Bookmarks XX: Primary Knight

I'm a little too tired to weave a narrative of challenge inspiration, which anyway is always "look for several challenges that can go together and do them", so I'm just going to list the challenges I'm entering up front.

I'm entering this bookmark in the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp and Show: Hero (the knight)
• Art Impressions Challenge 80: Rainbow (red tabard, orange flame, yellow shield, green dragon, blue horse caparison)
• Divas by Design Challenge 52: For A Child (great for any kid who likes to play pretend... and you can pretend the knight is male or female as you wish, which is pretty cool)
• Crafty Card Makers Challenge 74: Winged Things (the dragon)
• Willow Sketchie: Sketch or Things with Wings (winged dragon)
• Delightful Challenges: Anything But A Card (it's a bookmark!)

I'm also linking it up to DL.ART's 1000-post Linky Party.

At this point you know I've made a bookmark with a colorful knight and dragon. Also, the dragon has wings. They're likely childish in style.

The picture seems a little anticlimactic.

It's bright and cheerful, although the composition could have been better. At the very least I could have placed the rear of the horse off the edge, mirroring the way the dragon is positioned. Still: bright and cheerful. Rainbow colors may not exactly stretch my boundaries but darn it they feel good. Look at this bookmark. Look at this selection of inspiration photos from Art Impressions. Tell me you don't feel like your day is a little more cheerful.

Once I called the bookmark "Primary Knight" I began to wonder whether the knight is fighting the dragon because it's a dragon, or because it's made up of secondary colors. Clearly he's already vanquished something purple.

Supplies: (white 110 lb. cardstock is Staples brand)

Bookmarks XVII: Butterfly Snowstorm

Someday I will stamp with the Bubble-Butt Butterfly, but that day is not today.

Click here to skip the rambling and jump straight to the project and the challenge listing.

I did use a different butterfly from Inkadinkado's Gem Stone Insects set today, though. There are four or so butterflies on that thing. It seems that the motto in the stamp-making community is "The world always needs another butterfly stamp." (The world apparently also always needs more flower stamps, too. Why can't the world need more dragon stamps or something like that?)

No. What the world needs is butterflies, and since the Sweet Stampin' challenge this week is White on White, I, if not the rest of the world, need them in white.

I've got white cardstock, white ink, white embossing powder, a couple of butterflies, and a nice bookmark-adaptable sketch from Fetch A Sketch. Let's do this thing.



The white ink is actually something of a problem. I think a machine in the Clearsnap factory messed up, because this little Color Box cat's eye easily has enough ink in it for a mini- or even full-sized Color Box inkpad. I dab it very gingerly on the stamp... then dab some more, not to add more ink but in the hope the inkpad will soak some back up!

The Gem Stone Butterfly is quite fancy enough as the focal point, so instead of using a smaller butterfly from the same set for the "star" element of the sketch, I chose a very simple little butterfly from October Afternoon. The stamp is little rather than very little, however, so instead of three butterflies I have only the one. I think it still looks pretty good and doesn't bend the sketch too much.

I do like the block of white behind the fancy butterfly quite a lot. I just outlined the rectangle with washi tape and went to town with the ink, then embossed. It grounds the butterfly nicely and helps it stand out. (As much as anything can stand out on this project.)

Why would something have trouble standing out on this project? Well, when the challenge says "White on White", I'm not going to pussyfoot around with grey or black or colors. I'm going to put some white down on some white! I guess it's a good thing my base cardstock turned out to be a little off-white, or no-one would be able to see a darn thing in my photograph:



And that's why this bookmark is called "Butterfly Snowstorm", after that joke about seeing a polar bear in a snowstorm...

I'm entering this bookmark into the following challenges:

• Sweet Stampin' Challenge: White on White
• Crafty Boots Challenge: ONE (one color)
• Fetch A Sketch Challenge 32 (I only have one small "star" element instead of three -- I didn't have any butterflies small enough for three to fit.)
• Crafty Card Makers Challenge 74: Winged Things
• Craft Your Passion Challenge 127: Blast From the Past (this fits #125 Emboss It, #123 Gone Buggy, #116 Things With Wings, and #103 Monochromatic)
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Put a Stamp On It (I used washi tape while making it, but you can't see that now! Good thing washi tape was optional.)

Supplies: