Exchange Card

Here's the card I sent to Dee in Kenya for the November CCC.  It was actually the first card I made inspired by Brenda who also participates in the monthly exchange.  

I inked a maple leaf with Distress Oxides Crackling Campfire and Spiced Marmalade, spritzed with water, laid the cardstock panel on top and rubbed over it to transfer the ink.  I stamped the trees from Unity's Serene Silhouettes in Versafine Clair Pinecone.  The Mama Elephant die cut sentiment and the Gina K Master Layouts die cut mat were colored to match with the Pinecone ink pad.  The sentiment was stacked 2 high and clear embossed.  I added brown splatters using a Zig watercolor marker.

I'm entering SSS Monday and SSS Wednesday.

Edited to add: 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.  

Christmas Cards

I always love making Christmas cards and that goes for this year, too.  Here are some of my latest cards.

I used my BD discount in February to get Starry Arches from Simply Graphic.  Cecile Ribon always inspires me and I had seen a few cards she made with it.  The first card I made used the negative die cut along with the little birds from Poppystamps Nordic Majestic Bloom.    

I covered the wings with shimmer and used a fine line gray pen for the eyes.  A couple little branches also die cut from white scraps were placed under the birds.  Starry Arches was die cut from the inside of a Mama Elephant frame diecut.  The panel is backed with silver metallic cardstock and the Winnie and Walter sentiment is stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist. 

Finished off with white crochet thread tied across the card top, inspired by my friend, Stella.  I'm entering AAA Cards and SSS Wednesday.

Here's the card I made with the positive Starry Arches diecut which I glued to a small red panel.  The trees from CN9 and SSS were die cut from Memory Box green glitter cardstock.  

The sentiment from The Greetery's Peaceful Olive hadn't been used until now, as I got it after last year's cards were done.  The red ink is PTI's Pure Poppy and the green is Versafine Clair Green Oasis.  

I used scraps, except for the card base, so I'm entering The Snippets Playground.  

Apparently, I'm on a red, green and white kick!  Here's my card for Woodblock Wednesday using Penny Black's 2013 Christmas Reds & Greens and an old Impression Obsession sentiment.

I stamped in Versafine Clair Green Oasis and then went over the berries with a red pen followed by Christmas Red Stickles.  The little bow is from an old Pretty Pink Posh die set and the dotted rectangle is from AJVD.  

I love the fresh, classic look and didn't even add splatters this time!  I'm also entering PBSC.

One more card using the same color scheme.  This one is for Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero.  The challenge theme is to make a card to send to a family member.  My card is for my late cousin's wife. 

She likes traditional holiday colors and has several Christmas trees in her house.  I die cut the tree from an older Hero Arts card kit, colored the star with a gold shimmery gel pen and covered the embossed dots with Christmas Red Stickles.  I stacked the tree 3 high and glued it to the SSS Frames diecut.  I cut it from red and from white so I could have a thin white frame around the red. 

Luckily, I had enough of the green cardstock scrap I used for the tree to cut a small rectangle.  The sentiment from an old HA set called Christmas Messages was stamped in PTI Pure Poppy.  I photographed this card on a plate we received years ago filled with homemade Christmas cookies made by my cousin's wife.  

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

Time Out Challenge #274

Time Out Challenge #274 is a great photo challenge which you can also think of as a theme challenge.  Our blog owner, Nonni, took this picture during a visit to New York City.  Our generous sponsor is Newton's Nook.

You can use any of the words or objects in the photo.  There's lots of inspiration from our GD and my teammates on the blog, along with details about our challenge.

I used just the word "coffee" as inspiration to open my Stamp Simply A Cup of Java die set.  Nonni's card for our last challenge actually gave me the idea to use the coffee cup negative for a shaker--so fun! 

I used a couple sheets of beautiful printed paper I picked up in a close out.  They're more for spring or summer, but I wanted to use some of the beautiful shaker filler given to me by my dear friend, Rosemary.  And besides, it's Spring in the southern hemisphere!  I used PTI Sweet Blush cardstock for the handle and covered it with Nuvo Glaze.  The steam was stacked a couple high and covered with a shimmer pen.  The Mama Elephant sentiment die was cut twice from white cardstock.  I inked the top one with Olive Twist and used the other one as a slight shadow which made it stand out much more from the floral paper.  PTI Olive Twist cardstock was used for the mat.  I don't make many shakers, but this was pretty easy and I love the result.  It's a great way to use printed papers, especially ones that are from the same collection so I know they go together.  

