Black and White ONLY - I CHALLENGE YOU

In honor of World Card Making Day on October 2, 2010, Bombshell Stamps would like to challenge you!
For the past couple of weeks, the design team members have been posting challenges every few days for you to participate in.

The “rules” are simple:

1. Use Bombshell Stamps somewhere on your project
2. All submissions will be eligible for Bombshells' monthly drawing
3. All posted entries will receive a 25% off coupon toward the purchase of Bombshell Stamps
4. Challenge submission cards should be posted in the appropriate challenge thread in the Bombshell Stamps Forum
5. Deadline to post challenge submissions- World Card Making Day, Saturday, October 2, 2010

My challenge for you is to create a card using only black and white! There have been a bunch of cards that have inspired me lately, and I love love love the clean crisp look of them.

I have made two cards to share with you today.  The first was one inspired by some cards put together by One Krafty Kat. Jenny does such beautiful work, but ever since I saw these, I have been wanting to try. The Bombshell stamps from the stamp set Butterfly Queen worked perfectly with this challenge. I stamped the butterflies with Versamark on black and white EP, and Versafine Onyx on White. I cut them out and layered them on the white cardstock with the white butterfly wings popped up (ooooo Rise to the Occasion) with dimensional silicone.  On the white butterflies, I added a little bit of black Stickles. I added some crystal swirls (Bring on the Bling) and some punching around the page.

I intended that to be it. But another card idea came to me the other day while I was waiting for a meeting at work to start and I just had to put it to paper. This just seemed to leap out at me, and I know my older daughter will love it. I used the Sugar Skull stamp set, and embossed one of each skull on black with versamark and white EP. Then I did the same on white cardstock with black versafine and clear EP. I cut out the skulls and then mounted them on these squares with foam tape. I added the skull and crossbones ribbon, and then bows of the black and white polka dots.

Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know if you decide to play along with the challenge, and even if you don't, please stop by the Bombshell Forum to see what everyone else has done on these different World CardMaking challenges. The projects on there have been AWESOME!

~~Alaine

Bombshell Blog Hop - - Geography

The theme for this months Bombshell Blog Hop is Geography: Travel, foreign lands, exotic colors.

My Bombshell  for this hop has traveled to Hawaii where she got lessons in the hula.

The background is airbrushed starting with Y000, Y00, YR000, YR00, R02, RV00, RV02, V01, BV01, B14, B18.  The ocean B05, BG09 and the sand as E31, 33, 35.

The Bombshell girls skin is E11, 13, 15, her hair is E25, 27, 29, her top is RV21, 23, 25 and her skirt is YG23, 25, G29. The flowers are Y21, R22, R24. I cut her out after I colored her, and glued her down on the background. The flowers are cut using my Silhouette.

If you have arrived from Meredith's blog - - you are on the right track. You can now cruise on over to Alison's blog. If you arrived another way, fly on over to the start of the hop at Kas's blog.

Thank you for visiting my little corner of the blogiverse.  Hope you have a great day.If you get a chance, stop back tomorrow... Bombshell stamps is holding a bunch of challenges for World Card Making Day, and I will be hosting one of them that I will post tomorrow.

Easy CAS Christmas Card

I saw this stamp this week, and bought it because I ADORE these Inkadinkado stamps that have the hidden images within the images. 

Once I had stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black on Neenah... I clear embossed it and cut it with a round Nestie. I then cut the black Lacey Circle with the corresponding size, and the white from one size up out of the lacey nesties. To make the card I folded some white cardstock, and used the largest of the circle nesties I have and cut the folded piece soo that the top 1/8th or so of the circle was missing where the fold was. I then just slapped them all together. 

This was the FASTEST card I have ever made... And I love how it turned out.  Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a GREAT week.

A little Bling Bling

Cheryl hosted a second Bombshell Stamps World Card Making Day Challenge this week. Her challenge was to Bring on the Bling.

For my card I used the new Bombshell I got this week from the Butterfly Queen stamp set.

I colored her with Copics -  E000, E00 and E01 for her skin. She has a little bit of R20 on her cheeks and legs and stomach. Her outfit is colored with Y21, 23, 26 and BV01, 02, 04. Her hair is E33, 35, 37, 39. Once I had finished, I cut her out, and then I added some topaz hotfix crystals. I then added smaller clear crystals as the straps and on her belly button and shoe. These clear crystals I colored with BV04. 

