Those crazy-addictive Studio G clear stamp sets

I always have a hard time resisting those cheapie little dollar sets of clear stamps at Michaels. After all the time I've spent waiting for the store in town to get them in, and selecting which ones to buy once they finally DO come in, I've hardly used any of my Studio G sets! When I made this card, my crafting goals were to:

• use those Studio G stamps!
• create fun monochromatic images by using the same hues of ink and pencil crayon
  

I started off by stamping my Flourished card base by Martha Stewart in Swan using the large and small flower images from the daisy Studio G set to make a background. I added a little taxonomic and visual variety with a butterfly and dragonfly from Hero Arts' "Thoughtful Messages" clear stamp set. I coloured the images and added some grey shadowing using my Prismacolor pencil crayons (just straight colouring, no fancy odorless mineral spirits technique on this card).

Because the stamped images are all on the small side, I thought an ATC for the focal point would be the easiest way to go. I stamped a background of flowers on white cardstock (2.25" x 3.25") using a small flower from the Hero Arts set to create a background for the sentiment. I doodled a border on this layer to help draw the eye from the busy-ish card base to the focal point, then matted the white cardstock layer onto a scrap of Bazzill Bling shimmery pink cardstock that I'd stamped with the small flower in pink ink. After I added the fun ribbon, I adhered the ATC to the card base using foam dimensionals.

Stamps: Studio G daisy set, Hero Arts "Thoughtful Messages" set
Inks: Ranger Distress inks in Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Shabby Shutters, and Spiced Marmalade
Paper: card base from Martha Stewart, white cardstock, Bazzill Bling pink
Other: Prismacolor pencil crayons, ribbon, green pen, foam dimensionals

Now an ATC nut :)

A card made from one of my ATC experiments. I'm so proud of it for several reasons:

1. The ATC itself was an experiment with something I found (and bought five of) in the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby -- Memories Mists by Stewart Superior! Uusually something like six bucks, got it for two and a little bit. I scooped the mists in Amaretto, Wheatgrass, Mango Lemonade, Strawberry Daiquiri, and Orange Juice. They are pigment-based, not dye-based like most other sprays I've heard about on the market, so they do cool things like resist water. These ultra-fine sprays are messy but that is easy to deal with (spray them in a box). I started out by spraying different colour combos on four or so full-sized sheets of white cardstock, and loved the vibrant results. I'm sure a trained professional on a closed course could mist circles around me, but I'm just thrilled with what I accomplished here just playing around.
   
2. I actually used some ribbon I got from the dollar bin at Michaels! OMGosh!!
   
3. I broke out my long-neglected Moonlight White Brilliance Ink to stamp my new Bo Bunny large, lacy image on the misted cardstock after I cut it down to 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and when I was looking through my paper stash the Pearl cardstock in Bazzill Bling's Black Tie pack worked out to be a perfect match (if I do say so myself) to the shimmery ink. Woo! Neglected ink + use of new stamp + use of hoarded paper = way to go Mel!
4. I channeled my inner Frank Byalik (of Trading Spaces fame) and used my large stipple brush and Ranger Distress inks to create a perfectly-matching (again, with me saying this my own self) base layer on the Halcraft card base I used for the card.
   

Well, I am just beat; it's so not fair that just as I get relaxed and unwound enough from my day to be able to stamp, I'm also relaxed and unwound enough to grab forty winks. I think I'm fighting off a bit of a virus or something, too. Anyways, here are the deets on my astounding and impressive stamped creation. :D

Stamps: wiggly frame from the fairies set by Crafty Secrets, sending sunshine from a clear Hero Arts stamp set, swirly girly pattern on ATC by Bo Bunny.

Inks: Chestnut Roan fluid chalk ink by Clearsnap, Moonlight White Brilliance ink by Tsukineko, Ranger Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, and a wee bit of Vintage Photo.

Paper: Pearl cardstock from Bazzill Bling Black Tie pack, white cardstock by Domtar, white card base by Halcraft.

Other: Ribbon from Michaels dollar bin, foam adhesive dimensional thingies.

Is this thing on?

I've generally taken a learn-as-you-go approach with my hobbies and pasttimes, and I'm using it here too. :) This is totally a testing-the-waters first post to see what happens! With any luck, I will also share a Never Before Seen on the Interwebs, Special Deal Just for You, exclusive stamped project! Also happens to be one of my first attempts at making an ATC (artist trading card, 2.5" x 3.5"), and was made using leftover Christmas paper from last year's cards, and a stocking image stamped last year too. Go me! A few weeks ago, for some reason I got obsessed with trying out for stamping design teams, and the whole reason this Exclusive ATC came to be was to practice up before submitting for a design team that required one in the application. I didn't wind up ever applying, but was happy to have made a bunch of ATCs anyways. :)





So now I've uploaded the pic and I see the colours went whacko/yucko, and my little watermark got reeeeally little! This drab, depressed-looking image is actually quite festive in real life. Stocking stamp is from The Cat's Pajamas, sentiment is a rub-on from American Crafts, dotty paper is from the Jo-ann dollar bin area, which makes me think it must be by Colorbok. Also used generic red cardstock (sorry ladies, but if ya gotta have it, I can't tell ya where to get it! ha ha I slay me!), ticket corner punch, Prismacolor pencil crayons ("coloured pencils" to the 'mericans in the house), and lemon ice Stickles.

I'll tie this one off with my favourite work moment this week; I said, "Oh no, Sonia, my butt is green!" "Oh that's all right, it does that sometimes. It's still positive!" Not a word of a lie! (We were actually discussing biochemical tests for bacterial identification. But it's much funner to take it out of context!)