Flying Dove

The Male Room has a challenge that lent itself to creating another Christmas card.

I chose a dove in flight, with muted masculine colours.

I stamped the dove with Versamark on navy cs, then added Heat and Stick powder so that I could add Pearl Ex - white on the dove, green on the leaf. The sentiment is heat embossed in silver. I bordered with green shimmer cs, and mounted on a white card base.

While I had everything out, I made a second one - this time a square card with the image trimmed tighter. 

I'd love to know which one you like best.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Calm Christmas, Tim Holtz sentiment

Ink - ColorBox silver, Versamark

Paper - green shimmer, white, and navy cs

Size - A2 and 4.75" square

Accessories - silver embossing powder, Heat & Stick powder, Pearl Ex (Interference Green and Pearl White)

Snowflakes and a Tree

Two cards again today.

First up, for the Sparkles Christmas Challenge "It's Snowtime":

I created my background using a snowflake stencil cut for me by my dear friend, Loll Thompson, on her Silhouette, various blue Brushos, and watercolour paper. Love the colours I got!

I die cut the sentiment out of black shimmer cs, layered it over a strip of ivory cs, taped it to the snowflake background, then bordered the snowflake background with the same black shimmer cs, and used an ivory card base. A random scattering of dark grey gemstones finished it off.


And my second card, for Christmas Cards All Year Round "Add a Tree":

 

I made a piece of splashed / smooshed background with various green Distress inks on watercolour paper, then stamped the musical background with one of the greens. I die  cut the evergreen, mounted it on white cs, added a heat embossed sentiment, trimmed the panel with a deckle edge die, and popped it up on fun foam.

That's it for me for today - time to go to bed!

Supplies for Card 1:

Ink - Brushos

Paper - watercolour paper, black shimmer and ivory cs

Size - A2

Accessories - blue Brushos, snowflake stencil cut on a Silhouette, dark grey gemstones, Memory Box Let It Snow die

Supplies for Card 2:

Stamps - Impression Obsession musical background, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - various green Distress inks

Paper - watercolour paper, white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - evergreen tree die, Spellbinders deckle edge die, clear embossing powder, fun foam, foam tape

Birthday Butterfly

Seize the Birthday has the option of anything goes or "seizing the toppings" by adding butterflies.

I made a very quick card that would be easy to duplicate and flat to mail.

I used various sprays to create a background, and sprayed a little bit of colour onto a scrap of mauve cs.  I die cut the solid butterfly from that scrap, and then the top butterfly layer from a scrap of dark pink shimmer cs.  I die cut an inverted scallop background piece and the word "happy" from navy cs.

Supplies:

Stamps - unknown birthday                          

Ink - Archival cobalt

Paper - white, navy, mauve, and dark pink shimmer cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Memory Box butterfly dies, Spellbinders dies, various sprays

Two Cards for Challenges

First up today is a card for the Color Challenge:

There's something kind of muted about those colours that really appeals to me.  Here's my card:

I applied various Distress inks with my Clarity brushes. I'm really happy with the blend of colours. I flicked some water on it to add texture and interest, and when dry, stamped two of the three sentiments. The third sentiment I stamped on a scrap of white cs, die cut it, and threaded ribbon through the die. The panel is bordered with black and popped up on fun foam.

Next up, The Flower Challenge "Use Your Favourite Flower":

Being a keen gardener, I have many favourite flowers so this is my second entry for the challenge (could do many more if I had time!!).  This time I went with poppies:

I love all kinds of poppies.  This image makes me think of the bright orange California poppies that grow in a patch of leftover soil out in my back lane - every year they reseed themselves and look so lovely and cheerful.

I stamped and heat embossed the flowers and sentiment, then watercoloured and splattered with a bit of the orange.  I trimmed the panel and went around the edges with Distress Antique Linen.  For a background panel, I stenciled dots with Antique Linen on white cs, then used a cream cs for the base.  The focal image is popped up on fun foam.  A few stick-on pearls are in the centres of the flowers and scattered among the dots.

Thanks for coming by today!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Chocolate Baroque sentiments

Ink - Archival Jet Black, various Distress inks

Paper - white and black cs

Size - A2

Accessories -  Rebecca Baer stencil, purple ribbon, label die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Penny Black poppies, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Antique Linen

Paper - watercolour paper, white and cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - detail clear embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, dot stencil, fun foam

A Naughty Dog for a Child

Playing around on a rainy day making a CAS card with a dog that would be suitable for a child.  I think this very naughty dog tangled up in the Christmas lights would amuse a child (I have to say it amuses me!).

