Sunflower Studio

BYE BYE RUBBERNECKER!

Today is the last day of my two month Rubbernecker Dream Team assignment.  It's definitely been fun and interesting.  I feel like I pushed my boundaries a teensy bit - using more realistic images in my artwork than I would normally pick.  It's only fitting that since I started out my term with Rubbernecker using the big ole Margarita stamp that I should end with the big ole Cosmo! 

Isn't this fun!  This week's Rubbernecker Challenge was to use sparkle or glitter on your card.  I added just a touch of Stickles to make this one sparkle a bit at the top of the drink and on the cherry.  Still practicing my Copic blending.  It's definitely true that the more you practice the better you get.  I think I'm finally achieving a little bit of what Marianne was teaching us in class.  (Here's it's all about the pink of the drink!)

Sherry and Linda have Rubbernecker Bucks blog candy this week so be sure to check in with them and enter to win.  If you're uploading your creation(s) using this week's challenge theme to Splitcoast, make sure that you use the keyword RBC20.

I wanted to thank Sherry, Jeanne, Kittie, Candy, Linda, Shelly, Broni, and Tami for allowing me to be a part of the gang for the last two months.  I'm sure that they'll have a ton of really great things to show you in the months to come.  AND, there are two new design team members over there...Bev Gerard and Juliana Swanson.  Cheers to you all, Rubbernecker Gang!

Supplies:  Stamps - Large Martini Glass, Cherry, and Martini Background by Rubbernecker Stamp Company, "Cheers" sentiment by The Cat's Pajamas; CS - Pink and green textured CS by Core'dinations, Spring Green and White by Papertrey, patterned papers in the Sultry Collection by Basic Grey; Ink - Tuxedo Black by Memento, Sahara Sand & Pretty in Pink by SU!; Other - Copic Markers, Ranger Stickles, SU! Silver cord, KI Memories Ribbon, sponges, SU! Scalloped Edge and Tag Corner punches, American Crafts brads, Making Memories eyelets.

RUBBERNECKER - BLOG CHALLENGE #19 - MAKE A SCENE

Needless to say, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind for me.  I'm still trying to dig out and complete all of the things that I had previously committed myself to doing.  I hate when things pile up.  So, here I am late again, but at least I got it done.  This is my card for last week's Rubbernecker Stamp Company blog challenge.  You had to make a "scene" type of card - a la Kittie.  Mine's more of a still life!  ha ha

I'm a big green olive eater!  I LOVE THEM!!!  Ask my oldest friend, Donna, and she can regale you with stories of how I sucked out the pimento and put an olive on each finger of both hands.  What can I say...they're the best!  It might be all of that salty goodness....not sure...but, again, I LOVE THEM!  And that's why I had to have the olive jar and individual olive stamps from Rubbernecker as soon as I saw them.  Not only are they gorgeously illustrated images....THEY'RE OLIVES!

These are colored with Copics.  I'm working on my shading since I did take that class at CHA.  I was thrilled with how this turned out.  It's pretty much a matter of adding and blending and adding and blending various shades of color.  In this case, W-1, W-3, W-5, and W-7.  These are my favorite "shading" colors.  They resemble SU!s Sahara Sand - my fave when I'm watercoloring.  I'm no expert by any means with shadows.  In fact, they're an enigma to me and I'm sure I probably have all of the technical aspects of "real" shading and shadows all messed up.  Oh well....I still like it!  And after coloring the image, I didn't want the card to have too much of a formal feel so I paired it up with these cool American Crafts papers and bright SU! cardstocks in Cool Caribbean and Old Olive.  The ribbon and brads matched perfectly too.  The brads are American Crafts but the ribbon is We R Memory Keepers.  The sentiment is by A Muse.  Oh, and I finally found that Swiss Dot Cuttlebug Embossing folder at a store in Chicago.  Yea me!!

RUBBERNECKER - BLOG CHALLENGE #18 & TREASURE HUNT TUESDAY

BLOG CHALLENGE

This week's Rubbernecker Stamp Company blog challenge is to make an "ANIMAL" themed card.  I'm thinkin' that that's open to interpretation.  I don't really have any animal stamps from Rubbernecker.  Do starfish, a crab, and a worm count?  Hope so cuz that's what we're gettin' here today!

Rubbernecker has a great selection of stamps that you can create a "scene" with.  I originally chose the fish tank, fish, crab, boat, sand, and fish/worm stamps to all coordinate together.  (And don't forget the new Kittie Kits that they've just released for some truly amazing "scene" images.  I haven't tried them but even I might be able to work those into a scene a la Kittie!)  I haven't used ALL of them on one card yet but I used about half on this one and half on that fish tank frame card from a few weeks ago.

I wanted this card to be sort of un-traditional in color so I chose Basic Grey's Cupcake 6x6 Paper Pad and matched my Copic markers to that.    BG paper is THE best!  While I was at the beach this past weekend I got all caught up on my stamping/scrapping mags and I noticed this ribbon treatment in one of them.  Kinda fun and different!