She was placed on a Nestie shape. The black behind it was traced using the outside of the same Nestie that I cut the purple one out with.  I printed out the statement on yellow cardstock, mounted it on purple and then on the black. The crystals on the yellow were the clear crystals again colored with the BV04... And I added Topaz crystals on the black. Even larger clear crystals again with BV04 are on the corner of the DP. The DP by the way is from the Saffron Stack from DCWV.  Finally, after putting it all together, I added a strip of teensy eensy clear crystals on the outer edge of the Nestie, and the topaz on the top and bottom.

Thanks for stopping by! Gotta go and ink up some more stamps I just got in!

Bombshell Stamps World Card Making Challenges

So, Apparently (this was news to me too :-) )  World Card Making Day is on October 2.  So to honor that, Bombshell stamps is hosting several challenges leading up to the big day.

Every few days between now and October 2nd one of the design team members will post a challenge for you!

The “rules” are simple:
1. Use Bombshell Stamps somewhere on your project.
2. All submissions will be eligible for Bombshells' monthly drawing.
3. Challenge submission cards should be posted in the appropriate challenge thread on Bombshell's forum.
4. All posted entries will receive a 25% off coupon toward the purchase of Bombshell Stamps.
5. Feel free to participate in one or more of the challenges.
6. The deadline to post your challenge submissions--World Card Making Day, Saturday, October 2, 2010. 

The first one is hosted by Kathi:

"My challenge is to use the smaller stamps and/or icons included in each set of Bombshell Stamps to create a project of any kind. These stamps are great to use to create backgrounds, to use as embellishment accents, to decorate elements, or to support the larger focal image of each set. Use as many icons from as many different sets as you can to create a cohesive project!"

I am a little late on this, since I have been out of town on business this week, but I was able to finish this card today!

I used Flowers from three different sets. Two from Bombshell Angel, one from Sugar Skulls and one from Butterfly Queen. I colored them with all sorts of Copic colors, and then cut them out. I then used my newly acquired Lacey Circles Nesties, adn cut out some circles, and then layered the flowers in a wreath around it. I then added some more of the lacey circle nesties in the middle and added the final two layered flowers on top. I used Foam tape to adhere the flowers and the circles to give it some dimension.

After adhering them together I wrote Be Happy on the banner and mounted it to the white cardstock with the lacey border cut with MS punch around the page.

Challenges Entered: 

• Bombshell Stamps World Card Making Day Icon Challenge
• Bombshell Stamps - September Challenge -Rise to the Occasion
• SplitCoast Stampers - F4A31 - Scallops

Thanks for stopping by. I have a lot more to work on this weekend. Don't forget the Bombshell Stamps Monthly Blog Hop coming up this week! and check out some of the other challenges!

~~Alaine

Witchy Day

When I was looking at the Copic Creations challenge this week, I thought that this witch would really shine with the right shading.  I will list the colors I used below, but primarily for the shading part I used the W00, 1, 3, 6 and 7. 

After coloring the main image, I took the W7 and ran it slightly under he edge of the pumpkin, the pot and the broom. I then went over that one, still in a pretty thin line with the W6. Then I moved to W3 and smoothed it out and drug it down a bit... with more under and slightly to the right of the main portions. I also took the W3 and used it to the right of the pumpkin over the other greys and to the right of the broom as well.

I then took the W3 and ran it on the under edges, and to the right of the main images, with the light coming in from the upper left. I then dragged it a bit down and to the right with the W1 and then the W00.

Please excuse the photography today... I think things were a bit blurrier than usual.

Colors -
Greys for the pot - C3, 5,7, 9
Orange YR00, 02, 07
Purple BV01, 02, 04, 08
Green YG03, 05, 06
Broom E51, 53, 55, 57

Stamps: Whipper Snapper, Stamps by Judith

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you all had a GREAT weekend!

Paper for Copics

Hey everyone... I bought some of the X-Press It Blending card and the Copic Illustration paper for paper crafters the other day, and wanted to do a comparison for myself. I have two papers I generally use - Neenah and Hammermill (Color Copy Cover).  So I cut out strips of each one, and stamped two simple images on each one. Although I was doing it for me, to kind of get a feel, I went ahead and took pictures of them during the process to show everyone here.

