A Cardinal and a Puppy

A Christmas card Twofer today.  First up for the Christmas Cards All Year Round "Red and White" challenge:

I pulled out a really old stamp that I've had for years and stamped and heat embossed it in red. I die cut the panel with a square hemstitch die and backed it with red shimmer cs. I die cut the sentiment "joy" with the same cs. The whole panel is popped up on fun foam for dimension.

And the second card is for the Christmas Kickstart "Pawfectly Pawsome Christmas" challenge.

I thought this stamp with the puppy's paws hanging over the box fit the "pawfectly pawsome" idea so well!

Stamped and watercoloured, framed with a green pierced rectangle frame, and mounted on a red card base.  The sentiment ended up crooked so I restamped it on a little strip of cs and glued it over the crooked one.

Christmas Cards All Year Round "Candy Cane and / or Red AND White"

Christmas Kickstart

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Inkadinkado cardinal
Ink - ColorBox Chianti
Paper - red shimmer and white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Ranger Rich Red embossing powder, Spellbinders square hemstitch die, Tattered Lace joy die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Hobby Art "A Christmas Tail"
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, MFT Pierced Rectangle Frame die

Greenery for Peace on Earth Challenge

Time for another Peace on Earth Challenge!  It's a wonderful way to get some of your Christmas cards made well ahead of time. 

Here's the mood board that inspired me:

I used the black and white from the images but had no black and white gingham paper or ribbon, so used the hemstitch die to try and reflect the little squares in gingham.  I also used the idea of green branches and a swag.  I did have a bit of green and white gingham ribbon so added that.  The branches on my swag are die cut from a mix of green glitter and shimmer cs.

Please come and join us.  Peace on Earth is an "anything Christmas goes" challenge so you don't have to reflect the mood board if you don't want to.

I'm also adding the card to the Snippets Playground as I used up some little pieces of white, black, green glitter, and green shimmer cs.

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white and black cs, green glitter and green shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz greenery die cuts, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, green gingham ribbon

A New Wreath

Here's my reminder card for the CAS Christmas "Wreath" challenge.

I stamped the wreath in brown and the sentiment in red.  Then coloured the berries red, the tiny leaves with a dark green, and the ties on the wreath with antique linen.  I went over the stars with a quickie glue pen and added gold glitter.  I trimmed it with a rectangle die and popped it up on fun foam.

Please come and join us at CAS Christmas and show us your wreath cards!  The challenge is open until June 24th.

A good opportunity to use a never before used wreath stamp - not that I've used it, I'm wondering why it sat for so long before being inked up!  So it's also going off to:

NBUS Challenge

Supplies:
Stamps - Impression Obsession Wreath, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Ranger Archival Potting Soil and Red Geranium
Paper - cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders rectangle die, Tim Holtz Distress markers, gold glitter, fun foam

White and One Colour

The Double D challenge wants "White with One Other Colour Only".  I went with hot pink as my other colour - quite close to the colour of one of the images in their mood board.

I started with the circle of small hearts - done with pink glimmer foil on a hot foil machine.  I then bordered it with hot pink glitter cs, die cut the small hearts and the sentiment out of the same cs, added them all to a square of white cs, and popped the square up on fun foam on the card base.

Double D Challenges  "White with One Other Colour Only"

Supplies:
Paper - white cs, pink glitter cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Tim Holtz love die, unknown heart circle and small hearts dies, pink glimmer foil

Summer Tea Time

The Four Seasons Challenge is celebrating summer right now and there is nothing I like better in the summer than having tea in the garden with friends.  And the Paper Players challenge is asking for Food and / or Beverages.  So I made this card that has both food and beverage, and is perfect for summer tea in the garden. 

I've had this stamp for years and have no idea who made it.  I coloured it with coloured pencils, trimmed it with a stitched rectangle die, and bordered with some dp that's been in my stash for as long as I've had the old stamp - good to revisit some old supplies!

I would love to be sitting down to tea and cake right now!  I can do the tea but I don't have any cake on hand!

The Paper Players

The Four Seasons Challenge "Summer"

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs, unknown dp
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle die

Christmas Mailbox

The new Peace on Earth inspiration board reminded me of one of the very first stamps I ever bought - many many years ago.  It's been languishing unused for such a long time.

It's stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, a small sentiment added, trimmed to fit behind a pierced dot frame (die cut twice and glued together for more dimension), and finished off with a Quickie glue pen and glitter on all the snowy bits.

Here's the inspiration board that inspired me.  You can see the bottom right image is much like my stamp with the greenery around the post and the country-style mailbox:

 

You can either make a card inspired by the board or you can enter an "anything Christmas" card.  That's lots more inspiration over at Peace on Earth.  You have until June 16 to enter.

Supplies:
Stamps - Northwoods mailbox, Simon Says Stamp sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - 4.76" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, glitter, MFT Pierced Square Frame die

Wreath on a Brick Wall

We are so happy to have CAS Christmas back up and running.  We're starting off by asking for cards featuring wreaths.  Here's mine:

I love making wreaths with my Martha Stewart pine branch punch.  I use various decorative papers that feature grass on them.  There's enough variegation in the colours that it makes the sprigs of the wreath more interesting than just plain green.  

The base for the wreath is a thin circle made by cutting with two sizes of Spellbinders circle dies.  I glue the punched sprigs around the circle base, overlapping them for fullness.

For this card, I created a background with a brick wall stencil and embossing paste.  Added the wreath and stamped a sentiment and popped the panel up on fun foam.  I embellished the wreath with a bow made of a green / gold ribbon and added gold gemstones to the wreath.  Usually I add red gemstones to represent berries, but the ribbon I used for the bow inspired me to keep to a green and gold colour scheme.

We'd love to see you join us at CAS Christmas.  It's so great to get a head start on those Christmas cards.  There's lots of inspiration from the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Sue (Sue's Card Craft).

 I'm also linking up the card at CAS Mix Up where they want paste or gels with a stencil.

Supplies:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Distress Mowed Lawn
Paper - white cs, various green dp
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Martha Stewart pine branch punch, gold gemstones, green/gold ribbon, TH brick stencil, Dreamweaver embossing paste, Spellbinders circle dies