Gather you're Rubbernecker stamps and create something "animal" oriented.  Post your card to Jeanne's blog to be entered in the weekly contest.  Please use the keyword RBC19 if you're uploading to Splitcoast this week.  Surf on over to the other Rubbernecker DT gals blogs to see what they've come up with this week too...their names are listed at left!

Supplies:  Stamps - boat, crab, worm, sand by Rubbernecker Stamp Co., sentiment by Rubber Soul; CS - Old Olive, So Saffron, Blue Bayou from SU!, Papertrey White, patterned papers from Basic Grey; Ink - Palette Noir hybrid ink, Black Onyx Versafine; Other - Copic Markers, ribbon from Michael's, paper piercing tool, American Crafts brad.

TREASURE HUNT TUESDAY

Today (4am -9pm PST) is Tuesday Treasure Hunt day at Rubbernecker Stamp Company!  For Treasure Hunt details and the first clue —-> Go HERE to the Rubbernecker Home Page.

And Candy and Shelly have BLOG CANDY this week so you'll definitely want to click over and enter to win!

WINNER - RUBBERNECKER BLOG CANDY!

I had the random integer generator at www.random.org choose a winner for the Rubbernecker Stamp Co. BLOG CANDY that I was giving away last week.  The chosen number is.....

LUCKY #13
and that's
DENISE from Paper Ponderings!

Denise, please contact me at leigh.obrien06@verizon.net with your full name so that I can get you your coupon code.  $10 in Rubbernecker Stamps will be yours...all yours!

BIRTHDAY CHEERS...

And while I'm spreading cheer....my DHs birthday was yesterday.  He's a big wine drinker...you know, "It's good for your heart."...riiiiiight.  I chose this wine bottle and wine glass stamp with future cards for him (and his dad) in mind.  Both images are by Rubbernecker Stamp Co. 

I colored the images using various Stampin' Up! dye inks and a waterbrush on watercolor paper (that paper makes all the difference in the world, doesn't it?!).  I then used color dusters with Ranger Mushroom and Butterscotch Adirondack inks and Ranger Walnut Distress ink to create the shadows around the main image.  I also sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip ink.  I like this kind of Tuscan vintage look. 

The patterned paper can really make the card.  The green here is called Verdi and is by Daisy D's and the purple Harlequin is from a Red Hat Society scrapbook pad (maybe K&Co?).  The cardstock layers are all Stampin' Up! - River Rock, Elegant Eggplant, and True Thyme (ret).

The ribbon had both purple and green in it but was originally way too bright.  I used Carole Burrage's idea and colored it with a Copic marker.  That really "browned" it down so that it matched the look and feel of my card.  Another nifty trick to file away in my brain!

CHEERS!

RUBBERNECKER - BLOG CHALLENGE #17, TREASURE HUNT & BLOG CANDY...AGAIN!

BLOG CHALLENGE #17 - USE RIBBON IN A NON-TRADITIONAL WAY

This week's Rubbernecker Blog challenge is to use ribbon in a non-traditional way.  Interesting, right?!

I was thinking that I would weave some ribbon for a background but as I looked through my Rubbernecker stamps I was drawn to the BIG TACO!  Doesn't everyone need a BIG TACO stamp?  I added the ribbon to a slit cut in the upper taco image.  I colored two separate images with Copics and then cut one of them out.  I cut the slit just above the taco shell and slid in some shredded green ribbon "lettuce", some red ribbon "tomato" chunks, and a bit of light orange "American cheese" colored ribbon.  I'm thrilled with how this turned out.  I really like the bold colors of this cool American Crafts paper from the Play collection and I didn't want my taco image to have to compete with the patterned papers so I kept the stamped layer fairly simple on the white background.

My friend, Holly, and I split some clear Dew Drops and she mentioned having seen online somewhere that someone used Copic markers to color the Dew Drops to match their card.  I tried it here.  I colored these an Olive color.  It's so cool because the Copics are permanent and they dry really quickly.  What a nifty trick!

Enter the weekly Rubbernecker Blog challenge by posting a link to your card on Jeanne Streiff's blog.  Make sure to use keyword RBC17 if you're uploading to Splitcoast.  All of the details on the challenges can be found HERE.

Supplies:  Stamps - Taco by Rubbernecker Stamp Co., sentiment by A Muse; CS - Papertrey white, SU! Chocolate Chip, textured CS by DCWV, patterned papers by American Crafts; Ink - Palette Noir hybrid ink, Burnt Sienna Palette ink; Other - Copic markers, paper piercing tool, Nestabilities dies, Dew Drops, various ribbon.

TREASURE HUNT TUESDAY

Today (4am -9pm PST) is Tuesday Treasure Hunt day at Rubbernecker Stamp Co! For Treasure Hunt details and the first clue —-> Go HERE to the Rubbernecker Home Page.

TREASURE HUNT BLOG CANDY...AGAIN!

I've got RUBBERNECKER BLOG CANDY again this week!  Leave me a comment here with this card...tell me what you like to put in a TACO.  I like turkey burger, lettuce, tomato, and some salsa...I guess I'm not really a big Mexican food eater.  What do you like?  I'll leave the comments open until midnight eastern time on Saturday, July 12th and then choose a random winner.  The winner will receive $10 in Rubbernecker Bucks to use on some stamps...yippee!  I'll announce by Monday.  Jeanne's got BLOG CANDY too so hop on over to her blog to enter.

