Christmas decor

       Here's my first Christmas card of the year. The ornament is gold-embossed on a white snippet, die-cut and placed on a scalloped oval die-cut from a gold foil snippet. The sentiment is also gold-embossed on a snippet, and I used a thematically coordinating patterned paper.  For the base, I started with black but it was too stark and gloomy, so I cut it to include a slight reveal of white card stock. (Sentiment is from Stamp Simply and the ornament is probably All-Night Media. It's an old wood-mounted one, anyway.)
       I did use a sketch for this, but I'm not sure where it originated, so I can't give credit.

This card is entered in these challenges:
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #425 -- green
ABC Christmas -- D is for decorations
Pixie's Snippet Playground #346 -- use snippets
Word Art Wednesday #375 -- anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- use patterned paper

Pinspirational Challenge Returns

     After taking a month off, PINspirational Challenge is back in a slightly different format. Same great inspirational photos from Pinterest, but we'll be highlighting entries the DT really liked rather than doing a random draw. As always, be inspired by the Pin to create whatever your heart desires, as long as we can see the inspiration.
     Look at these gorgeous roses in the Pin for this challenge. Love them. They inspired me to find this sweet Bugaboo image of roses and to use all these pretty shades of pink.
     The image is matted on a pink snipped, and the die cut sentiment (from xxx) is cut from a white snippet.
     Hope you'll be inspired and link up to PINspirational Challenge.

This card is entered into these challenges:
DieCut Divas  -- Love is in the Air
Crafty Sentiments -- Flowers
Catch the Bug -- Love is in the Air
Pixie's Snippet Playground #345 -- use snippets
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- patterned paper
Word Art Wednesday #372 -- anything goes

Fly away

     This is my first post of 2019, so a belated happy new's years.  Obviously, I haven't been doing a lot of cardmaking.
      I did find some time to play recently, and I had fun using this cute image from Polkadoodles. The image is colored in pencils, with a little out of the box cut on the circle. The image is mounted on a scallop circle cut from a snippet of printed paper. The base layer is a snippet of a polka-dot pattern with the tiniest dots ever.  I used a snippet strip of striped vellum and some ribbon to create a layer and break up all the green.
     The flowers almost seem old fashioned now; I guess everyone is using die-cuts instead of silk and Pima flowers.

This card is for these challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #115 -- yellow and your choice (vellum, ribbon, flowers)
Crafting By Designs -- layer it up
Word Art Wednesday #370 -- anything goes
Pixie's Crafty Workshop #344 -- use snippets
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- patterned paper

Hey there

     Some cards are pretty specific, like this one, which was created for Teapot Tuesday at SCS. The challenge was "bridges." Since I don't have any bridge images, I made a bridge-style card with the theme of "bridging the distance," represented by a couple cute critters and their tin-can phone systems. (High concept, eh?)
     The critters and sentiment are from a Simon Says Stamp set. The cat and monkey were stamped on a white snippet, colored with pencils, and fussy cut. I decided not to get too "fussy" on the cutting and left a few areas of white to add strength because at least one animal wasn't going to have backing on part of it.
     After cutting and scoring the base card (I think that's SU River Rock card stock), I used a large bamboo stamp (Inkadinkadoo, maybe?) to create a "tree" for the monkey to be climbing in. The bamboo extends over the fold for a little more 3D feeling. The bridge piece (a blue snippet) was stamped with the same tree.  I also added hand-draw grass and some stamped greenery.
     The cans (from the SSS set) were decorated with some silver gel pen, and there's baker's twine for the string linking the tin-can phones.
     Another blue snippet and snippets of a leafy print finish off the card.
     Trying to make this scene the way I envisioned it gave me even more respect for those of you who create intricate scenes!

This card is for these challenges:
Pixie's Snippet Playground #342
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes
Word Art Wednesday # 366  -- anything goes

    

Sparkly ornaments

     The newest Pinspirational Challenge is up, and it's a rare anything-goes week, so find your inspiration wherever you want. The challenge is sponsored by Fabrika Fantasy, and the winner of a random draw will win three digis. Link up any creation you desire at the challenge blog.
      For my card, I went with one of my favorite things about Christmas -- sparkly ornaments on a tree. The ornament is die-cut (Prickly Pear die) from junk mail -- that was the envelope that a credit card offer came in. (I actually made 6 of this design and used the red envelope to make two of them and a similar blue envelope to make two more. The rest of the envelope had too much print on it to be able to fit the die anymore. Too bad, because I really like how it came out.) 
     The pine bough is from the same Prickly Pear set, and the sentiment is from Stamp Simply. Aside from the foil paper, the only embellishment is a little gold cording bow.
     The PINspirational Challenge will be taking a break after this challenge is complete. Look for the challenges to return in March.

My card is entered in these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- Christmas
Winter Wonderland -- anything Christmas
CRAFT #495-- anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #416 -- anything Christmas
Christmas Crafts All Year Round -- anything goes
ABC Christmas -- Y is for Your Favorite Thing About Christmas
Word Art Wednesday #364 -- anything goes

BRRRR, it's cold

     I don't know what it's like where you are, but the new PINspirational Challenge captures the feeling in the air here (minus the snow, thank goodness, but it feels cold enough for snow). So, are you ready to bundle up?
     This challenge is sponsored by Lemon Shortbread, which is offering three free digis to the winner of a random draw. To get in the drawing, just make a project inspired by the Pin and link it up at the PINspirational Challenge post.
     My card features a Lemon Shortbread image, which is colored in pencils. It is mounted on a piece of navy cardstock, which is wrapped with a snowflake-patterned ribbon. That's mounted onto a piece of my all-time favorite snowflake patterned paper. The sentiment, from Hampton Arts, is white embossed on navy and die-cut with a Whimsy die. The base card is white.
This card is entered in these challenges:
Winter Wonderland -- people
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- B is for? (I'm going with blue and brrrrr...)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes
Christmas Crafts All Year Round-- anything Christmas
The Ribbon Girl -- anything goes
Dies R Us -- snowflake
Die-cut Divas -- winter
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #414 -- anything Christmas
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- use patterned paper
Word Art Wednesday# 363 -- anything goes
Catch the Bug Awkward Holiday Chaos Day 1 -- snow

Reindeer

     A fresh Pinspirational Challenge has been posted, and look at the sweet inspiration this time, to the right. (Don't know about you, but I need all the inspiration I can get at this time of year.) The prize for this challenge is two digi images from All Dressed Up, so make a project inspired by the image and link up to the challenge at the Pinspiratoinal Challenge blog for a chance to win.
     For my card, I used a sweet reindeer image from All Dressed Up, which I colored in pencil, with Nuvo drops to highlight the flowers. I also ran a pad of red ink around the edge of the panel for a little distressed look. The deer panel is matted on a mistle-tone patterned paper, which is on a brown card. There's a strip of burlap ribbon under the red ribbon and bow, with a few additional snowflakes as a highlight.

This card is for these challenges:
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #412 -- anything Christmas
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge-- use patterned paper
Scribbles Designs #71 -- Reindeer Games
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- Let it snow
Word Art Wednesday #360  -- anything goes