Debossed Snowflakes

 

I'm not a big technique stamper, but I decided to try a technique I found on SCS featuring debossing (which is  using the reverse side of an embossed piece of card stock, so the design is a hollow rather than a raised area.) To do this particular technique, you cover the raised part of the EF with Versamark and emboss the paper, which transfers the Versamark to the hollows in the paper. Then, cover the paper with embossing powder to fill the hollows and heat.

I used an old Stampin Up snowflake folder. The EP was a glittery white but the photo doesn't show the glittery aspect (which is too bad as it is quite glittery). After embossing, put distress inks on a mat, spritz with water and dab the card stock (actually watercolor paper in this instance) to get color on the card. 

Finished the card with matting, an embossed sentiment and a few silver snowflakes.

This card is for these challenges: 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- Ice Cold

Can You Handle the Pressure -- Christmas Twist (US)

CRAFT # 661 -- Christmas

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2250 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #573 -- anything goes

Festive Foliage

 

Today's card is a fairly quick one using a pretty printed paper for most of the design, since I wanted to showcase the pinecones. I cut the paper on an angle, and adhered it to the card base. The sentiment is from Whimsy stamps, stamped on a white snippet cut with an oval die and matted with an oval scallop circle cut from a brown snippet. I have admired some cards where people use die-cut sprays of foliage as an accent to the sentiment, so I cut a couple of different leaf and berry shapes -using snippets of both white vellum and a goldish glittery paper. They were placed on the card before the sentiment so everything could be adhered in one swoop.

This card is for these challenges:

Snippets Playground #443 -- use snippets (all the die-cut elements)

Creative Inspiration  -- festive foliage

CRAFT #661 --  Christmas the last stretch

Die-Cut Divas -- anything for winter holidays

Pammie's Inky Pinkies # 2249 -- anything goes

Winter Wonderland -- anything Christmas

Word Art Wednesday #573  -- anything goes

I like big books

 The Double Trouble Challenge is to mix patterns.  Here I mixed a couple different dotted patterns of snippets with a larger plaid snippet, using the Try Stampin' On Tuesday sketch.  The image and sentiment are from Bugaboo (RIP, miss you) colored in pencil. I created the pink dotted panel by stenciling pink dots onto a white snippet. The green dotted panel (a snippet that fit perfectly with no trimming) picks up the green from the pink plaid, a patterned paper I have had for ever. (Funnily enough, it came from a very "Big book" pad of patterned papers, and I will probably not use up the last of the snippets in my lifetime.)

This card seemed to be calling for rounded edges, so the corner punch got a big workout.

Entering these challenges:

Double Trouble #126 -- Mix patterns

Try Stampin' on Tuesday -- sketch 584

Snippets Playground #442 -- use snippets

Word Art Wednesday #571 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2247 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #200 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore -- anything goes

Foiled ornaments

 

I made some cards earlier this year where I used alcohol ink on embossed foil, and I decided to try it again. To make these ornaments, I glued aluminum foil on some snippets of cardstock, embossed them, then used alcohol inks and blender solution to color them. (Some of the areas that look silvery are actually a soft pink, so the colors aren't as stark as in the photo). I then die-cut the ornaments, and used embroidery floss to "hang them" from the top of a white snippet panel. However, before adhering the ornaments to the white panel, I ran all four edges along a Versamark pad and then applied silver EP to the edges. The sentiment is also silver embossed. That panel is mounted on a pinkish snippet, and then on a pale green card.

I do think the embossing on the ornaments got a bit flattened when I die-cut them. I think it might have been better to do the process in a different order -- glue aluminum foil to snippets, die-cut, emboss, then apply the alchol ink. (I guess you could apply the alcohol ink earlier in the process, but I think the highs and lows of the embossing can cause cool patterns with the AI). Hope that's not too confusing.

This card is for these challenges:

Simon Say Stamp Monday: Fun with foil

Rudolph Days -- Christmas

CRAFT #659 -- Christmas

Snippets Playground #441 -- use snippets

Word  Art Wednesday #571-- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2247 -- anything goes

Hot Cocoa Cuteness

 Oh my gosh, has it been hot chocolate weather where I live lately. It's been unusually cold for at least a week, and my office and craft spaces are in the basement, where it's cool even in warm weather. 