DISCLAIMER - I did not take a lot of time on each one... so the coloring and stamping isn't great. Please bear with me. Also, As I said - I did this comparison for myself primarily... so these are MY OPINIONS! LOL... I am not a professional, and I do not do this on tv.

These are the four cards under an Ott Light. Sorry about the one image off the Neenah paper... I wasn't real consistent with placement of the image at this stage.

Paper weight (thinnest to thickest)

1. Copic - WOW this is thin
2. Hammermill - This is 80 lb, but  is slightly thinner than the Neenah 80 lb
3. Neenah - 80 lb
4. X-Press It - Not sure the weight, but it was the thickest of them all

I used the following colors:

Bird - B21, B23, B24, B26
Butterfly - Feathering technique Y00, Y04, V01, V04

How did each one do..

The Copic one turned out to be the thinnest of all, and the most off white. Because it was so thin, it took next to no ink to get it to blend. Blending was fairly easy. However, because of the thinness and the color, I probably won't use this one nearly as much as the others. This I think will lend itself well to windows layered on top of it, as opposed to it being raised up. The color will also do better when not mixed with a white background. This one was $7.99 for 25 sheets. (~ 32 cents / page)

The Neenah is the second thickest of the cardstock, and was rougher than both the Hammermill and the X-Press It. Because it is thicker than the corresponding Hammermill - I tend to use this more if I am going to raise the layers and / or sponge off the side of the edges. It was a little harder to blend than the rest of the papers, I think because it took a lot more ink to soak it up. Also - - it is $30 a package. (~12 cents/ page)

The Hammermill Color Copy Cover was next. This has been my favorite paper for a while, so I am a little prejudiced. When I first purchased the Neenah, the store was asking what I was looking for. When I told them smooth and white, they pointed me to this one. It is smoother than the Neenah... and a bit thinner although it claims the same weight. It is Very close in color to the Neenah. As far as blending it seemed a bit easier to me than the Neenah. But again, I use this one primarily... and so that could be due to practice. :-). Also, the price is very right - - $15.50 a package (~ 6 cents / page).

The last one was the one I was really excited about trying. This one is the X-Press It blending card. The blending on this one beat all the others hands down. The ink just slid around the paper.  It was thicker than the others, but probably the most comparable to the Neenah. It was also the brightest of the whites, or truest... not sure how to describe it. 11.99 for 25 sheets (~48 cents / sheet) so it was definitely the most expensive of the papers. However, due to the color and thickness I will probably use it for cards where I am popping that layer up and need a very bright white... and coloring a bunch.

My final take is that I will probably use all of these at one time or another... with the Hammermill still being my go to paper, and the X-Press It and Neenah being used as well. I probably will not use the Copic that much, just due to the color being so off white, but I will use it if I want a more antiqued look.

Thanks for stopping by, and if you made it through this - WOW....  I am impressed. Again - only my Opinion.

See you soon!

Timeless Spotlight

It is time for another Timeless Tuesday Challenge. The focus this week was on the spotlight technique. One of my favorite Flourishes stamps is Winter Bouquet, but it is a ton of coloring. I thought it was PERFECT for the spotlight technique. I got to use it and yet... didn't have to color the whole thing! So Quick - but still fun!

I stamped the image twice, and then cut it out with Nesties. Once I colored the inside portion, I mounted it on the dark green cardstock and cut out a slightly larger edge. As I was looking at it, I decided that the total image was a little to plain with just white, so I "reverse" spotlighted on the larger image and colored the light blue background, but not the image..... I don't know if that is a proper term, or me just making stuff up... but it is what I thought of. :-)

Close Up of Spotlight

Background is B0000

Reds are R22, 24, 27, 59 

Greens are G21, 24, 28, YG23, 25

Yellows are Y21, 23

Browns are E21, 25

Thanks for stopping by. Check out the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge. There are always some really great cards people place in the challenge.

~~Alaine

Really Quick Christmas Card

I felt the need to do a Christmas card. I was thinking about this today and decided I needed to try to heat emboss something on patterned paper. So I took these two coordinating patterned papers, and stamped Outlines Poinsettia Ornament toppers (large and holly underneath) on them. I stamped in Versafine, adn then clear embossed. I cut out the two and layered them on off white cardstock that had been embossed in the Cuttlebug.  I did cut out the center from the reddish paper on the bottom. The gold balls were added on top of that. 

