Farewell to Etsy Inspired Challenge.

After more than three years hosting the Etsy-Inspired Challenge, Ashley is ending the challenge.  EIC was the first blog challenge I ever entered, and it's always fun because each challenge takes us to a different Etsy shop, usually one I would never, ever visit on my own.

For the last challenge, EIC141, the shop is called Homes and Weddings, and it features metal wire items such as place card holders.  My inspiration for this piece is the silver wire heart-shaped table decoration.

The inspiration piece reminded me of this silver wire heart-shaped clip.  I got the sketch from a Yahoo group I am in. It's a large tag with a smaller tag and library evelope on it.  The large tag is clear-embossed with butterflies, and the smaller tag and evelope are decorated with punched butterflies.  The silver heart is set off by matching ribbon.

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo (butterflies) StampinUp (sentiment)

Inks -- versamark; Memento Tuxedo black, VersaMagic Pretty Petunia (sponged on small tag)

Thank you, Ashley, De and the EIC DT --- it's been fun, and I will miss the challenge.

Enjoy the ride

I hit the jackpot while I was out visiting yard sales last week. One of the vet organizations (American Legion or VFW) had an entire table full of brand new stamping/scrapbooking supplies. They were selling stickers 4 packs for $1 and clear stamps 2 packs for $1. I got 4 packs of Martha Stewart premade bows, rub-ons, etc, and 2 packs of Autumn Leaves stamps. I should have bought more.

I used the ribbon colors my color inspiration for this card. The theme was inspired by the current Etsy-Inspired Challenge, EIC 168. The store this time is called Bear Creek Designs, and it features hand-felted little critters -- talk about cute! I was inspired by this needle-felted horse. (I'd be tempted to adopt him and bring him home if my son were younger,)

Carousel horse stamp from Sweet Impressions, colored with pencil and OMS. Sentiment is computer-generated. Ribbons by Martha Stewart (who makes much prettier bows than I can, what a surprise!)

Happy Birthday, Bro

May is a big birthday month in our family, so this is a good month to find inspiration for birthday cards. I made this birthday card for my brother, thanks to inspiration from a couple of challenges. I used the same printed papers as for a father's day card I made, so I guess the Father's Day card goes to my FIL -- not that I seriously think my dad and brother would notice the similarities in papers. (Would yours?)

The sailboat inspiration is from this week's Etsy Challenge (EIC137). The shop is Imagine Studio, and it sells some amazing art prints. I took my inspiration from this one of three boats.
The layout is this week's Mojo sketch, MOJO189.

Finally, this qualifies for this week's Magical Monday Challenge, to make a birthday card.

Supplies: Stamps -- Stampin Up and CTMH. Ink -- Momento Tuxedo Black; colored pencils and OMS, border punch, red bakers twine, tiny ruby faux gems.

More Butterflies

Here's another quick card. The color scheme -- orange, green and yellow -- is for this week's Magical Monday/Paper Cupcakes challenge. That cute cupcake and butterfly is from Paper Cupcakes -- and wouldn't you like to have pretty cupcakes like that at your Easter get-together? (Be sure to visit the blog -- there's a free sample digi there.)

The orange ribbon was inspired by this week's Etsy Inspired (EIC135) shop, Creating is Fun. This is a shop full of ribbon (including some awesome crocheted stuff) and other items that would make great embellies. I will have to go back and go shopping there.

I used the sketch from this week's SCS Clean and Simple Challenge. The image is paper pieced using various bits of subtly dotted paper from Marcella K. The bottom half of the base card is embossed with the Swiss Dot folder. The ribbon is also from Marcella K, and that's my new McGill butterfly punch I've been showing off.

Pastel pleasures

I love pastels. They're pretty and easy to work with, so I'm always happy to use them. This three-fer card uses the lovely pastels for this week's Off the Wall Craftiness Challnge (OTWC50) -- see the inspiration photo below.

It's also for this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge (EIC134), Think Fast Designs, a shop that sells both jewelry and fabric items. I loved this vintage-looking quilt that incorporates these pastel spring colors and also features a mix of prints with polka-dots, inspiring my dotted panel.