Today's card features a super cute die-cut image from STAMPlorations -- it's part of a set that has all sorts of cuties with mugs of cocoa.  I realized I had some patterned paper that would go nicely with the die-cut, and I used the SCS sketch that called for trimming the edge off a square set on point. The sentiment is an oldie from Purple Onion, stamped in a similar green.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Double D  Challenge -- hot beverages

Word Art Wednesday #569 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2247 -- anything goes

STAMPlorations Never-Ending Challenge -- feature their product

 

Sunflower for the fall

 

Well, our fall color didn't last long. We had a couple of very windy days, some rain, and the leaves were gone. But we can still celebrate them with cards, right?

This will be a Thanksgiving card for my in-laws.  The sunflower image (maybe from Studio G?) is colored in pencils. Then I used a Stamplorations brick pattern stencil with a couple of brown Distress inks, and finally used a Spellbinder's framelit die.  The sentiment (Studio Katia) is on a thin snippet of yellow, with a leaf-shaped brad. The background panel is embossed with an old Sizzix folder.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Double Trouble #125 -- orange/yellow/brown with sunflower option

Inspiration Station #41 --photo inspiration (golden fields)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

CRAFT # 657 -- anything goes

Crazy is Our Name, Stencils are our Game -- fall colors

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2245 -- anything goes

Die Cut Divas -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #200 -- anything goes

Word ARt Wednesday #569 -- anything goes

Hanging Window Box Card

 

Today's card is a fun fold I've never seen before until Mrs. A, hostess of the Butterfly Challenge, posted it, a hanging window box card. The card is indeed a shallow box with a window in it, and the window overhangs the edge of the box. Check out the instructions here if that's not clear. It is a very easy card to make, unless you like to create problems for yourself, like I do. I decided I wanted to use patterned paper on the front, leaving a small edge to reveal the blue card underneath. So I made the card, cut the aperture, and set about cutting a hole in the patterned paper in the same place there's a hole in the box.

 After cutting, and having to discard, two versions (using the last two snippets of my first choice for patterned paper), I had to discard the original card I'd cut and folded because I'd ripped it when removing the ill-fitting patterned paper. So, I scored and folded another card, cut the window aperture, and very carefully cut and adjusted the patterned paper multiple times, and was able to successfully complete the card. Hours -- yes it took me hours to see the error of my ways -- I realized I could have put the patterned paper on first, then cut the aperture and everything would have fit with no agony! 

I used snippets for the scalloped edge around the window, the dies in the window and the sentiment panel. Dies used include Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, SSS butterfly, and various vines and leaves.

This card is entered in these challenges:

The Butterfly Challenge #175 -- Level 2: hanging window box card, heat embossing, butterfly, and two colors (3 actually, honeysuckle, hydrangea, and han blue).

Snippets Playground #440  -- use snippets (everything on the card; even the base was left over from my previous attempt)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- thanks

Crafts Galore -- anything goes

Die-cut Divas -- anything with die-cuts

Double Trouble #124 -- something/anything plus twist of featuring wildlife (butterfly)

Creative Creases #44 -- anything with a fun fold

Word Art Wednesday #567 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2244 -- anything goes

A sweet Christmas

 Here's a Christmas card using one of the Tim Holtz blueprint stamps. I'm really impressed that the labels remained readable after the white embossing. (I did use detail EP, which I'm sure made all the difference.) The lighting is a bit off here, the central panel is kraft, not gold. That panel is on pretty thick foam tape to make room for the rather thick velvet rickrack. The candy cane is a thin metal, probably aluminum (part of a bunch of metal Christmas embellies I picked up on clearance years ago. I need to use them up, for sure).

This card is entered in these challenges:

ABC Christmas -- V is for Velvet

Rudolph Days -- anything Christmas

CRAFT #655 -- nontraditional Christmas colors

Word Art Wednesday #565 -- anything goes

Pink poinsettias

 

 

 

The Jingle Belles are holding a Pink challenge to mark Breast Cancer Awareness month, so I tried my hand at a pink and pale green card. The poinsettia image is from Studio Katia. It's silver-embossed on watercolor paper, the colored with watercolors. The sentiment is silver-embossed on a strip of pale pink vellum.  I used a border punch on the green mat. It's a mini slimline size. 

The Jingle Belles are promising to donate $2 to breast cancer research for each card entered in this challenge, so if you're at all inclined to make a Christmas card and link it up, this would be a good time to do so.

