A Couple of Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards All Year Round is asking for "Snow Buddies".

I went with some animal friends playing in the snow.

Stamped on watercolour paper, watercoloured, trimmed with wonky stitched die, bordered in copper, and a bit of glue and glitter along the snowline.


And then for 12 Months of Christmas "Blooming Botanicals":

I created a background panel by stamping a flourish in grey and then sponging around the edges with the same grey ink.

The poinsettia is watercoloured with Inktense pencils and fussy cut.


Might get more posted tomorrow as it's supposed to rain so it won't be a gardening day.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Joyful Christmas, Tim Holtz sentiment, unknown flourish stamps
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Memento London Fog
Paper - white cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - Inktense watercolour pencils, gold gemstones, sparkly embossing powder

CAS Challenges

As part of the Design Team for CAS Christmas and CAS Watercolour, you'd think I'd always manage to take part in our sister challenges, CAS Stencil and CAS Mix Up, but some months time just gets away from me.  With all the extra time we spend at home these days, I decided there was no excuse, so here I am, sneaking in under the wire with cards for them.

First up is CAS Stencil "Gilding Flakes".

I love gilding flakes but do they ever make a mess, floating here there and everywhere.  But I ended up with a card I'm really happy with.

I used a TCW musical notes stencil on white cs.  I sponged some Flitter Glue through the stencil, removed the stencil, and added the gilding flakes, rubbing them into the glue, and then buffing off the excess with a scratchy pad.  I stamped the sentiment in copper (in hindsight, I wish I'd heat embossed it to make it stand out a bit more) and bordered the panel with copper shimmer paper.

The gilding flakes are really beautiful but hard to photograph so here's a close-up taken in different light to show all the wonderful colour variations.



Because it's a Christmas song, I'm also linking it up to CAS Christmas "Christmas Song".

And because it's music, The Male Room "Music" challenge.

 
If any of you can read sheet music (I can't!), let me know if I got the image the right way up - it was hard to tell as the stencil didn't have any treble clef things.


Now on to CAS Mix Up "Bleaching".

 

Here's my card:

 

I took a piece from my box of backgrounds that I'd created by smooshing purple Distress Oxide inks on watercolour paper.  Purple suits pansies so I stamped and heat embossed a pansy stamp, then took and old paintbrush and some bleach, and painted over the flowers and leaves, blotting the colour up with a paper towel.  I left it as is rather than painting in any other colour.  I die cut a circle out of it, then created a small stitched circle frame, popped it up on fun foam on a rustic card base, added a bit of Stickles to the flower centres, and die cut the sentiment out of a bit of leftover purple smooshing.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy creating.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Holly Berry House pansies
Ink - purple Oxide inks
Paper - watercolour paper, rustic cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Lil Inker stitched circle die, bleach, Tattered Lace sentiment die, fun foam, Stickles

More Fuzzy Flowers and a Sparkling Star

Yesterday I posted this card using one of the two techniques I thought of for creating a card for the Less is More "Out of Focus" challenge. 

It was made by sprinkling brushos through a stencil and spritzing with water.  Today I am using the other technique -inking up a stamp with markers and spritzing with water.  

I put the stamp in my MISTI and inked up with Tombow markers, spritzing lightly, stamping, and repeating until I was happy with it. I trimmed the panel and added fun foam to the back.

I used the same green marker to ink up the sentiment on a background panel and added fun foam to the back of it too.


I'm also posting a Christmas card today as I want to enter the Paper Players CAS "Sparkle" challenge before it closes.

 

I have a sentiment die that says "sparkle" so had to use it!

I stamped and heat embossed the star in white, then spritzed with a gold spray for sparkly speckles and to colour in the design on the star.

I fussy cut the star, scored and folded it, and popped it up with pieces of fun foam (3 pieces layered in the centre, 2 pieces layered in each point of the star so that I could get the centre higher than the points).

With a paint brush, I splattered a tiny bit of the gold spray on the white panel, bordered it with pale gold cs, and added a die cut sentiment cut from the pale gold cs.

It sparkles more in real life but was hard to photograph.

I hope everyone is well and getting through these strange times okay.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown wildflowers stamp, Rubber Soul sentiment
Paper - watercolour paper, linen cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tombow markers, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Christmas Star
Ink - ColorBox White
Paper - white and pale gold cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - W Plus 9 "sparkle" die, white embossing powder, Heidi Swapp gold spray, foam tape

Fuzzy Flowers

Less is More is challenging us to create something "Out of Focus".

