Saturday 31 December 2011

Stampscapes - West Coast Shore - Craft A Scene Challenge #1!



Happy New Year Chicks!

I hope everyone had a safe New Years Eve!  I know I did... painted some more trim moulding and worked on this card!

Today is the first day, of the first challenge, of Craft A Scene!!  It's so exciting!  I can hardly wait to see what scenes everyone will come up with for each challenge.  This will be a learning experience for all of us!

I came up with this scene while playing with a few stamps two nights ago.  I finished the first scene but then touched it with my inked fingertips and ruined it.  Thank goodness I did!!  Out came the stamps again and this time around, I'm a lot happier with the colouring.

When doing a scene, always remember that nothing is ever the same in nature so this means that no scene is ever wrong!  Myself, I'm a realist and have a very hard time coming up with something abstract, or adding images that aren't seen in nature, including choice of colour.  There was a scene I called Raspberry Sunset and that was the wildest thing I've done yet!  Boy do I ever live on the edge!  haha!

There are some very incredible scenes done by well known Stampscape artists out there.  Always take a second and third look because that's how you learn.  Also, when you are out for a walk or on a long drive, look around you at the colours in the sky, depth of field for trees and water... everything!  The more you look, the more you will learn.

Now... Onto this scene!  I only used 3 stamps for this one.  I have coloured the rocks as they would be found on the beach near me.  The jutout of rocks and trees is also coloured as I see them here on the West Coast.  The gulls.. they're just black and used to break up the large sky!

I started colouring with grey and light brown for all of the rocks.  The sky was started with yellow, then very light blue and finally pink for a setting sun.  I have a list at the bottom of this post.  You have probably noticed that my water is a darker blue than most use.  The reason?  Light blue is found in the tropics and darker navy/gray is in the northern hemispere where I reside....the land of igloos!

This is a closeup of the rocks.  I lightened the picture up a bit with Picassa so you could see the different tones.  And rocks are never the same colour throughout either...unless it's granite, marble, slate...you know what I mean.  The salt, minerals, plant life, etc. play a huge part in how the rocks will be coloured in your area so keep your eyes peeled!
I apologize for the quality of this photo.  For some reason, my camera wasn't focusing properly with any of the pics...maybe because I forgot it in the car overnight and it froze??  haha!  Notice the rocks...  More brown near the water's edge because of the mineral content in the water.
I know this scene needs 'something' added but I wasn't sure what.  I would have liked to see more movement in the water but am still experimenting with the 'wave' stamp.  I'm also going to hunt down a dark gray ink pad to add to the light gray that I already own which should mix for the perfect stormy sea colour!
Well... I have rambled on wayyyy too long now!  Here's the recipe!
Stamps:
Stampscape -  207E  -  Pine Island
                      205F  -  Boulders With Lichen
                      302A  -  Gulls
Inks:
Memento - London Fog, Morning Sky, Bamboo
Adirondack - Aqua, Pink Sherbet, Lemonade, Stonewashed, Denim
Ranger Distress - Frayed Burlap, Weathered Wood, Crushed Olive

Paint Pen
Glossy Paper
ColorBox Stylus
Papers:
Stampin' Up!, Recollections, Staples 110 lb. White

Thanks for looking and I wish you everything you could hope for in 2012!

Hugs,
Sheree

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Stampscapes - Inspiration

Good Morning Chicks!

After seeing the fantastic response to the new Stampscapes challenge blog I went home and played with stamps after work.  I'll be working on scenes for the new blog "Craft A Scene"  Check it out!  The first challenge starts on January 1st!  We now have 24 followers after only two days of being up and running!

I wanted something CAS, along with a calming effect after a whirlwind Christmas Season we've had.  I tried quite a few different scenes and I'm now happy with this one!  I live two blocks from the ocean and have always found watching water has made me lose all thoughts of the hectic atmosphere around me.  I looked through my Stampscape sentiments and saw this one and immediately went to work!



The water stamp is a small section of a huge Seaside Cove.  I think it gives the impression of being way out on the water.  Four stamps were used and here's the recipe!

Stampscapes:
Sentiments Sheet #1
139H  Seaside Cove
302A  Gulls
018E  Cloud Cumulous

Ink:  Big N Juicy - Soothing Sunset
Archival Black
Diamond Stickles to highlight water
Paint pen to highlight gulls

Thanks for looking!
Hugs,
Sheree

Tuesday 27 December 2011

New Stampscapes Challenge Blog!

Good Morning Chicks!


Well.. my friend Nancy, has been working feverishly putting together a new challenge blog called Craft A Scene and it's now up and running!  I am so proud of the end result and can never thank her enough for all of her time and energy, along with brain power, to set up something so wonderful!

