Bookmarks XVIII: For Telling Tales

I have got to get some detail embossing powder.

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

Sorting through my stamps in search of some inspiration for a group of black & white challenges, I settled on the ravens from an Inkadinkado mini-set. For a moment or two I couldn't decide which one to use, and then I realized, hey, here's an awesome inspiration for a pair of bookmarks! It's probably only been a week since I made a pair instead of a single bookmark, but it feels much longer.

With a pair, I can make one white bookmark with black accents, and one black bookmark with white accents. I also thought this was an excellent set to give another shot at the clean and simple style, which seems particularly appropriate for black and white.

Did I mention at least one of those black & white challenges was black & white & something else? I kept the amount of color small; I hope the crew at That Craft Place will forgive me -- theirs was a pure black & white challenge. I'll certainly understand if they'd rather disqualify me, though; no hard feelings, there's no question I've stretched the challenge a bit. (Just a bit, though: please don't be confused by the pink background in the picture, which is not part of the bookmarks. Maybe I should not have used that background.)

I'd like to point out that I cut the strips of pink, black, and white by hand. The craft knife, ruler, and I were in harmony tonight.

I'm so much happier with this attempt at clean & simple than the last one. Yay!

The name for this pair of bookmarks is a little out there: it's from a poem, Ode to a Corbie. I've reproduced the first two stanzas here:

My hero is the raven,
The raven and the jay,
The magpie and the jackdaw and the crow:
Trickster-god or world's creator,
Ravn, koras, corvus, corbie,
Stealing sun to light the world below.

Post-flood, the first to fly
(The dove gets all the credit),
For telling tales, Apollo turned you black:
Unhappy bird! or lucky bird —
Too smart, with human qualities,
And speech, one of the few birds with the knack.

(Ode to a Corbie, Bess L. Walker)

Unfortunately naming is a step that usually comes between making and blogging. So my bookmarks look more like a black raven has turned into a white one! If I'd thought of the name first, the colors would have gone the other way: first the white bookmark, with the flying raven in white, then the black bookmark. Oh well, I still really like them. I suppose if it bothers me that much, it would not be at all hard to make another pair!

I'm entering this pair of bookmarks in the following challenges:

• The Ribbon Reel Challenge #36: Black, White, & Pop of Pink
• That Craft Place Challenge: Black and White
• CAS-ual Fridays Challenge 69: Embossing (the ravens are heat embossed)
• Craft Your Passion Challenge 127: Blast From the Past (This fits #125 Emboss It, #120 Black & White + One, and, though I didn't realize until just now, #116 Things with Wings.)
• Simon Says Stamp and Show: Hero (first line of poem)

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

Supplies: (The white cardstock is 110lb. from Staples, and the ravens are from a mini-clear set by Inkadinkado, but I can't find good references to get them into the widget.)

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:

Bookmarks XVI: Turns to Gold

The leaves where I live are still green, but we've been getting lovely cool days lately. And it seems that half the challenge blogs in the northern hemisphere are fall-focused around now, which is a-okay by me -- I love these colors!

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

I mentioned in my post about putting together a kit for the gryphon bookmark trio that until someone came along with a "Bookmarks by Newbie Crafters" challenge, last week's Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, Read All About It!, was the best fit for my bookmarky papercrafts that I was likely to get.

To ensure that I wouldn't be right for very long, the Incy Wincy Designs challenge this week is "Make a Bookmark". Hey, twist my arm.

In addition to fall colors and a couple of technique/material challenges, I've used this sketch (turned sideways) from this week's Sketch Saturday challenge:

While I have included the two little dots, they're not terribly obvious -- there's a little pair of stamped-and-embossed acorns in the upper right corner of the patterned paper if you look. I like them. They come from the same stamp set as the sentiment, where they are part of a big branch of leaves and acorns, all of which I masked out. There's something very clever-feeling in using only a tiny part of a big stamp, although maybe that's just the stamp cleaner fumes talking.

I'm really pleased with how this bookmark turned out. The colors work, the washi tape works, the design is great (thanks, Sketch Saturday!), and it feels neither too decorated nor too empty. Plus I have a couple of novels about squirrels it can fit right into.