This was a very easy project, and I love how it turned out. It is something that is easy to mass produce and the longest effort is the cutting out of the flowers.

I am hoping to do at least one Christmas card a week from now until time to send them out. I think that is reasonable. Have a nice day.

Ballerina Bombshell

Hey there all you people! Hope you had a great weekend. I love this Bombshell stamp but wanted to try something a bit different with her. I started this doll on Friday, but had to wait for her to dry so I could finish putting it together.

The Bombshell was stamped with Memento on Hammermill Color Copy Cover. I colored her with Copics, but wanted it to appear like she had on tights and a leotard, so I only colored her arms, face and chest with the E0000 and E000, E00 series. I added a bit of R20 on the shoulders and her chest, as well as her cheeks for blush.  Her tights are RV0000, RV000 and RV00. Her leotard is RV000, RV00 and RV02 with a LITTLE bit of RV06.  Her hair is E13, 15, 17. 

Once I finished coloring her, I mixed baby pink and white flower soft together and glued down a shape of a tutu. After I was happy with the tutu, I added a bit of Crystal Stickles over it to make it shimmer.  Once the flower soft and stickles dried, I used some pink VersaMagic ink, and smudged a bit at the edges of the cut image. I also sponged some on the inside of the fancy tag after which I stamped Sparkle in Versafine. The ribbon I decided to use had silver edging, so when I put it down, the edge of the image and the edge of the pink looked a little plain. So on the edge of the main image, and the edge of the pink, I clear embossed and used silver tinsel Zing with heat embossing to have a rough silver edging. This was all mounted on the Silver Bazzill Bling paper as cardstock.

For all you who love challenges, you should check out the Bombshell stamps website. They have a monthly theme challenge, and a monthly sketch challenge. They give out a different prize each month!

See you all later. I am off to try to be crafty before all the benadryl kicks in from the wonderful grass allergies!

~~ Alaine

Shalom

This was a card I did for my first assignment for Outlines Rubber Stamps.  I used one of their BEAUTIFUL split layering collages. This particular one was the Judaic Split Layering Collage. I also used the Shalom stamp.

I cut out three of the images from the Split Layering Collage. I colored the images with my Copic Markers. I used the B21, 23, 24, G21, 24, 28, R22, 24, 27, 29 and Y21, YR21.  I colored the edges of the blue so that they were darker, and blended inward. I also used the same blue and coloring technique on the center of the Shalom stamp. I think the flames on the top right image are my favorite. They are blended from Y21, to YR21 to R22 on the very top. I used some tip to tip technique to get the gentle fading.

After coloring, I layered on red and then blue. This was all posted on Red and then again on the blue card-stock. The Shalom stamp I stamped twice. The first on white, and the second on the blue. I used Gold stickles every other star. I cut out the outside of the image for the stars. and the inside image from the white stamp with the colored image. I layered this on the red. Because there was already so much blue, I decided that there was no need for this image to be layered again on blue. 

Even though I am not of the Jewish faith, I think that these stamps are beautiful and versatile and can be used for many different occasions.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! And to everyone - Shalom. 

~~ Alaine

Hey - This is Shakespeare!

This is my card for this weeks Kenny K's Krafty Girlz challenge. The challenge this week was swirls and pearls. 

I love these Kenny K digistamps. This one is "Miss Fortune" although to me she is Charro!

I have of course colored her with Copic markers. The pinks are RV00, RV02 and RV06. I tried the RV04, but it was kind of orangish compared to the two on either side of it. The skin is E000, E00, E01 and R20 for the blush. Hair is E13, 15, 17 and E08. The blacks are C3, 5, 7 and some black spica. The skin was colored completely, even under the mesh, and then I went back and added C1 over the mesh areas, with the exceptions of the strategically ripped holes. The shoestrings are black spica.

Close-Up

Inside of Card

The paper is DCWV from their Halloween glitter stack and the Black Currant stack.

The quote really is Shakespeare. I just thought for some reason it went with the little temptress. It comes from his poem "Venus and Adonis".

Two Projects - Loving this Weekend!

I have had a chance to make a LOT of stuff this weekend, because it is the first weekend in a long time with not much to do. Make it a long weekend and WOO HOO.

