AYSI Challenge 005 and Parrots

Parrots are fascinating birds.  Some, like African Greys, are extremely intelligent and some have vocabularies in the order of 500 -900 words.  They have been known to use them in appropriate context.  One African Grey, upon meeting Jane Goodall, asked, "Got a chimp?" after seeing pictures of her with chimpanzees in Africa.

One my hubby knew about was left alone in a car with the family dog at a ferry terminal.  The dog who was on leash in the car, leaped out the window and was hanging by his leash, choking.  The parrot kept yelling, "Help!  Help!" until someone came and rescued the dog.

They are some of most colourful birds in the world as well, sporting brilliant hues of reds, blues, yellows, oranges and greens!








Which brings us to this week's As You See It Challenge, designed by the lovely and talented Amanda Turner!

Gorgeous fall colours, but my card has a kind of summery look to it, perhaps in denial that summer is well over now!

• In a city a couple of hours north of us, Kamloops, they have a little stretch of road known as the Marigold Mile. Although it isn't even close to a mile, it is planted profusely with bright orange marigolds and that's what I was thinking when I watercoloured the orange and yellow flowers from Secret Garden.  
• The white lily just kind of wandered lost onto the Marigold Mile and stuck out like a sore thumb!  I used an aqua painter, and our challenge colour ink pads to do the watercolouring: Crushed Curry; Pumpkin Pie and Gumball Green.

• The Crushed Curry DSP is from Sweater Weather.  The more closely I look at all the designs in that series the more I love them.  This one just sets up the cheeriness of this card.  
• I haven't used Gumball Green in forever.  Nice to get a chance to use this lovely stitched satin ribbon again for the second time in a week! (See this post.)
• Let's hear it for framelits!  Hip! Hip! Hooray!  It's so easy now to find perfectly coordinated mattes for all the basic shapes now.  You just have to pick the framelit next larger in size.  That's how I created the Pumpkin Pie matte for the image oval.
• And while we're cheering, let's hear another for Candy Dots!!  If your project needs a little somethin' somethin' after it's all put together, no need to tear it apart to add brads, just pop off one or three candy dots in the appropriate colour and add.  No mess, no fuss!

Okay, there you have it!  And isn't it Friday today?  Another cheer for Friday!  Woo hoo!  Have a great weekend!

Stamps:Secret Garden (w131940; c129144); Express Yourself *(w130336; c130339)

Paper:  Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper (132184); Watercolour Paper (122959); Pumpkin Pie (105117) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  StazOn Jet Black (101406); Classic Stampin' Pads in Pumpkin Pie (), Crushed Curry () and Gumball Green (); Stampin' Write Markers in Pumpkin Pie (105115), Crushed Curry (131262 as part of the Regals Collection) and Gumball Green (126856 as part of the 2012 - 14 In Colour Collection)

Accessories:  3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon in Gumball Green (126848); Brights Collection Candy Dots (130931)

Tools:  Aqua Painter (103954); Ovals Collection Framelits (129381), Secret Garden Framelits (129372)

*Hostess Only stamp set 

Aqua Painters

Secret Garden Framelits

Secret Garden Stamp Set

Sweater Weather DSP

StazOn Jet Black

Gumball Green Stitched Satin Ribbon

Ovals Collection Framelits

As I sit down to write this post, all I can think about are the devastating floods in Alberta.  Some are calling it the worst flooding EVER in that area!  And it hit so suddenly without much warning for the evacuees.  We have family in the area and haven't heard from them yet, so we're hoping they're okay and haven't had to evacuate.

Albertans are pretty tough and resourceful, as evidenced by this photo from Shine FM, but as the flood waters continue to rise and the rain continues to pound down, it must be hard to stay hopeful.

This photo, from CJAY92 shows the High River living up to it's name!  One place particularly badly hit is Bragg Creek, a beautiful little village with some wonderful shops and art galleries.  Homes were actually being washed away in that part of southern Alberta.

Our prayers are with these residents, and we pray that the worst is over and that things will begin to be restored soon.




The card I wanted to share with you is a shameless CASE of a lovely card by LeeAnn Greff of Flowerbug's Inkspot.  I was looking for techniques using vellum for an up-coming Technique Night and I found her card on Pinterest.  It was so pretty, it was my number one choice for this technique.

