All Christmas

Need to finish another Thanksgiving card & address envelopes, but first I have 3 more Christmas projects to share with you.
First is my entry for Christmas Kickstart's Snow Challenge.  I pulled out a 2011 Hero Arts stamp called Merriest Christmas Wishes.

It's really wonderful we now have positioners, especially for rubber stamps like this with a lot of solid area.  I stamped each color (VersaMagic Night Sky & Purple Hydrangea) multiple times to get the look I wanted.  The snowy dots are part of the stamp, but I wanted them to stand out more.  That was easy to accomplish with my white gel pen.  I added Nuvo Glitter Drops to the bird for a touch of shimmer.  The sentiment from the same set was stamped on a doubled vellum strip & attached at an angle before adding the panel to a silver mat.  Ended up nice & flat for mailing, so probably will send this one overseas.

Next is my entry for Time Out & FMS.  I'm trying mostly to just buy something when I have a gift certificate.  However, Linda's poinsettia cards made it impossible for me to resist the HA Paper Layering Poinsettia die set.  Must admit, I'm glad I gave in!

I began this card by making the plaid panel using W&W Rugby Stripe stencil, Brilliance Graphite Black & Rocket Red & finger daubers.  The inks would have a smooth look using a sponge applicator, but the daubers gave me some texture, which I liked.  I just used the medium & small poinsettia layers--cutting each one twice.  Then I added the Rocket Red ink all over & the Graphite Black on the ends.  Decided a little sparkle was needed, so I used Star Dust Stickles all over the bottom layers & on the ends of the top layers.

The sentiment from HA Merriest Christmas Wishes was white embossed on a black strip.  Finished off with a black sequin for the flower center & a few black Pico Embellisher dots.  Don't think I've ever used this much black for a Christmas card, but it still looks festive to me.

My last project is another tag for Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.  This one was inspired by one of Lindsey's on Day 9.  I really liked the foliage at the top of the round tag.  The Lil Inker bow die is a single die that cuts all 3 pieces, so I cut it twice to get the 2 tone bow on this tag.  The bow made from the left overs was still sitting on my table & thought it'd be great with some foliage die cuts.

I used IO Pine Branches & PTI Simple Stems.  Decided to add the sentiment from W&W, but there's still room to write the recipient's name.  I'll probably attach it to the plate of pumpkin muffins I always give one of my friends.

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

Thank You & Tags

I really like the idea behind FMS challenge.  They're looking for clean lines & white space, but details & embellishments are encouraged.  Decided to use the sketch for Challenge #410 to make a Fall thank you card for the Poppystamps Challenge.

Thanks to Darnell, we tried out Die Cutting with Napkins at our Indiana retreat.  We used Poppystamps Majestic Maple die & I colored with my Prima Confections watercolors.  When I got home I brushed on a bit of gold paint.  We all found that the napkin did not adhere to the cardstock, so we just used liquid glue after it dried.  I used the same watercolors to make a plaid square & used a gold cardstock scrap behind my leaf.  The sentiment from Poppystamps Hope & Thanks was stamped in Versafine Claire Acorn on a vanilla card.  It just looked too stark to me, so I did a gold watercolor wash with a flat brush to give the idea of wood planks.  Now I'm happy with the look.  I had left the sentiment stamps in my positioner, thankfully, since I needed to restamp them.  Finished off with gold sequins.  I'm also entering DRU, SSS Monday, SSS WIW & The 30 Day Coloring Challenge.
Edited to add:  Also entering Virginia's Show & Share.

I don't make a lot of tags, but can't resist playing along in Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.  I'll probably add them to cards or make them into tag cards eventually.  My first tag was inspired by Tracey's tag on Day 1.  I don't have a big bow stamp, so instead I used an old Lil' Inker die with 2 different pink felts--so much fun!

The tag itself is Poppystamps Tunnel Tag, the foliage is Altenew Layered Floral Elements & the sentiment is PTI.  I'm also entering JUGS & WAW.

I also HAD to make a tag inspired by Jennifer's Deer Tags on Day 3 for the 25 Days of Christmas Tags.  That's because I borrowed Brenda's die (not sure of the brand) at the Indiana retreat & brought home several white cardstock cuts.  Not only that, I have the Altenew Cozy Flannel Cover die to use for the buffalo plaid.

I attached the cover die cut to a white scrap & used my trimmer to cut it into a tag.  Then I cut a red scrap to fit & stamped the PTI sentiment.  The deer head was stacked 2 high, covered with Delicata Golden Glitz ink & attached with foam tape.  Another tag that was a lot of fun to make.  I'm also entering 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.

