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.  

Two Christmas Cards

I still love a lot of my old stamps & PTI Botanical Blocks IV is one such set.  Here I gold embossed the image & watercolored with Zigs. 

I added dots of gold Stickles to the flower centers.  The die cut word from Don't Forget to Write was stacked & gold embossed.  

The little sentiment from Botanical Blocks was stamped in Memento Rhubarb Stalk & I finished off with some very old glittery adhesive dots that are a soft gold.  My other gold embellishments were too distracting.  I like lots of card styles, but this is really me!  I entered the PTI challenge to make a holiday wishes card. 
My good friend, Rosemary, loaned me the SSS Christmas Foliage die set a couple years ago.  I die cut all the images from various cardstocks, including the red metallic I used for this card.  

The gray panel was scored before I attached the branches to the top corner.  I've hardly used the sweet Lil' Inker bow, but glad I thought of it to adorn my little swag.  I picked out this sentiment from SSS Peaceful Christmas & stamped it in Versafine Clair Morning Mist--a lovely deep gray.  Thought about using a dark gray mat, but really liked black the best.  I'm entering SSS Flickr 186, CAS Christmas--first time for that challenge & TTTC136 using the middle horizontal row.

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

Fall Cards--Totally Different

I've seen lots of Fall cards using non-traditional colors.  That inspired me to use the GK Foil-Mates Bountiful Flourish which I foiled in Rose Gold a few weeks ago.  

A stacked Hero Arts Autumn Icons outline pumpkin die cut was left over from a previous project.  Love the aqua color, plus it's covered with beautiful sparkle from Inkon 3 Liquid Pixie Dust.  Couldn't let that go to waste!  I found a darker aqua cardstock & die cut the pumpkin again so I could inlay the pieces.  I used the same cardstock for the Spellbinders sentiment from the October 2020 Small Die Kit.  Needed something else & I've had felt on my mind with finally having cooler temperatures here.  Pulled out my old MFT dies--Small Rolled Rose & Prima Donna Petals.  

I remember my friend, Rosemary, used pink with rose gold & I just happen to have a shimmery pink cardstock, thanks to my friend, Vikki.  I entered the instagram ABNH texture challenge & I'm entering ModSquad & WAW.

PTI The Great Cover-Up challenge is to make a Halloween card. I don't have a lot of Halloween products, so had to get creative. I started by masking a rectangle--one of my favorite designs.

Then I black embossed the tree from Trendy Tree Tops.  The ink blending was done with Olive Twist, Saffron Spice, Canyon Clay & Amethyst Allure.  The sentiment from Taylored Expressions Boo to You was black embossed & I added 3 black Pico Embellisher dots.

I have a lot of talented on-line friends.  Mia does many things including painting, writing poetry & sewing.  Recently she sent me this beautiful zippered pouch she made!  

I'm using it to keep my current stitching project by my chair, so I can pick it up anytime.  Thanks so much, Mia!
I appreciate you taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

PFS, Uniko, PTI

I have 3 recent cards to share today.  First is my entry for PFS WCMD challenge.  I used my favorite Delicate Wreath stamp with Distress Oxides peeled paint & rustic wilderness.  Love how a MISTI lets you do this kind of repeated inking until you're happy. 

The same inks were used for the splatters.  My most recent PFS products are the Small Butterflies stamp, die & stencils.  I didn't purchase the bundle, but rather got each item from a different company.  Just waited for them to be included in a sale.  Gotta say--I do love them!  It's a single stamp which I gold embossed & then used the single die to cut out all the butterflies in one pass.  This one was inked through the stencils with PTI Enchanted Evening & Blueberry Sky.  

I attached only the body & gently lifted the wings.  The sentiment from the wreath set was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn--one of my most used ink pads.  I'm also entering SSS WCMD. 

Edited to add: Also entering WAW.

One of my favorite Uniko stamp sets is Beautiful Blooms III.  I was kind of intimidated when I first tried to use it.  Layering stamps are not my forte!  However, I remember a discussion with a designer who said you can get a lovely artistic look without always perfectly aligning the layers.  I embraced that idea for this set which does have an artistic look, in my mind. 

I wanted Fall colors & pulled out some of my older ink pads that I still love: VersaMagic & Brilliance.  VersaMagic colors are Pumpkin Spice, Red Brick, Niagara Mist & Hint of Pesto.  Brilliance colors are Pearlescent Beige & Pearlescent Ivy.  The sentiment from Simply Said Blocks was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.  

The only embellishment is 3 dots of Champagne Stickles in the flower center--very CAS.  That works out great since I'm entering AAA Cards Game 200 where the challenge is to make a celebration card in honor of their 200th game--quite a milestone!  I'm also entering Uniko Challenge 67.

My 3rd card is for PTI The Great Cover Up Challenge to use a foiling accent.  I had these Into the Blooms II die cuts left over from another card.  They have texture lines which I thought would be perfect for foiling & boy do I love the look!  So easy to do with a Quickie Glue pen.  

The PTI cardstocks are Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise & Harvest Gold.  The leaves from the same die set were cut from vellum & I added 3 brown pearls to the flower center.  

I stamped Nifty Plaid on a Classic Kraft panel, stamped the sentiment from Essential Sentiments in brown & used a brown mat.

Fritz & I finally had to wear our raincoats.  It's been so dry here we're happy to have rain.  Well, maybe I should say I'm happy to have rain.  Fritz's favorite thing to do is take a sunbath on the deck!
Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.