Head on over for a visit.  We are currently looking for Design Team members and followers that will actively participate in challenges, tutorials and more.  I know many of you out there would fit right in and we'd love having your experience and techniques showcased!

Hope you all have a Happy New Year and may you be blessed with health and prosperity in 2012!

Hugs,
Sheree

Sunday 18 December 2011

Shower Card For Baby Josh

Good Afternoon Chicks!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and enjoying the stress of the week before Christmas!

I am lovin' playing with my Cricut now that I have a table for it.  This card is for a baby shower for Josh.  I babysat his mom when she was just a wee tike!

The cartridge used was New Arrival for most of it but the lettering was the Disney Font cartridge.

This next photo is an angled view so that you can see the raised lettering and popped up clothing that's flapping on the clothesline.
 
 
The papers are from Stampin' Up! and Recollections....not sure which is which but the plaid is SU for sure.
 
Thanks for looking!
 
Hugs,
Sheree
 
And.. it looks like I've lost a few followers.  Hope it wasn't anything I did although.. there are so many incredible artists out there so I guess sometimes you have to pare down your lists.

Friday 16 December 2011

Christmas Card For Mom!

The Wednesday's sketch of the week over at The Outlawz this week is:

This is my version of the sketch and now that I'm finished... I'm going to send it to mom!  Hope she likes it for real and not cuz I'm her daughter haha!


 
Everything is pretty straight forward about this card.  The pearls are on tape... I could never space them so evenly by myself!  The sentiment is from Flourishes!
 
Thanks for looking!
 
Hugs,
Sheree

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Stampscapes - Winter Dusk

Evening Chicks!

I know.. you are wondering about what kind of goofy title name is that?  Well... dusk comes early in the North Country and this scene is my version of around 3:30 in the afternoon, just before the sun says goodnight until 8 a.m. the following day!  The tones are a bit darker than the previous ones I've been doing, but, snow seems to hold the daylight and even in the pitch black it never seems really dark.  Maybe it's the lights of the city that helps it out where I live!

And.. I know that most of the winter scenes are somewhat similar.  The reason for this is that a tree with leaves on it just isn't realistic in the middle of winter (In Canada that is!).  Some of the pine stamps have the trees looking too simetrical as well.  I am also playing with taping off some of the scene stamps so that the grasses don't show.  There are some prickly grass stamps I definitely will throw in there next time because they look really kewl with snow on them!


This scene uses only 4 different stamps.  The trees were all taped off at different heights with the shorter ones used as filler.  This also makes the tree spacing a little more random as well.  The grass was using one stamp but everything was taped off except for the tips.  Adding snow to the tips helps to disguise everything and makes things look different.
This scene incorporates the mountains stamp as well.  I stamped them using Memento London Fog so that they would appear to be further in the distance and look colder.
Once I finished tapping in the blues and greys for the snow I used my paint pen to add snow to the trees.  Very fine clear glitter was added here and there to show reflection of light off the snow.  TaDa!!

I added a bit more fill light to this photo in Picassa so that you would hopefully see more of the details.  Also, I saved this picture to a larger size so that if you click on the photo you will see that the added snow really isn't that hard to do!  Nothing is the same or even in nature.  Not one tree branch supports snow in the same way...so.. adding snow must be done randomly.  I use dashes and dots all over the place. 

This next photo shows where I put some of the glitter for highlights.
 

The recipe is....
Stamps:
Stampscape
188F  Rocky Peaks
192B  Bush Large
267E  Pines and Rocks
207E  Pine Island

Sentiment - Cornish Heritage Farms

Inks:
Adirondack - Lemonade, Aqua
Memento - London Fog, Morning Sky, Bamboo
Distress - Gathered Twigs

Glossy Paper
Unknown and Recollections white and black
Paint Pen

Thanks for looking!

Hugs,
Sheree

Outlawz CAS Entry - Child's Card

Evening Chicks!

This is my entry into this week's Sunday CAS Challenge at The Outlawz.  I cut out the polar bear with the Cricut and mounted him on ripped white with stickles on the edge and stamped snowflakes on the  blue background.  What a super fast card!   It is going to be sent to my cousin's grandson Dawson who will be 5 this month.  Hope he likes it!

The theme for this week's challenge is Glitter It On!  I used stickles on my card to accent the snow and snowflakes along with his scarf.

Thanks for looking and I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!
Hugs,
Sheree

Monday 12 December 2011

I'm Still Around!

Happy Tuesday Chicks!

Just a quick post to let you know that I am definitely around.  Am still doing finishing touches on the basement with paint and moving things back into position in the family room.

