Christmas, Anniversary and Birthday

I decided to make a card from a leftover 2024 tag.  I added a gold glitter layer to the poinsettias from TH Seasonal Sketch dies.  I removed a green cord bow and left the TH Funky Wreath on vellum with Scrapbook.com words as it was. 

The focal point was attached to a circle dry embossed with TH Texture Fades Poinsettia folder.  That was attached to a slightly larger circle card.  Have to say, I like the card much better than the tag because of the glitter poinsettia layer and the dry embossing.  There's still time to join Jo and me at Christmas Kickstart: Wreath it Up.  I'm entering Word Art Wednesday.

Our 46th anniversary is next week and I wanted to make something different for hubby's card this year.  I HAD to have TE Create in Quads: Mistletoe, but hadn't yet opened the package. 😊 Thought mistletoe in his favorite colors would be perfect!  

The Altenew inks are Grass Field, Mountain Pine, Caribbean Sky and Sapphire.  I die cut AJVD "love" die from a vellum panel to use as a guide for where to place the die on my stenciled panel.  The word was stacked 3 high, covered with glaze and glued in place.  I die cut MB Parker Lowercase Alphabet letters to spell "you" and stacked them 3 high.  The card front edges were inked to match.  If you look close, you'll see 2 tiny Gina K white heart embellishments where a bow often goes.  Fresh and simple with interest, so I'm happy and think hubby will like it, too.  I'm entering Just Us Girls and SSS Wednesday.

I saw that my cardmaking friend, Linda, is the hostess at Seize the Birthday.  Her theme is Black & White, which I haven't done in quite awhile.  Always fun to combine challenges and FMS gave me a great layout.

The black and white mats were die cut with Gina K Master Layouts 1 & 2.  I used partial diecutting with a long stitched AJVD rectangle die to get the size I needed for my flowers which are from PTI Simple Stems.  I actually used acrylic blocks and Versafine Clair Nocturne ink for the stamping and had no problem.  The card looks very crisp and clean in person.  Took a bit, but I finally found exactly the sentiment I wanted in Uniko's Simply Said Blocks.  I added a tiny clear gem at the base of each bloom. 

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

On Elf Duty!

Yep--I'm so happy to be Jo's Guest Elf for Christmas Kickstart: Wreath it Up!  If you know me, you know I LOVE wreaths.  I honestly can't even count how many wreath stamps, dies and stencils I have!  And I just got another one! 😄  Plus, I love to use small stamps or individual diecuts to make wreaths.  For today's card, I used one of my newer products: CN9 Boughs & Holly Stencil Pack.

The inks I used are CN9 Evergreen, Clover, Cranberry and PTI Cocoa Bean.  It's a fun stencil to use.  You ink it once and then turn it 180 degrees and ink again.  The bow is from Pinkfresh Artistic Bows which I got for $3 from a crafter's destash sale.  The bow was brushed with a shimmer pen and the berries were covered in Christmas Red Stickles.  I tried several sentiments and decided on this one from PTI Joyful Florals.  I hope you'll check out Jo's card with a darling unexpected image and join the challenge.  I'm 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.

Birthday Cards

Yana's post for SSS reminded me of the one she did in 2020 using SSS Anna's Flowers.  In fact, that's why I bought the set!  Happy to have been inspired to use it for this card.  

I was going to do something closer to Yana's cards, but wasn't happy with my first attempt using a very light pink.  So I turned the panel over and filled it with overlapping flowers using Altenew's Puffy Heart, Purple Wine and Cosmic Berry.  Now it looks like printed paper and I really like it.  Of course, pink being my favorite color may have something to do with it.😀  I did add some white gouache splatters that came out pretty subtle.  This is a sentiment I think works for lots of occasions, including birthdays.  I stacked it and used a shimmer pen which you can see in my IG video.  The subsentiment is from PTI Scripted and I added TE silver sparkly gems.  I'm entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday and Seize the Birthday.  

I don't want to miss the Pinkfresh Studio July Challenge, so decided to combine it with Color Hues: Yellow and Green.  Yellow isn't a color I reach for very often, but it is a happy color--perfect for a birthday card. 

