Gift Bag

There's a beautiful Mood Board for Inkspirational.  The little town in the bottom right corner caught my attention.  

My friend, Susanne, made a card a year ago that I loved using a retired Poppystamps village die.  She's one of my many sweet friends who offer to send me diecuts when I admire their cards.  Here's what I did with one of them.  

I painted soft gold scraps to go behind the windows, covered the houses with a shimmer pen and added Distress Snowfall Grit Paste to the roofs and the torn white cardstock strip.  The little trees from SSS Village die set were cut from green scraps and covered with Peeled Paint Distress Stickles.  I cut the little stars from Simply Graphic Starry Arches--trimming them off the arch.  The snow on the black panel was done with a Posca white paint marker.  I've lost track of how many times I've used the little sentiment from an old Winnie and Walter set.  This time it's white embossed.  Hard to get decent pictures, but hopefully you get an idea of what I did.

I saved the beautiful black gift bag the jeweler put my new watch in earlier this year.  Think my little scene dresses it up perfectly for the holidays.  I'm also entering Poppystamps, Snippets Playground (stars, trees & torn strip are from scraps), 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.  I'm behind on mailing Christmas cards, so may be a little while.  

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.

PTI and FMS

As you know, I enter the PTI challenges whenever I can.  Here's my entry for the challenge to make a black & white card with a pop of color.  

I die cut Into the Blooms II from scraps of 2 shades of red.  I didn't want to add another color, so I used vellum for the leaves.  The background is Nifty Plaid stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne & a black Pierced Feature Frame.  The sentiment from Essential Sentiments is stacked 3 high.  I added Stickles to random petals for a bit of sparkle. 

This one goes to family who have an anniversary in a couple weeks.  Thought the little black Gina K heart embellishments made the perfect flower center.  I added gloss so they stand out more.

Next is my entry for Melissa's Fab Friday challenge to recreate her card putting our own personality into it.

I take that to mean our own card style & mine is simpler with fewer colors.  I did begin like Melissa, but I stamped Bold Blooms onto a white Border Bling: Tin Stitched die cut using Berry Sorbet & Vintage Jadeite--spritzing before stamping.  

The vellum layer is Border Bling: Diamonds.  I stamped the sentiment from Wildflower Garden on the white die cut from the same set using Versafine Clair Nocturne. 

Finished with die cut blooms & leaves along with a few Rainstones.  Melissa's card is beautiful & I love that it inspired me to make a card in my style.

Cecile's sketch for FMS intrigued me, so had to play along.  I used leftover Simply Graphic die cuts that I had watercolored with gold Gansai Tambi.  The Ellen Hutson Hex Frame was die cut from a scrap watercolored with Lindy's Magicals Drop Dead Gorgeous Green.  

Both products have incredible shimmer in person.  The card is PTI Rustic Cream with splatters of the gold & green.  I love this sentiment from PTI Prominent Petals which I stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.  

I finished off with the beautiful sequins from Lucy's Things Champagne mix--part of a prize from The Snippets Playground, where I'm also entering my card.

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

I will visit you--if Blogger lets me!  

Edited to add: Blogger is now randomly labeling comments as spam.  Today I found that Blogger let one comment be published & labeled the other comment left by the same person as spam!

Easter Cards

I didn't make many Easter cards last year, but this year I'll be sending quite a few.  Here are my latest cards starting with my entry for the PTI challenge to make an Easter card.  I made a vellum stencil from Cutaway Tags: Spring die.  Came out great!  Using a sponge dauber, I inked over it with Versamark & then embossed with 3 old powders, one at a time. 

I chose pink, light gold & purple--all with glitter.  They have a beautiful iridescent sparkle when tilted in the light.  The images weren't distinct enough, so I added more Versamark to my stencil & embossed in Stampendous Moonstone ep.  Just love how it looks over the colors.  

The mat is Shape Shifters: Circle 3 die cut from pink cardstock.  The card & sentiment flag from Tag Sale: Quilted are Vintage Cream cardstock.  I stamped the sentiment from The Craft's Meow in Versafine Clair Acorn & splattered the card front with a brown Zig.

Next is my card for SSS Flickr Challenge 197 to make a Spring slimline card.  I inked SSS Bouquet of Roses stencil with SSS Apricot & Mint Green and VersaMagic Pink Grapefruit & Aquatic Splash.  Then I spread on glitter gel, which was really too dried out.  

I made it work & then asked Thermoweb how to revive it.  Would you believe, they told me to add a couple teaspoons of gel hand sanitizer & leave it capped over night.  Then stir with a metal spoon or fork.  If it's still too hard, add another teaspoon & wait again.  It was much better, but I did add another teaspoon.  I'm anxious to see how it is tomorrow. 

The sparkle really is beautiful in person.  The sentiment from an old TPC set was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist.  I added white Pico Embellisher dots & attached my panel to a gray mat making a 3 1/4 x 6 1/4 card.

I recently received an order from Simply Graphic, a French company with dies I had been admiring when Cecile used them.  Shipping was about the same as a lot of companies here charge.  My good friend, Lisa Elton, is the hostess for Just Us Girls where the challenge is to use this gorgeous color combo:  Ivory, Soft Rose, Sage Green.  

I inked the branches in Distress Ink bundled sage & the colored panel in victorian velvet.  The same inks were used to stamp the background images from PTI Text Style & Prominent Petals.  I colored white crochet thread with the victorian velvet ink.  

The sentiment from an old TPC set was stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I die cut PTI Vintage Cream cardstock with AJVD & Spellbinders rectangle dies.  The colored panel actually looks softer in person--hard to get a decent picture.

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