New (to me) Challenge Blog

 

Hello all.

I’ve found a new (to me, anyway) stash-crashing style challenge blog.  It’s called the Retro Rubber Challenge, and the challenge is to use your old stamps — stamps that are older than one year.  You can read the rules here.

They rotate between Sketch, Color, and Theme challenges, and you have two weeks to play along.

This is a good challenge because many of us get so hung up on buying new, new, new stamps and sets that we forget all about the older ones that we used to be just as enamored of.  We buy a stamp thinking, well, I’ll be able to use it forever, but we seldom do.  We move on to new acquisitions.  Craft hoarding and acquisitiveness is a real problem among crafters, I think, why is why I started my blog in the first place, to combat that tendency in myself. I hope it has helped some of you as well.

Here is my entry in their current challenge, which is a sketch challenge:

 

 

The focal piece in the sketch is a circle, but I thought, why not a hexagon?  I love hexagons, such a balanced, pleasing shape.  Once I had that idea the card came together pretty quickly.  I’ve enjoyed doing the ATCs, so I’m continuing with that.

The stamp for the challenge is the background, the Hero Arts Hexagon Background. And the first time I posted about it was in May 2014, so it is definitely more than a year old.  I used Deco Foil for the embellishments.  I love Deco Foil! And a Tim Holtz sentiment sticker.  An appropriate sentiment, because I love papercrafting, and right now I love ATCs.

Wish me luck!  In the challenge, I mean.

Supply List

Crescent Cardboard Mixed Media ATC blank, silver

Hero Arts Hexagon Background stamp

Staz-On Teal Ink

hexagon chipboard, unknown (Maya Road?)

Recollections double-sided adhesive sheets

Glossy Accents (adhesive)

Green and Blue Deco Foil

Tim Holtz Small Talk sentiment stickers

 

Final ATC

 

Here is my last ATC, squeaked out on May 31:

 

 

My unconscious tribute to Prince?  I’m still sad about his death.  He was still young.  He died not of a drug addiction, but inadequate pain management.  Shocking that even a fortune in the nine figures can’t buy you good healthcare in this country.

Well, anyway, I named it “Paisley Park.”

This is an acrylic paint resist technique.  The substrate is Ranger Sticky-Backed Canvas. I thought it needed support, so I mounted it to illustration board.  The woodblock stamp was stamped in Tarnished Brass Distress Paint, and the Distress Stain over it is a mix of Shaded Lilac, Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord.

The woodblock stamp and the metal embellishment are from Michaels/Recollections, their “Boho” collection.  The rest of the stuff is just from my stash. None is NBUS, sadly.

So I ended up doing 29 ATCs in 31 days.  Didn’t quite meet the challenge, but good enough, I’d say! It’s been fun. I’m going to continue to do ATCs for the time being.  I have enough greeting cards stashed for now.  I’ve been trading some of them with people on Facebook.  That’s fun too.

Weekend ATCs

 

Here are the three ATCs I created over the weekend.

I wanted to do a Zentangle card during the challenge. The card base is pre-cut Bienfang illustration paper — it’s pretty thin, really just paper, you’ll want to back it with something. I liked the way my Zentangle snaked up the middle of the card, so I decided to just shade in the edges. I used my CG1 Copic for that and it worked well. This paper is meant to take markers anyway.

 

 

The Zentangles I used were, from the top, Tripoli, Lichen, Moonwalk, Printemps, and Hollibaugh. Plus some random doodling. I’m not great at Zentangling, but I hope to get better.

For this challenge, I wanted to use some of my ATC blanks in unusual materials. This next card is made of wood, Birch wood veneer. They’re from Creative Imaginations, who make, or made, a lot of ATC stuff at one time. The cards have an adhesive back, so you can mount them on greeting cards or scrapbook pages, or whatever you want.

 

 

The daisies stamp is from Stampendous, and I stamped it in Versamark and heat-embossed it with Zing! Opaque White powder. It’s a little blurry — you’d probably want to use fine detail powder if you have it.

I then colored it in with Copics — R81, RV13, G02, YG06, Y35, YR12, YR68. (See, I remembered this time.)

It’s good, but I can’t decide if it needs something more, or not. Some bling — but that might just overcomplicate it. I’m letting it be for now.