I'm entering this lovely bookmark in the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Put a Stamp on It + optional washi tape
• Cute Card Thursday Challenge 233: Autumn Gold
• Raise the Bar Challenge #110: Celebrate Fall
• Sketch Saturday #224 (I've turned the sketch on its side)
• Pile It On #37: Patterned Paper
• Incy Wincy Designs Challenge: Make a Bookmark
• Craft Your Passion Challenge 127: Blast From the Past (using past challenge #125, Emboss It)
• Scrapalicious USA: Welcoming Fall

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

Supplies: (The patterned paper is from DCWV's Autumn Melody mat stack, and the washi tape is by Recollections. I'll add them to the widget if I can ever find them online.) (Edited 9-25-12 to add the thumbnail pic at the top.)

Bookmarks XV: Purrfect Pet

Sentiments are almost always super-cheesy. I look at one on a sheet of stamps and think "Why is there not another image instead of this trite sentiment?" But when I see other people's finished work, they look good -- of course they're still just as cheesy, but somehow, on finished pieces, they work. I don't know how this transformation happens for the rest of you, but this time, for me, I think it was the glitter.

Click here to skip the rambling and go directly to the project and challenge list.

This week's Divas by Design challenge was Friendship. I was pretty stumped until, looking through DCWV's Pets matstack for something else, I happened across a piece of cardstock which seemed pretty set on loving its animal friends. That was pretty much all I needed to pull together a project.

I used the wonderful little yarn-ball stamp to do some color testing with inks from Color Box's Surf's Up, Wood Grain, and Rain Forest cat's eye queues. In other news, I should probably make a permanent reference instead of re-color-testing for each project.

I'm also following this week's Lawnscaping sketch challenge:

I turned the sketch sideways. For the vertical element, I used some washi (technically Recollections "crafting") tape. I did allow a few of the phrases on the paper to break the line, because I wanted to keep them intact for the friendship theme.

The tape line doesn't stand out much on the busy paper. Maybe all it is doing is highlighting the phrases that break it? Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the result, and I even like how the sentiment turned out! In that font, with that much glitter, it is owning the horribly cheesy pun, and I can respect that.

I'm entering this bookmark in the following challenges:

• Divas by Design Challenge 51: Friendship (my cat, and many other pets, are excellent friends)
• Lawnscaping Challenge #41: Sketch (turned on its side). Alas, I am not using a Lawn Fawn stamp, but by gosh Critters in the 'Burbs would have been pretty perfect (purrfect?) for this... if I owned it.
• Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Put a Stamp on It! + optional washi tape (stamped image & sentiment, subtle vertical washi tape)

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

Supplies: (I can't find the tape to list it in the widget, but it is Recollections crafting tape from Michael's)

Bookmarks XIV: Clean and Simple Birthday

Orange is more complicated than I thought.

Click here to skip the rambling and go directly to the project and challenge listing.

This week's challenge at the Annabelle Blog was Say It In... Lime, Mango, and Orange:

And I had a lot of colors like those, but none that made a very good set of nice bright colors like in the prompt. I tried a lot of them:

"Citrine" is obviously the best choice for Lime. I could find only one acceptable yellow orange for Mango, the "banana custard" from the Color Box Swell queue. As it's more a "soft yellow" than "yellow-orange", the the bright oranges didn't look very good at all with it. So even though "mango tango" would have matched better, I went with the softer "sweet melon" for my Orange. Also from the Swell queue.

I have used that queue in the last billion three or so projects. It's been really useful but I think I need to get away from it for a project or two. There are only so many pastel rainbows a girl can stand, you know?

Anyway... there are a couple of birthday challenges going around, so I incorporated those. And after the seventy-five different tries at "the right green" I went through for the last set of bookmarks, I wasn't in the mood for fuss, so CAS-ual Friday's challenge sounded great: clean, simple, use embossing. I mean, hey, I've got this sparkly new embossing powder that I decided not to use on the last project, and I was a little sad about that... and birthdays need sparkle, right?

It's definitely simple, and pretty clean, although I guess color gradation and sparkles are little fancy. I like it, though. (And I really like the time it took to make!)

I'm entering this bookmark in the following challenges:

• Annabelle Challenge 085: Say it in... Lime, Mango, Orange, & White
• CAS-ual Fridays Challenge 69: Use Embossing (the images are heat embossed with sparkle-y, a.k.a. clear + glitter, embossing powder)
• Top Tip Tuesday Challenge 84: Birthday Gifts
• Do You Stack Up? Challenge #88: Birthdays

Supplies: