Surprise, Surprise--Christmas Cards!

Hubby tweaked his back, so family brought Thanksgiving to us.  Fortunately, taking it easy has worked & he's much better.  Time to get cards signed & mailed, but first I want to show you some cards.

My friend, LaVon, posted a card on IG that made me HAVE to get Tim Holtz Seasonal Sketch die set.  I found them for under $10, so wasn't much of a splurge--haha!  Here's my first card which may be my favorite this year.  

I colored the solid die cuts with DO aged mahogany & cracked pistachio--heaviest in the centers.  The white detail die cuts are covered with Liquid Pixie Dust for a beautiful sparkle in person.  Hero Arts Collage Music Background was partially stamped in Weathervane ink on a Soft Stone panel & the edges were brushed with the ink.  

The sentiment is from AJVD Christmas Star.  I added tiny pearls to the flower centers & was happy to see that PFS Glacier Jewels picked up the pink beautifully.

I do still like the traditional red & green color combo for holiday cards, as you will see with my last 2 cards.  First is a fun card using my old SSS Holiday Frames die & my newer SSS Peaceful Christmas stamp/die set.

My favorite snowflake embossing folder has dots of Shimmer Pico Embellisher & the snowflake die cut has dots of Wedding Dress Pico Embellisher.  I inked the card front edges with Altenew Just Green to match the little tree.  I entered SSS Wednesday via IG.

Here's my other red & green card which was made for the Pinkfresh Studio November wreath challenge.  I really wanted to make my own wreath this time, so picked out a branch die from PFS Dainty Blossoms.  Always good to use up some of my white scraps!  

I glued the branches in pairs & arranged them into the wreath.  Just before gluing them, it hit me to make the background a wood panel--first time to do this.  I just scored the green panel & then used direct to paper with a green ink cube.  Love the effect!  PFS Classic Holiday Words were die cut from white cardstock & red glitter tape attached to cardstock.  

The PFS Layered Wreath die set includes a die that cuts 4 berries at a time.  I made good use of the glitter tape area around the negative space to die cut a bunch of berries & added them to the wreath.  Flat for mailing, but still pretty festive, I think.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday via IG, The Snippets Playground & Rudolph Days.

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

Happy Thanksgiving

It's been a difficult year, but still so many things to be thankful for.  Wishing everyone celebrating a blessed day.  Here's one of the cards I made using a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers for Disappearing Nine Patch card.  

I used papers from an old favorite DCWV pad called Harvest House and the PTI Quilted Summer & Tag Sale: Quilted dies.  Fun to use a bit of ribbon & the sentiment is ephemera from the paper pad. 

My inexpensive gold cardstock matched the gold leaves on the printed paper.  The only problem with quilt dies is that you always have left over pieces!  I'm entering SSS Wednesday.

Not sure I ever used the Memory Box Winsome Snowflake Collage die, but this won't be the last time.  I brushed the white die cut panel with a shimmer pen & backed the circles with a beautiful C&9 blue glitter paper. 

The white embossed W&W sentiment was popped up & I added black enamel dots to the snowflake centers.  

The sparkle & shimmer is so beautiful in person.  I'm entering the Memory Box November challenge & 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.

CAS card and Stitched card

As soon as I saw FMS 512, I thought of SSS Trees and Trunks die set.  Don't ask how long it took for me to make this super CAS card--haha!  

I first die cut the larger tree in the set from a scrap of pretty soft green glitter paper & it just didn't look right.  Finally I die cut the smaller tree & that worked!  The trunk was cut from a scrap of shimmery brown paper & the strips are from a scrap of my favorite textured pink cardstock.  

VersaMagic Gingerbread was a great match to the trunk, so that's what I used to stamp the Altenew sentiment.  I'm also entering The Snippets Playground & Christmas Kickstart.

Before I found cardmaking, I liked to do counted cross stitch.  Now I have a few stitching dies to use for cards.  My latest purchase, with a gc, was Spellbinders Circular Stitch Background die.  So fun to have the design cut by the die, so no pattern to worry about.  I also bought the needles & metallic threads sold on the Spellbinders website & love them all.  The shimmer of the threads is gorgeous!  I was inspired by Color Hues challenge to use gold & silver.  

Probably not really needed, but I wanted to try the white thread, too, so used it for the little circles.  Luckily, I recently discovered the set of dies I hadn't opened that were included in the Spellbinders 2019 card kit Christmas Wishes.  The poinsettia is beautiful & just the right size for this card.  The word die is an old favorite from W&W which I heat embossed with gold & silver powder & a layer of clear ep.  It was too dull for what I wanted, so I covered the gold areas with Stickles Golden Rod & the silver areas with Stickles Silver.  Now I love it! 