The next card is made from sheet metal!

 

 

The card blanks are thin, silver metal — aluminum, maybe? — from Imagine Crafts. I saw them featured in a video from the CHA show 2014, and finally tracked some down. This is the first time I have used them (NBUS).
Here, I colored the card with alcohol inks, ran it through an embossing folder, and then sanded it to remove some of the color and highlight the design. The alcohol ink colors I used (from Ranger) were Citrus, Juniper, Stream, and Sail Boat Blue. The embossing folder is from Provo Craft, from an Asian set I have.

Again, I think it needs more, but I don’t want to clutter it up. Any suggestions?

So far I have made 28 cards in 30 days. I’m two cards behind. If I keep it simple, I should be able to finish two more cards tomorrow and complete the challenge!

Gemstone ATCs

Here are the cards I made today:

 

 

Aren’t they pretty?  I was trying to go for a look of semi-precious gemstones like lapis lazuli or malachite.

I used Copic markers on glossy cardstock. I added some streaks of silver leafing pen to imitate veins of metal in the stone. Then I embossed the cards in the WRMK “Gemstone” Next Level Embossing Folder to get the stony facets.  I have been wanting this embossing folder for a while, so I finally got it.  I added a sentiment to one, but for the second one, I thought, no, let it be what it is.

Not sure they really look like stone, but I like them anyway.

Supplies: 

Ranger Glossy Cardstock

Copic Markers, random blues and green (sorry, forgot to note down the specific colors)

Silver Krylon leafing pen

We Are Memory Keepers “Gemstone” Next Level Embossing Folder

Tim Holtz “Small Talk” sentiment stickers

 

ATC – Love

 

 

This is my latest. It’s not great but it’s done.  I’ve had this “love” diecut sitting on my desk for quite a while — it was intended for a spectacularly failed Valentine’s card.  So I finally decided to do something with it.

I spattered the black cardstock with Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Mist, Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine, and Viva Pink Glimmer Mist, which you can’t really see — it faded into the black cardstock.  I also added some dots of glue and foiled them with red Deco Foil.

I was surprised and annoyed to discover I don’t have any gold Deco Foil (seriously, how did that happen?) so I foiled the wood veneer heart with Rose Gold Minc foil.  It looks much more glittery and metallic in real life — it’s hard to get that on camera.  As does the “love” diecut, which is red glitter paper covered with Glossy Accents.  The camera is pretty unforgiving here.

So, that’s that. On to the next one.

10 Distress ATCs

 

I saw a video of a crafter called Justine Hovey mass-producing some ATCs with Distress Ink backgrounds, here. I quite liked them, so I thought I would do that as well for my next batch of cards, as well. I haven’t played around with my Distress Inks in a while, so I thought that would be fun.

It was pretty fun. Some of them turned out really well, and some, not so well, but none of them are terrible, so far.

Here they are:

 

 

 

I did ten, like Justine, a nice round number. The card bases on these are a mix of Bienfang and Strathmore Bristol paper, and Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper. None were great — the Bristol paper didn’t blend so well, but the Specialty Stamping Paper, which is a matte clay-coated paper, really resisted the inks and stayed wet and smudgy for quite some time. I ended up with a lot of dirty thumbprints and off-color smudges, which I worked hard to blend out. I don’t think they’re all that visible, but I know they’re there! That kind of sloppiness really aggravates me. But the Distress ink just stayed so wet on the paper, it was hard to work with. I stamped the focal images with VersaFine Onyx Black, and that stayed wet for a long time too. In fact I had to lay them out to dry overnight and shut my office door to keep the cats from jumping up and smudging them. (My cat Isis likes to lay on my crafting desk, even though she knows full well she’s not supposed to.)

The little word stickers are from the Tim Holtz “Chit Chat” and “Small Talk” sets that I have been using lately. Chit Chat is individual words, Small Talk is brief sayings.

And since it’s me, I had to bling most of them up a bit.  I can hardly let a card rest without some rhinestones, enamel dots or glitter glue.

