Birds on the Beach, Birds at their Birdhouse

Addicted to CAS has a challenge called "Code Word: Water".  I got out an old favourite stamp for it and created a watery beach scene.

I created the background using the Floating Alcohol Inks technique (see this video for instructions). I dropped a couple of shades of blue AIs in a pan of water and dragged my mixed media cs through it. 

When dry, I stamped and heat embossed the sandpipers on an area that looked like watery sand at the edge of the ocean and stamped the gulls in the sky. I wanted the sentiment to be slightly more muted so used a different ink and did not heat emboss it.

I die cut the image with a stitched circle die, and then die cut a slightly larger circle out of black cs to border it.

And in my second card, the birds are at their birdhouse - inspired by the image for the Just Us Girls Photo Week Challenge (see below).

I stamped on watercolour paper, painted, bordered in black, and went over the branches with a Quickie glue pen and added some glitter.

Addicted to CAS

 

Just Us Girls 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU Wetlands, Inkylicious sea gulls, PTI sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - black, white, and mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - various blue alcohol inks, clear embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched circle die, Spellbinders circle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Magenta, Stampendous noel sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, cream and black cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, glitter, Spellbinders square dies

Handles and Snowflakes

I'm back to Christmas cards with this post.  

Here's a card for the Double D "Something with a Handle" challenge.  Usually their wonderful mood boards inspire my card but this time I had to skip it and search my stamps and dies for a handle.  I found a lovely NBUS stamp so I can also enter it in Darnell's NBUS Challenge, and it's between the 25th and the end of the month so can enter it in Rudolph Days March Challenge.

Stamped, watercoloured, trimmed with a hemstitch die, bordered with dark red cs, and put on a cream card base.

And today's twofer is for Christmas Kickstart "Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies":

I've been using Jennifer Maguire's technique a lot lately (seen in this video).

I embossed bright aqua blue foil cs with the snowflake embossing folder, then sanded the raised part, exposing the white cs underneath the blue foil layer.

I added two snowflakes die cut from sparkly cs. The sentiment on the top right is a wax seal that I made while at a friend's house.

Double D "Something with a Handle"

NBUS Challenge "Never Before Used Schtuff"

Rudolph Days "Anything Christmas"

Christmas Kickstart "Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies"

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black basket, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, dark red and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white cs, aqua blue foil cs, sparkly white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - snowflake embossing folder, snowflake die cuts, wax seal

A Horse, a Rabbit, and Some Chicks

An animal twofer today.

For The Male Room "Animals" challenge:

A simple stamped and heat embossed image, trimmed and set on an embossed rustic wood background.

And next up, for the Day of the Month Card Challenge "Poultry Day", some sweet chicks modelling the little sweaters the bunny is knitting for them:

I loved watercolouring this image - such fun to give all the little chicks different coloured sweaters.  I popped the panel up on some fun foam and added a Happy Easter sentiment.

The Male Room

Day of the Month Card Club

 

I'll be back with more of my endless Christmas cards next post!

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Serendipity Mustang, PTI sentiment
Ink - Versafine Vintage Sepia
Paper - white and brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Cuttlebug embossing folder, clear embossing powder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - House Mouse "Will Knit for Friends", unknown sentiment
Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black
Paper - white cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam

Holly and Crocuses on Square Cards

Christmas and Spring on the same day!

For the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Holly and  / or Ivy" challenge:

I started by sponging my background with different shades of green Distress inks. I then stamped the text over it.

I inked the holly leaves with Peeled Paint and did the berries and stem with red and green markers, and then heat embossed with the Peeled Paint Embossing Glaze - it adds some colour and shine but allows the text stamping to show through.  (For more detail on the technique I used, see this video.)

I used red raindrop embellishments for the berries and added the sentiment on a die cut strip at the top to cover up a very blobby bit of background sponging.

Moving on to crocuses.  For The Paper Players' "Clean and Simple Blooms" challenge, The Four Seasons "Anything Goes Spring" challenge, and the We Love Stamping "Anything (stamped) Spring challenge:

 
I watercoloured the image, trimmed it with a square die, and bordered it with green cs before adding to a cream coloured card base.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown
 

The Paper Players

 

We Love Stamping "Anything (stamped) Spring"

 

The Four Seasons Challenge "Anything Goes Spring"  (I was inspired by the crocuses on the top left and the yellow of the forsythia on the bottom left for my card.)

