HOT STUFF

I've been contemplating the current Inkspirational Challenge - Designer's Choice - HOT and thinking to tackle the idea. Today was a perfect day to do that, because it's a bit too cool and wet to work out in the garden.

I have this really great rubber sunburst image from the vaults at Hero Arts that I've used once since I bought it and it seemed like the perfect place to start. I also had a postage die out on my desk and I decided to combine the two things together in some way. Then the idea hit me to add a '16' and make it into a card for my oldest granddaughter who will be turning 16 in a few months. 

I started with a white card base and a small scrap of the same stock. My postage stamp die cuts out a rectangle at the same time as the outline, making 2 pieces. I stamped the image on the scrap, colored it with my Copic markers, and stamped the tiny sentiment from Hero Arts #CM351. (The number 16 is from a very old sheet of Letraset transfer lettering - and when I say old, I really mean it! I have a bunch of these sheets from my graphic design days of 50 years ago.) After coloring the image and adding the sentiment, I die cut it with my postage die and discarded the outline of the die. I die cut a yellow rectangular panel, matted it with red-orange cardstock and added a PTI flourish with orange ink because I thought it was looking a bit bare. I also wanted to add an embellishment so decided to punch a rectangular hole at the top and thread some light blue twine through it. The final step was to cut out an opening on the back of the red-orange panel to reveal the colored image that I had glued to the face of the white card and attach it with some dimensional foam.

Here's a close-up of the image:

Inkspirational: Inkspirational Challenge #341 - Designer's Choice - HOT

Added 5/31/2025:

HOCUS POCUS

It's mid-May here at Two Old Bats and this is our reminder that you still have a couple of weeks to join in with my silliness.

You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in and you shake it all about... You do the Hocus Pocus and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about!

I know those aren't the correct lyrics, but when I started putting this card together, this is what I thought it looked like these guys were doing - either that or spelling out YMCA! Since I decided to use a new word die - Hocus Pocus - I've taken the liberty to change the lyrics to meet my silly mood.

I started this card with a horizontal A2 black card base. I added a rectangular bright pink printed cardstock and layered the printed skeleton paper over the top of that. I added the die cut LDRS Creative "Large Word Halloween" #8321 that I had cut from the pink cardstock and backed it with the black. The final step was to add a couple of googley eyes, a side-tied  bow of twine, and a coordinating envelope and treat box.

We haven't given away the cute Whimsy Stamps dies, so those are still available if we hit 25 or more entries - let's get with it!

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: May 2025 Mid Month Reminder

Since this card features a large die cut sentiment, I'm going to share it with the others at the Word Power May Challenge:

Word Power: Word Power May 2025 Challenge

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE

Usually about this time in the year I start thinking about 4th of July cards. The last couple of years I've found myself too busy between trips out of town and all of the summer activities to discipline myself to make 30 cards. So I'm not really sure I'll be carrying through on this - and to be completely honest, I don't think we Americans have much to celebrate this year. I'll just leave it at that.

I was inspired by a couple of challenges - Color Throwdown#832 and CAS Colours & Sketches #560.

I started with a white card base and a stitched rectangular top panel. I stamped an old PTI fireworks image with light blue ink and over-stamped the sentiment from Hero Greetings #CM495 in dark blue. I cut our 4 1-1/2" squares from blue star and red & white stripe paper and mounted them above the sentiment. I matted the stitched panel with dark blue card stock, added a silver sequin star and pale blue gem stone, and made a coordinating envelope.

These are the challenges that inspired me:

Color Throwdown: Color Throwdown Challenge #832

CAS Colours & Sketches: Challenge #560 - sketch

RUDE BIRTHDAY WISHES

"R is for Rude" - that's what challenge #262 is this month for The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where I am May's reigning queen! You can see that Edna stands ready to pass judgement on the level of rudeness of all of our cards:

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: SoSS #262 - R is for Rude

This card started with a top-folded white card base onto which I stamped the first Tim Holtz Snarky Cat in the upper left corner in black ink. Then I masked him off and stenciled the background with PTI "Stormy Sea" dye ink, using a Tim Holtz stencil, and colored him. Then I stamped, colored, and fussy-cut the remaining three cats. The one in the center was glued directly to the card face, along with the sentiment ( Unity Stamp Company "Purr-ty Cats"). The final step was to add the last two cats at each side with a bit of dimensional foam. I also prepared a custom envelope and lined it with a piece of white paper that I stenciled using the same Tim Holtz stencil.

My son will be getting this card early next month on the event of his 51st birthday! AND because this card features both stencilling and birthday wishes, I'm sharing it with the gang over at Seize the Birthday (my spellcheck doesn't like that spelling of stencilling, but I checked the dictionary and it's acceptable).

Seize the Birthday: Seize the Birthday # 304

MAY TWO OLD BATS HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE

May has arrived here in Blogland and our favorite ghoul friends have posted a new inspiration board that is sure to interest you! Here we are back at a pink theme, but this time I came armed! 

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: May 2025 Anything Goes Halloween

I was drawn to the cupcakes in the lower right quadrant - especially since I have a brand new-to-me stamp set from Newton's Nook Designs (#NN2008S07 "Spooky Roundabout") that I got to play with. I used a black 5-1/2" square card as my base. I trimmed a piece of pink card stock to 5-1/4" square and stamped the "roundabout" image on it with black ink. I stamped the same image a second time on white heavy paper and fussy cut all of the ghosts and skeletons from it and glued them to the pick card, The rest of the images in the circle were colored with Copic markers. The final layer of the card is a black 5" square with a circle die cut from the center and laid over the pink square. The sentiment was white heat embossed onto a strip of orange and magenta striped print paper and inserted into the side of the die-cut circle. I used a bit of white gel pen for bats' eyes and the tips of the candy corn. The "cute & creepy" was a white heat embossed afterthought.

I made a custom square envelope with black heavy paper and lined it with the same orange and magenta stripe I used for the sentiment.

Today's treat box is  brought to you by the color pink! The ghost is a sticker that I adhered to a scrap of cardstock and fussy cut. I die cut a couple of circles (black and the orange/magenta), attached all to the box plus a couple of die cut bats, and tied off with magenta and orange twine from my stash.

Additionally, over at Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge, one of the diagonal choices from the Featured Designer Jeanie is "Die Cut/Patterned Paper/Treat Holder". My little Ghirardelli Halloween treat box certainly fits within that with the die-cut bats and circles - one with patterned paper.

TTTC269 - Featured Designer Jeanie - Tic Tac Toe Challenge

ON A PERSONAL NOTE: Speaking of pink, how about this Oklahoma Red Bud tree in my front yard? As I've often commented about here on my blog, we tore out a lot of grass in our front yard and replaced it with a smaller patch and native pollinator plants. It was finished last summer and this year the grasses and shrubs from last year are starting to bloom. This is the second year of our red bud tree and it's been glorious! We also have purple sage and paprika-colored yarrow just about to open up - can't wait to see it all in bloom at once!