Altenew Inspiration Challenge - A Pop Art Card

Altenew is hosting their annual Year in Review Inspiration Challenge which I have to say is a very cool idea!


So what does it involve?  Well the instructions taken from their blog post linked above are:

"to take inspiration from one of the past Inspiration Challenge photos and be inspired to create stunning projects! Maybe take the colors, the theme, the composition, or something else from the photo – as long as you get inspired, then it’s fine by us".  

The inspiration images are presented in this  collage: ➡➡➡

So now what?  

Well the first thing that occured to me (probably subconciously inspired by the grid-like presentation of the past challenge photos) was that I had planned to do a grid style project from the recent Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, but ran out of time.  😒

The three colours in each of the past challenge photos further reminded me of Andy Warhol style pop art where the background of each section is one colour, outline of the object is a second colour and background of the object is a third.

It seemed simple enough, but Andy Warhol used silk screen technique so rich, vibrant colours could be layered on top of one other without bleeding and lighter colours could be painted on top of darker ones.

The way I saw it, I had three options:

1.  Heat embossing (with coloured embossing powder) ideally onto a second colour of cardstock and cut out and stuck onto a third colour.  The problem is that I only have neutral colours of embossing powder.

2.  Dye ink image stamped onto white cardstock and coloured with alcohol markers.  This method would have given the vibrancy of colour, but even alcohol markers going over a lighter dye ink can alter the colour of the ink and it would look messy and not give a good distinction between two out of the three colours

3.  Stamp the image in Archival ink onto white and watercolour before sticking onto background colour.  

This is eventually what I did.  

I opted to use Distress Ink as the watercolour since I know it can be successfully layered over Archival, and the changing of the stamped image only happened when the watercolour was comparably dark.

It's far from ideal because watercolour isn't as rich and still looks a bit blotchy.  Maybe if I had used watercolour paper rather than smooth white cardstock I could have worked with it a bit more before the paper threatened to start balling up. 😖😖😖

I wasn't trying to be overly accurate in terms of the direction of the light source, but it was a little bit inevitable since the coverage was not going to be even regardless of what I tried.

The cards actually do look a little better "in real life" from this perspective since either a flash or harsh sunlight seemed to accentuate the issue.

As far as the images themselves went, I was certainly spoiled for choice when it came to images coffee paraphernalia by Altenew.  Unfortunately many were too large to use this technique on and still fit onto a card front.

I picked the dripolator from the Coffee Love stamp set and the tea cup with the lemon from the Tea Time stamp set.  Shaky hands and shortage of time meant I had to omit the lemon and juice drops and just cut out the cup.  😡

I picked 9 colour schemes from the above inspiration photos since I could see either a 2x3 or 3x3 configuration working.  It also depended partly on which ink and cardstock colours I had and how close they were to the inspiration.  I stamped all nine for both images since it was easier and I'd figure out which 5 to choose when I got to that point.

It became a production line of sorts and would work quite well when making a set of cards since multiple images could be stamped with a MISTI (which I might add was invaluable in building up an intensity of colour that made me happy).

With the three leftover dripolators I ended up making a bonus card!  2018 has definitely been a year where I have been trying hard to be more efficient and if I can make one card, I can just as easily do two or more. 

Now it wouldn't be me if something didn't go wrong, right? 😂. Well the sewing machine was acting up (again) and I wasn't planning on adding any extra embellies (shocking I know!), I did end up having to hide a few of the more obvious imperfections create design features. 😉 And let's not forget the text size in today;s post.  I've tried formating it the best I can, but some still doesn't want to co-operate.

Altenew came through once again with the sentiments from Coffee Love, Coffee Talk and Vintage Teacup. 

Well this was definitely an interesting exercise and I'd love to try this style of card again for sure and I'd try different methods to see whether I can get a better result.

Love and copious colourful creations,

Sketch Challenge and Boy Layout

 I think you need some background first!

Khristina Sorge and Sara Scraps run the Rediscover Your Stash Facebook group which is a spinoff from a regular spending freeze event they ran a few times a year.  It still happens, but within the group now.

So Khristina who is also Girl Boss over at Redefined Kreative & The Secret Not Secret Kit Club has a weekly sketch challenge and she posted this one over on RYS.

 

I took it as a dare since it wasn't my usual style - very clean and simple and using a grid to boot.