 

That lends itself perfectly to a couple of techniques I love - sprinkling brushos through a stencil and spritzing with water, or inking up a stamp with markers and spritzing with water.  For this card, I used the first:

For info on how to do the flowers, see this video.  I love the watercoloured, out of focus look!

The panel is then cut diagonally with a small diagonal strip of the image completely removed - just wide enough for the sentiment that is stamped on the card base between the two sections. See this video for details.

The two sections are then popped up on fun foam.

I hope to come back tomorrow with another card for this challenge done with the second technique I mentioned.

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TH wildflowers stencil, purple and green brushos, fun foam

Dogs Running on Ribbon

I'm back with a reminder card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge - I'm thrilled to be their Guest Designer this month.  It's Anything Goes - Optional "Use Ribbon or Twine".  So I opted to use ribbon as a way to ground my parade of Christmas dogs.

A quick CAS card!  Stamped, watercoloured, a strip of paw print ribbon to ground the pups, and a border of black die cut on the top with the sentiment die.

Thank you, Penny Black Saturday Challenge, for inviting me to Guest Design this month!

 
I'm also linking up with the Color Throwdown.  They want red, black, grey, and white.

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, black and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Penny Black sentiment die, paw print ribbon

A Square Card

Just Us Girls wants a square card with at least one other square shape.

I love square cards and make quite a lot of them so was happy to see this challenge.

I made it for a friend who loves blue as much as I do.

I simply stamped the flowers and sentiment, die cut with a stitched square, and popped up on fun foam.

Then in my ongoing quest to figure out how to place sequins, I tried a method someone suggested where you just randomly scatter them, remove some, and then glue the rest where they landed.  What do you think?  Well placed?  Too many?

Thanks for coming by today.  I hope everyone is doing okay.

Supplies:
Stamps - SU Elements of Style
Ink - Memento Paris Dusk
Paper - white and natural cs
Size - 5.5" square
Accessories - Lil Inkers stitched square die, clear sequins, fun foam

Bluebells for CAS Watercolour

Time for a reminder card for April's CAS Watercolour "Spring Flowers".

One flower I have an abundance of in my garden in spring is the humble bluebell - a bit of a pest as it spreads all over the place but when they are blooming, they are so lovely.  And, as many of you know, I love blue.

The bluebells are stamped and heat embossed in platinum on watercolour paper, then painted with Gansai Tambi watercolour paints.  I mixed a bit of blue paint with a tiny bit of water and sponged it lightly over some drywall tape to add some texture to the background and then I used the gold paint in the set to create the splatter.

I die cut it with a label die and popped it up on foam tape.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with platinum and die cut it with the smallest of the label dies and added it over a big messy bit of the splatter.

Please come and join us before April 24th.  I'm hosting the challenge.  I'm a keen gardener and I love spring.  I am looking for SPRING flowers - not just any flowers.  So please think snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, apple and cherry blossom, dogwood, etc.  There's lots more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Vicky (Crafting Clare's Paper Moments).

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black bluebells, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versamark
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - platinum embossing powder, watercolour paints, drywall tape, Spellbinders label dies, foam tape

Reindeer Friends

It's been about a week since I posted anything.  The weather has been glorious so I've been working in my garden and going for long walks with my dog.

But decided to get a few challenges done.  Today I'm looking at Christmas challenges:

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Snow Buddies

Christmas Kickstart - Winter Wonderland Scene

Here's my winter scene with three reindeer buddies:

 

I made the background by covering a piece of cs with double sided tape.  I patted Versamark on the back of a stencil to prevent it sticking to the tape, added clear glitter through the stencil for the snowflakes, burnished it into the tape, then removed the stencil and added blue glitter over the rest of the tape and burnished it.

I die cut the deer out of copper cs and the stitched sloped hills out of white shimmer cs.  I then put the scene together.  I added a small sentiment and added the scene to a white shimmer cardbase. 

In real life it is much more sparkly and shimmery.  Thanks for stopping by today, and please stay home and stay safe.

 

Supplies:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Tulips and Ribbon for Penny Black

I'm thrilled to be Guest Designing for Two Different Challenges, but both of them go live on the same day so I have to subject you to two blog posts today!

This post is for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  The challenge is Anything Goes with an Optional Twist of Ribbon or Twine.

I went with the optional twist of ribbon.

This beautiful tulip image lends itself perfectly to be tied with a bow!


Steps:

• Stamped it with Versafine and heat embossed it with a pearl lustre ep - in real life, there is a nice sheen to the stamping.
• Watercoloured the image, working on the shading as best I could.
• Stamped the sentiment in a similar green.
• Cut small slits each side of the stems and wound the gingham ribbon through it twice, tying it in a bow when finished.
• Die cut with an A2 stitched rectangle and mounted on the card base.
• Embellished with a scattering of various coloured gemstones.