My card is for these challenges:

Jingle Belles -- Pink Christmas

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2240 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #199 -- anything with an image

Word Art Wednesday #563 -- anything goes

Happy colors, happy thoughts

 I don't normally do bright colors, so this is a bit of a departure for me, but change is good, right?

The sketch for this came from the current Moving Along with the Times Challenge, and the colors come from the current Butterfly Challenge. 

The card started with the fun snippet of butterfly patterned paper. I found a couple of snippets of green and yellow, and trimmed them a bit to fit. Solid-colored squares are kind of boring, so I ran each through a different EF to add some texture. The sentiment was sent by a friend. It's edged in some Distress Oxide ink and is mounted on an angle with a similar-sized snippet of blue. That's a big (and old) chipboard button with baker's twine wrapped around the central stem.

This card is for these challenges:

Butterfly Challenge #174. (level one; the colors include canary yellow and Cyan, although I think Chartreuse and Chili Red are also present in this card.)

Can you Handle the Pressure -- use embossing

Moving Along with the Times #147 -- sketch

Pammie's Inky Pinkies 2240 -- anything goes

Snippet Playground #438 -- use snippets

Word Art Wednesday #563 -- anything goes

It's fall, y'all

 

Wow, it feels like fall showed up in a hurry. One day it was in the 90s, the next it barely made 70. I guess it's time to welcome autumn....

This is a CAS card if ever there was one, letting that lovely embossing folder do the heavy lifting. The sentiment is one I got in a box of stamping goodies at the thrift store. (People seem to post about great thrift store crafting finds all the time. In all my years of visiting thrift stores, this is the only time I've found something.)  I made a bunch of die-cut leaves ages ago and just pulled them out of a baggie to finish this card.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- emboss it

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes

Can you Handle the Pressure -- embossing with twist of leaves

Double D Challenge -- things that FALL (leaves)

Word Art Wednesday #563 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2239 -- anything goes

Christmas portrait

 

Doesn't this cute little couple look like they're posing for a selfie to include with their Christmas cards? I guess I'm feeling a bit whimsical...

This is an easy card, using a sketch from SCS. I used snippets for all the elements, including the ovals, sentiment strip, corner pieces and green snowflake piece.  Snowpeeps are colored with pencils with some Wink of Stella for sparkle.

This card is entered into these challenges:

Rudolph days -- anything Christmas

ABC Christmas -- S is for Snow

Double D -- things that fall (like snow!)

CRAFT #651 -- Christmas

Word Art Wednesday #561-- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2239 -- anything goes

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

We all scream for ...

 How about something light and summery? This card features a really cheap set that I picked up a few years ago at one of the big craft chains; a matching EF and ice cream cone die. I used both kinds of embossing for this; the folder for the large panel and heat embossing for the cones.  The cones were stamped with versamark on a light tan card stock, then embossed with clear EP. I love how much color comes out when you do that. The ice cream was colored with pencils, then covered with some Wink of Stella for a little sparkle. The sentiment (Purple Onion) has acrylic dots on either side. 

This card is entered in these challenges:

Can You Handle the Pressure -- beach/anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- embossing

CRAFT #647 -- summer

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2231 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #555 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore #102 --  anything goes

Blinged out Christmas in July

For today's card, I decided to combine a couple of challenges with a Christmas theme. One was  "Bling it on," The Jingle Belle's challenge to do a blinged up Christmas card. Another was the Snippet's Playground and Die-Cut Divas' Christmas in July themes.  For snippets, I used a bunch of very small snippets of very old (I'll bet the blue ones are at least a decade old) Christmas patterned paper to create the strip border under the ribbon in my card. Those strips were cut to 7/8 of an inch each, so pretty small, eh?

For bling, I used some strips of faux gems, and added a couple of star-ish shaped sequents for the star on top. The sentiment die-cut was a gift. 

This card is entered in these challenges:

Rudolph Days July -- Christmas

Die-Cut Divas -- Christmas in July

Jingle Belles -- Bling it on

Double Trouble #116-- Christmas in July and Bling it on

Snippet's Playground #433-- Christmas in July

ABC Christmas -- O is for Old

Pammie's InkyPinkies #2230 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #553-- anything goes

 

Summer fun

 

Out in the woods, enjoying a fresh breeze .... That sounds like a fun weekend, doesn't it?