Wishing you all a happy spring!

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black holly, Make an Impression sentiment, unknown text stamp
Ink - Distress Scattered Straw, Old Paper, Bundled Sage, and Peeled Paint
Paper - white cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - red and brown markers, Tim Holtz Peeled Paint embossing glaze, red raindrop embellishments

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Serendipity crocuses, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, green and cream cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders square dies

Snowed In

Time for a new Peace on Earth Challenge with a great mood board to inspire you.  It inspired me to make this card:

I embossed a piece of white cs with the TH brick wall embossing folder and then rubbed Distress Fired Brick ink over the raised areas.  I die cut the door twice and glued it together for more substance; likewise die cut the sled twice out of brown cs.  Glued both to the brick wall background and added copper nailhead embellishment as a door handle.

I didn't like the bottom of the card so tore a strip of white cs, stamped the sentiment on it, and added it on top - makes it look as if the people are snowed in with the snow coming up against the door!

To make it look more Christmas-like, I punched a few little pine sprigs from decorative paper, glued them together to make a swag for the door, and added a red bow.

Here's the Peace on Earth inspiration board (you can see that I was inspired by the photo on the upper right):

We'd love to have you join us with either an "anything Christmas goes" card or something inspired by the mood board!

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Distress Fired Brick
Paper - white and brown cs, patterned green dp
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix Tim Holtz brick wall embossing folder, Memory Box door die, Penny Black sled die, Martha Stewart pine branch punch, red metallic cord, nailhead embellishment

Christmas Music and Christmas Tree

Getting more Christmas cards done on a dreary drizzly day!

First up for Jingle Belles "something musical on your card", I have musical dp, a horn, and a line from a Christmas carol:

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils (including a metallic gold one for the horn), trimmed with a stitched square die, popped up on fun foam on a musical dp.

For the Cardz 4 Guyz "Slimline Card" challenge, I did a Christmas card that I think would be fine for a guy:

I put some double sided tape on cs and added foil to it, then die cut my tree. I die cut it a second time from scrap cs and glued them together to give the tree more dimension.

I cut a top panel for the card and ran it through an embossing folder - because the embossing folder is meant for A2 cards, it left an unembossed area at the bottom that was perfect for the sentiment.

Jingle Belles

Cardz 4 Guyz

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU rocking horse, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Archival Acorn
Paper - white cs, musical dp
Size - 5.75" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam, Lil Inker stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Faded Jeans
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - Impression Obsession fir tree die, Deco emerald foil, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Dry Embossed Pine Branch

I've got a Christmas card today for a couple of challenges.  Just Us Girls wants to see "Embossing Folders" and the ABC Christmas Challenge has "E for Embossing".

I really like Jennifer McGuire's technique with embossing folders.  See this video for details.

I embossed bright green foil cs with the TH pine branch embossing folder, then sanded the raised part, exposing the white cs underneath the green foil layer.

I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment on vellum and wrapped the strip around the foil panel, then mounted on a white card base. I added a little silver bow to the top of the branch.

Just Us Girls

ABC Christmas Challenge  "E for Embossing"

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs, vellum, green foil cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TH embossing folder, clear embossing powder, silver ribbon

Blue and Yellow

The Color Hues challenge is asking for either blue and yellow (in support of Ukraine) or green and gold.  I posted a green and gold one a few days ago, and today I'm here with a blue and yellow one.

For the butterfly, I smooshed on a piece of cs with three Distress Oxide inks. Then I stamped the butterfly on it (and heat embossed it), and then fussy cut it.

I used embossing paste through a stencil for a background for the butterfly.

Color Hues

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black butterfly, SU sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed; Versafine Clair Nocturne, ColorBox white
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Dreamweaver Pearlescent paste, Donna Downey Flower Bed stencil, white and clear embossing powders

Spring Rain

The Paper Players challenge is "Spring is in the Air".  And We Love Stamping wants "Anything Stamped Spring".  Here in Vancouver spring is not just snowdrops and crocuses, but a fair bit of rain, wind, and mud.  So here's my spring card:

I created the background with blue and a tiny bit of brown Bister on coated cs. When dry, I stamped the woman and sentiment with black StazOn. I tried to get the puddles at the bottom of the woman on the brown part - mud puddles seem to be a big part of spring around here (and my dog loves them!).  I added some grey Nuvo drops to represent raindrops but they don't show up that well in the photo.