I have plenty of gaming related photos of a certain SmallCraftyDude and my initial thought was to use the squares to create old school gaming graphics, but there were too few and while I may do it in the future, it sounded like way too much hard work.  If for no other reason than my desk being lost under a pile of scrapping debris so I had  to scrap on the floor on the other side of the room.  #TrueStory

Then I remembered this mini kit by Echo Park from about 2014.  I was initially inspired by that paper with all the words (behind the coffee cup and Lego Mindstorm 😏), yet it didn't end up making the cut. 🤷 

There is usually a monthly product focus at RYS and this month it's punches.  I had one that I thought might work.  It was 1 3/8" square,  Not 1.5 or two but 1 3/8.  Not a huge drama 'til I had to CUT the longer pieces so I needed to incorporate the gap between two squares in the measurement and plenty of adding fractions was required. 😩

THIS, boys and girls is why you still need maths after finishing high school!  💪💪💪

I don't usually calculate or measure gaps!  Now I remember why these grids are not my bag!  I'm never one to turn down a dare so I kept going.  My punch was smaller than the squares on the sketch so I used more of them and to balance I added a third longer strip.

Once I was done with that, I glue the squares on to do the stitching and pulled off the larger ones where the stitching intersections had to go UNDER as I went.  Because it's too easy to do it in advance!

Once again a spectacular technology fail ensued.  The needle got jammed and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't wiggle it loose when normally it works.  I had little time or patience for such nonsense so out came my...erm...big girl bolt cutter thingies (I'm sure this isn't their real name) and it was awfully satisfying to snap that needle in two.

I probably should have checked I had a spare (I mean...I DO, but I'm particular about my paper needles).  In it's defense, the holes in the paper were getting a bit big so was probably time to change the needle anyway.

Journaling and ink splatters done and time for the title and embellies.  Oh and Thanks, Bella Blvd for naming one of your collections after my kid!

I cut a section out of the branding area of the sticker sheet and started my journaling with it!















I had a fairly large collection of die cuts and stickers shaped liked sneakers, but they're always in the style of Converse?  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of Converse stories to tell too, but SmallCraftyDude is a Vans man.

I just had to cover up most of it to make it a little less specific. 😉

I turned to Amy Tangerine's collections to find a hamburger. Not.A.One.  She has every fast food and fruit known to man but no burgers!  🤷 Well I decided one of her many tacos would have to go incognito. 🙊

Cocoa Vanilla Studio has some of the VERY best boy collections out there and the little typed sticker strips and flair badges (in place of the buttons) worked well.

The inky splotches felt a bit out of place being the only thing that goes outside of the grid so I went to town with a roller stamp.  More like a bit out of control but can't be helped.  Definitely adds some chaos to a layout that's otherwise a bit too orderly for that Lil Dude.

I felt like it still needed MOAR so I busted out those metal stars by Basic Grey.  Besides not being sticky anymore because of age, they worked just fine.











 

 

Oh and mounting the photo on foam really helped it stand out.  The sheets of fun foam made it so much easier than those little foam squares for larger areas.

Here is is all done;

Game On

Well that's all for now!

Love and stress free scrapbooking!

Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Prize Draw and Winners!!!

Thank you very much to everyone for taking part and for your wonderful comments!  I'm still not fully caught up in replying, but I like to give it the time it deserves.

It's been lovely getting to know you all better through the comments!

So let's get on to the draw shall we?  (Apologies for a grubby mat, but a grubby mat means it's being crafted on, right??)





So if you want a spoiler and get straight to the names:
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First choice of the three prizes goes to Hetty

Second choice goes to Ionabunny

And finally Shartl 

Congratulations ladies and PLEASE email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com  in the next seven days or I'll have to draw a new winner as per the giveaway guidelines in previous posts so I can get the prizes out.

Thank you once again for taking part and I look forward to getting your prizes out to you! 

Love, and happy happy mail!

Thank You and Giveaway CLOSED!

A big thank you to all the lovely ladies who visited and commented, followed etc!  (If you already follow my socials then obvs you'll get entries for that!)

It's Wednesday today so catching up replying to all your beautiful comments and sorting out entries etc.

My very special helper will hopefully lend me his hand for a video tomorrow (my timezone) as promised.