Here's a little camping themed card, featuring a fun camper from Scribbles Designs. (my favorite thing about that image -- it actually has a crank on the hitch, just like on a real camping trailer!)  It's colored with pencils and die-cut with a stitched circle die that was then sponged with blue ink.  There are a couple of scraggly looking pines die-cut from really old dies, plus some pine-tree patterned paper to stand in for a really nice wooded camping site. 

This card is for these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- Let's go on vacation

Creative Inspirations -- Summer Sun

Word Art Wednesday #553 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2229 -- anything goes

 

 

Teeny tiny Christmas stuff

 For this card, I used a new Sizzix die I got. I have never used such tiny pieces before. It was tricky because glue just wants to ooze out from the small pieces, even if you use a toothpick to apply it.

I used a pile of snippets of cardstock (see photo at right) to create the wreath, tree, and background. I also scored the gray background to create the look of clapboard siding.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Snippet Playground #432-- Christmas with Snippets

Die-cut Divas -- Christmas in July

ABC Christmas -- N is for New (new die set)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- make your own background

CRAFT #645 -- Christmas

Word Art Wednesday #551 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2228 -- anything goes

Dies R Us 196-- use a die (Sizzix)

Vintage roses

 I made this card for a friend who loves the vintage style, so I did my best to make it "vintage." I feel like that awesome crocheted lace was the icing on this card.  The image and sentiment are from two different sets by Studio Katia.  I used the good old spellbinders oval dies (which I've had long enough to call vintage, probably, but simple never goes out of style) and an equally old embossing folder. Sponged some brown around the oval for that vintage look.

This card is entered into the challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday: Fabulous Florals

Word Art Wednesday #551 -- anything goes

Dies R Us #196-- Anything goes with dies

Can You Handle the Pressure -- use an embossing folder/twist summer (roses bloom in summer)

Crafts Galore Encore #101 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #196 -- use an image/any theme

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2228 -- anything goes

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)

Monchroromatic and masculine

 I don't usually think of a Christmas card as "masculine," but I guess this one fits the description. The central image is "Christmas Emphemra" from Stamplorations -- it's a set of watercolored Christmas images in ATC sizes you can build a card around.  I used two shades of kraft, adding an embossed texture (Marianne Crafts) to the darker one.  Sentiment is embossed on a piece of vellum with torn edges, using an EP called woven tapestry.  Added a couple of brownish brads to hold the vellum in place.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Rudolph Days -- Christmas

Double D Challenge -- monochromatic

Jingle Belles -- Masculine Christmas card

CRAFT #638 -- Christmas

Can You Handle the Pressure -- Use an embossing folder

ABC Christmas -- K is for Kraft 

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2221 -- Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday #545 -- anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- Anything Goes

For an antique guy

 We have lots of family birthdays in the spring, so I make lots of birthday cards. This one is for my FIL, who may or may not have seen one of these in action in his younger days.

The Model A die-cut is mounted on a snippet of a houndstooth print (which was the most masculine pattern I found in my stash), which is in turn mounted on a black snippet. A piece of black grosgrain ribbon runs across the bottom of the houndstooth, and it's attached with three brads. There are also brads for hubcaps on the car.  The sentiment is black-embossed.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- masculine

CRAFT #636 -- birthday

Die-Cut Divas -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #541 -- anything goes

Snippet Playground #427 -- use snippets

Spring wildflowers

 I tried a new watercolor technique, where you create blocks of color, then sprinkle a little table salt while they are still wet. It's quite a cool affect. After the paint dried, I brushed off the salt and stamped some wildflowers and the sentiment.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Monday  -- Wild and wonderful

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes

Time Out #212-- spring

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2217-- anything goes

Pattie's Creations # 193 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #541 -- anything goes 

Floating strips

 

The current Butterfly Challenge features the technique known as floating strips. I remember seeing this technique a long time ago and wanting to try it. It's really very easy -- you cut strips of paper, glue them on a clear sheet with space between each strip, then mount the clear acetate on a card with mounting tape.

This  technique is an excellent way to use up snippets if you have some with colors that work well together, too. In fact, my card is entirely made from snippets, including the floating strips, butterfly, and sentiment panel.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Butterfly #169 -- floating strips, butterfly, flower, colors of flax and fawn

Pixie's Snippet Playground #426 -- use snippets

Word Art Wednesday #539 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2216 -- anything goes

 

 

More recycling fun

A few weeks ago, I shared a card where I had recycled a foil-lined tea bag packet by embossing it and coloring it with alcohol inks.  I tried it again, with a different embossing folder and different colors of alcohol ink to create this Christmas card.

