Santa Skyline

 

For this card, I used a technique I haven't tried in a while.  To create the background, I took a square acrylic block and tapped some Distress inks on it. (I think it was scattered straw, some lavender, and a blue, maybe broken china?). Then I spritzed the block with water and pressed it on a piece of watercolor paper, pressing to make sure the water worked its way all over the block. 

The result looked kind of like a night sky, so I made this scene, with the glow of the city and Santa flying overhead. Everything is black-embossed. The cityscape and Santa are from Whimsy, the sentiment from Simply Stamped. I cut the main panel with a wide margin to show the movement of the water, and set it an angle because it seemed a little more dynamic that way. Added a few sequins for sparkle.

This card is for these challenges:

Jingle Belles -- the man with the bag

Winter Wonderland -- flying high at Christmas

CRAFT -- Christmas

Rudolph Days -- Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- begins with S

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2225 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #549 -- anything goes

Cars, cars, cards

 Here's another fairly masculine card. I found patterned paper which features some really cool old cars and used it for a car-themed card. I went looking for a sentiment; I have a set of travel-themed sentiments and this one had never been inked before. I added a ribbon with white stitching down the center because it reminds me of a road.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- add a sentiment

CRAFT #641 -- transport

Word Art Wednesday #547-- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2225 -- anything goes

Surfing Gnome

 Summer is here, so let's use some fun summer stamps. I can't tell you how cute I think this gnome from Pattie's Creations is. And look, I had a snippet of printed paper with surfboards on them, and a few of the boards have the same palm tree design as the gnome's surfboard. (I don't know much about surfboards -- are palm trees a traditional design or something?) The gnome is colored with pencils (notice the cool ombre on the surfboard!). The sentiment is from The Alley Way.

The surfing gnome is entering these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- add a sentiment. 

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- starts with S (surfboard)

Double D challenge -- beach time

Pattie's Creations #195 --Use an image

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2225 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #547 -- anything goes

Christmas Birds

According to the weather app on my phone, the "feels like" temperature right now is 102, so let's think cool Christmas thoughts. 

These cute birds are from a Clear Art Stamps set, and I know at least one has never been inked before. They are stamped on a snippet of white card stock, where they are having  a little Christmas tweet-off. They are colored with pencils. The panel is matted on a gold metallic snippet, with a corner punch used on alternating corners on both panels.

The blue panel is embossed with a music score EF and sanded. (That is actually a piece of coredinations, which has a white core, but I did want to sand too hard and lose the raised embossing, so it's a sort of distressed look. I've been digging around in my supplies and finding all kinds of supplies you probably haven't seen in a decade, such as Coordinations and Flower Soft).

This card is entered into these challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure -- embossing and birds

ABC Christmas -- L is for Little, M is for Music; I think this fits both

Winter Wonderland -- flying high at Christmas

Snippets Playground #430 -- show some snippets

Word Art Wednesday #547 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #195 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2224  -- anything goes

 

Father's Day

 

This Father's Day card features a very old image by Stampin Up that I have always liked. The background was created with a variety of chalk inks using a scrunched-up piece of plastic wrap (daub on ink, pounce on paper). I decided to create waves by using a Spellbinder's scallop die and using what would be the "waste side" of a traditional scalloped edge. There's some white gel pen to signify foam and differentiate between layers.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Die Cut Divas -- summer days

Dies R Us  #194-- masculine/Father's Day

Word Art Wednesday #547 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2223 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore #100 -- anything goes

Vintage style

 I challenged myself to do a vintage style card this time, and the secret seems to be lots of layers. The main image is from a set from Lost Coast called Vintage Labels. It's stamped in Sepia on a grayish snippet, and I added some coloring with pencils. Along the bottom of the label, I added some paper lace that was aged with Antique Linen ink. The label is tucked into a frame cut from another pale gray snippet that was embossed with a flowery EF. (With the embossed gray, it almost looks like an old ceiling tile.) I then dragged a pink ink pad along the top of the embossing to highlight it. There is a metal photo turn on the left of the label. On the right is a butterfly cut from a blue-gray snippet on which I stamped a bit of script to add a little interest before die-cutting. Everything is on top of a lovely, vintage-looking flowered patterned paper, and it's all on a pink card. 

This card is entered in these challenges.

Can You Handle the Pressure -- embossing folder and butterfly

Snippets Playground #429 -- use snippets

Word Art Wednesday #545 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore #100 -- anything goes

The Paper Shelter #514 -- inspired by a movie (Sense and Sensibility)