WCMD - Inspiration from around the world at Stamp Nation! Card #1, South Africa

AHH!  They have a whole day set aside for card making?  I had no idea until I joined Stamp Nation.

They're doing world-tour type card making themes over at Stamp Nation this weekend, with inspiration photos from famous places.

My first card is for the inspiration of this photo from South Africa:

While I love the vibrant colors in this, I really wanted something a little more muted- but the high contrast really spoke to me.

I have a seriously limited supply of card-making materials; pretty much just what I've gotten in 4 months of SSS's card making kits, a set of pigment ink cubes, and a rubber stamp I bought for a Mother's Day card for my sister.  I think I've been doing okay with just that, though!

Here's what I made from this inspiration:

I started with a piece of patterned paper (the orange) and used an ink blending tool (the small round one- I love it) to sponge on some Peacock Feathers distress ink at the bottom, hoping it would turn green due to the yellow/orange behind it.  It did!

The horizontal line is a stamp from SSS's "To Thine Own Shelf" stamp set, and the sentiment is from a Hero Arts clear stamp set I picked up at Michael's in the clearance bin. :)

There's clear Wink of Stella on the horizontal bar and the text as well.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, 9/10/14 - Create your own background #5

I wanted to try some second generation stamping for stripes, but I didn't have any long, solid bars.  So, I used the back of the dotted hash stamp that comes in the Happy Mail stamp set from SSS to stamp it in lipstick red.  I love how the line turned out broken and messy looking. :)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, 9/10/14 - Create your own background #4

This week I'm just not.. loving my creations.  The colors in this one are okay, but I think the green around the butterfly just isn't doing it for me.  You can't tell in the picture, but the butterfly is embossed with clear glitter, and the yellow frame is sparkly too.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, 9/10/14 - Create your own background #3

I wanted this one to be a little more masculine, and I think I did okay.  I love the little enamels on this one.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, 9/10/14 - Create your own background #2

This background happened totally by accident.  I had this (seemingly) great idea to squish my pigment ink pads down on my Moroccan stencil to create this rainbow effect... and it looked terrible.  So, I put the stencil down on a piece of paper to wipe it off.  This happened.  The background is actually the scratch paper I was using to stamp off and do some second generation stamping on the happy mail card (above) .. and it just turn out so neat!  Grey but with rainbow colors.  Perfect.

CP.com Housewarming and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, 9/10/14 - Create your own background #1

This card is for both SSS Wednesday's Challenge and Catherine Pooler's house warming!

To be honest, I'm not totally in love with this card.  I really wish I'd had some cream colored card stock for the background instead of bright white.  I love the curls, though!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, card #5

This card is my first use of a stencil with distress ink, and I really like how it came out.  I think if I got a better quality white card stock, it would have turned out even better.

This uses a mounted rubber stamp I got in the clearance bin at Michael's (the flowers), and the sentiment is SSS's Ice Cream Dreams.  This card was created for the Wednesday challenge blog on 9.7.14.

Click here for this week's Wednesday challenge blog!
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/simon-says-happy-birthday-2/