An Image Only Inspired by Nature, a Nordic Christmas, and a Little Taste of Spring

A chilly day that kept me inside instead of working in my garden.  So I made this card for Stamping Sensations "Inspired by Nature" and ABC Christmas Challenge "I is for Image Only - No Sentiment".

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, hand trimmed around the oval, and mounted on fun foam on a red card base.

A second card for today - for The Twelve Months of Christmas "Nordic Noel".  I'm also linking it up with the Rudolph Days challenge.

I cut the Tim Holtz Nordic Winter die four times (once out of each of white, red, green, and brown cs). I put the white outline (or negative) piece onto a sheet of double-sided tape. I stuck some of the red, green, and brown pieces into their openings. That left all the tiny circles and stars openings - I certainly didn't have the patience to stick little pieces into them but I had to cover up the stickiness of the tape so I sprinkled clear glitter over the panel and pressed it into all those tiny openings. I peeled off the back protective layer from the tape and added it to the card base, and then added a sentiment die cut with a narrow banner die.

One more today to slip into We Love Stamping "Spring is in the Air" before it closes.

Stamped and coloured with coloured pencils, then framed with a second layer of white cs with a rectangle die cut in the centre.  The frame is popped up with foam tape.

 

                          

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Northwoods
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white, red, green, and brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - sentiment banner die, Tim Holtz Nordic winter die, clear glitter, Sook Wang sheet of double-sided tape

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SU flowers, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils, Spellbinders rectangle die, foam tape
 

 

A CAS Basket and a Mixed Media Background

Two very different cards today.  One a CAS card, and one definitely not CAS - lots of mixed media playing around.

For Simply Clean and Simple where the theme is "Baskets":

Stamped and coloured with coloured pencils and then centred in a snowflake frame embossing folder.

And for Try It on Tuesday "Make Your Own Background":

I had a piece of cardstock that I'd used to mop up leftover blue and grey ink after I'd done some smooshing.  I stamped a grid stamp and the Birthday Wishes sentiment on it trimmed it down to fit an odd-sized card base I had.  Then I took another bit of the same leftover ink on, stamped with various stamps (including one that mentions the dragonfly), did a bit of random stencilling with paste, and then layered the two background pieces, and topped with a stamped and fussy cut dragonfly.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black basket, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Ultimate Crafts snowflake frame embossing folder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Red Farm Buildings

The new Peace on Earth mood board is four images of red barns.  It made me think of a stamp I've had for years.

I coloured it with coloured pencils, trimmed it, popped it up on fun foam on a pre-made dark green card base.

Here's the mood board.  Head over to the Peace on Earth blog to see how the rest of the Design Team interpreted it.

Supplies:
Stamps - Serendipity Winter Farm, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, pre-made dark green card base
Size - 5x4.5"
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam

Blue Doves

Blue is beyond all colours in being my favourite colour - I love all shades of it.  So for Can You Handle the Pressure "Blue on Blue Monochromatic", I have this card in a pale aqua blue:

I embossed my background panel and then gently swiped ink over the raised part of it.  I die cut the sentiment out of a scrap of cardstock, and then before I removed them from the cardstock, I rubbed the same ink over the embossed words and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

Both my best friend and I love peace doves as a theme for Christmas cards and have to make several every year for her to buy at my fund raiser each year so while I was making the above card, I decided to make a second peace dove card.  This one is going to Shopping our Stash "Sparkle" and to the Snippets challenge.

A very quick CAS card!  The dove, the leaf, and the sentiment were die cut out of scraps of different colours of glitter cs and out of scraps of white, glued together for more substance, and added to the card base.

    

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - Mama Elephant Winter Blue
Paper - white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Couture Creations embossing folder, TH sentiment die, clear embossing powder

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white shimmer cs, two shades of blue glitter cs, white glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Penny Black dove die, Memory Box peace die

Sparkling White Dove and Masculine Gears

The ABC Christmas Challenge wants to see "an image only",  52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants "all white", and Shopping Our Stash wants "sparkle".  I made a card to fit all three.  And I used a little square embossing folder I haven't used since 2014 (I went back and looked at my Splitcoast Stampers gallery) so I'm entering it in The Neglected Stuff Challenge as well.

The above photo is kind of dark - it was hard to photograph it to get the sparkle.  Here's one is different light that doesn't show the sparkle as well but is less dark.

I embossed the little square embossing folder on white cs and then went over the raised parts with a Quickie glue pen and added clear glitter. I trimmed around its edges, backed it with fun foam, and added it to a white shimmer card base.

I needed to make a birthday card for my nephew.  He's a thoughtful kind of guy so I always try to include one of my inspirational sort of sentiments.  And it's in light blue and brown for the Cardz 4 Guyz challenge.

I spritzed various metallic sprays on mixed media cs and when dry, die cut the gears. I glued them to another piece of paper of mixed media cs and stamped the sentiment, then trimmed the panel and sponged blue/grey Distress inks around the edges and blank areas to tone it down. Add it to a light blue card base and stamped a vertical sentiment in the remaining space.

     

   

 

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - white cs, white shimmer cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Cuttlebug dove embossing folder, Quickie glue pen, glitter, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Peddlar's Pack vertical Happy Birthday, TH inspirational stamp
Ink - Archival Jet Black, blue/grey Distress inks
Paper - light blue cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gears die cut, various sprays

Easter Bunnies and Christmas Train

An Easter card for AAA Card Challenge "E is for....", Inkspirational Challenge "E is for....", and Sweet Stamping "Spring or Easter".

 

I stencilled a swirly leafy background with light shades of Distress green inks. Then stamped the text and mushrooms in light brown and the bunnies and sentiment in dark brown. I popped the panel up on fun foam.

 

I went with a Christmas card for Cut It Up "For Babies or Kids".

I stamped all the images, coloured them with alcohol markers, and die cut them with the matching dies. Added them to my focal panel (die cut with a pierced rectangle die) and drew a black line under the train and added a sentiment below. Added a layer of green cs to border it and show through the pierced dots.

        

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Lavinia, SU sentiment
Ink - various Distress greens and browns
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Lavinia stencil, stitched sentiment banner die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink -  Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white and green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sunny Studio "Holiday Express" dies, alcohol markers, Sizzix pierced dot rectangle die