Let me break it down for you, what is what, starting from the top left:

1. Bristol Paper. The was the first one I made and I think it turned out quite well. Squeezed Lemonade and Cracked Pistachio Distress Inks. The stamp is “Daisy Cluster” by Stampendous. Stamp and Cracked Pistachio are NBUS.  This ATC is nice and simple and I had to force myself — force myself — not to bling it up and ruin it with overembellishment.
2. Bristol paper. Cracked Pistachio and Peacock Feathers inks. Stamp is the “Feathers” set from Hot Off the Press. NBUS. Again, I think this one is fine without bling.
3. Bristol paper. Tattered Rose and Spun Sugar inks. The stamp is from the “Hearts” clear set from Inkadinkado. NBUS. Blinged with glitter glue.
4. Bristol paper. Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Peacock Feathers inks. This is kind of an odd one. It’s a peacock feather, if you can’t tell. The stamp is a carved woodblock stamp from the “Boho” collection at Michaels. The kind of thing that comes from India. I stamped it first in VersaFine, and it didn’t come out so well. Then I stamped it again with my Calypso Teal Dylusions paint, which just happened to be sitting on my desk. Also did not turn out so well. I’ve read that these stamps work better with paint than ink. Or maybe fabric dye. Maybe it needs to be broken in, I don’t know. But I colored in the stamped image with my Marvy markers, to make it a little clearer what it was. Well, I do like the background. The stamp is brand new, so I can’t really say it’s NBUS.
5. Bristol paper. Shaded Lilac and Wilted Violet inks. The stamp is from the “Butterflies Cling” set by Inkadinkado. NBUS.  Blinged with Wink of Stella.  That may have been a mistake.
6. Bristol Paper. Moved Lawn and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks. The image is from the same stamp set as in Number 3. The bling are some heart gems that were a gift from a fellow crafter.
7. Specialty Stamping Paper. Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, and Mowed Lawn inks. You can see I tend to prefer the blues and greens. I have the most of those Distress colors. The stamp is from the Penny Black “Dazzlers” set. NBUS. Love those stamps! Glad to finally use one.
8. Specialty Stamping Paper. Peacock Feathers, Wild Honey, and Peeled Paint inks. I was displeased by the way this background came out, so I stamped a pattern all over it, to hide it. The pattern stamp is “Swirls” from Tim Holtz/Stamper’s Anonymous. NBUS. I like the way it turned out, but it took forever to dry. I then added a printed chipboard butterfly from K & Co.  All in all I think it turned out pretty well.
9. Bristol Paper. Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade inks. Stamps — “Flower Blocks” from Clearly Besotted. NBUS. Bling: Rhinestones.
10. Bristol paper. Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, and Mowed Lawn inks. Quite like how this background turned out. Stamp — “Mod Flowers” from Inkadinkado. Colored it in with my Cobalt Green Stamper’s Big Brush pen and added an enamel dot.

So, obviously, some of these are more successful than others.  But that is part of the point of ATCs — to experiment and try new techniques, materials, without fear of commitment to a major project.  And also, I filled one-third of my quota for this project in one go.   Not bad!

My favorites are 1, 2, 7, 8 and 10.  Which is yours?

Zen ATC

Here is the other card I made last night:

 

 

The background was done with color sprays, and the much beloved Water Droplets stamp by Designs by Ryn.  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession, and I have had it for a while.  I put it in my Use-It Box for this project.  So, yay! Using the Use-It box.

I highlighted some of the water droplets with Glossy Accents, just for fun.

Both stamps are NBUS.  Now I can retire them from my “to-be-used” bag and into my stamp storage.

Supplies:

Bristol Board pre-cut ATC blank — My Art-C

Color Sprays:

Distress Cracked Pistachio

Dylusions Calypso Teal

Tattered Angels Verdigris Glimmer Mist

Stamps:

Water Droplets — Designs by Ryn

After Enlightenment — Impression Obsession

 

 

Flower ATCs

 

Here are the two ATCs I made this weekend:

 

 

They are similar, but why not? I am trying to keep this project relatively simple, doable.

I did the one on the left first, then the one on the right.  You can’t tell so much in the pic, but the black is corrugated cardstock.  I wanted to contrast the liner corrugations with the fluffy flowers.  In hindsight, it might have been nice to spray the cardstock with some Perfect Pearls mist or such, but at the time I liked its blackness and wanted to use it to background the bright flowers.