I would like to thank my followers for checking in and leaving comments even though I haven't posted anything for a week now...yikes!  Lori..I finally have the tree up now (usually it's mid-November) and I will take pictures to post as soon as the table cloth is ironed and I have the arrangements finished!

And, I would just like to thank all of my wonderful friends that I have made here on the web!  The girlz at The Outlawz keep me busy with challenges and always have such kind words.  Victoria, from Crafty Capers in Nanaimo.. Thanks for enabling me to spend wayyy too much money in your shop this year!  To my regulars that keep in touch by e-mail and comments... Nancy, Lori, Sherri, Merry, Gail and Gail, Teresa, Shaz, Karen, Jacki and more... I wish I could give you all a huge hug for keeping me sane and inspiring me with your incredible talent!  I know I've left out many more names but I'm at work (supposed to be working on year end but needed a 10 minute break) and at my age I am no longer able to multi-task..nope.

So, all going well, I should have a post tonight.  Just wanted to let you know that I think of all of you often!

Hugs,
Sheree

Monday 5 December 2011

Outlawz CAS Entry

Evening Chicks!
Just a quickie post for a quickie card tonight.  This is my entry into the CAS Challenge at The Outlawz CAS  The snowflake is a large punch done twice on glitter paper and the SNOW stamp is from Studio G and I scooped it from the dollar bin at Michaels.  Have had it for over a year and finally used it!
Have a wonderful evening and work week!
 
Hugs,
Sheree

Saturday 3 December 2011

One Cut... Three Wreaths!

Evening Chicks!

I now have a table in my 'Rubber Room' so have the Cricut set up to play with now!  WooHoo!!
I used one of the Christmas Carts and cut out the wreaths, first on white paper to play with.  This wreath above is first cut in a gold shimmer paper.  Some of the leaves are glued and have applied micro fine glitter from Glitter Ritz.  I goofed on this one and the shadow cut (brown) was stuck on upside down making the leaves go the wrong way....ooooops!  I kind of like how it turned out tho'!
This wreath was cut out in a very light aqua and then used the new Glitter Ritz colour Iced Mint I think it is.  Added sprigs of branch done with a MS punch.  The background was embossed.  Pearls were from the dollar store.
I've saved the best for last!  This is the one I love.  The background paper is a very light aqua and I'm not sure but it could be from Stampin' Up! years ago.  Once again I popped up parts of the leaves where the vein cuts were to give it dimension.  Spriggs of branch done with the MS punch and small white flowers from Michaels in the wedding section.  The sentiment is by Flourishes and the second half of it is stamped inside.... It's time for Mistletoe and Holly!
Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs,
Sheree

Stampscapes - Lakeside Christmas

Good Evening Chicks!

I've been playing with winter scenes again tonight and this is what I ended up with.  I decided to use the Lakeside Cabin stamp because I know so many that have it.  This isn't as nice as the random scenes but turned out not too shabby.  The scotch pines on this stamp are a little trickier to add snow to than the fir trees on stamps that go with Lakeside Cove.

Now I'm going to try and show you how I ended up with this scene using only two stamps!
This first photo shows you the stamps as you will recognize them...
Before I stamped the Lakeside cabin I taped off the water reflections but left the rocks showing on the shore.  Even in the high country of the rockies you'll see less snow along the waters edge...depending where you are.  On the ocean.. you'll really see the rocks and there's more snow coverage as you move away.  The tree branches framing the scene are done with Spooky Branch.  I like the Bare Branch stamp better but don't have that one yet!
The cabin was coloured using Distress Gathered Twigs and Cantalope.  The sky was acheived using Memento Summer Sky and Adirondack Lemonade tapped along the horizon.  The look of cold snow and drifts pop with Adirondack Aqua and Memento London Fog.

Now, here's the snow!!

To put snow on the trees, roof, and rocks I used a Uniball White Paint Pen.  Nothing else works like them.  There's no blobs or thick lines.  With this pen you actually have to keep colouring with it but, if you want fine lines or dots.. there's nothing like it!
Once the snow was added I used MS clear fine glitter to accent the snow on the lake, the cabin roof and on some tree limbs.
Once you mount it... it looks much better!  Here is a closer look at where the glitter was added.  One more tip... I used my glue pen for snow.  It dries clear but goes on light blue.  All of the craft stores have them and with the ball point tip you can add as little or as much as you like!
Now... here's the card mounted.  I was going to add snowflake embellishments arount the edge but that took away from the scene.


Thanks for looking and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,
Sheree

Challenge entry for
Gingerloft - Winter or Christmas