Fusion Card Challenge

I apparently had a senior moment and totally missed getting my card posted this morning for the new Fusion Card Challenge. I loved the sketch and the inspiration photo and was inspired to use an alcohol ink panel that I completed weeks ago. I used Cobalt blue alcohol ink with a gold fixative and blending solution on Yupo paper for the background. The dies (Small Marianna Vine Background and Large Marianna Vine Outline) are by Poppystamps. The sentiment is from Simple Strips Background stamp set by Taylored Expressions and was popped up with narrowly cut foam tape.

We'd love to have you play along with us and remember...the challenge is open for two weeks! Happy stamping!
                                                                 ~Wanda

Fusion Card Challenge

Every other Thursday there is a new Fusion Card Challenge and today there is a fabulous photo as well as a great new sketch to inspire us! I used both as inspiration for my card.

I had this Yupo panel of alcohol ink blending that I completed many weeks ago. The colors reminded me of the stained glass look in the inspiration photo, so that was my starting point. 

I had to really test my memory to find a dragonfly stamp in my stash but, a light bulb went off when I remembered a wood based red rubber stamp dated 1993 by Embossing Arts Co. I stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with Ultra Fine Steel Navy embossing powder by Simon Says Stamp.  It was quite the challenge to fussy cut the image but I think I did pretty well. :-) I used a larger open circle so I wouldn't cover up much of the background. It has some Pinata brass fixative mixed with the alcohol inks and is really much more elegant IRL than in this photo! The sentiment is from the Simple Strips background stamp by Taylored Expressions.

We'd love to see how you are inspired by the new Fusion Card Challenge! Hope to see you in the gallery.        ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #562

Another Wednesday means another Color Throwdown challenge is happening! Barbara Anders is our host this week and is asking us to use light blue, dark blue, gray and black.  I already had this Yupo panel of alcohol inks in blues, so it seemed like the perfect starting point. The swatch photo inspired me to ink up Bottled Up set and filled them with images from Budding Beauties stamp set - both by The Greetery.

STAMPS: Bottled Up, Budding Beauties Autumn (The Greetery).
PAPER: Yupo; White, True Black (PTI); Stationer's Desk by Prima.
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Pacific Point (SU); Fairy Dust, Silver Lining (WPlus9).
DIES: Cozy Cup Coaster, Macra Made Fillers, Budding Beauties Autumn, Bottled Up (The Greetery); Stitched Square and Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-Namics by My Favorite Things. 

Be sure to stop by the blogs of the other team members to see what they've come up with:

Amy Rohl 

 Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders 

 Broni Holcombe  

Jodi Collins 

 Lisa Henke  

Lori Tecler 

Lynn Put  

Vickie Zimmer 

 Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Hope to see you in the gallery!          ~Wanda

CAS(E) This Sketch

I'm playing along with the newest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. After watching Kristina Werner's tutorial recently on distress oxide ink blending, I went with a trio of inks that are really different from my normal style but I'm finding that I'm really drawn to this combination: Old Paper, Evergreen Bough and Black Soot!
Once those inks were dry, I white embossed with Altenew's Pure White embossing powder using the Ornate Background stamp by Simon Says Stamp.

I used these same 3 inks for all of the images and sentiment - stamping off once for a couple of the layers on the bird (Wren and Robin by The Greetery). The branches were stenciled using a couple of the Mason Jar Fillers stencils by The Greetery. The sentiment is from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You set.  The white panel is a die cut - Stitched Rounded Rectangles STAX - by My Favorite Things. The alcohol ink panel was die cut with The Greetery's Crimped Frame die.

I'm thinking this is not quite as clean and simple as it should be - haha - but it follows the sketch so I'm going with it!
                                                                            ~Wanda

Freshly Made Sketches

I generally leaf through my leftover pile when I begin to create a new card to see if there is something I can utilize. In this case, I went with a diagonal alcohol ink design in the background and layered a white over metallic gold die cut called Prim Poppy by Memory Box. I already had the simple strip sentiment white embossed on black, so this only took about 5 minutes to put together! Now, that's my idea of easy! I'm entering this into the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

It's going to be a full and fun weekend with our oldest son and family visiting from Arlington and our middle son and his wife are celebrating their son's 3rd birthday tomorrow. The cousins will have a ball playing with each other! Thanks for stopping by...
                                                               ~Wanda

Keep It Simple

There's a great new simple sketch at Sunday Stamps! I had an extra alcohol ink panel from a previous project and had an extra floral die already cut out so this card took about 10 minutes max to throw together! I only had to cut out two sentiment dies (Early Espresso by SU) to adhere together and then assembled the panel to a Pink Pirouette (SU) card base. As you can see, I flipped it to a vertical A2 layout.

I used E57 and RV11 Copic refills along with Pinata Brass mixative for the alcohol ink panel.

DIES: Thanks and Hello Word Duos (Reverse Confetti); Chrysanthemum (Hero Arts).

In case you haven't heard...it's a boy! Harry and Megan finally had their royal baby this morning, so now we can hear news other than the controversial Kentucky Derby final call - lol!

Freshly Made Sketches

Another of my fave weekly challenges is the Freshly Made Sketches challenge! This week, Kim has a great layout for us! I started with a base of 3 different alcohol inks (Lake Blue, Sky, Ocean Green) by Brea Reese. I also added some Pinata Brass mixative which adds such pretty "veining" to the background. The circle element is a fun happy birthday die by My Favorite Things. The Stitched Blooms dies are also from MFT.

The vertical strip is Luxe Gold cardstock by Papertrey Ink. Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!