The second one is a burlap ATC blank that I picked up at one of the big-box craft stores.  I sprayed it with Heidi Swapp Color Sprays in teal and gold.  The charm, and all the paper flowers, are from Recollections.

I brushed some Mod Podge around the edges of the burlap ATC to keep it from completely unraveling, which it would have over time.

The sentiments are stickers from two sets by Tim Holtz, “Chit Chat”(single words) and “Small Talk” (phrases.)  I quite like using them. They are versatile.  “Embrace imperfection” is a message to myself — I want my projects to be perfect, and can get very upset if they’re not.  Which of course they never are — nothing is.  I need to learn to let go somewhat.

The charm, the ATC blanks, and the Color Sprays are all never-before-used stuff. (NBUS)  So happy when I can accomplish that in a project.

So it is May 9, and I have made five cards.  I’m pretty far behind, but I am off work tomorrow and Wednesday and i plan to catch up.  I was thinking maybe I would do a triptych, three cards making one scene.  We’ll see.

That’s all for today. Thanks for reading.

 

 

Third ATC

 

Here is the ATC I made on Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday were busts, as discussed.  It’s strange, sometimes a project comes together like magic, other times they fight you every step of the way.  This week it’s the latter.

Anyway, this was made with the Gina K Flourish stamp from the new Stamp of Approval box.  It’e embossed resist with Distress inks.  After I inked and colored it, it seemed to need something, so — bling.  Of course.  The inks are Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint, and Wild Honey — one of my favorite Distress combinations.

I call it Peacock Flourish, because of the ink. Peacock Feathers is my favorite Distress color.

30 Day Color Challenge Update

Here are a couple projects I have been working on for the 30 Day Color Challenge. My hope for this project was to use a variety of my different coloring media, so that’s what I’ve been trying to do.

This first card uses the well-loved Altenew stamp set Henna Elements:

 

 

If you follow my work at all, you know I love bright colors paired with kraft cardstock. That is what I as going for here. I stamped the images and heat-embossed them. Then I was going to color them with these Neon colored pencils I picked up at Barnes & Noble:

 

 

But when I went to color, it turned out these pencils are terrible. Just garbage. Cheap, waxy, poor color laydown, not vibrant. They don’t even provide good color or coverage on stark white paper. I think I am going to just throw them out. I wouldn’t even donate them to a preschool — they would just frustrate the kids and make them hate art, and we don’t want that. Luckily they only cost about 8 bucks. I went at them with my Dove Blender Pen, and that did not smooth them out or brighten them in the least. No good.

In the end I colored the images with my Prismacolors, which are fine, and bright enough, although not quite neon. (What can I say, I came up in the Eighties, I love neon.) So it didn’t quite turn out as I hoped, but it’s a pretty enough card I think. I do love Henna Elements, such a versatile stamp set. The sentiment is from Verve Stamps.

This next card was just some simple coloring with my Copics:

 

 

This stamp set is called Happy Place, from Verve Stamps. I stamped them with Momento Tuxedo Black Ink, and kept the color scheme on each medallion (flower, whatever) monochromatic. And also cool colors. Personally, I much prefer cool colors, blues and greens, to warm ones.

When it was colored, I felt it needed something. You can’t really see it so well in the picture, but I colored some of the inner petals with my Sakura Stardust pen. After the picture was taken, i went back and added a rhinestone to the center of each medallion.

Once I finished coloring it in, I realized the medallions aren’t quite 100 percent even on the card — I left a little too much space on the top as opposed to the bottom. It looks a little unbalanced. I could try and balance that out, put a border on the top or a length of glitter ribbon. Or if I really get anal about it, I could cut the front panel off, trim it, and mount it on a new, properly centered card base. But no, I am just going to leave it. I’ve found over the years that trying to fix such minor mistakes usually just ends up making things worse. Most people aren’t going to notice such a small discrepancy anyway.

Both of the Verve stamp sets here are Never Before Used (NBUS).  So that always makes me feel good, to use something NBUS, which was the point of this whole blog after all. That was another objective I hoped to meet by following the 30 Day Color Challenge.

If you’d like to follow along the 30 Day Color Challenge, you can do so at Kathy Racoosin’s blog, The Daily Marker.  She has been posting a lot of giveaways throughout the challenge and some of them are still open, so hop on by.