Valentine and Christmas Card

Continuing to escape the awful reality of my country's leaders by making and sending cards.  Here's my second Valentine and this time I used AJVD hearts.  

I inked them with Altenew's Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart and Purple Wine.  Love their ink sets, so I don't have to guess about shades that go together.  Couldn't resist brushing the hearts with a shimmer pen--so beautiful in person.  You can see the shimmer in my IG post.  Taylored Expressions Swiss Hearts embossing folder was used for the background.  I inked a gray panel and Alex Syberia Friend diecut with Versafine Clair Morning Mist.

I'm entering WAW.

The JUGS Mood Board challenge inspired me to stamp an Evergreen forest using three Trinity Stamps silhouette trees with Altenew Hunter Green and Fresh Leaf ink pads.  The photo second from the left in the bottom row of the mood board is what caught my eye.    

I spread Tim Holtz Snowfall Grit Paste at the base of the trees and added snow with a white paint pen.  My new Waffle Flower sentiment shadow was die cut from vellum and the words were die cut twice from white cardstock.  Hard to see, but they were layered so that the lighter green is visible on the left side of the letters.  The top layer was covered with glaze. 

I finished the card with a variety of translucent green enamel dots.  A simple card that is just my style! 

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Valentine and Birthday cards

Slow going getting Valentines made this year, but I did make a sparkly one inspired by the All that Glitters challenge at Time Out.  I have tons of glitter products, including Elizabeth Craft Designs loose glitter in quite a few colors.  They're truly amazing as they become totally smooth, beautifully sparkly and non-shedding after you burnish them.

Balloons are fun for any occasion and I thought the cute very old little heart balloon die from Penny Black would work great.  I covered some cardstock with double sided adhesive and die cut the balloon 3 times with the adhesive layer on top.  Then I simply removed the adhesive liner and poured on Purple, Champagne and Ocean Spray glitter.  The Spellbinders Label and the sentiment strip were die cut from PTI Soft Stone.  The Tim Holtz bow was covered with Frosted Lace Stickles.  Decided to see if I could add the glitters to the edges of the mat using a Quickie Glue pen and a ruler.  

It actually worked pretty well.  My pen was juicy, so got a bit more glue than needed in a few spots.  I'm still happy with the look.  Check out the video in my IG post to get a much better idea of the beautiful sparkle.  I stamped the very old MFT sentiment in Versafine Clair Nocturne.

Love that Altenew continues to have the monthly inspiration challenges.  They push me to use some of their products in my stash.  The January color combo is right up my alley and worked great for the wonderful White Cap Peonies stencil set.  

The Altenew inks I used are Rose Quartz, Purple Wine, Cosmic Berry and Lime.  I love the Deck Planks embossing folder which I used with tan cardstock.  Hard to see in the pictures, but I lightly rubbed over the raised edges with a slightly darker ink pad.  It adds detail that is noticeable in person. 

The splatters are done with Altenew gold metallic watercolor which has gorgeous shine that you can see in my IG post video.  The gold embossed sentiment is from Sweet Bouquet and I was delighted to find old enamel dots in my stash that are a great match.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Silhouette Stamps

So wonderful that Shery of Stamplorations has no evidence of disease and has reopened the store!  Finally, something to be happy about it in this awful world.  The challenges are starting up, too, with Anything Goes for January.  I was inspired to pull out a stamp set with silhouette images designed by Deepti.  

This basic design is one of my favorites.  I forget to use my Pigment Stamp Company ink pads, but thought of them as I was looking for greens.  Aloe and Eucalyptus are beautiful and so similar you might not notice that my blending is darker at the bottom and slightly cooler and lighter at the top.  The images were stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne using first and second generation stamping.  I added little black splatters and trimmed the panel to fit inside the Pinkfresh Postage Edge panel.  The encouraging sentiment from Altenew's Sweet Bouquet lets me also enter JUGS.  And I'm entering WAW.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Snowflakes Again

Here's another card using my new SSS Lea Snowflake die.  This time I cut it from red glitter tape attached to copy paper.  The sparkle is really beautiful in person and you can get an idea from the video in my IG post.  

Really like the SSS Fanciful Flurries folder embossed on rich gray cardstock.  I used silver metallic cardstock for the mat, the little dots and the sentiment shadow.  The Birch Press Vintage sentiment words were cut from the same glitter tape.  A simple, flat card, but I love it!  I'm entering Color Hues and Time Out.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Winter Birthday Card

Here's the card I made for the January JUGS challenge--use a cover plate die.  I ran Poppystamps Heart Pattern Plate through my machine with a panel of watercolor paper.  It's easy to see in person and the close up photo gives you a little better look.

