Friendship, Birthday and Christmas

We've been fortunate not to have any wildfires close to us.  So heartbreaking to see the destruction.  The smoke did finally make our air unhealthy the last few days and it's been too hot for me.  Fritz doesn't understand why I won't let him lay on the deck like usual.  I also had a sick day and haven't been motivated to blog.  But today I feel better, so here are a couple cards on my way to catching up.

First is the card I sent to Julia for the CCC July exchange.  I used the beautiful color combo of kraft, pink and gold.

SSS Leaf Tumble embossing folder was used with gold metallic cardstock.  It really gives a beautiful result and I've never had issues with cracking.  The flowers are a set from Pigment Craft Co that I've hardly used.  I stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Brown and added gold Stickles to the centers.  You can see the beautiful sparkle in my IG post.  The sentiment is from Alex Syberia and I can't remember which branches I used.  The tiny pink butterfly is Poppystamps.

Next is a winter birthday card using 2 Waffle Flower dies for the first time:  Frosty Texture and Small Snowflake.  

I inked the snowflake with Altenew Volcano Lake which is a close match to the beautiful teal glitter tape I've had for years.  I attached the tape to cardstock and then die cut the dots and Altenew Essential Sentiment Strip Happy Birthday.  I usually think of navy blue for snowflakes, but really like the soft, pretty look of the teal.  These products will be great for Christmas cards, but I enjoyed making a birthday card first.  I'm entering SSS Monday via IG, SSS Wednesday, NBUS and DCD.

Here's the last card I made for Christmas in July.  Didn't get nearly enough done, so I'm also planning to do Christmas in August.😀 Actually, I usually make Christmas cards every month, as they're my favorites. 

This one uses the wonderful CN9 Boughs and Holly stencil pack.  The inks are Altenew Firefly, Grass Field, Cherry Sweet and Coral Red.  I inked the branches from a CN9 die set to match and added red and green splatters.  Waffle Flower Cardinal Duo diecut was colored using the matching stencil with Altenew Rhodolite, Cherry Sweet, Coral Red, black and PTI Honey Nut and Weathervane.  I used a glue pen to add touches of fine glitter to the bird, berries and branches.  You can see the sparkle in my IG post.  Birch Press Vintage Sentiment letters were stacked 2 high and inked with Cherry Sweet before being glued in place on the vellum shadow.

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

Friendship and Christmas

I'm behind on blog posts, so here are 3 recent cards I posted on IG.

First is my entry for Altenew's June Inspiration Challenge.  My last Altenew order included Chateau Blooms stencils, so it was an easy decision to use them for my entry.  

The Altenew inks are Coral Berry, Coral Red, Wisteria, Ultraviolet, Lime and Fresh Leaf.  I embossed the panel with Altenew's Angled Mosaic folder which gives such a great look in real life.  Couldn't resist adding shimmer to the panel with Lindy's Gang Fairy Fluff spray.  You can see it in my IG video.  The old Altenew Fancy Hello die is still a favorite.  I used glossy black cardstock for both the word and the mat.

   

Next is my entry for Christmas Kickstart Snow Day Challenge. My wintry little Christmas card scene is made with Poppystamps Sloping Hillside die embossed with a mix of white and white plus glitter powders. The glittery one didn't have enough white and it worked great just to mix the 2 powders.

I was careful not to ink the trees so I could color them green with a Copic.  Then I used a Versamark marker to add dots for snow that I embossed with the same powder mix.  The card edges were also embossed.  I ink blended the background with CN9 Blueberry and Midnight and inked the mat to match.  Held my breath and drew the birds with a black fine-line pen.  Happily, they came out OK.  So happy I talked myself into getting Birch Press Peace, Love, Joy Confection Script die set during one of the sales.  I blended the inks using Blueberry on the bottom and Midnight on the top.  I'm also entering WAW.

My final card is another one for the Pinkfresh June Challenge.  The first card I made used the second panel I made with Pinkfresh Botanical Bunch.  For that card I started by silver embossing the stamped image.  But for my first try, I white embossed and then stenciled with VersaMagic Pink Petunia and Turquoise Gem.

I didn't think my stenciling was perfect and I smeared ink in a couple places, so I set it aside and made the other panel.  But I kept the first panel on my table.  The other day I realized the smears were near the edge, so I used PFS Elongated Oval Blanket Stitch die to get a useable panel.  I added Stickles to the flower centers.  I used a larger die to make the double thick frame.  The background was inked with Pink Petunia and the sentiment from PFS Perfect Sentiments was stamped in Turquoise Gem.  PFS Small Butterflies one piece stamp was white embossed and colored with the same inks using the matching stencils.  Fun to get a different look, even though the stamp set and inks are the same.  I'm also entering DCD, WAW and SSS Wednesday.

Edited to add:  Thanks to Lisa, I'm also entering JUGS since there are pink flowers in the mood board.

