Sailing away ...

The blog is going quiet for a few days while I sail away on a vacation! My mom, sister and I are cruising to Alaska for a week. I am so excited. I've never been to Alaska. I hope to visit all 50 U.S. states at some point in my life, and Alaska should put me at the halfway point. I'm also excited to see the water, mountains, wildlife and glaciers! I'll be sure to share some photos upon my return! In the meantime, happy stamping!

Salt inspired margaritas

Here's the second card I made for the salt-inspired challenge I'm hosting on SCS. Some SCS friends and I are taking a virtual vacation this summer, complete with weekly challenges inspired by our "travels!" You can learn more, and play along with us, HERE.
This week's tour took us to Austria, a country I spent about 8 months in while in college. Our challenge this week is to take inspiration from salt, the mineral that gives my favorite Austrian city, Salzburg, its name. For this card, I added some glitter "salt" to the rims of my margarita glasses. I just used a glitter pen to apply a small amount of glue, sprinkled on the glitter and let it dry.
Supplies:
Stamps: Margarita is a $1 stamp from Michaels, sentiment is from SU's Lots of Thoughts
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copics
Paper: green galore, gable green, cool caribbean, neenah white, Basic Grey Phoebe
Accessories: scallop circle punch, CM circle punch, glitter, ribbon

Salted background

Some SCS friends and I are taking a virtual vacation this summer, complete with weekly challenges inspired by our "travels!" You can learn more, and play along with us, HERE!
I played tour guide this week in Austria. Our challenge this week is to take inspiration from salt, the mineral that gives my favorite Austrian city, Salzburg, its name. For this card, I used the salted background technique. Following the tutorial on SCS, I used artichoke, moss and kiwi
reinkers, then I spritzed the finished, but not quite dry, background with gold glimmer mist which added a cool effect.
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity
Ink: kiwi kiss, always artichoke, mellow moss reinkers, Brilliance graphite black
Paper: mellow moss, basic black, glossy white, brushed gold
Accessories: corner rounder, ribbon, reinkers, glimmer mist, gold beads

Inspired by Kelly

I had a chance to play along in the SCS featured stamper challenge Sunday. The challenge is to take inspiration from the selected stamper's gallery. Kelly/schirmcat is our inspiration this week; I love Kelly's clean and simple/folk art style! I used this card of hers for my inspiration: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...;ppuser=146898
I used different stamps and different shades of color, but overall, kept the same layout and design. I stamped the large circle images from Unity's Fanciful Dots set in Colorbox white, then added the smaller circles, from a CTMH set, using regal rose ink.
Supplies:
Stamps: Unity, CTMH, SU All Year Cheer
Ink: Colorbox white, regal rose
Paper: regal rose, neenah classic crest white
Accessories: scallop punch, ribbon

Going Greek!

Some SCS friends are taking a Virtual Vacation this summer, complete with challenges! You can join us and play along here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/fo...d.php?t=445307
Our second stop was in Greece, so Jean/naturecoastcrafter asked us to use our "souvenirs" for inspiration. I used gold and pottery as my inspiration - the stamps reminded me of the geometric patterns found in Greek pottery. I used the stamps to make a background paper, then misted the whole thing with gold Glimmer mist. It's hard to see in the photo but adds a little touch of sparkle in real life. I also added some dots of gold with my Spica gold glitter pen. My posting will be sporadic the next few weeks as I'm planning the next leg of the virtual vacation and getting ready for a real one! One week from today I'll be on a cruise ship, headed to Alaska!
Supplies:
Stamps: Polka dot punches, all holidays
Ink: brilliant blue
Paper: brilliant blue, whisper white, brushed gold
Accessories: ribbon, spica glitter pen, Glimmer mist

Delft tulips

Sorry my stamping and blogging have been in short supply lately; I have been busy, busy, busy! I am getting ready for a big trip - a cruise to Alaska with my mom and sister! We decided to go just a short time ago, so there's been lots to do to get ready! I've also been gearing up for and going on a virtual vacation. Some Splitcoast friends and I are taking a virtual vacation through Europe and beyond this summer, complete with corresponding challenges. Pat/casep was our tour guide on our first destination, the Netherlands. She asked us to create cards inspired by the country. I chose to use the colors of Delft pottery and the tulips found so prolificly in the Netherlands as my inspiration. I kept the card simple and left it without a sentiment until I know what I'll use it for!
Supplies:
Stamps: Flower for all seasons
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Copic markers
Paper: night of navy, ballet blue, whisper white, neenah white
Accessories: ticket punch, nestabilities, cuttlebug, ribbon