RUBBERNECKER - BLOG CHALLENGE #16

I didn't get a change to get my Rubbernecker Blog Challenge card made last week before we headed to the beach for the holiday so I'm posting it now.  The challenge was to use chipboard or grungeboard on your card or project.  I'm working my way though the Rubbernecker stamps that I have and trying not to use the same ones over and over.  Here are a few that I hadn't inked up yet.  Isn't this fun?!

 

I colored all of the images with Copics and then layered them onto chipboard.  The top layer had a coating on SU! Crystal Effects so that the fish tank looks like it's made of glass.  And that's a quickie photo of the little boy from this past weekend.  He won't take the mask off if he's in the water.  He pulls it down so low on the back of his head that it almost covers his mouth!  But you can't tell him that it should be higher on his head.  Nope!  He's 7 and he ALREADY knows EVERYTHING!!

Supplies:  Stamps - All by Rubbernecker Stamp Company; CS - Papertrey White, SU! Summer Sun; Ink - Palette Noir hybrid ink; Other - Copic Markers, Crystal Effects, chipboard, black foam board, sponge.

RUBBERNECKER BLOG CHALLENGE #16

The days of this week truly got away from me!  I wanted to make sure that anyone still left out there reading blogs on a holiday weekend remembers that there is a challenge this week at Rubbernecker Stamp Co.  We're up to challenge #16 which is to use Chipboard on your card or project.  I didn't have time to create something new before we left for the beach but I'm hoping to have something posted on Monday.

As always, you can get all of the details about the weekly challenge HERE on Jeanne's blog.  Use keyword RBC16 when uploading to Splitcoast so that we can find your artwork.

Also, Treasure Hunt Blog Candy is being offered by Tami this week.  Make sure that you check in with her before Sunday!

All of the Rubbernecker DT ladies will have inspiration for you on their blogs...click on their names listed in the left sidebar.  Enjoy the 4th...Happy Fireworks!

 

THE QUEEN OF SCENE

Have you ever visited Kittie Caracciolo's blog?  Perused Kittie's Splitcoast gallery?  WELL, YOU are missing out on something amazing.  Kittie is the Queen of Scene.  She creates the most unbelievable cards that are truly works of art.  You have to see to believe!

Today, Rubbernecker Stamp Co. will be releasing eight new stamp sets called Kittie Kits.  There are two sets that contain brand new images, Cause A Scene Beach and Cause A Scene Out Door.  The other four sets contain images that you may have seen at Rubbernecker before that have been resized so that they're compatable with Kittie's master sets.  Again...you've just go to check these our for yourself.  Who knows, maybe you can create a scene like Kittie's using these sets.  Wouldn't that be somethin'?

Congrats, Kittie, on this major accomplishment.  I'm so excited for you!

RUBBERNECKER - BLOG CHALLENGE #15 AND TREASURE HUNT

RUBBERNECKER BLOG CHALLENGE #15

The Rubbernecker challenge for the week is a sketch challenge.  I think it's a really versatile sketch...use it exactly as it is, turn it horizontal, create a gate fold card...lots of possibilities. 

I dug really deep into my patterned paper stash for this one.  I can't even tell you where this paper came from.  It's definitely from my very early "hoarding" phase.  There are some really scary papers in there...what was I thinking?  But I digress....at least it fits the theme of the card.  And it's a bright and cheery 4th of July!!  This cool top hat full of firecrackers jumped out at me on the Rubbernecker site.  I could just imagine it all colored in...what fun! 

The card has a flap on each side but I taped the right flap down.  When you open the card, as seen in the "inside" photos, you'll see that there is a strip of cardstock that slides out towards the left.  It carries the sentiment layer.  Just a wee bit of interaction to make the card interesting.

I colored the image with Copics and a few Prismacolor markers as well.  The main image piece stared out as a piece of Papertrey White but I decided to color the entire piece.  I used my trusty Nestabilities dies for the large oval and SU! Kraft taffeta ribbon.  The stars?  HA...more stuff from down deep in the embellishment drawer.  See, everything comes in handy sooner or later!

Why don't you give the sketch a try this week.   Go on over to Jeanne's blog for all of the details.  Leave a post over there that includes a link to your card so that you can be entered to win $25 in Rubbernecker bucks.  Make sure that you include the keyword RBC15 if you're posting over at Splitcoast.  You can find details for the challenges right HERE.  The other Rubbernecker design team members will have blog challenge posts to share with you too.  They're all highlighted in the list at left so click over for more inspiration.

TREASURE HUNT TUESDAY

Head over to the Rubbernecker homepage to see what the Treasure Hunt has in store for you this week. The clue will be right there on the homepage - as always it's so worth it for you to go there and look!  This week Kittie and Broni have blog candy to give away.

Check back tomorrow for some TOP SECRET news that will be revealed!  Shhhh...it's a secret!