The Paper Players

We Love Stamping "Anything (stamped) Spring"

Supplies:
Stamps - Deep Red woman, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - StazOn black
Paper - white and black cs, coated cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue and brown Bister, grey Nuvo drops, fun foam

Green Holly, Gold Stars

The Color Hues challenge is asking for either blue and yellow (in support of Ukraine) or green and gold.  Today I'm posting a card in green and gold, but I'll be back with a blue and yellow in the next day or two.

I created a whole sheet of stamping using this video: Split 4 Stamping Technique by Creative Treehouse.

I layered two swirly stamps, one holly, one stars, over each other.  I then cut the panel into four equally sized pieces.  But rather than using the four pieces to make four cards like in the video, I trimmed down one of the pieces to make the above card.

I die cut two pieces with square openings, one out of a white piece that has the sentiment stamped on it and is die cut into a rectangle with a stitched die, and the other out of gold shimmer cs that has a smaller square opening.  I layered the white and gold squares over my stamping, added it all to the card base, and embellished with a few tiny gold die cut stars to add extra interest.

I then used another piece to make one of the tags in this photo:

 

I still have two pieces left to either make into full cards like Robin does in her video or to use in some other way.

Color Hues

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black Winter Bough and sentiment, unknown star swirl stamp
Ink - Distress Pine Needles, Delicata Golden Glitz
Paper - gold shimmer and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders square dies, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, tiny star die

Two Blue Cards

First up, Christmas Craft Creations "Blue & Silver" challenge.

I created a tissue paper background, using a little piece of blue tissue paper that has silver dots in it - I glued it to a scrap of cs, slightly wrinkling it as I laid it down so that it would have some texture.  I then die cut a thin frame out of it.  I die cut the same thin frame out of silver glitter cs and inlaid it into the blue tissue paper piece.  Out of another scrap of silver glitter cs, I die cut the star, and from a scrap of white cs, I cut the trees.  Added a sentiment and put it all together.

Because of all the scraps I used, I'm also adding it to the new Snippets challenge.

The second blue card is for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies" and for the Jingle Belles Challenge "Oh Christmas Stencil".

I pulled a scrap of background out of my box that had been painted with a blue shimmer acrylic paint, and stencilled snowflakes over it with a sparkle paste.  I used a white shimmer cs for the die cut frame and card base, and added a sentiment heat embossed on black cs and die cut with an old label die.

Challenges:

Snippets Playground

Christmas Craft Creations

 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge

 

Jingle Belles "Oh Christmas Stencil"

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Salty Ocean
Paper - white cs, silver glitter cs, blue with silver dots tissue paper
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - SSS thin frame die, Memory Box star of wonder die, unknown tree die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - white shimmer cs, black cs, mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - white embossing powder, MFT pierced square frame die, Spellbinders label die, Paper Roses snowflake stencil, blue shimmer acrylic paint, Cosmic Shimmer sparkle paste

Wreath on a Brick Wall

My goodness, the weeks are flying by!  It's already time for a new Peace on Earth Challenge.  Here's my card to help inspire you to get another Christmas card made.

I created the wreath by die cutting a small ring using two circle dies, one slightly larger than the other.  Then I used the good old Martha Stewart pine branch punch and punched many branches out of various dp that have grass on them (made for scrapbooking themes on various sports) - there is really nice colour variation in them that makes the wreath more pleasing to my eye than just plain green.  I glued the branches to the die cut ring, overlapping them as I went.

The background is a piece of dp printed with grey and brown bricks.  It was too vibrant in colour for the wreath so I went over the dp with a thin coat of white gesso to mute the colours.  It also makes it look more like the inspiration I chose from the inspiration board (see below).

I stamped a small sentiment on the dp, glued on the wreath, mounted the dp on fun foam, added it to the card base and finished off by adding a bunch of tiny red stick-on pearls for berries.

Here's the Peace on Earth inspiration board for this challenge:

Peace on Earth is an "anything Christmas goes" challenge so you don't have to be inspired by the inspiration board unless you want to be.  Please come and join us!

Supplies:
Stamps - Simon Says Stamp tiny sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves
Paper - white cs, various dp with grass images, brick wall dp
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Martha Stewart pine branch punch, red stick-on pearls, Spellbinders circle dies, white gesso, fun foam