Finally, this card incorporates this week's Mojo Monday Sketch (MOJO186).

Supplies: Stamp by Inkadinkadoo; sentiment computer generated. Striped paper is by Heidi Grace. Yellow ribbon is by Martha Stewart; plaid ribbon is from Michael's. Nesties, Swiss Dot embossing folder and border punch also used.

Going Round and Round

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge (EIC132) store is called Fresh Metal Jewelry and it features beautiful jewelry not of metal but of fabric. Really, these are quite equisite with hand-sewn flowers in a variety of different colors.

Since blue is my favorite color, it's no surprise I was drawn to this Blue Blossom necklace as my inspiration piece.

I decided to try a round card, so I just cut two of the largest scalloped circle die I own, and used a mini brad so the pieces will swing to the left and right to open the card. The flowers are clear-embossed to give a little of that tone-on-tone look of the inspiration piece.

Flower stamps -- Autumn Leaves

Sentiment: CTMH

Ink: Versamark and Memento Place

Accessories: Clear EP, McGill butterfly punch, mini half-pearls, mini-brad, and scalloped nesties.

Mixed media? Me? Really?

This week's featured store for the Etsy Inspired Challenge (EIC129) is called Desired Things, and it's a shop full of mixed media items such as jewelry. The artist uses fabric, beads, shrink plastic and other media, along with paint, stamping and other decorative items to create some very appealing and unusual necklaces, bracelets and pins.

Well, collage doesn't come easily to me, but this shop really inspired me to try something that is just the tiniest bit different. Using this lovely broach as inspiration, I started by brayering pink and lavender ink on glossy paper, then siver embossed the dragonflies. The purple panel is embossed with a script folder. The black strip is a piece of screening material left over from when we changed out the screens on the porch (I guess that's the "mixed media" part).

I used the layout from this week's Card Positioning System sketch (CPS208).

Dragonflies from Inkadinkadoo; sentiment from Impression-Obsession.

Monochromatic

I don't know what it is about brown, but it always looks good on a monochromatic card. Seriously, no one lists brown as their favorite color, but put a bunch of shades of brown together and it looks great.

This card was inspired by this week's Etsy Inspired (EIC127) store, Claylicious. As you'd probably guess from the name, it's a pottery shop. I was inspired by this mug, both for the color and the theme.

This card also qualifies for the Stamping for the Weekend Challenge (SFTW #4) to make a monochromatic card.

Main image by Inkakinkadoo, stamped in Chestnut Roan, with Sand Beige and Creamy Caramel sponged on the edges. Sheet music (source unknown) stamped in Creamy Caramel and sentiment (CTMH) in Chestnut Roan.

color inspired

Gotta love this week's shop featured by Etsy-Inspired Challenge (EIC126). The owner of Glow Girl is a victim of the recession, a 50+ who lost her job she expected to keep til retirement and had to start fresh. She makes fabric items such as coupon organizers, and this tapestry coupon organizer inspired me to pull out this wonderful K&Co. paper that I have.

The owl was inspired by this week's Teapot Tuesday Challenge at SCS.

The owl stamp is from Hero Art and the sentiment from Impression Obsession. Ink is ColorBox Chalk amber clay. Embellies include a couple of faux gems which I used for the center of the flowers and some piercing. The owl image has a litle flower on her belly, and I had a tiny flower sticker on my table that fit there perfectly.

Playing with new toys

The rubber stamp show was in town last week. I only picked up a few things --one was a clear stamp set Impression-Obsession was clearing out. I love this tall, thin base and simple flowers.

The layout is this week's Card Positioning Sketch, CPS 244. The colors come from this week's Off the Wall Craftiness (OTWC44) inspiration photo (at right). And the inspiration comes from this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge (EIC125) shop, Daisy Petal Designs, which is a shop full of cute and girly things, mostly to wear in your hair, although my inspiration piece is a brooch.

