myasperations 9-24-24a

     If you have visited my blog before you might have noticed that I usually like coloring, fussy cutting, and layering. CAS and mixed media backgrounds are a struggle for me! So, I was hesitant when a friend challenged me to make a few backgrounds with ink pads, a spray bottle, and a glass surface. After I realized that a few current challenges were offering a “Make Your Own Background” theme I decided to give it a try. It WAS a challenge to make such a mess on my craft table… but I was pleasantly surprised with the cards that evolved!  

                                   

For the first card, I swiped dark blue and dark green ink pads across the glass, spritzed it with water, and dabbed a piece of A2-sized, textured white cardstock through it.  I spritzed the card with water a few times, but there was little change. I think the texture soaked it up, keeping the color from spreading.

     I hosted a Stampin’ Up! party back in the 90’s, and selected a sweet wood-mounted stamp set with my hostess credits. Thus started my stamping adventure/addiction(!?) The scarecrow in this set just shouts “Autumn”… so I made it the center of attention on this card.

     I’m entering this card into several challenges including several that focus on fall/fall colors (Inspiration Station: Photo Prompt, Double D’s Challenge: Fall Leaves, and Outlawz Festive Friday: Fall is Coming) 

 

Supplies: 

·   Images- Stampin’ Up! Rubber Stamp Set “Harvest” (retired)

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

·   Front and inside Sentiments “Harvest Greetings” and “Enjoy the Autumn Leaves…” from RG Ave (Company no longer in business)  

·   Small pumpkins (fussy-cut from a scrap of patterned paper from Hobby Lobby).

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Make Your Own Background (in Stamptember) 

Inspiration Station- Challenge #65 Inspiration Prompt 

Double D’s Challenge- Fall Leaves   

Allsorts Challenge- Week 799-(Option AG)

Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday (Fall is Coming)

Outlawz Challenge- Sept 2024 Linky

      For the second card I swiped dark blue and dark green ink pads across the glass, spritzed it with water, and dabbed a piece of regular white cardstock (A2 sized) through it. A few more water spritzes spread the colors beautifully, and adding some unusual lacy splotches, and wavy stripes which inspired me to make it into an underwater scene. I dug through my “Ocean” folder of digis and embellishments, and opted to feature an adorable Merman digi from Tiddly Inks. (Although this digi is no longer available, Christy Croll, the artist/owner of Tiddly Inks still provides several freebies and coloring tutorials HERE, and sells a nice assortment of her wonderful digis in her Etsy shop HERE.)

     I embellished the card with some sweet little fishes from a Not2Shabby paper pad (see if you can find the five little fishes on the card front (the clear sticker that I removed from an Embossing Arts wood-mount stamp, and yellow and blue scraps of a plastic file folder. (These wonderful items, sometimes sold as “document file folders,”  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 you can use templates to trace shapes onto them with a permanent fine-line marker. A sharp pair of scissors will then make cutting the shapes to an easy task.)

     I’m entering this card into several challenges including ABC Christmas Challenge:“T is for traditional Christmas Colours” (The card has lots of Red and Green in the quilt blocks), and Park Hopping-My Happy Place (I love fantasy stories, and this little Merman is probably  a friend of the lovely Arial!)      

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Tiddly Inks Digi Set (Merman) Retired

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Ocean floor plants and shells- Upcycled the clear sticker removed from a wood-mount stamp from Embossing Arts (company is no longer in business)

·   Small fishes- From Keep It Simple 6x9 Paper Pack (Penguin Party) 

·   Pearl Grey photo corners- available from several web sources (WXJ13 Photo Mounting Corners)

·   Scraps of plastic file folder- Yellow (create a sandy base for the  plants and shells), and Blue (cut into an oval to help Merman stand out from background.)

·   Front Sentiment “Happy Day”- a freebie from maxammadestudio.com

·   Inside Sentiment- Freebie from TLC Creations (You Are Awesome)

·   All other items from my stash.

Entered into:  

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Make Your Own Background (in Stamptember) 

Passion for Markers Challenge- Week #758: For a Child

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #667-668

Di’s Digi Stamps- Favorite Colors (2 or 3)  Shades of Blues and Greens

Park Hopping-My Happy Place (Sept)   The Little Mermaids Undersea Adventure (Magic Kingdom USA) 

Paper Funday- #69 Anything Goes   (Twist: Make Your Own Background)

     I wanted to enter another card into the current Time Out challenge (theme Snarky), and remembered a funny sentiment that I used on a card several years ago. Although it is a little harsh, my favorite guy (husband) wasn’t offended by it (he actually laughed out loud when he read it!) so  I decided to put it to use. When paired with this Whimsy Gingerbread guy, and a background created from a mound of scraps cut into small squares pieced together to create a "quilt" in traditional Christmas colors, I like the way the card turned out!

     I’m entering this card into several challenges including Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers/BYSHC: FB Sketch Challenge, Snippets (I love how this challenge encourages me to use up paper scraps, which I did on the front “quilt” and on the strip behind the inside sentiment… which is actually a snippet trimmed from the edge of my quilt snippets!!) and Paper Funday: Make Your Own Background. 

 

Supplies: 

·   Digi- Whimsey Stamps Digi Set (Oh Snap)

·   Cookie is printed on kraft paper. Shading, highlights and eyes/buttons are colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and a Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   White Frosting- White 3D Paint

·   Sentiments- Computer Generated

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

Entered into:  

Time Out Challenge- #272 Snarky  

{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge FB- #49 September 2024        

Snippets- Week #489

Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge- Anything Goes (optional twist- Book It)

Crafty Catz Challenge- Anything Goes #678 AG      (Optional twist- AG)   

Polkadoodles Challenge- Week #37 AG                                          

ABC Christmas Challenge- “S and T are for…?”  T is for Traditional Christmas Colours