-combo-challenge.html

Feb. sketch challenge, Outlines Stamps

This sketch was a real challenge for me. My usual layouts tend to be pretty simple and symmetrical which the original sketch is not. My interpretation kind of slid it that direction though. I worked with Tombow markers and Distress inks for color.

http://outlineswithkathy.blogspot.com/2012/02/challenge-38-february-sketch-challenge.html

It was my good fortune to win the drawing for last week's challenge at Outlines Stamps. I've been looking at every stamp on their website trying to make up my mind which of the lovelies I don't already own I will choose. You know I am having a blast, lol.

Hearts

The challenge at the Outlines blog this week was hearts. I used an old stamp of theirs along with the new dies I indulged myself with. Along with gel pen I used Gloss Gel, Pearl Pen and Diamond Glaze for sparkle.
http://outlineswithkathy.blogspot.com/2012/01/challenge-37-follow-your-heart.html

You're Special

My card is for the Outlines Rubber Stamps challenge "Feeling Blue". Of course I hope this card won't make anyone actually feel blue.... I used a couple of Outlines stamps on this one including just the tiny sentiment from a much bigger stamp. It always makes me feel like I've gotten away with something cool when I use a bit of a stamp in a way not expected.

As is my obsession I used envelope liners on this card. You can't tell in this scan but the flower centers are stacked and layered. I used watercolor pencils, markers and embossing powder with touches of Gloss Gel. The card base has some Distress inking on it. http://outlineswithkathy.blogspot.com/2012/01/outlines-challenge-36-feeling-blue.html