The gem in the flower center was also in the card kit & I put a bit of the 2 Stickles on it so it matches.  Can't wait to stitch some other colors!  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.

Holiday Season

I've been making Thanksgiving & Christmas cards.  First is my entry for Poppystamps Sweater Weather challenge.  The Poppystamps Majestic Maple die was cut 3 times from watercolor paper.  

I used Altenew watercolor markers to add one color at a time, spritzing lightly with water.  I added gold & brown splatters and popped up the middle leaf.  I scored a Classic Kraft card & also splattered it with gold & brown.  

The Spellbinders sentiment was stacked with the top layer cut from gold metallic cardstock.  I haven't used gold thread for awhile & I do like it behind the leaves.  Finished off with gold sequins.  

Next is a Christmas card combining products from several different companies.  The black embossed poinsettia from Gina K's Festive Flowers was colored using a sponge dauber & Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink.  

I added black & gold splatters, as well as brushing on some of the gold.  The black panel was cut with a Papertrey Ink die & Poppystamps Merry Christmas Poe Script was die cut from black & gold cardstock. 

I added gold Stickles & gold PPP sequins.  I'm entering the ModSquad challenge to make a card with a poinsettia. 

Next is a Thanksgiving card using PTI Quilted Summer die with an old favorite DCWV paper pad called Harvest House.  I die cut the frame twice, so it's slightly raised.  

The ephemera is from the paper pad & the brown heat embossed sentiment is from PTI Autumn Adornments.  The Classic Kraft card is splattered with gold watercolor paint.  

I have left over pieces for more quilt cards that I've already started.  I'm entering PTI What Do I Do With This to create a card with embossing powder & TTTC139 (kraft, free, patterned paper).

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

Guest Designer for Tic Tac Toe Challenge 138

I'm delighted to be the Guest Designer for TTTC 138.  The options in this board can work for any kind of card.  

I want to mail a few Thanksgiving cards this year, so I decided to use the diagonal row of Thanksgiving Theme, Free (die cut, dry embossing, jewels) & Gold Foil or Glitter.  Fun combining products from several different companies.  

I began by stamping the Impression Obsession sentiment on a kraft panel in Versafine Clair Acorn.  Then I embossed the panel with a Tim Holtz woodgrain folder & lightly inked the raised areas with brown dye ink.  The SSS Etched Laurel Leaves were die cut from gold foil cardstock twice & glued allowing the end of the leaves to turn up. 

The little bow from PTI Gathered Garden was die cut from a kraft scrap, stacked 2 high & brushed with the brown ink.  I attached the kraft panel to a slightly bigger piece of the gold foil cardstock & then to an ivory card.  Finished off with Pinkfresh Studio Espresso Gems.  Hope you'll check out all the DT inspiration & enter the challenge.

I'm entering SSS Monday & The Snippets Playground.

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

Thanksgiving & Christmas

I had something else in mind for the October PFS challenge, but then I saw the Layered Wreath in my stash.  I've always made Christmas cards with it, so thought it'd be fun to use Autumn colors for a Thanksgiving card.  

I die cut the wreath from watercolor paper & used Altenew watercolor markers.  I just dabbed on one color at a time & lightly spritzed.  The berries were die cut from a scrap watercolored with the 2 brown markers in my set.  I used gold Tansai Gambi watercolors on the scrap from the center of the wreath so I could die cut the additional leaves.  The sentiment from Delicate Wreath was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn & clear embossed on a vellum strip.  I used a brown scrap for the mat.  The Classic Kraft card & the wreath were splattered with gold paint.  Several of the Small Butterflies I gold embossed are still on my table, so I painted one to match the wreath.  

I used a small paint brush & a bit of water with the ink from the markers.  Decided it needed to be softer, so I brushed on the gold watercolor.  Finished off with PFS Espresso Jewels.  I'm also entering The Snippets Playground.

As you may know, I love wreaths!  I have many stamps & dies, but I also like to make my own.  Decided to use my Gina K Wreath Builder template & SSS Peaceful Christmas for a kraft & red card to enter Color Hues challenge, Rudolph Days & SSS Flickr 186. 

I stamped the little branch & the poinsettia in Avery Elle Cherry pigment ink.  The 3 dots were stamped in white pigment ink, but you can't tell because I decided they needed to sparkle!  

The sentiment from the set was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.  I used direct to paper on the edges of the card front & the mat using the red & white inks so everything would match. 

I've seen so many beautiful tree cards lately, I pulled out my old IO Fir dies.  I colored the trees with Sparkle pens & mounted them to a Lil' Inker quilted panel that had some Distress Oxide speckled egg blended in the center. 

The old Penny Black word die was cut from silver metallic cardstock & I used alpha stickers for the sentiment strip.  One of my sequin mixes includes little silver stars which I used instead of dots or sequins.

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