I stamped and heat embossed the image on white cs, then coloured with coloured pencils and fussy cut it. I glued it to a piece of white cs.

I die cut the opening in the red card base, taped the white cs behind it, and had the plug on the image coming out of the opening.

It's going over to two challenges:

Christmas Kickstart - "Christmassy Canine Companions"

And the Paper Players CAS Challenge "Cards for Kids".

I really enjoyed making this card!!  Might have to make a few more like it!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - red and white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - coloured pencils, MFT peek-a-boo window die, clear embossing powder

Glittered Snowflakes

I made this card on a lovely sunny August day - hard to think of snow at this time of year!  It's my reminder card for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge "Glitter".

Snow and snowflakes are the first thing to come to my mind when I think of glitter on Christmas cards so I'm afraid I used snowflakes for both of my Design Team cards for this challenge!  But ended up with quite different cards and techniques.  Today's snowflakes are stenciled:

Because glitter is so hard to photograph, I'm including this close-up done under different light:

I used a homemade stencil (made for me by my dear friend, Loll Thompson).  I mixed a bit of blue ink into a sparkly embossing paste without mixing it thoroughly.  Depending how well mixed the ink was, determined how much blue shows up in the snowflakes - I quite like the variation in depth of colour.

I die cut the sentiment out of blue glitter paper, and added a border of the same, and popped it up on fun foam on a cream shimmer card base that matches the snowflakes quite well.

Please come and join us at CAS Christmas between now and August 24th.  For inspiration, check out the cards by the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer, Michelle (of Seashell Creations).

I'm also linking up my card over at The 12 Months of Christmas challenge "Sparkle, Glitter, and Bling".

Supplies:

Ink - SU Bashful Blue

Paper - mixed media, blue glitter, and cream shimmer cs

Size - 5.75" square

Accessories - homemade snowflake stencil, Cosmic Shimmer Frosty Dawn Sparkle paste, Cutplorations sentiment die, fun foam

Butterfly with Vellum Embossed Background

Time to remind you that CAS Watercolour wants to see "Colourful Butterflies" this month!

My reminder card uses a watercolour technique for the background of the butterfly.

I took a few colours of Distress inks and tapped them on my craft sheet, spritzed liberally with water, and pressed some mixed media cs into it.  When dry, I die cut the background of the butterfly out of a section that would give vibrant colour closest to the butterfly's body, and the paler colours out on the edges.  I die cut the outline from a scrap of mixed media cs and glued it over the top.

The background is a piece of iridescent vellum - depending on the lighting and the angle, it changes from blue to plum to purple.  Here's a close-up of a photo taken outside in sunlight that shows one of the other colours of the vellum:

I ran the vellum through an embossing folder to give it texture, set it behind an oval aperture, and added the butterfly to it, popping up the wings with foam tape.

You have until August 24th to link up your CAS butterfly-themed cards.  There's lots of lovely inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Amy (of Miss Lomax Art).

Supplies:

Stamps - Judith sentiment

Ink - Distress Seedless Preserves, Faded Jeans, Milled Lavender

Paper - white and mixed media cs, iridescent blue / purple vellum

Size - A2

Accessories - Lil Inker stitched oval die, Cuttlebug embossing folder, foam tape

Blue with Black Words and Birds

Here's a Christmas card I made:

Blue, as many of you know, is my favourite colour.   And I need to make several cards for my best friend to buy, all with a peace / dove theme.

I made a blue watercolour wash background for my image, stamped it and heat embossed it in a sparkly clear embossing powder, framed it with a double stacked frame to give more dimension, and added it to the cardbase.

It's off to two challenges:

Jingle Belles "Blue Christmas"

The Paper Players "Black, White, and One Other Colour"

Supplies:

Stamps - Stampendous Dove Tidings

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - watercolour paper, ivory cs

Size - A2

Accessories - blue watercolour paints, clear sparkle embossing powder, MFT stitched frame die, fun foam

A Challenge Card and an Improved Card

I'm on birthday cards today, a brief break from Christmas cards.

Seize the Birthday wants "Flowers" as its topping.

And The Flower Challenge is "Use Your Favourite Flower".

I used a new flower stamp that I love because it is an agapanthus, definitely a favourite flower because it is blue!

I put the stamp in the MISTI and inked up with various mini Distress inkpads and markers, spritzing with water, and stamping onto watercolour paper until I was happy with the results.

I trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle die, added a vertical sentiment, and bordered in navy blue cs.

It will go off to my cousin in England who grows the most amazing agapanthus!

On to a second birthday card.  I made this card a couple of years ago:

See this post here for the details.  I was not totally happy with it and never sent it but my friend who is an artist has her birthday coming up so I pulled it out again and revamped it a little bit:

I re-stamped the image and added some watercolour paints to the jar, the brushes, and the tips of the brushes.  Then fussy cut it and glued it on top of the original stamped image.  A simple fix but it made all the difference - I am so much happier with the card now!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Penny Black agapanthus, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - various mini Distress inkpads and markers

Paper - watercolour paper, white and navy cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, blue pearls

Supplies for card 2: 
See this post here

Pastel Christmas Tree

The August challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Round is "Add a Tree".  I saw this photo on the internet recently:

It immediately made me think of this Jofy Christmas tree stamp:

I stamped it in Smokey Grey so that there wasn't as much of a contrast between the stamping and the pastel colours (as there would have been if I'd stamped in black).

I watercoloured in colours as close to the image as I could get. Then used a pale metallic gold watercolour paint for the stars. I die cut the panel with the wonky stitched rectangle die, bordered with a pale gold cs, and used a cream card base. I added a few pink, pale green, and cream pearls to the tree.

It was fun to step outside of the bright reds and greens of Christmas!

Supplies:

Stamps - Jofy tree and sentiment

Ink - Versafine Smokey Grey

Paper - watercolour paper, gold shimmer and cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - watercolour paints, gold shimmer watercolour paint, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die, pearl embellishments

Glitter and Shimmer

Glitter!  The theme for this month's CAS Christmas Challenge:

Loll is our host this month and she lists all the various types of glitter we can use.  For today's card, I went with glitter cardstock - I have rather a lot of it in my stash so it was good to pull it out.  Not that this card used much of it!

I find for die cutting I need to use the lighter weight glitter cs.  I have some very heavy stuff that just won't die cut nicely.  The blue and green came from Joann's (a craft store in the US), the white is SU's Dazzling Diamonds cs, and the gold is Tim Holtz's adhesive backed glitter paper.

I die cut all my pieces, glued the ornament together, punched a tiny hole in the top to thread some gold cord through, die cut another of the base ornament out of fun foam to give it dimension, and attached to ornament to the die cut pine bough.  Then glued all the pieces to the top layer of white shimmer cs and finally popped that layer up on the white shimmer card base.

It was a far more fiddly card to make that I'd originally anticipated!  And a real pain to photograph and get the glitter to sparkle!

Here's a close-up that hopefully shows the glitter better:

Please join us at CAS Christmas and make our gallery sparkle with glitter!  There's lots of ideas from the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer, Michelle (of Seashell Creations).

I'm also linking up my card over at The 12 Months of Christmas challenge "Sparkle, Glitter, and Bling".

Supplies:

Paper - PTI white shimmer cs; blue, green, gold, and white glitter cs

Size - 5.25" square

Accessories - Memory Box ornament dies, TH pine branch and noel dies, fun foam, gold cord

Colourful Butterfly

Where is the year going?  It's already August!!  Time for the new CAS Watercolour challenge:

 

 
I stepped out of my comfort zone of blues and mauves to make a yellow, orange, and brown butterfly:

I put the butterfly stamp into my MISTI and sprinkled with orange, two shades of yellow, and brown Brushos, then spritzed and stamped onto watercolour paper.  I repeated adding bits of Brushos and water where I didn't get coverage.  I splattered with a bit of brown Brushos mixed with water and stamped a sentiment.  I added a bit of detail to the body and head of the butterfly with a brown coloured pencil.

I added a very thin yellow border and popped it up on fun foam on a dark orange card base to add to the colourfulness (is that a word?).  And a few yellow sequins for embellishment.

Please head over to CAS Watercolour and see the beautiful butterflies made by the Design Team and this month's talented Guest Designer, Amy (of Miss Lomax Art).  You have until August 24th to link up your card.  Please keep it clean and simple, and follow the theme!

Supplies:

Stamps - Indigo Blu butterfly, Savvy Stamps sentiment

Ink - Archival Potting Soil

Paper - watercolour paper, yellow and dark orange cs

Size - A2

Accessories - yellow, orange, and brown Brushos, brown coloured pencil, yellow sequins, fun foam