Variety of Cards

Yesterday was a wonderful break from the heat, but summer isn't over yet.  I'm totally out of my routine these days--feels like I'll never catch up.  I have made some cards & finally I'm getting them posted.  
First is another one commissioned by my neighbor.  She wanted something special to send to her sister who is turning 80 & she wanted "80" to be included.  I was struggling until I remembered seeing balloons used that way, so pulled out my Penny Black balloon dies. 

For a color scheme I turned to one from Lexi Daly: Hawaiian Shores, Green Parakeet & Harvest Gold.  It's really beautiful in person, but I couldn't get a very accurate photo.  The cover plate is Lil' Inker (purchase enabled by the die cuts my friend, Cat, sent to me!) & the sentiment is SSS Painted Happy Birthday.  The sentiment & balloons were brushed with WOS. 

I added Nuvo Glaze to the sentiment & glued down the floss with Distress Collage Medium.  The numbers are white glittery stickers which I colored with a teal COPIC.  My neighbor was pleased & hopefully her sister will be, too.  I entered 2 Flickr challenges: SSS & Love Handmade Cards.  I'm also entering Seize the Birthday & HLS Anything Goes with Dies.
 
Next is my entry for PTI MIM: Petite Pattern Play.  I loved Michelle's example using the Take 3 die & I remembered the tiny stamps included in Autumn Adornments.  I didn't think about the 3 images not being exactly the same size, so took me 3 attempts to get something that worked. 

As you can see, in the end I cut each one out, so the squares are all the same size.  Next time I'll try using the same image in each opening of my mask & see if I can get a 1 layer card.  The stamping on Classic Kraft is done with Canyon Clay, Simply Chartreuse & Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate.  I gold embossed the sentiment from the same set.  The squares are matted with Dark Chocolate (as is the panel) & mounted with foam tape.  I added tiny brown splatters & decided against any embellishments.  I'm also entering WAW.

 
Last is a fun CAS card using Stamplorations Coffee for all Seasons.  I was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches.  Hoping it's OK to flip the sketch. 

After heat embossing all 4 images, I masked around the summer square & blended with Distress Inks abandoned coral, carved pumpkin & fossilized amber.  Then I brushed on Wink of Stella--so pretty in person. 

The sentiment is from the same set & is also heat embossed.  Thinking this will go to a friend with a Starbuck's card inside.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday, Stamplorations CAS, Stamplorations Anything Goes & Time Out.  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

Thanks and Joy

The fog never lifted yesterday, but the good thing is hubby cancelled our leaf raking duties!  We also enjoyed seeing the Oregon Ducks win their football game & I did some crafting--surprise, surprise!  Here's a heads up for you--Lori Hairston is once again presenting Visions of Sugarplums. 

The dates are Dec. 2, 3 & 4--don't miss it!  This will be my second year as a member of her DT--such an honor. 

Concord & 9th is one of my favorite companies, but so far I have very few of their products--none of them holiday.  Fortunately I have sweet friends who send me die cuts & now I have the Tree Ring Background stamp thanks to Rosemary.  I came up with a Christmas card for WCMC9 using the blossom from Floral & Flutter colored red & embellished with a green pearl. 

The tree ring is stamped in Delicata Silvery Shimmer & the little green dots are from the C&9 set called Flourish.  The sentiment is from Winnie & Walter In Bloom: Frenchy's Florals with the Joy silver embossed twice. 

I dry embossed the card front with a piece of burlap--something I learned from Rosemary.  The stamped panel was die cut with AJVD Polka Dot Backdrop Rectangle.  I'm also entering Christmas Card Challenges, HLS Christmas Challenge & ModSquad.

I was inspired by Kimber's tag design on Day 17 of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags.  For my version I finally used a strip of red & green Washi I bought at least a year ago. 

I scored 2 lines above & below & used my Clear Star Gelly Roll pen for a bit of sparkle.

The word is from Hero Arts Merriest Christmas Wishes, the tag is Poppystamps, the bow is white crochet thread & the embellishments are PPP clear confetti.  I'm also entering CAS on Friday.

With Thanksgiving this week, I'm counting my blessings.  So thankful for my blogging friends.  Thank you is the theme at Outside the Box & I used my MB Garden Birch Landscape stencil for the first time. 

I also finally opened 2 of my 3 Distress Oxide ink pads--Broken China & Cracked Pistachio.  I spritzed the panel heavily with Perfect Pearls & splattered some white gesso. 

I made a gray textured frame using Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles.  SSS Painted Thanks was cut from gray & white cardstock.  I covered the top layer with Crystal Laquer & finished off with PPP marshmallow sequins.  I'm also entering Country View Challenges, CAS-ual Friday Challenge, CropStop, Paru's Card Making Challenges, SSS Monday & Die Cut Divas.  Be safe if you're travelling & thanks so much for taking time to stop by.