I stamped PFS Modern Layered Florals in Altenew Fresh Lemon, Maple Yellow, Grass Green and Shadow Creek.  I added some details with a white gel pen.  PFS Lush Vines was clear embossed on soft green textured cardstock and I glued the bouquet to Fancy Oval Frame.  The sentiment is from the same set and I added yellow gems.  Turned out to be a card I really like, so that's a win! 😊 The colors look more accurate on my phone, unfortunately.  I'm also entering Inkspirational.

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

Christmas in July--Plus!

As most of you know, I love making Christmas cards.  When I was a kid at summer camp one year, the girls in my cabin agreed with my suggestion of Christmas for the cabin decorating contest.  Can't remember if we won, but we sure had fun!  When I saw Tracey's combo of Red and White for Color Hues, Christmas was my first thought.  I die cut Spellbinders Poinsettia Bloom from white cardstock weeks ago.  Amazing I didn't loose any of the little pieces! 

The outline which includes a lot of solid design was brushed with Altenew white metallic watercolor.  It gives such beautiful shimmer and shine.  The little pieces were brushed with fired brick Distress Oxide ink first and then with fired brick Distress Spritz--more beautiful shimmer!  I didn't want the berries to compete with the petals.  Since they were first covered with white watercolor, I was able to add a layer of the Distress Spritz making them match, but with much less saturated color.  You can see the shimmer and shine in my IG post.  I love SSS Holiday Greenery embossing folder which I used with PTI Soft Stone cardstock for the background.  Another favorite is Birch Press Vintage Merry Christmas.  The letters were colored the same way I did the poinsettia petals.  I try to keep my cards pretty flat for mailing, but the white glittery dot was perfect for the center.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and SSS Wednesday.  

Next I just want to show you how I fixed what was bugging me about the card in my last post.  I rushed finishing it to meet the challenge deadline.  It's been laying on my table and I knew it'd never get sent as is.  The gold watercolor splatters are beautiful, but using that watercolor as emboss resist over the sentiment was way too bold.  Decided to add another layer of the sentiment diecut attaching it slightly down and to the right.  Now there's just a bit of the gold showing and I will actually send the card. 😊

I really miss the PTI blog hops and challenges, so was happy to see they're having a Summer Challenge requiring ink blending, die cut layering and stenciling.  Gave me the motivation to make a card using 3 of the products in my recent order:  Into the Blooms: Anemones dies, Delicate Circle die and Script Background stencil.

I blended Sweet Blush and Berry Sorbet on the pieces of the largest bloom and Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores on the smaller one.  Vintage Jadeite was brushed on all the branches.  The card front was stenciled with Soft Stone which I softened with a vellum overlay.  I used to add ribbon to most of my cards and now I seldom use it.  But sometimes it's worth the extra postage needed!  I actually threaded the ribbon through an opening in the beautiful circle diecut.  The sentiment from Scripted (a set I reach for often!) was stacked 2 high with the top layer cut from Soft Stone and clear embossed.  I've been hoarding my Rainstones until now--love them!  

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

Memory Box and Poppystamps

What a time to be an American.  RFK in charge of our health?!  I told myself even Trump wouldn't do that.  But turns out sometimes things really are going to be as bad as you think.  

The background of my card for the Memory Box Monthly challenge was an experiment with gesso and Lindy's Magicals using a brayer over a stencil.  Need to try again without a stencil, but I didn't want to waste the panel. 

I used a splatter stamp with Versamark ink and Wow! Sea Turtle embossing powder.  Really like the result.  I used the same powder for Memory Box Verdant Leaves.  The sentiment from PTI's Essential Sentiments was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.  Really like PTI Rustic Cream cardstock with the soft green.  Usually my sympathy cards are simpler, but I think this soft, monochromatic look also works.  I'm also entering WAW. 

Simple, elegant cards are my favorite, so this one makes me happy.  It's prettier in person, but this gives you the idea.

