Need Caffeine

I have to admit that my mojo has escaped me here as of late and it's left me feeling a bit down. I got my list for June participants in the latest Coffee Lover's card exchange this weekend and it prompted me to crack out some stamps and get remedy that situation. I started with the mug from a set I recently picked up called Funny Coffee Volume #1 from Skipping Stones Design. I love this fun stamp set because the stamps are large enough to take center stage on any A2 card. I stamped the mug onto some cardstock by Stampin' UP and then created a mask using a post-it note. I cut the sleeve portion of the cup out using my X-acto knife and then stamped the pattern using the Floral & Script Background stamp by Julie Nutting and removed the mask. I then stamped the sentiment from the Latina Crafter's Need Caffeine mini stamp set and die cut the whole thing using a pierced circle die from MFT. I popped the circle panel up off of the card using some foam dimensionals from Stampin' UP.  I stamped the same floral background again onto some crumbcake cardstock and then cut it down into a panel and mounted it onto some early espresso cardstock, both from Stampin' UP. It's not one of my favorite cards I've ever created but at least it got me out of my creative funk!  

Wish Big

Today's card was designed for the new challenge over at Retro Sketches. I have to admit, this is a different card for me. I have a few friends who are into darker and grungier themes and this card was created for one of those friends. She loves paintings by Jasmine Becket-Griffith and Toon Hertz and a lot of the stamps from Stampotique have that same style and grunge to them. So, I started with the Karin stamp by Stampotique and colored her using Copic markers in various shades of purple and pink and then fussy cut her out and edged the image using a black Memento dual tip marker to give her a nice clean look. I started my card base with some pretty black and cream floral paper from the Prima Romance Novel 6x6 paper pack. I inked the edges of it with some Tim Holtz black soot distress ink to tone the color down a bit. I then took some beige patterned grid paper from the 7 Gypsies Postale 8x8 paper pack and stamped the Julie Nutting Floral & Script background stamp onto it using some Tim Holtz victorial velvet distress ink. I dabbed a bit of both that and the black soot onto an acrylic block and using a watercolor brush I flicked some splatter onto the paper to grunge it up even more. I then tore a small scrap of the word print from the same Prima paper pack and edged it with the black soot. I stamped one of the balloons from the Hero Arts Wish Big stamp set and colored it using Copic markers in pinks. I popped popped the girl image and the balloon up onto the panel using some Stampin' UP foam dimensionals and ran some black American Crafts twine under the balloon and adhered under the girl's hand using some Ranger Multi Medium Matte so it would stay put. I popped the inner panel up off of the card using some foam tape, adhered some beautiful sequins from The Ton's sweetheart mix, and ran some clear Wink of Stella over her hair, the dress, the stockings, and the balloon for some shimmer. I stamped the sentiment from the same Hero Arts stamp set using some Versafine onyx black ink. I hope you like it...I know my friend will!