I appreciate every one of you! 😘😘😘

Love and thankful thoughts,

Card 5 VERY unofficially for coffee lovers hop

OK with about 10 hours to go I'm going to make this one last chance for one more entry.
(Giveaway CLOSED)

Day 1 Post for an extra entry is HERE
Day 2 Post for an extra entry is HERE
Day 3 Post for an extra entry is HERE
Day 4 Post for an extra entry is HERE

Link to the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is HERE.  It's closed for new entries, but you can still view all the projects there.

I know - it's not about coffee...but I didn't expect to get a doctor's appointment TODAY, so i had only a couple of hours to come up with something remotely comparable to LAST YEAR'S card for our rather exceptional family doctor.

The shaker bit is SUPPOSED to be a capsule, but it just didn't turn out quite the way I imagined.

THIS has plenty to do with coffee though.  It's ridiculously overpriced here in Au, so it's probably why I hadn't tried the dairy free til today.  Since it was too early for wine, I went with B & J instead.

Giveaway NOW CLOSED

PLEASE READ ALL RULES CAREFULLY

📌 I have three items to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names.
📌 The first name gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED in any way,

The first item is a stamp and die set by Studio Light (a Dutch company) Really pretty and versatile images

This next guy will definitely be featured on a card in the coming days.  He's by Katzelkraft which is a French company with awesome images.  He's on red, unmounted rubber.

And we are all familiar with Avery Elle, right?

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

❗If you have previously followed my socials then these are already done for you!

📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Tue 11 Dec (a whole week)
📌 The winner will be drawn on Thurs 13 Dec so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE!
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Thursday 20 Dec, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out altogether.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🍵 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🍵 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🍵 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🍵 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

Here's the link to Card 1 if you want to comment there
Here's the link to Card 2 if you want to comment there
Here's the link to Card 3 if you want to comment there
Here's the link to Card 4 if you want to comment there  

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.

So today...if you want to leave a comment, do you make thank you cards for any extra special service providers, and if so, who? (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


Love, and thankful it's over (but I had a blast)!

Card 4 unofficially for the Coffee Lovers Hop

So the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog hop officially finished yesterday.  As promised I'm going to try and keep making all the things (or at least some of the things since my Silhouette is on strike 🙄).  Giveaway CLOSED
Day 1 Post for an extra entry is HERE
Day 2 Post for an extra entry is HERE
Day 3 Post for an extra entry is HERE

Link to the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is HERE.  It's closed for new entries, but you can still view all the projects there.

So what are we doing today then? 🤷

Well...I have an awesome Picket Fence Studios stamp set with the best.sentiment.ever (or one of the best anyway)

It's pretty big and I had no inspo with it all in one piece.

I thought I could stamp small coffee cups (CHECK ✅),

undies (and you know you're dedicated crafter when you need an underpants stamps and you actually HAVE one (CHECK ✅)).



Oddly no modern looking mobile phone.  Just an old school rotary phone. 

What's a girl to do? 🤷🤷🤷

Not sure how I came up with the idea, but one thought led to another and I started by raiding the fashion themed collections by Carta Bella and Echo Park.  Nothing relevant in EP, but CB had potential and reminded me of some retro Authentique collections.  I cut apart the relevant cards and removed the bits I didn't need.

A bit of sneaky layering to hide the craters and rough hand cutting of the sentiment.  Cutting between those ascenders and descenders was a tad hairy!

Since we were going retro, a takeaway coffee cup wasn't going to cut it so I used one from the Picket Fences set and of course my Lawn Fawn undies which I ended up stamping on pattern since that line of the sentiment couldn't be cut wide enough to accommodate them on the cream cardstock.

The phone sentiment I put near the image of the rotary phone anyway.  No other option, really.

The coffee bean b/g is from the recent EP coffee release!  It's a light cream rather than white and plain enough to work with the images.  Stuck to the card base and finished!..wait...I was going to stitch! 🙈

Sure I could still do it, but I hate having anything on the front of a card show through on the card base, so I peeled it off and stitched.

Just a few old school rhinestones to finish. ➡

I can't tell you for certain whether I'll get another card done before the close of the giveaway but I'll do my best.  If I do, it will be up in the next 18-24 hours and giveaway closes approx 12 hours after
that.