Memory Box Blooming embossing folder is definitely one of my favorites!  It's white here, in case you can't tell.  Poppystamps Dream Butterfly was die cut from cardstock covered with a double sided adhesive sheet so I could cover it with WOW! Celebration Sparkles--a bit chunkier, champagne glitter.  The butterfly needed something solid behind it and I ended up using Spellbinders Labels 18.  Instead of leaving them white, I brushed Altenew's Minty Mint ink on the larger one.  I used the next darker shade, Hunter Green, to stamp the PTI Scripted sentiment.  I'm entering Poppystamps and TTTC272 where my friend, Betty, developed the board.  I used Layers/Free/Floral-Foliage.

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

Christmas and Friendship

Hurrah--Indiana Pacers are in the NBA finals!  My folks were both born in Indy and so was I.  My dad played college and semi-pro basketball when he was young and was a radio sportscaster most of his life.  I grew up loving sports and going to lots of games.  Basketball was always my favorite and that's probably in my blood as Hoosiers are absolutely crazy about basketball!  So fun to have something positive to think about right now. 

Time Out: Your Favorite Winged Thing challenge inspired me to make my first card using PTI's Angelic Sentiments Die.  I do love angel ornaments and have a few in my collection.  

I die cut 3 angels so it's like a chipboard element.  I painted her with white metallic watercolor, using a swirling motion on the wings.  You can see the shimmer in my IG post.  Picking the background took awhile as I held the angel over multiple cardstocks and specialty papers.  I kept coming back to the CN9 pack of red and green foil paper which I've barely used.  Love the green which can look blue depending on the light and angle.  The die is my very old Spellbinders Labels 18.  You may know dry embossing is one of my favorite elements for cards and this old Cuttlebug folder gave just the elegant look I wanted without distracting from the focal point.  Found the perfect sentiment in Honey Bee's Rejoice stamp set.  Not sure why the strip looks gray as it's actually the same white cardstock.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

Edited to add:  I'm also entering NBUS 75th Challenge with my first card using the PTI angel.

 

It's time for the reveal of cards exchanged in May by those of us participating in The CCC.  I used the colors and friendship theme.

I'm still loving layering stencils, including SSS Layered Flowers.  The inks are Memento Sweet Plum, Lilac Posies and Desert Sand plus Delicata Golden Glitz.  I've been wanting to use the Scrapbook.com Hi Cover Plate and love the fun look.  I inked it and the Birch Press Simple Butterfly Contour Layers with the same inks.  I did add Stardust Stickles to the flower centers after I took the picture.  

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

Birthday and Christmas

I had paint still in my palette from swatching Autumn Leaves set of Lindy's Magicals.  Decided to use it  on a Scrapbook.com Cozy Wreath.  The beautiful shimmer can be seen in my IG post video.  

Tim Holtz Bricked Texture Fade folder was used to emboss a panel of PTI Classic Kraft.  I rubbed over it with Altenew Pink Sand ink cube twice.  It dried very light, but actually does add a bit of shadow to the bricks.  The wreath includes a circle die which I used for the 2 sentiments from a very old PTI set.  I added a couple cardstock layers and inked the edge in Versafine Clair Acorn.  I really like having just a tiny bit of the cream card front show.  I'm entering Inkspirational, SSS Monday and WAW.

Woodblock Wednesday gives me a reason to pull out some of my many woodmounted stamps.  It also means I see if they still stamp well.  If not, I take them off the block and see how they work in my MISTI and toss the ones that are bad.  This time I wanted something that would also work for the Christmas Kickstart Winter Warmers theme.  I was delighted to find that the 2007 Hero Arts Stove-Pipe Snowman stamped perfectly! 

After heat embossing, I used Hero Arts Liquid Metallic watercolors in Red, Green and Blue, Gansai Tambi white metallic watercolor and Distress Oxides vintage photo and spiced marmalade to color the image and make the background light blue.  The shimmer is amazing in the light and you can see it in my IG video.  I used Fairy Hugs Fairy Snowflakes stencil with Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue ink for the background and added Baby Blue Stickles to the snowflake centers.  

Love the mixed font of Hero Arts 2007 Traditional Messages set of 3 stamps and they still stamp perfectly.  Really wasn't needed, but I did heat emboss the sentiment to match the snowman.  This was a fun card to make and hopefully will brighten someone's day in December.  I'm also entering SSS Monday 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.