Stamps both from the same I-O set, colored with pencils and OMS. The red panel is texturized with the Cuttlebug textile plate. Narrow, sheer ribon completes it. It's quick and simple, but for once I used new stamps without letting them sit for weeks!

Watercolor inspired

I've been playing with my watercolor crayons after being inspired to pull them out for this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge. I think I need to spend a lot of time playing with them to get a good understanding of what they can do, but I'm relatively happy with this Etsy-spired piece.

This week's Etsy store (EIC123) is Nanny's Room, owned by an Arizona artist who works mainly in watercolors. I was inspired by this pendant of her's, and after doing lots of hunting among my collection of floral images, decided this one from Stampin Up's Nature's Wonders set gave me the space I needed to try blending some water colors.

Rope border, a few graduated half pearls and a tiny bit of piercing finish it off.

Inspired by birds

Two cards, five challenges. I love it when a problem turns into an opportunity.

The owl card uses this week's Card Positioning System sketch (CPS201). The colors were inspired by this week's Off the Wall Craftiness challenge (OTWC41) colors -- purple, black and lime green (see inspiration photo at right). Yeah, the potential for a Halloween card was definitely there, and I'm happy with the alternative I up with.

The owl (Inkakinkadoo) is black embossed on purple paper as is the sentiment (SmArt Works). Green layer features a punched rope border. There's paper piercing by the bird and up in the upper right corner of the card.

I originally had planned to use the perched bird on this card and enter it for the Etsy Challenge as well, but it was too wide because of the sentiment. So, I set it aside, and then found it would work for the SCS technique lovers challenge (silhouettes); I used the SCS CAS sketch for this weel as the basis for the layout, and it's still an Etsy inspired card (EIC122). This week's Etsy shop is Modern Bird, which features silver jewelry -- much of it with bird images. I was inspired by this pretty necklace.

This bird is also from Inkadinkadoo, and I recycled Kim's color combo because it matches the awesome ribbon.

Snowed in, so I'm stamping

We woke up to 4 or 5 inches of snow and a layer of ice. Where I live, that's a snow day for sure. Looks like tomorrow will be another one. Happily, I found a little time to stamp.

This card is a three-fer. The basic design is this week's Card Positioning System sketch (CPS200). The colors come from this week's Off the Wall Challenge (OTWC40). As you can see from the inspiration photo (right), the colors are tan, white and burgundy.

Finally, the vintage French inspiration for the card is from this week's Etsy Inspired store (EIC121), La Pomme, which specializes in vintage French items. I was inspired by all the wonderful vintage French ephemera, including this sheet music.

The image is from Lost Coast, stamped in maroon Colorbox Chalk ink. The darker tan layer is embossed in French Script and sanded to give it a more aged, vintage look. I also incorporated some maroon ribbon and flowers into the card.

A little mermaid

You really have to see the Etsy-Inspired shop (EIC120) for this week. It's called Muffa, and it features handmade miniatures that are incrediby small. Some are crocheted (and as a crocheter, I cannot imagine how hard it is to to make anything that tiny), and others are made of oak. I was inspired by this cute mermaid.

I used CPS sketch 199 for the basis of the card. The images are both from Faerie Song Art stamps. The mermaid is colored with colored pencils and OMS, and this was my first attempt at doing an out-of-the-box cut with my nesties. Tan layer was embossed with the Swiss Dot folder and sanded. There are touches of glitter pen on the bubbles around the mermaid and the stars around Dream.

Ready for Spring

OK, enough cold. I'm ready for spring. Luckily, several challenges this week let me indulge that urge. First off, Kim introduced pink along with Christmas red and green for this week's Off the Wall Craftiness challenge (OTWC 38) -- see inspiration photo below. And Etsy Inspired Challenge (EIC 119) this week looks at the beautiful pendants made by artist Ling Glass, which feature glass and delicate metalwork. I liked this one called "love stained glass pendant." Finally, this week's Teapot Tuesday challenge was to do something artistic or painterly, so I made a still life.