Looking forward to seeing what you make for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge this month!

I'm also linking it up over at The Flower Challenge where they are asking for spring flowers if we live in the northern hemisphere or autumn flowers if we live in the southern.

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black Flutterby tulips, Judith sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Bamboo Leaves
Paper - watercolour paper, cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, yellow gingham ribbon, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, various coloured gemstones

Guest Designing for 52 Christmas Card Challenge

I'm thrilled to be Guest Designing for Two Different Challenges, but both of them go live on the same day so I have to subject you to two blog posts today!

This one is for 52 Christmas Card Challenge.  This week is a sketch:

Those of you who know me will know that I struggle with sketch challenges!  But I saw this one as a great opportunity to get out some decorative paper.  Here's my card:

I have a drawer full of scraps of decorative papers and the sketch lent itself to using up some small bits.

Steps:

• I started with a white card base, added the paler blue piece (it was almost the perfect size - just had to trim off about 1/4").  
• I had some scraps from a beautiful blue paper that had a border of silver foil snowflakes across one side - I die cut a square out of that that included one whole snowflake and also cut a smaller circle out of the solid blue area.  Heat embossed the sentiment in silver on the circle.
• Cut the next size up of the circle dies out of a scrap of silver foil cs and used it to border the blue circle.
• Cut some tiny snowflakes out of the silver foil cs and added them as the three small banners below the circle in the sketch.

I then spent a very frustrating time photographing the card - anything shiny like the silver foil is so darn hard to photograph.

I'm looking forward to seeing what others do with this sketch over at the 52 Christmas Card Challenge. 

 

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - ColorBox silver
Paper - white cs, various scraps of dp, silver foil (mirri) cs
Size - 5" square
Accessories - Spellbinders square and circle dies, SSS and Cheery Lynn small snowflake dies

A Snowman in the Meadow

Time for April's CAS Christmas and our host, Bonnie, is asking us to incorporate a Christmas song.

I have a sentiment stamp that uses one of the lines from Winter Wonderland.  My parents loved that old Bing Crosby song and it evokes great memories of my childhood Christmases.

Very CAS - stamped, watercoloured, went over the snowflakes with a Stardust pen, die cut for some extra interest, popped up on fun foam on a red card base, and added glue and glitter to the snow line and the fuzzy parts of the snowman's hat and gloves.


Please come and join us at CAS Christmas.  I'm looking forward to seeing what Christmas songs inspire you.  Our Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Birgit (Rapport fran ett skrivoord) have lots of inspiration for you.

Supplies:
Stamps - Old Island Stamp Co. snowman, PrintWorks sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Sizzix die, Stardust gel pen, glitter, fun foam

Spring Blossoms

Thinking of everyone staying at home to help battle Covid-19 and hoping all are well.  I personally am very grateful that I have crafts and hobbies to help me pass the time in a rich and varied way.  And I'm also grateful to be connected to you via the internet and our blogs.

Spring is my favourite season so I am very happy to be hosting this month's CAS Watercolour challenge "Spring Flowers".  Hopefully we can all find joy in these troubled times by seeing the earth coming back to life (though I realize this isn't the case for our southern hemisphere friends).

I, like several of the other CAS Watercolour DT members, went with spring blossoms.

I used a very old stamp that I've had for years - so nice to bring it out.  It is stamped with my new Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves ink - it gives a very good sharp image even on watercolour paper, and once dry, is waterproof.  It's a very dark brown but looks black in the photo.

I watercoloured the tiny blossoms with two shades of pink, using a very fine paintbrush.  It's hard to get shading in such small images but I did my best.  Likewise with the branch.  I splattered with some of the brown watercolour paint.

The sentiment is stamped in the same Fallen Leaves, then the panel trimmed, and a thin strip of dark pink cs added to the right to balance with the blossoms.  It's popped up on fun foam on a rustic cs base and then I used Liquid Pearls for the centres of the blossoms.

Here's a close-up of the image that shows the shading and Liquid Pearls better:

Please come and join us and fill the CAS Watercolour challenge with lovely spring flowers.  I want to stress that we are looking for SPRING flowers - not just any flowers.  So please think snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, apple and cherry blossom, dogwood, etc.  And don't forget that you must use some kind of watercolour and must keep the card clean and simple.   There is lots more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Vicky (Crafting Clare's Paper Moments).

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Stampede Cherry Blossoms, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves
Paper - watercolour paper, dark pink cs, PTI Rustic Cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Buttercup Liquid Pearls, fun foam