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

Christmas Cardinal

I always loved seeing cardinals when we visited family in Indianapolis.  One of my grandmothers always sent Christmas cards with cardinals.  Now I can, too!  After last Christmas I got the Waffle Flower Cardinal Duo Die-n-Stencil.  Here's my first card.

I used PTI Pure Poppy and Smokey Shadow through the stencil which was very easy to line up.  I used a white gel pen to highlight the details.  Poppystamps Shasta Twigs were colored with PTI Pinefeather.  The embossed background was made with Honey Bee Snowy Pines folder which I sprayed with Lindy's Pixie Dust for a beautiful gold shimmer.

Birch Press Design Merry Christmas Vintage Sentiment was leftover from last year and was just right with the beautiful gold glitter letters.  Can't wait to make some more cardinal cards.  I'm entering Christmas Kickstart, DCD and 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.

Friendship and Christmas

As soon as I saw Stef's inspiration card at Time Out Challenge 308, I thought of Altenew's Pink Star Tulip die, which I haven't used for awhile.  Decided to use the Altenew March Inspiration Challenge colors.  

I inked the bloom with Altenew Baby Pink and Fuchsia and the leaves with Mountain Pine.  The elements of Stef's card that I incorporated in mine are the large floral, dry embossing, splatters, small stamped/die cut sentiment and the mat just at the top and bottom.  Altenew's Deck Planks 3D embossing folder was used with white cardstock and I splattered it with Honey Drizzle ink.  The colored strips for the top and bottom of the card front were inked with Honey Drizzle.  I love shimmer and shine, so before attaching my focal point, I sprayed it with Lindy's Gang Pixie Dust Glitz Spritz.  Oh my goodness--it's so beautiful in the light.  Check out my IG post to see it.  I like using generic sentiments on the front of my cards so I can put whatever I need on the inside.  This one may be a birthday card or even for Easter.  Love the font of this sentiment from Altenew's Morning Glory stamp set.  I haven't been using embellishments much lately, but thought these beautiful iridescent gems were perfect.  They pick up the ink colors and are soft enough not to be distracting.  I'm also entering DCD, as flowers mean Spring to me.

Next is my entry for Christmas Kickstart: Out of the Woods.  During my recent foiling session, I cut a piece of blank toner paper the size needed to die cut my three IO deer.

I used bronze foil and it came out great!  Running everything through my laminator twice seemed to make a difference as the only things that didn't foil perfectly were small toner sentiments.  They never are perfect in my experience.  Anyway, finally got around to die cutting the deer and the shine is so beautiful!  

I used the old MB Garden Birch Landscape stencil, which I love.  The Altenew inks are Caribbean Sky, Persian Blue and Sapphire.  I added small white splatters and spread Snowfall Grit Paste at the bottom.  The sentiment combines the BP word die and W&W stamp.  Peace--what we all need, not just at Christmas.  I'm also 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.

Merry Christmas Stenciled Card

Quick post so I can enter the last JUGS challenge for 2025--Anything Goes Stencil Week.  Finally sat down and stenciled this fun neighborhood using Altenew Crimson, Minty Mint and Hunter Green inks.

I embossed the snowflakes, star and red tree balls with Sparkle embossing powder.  I used a larger panel for the stenciling, so I could use the corner guides.  Then I got it to A2 size with a die.  The beautiful Birch Press Handwritten Merry Christmas and Outline dies were cut from heavy weight vellum and white cardstock.  I inked the words with Hunter Green, stacked them 2 high and brushed them with a shimmer pen.  Will be fun to see what other color combos I can use.  I'm also entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday and WAW.

Edited to add:  Also entering DCD.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.  It may be awhile, as I'm once again behind on reading blogs.

Poinsettia

I really liked Therese's dry embossed cards made with printed paper.  And more recently, my friend Brenda inspired me with her version.  So, I pulled out some very old BasicGrey paper and chose one called Dasher.  

Thought Altenew's poinsettia folder would look great, which it did.  For some reason, swiping with my white pigent ink pad didn't bring out the detail.  Maybe it isn't juicy enough.  Anyway, I switched to Versafine Clair Nocturne and that was so much better.  I used Brenda's idea of adding some sparkly embossing powder--really beautiful!  Probably not needed, but I did add white splatters.  My panel sat a few days because I couldn't figure out what to do with it.  Finally, I remembered that I have the Altenew poinsettia die, so cut it from more of the Dasher paper.  I brushed the petal edges with white pigment ink and sprinkled with the sparkly embossing powder.  I molded the petals with my fingers and added Christmas Red Stickles to the center. 

Also added the Stickles to the centers of the poinsettias in the background.  You can see some of the sparkle in my IG post.  Really glad I got the Birch Press Confections sentiment set when they last had a sale.  The words were die cut from Memory Box black glossy cardstock and the shadows from red cardstock.  Always a good feeling to end up with a card you like.  I'm entering JUGS Challenge #800!  That's a lot of challenges--congrats to JUGS!   

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