I'm entering SSS Monday Snippets Playground (all scraps except the paper showing through the shaker), DCD and WAW.

Edited to add: SSS WCMD Challenge.

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

Friendship Cards

Color Hues is remembering their teammate, Lindsey, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer.  I didn't know her, but I know the sorrow of loosing loved ones to cancer.  Here's the card I made to join in honoring Lindsey using her chosen colors of Blue & Purple for a CAS card.  

I recently got the Altenew Nesting Ovals in a sale with the idea of making a rainbow which I saw someone do months ago.  I added glitter to my old blue & purple ep.  The middle arch is embossed in Hero Arts Sparkle ep after covering it in white pigment ink.  The sparkle is so pretty in person.  

I die cut & embossed light gray cardstock with a Spellbinders square die.  The GKD sentiment was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist.

Poppystamps August challenge is to let the sentiment take center stage.  I decided to do that with a white on white background & a colored sentiment.  

I started by using Memory Box Texture Distressed Grid stencil with light molding paste not totally covering the stencil. Really love the look! Then I attached Poppystamps Flower Field Corner diecuts in opposite corners. I trimmed the large bloom from 2 more diecuts so I could add it on top for dimension. Poppystamps Luscious Script Hello is one of my favorite dies. I cut a couple shadows & a couple words from white cardstock scraps. The word was embossed in WOW BEE Kind & Spring Breeze powders--beautiful sparkle in person!

I used a Quickie Glue Pen to add the same powders to the blooms.  The secondary sentiment is Tim Holtz stickers on cardstock mounted with foam tape.  I added tiny gems to tie in the black.  

My final card is for JUGS Butterfly challenge.  I had several leftover diecuts I didn't want to store or throw away & now I have one of my favorite cards ready to send to a friend!  

The PFS gold embossed Small Butterflies were stenciled in Lawn Fawn Ballet Slippers & Peach Fuzz.  The background is made with Poppystamps Lattice Small Curve Border 2 high covered in Poppystamps Flower Field Corner diecuts--2 complete ones plus pieces left from the last card.  

Everything was attached to a beautiful Bazzill textured pink panel which I splattered with gold & white metallic watercolors. Love the font of the Mama Elephant sentiment which I stacked 3 high. 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.

Last Minute Entry

Wreaths are one of my favorite images.  I don't even know how many wreath stamps & dies I have!  Decided it was silly not to make a card for CAS Christmas Card Challenge, so pulled out the beautiful Pinkfresh die set called Layered Wreath.

I began by smooshing DI evergreen bough & pine needles on a panel of watercolor paper.  I did multiple layers, drying between each one.  Love the variations you get, especially for leaves.  The additional leaf images were die cut from silver shimmery cardstock which I covered with silver Stickles.  The berries in the set were die cut from white cardstock scraps covered with double sided adhesive sheet scraps.  I removed the release paper & covered them in WOW Oh Dorothy! Sparkles.  It's a very sparkly glitter blend of red & silver--love it!  

The silver die cut frame is Mama Elephant Union Square & the sentiment from AJVD Christmas Star is stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I'm not sure this meets the CAS requirement, but I love how my card turned out.  I'm also entering The Snippets Playground as everything but the card base is from scraps.  

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

Guest Designing at CAS Stencil Card Challenge

I was honored to win the March CAS Stencil challenge with THIS card.  Today I'm joining the team as their Guest Designer for the May CAS Stencil Card challenge.  The theme is Layered Stenciling--lots of possibilites.  Hope you'll be inspired to play along.

There are links to videos on the blog & you won't want to miss the DT projects.  My card uses a heart stencil I previously made with a MB heart die & TCP stencil sheet layered with SSS Falling Snow stencil.

I began by blending DI mermaid lagoon & lucky clover with the heart stencil in place.  Then I carefully positioned the Falling Snow stencil under the heart stencil & used a dauber to heavily ink the 2 colors.  Decided some sparkle & shine would be good.  I added Versamark with only the heart stencil in place & embossed with HA Sparkle ep.  It really is beautiful in person.

I used both ink colors for the little splatters before attaching the Mama Elephant die cut sentiment.  Can't believe I've had that die for so long & this is the first time I've used it.  A big thank you to the CAS Stencil DT for choosing my card & inviting me to guest design with them.  Hope to see you in the gallery.  I'm entering NBUS & Stamplorations May Stencil Challenge.

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