myasperations 8-19-24

    I am honored to have served as a Guest Designer for Beccy Muir at Beccy’s Place and am now one of her “Contributors” (which means that she provides me with digis, or clear stamp sets several times a year and I get to create cards/other items with them!) It is always fun to see the images Beccy invites me to use. 

    This time, the dig set is named, “Vintage Toys.” When I got my first glimpse of this vintage monkey toy, it filled me with warm childhood memories.  memories of my beloved Grampa Vic in the early 1960’s. He had a collection of automated toys that thrilled his horde of grandchildren. The slightly freaky monkey scared 4-year-old me when Grampa first introduced him at a family gathering in Nebraska. But as soon as Grampa dropped a T nickel into the coin slot on his back, the monkey began clanging the small cymbals together and our laughter erupted.

     I printed, colored, and fussy-cut the monkey, leaving his cymbals white. I then used scraps of vellum to trace the cymbals, which I fussy-cut and covered with strips of aluminum foil tape, which is easy to cut to size and has an adhesive back that adheres to the vellum cymbals. I used a stylus tool (or an old pen out of ink will also work) to score the cymbals and added a bit of shading to these score lines with a black, permanent fine-line Sharpie pen. After trimming the now aluminum spheres with my trusty craft scissors, I adhered them to the monkey's cymbals. I sketched simple stars onto the back of another stop of the foil tape, fussy-cut them, and used them as embellishments on the front and inside sentiments. (An added note-I stumbled upon this great item in a hardware store, and it sticks much better than the silver washi tapes I’ve tried.  It is easily scored or written on with permanent markers. Versatile and cheap! You can find a link in my supply list.)

 

Supplies: 

·   Digi and Sentiments from a Beccy’s Place Digi Set (Vintage Toys)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers, Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen, and a Sharpie fine-line black marker.

·   Aluminum Foil Duct Tape- I found the one that I use HERE. (30 Foot-long roll for just $5!)

·   Black photo corners available from several web sources (WXJ13 Photo Mounting Corners)

·   Patterned paper, scraps of vellum, and other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Passion for Markers Challenge- Week #752: Add a Sentiment 

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Add a Sentiment  

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #661-662

Paper Funday- #68 Anything Goes      

We Love Stamping- Focal Sentiment or Quote  

      This sweet card features a digi named “Snowman with Bauble” that is one of the freebies available at Beccy’s Place website.  I had fun making featuring the little cutie on this card, adhered to a section of an upcycled calendar page, and adorned with a flurry of die-cut snowflakes. I used Beccy’s pre-colored digi, but added a few shadows and highlights to the little pudge. I especially like how I was able to create the look of white fur on his hat with my trusty white gel pen. It looks so soft that I almost want to pet it!

     NOTE- Although I’ve been making cards for a few decades, I didn’t start using digital images until around 2016, which is also when I discovered Beccy’s Place!  I now use digis most of the time in my cards and love both the simplicity of digis and the variety of images available. All you need is a dependable printer, cardstock, and something to add color (markers, crayons, colored pencils, gel pens, watercolors, etc) and you can get started!

     Many digital artists now often their digis in a pre-colored format, which can make creating cards possible even for those who don’t like to color, or have limited coloring supplies. Beccy has a large number of freebies available.  If you want to get a peek at all the freebies, you can find them HERE. (Beccy also adds a new freebie on her challenge site at the beginning of each month! You can find the current challenge link on the left side of her website. Here is a link to the August freebie, a yummy iced mocha (which makes me want one.... now!)

Supplies: 

·   Pre-colored Digi- A freebie from Beccy’s Place (Snowman with Bauble)

·   Shaded/highlighted with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Front Sentiment “Hello” Freebie from GraciellieDesign (HelloWords)

·   Inside Sentiment- The Paper Shelter Digi Set (Vintage Xmas Designs)

·   Heart Stickers- Walmart Stickos

·   Stickles, assorted snowflake diecuts, and other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Outlawz Challenges- Monday Greeting Challenge (Hello/Miss You)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends- #236

Polkadoodles Challenge- Week #33 AG                                          

Park Hopping-My Happy Place (August)  Winter-Badlands Snow Park (WI)   

Beccy’s Place Challenge- August  

        Since I’m a Contributor for Beccy’s Place, I’m entering just for fun!

      My final card features an elegant background from a digi set from The Paper Shelter named “A New Beginning.” The digi is originally in gold and brown, I used my Word program to reformat the coloring to a more “Victorian” color scheme (regal tones of purples, pinks and teal.) I cut the center from the background, to create a frame for the sheet music, which I topped with a scrap of purple plastic file folder. (If you follow my blog you’ll know that I use these wonderful items quite often. Sometimes called document file folders, they come in a pack of assorted colors and can be found in the office supply section of most stores. They're cheaper than colored vellum and more translucent. Punches and dies don’t work on these sheets, but they are easy to cut with sharp scissors. And you can use templates to trace shapes onto them with a permanent fine line marker.)

     I stamped, colored, fussy-cut and hung elegant ornament atop the framed music sheet, adhering it with double stick tape, and securing it in place with a short strip of white cord that is taped to the back of the elegant background. Lastly, a sentiment from The Paper Shelter was added to the inside of the card, plus a bow of sheer gold ribbon was adhered to the ornament top, and stickles were added to the ornament, creating some sparkly Christmas magic!

     I’m entering this card into several challenges including ABC Christmas Challenge- 'P is for Pink’ (The background on the card front included several shades of pinks and Fuchsia.) 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- The Paper Shelter Digi Set  (A New Beginning)

·   Ornament Image- Stampin' Up! Ornamental Pine Clear Stamp Set (Retired)

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers, Gold Marvy Marker,  and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Sheet Music behind ornament- upcycled from an old song book

·   Inside Sentiment- The Paper Shelter Digi Set (Vintage Xmas Designs)

·   Sentiments- Computer Generated

·   Diamond  Stickles, Gold sheer ribbon, Gold glitter paper, white cord, and other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

The Paper Shelter- #606- Summer Break AG

Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge- Anything Goes (optional twist- Music)

Outlawz Challenge- August 2024 Linky

ABC Christmas Challenge- “P, Q, and R are for…?”  'P is for Pink'