Giveaway NOW CLOSED

PLEASE READ ALL RULES CAREFULLY

📌 I have three items to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names.
📌 The first name gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED in any way,

The first item is a stamp and die set by Studio Light (a Dutch company) Really pretty and versatile images

This next guy will definitely be featured on a card in the coming days.  He's by Katzelkraft which is a French company with awesome images.  He's on red, unmounted rubber.

And we are all familiar with Avery Elle, right?

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

❗If you have previously followed my socials then these are already done for you!

📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Tue 11 Dec (a whole week)
📌 The winner will be drawn on Thurs 13 Dec so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE!
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Thursday 20 Dec, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out altogether.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🍵 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🍵 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🍵 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🍵 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

Here's the link to Card 1 if you want to comment there
Here's the link to Card 2 if you want to comment there
Here's the link to Card 3 if you want to comment there 

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.

So today...if you want to leave a comment, how many cups of tea and or coffee do you drink a day? (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


Love, and more and more macchiatos!

Card 3 for Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Not the card I planned for today, but don't you love it when technology forces you to have to re-work things?? (Giveaway NOW CLOSED)

Day 1 Post for an extra entry is HERE
Day 2 Post for an extra entry is HERE

Link to the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is HERE

Even after the official coffee hop is over, please keep checking back since I have a couple more projects I want to make and they will count for extra entries.

Consequently my colouring (which I haven't done in months and months) isn't quite the way I wanted it.  The paper is from the Echo Park Coffee themed paper pad and sentiment is by Ink Road.

Now I said I'd make a card featuring the crazy little chihuahua that's also in the giveaway.  I love Katzelkraft images, but they don't come mounted (at least not the ones I have).

 

This isn't an issue since you can buy sheets of stamp mounting foam from anywhere that sells stamps and tools.  It's sticky on one side which adheres to the rubber, and the other side is the cling foam we use with the usual acrylic block or MISTI.

If you don't have any, I can mount the winner's stamp on cling foam for you before posting.  Just let me know if you win him!

I used a mask and some Colour Burst paste on kraft cardstock for a background and let it dry while I coloured that little doge with Copic Markers.  Kinda sucky, but it was contingency plans all the way!  The shimmery duochrome effect of the paste is gorgeous though!

I just added some pattered paper and mounted the image on pop dots.  Pretty simple!  Once my gold Heidi Shine shows up again, I'll add some ink splatters, perhaps.  It really is a very bare card for me!

 

Giveaway NOW CLOSED

PLEASE READ ALL RULES CAREFULLY

📌 I have three items to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names.
📌 The first name gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED in any way,

The first item is a stamp and die set by Studio Light (a Dutch company) Really pretty and versatile images

This next guy will definitely be featured on a card in the coming days.  He's by Katzelkraft which is a French company with awesome images.  He's on red, unmounted rubber.

And we are all familiar with Avery Elle, right?

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

❗If you have previously followed my socials then these are already done for you!

📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Tue 11 Dec (a whole week)
📌 The winner will be drawn on Thurs 13 Dec so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE!
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Thursday 20 Dec, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out altogether.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🍵 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🍵 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🍵 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🍵 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

Here's the link to Card 1 if you want to comment there
Here's the link to Card 2 if you want to comment there

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.

So today...if you want to leave a comment, do you like coffee (or tea - matcha is all the rage right now) flavoured or inspired desserts?  If you do, what is your favourite?? (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


Love and craaaazy caffeination! 😝

Card 2 for Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

I meant to get this up yesterday...I really did! Soz! 😕 Giveaway NOW CLOSED
➡➡ Day 1 post for an extra entry is HERE ⬅⬅

This is all about the semi annual Coffee Lovers Blog Hop which is almost done, but I'm going to keep crafting (hopefully) til the close of the giveaway or just before.

For today's project I really wanted to use a background stamp I had by Picket Fence Studios and then try using the Brusho watercolour powder on top.

I have 4 Brusho colours gifted to me by my dear friend Joy! She knows me so well and chose perfectly!  I definitely need more practice since I hoped to have more white bits, but overall I'm happy enough.

Some of the colours are made up of multiple coloured powders which I found rather intriguing! 🤔
Look at this turquoise one! ➡➡➡

And this is how my Brusho-ing turned out:⤋⤋⤋


















So what to do with all this?  Well, it just so happened that a Mojo Monday sketch popped up in my Insta feed.  Say whaaaat?  I know what you're thinking - they stopped doing them, right?

