September: A Wicked Good Month!

Well, it's finally here... the day I can spill my beans about being asked to hostess this month's WICKED challenges on Splitcoast! If you aren't familiar with them, WICKED stands for: Wonderfully Inspiring Challenges Keep Educating Demos! And they asked ME to be the featured demo this week- can you believe it?!?

Anyway, I need to first apologize to those of you visiting if you aren't an SU demo because you won't be able to open the link to these challenges. However, you can still play along with me right here on my blog- I'd love to see how you are inspired by the three challenges I came up with! OR you could sign up to be on my Stampin' Up! team and always be able to access the informative side of Splitcoast for demonstrators only. :)

So here are my challenges and my example for each one. I'll list directions and supplies at the very end by card order if you have any questions.

Color Challenge: Use any combination of Red, White and Blue on your project! Keep an open mind- these don’t have to be the typical patriotic or nautical cards (but those are OK too). Red, White and Blue shades look amazing together for any type of card.

Back to School Challenge: It’s back to school time but this challenge is NOT what you think. This doesn’t have to be a school theme or anything related to school. I’m challenging you to pull out your CHALK, dust it off and use it again! If you’re like me, it’s probably been a while. I’m not talking about chalk ink; I’m talking good-old-fashioned Stampin’ Pastels! There are several techniques out there that you can try like Poppin’ Pastels and the Chalkboard Technique, or make up your own for BONUS points. Can’t wait to see what you do!
Birthday Boy & Birthday Girl: The back-to-school time of year also means an increase in birthday party invitations (we’ve gotten one already)! This time of year I like to stock up on youthful birthday cards to have handy at a moments notice. This challenge goes like this: choose any sketch you like then make a “Birthday Boy” card and a “Birthday Girl” card with that same sketch (you could design birthday party invitations for this challenge as well). Make them as similar or as different as you’d like, but use the same sketch. If you don’t have school age children or would prefer to make more grown-up cards, that’s OK too! Just use the same sketch to make a more masculine and a more feminine birthday card. Using the same sketch to make a variety of cards is an efficient and effective tip that is helpful in designing for workshops and will be useful to our customers.

Card 1: For the background on this card I used the Lattice Die- just layed it on the cardstock and sponged white ink over it, that's all! It is so simple and gives a neat look. The navy and red flower was also made with different parts of a lattice die cut out... nothing goes to waste!

SUO Supplies: Stamps- Define Your Life, Medallion Background; Colors- Ballet Blue, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Real Red; Accessories: Silver brad, Lattice Die, Big Shot, Sponge.

Card 2: This is actually a 6x6 scrapbook page. The title is made by stamping the letters in Versamark then rubbing white chalk from our Stampin' Pastels over them. This is the Poppin' Pastels technique I linked above. I used an old makeup sponge, but you could use a sponge dauber (mine all have ink on them so I couldn't) or maybe even a cue tip. The check marks were done with the Versamarker- you know, that thing you ordered but don't seem to know what to do with! The writing is all done with a white gel pen.

The apple is copied from my pal Mercedes Webber (one of my GSG buddies) who was featured in a recent Stampin' Success magazine that all demonstrators get (yet another perk of being a demo *wink*). It was done with the Round tab punch and some free-hand cutting for seeds and stem. The chalkboard itself is just a piece of creamy caramel cardstock cut to 6x6 then edged with the crimper on all 4 sides. Then I measured the center and cut the black to fit. My little piece of chalk is simply a piece of white cardstock punched with the Word Windo punch then trimmed and sponged slightly with creamy caramel, then rolled over a pencil to add some dimension. It is added with a Stampin' Dimensional, of course.

SUO Supplies: Stamps- Any alphabet will do, but this is an OLDY called Newsprint; Colors- Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Real Red; Accessories: Stampin' Pastels chalk, Versamarker, Round Tab punch, Crimper, sponge, Library clip, Red gingham ribbon.

Cards 3 & 4: These two are pretty self-explanatory I think.

Card 3 SUO Supplies: Stamps- Good Friend, Wow Flowers (sentiment); Colors- Going Gray, Basic Gray, Cameo Coral, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White; Accessories- Wide Oval punch, Eyelet border punch, Rich Razzleberry dotted grosgrain, Paper Piercing tools.

Card 4 SUO Supplies: Stamps- Choo Choo, It's Your Birthday; Colors- Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bay, Brilliant Blue, Chocolate Chip; Accessories- Right on Track wheel, Spiral punch, Bermuda Bay dotted grosgrain

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy my challenges! See you tomorrow!

~Kristin