Next I played around adding Lindy's Magicals Butter the Bread Blue and Tibetan Poppy Teal--spritzing with water and moving color with a paintbrush.  Then I covered the whole panel with Distress Spritz Weathered Wood.  Our dark, cloudy day wouldn't let me get a picture really showing the colors, but I can tell you there's definitely teal shimmer in the darkest areas.  It's beautiful in person and you can see it in my IG feed.  I stamped the very old woodmounted image in black.  Really wanted to add random stenciling, so I used Snowfall Distress Grit Paste through Miss Ink Stamps Square Dance stencil in a few random areas.  In person it gives some fun texture and sparkle.  Amazing the difference brushing the panel edges with black ink made!  I also added some small black splatters--just for good measure! 😊 

My new SSS Lea Snowflake was die cut from vellum 6 times.  I attached 3 snowflakes to the panel and then glued the other 3 on top, but only put glue in the centers.  The stamped images are a softer black, so I used gray enamel dots to embellish the snowflakes.  The Alex Syberia sentiment was die cut from white cardstock.  I stacked the word 2 high and brushed it with a shimmer pen.  I'll put the birthday sentiment on the inside.  I'm also entering SSS Monday.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Year End

2026 is almost here.  I'm thinking about how to more consistently blog my cards.  I find posting on IG to be quicker, but I don't like not being able to search my cards like I can on my blog.  Maybe I'll finally just write very short descriptions. 

I'll start with the 2 cards I made for my Altenew Christmas Card Exchange Partners.  Unfortunately, I didn't get great pictures.  Once again they look better on IG.  I used the same Altenew Products for both: Poinsettia 3D Die Set, Perfect Poinsettia 3D Embossing Folder and fancy Peace Die.

I rubbed the raised edges of the green panel with Versamark and embossed with Sparkle Powder.  I brushed some darker red ink on the poinsettia petals and used the same ep on the tips and center.  The word was also ink blended to be darker across the top before embossing with the ep.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday.

For the other card, I used the folder with SSS Rich Red Metallic cardstock--so beautiful in person! 

I rubbed the edges with a black ink pad.  The poinsettia was cut from vellum and the word and flower center were cut from glossy black cardstock.  

I've wanted a cardinal die for a long time and finally have one just in time for hubby's Christmas card. 

SSS Cute Cardinal was actually colored with Copics R29, R59, YR04 and black.  I don't have confidence coloring, so was really pleased it turned out good.  Poppystamps Pine Needle Shoots die was cut from 3 MB green cardstocks.  I attached the shoots to MB Woodland Branch.  The blended background was done with Altenew Caribbean Sky.  Love my very old Savvy Stamps sentiment which I stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  The snow is white gouache splatters.  I'm entering Christmas Kickstart.

My last card is for the Altenew Year in Review Challenge. 

I was inspired by the April challenge photo of beautiful pink flowers against a backdrop of green leaves.  

I used these Altenew products:  Fresh Flowers die set, Sweet Bouquet sentiment stamp, ink colors Rose Quartz, Puffy Heart, Purple Wine, Citrus Burst, Shadow Creek and Mountain Pine plus Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I couldn't resist adding sparkle with Lindy's Gang Fairy Fluff spray.  You can see it in my IG post.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and Word Art Wednesday.  

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Poppystamps and Pinkfresh

Here are a couple cards for monthly challenges.  First up is my entry for Poppystamps Pockets Please Challenge.  Really had to put on my thinking cap!  I looked through my dies and pulled out 3 from Poppystamps plus the Memory Box Blooming embossing folder.   

The beautiful folder was embossed on pink cardstock and I rubbed over the raised edges with white pigment ink.  Sparkle embossing powder was added and heated for a lovely sheen and sparkle.  I layered 2 Tunnel Tags and die cut Grograin Bow for the top.  The Luscious Script Hello word and the center of the bow were also embossed with the Sparkle powder.  Simple and fun way to give a gift card. 

The Pinkfresh December Challenge Theme is Very Merry and I used it for my entry.  It's been a long time since I made a card with PFS Wintry Forest stencil set. 

There are 6 stencils, but I just used 3 blue Altenew inks plus Versamark on the final layer.  The snow is Stampendous Sparkle Puff ep.  Not sure I've ever used Season's Greetings from the PFS Classic Holiday Words die set, but it fit perfectly on this card.  The mat and sentiment shadow were die cut from silver metallic cardstock.  I layered the white die cut words 2 high.  I've now begun my 2026 cards that won't need extra postage!  Think I'll make a couple more cards using different colors and at least one will be a birthday card.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and WAW.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.   I've gotten way behind on reading blogs, but I'm working on catching up.  Wishing everyone joy and peace this holiday season.