The foil was embossed with a snowflake pattern (it's an old EF and has both SU and Sizzix logos on it).then colored with pink and blue alcohol ink. In addition to recycling the foil packet, I also recycled an envelope from junk mail -- it's the turquoise matting under the embossed piece. The sentiment and tiny flakes stamped on the card are from a Whimsy Stamps set.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Jingle Belles -- recycling (teabag packet and junk mail envelope)

Can you handle the pressure? --use an embossing folder

ABC Christmas -- I is for inky (used lots of alcohol ink)

Word Art Wednesday #539 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2215 -- anything goes

Bunny cuteness

OK, I'm not really certain that cuteness is a word, but it's a cute bunny, right?

This is really a very simple CAS card. The image and sentiment are both from a now-closed digi company called From the Heart. The image is colored with pencils and has a border I doodled and sponged some green along. The sentiment was printed directly on the flowered paper. The only embellishment is an acrylic dot.

This card is for these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- Easter/Spring

The Paper Shelter #506 -- pastel colors

Double D challenge -- Easter

Creative Inspirations -- Hoppy Easter Animals

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2214 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #193 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #537 -- anything goes
 

Recycle time

When I saw that Simon Says Stamp's challenge this week was Recycle, I knew exactly what I wanted to try.  I got the idea from a Facebook group I'm in. Someone posted a card with an embossed foil bit that she said was (doing this from memory, might not be quite exact) the foil seal from a jar of coffee. I don't bar coffee in a jar, but she got me thinking about what I could use. Then I realized the teabags I use come in a little foil packet. (Bigelow and Kroger Private Selection brands) When I cut off the crimped sides and unfolded it, I had a nice strip of strong foil.

I ran the foil through the Cuttlebug with a Sizzix EF. Then I dropped some alcohol ink on the strip, added some blending solution, and moved the strip around the get the colors to spread and blend.  It was super easy and it really looks cool IRL. From there, I cut one of flowers from a Tim Holtz die set in white, put it on top of the foil, and matted the foil on purple card. 

The sentiment took some careful stamping because I had to tape off the flourishes that are part of the stamp while inking it up. 

This card is for these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- recycle

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #537 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2213 -- anything goes
 

The stocking was hung

 It's never too early for Christmas cards. This is a CAS card that features a central image from Stamplorations.  It's ATC sized, already colored and ready for use on a card so it's quick. I added a glitter border on the stocking image, mounted it on a medium green snippet, and added a small Christmas ticket as the sentiment. The green card base is embossed in a diamond pattern.

This card is entered in these challenges

Can You Handle the Pressure -- embossing with a twist of green

Winter Wonderland -- Christmas presents

ABC Christmas -- E for embossing, G for glittter

Rudolph Days March -- anything Christmas

Word Art Wednesday #535 -- anything goes

Stamplorations Never-Ending Challenge -- Feature Stamplorations products

No worries here

 Here's a quick and fun card I made using some cute stamps from Simon Says. The base card is a mossy green, and I used snippets of hot pink and a fun DP on the front. The bright pink layer is embossed with the Dotted Swiss EF. The donut is colored with pencils, and I used a snippet of a snippet (left over fro the layer under the pink) to create a second fishtail flag. 

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- bright and cheerful

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- food and Drink

Pixie's Snippet Playground #424 -- use snippets

Word Art Wednesday #535 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2212 -- anything goes

CRAFT #631 -- anything goes

Spring flowers

 There are lots of card-giving occasion in the spring for my family, so I'm working ahead. This card features a cute image from Bugaboo, colored with pencils.  (I colored it like Pansies, then realized the name of the stamp is violets in a watering can). I tried adding Wink of Stella on the little checked area across the middle of the can, and all it did was mute the colors I had there. Baker's twine is wrapped around the panel and tied in a bow.

For the background, I used a flowery springlike embossing folder to add texture on the lavender paper. For interest there's a plaid panel.  

This card is for these challenges:

Can you handle the pressure -- use an embossing folder and plaid

Double D Challenge -- use something with a handle (watering can)

Simon Says Stamp Monday: feminine

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: using your favorite things (which is the Cuttlebug used for embossing)

C.R.A.F.T. 630: female

Word Art Wednesday #535 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2211 -- anything goes