Well Julee Tilman (of now sadly closed Verve Stamps) seems to have taken these over on her blog Poetic Artistry.  Woot woot! 🙌

A lot of Verve stamps are coffee and tea themed and I probably have most of them so they will appear here too!

The link to Mojo Monday #504 and the sketch itself below.  Perfect for showcasing a background you don't want to cover up.

So where to from here?  Chop up my "background" into squares.  I got one 5.25x5.25 (the background stamp is about 5.5x5.5) and 3 4x4s.  I ended up with three of the smaller ones and used two of them.

I used super strong adhesive to mount the watercolour paper (which warps a fair bit and pulls up standard tape runners) to black cardstock for a frame, silver sparkly ribbon and was about to heat emboss a sentiment when I realized I had all my Perfect Pearls in the same box!

Similar result with less hassle.  I did have to re-touch some of it with a Versamark pen and add more powder, but I got fairly decent coverage I think.  It's hard to catch the shine in the light with a camera. 

I continued the sentiment inside...










...a white card base at 6x6 inches.

I loved the little branches on the sketch.  They add an organic element to the geometric shapes, but I was at a loss as to what to use.  Coffee paraphernalia just isn't shaped like that!!

 

I did revert to a couple of the millions of leaves I cut on the Silhouette when a Forgery on the Fourth for CKC got a bit out of hand!  😳 Coffee cups on top!  I tried to stamp the smaller cup lighter in the centre to mimic the etched effect of the bigger one.

Next!  I kept the two smaller cards simpler.  Silver washi instead of ribbon and no branchy bits.  I did put silver sequins as a bit of an afterthought, though!

I kinda forgot how many good coffee sentiments this Altenew set had.

I picked one and felt these cards would word with a Kelly Purkey stamp set I've had sitting on the shelf for so long.  Godzilla has been guarding it and it was a shame to remove the plasric in case they don't stay in the box like that.

 

 
Godzilla?  Huh?

Well, see we have this Godzilla who moves around doing random stuff and for the past two years has been sitting on my stamp shelf.  Kinda like elf on the shelf for peeps who don't do christmas, but weirder!

I asked him nicely and he grudgingly agreed.  See why that stamp set looks so awesome with him?  Just seems to suit!

Oh and one last thing...I forgot to give a shout out to my main man lady Devon from Pink Pueblo.  She's responsible for designing my logo, the artwork on several of my headers (more to follow) and my personalized stamp so go see her!  Tell her PinkCraftyMama sent you!

 

Giveaway NOW CLOSED

PLEASE READ ALL RULES CAREFULLY

📌 I have three items to give away (pictured below) and I'll pull three names.
📌 The first name gets first choice, second name gets second choice and so on.
📌 This Giveaway is NOT SPONSORED in any way,

The first item is a stamp and die set by Studio Light (a Dutch company) Really pretty and versatile images

This next guy will definitely be featured on a card in the coming days.  He's by Katzelktaft which is a French company with awesome images.  He's on red, unmounted rubber.

And we are all familar with Avery Elle, right?

You will receive an entry (or entries) for each of the following.  You absolutely don't have to do everything - just how ever many you like.

If you have previously followed my socials then these are already done for you!

📌 The giveaway will remain open until 11:59PM AEDT on Tue 11 Dec (a whole week)
📌 The winner will be drawn on Thurs 13 Dec so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE!
❗If the winner and I can't make contact by Thursday 20 Dec, I will have to draw a new winner since I need to get these prizes out altogether.
❗Please try to email me at alex@pinkcraftymama.com This really is the easiest way for me to get in touch with you since not all blogger profiles have an email attached and if you JUST leave comments, I have no other place to search for you.

So...what do you have to do to get entries?
🍵 Follow this blog - 3 entries (in the left sidebar)
🍵 Follow me on Facebook - 2 entries
🍵 Follow me on Instagram - 1 entry
🍵 Comment (once per day per person) on a post between now and the close of the giveaway - 1 entry per post

Here's the link to Card 1 if you want to comment there

I don't yet know how many makes I'll have done between now and then, but it will be at least three.

So today...if you want to leave a comment, tell me about your most special or favourite mug (or anything else if this doesn't grab you) and please don't hesitate to  email me with any questions at alex@pinkcraftymama.com


Love and lots of lattes!