Stamp is an old one, purchased from the company now known as Sparkle and Sprinkle. Sentiment is by Impression-Obsession. It's colored with pencil and OMA. The Ling Glass pendant gave me the inspiration to use the heart-shaped clip, to which I added a little gingham ribbon. (Someone else liked that pendant too. It moved from "for sale" to "Sold" between the time I picked it out as an inspiration and the time I'm posting this card.)

Merry Christmas everyone.

Favorite color combo

This week's Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge (OTWC25) is one of my all-time favorite color combos -- pink and gray. Kim added a little twist by using an inspiration photo that has both a pale pink and a darker, rosier pink. (See below).

Thematic inspiration comes from this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge (EIC106) shop, Pegasus Maiden, which is the place to go for stunning hair accessories that feature feathers. They are all simply beautiful, but I chose this lovely, delicate dusty rose one as my inspiration.

In honor of Pegasus Maiden, I stamped feathers (from SmArtWorks) with Versamark on both the gray and pale pink layers. The bird stamp is from Inkadinkadoo, stamped in SU Rose Romance. And how perfect was it to find that bit of two-tone pink-gray ribbon I have been holding onto for ages.

Rose among thorns

It has been busy, busy, busy for me. Looks like it took a 3-day weekend for me to finally make it to my stamping supplies. I combined several challenges to take advantage of the rare stamping opportunity.

The colors are inspired by this week's Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge, OTWC23. As you can see the inspiration photo, the colors were deep red, a medium blue and black. I'm finally learning how to handle color challenges -- my first impulse is always to use LOTS of each color, and that hardly ever works. This is a less is more kind of challenge.

The image is inspired by this week's Etsy Inspired store, Glamasaurus, which features unique jewelry -- some fun, some vintage, some glamorous. My card for EIC104 was inspired by these rose ear studs.

The sketch is CPS sketch #183. The actual sketch features lots and lots of horizontal lines, but I pared it down to the 4 lines of sentiment and two lines of ribbon. Less was more, here, too.

Rose stamp is from Inkadinkadoo. Sentiment is an old one from SU that I've been using a lot lately, cause I like the thought behind it. Accessories include white eyelets and thin silk ribbon.

Soaring with Etsy

The Etsy Inspired Challenge is celebrating 100 weeks. Wow! I started doing the challenge one Saturday when Ashley and I were both VSN hostesses at SCS, and I noticed her little tagline about the Etsy Inspired Challenge. I think it was like EIC15.

This week's shop is Cathy Walters, a photographer who makes really interesting pendants. I was inspired by her pendant called Soar, which features a hot air balloon. Those things fascinate me -- every once in a while one flies over my house, and several years ago, one made an emergency landing in a neighbor's yard. (That counts as big excitement in my neighborhood.)

This is a digistamp from Bird's Blog, colored with pencils and OMS. The buttons were added for the Ways to Use It Challenge this week at SCS, and the layout started to be the SCS sketch challenge for the week, but my image was too big and I had to eliminate some elements from the sketch. The papers are all by Making Memories.

Sea-glass inspired

The shop for Etsy Inspired Challenge #97 (EIC97) is called Mermaid's Tear Jewelry. Isn't that a wonderful name? The store specializes in jewelry made from sea glass, and I love this stuff because most of the color palette is blues and greens, my favorite colors.
I was inspired by this lovely necklace in shades of blue. It inspired me to use my favorite two-toned blue ribbon; which also has a silver element for the silver in the pretty pendant.
The layout is the CAS sketch for this week at SCS, and I incorporated the "sea" idea as well by stamping seashells on a sand-colored paper. A button and twine finish it off.

A three-fer

This is a simple card for three challenges.
The sketch is CPS175.
The colors were inspired by the Off the Wall Challenge, OTWC15, for this week -- teal and tangerine.
It's also for Etsy Inspired Challenge #96, an Etsy shop called Octavia & Brown, which sells vintage items, such as tableware. I was inspired by these lowball glasses, especially the color and the criss-cross pattern, which inspired the crossed twine on my card.

The details: Stamp is from Faerie Song's Michelle Perkett plate. Used colored pencils and OMS, and a spica pen for the glitter. Accessories include twine, mini tag punch and paper piercer.