 

• As you can see, I haven't changed the design much at all, except for to switch out the retired Baja Breeze with the new Coastal Cabana!
• The Secret Garden flowers were stamped with VersaMark ink on Stampin' Up's White Vellum cardstock, then heat embossed with White Stampin' Emboss Powder.
• Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana and Daffodil Delight ink were sponged on the back of the flowers.  Ink takes more time to dry on the vellum, so I used the Heat Tool on the first setting to dry it more quickly.
• The coordinating Secret Garden Framelits were used to die cut each flower.   As you can see, you can do pretty much anything to vellum that you can to regular cardstock, but you need to take a little more care and time.  

• The sentiment is from the Lacy and Lovely Stamp Set and is stamped in StazOn Jet Black ink.
• I used Pistachio Pudding to stamp the leaves from Secret Garden on the Whisper White panel.  
• After first stamping the leaves and the sentiment, the panel was then embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. 
• The Rhinestone Basic Jewels were coloured with permanent Sharpie markers before placing on the flower centers.
• The flowers were adhered to the card with half a Dimensional each.

I hope you are warm and dry and safe today!  Count your blessings!

Stamps:  Secret Garden (w131940; c129144); Lacy and Lovely (w132025: c122887)

Paper:  White Vellum (101856), Coastal Cabana (131297) and Whisper White (100730) cardstock

Ink:  VersaMark (102283) and StazOn Jet Black (101406); Classic Stampin' Pads in Pear Pizzazz (131180), Coastal Cabana (131175) and Daffodil Delight (126944)

Accessories:  Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246); White Stampin' Emboss powder (109132)

Tools:  Secret Garden Framelits (129372); Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impression Embossing Folder (117335), Heat Tool (129053)

Secret Garden Framelits

Secret Garden Stamp Set

Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder

Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

StazOn Jet Black Stamp Pad

VersaMark Stamp Pad

Mojo Madness

So, I had this idea for card making!  Actually the idea was swimming around up there in the brain fluid for a few weeks.  When I used to teach art as an elementary school teacher, we used to do a project where we chose two similar sized, but quite different photos - maybe one landscape of some kind, and one an animal close up shot.  Then we would crop them to the exact same size - half the length that we needed for the final product.  Each photo would be cut into, say, 1/2" strips, then we would mount them on the backing alternating the first strip from one photo, then the first strip from the other photo, and repeated until the backing was full.  It created some striking looking projects.

When I saw this week's Mojo Monday challenge sketch, I almost squealed!  It was perfect for my technique!!  I could hardly wait to get started.  I was wishing I had some large animal stamps.  In retrospect, I could have used Swallowtail, and I think I will give it a try, but see what you think.  Do we have a new technique here?  Let's call it the Paper Strip Mosaic Technique!

This, by the way is the Mojo Monday #285 sketch:

See what I mean?  Julee Tilman is a mind-reader!  Yes, she is!

The longer strips in front were stamped with an image from Serene Silhouettes in VersaMark ink, then heat embossed with Early Espresso Embossing Powder.  Then the Very Vanilla card stock was sponged using Pretty in Pink, Wisteria Wonder, and Pool Party ink.

The strips on Crumb Cake behind them were stamped in VersaMark with Secret Garden stamps and heat embossed with White Embossing Powder.  I then used an Aqua Painter and painted White Craft ink all over the images.  When this had completely dried, I again use the Aqua Painter and added some touches of Pretty in Pink, Wisteria Wonder and Pool party to the flower images.  I just love the look this gives - sort of a faux vellum effect!

The sentiment is from Vintage Verses, one of the free rewards from the Sale-A-Bration folder for every $60 you spend.  I wanted to feature the Sale-A-Bration rewards, because they've been soo awesome this year and there are only 3 days left of Sale-A-Bration!  Don't be disappointed and miss out.  I made sure you knew about it, right!?  Make sure you call or email me with your order of $60 or more by midnight, Thursday, March 21, so that I can get the order in on time!

You know what else is awesome - My Digital Studio!!  I love it and Stampin' Up has gone and done something unbelievable!    They Lowered the Price!! Who even does that these days!  Because MDS is so popular, the suppliers lowered their price due to volume, so Stampin' Up passed on the HUGE savings to us.  The former price for the software was $99.95.  Now we can get the same product for $24.95!  How crazy is that?  You can't afford NOT to try it at that price!  Call me if you are interested!  Check back over your emails for the last 8 days and look at all the Sale-A-Bration bundles I am offering to help you earn those Sale-A-Bration rewards, and get yourself invited to Celebrate Sale-A-Bration party on April 20!  Call me if one catches your eye!

Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes (w127322; c127324); Secret Garden (w129141; c 129144) (also available bundled with the Secret Garden Framelits); Vintage Verses (w129633; 129636)

Paper:  Crumb Cake (120953), Early Espresso (119686), Very Vanilla (101650), and Pretty in Pink (100459) card stock 

Ink:  VersaMark (102283); Classic Stampin' Pads in Pretty in Pink (126955); Pool Party (126982), Wisteria Wonder (126985), and Early Espresso (126974); Craft Stampin' Pad in Whisper White (101731)

Accessories:  Stampin' Emboss Powder in Early Espresso (128980) and White (109132), Natural 7/16" Trim Ribbon (129287); Artisan Embellishments Kit (129328)

Tools:  Heat tool (129053); Stampin' Pierce Mat (126199); Paper-Piercing Tool (126189),  1 3/4" Circle Punch (119850); 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch (118874)

Kaleidoscope Stampers's Blog Hop

I am so excited to be a part of the very first blog hop by the Kaleidoscope Stampers!  When we go to team meetings and see all the creations of the members of the group, the talent is just so evident that we decided we needed a blog hop to share it with all our fellow stampers out in cyberspace.  And you, too, get to witness history as the Kaleidoscope Stampers present:  (drum roll, please)

 The First Ever Kaleidoscope Blog Hop!!

Thank you so much for joining us on our very first Kaleidoscope Stampers Blog Hop!  We are very excited to share what we have been working on with you.

You have likely joined me from Danielle's blog!  Doesn't she design the greatest cards?

 The theme for today's Blog Hop is the new Spring/Sale-A-Bration catalogue, with all cards showcasing products available in the catalogue and Sale-A-Bration brochure.  Here's my card:

This is the first time I have used the Secret Garden stamp set, though I have admired it for a long while.  It's the first floral stamp set to have framelits coordinated with it (if you don't count the Floral Frames Framelits, which coordinate with the Daydream Medallions stamp set, beautiful and flower-like but has no real flowers in it.)  Because these flowers can be die-cut with the framelits, I immediately thought of doing some water colouring.

I used a spring-like colour palette of Primrose Petals and Summer Starfruit.  I stamped the flower images in VersaMark ink and heat embossed them with black Stampin' Emboss Powder.  Then I used an Aqua Painter to pick up ink from the lid of my stamp pads and added it to the flower images with the darker colours in the center of the flower and the insides of each petal, fading to a lighter shade on the edges.  I spritzed them with water to let the colour puddle a bit in each leaf and let them dry.  When dry, I die cut them using the coordinating framelits and curled the petals a bit both up and down, to enhance the 3D effect, then used glue dots to adhere them to the image panel.

The background panel is Primrose Petals Core'dinations card stock, embossed with the Honeycomb embossing folder and sanded to bring out the design.  A little Primrose Petals lace from the Artisan Embellishments kit  adds a little interest to the bottom.  The sentiment is stamped in Jet Black StazOn ink and is from the Pop Up Posies designer kit.  Hope you enjoyed this design and you can get more great ideas from the rest of the participating blogs.

Hop on over to the next blog by the following the next link:

1.  Amanda Turner              

2.  Tamara Casorso               

3.  Kristin Noble
4. Tara Angus                                       

5.  Desirée Spenst                 

6.  Danielle Calder                 

7.  Heather Cooper               

Stamps:  Secret Garden (w129141; c129144); Pop Up Posies Designer Kit (w131395)

Paper:  Summer Starfruit (126839), Basic Gray (121044) and Whisper White ( 100730) card stock; Primrose Petals Core'dinations cardstock (129322)
Ink:  VersaMark Ink (102283); StazOn Jet Black (101406); Classic Stampin' Pad in Summer Starfruit (126991) and Primrose Petals (126858)
Accessories:  Artisan Embellishments Kit (129328)
Tools:  Secret Garden Framelits (129372); Honeycomb Embossing Folder (129378); Aqua Painter (103954); Stampin' Sanding Block (129367)