Woodgrain butterfly

 I like this card because it uses colors I don't think I've ever used together.  It also uses a new-to-me technique, thanks to Mrs. A at the Butterfly Challenge. She calls this a window card and uses a sentiment inside the folded paper element. I liked the paper too much and decided to show more of it. The butterfly (a Simon Says Stamp diecut) is embossed with a Tim Holtz wood grain EF, and it really does look like a bit of wood there.

Off-topic questions, but since you all blog, do you ever get days with massive numbers of visitors to your blog? Last week there was a day when I had 335 views -- with is like 25 times a normal day. What gives? 

This card is entered in these challenges:

Butterfly Challenge ##173 -- level 2: window card; wooden; butterfly, 2 colors Watermelon and wheat

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- die cuts

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- little critters

Can you handle the pressure -- use an EF (anything goes)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2237 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #561 -- anything goes

Getting sentimental

 

I have never tried a 3D embossing folder before, but I purchased one on sale and tried it. Wow, talk about dimension. That texutre maes a pretty background for this sentiment from Quietfire, which is framed by a Spellbinder's die. To accent the sentiment, I perched a bird on the first letter and a few branches under the sentiment. (all the dies are from Spellbinder's sets where I'd used some pieces previously but not the ones I used for this card). Added a few gems for a touch of sparkle.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure -- Make sentiment a focal point twist

Dies R Us #200 -- anything goes with dies

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2235 --birds

Word Art Wednesday #559 -- anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes

Reindeer cheer

 I liked the card sketch using lots of strips of paper so much I made one with Christmas papers. I have lots of scraps of Christmas paper, and it was fun finding some that would make sense together. (The embossed piece on top is leftover from the slimline Christmas card I posted recently, too. Sometimes it looks like I never throw anything away.) For the center, there's a die-cut reindeer (Whimsy Stamps die). He's got a red gem nose, so I guess technically that's Rudolph. The sentiment is glittery red EP.

This card is for these challenges:

ABC Christmas -- R is for Reindeer

Winter Wonderland -- Reindeer

Rudolph Days -- anything Christmas

Word Art Wednesday #557 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2234 -- anything goes

Summer wildflowers

 

Last week's sketch challenge at Splitcoast was an excellent one for using up snippets. Because some of the strips are less than an inch tall and only 4ish inches wide, I had a lot of choice in which to use. I settled on a purple and yellow color scheme, with some white. Every single piece on this card is a snippet. I embossed the white piece just to add some interest.

The central panel includes die-cut wildflowers from the Sizzix Wildflower Stems 2 collection, a punched butterfly, and an old sentiment from SU. I can also tell you that every piece of paper featured (aside from the white, which I go through like crazy) has been with me through three house moves. Time to use this stuff up!

This card is for these challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #172 (level one, using a butterfly and two colors: Flirt and Fulvos)

Snippets Playground # 435 -- use snippets

Dies R Us #199 -- Summer and use dies (Sizzix die)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2234 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #557 -- anything goes

Slimline Christmas

 I enjoy using the mini slimline size for cards, although I haven't done a lot and I'm still experimenting. All my embossing folders, stencils, and dies are for regular A2 cards, so sometimes I stumble upon new uses. For example, this old SU snowflake EF makes a good background for a mini slimline. (I trimmed some off the right side, and it would just about fill the  white layer on the card if left in full, but I waned room for the little snowguy). That snowman stamp is also old SU, from one of the very first sets I ever purchased. 

This card became a fun exercise in pulling out all the snow items, what with the giant snowflake sequin, the acrylic dot with a snowflake on it, and the sentiment.  The image is colored with pencils, with some Winkk of Stella on the snowflakes the snowman is holding. 

(I'm trying to make my photos a little more interesting, so you may spot a couple of German stars behind the card. My sister-in-law makes these by the dozen, and they were the easiest Christmas decor item for me to get my hands on in the storage area.)

This card is for these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- Christmas

Jingle Belles -- slimline card

Can You Handle the Pressure -- use an EF (skipping the twist this time)

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2233 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #557 -- anything goes

Spritz and Splatter Coffee-Shaped Card

 I tried a new, fun technique I found on SCS to create a "coffee" look.  You drop a bit of brown alcohol ink on your paper, add blending solution or rubbing alcohol, and blow on it. Repeat with other drops and other shades of brown, adding in metallic mixatives if you want.  At the end, you splatter rubbing alcohol over it to create little lite spots.  After that, you can add foil, or in my case I added some metallic embossing.  Once you're happy with it, use a circle die to cut it out, and cut a round card with the next largest die in your set to create the cup.  For the handle, just use a snippet of leftover card stock trimmed to look like a handle. 

This was a fun technique -- I actually made three different backgrounds and have only turned two into cards. 

 Both cards feature 3 colors of Ranger Alcohol Inks that came in a coffee-themed set (I think the names are espresso, latte and something similar). I added gold mixative, but it was really old and didn't work properly; it ended up being a sad brown spot.  On the upper cup/card, I used a sparkly white EP, and on the lower one (which is also inset below) I used copper EP.

 I will admit the cards are quite small, as the largest circle die I have is 4 inches. However, it'd be
a fun card to give to a coffee loving friend, don't you think? 

This card is for these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- spritz and splatter

Die-Cut Divas -- shape card

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2232 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #555 -- anything goes

Double-sided vellum

 Hi All,

Hope your week is going well. This is my latest card, featuring a technique where you stamp an image on one side of vellum, flip it over and stamp and heat emboss on the other side. I stamped flowers and leaves on one side, and white-embossed a butterfly on the other. For the frame around the vellum, I used two sizes of a stitched-label die on a snippet of brown card.

For the background, I die-cut 2-inch squares of skyblue and salmon colored snippets and create the quilt patch. (As an aside, I really appreciate the tight fit I got by die-cutting rather than just using the paper trimmer, where it never seems to line up perfectly.) The sentiment is cut from another of the salmon-colored snippets. A few flower-shaped sequins finish the card.

This card is entered in these challenges

Butterfly #171 -- using the colors sky blue and salmon plus the butterfly (aka level 1)

Snippets Playground #434 -- using snippets

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- emboss it

Word Art Wednesday #555 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2032 -- anything goes