Beetles & Bugs Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday #320

The optional theme for Vicki's sketch at Try Stampin' or Not on Tuesday, is May Days.  You may wonder why I have bugs on my card. Let's say I was out gardening, and some flying, biting insects were very abundant, and more abundant now since the weather warmed up.  Therefore the insect card.

 

I actually don't mind insects, but not crawling all over me.  Structurally they are quite fascinating.

I started by taking a piece of Soft Suede cardstock and embossing 6 beetle/bug images from the stamp set " Bugs & Beetles" with Black Embossing powder.

Then, using fresh ordinary household bleach and a very small paint brush, I applied bleach to these images being careful to stay within the lines.  Immediately the color of the bugs changed.  The color was enhanced when I applied heat to the images with my embossing tool.  When the images were dry, I took a Basic Black marker and reintroduced some black back into the images.

This art piece was matted with Basic Black card stock and added to the card front using dimensionals.

The basic card is Basic Black card stock, layered with So Saffron cardstock embossed with the Hexagonal embossing folder.  On the left side I added a piece of Soft Suede DSP matted with Basic Black card stock.

Emerging out from under the art piece is a die cut tree - die cut from Beautiful Branches Thinlet dies.

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Bugs & Beetles
Inks: Versa Mark, Basic Black marker
Papers: Basic Black, So Saffron, Soft Suede, Soft Suede DSP

Accessories Black embossing powder, Heat tool, Hexagonal Dynamic embossing folder, bleach, small paint brush, dimensionals.

Thoughtful Branches in the Pumpkin Patch

I'm a great believer in making the most use of my stamp sets, so sometimes I turn the stamp side ways, upside down to see if that triggers an idea.

That's what happened today with the Thoughtful Branches stamp set.  I turned it upside down and the tree looked like pumpkin. So I went with it, and when I showed the completed card to my son he said he would never had known it was a tree turned into a pumpkin if I had not told him.

Now, I know you've been informed that this stamp and thinlet bundle would not be available after Aug 31, but Stampin' Up has indicated that more sets are available so they can be ordered while supplies last.

I started with a 4 1/4 by 11" piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock and folded it in half to make a top fold card.
Two different texture stamps were used on the next Whisper White layer.  First, using Crumb Cake ink and  the Timeless Texture stamp set, the edges of the Whisper White piece were distressed.  A couple of the swirls were stamped in random areas.  Because I wanted to cover the entire front of this piece I used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and stamped various dot sizes randomly across the front.

Then I die cut the following from the Beautiful Branches thinlet/dies:  I pumpkin pie tree; 3  open veined leaves in Old Olive;  and 3 single leaves in Always Artichoke; a chocolate chip tree trunk.  I curled 2 tiny slivers of Always Artichoke card stock around a small paint brush handle to make swirls.

Before I assembled the pumpkin, all edges were sponged - the pumpkin tree with Pumpkin Pie ink; the leaves with Always Artichoke.

The pumpkin was then assembled as shown in the picture.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Thoughtful Branches, Gorgeous Grunge, Timeless Texture
Inks: Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake
Papers:  Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Accessories: Beautiful Branches thinlet dies