Fusion Card Challenge

This warmer spring weather has got us thinking tropical thoughts on the Fusion Card Challenge blog and our inspiration photo is a beautiful ocean scene! I opted out of the sketch this time and created an alcohol ink background with Denim alcohol ink and Pinata brass mixative. 

Photos just never capture the beautiful shimmer and shine of the background like you see in real life! The images were mostly all two step stamping from Papertrey Ink's Salt Air: Flora and Fauna sets that have coordinating dies. 

INK: Pumice Stone, Chipped Sapphire, Barn Door Distress Oxide by Ranger; Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Green Parakeet, Simply Chartreuse by PTI.

For more inspiration, be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has created... Barb Ghigliotty, Jeanne Jachna, Jen Mitchell, Karren Johnson, Linda Callahan, Lyndal Higgins , Michelle Leone, Michelle Lupton, Wanda Cullen (you are here). Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in the Fusion gallery!

Freshly Made Sketches

Linda has an awesome new sketch for us over on the Freshly Made Sketches blog! I was playing with a new trio of alcohol inks from Brea Reese (thank you Michaels' coupon!) this morning. The colors were all shades of blues/green: Lake Blue, Sky, Ocean Green.  I love the veining that occurs with the addition of Pinata Brass mixative and Ranger blending solution and then "moving" the colors with air.

Here's my supply list...
STAMPS: Rejoice (Simon Says Stamp).
PAPER: Glossy CS; Smooth White by My Favorite Things; Pacific Point by SU; Tropical Teal by Papertrey Ink; Gold Mirror by Altenew.
DIES: Rejoice (SSS); Blueprints 27 (MFT) - banners; Stitched Rectangle STAX (MFT).

My big news for the day is learning late last evening that this Nana has another grand baby! Ramona Kathryn arrived to our oldest son and DIL and she has an awesome big sister, Matilda, that is 2 1/2 years old! 

Check out all that hair!  I can't wait to visit...hopefully in 2 weeks (they live about 3 hours away). Thanks so much for stopping by!
                                                                     ~Wanda

Color Throwdown

It's time for another Color Throwdown challenge and Vickie has some great colors for us: orange, yellow and blue!  Orange and blue are especially popular in VA after the University of VA Cavaliers won the national NCAA basketball championship last week!  Wahooah! A first for our state and a nail biting, heart wrenching down-to-the-wire last three games of the season! Since yellow was the third color, I went with a birthday theme (instead of UVA school colors) and was inspired to use alcohol inks based on the photo.

I used Ranger Denim, Dandelion and Valencia alcohol inks along with their blending solution.  The brass "veining" you see was obtained with adding Pinata Brass mixative to the mix.  The sentiment die is Lil' Inker Design's Boxed Up Birthday Greetings.


Here's another view of the tools I used. I like to "move" the ink colors around quickly with this "marker holder thingy" after I drop them onto the Yupo paper.  I don't know the proper name of this tool and have had it for a long time. When you squeeze the bulb, the forced air moves the ink around.  You can also use a straw but this method won't make you hyperventilate - lol!


For more inspiration, click on the design team links below: 

Amy Rohl 

Amy Rysavy
 Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collin
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer
 Wanda Cullen (you are here)

{PIN}spirational Challenges

It's hump day and I'm doing a quick post for a card I created late last evening! It's the first time I'm playing along with the {PIN}spirational Challenges, but the inspiration photo in yellow caught my eye when I was checking the daily list of challenges HERE.  Their theme is to create your own sunshine and I immediately thought of an alcohol ink panel that I created a week ago using two different yellows and gold mixative.

The flower dies are by Concord and 9th (Floral and Flutter dies) and were cut from Papertrey Ink's Luxe Gold cardstock. I love the skinny sentiments just released by Taylored Expressions (Simple Strips). You stamp 18 sentiments then use one large die to cut them out all at one time. It's so handy to grab a quick sentiment! The Pierced Feature Frames die by Papertrey Ink is a favorite of mine and was popped up with foam tape.

Thanks so much for stopping by...I'm adding this Van Gogh quote which was so perfect with this challenge:

                                        ~Wanda

Paper Players #434

Hello and happy Sunday to all! It's sketch week at The Paper Players challenge and Joanne has a really fun layout for us! I started with choosing a panel of alcohol inked Yupo paper.  The emerald green and dark blue inks and gold mixative resulted in this rather intense marbled look.  A simple Prim Poppy die (Memory Box) cut from shiny gold card stock was the only embellishment.  

I recently ordered a newly released sentiment stamp set - Anything-But-Basic Encouragement - by My Favorite Things.  This particular sentiment is probably my favorite of the set...perfect for sending a random card to brighten someone's day!

We'd love to have you join in this challenge!  For more inspiration from the rest of the talented design team, please check out their creations HERE.

Irish Blessing

 

One of my favorite sentiments to highlight during the St. Patrick's Day season is this Irish blessing from the Blessings stamp set by Verve. I did not realize that the Tag, You're It! challenge that I used to play along with has returned after taking over a year off.  Yay! (Edited to add: I just discovered the Linky has already closed for this challenge!) I tweaked the current Mojo Monday Sketch challenge a bit and changed the circle to a tag element so I could enter this into both challenges.  I played with some alcohol inks and gold mixative to create the background.  The terracotta and turquoise papers were in my massive leftover pile, so I'm not sure of the exact colors or the company they came from.  

The horizontal border is heavy weight vellum that was torn along

the two long edges.  It was adhered using four tiny brads and a bit of adhesive behind the tag. The fibers have been in my stash a VERY long time but worked out perfectly with these colors!

Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!