Interlocking gatefold

I read about interlocking gatefold cards -- where the image and frame over the gatefold interlock -- on SCS and decided to give it a try. I went with a Halloween theme.
To create the interlocking elements, I white-embossed the mummy/cat/witch (awesome image from Impression-Obsession!) on black paper, then cut it out with a label nestie. For the frame, I cut a larger square of purple, used the same nestie to create the opening, and used a corner rounder on the corners. After that, it's a matter of precisely lining elements up, and adhering the frame on the left part of the gatefold and the center panel on the right.  I think you can get the idea from the photo.
The card is embellished with stickles and some plastic spiders.
I am entering the card in these challenges:
Simon Says Monday -- Witch Kraft
CRAFT 274 -- animals
Inky Impressions 174 -- anything goes
Sister Act 72 -- anything goes

Apple picking time

Blogger went dead on me for two days. Sadly, it made me realize I spend a lot (probably too much )time checking out blogs...
Here's an apple themed card using last week's SCS sketch. 
The apples (from The Alley Way Stamps)  are paper pieced with snippets of red, white, kraft and green.  The apple pie (from DRS) is colored in pencils and matted on another kraft snippet. (I think all 3 of the kraft snippets on this card are different, so there's a lot of variation here).
I was going to use white-on-black letter stickers, which turned out to be buried too deeply in the stash to locate, but I did find these interesting acrylic dome letter stickers to use instead. "Yum" is a good word to make from leftover letters.
The card is finished off with some red-and-white twine and a different red-and-white pattern paper than the one used for the apples.
I'm entering this card in these challenges:
Pixies Snippet Playground #139 -- snippets
Loves Rubberstamps #118 -- two patterned papers
Clear It Out -- Favorite color combo
Simon Says Wednesday -- Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #147 -- Anything goes

Watercolor poppies

One of my fave techniques is faux watercoloring -- color with water-based makers directly on the rubber, spritz with water, stamp, and you look like you know what you are doing.  Rubbernecker Stamps has a whole line of stamps designed for just this technique, including these lovely two-step poppies here.  The sentiment is from an old SU set. The markers were Distress markers, but any water-based maker will do, including the cheap ones your kids use.
I went technique heavy on this one, as I also dry embossed the green base layer and sanded the embossed layer. It's Coredinations paper, so I got a nice, slightly lighter shade of green that highlights the embossing.
The layout is Sketch Saturday's current sketch, #324, and I liked that I could use a doily for the circular element on it.
I'm entering this card in these challenges:
Sketch Saturday #324, sketch
Sister Act #71, Anything Goes
Crafty Girls #25, Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #146, Anything Goes
Inky Impressions #172, Anything Goes

Under water scene

I have a fun image for you today.  This mermaid is from Faerie Song stamps, and I think there is something so humorous about a mermaid sitting around reading....
The mermaid is colored in pencils, and that's VersaColor Sea Breeze sponged around the edges.  There is paper glaze on all the bubbles, giving it a real watering look. To keep up the water theme, I used the last of the watercolor wash paper I made a few weeks ago. For that, I used Ranger Stream reinker and then splattered on some water to get the watery marks.
The sand dollar was white-embossed on craft paper and fussy cut out.

The layout is the current Sketch Saturday Sketch, and the theme is for Creative Inspiration's "Under the Sea Challenge."  The colors are blues/greens/neutrals, from Just Us Girls' current challenge.

The card is for these challenges

The Paper Shelter #169 -- Punches and dies  (border punch)
Creative Inspiration #276 -- Under the Sea
Sketch Saturday -- Sketch 232
Pixie's Snippet Playground #138 (everything
is a snippet)
Just Us Girls #254 -- blues/greens/neutrals
Word Art Wednesday #145 --anything goes

Summer on the water

What better place to spend a hot day than on the water?  That's what this card is all about.  As you can see, I had a hard time photographing the embossing on this -- of about 20 attempts, this had the least irritating shine on it.
This card features a watercolor wash in sort of ombre -- dark at the bottom, getting gradually lighter toward the top -- and a bunch of splatters.  I used reinker in a Ranger color called stream.  The sentiment says Daydreams.  I'm so proud of myself for having thought of that.  The stamp comes from a bunch of one-worders like that (Believe, Inspire, etc -- I think they are from Another Stamp Company, which may not be around anymore), and I don't believe I have ever used Daydreams before, but wouldn't you like to be out on a lake daydreaming the day away? The man in canoe image is from Victorine Originals.
This card fits the bill for a number of challenges, so here goes:

Clear it Out -- Embossing
Simon Says Wednesday -- Summer
Pixie's Snippet Playground #137 -- watercolor paper and the matting are both snippets
PaperTake Weekly Challenge -- spots and dots (spots on the watercolor wash, dots on the ribbon)
Word Art Wednesday #145 -- anything goes
Sister Act #69 -- Anything Goes.

Christmas Ribbons

I’m back with another Christmas card. There’s actually a story behind this one.  One of the COTMs I do has a theme of “ribbon” for August.  I actually made the last card I posted – the little girl on the swing – intending to send it out; after all, it had a ribbon and a bow. But I decided that just tying a bow doesn’t really fit the “spirit” of a ribbon challenge, and I wanted to try something different.

 

I knew I wanted to do a die-cut with an array of ribbon showing through, and when I stumbled upon this little circle tag die, I knew I had a winner. ( I do mean “stumbled.” I bought a set of little Sizzix dies at a consignment sale and had totally forgotten about them. They were sitting in a baggie at the bottom of the box that holds all my dies.)

The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory. I die cut the ornament, stamped the pine bough (from Impression-Obsession) in Garden Green and added the sentiment.  I taped snippets of ribbon on the back side of the card stock, and the ribbons I had selected ended up being the perfect size the fill the die-cut hole.

 

The sketch is the current one from Sketch Saturday.  Going with a Christmas theme allowed me to use up some Christmas paper snippets, including that plaid that has been hanging around for years. I’m pretty sure that’s the last snippet of it – I had to trim one edge to get rid of a torn bit and used  the rest of it here.

I am entering this card in these challenges:

Sketch Saturday #321

Loves Rubberstamps #115– use stripes

Pixie’s Snippet Playground #136 – use snippets

Just us Girls #252 – use ribbon

Word Art Wednesday #144 – anything goes

Papertake Weekly – Anything goes.

A little more summer

It's the first day of August. After all these years, I still can't get used to the idea that school starts next week. Call me old-fashioned, but Labor Day will always seem like the natural start of the school year.

Here's a sweet summery image for you.  I have no clue who makes this image -- I got it as an RAK. It was stamped on watercolor paper with Stazon, and I was happy to find my pencils and OMS worked on it; otherwise I was going to have to paint it with reinkers and I wasn't sure how that would go.

The sketch is from this week's Papertake Challenge, although I turned it upside down, because that darker strip just made the card look too top-heavy when it was on top. The image actually had little butterflies drawn in, but they got lost when I cut the image into an oval, so I added a few punched butterflies as the element along the edge. I edged the wings with a little ink so they'd show up against the yellow background. (The papers are all from a Stampin Up pack.)

There is a layer of yellow-edged lace under the ribbon, which makes this card quite girly and adds a little needed width to the ribbon.

I'm entering this card in these challenges:
Die Cut Divas August Challenge, Hot August Nights
Clear it Out, Yellow (yellow stash is paper and lace)
Butterfly Challenge #12, Summer
Papertake Weekly #92, Sketch 92
Word Art Wednesday #143, Anything Goes
Simon Says Wednesday, Anything Goes
Sister Act #68,  Anything Goes