My Cards and Tags: Using Right at Home's Cozy Cardinal Stamp

Our theme this week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is, "All Creatures Great and Small."  I went with a cute little cardinal for my card:

I started by stamping my cardinal.  The stamp comes in different sections, so it's nice to be able to customize the different components of your bird.

I thought Dina Wakley's Splatter Girl image would make an interesting background, so I stamped it onto Strathmore Mixed Media paper using Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink.  I masked off part of the girl's face before stamping since I wanted to use it as an abstract shape only.  

Next I stamped on some circles from a Carabelle Studio printing texture plate.  These printing texture plates work fine as stamps, too (in my opinion).  The images will stamp backwards, but that didn't matter to me in this case.  I stuck mine to an acrylic block with double-stick tape and used it just like a normal stamp.

I smeared Distress Ink onto my circles, then punched a circular frame out of a cookbook page scrap.  I stamped and fussy-cut the Kindness sentiment (colored with markers), and fussy-cut the bird, too.  I also cut a section of foliage using a Simon die and a magazine page.  I laid all the elements out.

I made a party hat for the bird then glued everything on and softened a few areas with a bit of white paint.  I also stamped on some random sentiment words from Simon's Kind Flowers stamp set.

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Cozy Cardinal Stamp by Right At Home	Dina Wakley Splatter Girl Stamp Set	Carabelle Studio Ronds Art Printing Texture Plate	Simon Says Stamp Kind Flowers stamp	Sizzix BIG SHOT EXPRESS Gray and White
Simon Says Stamp Clustered Leaves Die	Pink and Main Beach Babe 6x6 Paper	Strathmore Mixed Media Paper	Spectrum Noir Markers: Turquoise	Doodlebug Limeade Sprinkles
Tim Holtz Distress Twisted Citron Ink Pad	Peeled Paint - Distress Ink	Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad LUCKY CLOVER Ranger
Color Box Kiss Petal Point Pigment Pad	Ranger Archival Aquamarine Ink Pad	Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink Pad	3D Foam Dots	Dina Wakley Ranger WHITE Media Heavy Body Acrylic Paints
Dina Wakley TANGERINE Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Dina Wakley Lime Acrylic Paint

I'm looking forward to how you celebrate all creatures great and small this week!  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win $50 to the Simon Says Stamp store.

My Cards and Tags: Using Brushos and Dina Wakley's Text and Scribbles Stamp

This week's theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog is Monochrome.  I decided to go with a blue color palette to make this card:

And then, just because I'm a multi-color-holic, I did the same card design again to see how it would look in different colors.  This is the card that I took process pictures of as well.

I used some of Dina Wakley's new products: a Medieval Crosses stencil and her Text and Scribbles stamp set.  I started by penciling in some of the crosses and then coloring them in with Distress Ink.  My coloring method is to dab a sponge onto the Distress Ink pad, then smudge it over the stencil.

Next I water-colored over the Distress Ink:

Next I spritzed the page with water and let it run down in drips.

While the paper was still was still wet, I sprinkled on some Brushos crystals and hit it again with another spritz or two.

When it was dry, I heat-embossed one of Dina's circle stamps onto it and bumped up the color in a few spots with more Distress Ink and some acrylic paint.

When it was dry, I used the Medieval Crosses stencil again and outlined the edges of the crosses with a black Sharpie.  I finished it off by gluing on some paper leaves (placed horizontally), some extra text stamping, and adding sentiments that I cut out of old books.

I did enjoy trying my hand at monochrome and felt that it did lend itself nicely to the "Feeling Blue" vibe.

Here are the supplies I used, that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

Dina Wakley Text and Scribbles Cling Stamps	Dina Wakley Medieval Crosses stencil	Loew Cornell WATERCOLOR CAKES 24 Paints	Colourcraft BRUSHO Crystal Watercolors	Simon Says Stamp Clustered Leaves Die
Strathmore Mixed Media Paper	Sizzix Big Shot	Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER STEEL NAVY	Simon Says Stamp Embossing Powder BLACK Ultrafine Detail	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink
Ranger HEAT IT CRAFT TOOL	Salty Ocean - Distress Ink	Picked Raspberry - Distress Ink	Tim Holtz Distress Twisted Citron Ink Pad	Mustard Seed - Distress Ink
Peacock Feathers - Distress Ink	Dina Wakley LAPIS Heavy Body Acrylic Paints	Pentart Acrylic Paint, Turquoise Green	Prima Impasto paint, Crimson	Dina Wakley LEMON Heavy Body Acrylic Paints
Dina Wakley Lime Acrylic Paint

I'm excited to see how you do monochrome!  Be sure to upload your projects to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.