Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Get Creative Chllenges no. 20, Monochromatic Purple

Hi Stampers,

We're having our 20th challenge at Get Creative Challenges and our theme is monochromatic purple. Our sponsor is Polka Doodle. (I'll update with a link as it doesn't seem to be functioning at the moment.)

Here's my image and card.

I was complaining to my design team members the difficulty I have with copics when coloring hair and faces. So I made this gal's hair gray. I've seen gorgeous shapely women with gray hair. Some people age well. I, unfortunately, am not one of them.

I used copics to color everything and Wink of Stella in clear to go over her purse. I used lots of dies for frames, flourishes and the butterfly. Then finished it with ribbon and a ceramic flower and pearls. The sentiment is from my stash and wasn't in a set. All of the papers are different shades of purple.
Her skin tones were done with Derwent skin tone pencils. I think I do better with these than copics.

At Get Creative Challenges, we always have a sponsor, so you can win digi stamps. So don't delay. Head on over and play along with us.

Blessings,
Erica

Monday, July 27, 2015

All I Can Say is I'm a DoDo Bird

Yes, I'm calling myself names. I totally forgot to post my card for the team on my blog for Simply Create Too. I've been super busy with moving my 93 yr. old ex-father-in-law into our home. Yup, I wrote ex. He wants to spend his last days with his grands and great-grands and even me. He's a pretty spry guy for his age and we were a multi-generational family before he came. We now consist of four generations ages 7 through 93. Oh the stories we will be able to share and memories aplenty.

Here's my card for our 90th challenge, For A Precious Child.


I pulled out the pencils to color, and paper-pieced the balloon.  The image is from a British magazine that periodically includes clear stamp sets with their issues. The papers are from a Simon Says kit I had a while back. The sentiment is from a very old SU set and the button, bling and bakers twine were in my stash.  I used a W-9 die for the dash panel and a Lawn Fawn for the bracket on top and made the tag by hand with a square punch.

I also am submitting this card to one other challenge. http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.com
It's all about summer love and ice creams says it well. Gosh I wish I could eat it everyday. 

We still have a few days to post in our challenge and I'm not seeing many participants, so head on over and get crafty. I'm gonna sit by this old gent and hear stories about WW II. I suspect I'll hear them frequently. I may need to start some kind of a memory book. 

Blessings,
                                                                            Erica




Saturday, July 11, 2015

Less Is More challenge no. 232...Oh NO! One Layer

Yes Limettes, the dreaded one layer card challenge, at least for me it is. I took the plunge and hunted around my very messy desk and came up with a Stampabilities clear mount set called Fountain Pen. It was just 3 small images in a $1.99 set. I've had it for quite some time and finally, the moment came to use it.

I masked an area of a 5 x 7 Strathmore water-color ready-made card and then using Faber Castell Gelatos in yellow, orange and green shades, I smooched the colors around with a wet sponge. I've recently seen a tutorial where they apply the color directly to the sponge and then spritz the sponge. I then used my marker spritzer from SU (so glad I have been hanging onto this seldom used tool), using a Memento Paris Dusk dual marker. I removed the mask and stamped in Memento tuxedo black using my MISTI to get an accurate position within the water-colored area. I had a sentiment in mind, but couldn't see a suitable place for it. I think the card works without it. I was thinking of a torn page and ink splattered effect.


Hope you have some time to play with this challenge at Less Is More.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Blessings,
Erica

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Get Creative Challenges no. 18, Must Use Flowers

Hi Stampers,

We're having a gorgeous July 4th weekend in terms of weather and my little family gathered together at my oldest daughter's new home 20 minutes away. She's the first in the family to have a home with a pool and believe me, living in Arizona, a pool is a really good thing.

We're using flowers at our Get Creative Challenges this month and we're sponsored by The Stamping Boutique here, http://thestampingboutique.com. I used a digi image from the store and added a computer-generated sentiment. I had my hippie days in mind when making this card. I still regret not going to the Woodstock festival. And if you don't know what that was, you are definitely less than 50 yrs. old.


My card is brighter than it appears here and fun. The flowers are punched from a retired SU punch and the I colored with Bic markers. I have tons of these but don't use them since it's difficult to achieve shading. For this car, I didn't think shading was necessary. The papers are pieces I had hanging around for quite awhile. A little bling in the middle of the flowers and this car is ready to head out on its adventures.

Remember, family comes first for this fun weekend, but there are two weeks to submit at Get Creative Challenges, and we'd love to see your creations. Who doesn't own flower crafty stuff?

Blessings,
Erica