The first project is a 3-D project I made for my daughter who is a Freshman in College this year. She has a metal door that they can hang magnetic things on in her dorm, so I made her and her roommate letters that were blinged up to put on the outside of their door. For my daughter I have an S, with primarily black and red blings. She loves the sugar skulls from Bombshell stamps and asked that I put some of them on the outside.  So I colored up the skulls, and then crystal laquered them. I painted the letter black, and then added the bling (Crystal stickers), and then put the skulls on there.

Close Up of the skulls

This was a lot of fun. For any of you that like tattoo art, you should check out the Bombshell stamps.  I love to color these things!!!

The second project I did was done to practice some airbrushing. I just got a new compressor that is MUCH quieter (read between those lines - it doesn't make me scream every time it powers on). So I took the Our Craft Lounge stamps that I received a few weeks ago and colored up the cactus. I love this set.  I colored the cactus, and then masked it off and colored the sky and the sand with my airbrush. (the colors for the sky are B91, 93, 95 and R81. The Sand is E31, 33. The cactus is G20, YG63 and Yg67 and the pinks are R81, 83, 85, 89. 

Close Up of the Airbrushing

After I had colored and cut out the cactus, I realized that it was the perfect shape for the OCL challenge this week. WOO HOO. So I made up the card following that sketch. 

 Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon.

~~ Alaine

Happy Third Birthday Flourishes

This is my entry for Flourishes Release Week Challenge.  They just turned THREE! Woo Hoo. I love their stamps, and always look forward to this challenge. This months Release week challenge was to make a birthday card for them. 

Anyone who doesn't know about it, you need to go check it out. The winner for this week gets a change to win all the new releases PLUS 6 more stamp sets = a total of TEN stamp sets. WOW!!! It is a great package.

For this one I used the Lace Edges set and made an Exploding Birthday Box. I stamped with Versamark, and the lid is embossed with silver, and the box is embossed with Fine Black EP.  Inside I cut out a Fancy tag and embossed the Happy Birthday from Flourishes set. 

I used the tutorial by Beate over on SCS to make the box. You can find it here. 

~Alaine

Undercover Angel - Twice the Challenge Fun!

This weeks challenge at Kenny K's Krafty Girlz was about music. Ever since I read the challenge and looked at the images I have, I kept coming back to the Devilish Donna image. And the song Undercover Angel would not leave my mind. I colored her, and then struggled to find paper, etc... to match. 

After Coloring her (see below) I cut her out and then mounted her on this paper that I cut with a Nestie. She is popped up in the middle and not on the edges to give her some dimension. (Thanks to Jenny Gropp for that technique trick). My youngest daughter is a clogger, and so to me the feet were creating the music. I had the notes cut out with my Sillhouette, and then added a little pearl bling to them. The edging of pink was with my new Martha Stewart Punch around the page set.

I colored her with Copics all of the 0 families. So the B0000, E0000, RV0000, Y0000 (these were all the bases). I did not go over an 02 in any color other than Yellow where I went up to a Y04. I used a little spica in places to make her shine. The wings are done with the feathering technique using the B0000 and RV0000 series. As I was cropping the picture I realized that this also met the Copic Creations Challenge for coloring Pleats. WOW. YAY.

Thanks for stopping by. I have to post this fast to make the Kenny K deadline!

Have a great weekend!

~~ Alaine

One piece of paper = One neat card

The challenge for this weeks Ways to Use it Challenge on SplitcoastStampers is to make a card out of a single piece of cardstock. I can't believe how easy this was. I took a single piece of 8.5 x 11 Neenah cardstock, and first cut it down to allow for a standard card size. The other half, I stamped the Flourishes Peacock stamp on a section. After coloring it with Copics (BG05, 09, V04, YG03) I cut it out with a Nestie, and then sponged over the inside edges.  The sentiment is also Flourishes, and also cut out with a Nestie fancy tags.  

The base was embossed with a new Cuttlebug folder from the Asian series. I then took the same summer sky blue memento I used within the Nesties and used it to edge the outside and sponge the raised portions. The "ribbon" is just a simple strip of paper that is sponged with the same blue.

This was really fun.

Thanks for stopping by! For those in the US I hope you all have a great long weekend. Come back by if you have a chance, I hope to do some more fun stuff!

~~ Alaine