Contest entries -- and a winner!

This weekend there was a stamp show in my neck of the woods. It's a show I've been going to for years; it's much smaller now than it used to be, but it's still fun to browse and see things in person. One of my favorite parts of the show is the card contests. There are two themes every year, and I try to enter two cards for each theme. Three winners for each theme receive money to spend with the vendors at the show. And this year one of my cards was a winner!

This is my winning card for the theme "Sunny." I won second place and got $75 to spend. Yippee! I wanted a layered, vintage-feeling card, so I used kraft card stock and earthy colors. On the card base I stamped a grid background stamp. (I purposely applied ink to the stamp unevenly so it stamped with sort of a blotchy look.) Then I stamped a sunflower image three times in a darker color. I used a script stencil with gold paste to add more texture to the background and sponged ink around the edges of the card base.

For the focal panel, I stamped the Aged Shadow stamp (Hero Arts) on kraft card stock, tore the edges around the stamp, and then inked the torn edges. I wrapped twine around the bottom of the piece and added the die-cut sunflower image (colored with colored pencils) and sentiment. I attached the panel to the card base and finished with some gold sequins.

This was my other entry for the "Sunny" theme. I used the Stay Golden stamp set from Ellen Hutson. I stamped the sun and the wavy water lines using dye (water-based) ink on watercolor paper, and then I used a damp paintbrush to blend out some of the color. Then, with the help of a stamp positioner, I restamped the wavy lines to make them bolder. I matted the panel with black card stock and adhered it to a yellow card base that I had splattered with gold watercolor. I embossed and die cut the "stay golden" sentiment and finished the card with silver stars on the wavy lines to look like the sun sparkling on the water. 

The second theme for the card contests was "Come and Get It." I'll admit I struggled with this theme. After some thought I decided to create a little picnic-y scene. I ink bended clouds on a light blue card base, added die-cut clouds and sun, and placed a grassy green hill at the bottom of the card. Then I stamped, colored, and die cut the bears and all their accessories and arranged them in the scene. I think these bears look ready to invite you to their feast of fish and honey!

For my second "Come and Get It" card, I went with a kitchen motif. I used the Flippin' Awesome stamps and dies (Taylored Expressions) and chose one color for each image. I stamped and die cut a bunch of images and then spent a lot of time arranging them on a white card base. I wanted to add a greeting, so I used an alphabet stamp to create the sentiment "What's cookin'?" then die cut it with a stitched circle and matted it with a red scalloped circle. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I glued everything down and filled in some empty spaces with enamel hearts.

I had some pieces left over after I made this card, so I created one more card to add to my stash:

Here’s a picture of me with the “Sunny” card entries:

Thanks for stopping by!