Patterned Paper Hearts

A Valentine for the Tic Tac Toe challenge (I chose the left vertical column from the challenge graphic at the end of the post - die cut, heart, patterned paper) and the Time Out challenge (I chose the word "love" from their quote):

I have some beautiful Craft Consortium patterned paper that my dear friend Loll gave me. It has different shades of a similar colour in it and various random beige veins. I went over the veins with a Stardust gel pen to give them a bit of sparkle.

I die cut various shapes and sizes of hearts from the paper and from white cs so that I could glue the paper heart onto the cs hearts and give them more substance.

I got to try out a friend's Glimmer Hot Foil system. I ran the Poppy Stamps Heart String die through with pink glimmer foil and that created the outline in which I stamped the sentiment and also gave me a line across the card on which I arranged the die cut hearts. A border with dark pink shimmer cs finished it off.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

 

Time Out Challenge

Supplies:
Stamps - TH sentiment
Ink - Distress Picked Raspberry
Paper - dark pink shimmer cs, white cs, Craft Consortium dp
Size - 6.25x3.25" mini slimline
Accessories - Stardust gel pen, IO heart dies, pink glimmer foil, Poppy Stamps Heart String die

Winter Fun and Spring Flowers

First up a card for the Shopping Our Stash challenge "Winter Fun":

I chose a stamp I've had for ages of old-fashioned winter sports with women having to skate in skirts and a child on an old-fashioned wooden sled. It's coloured with coloured pencils on kraft and bordered with red and mounted on a teal card base - to my eye, they are kind of old-fashioned colours that suit the image.

My second card is for a friend's birthday.  She loves blue and she loves flowers.  It's for AAA Birthday challenge "anything birthday goes":

The image is coloured with coloured pencils. I stamped the text around it in a blue / grey ink but unfortunately there was some leftover red ink on the text stamp that changed the colour in a couple of spot. I then added blue / grey sponging around the edges.

I used the thin frame die to cut into my panel and then cut the thin frame out of blue cs and put it into the gap I'd made.

I stamped and heat embossed a white sentiment on dark grey cs and trimmed it into a banner.

Shopping Our Stash challenge "Winter Fun"

 

AAA Birthday "anything birthday goes"

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Inkadinkado
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - kraft, red, and teal blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black bluebells, Wendy Vecchi text, Memory Box sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black, SSS Barely Blue, Hero Arts Soft Sky, ColorBox white
Paper - white, blue, dark grey cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, white embossing powder, SSS thin frame die

Group of Seven Cardmakers - Creative Heat Embossing

Throughout Covid, I've been meeting monthly with a group of crafty friends on Zoom to try out new techniques, revisit older techniques, as well as to discuss art products we might not have used before, or that we have but don't remember what to do with them.

We decided to share our experiences on a blog and that blog is called:

 Group of Seven Cardmakers.

This is our Group of Seven:

Bonnie (Stamping with Klass)

Brenda (Inkspired to Stamp) 

Christine (It's a Card Day's Night)

Darnell (djkardkreations)

Julia (Create with Me)

Loll (Stamping with Loll)

Susan (Cardmaker's Garrett) (me)

This month we are trying out a technique Loll discovered on another blog: the Creative Heat Embossed Backgrounds technique.  Detailed instructions are over on the Group of Seven post.

 

Here is my card and I have to preface this by saying that I'm not totally happy with it.

 

I applied Versamark ink randomly to navy blue cs and then sprinkled randomly with white glitter and silver glitter embossing powder.  Then heat set it.  I die cut a circle from my results, then layered that on a silver mirror cs circle, and topped it with a snowflake die cut from the same silver mirror cs (and die cut twice more from scrap white cs to glue together to give more dimension to the snowflake).

I will probably try some of the other options our Group of Seven cardmakers used - Bonnie's second technique of splattering with water and heat embossing the powder on top of the water (who knew that would work?) and Loll's second technique of heating the embossing powder on a griddle.  I really like the results they got with those techniques.  As for the technique I used here of random swiping with Versamark, I probably won't chose to use it.

 

Supplies:
Ink - Versamark
Paper - white and navy cs, silver mirror cs
Size - 4.25" square
Accessories - snowflake die, circle dies, Stampendous Silver Tinsel and Judikins White Diamond embossing powders

One Tree and a Recycled Owl

Christmas Cards All Year Round wants one of something or a tree.  I decided to do one tree.

I inked up the tree stamp with green Distress mini inkpads, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped on watercolour paper. When dry, I stamped the stars and sentiment. I popped that panel up on fun foam on gold shimmer cs and added that to a red shimmer card base.

My second card is one I made to welcome home one of my closest friends who has been away for two months.  She gets back January 31st - can't wait to see her!  It times perfectly with the Inkspirational challenge "Welcome".  My friend loves owls and she is also really adamant about recycling and reusing as much as possible.  I received the most beautiful owl card at Christmas so decided I'd recycle it into this card for her.  The card also has stars on it and my friend runs Southlands Therapeutic Riding Society, more commonly known as STARS, the program where I volunteer a few days a week, so an owl plus stars just couldn't be passed up!

I used a square die to cut out the main image of the owl and to cut out a piece of silver mirror cs that matches the shiny silver leaves and stars in the image. I also die cut some tiny silver stars from the same cs.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on the bottom of the card, attached the mirror cs at an angle, layered the owl image over it, and glued on the silver stars in random places around the edge.

p.s. Cards with mirror cs on them are so hard to photograph - apologies for the reflections in the angled silver sections!

Christmas Cards All Year Round - "A Partridge in a Pear Tree - use one of something or a tree"

Inkspirational Challenge - "New and / or Welcome"

Supplies for Card 1:
Stamps - Art Impressions tree, PTI sentiment, SU star cluster
Ink - Distress Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough, Delicata Golden Glitz, Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - watercolour paper, gold and red shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - fun foam

Supplies for Card 2:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - ColorBox silver
Paper - white cs, silver mirror cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - commercial Christmas card, Spellbinders square dies, silver detail embossing powder, tiny star die

Gold Owls and a Silver Moon

A card for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge - I chose the left hand vertical line that says White Cardstock, CAS Design, Gold / Silver Embossing.  And the Inkspirational Challenge wants to see something new - the owl stamp is new.

I stamped the image on white cs with Versamark and carefully added silver embossing powder to the moon and gold to the owls and branch.  I coloured in the berries with a red marker and added a red sentiment and red border.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Inkspirational Challenge

Supplies:
Stamps - Crafty Individuals owls, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versamark, Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - white and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - red marker, gold and silver embossing powder

Winter Scene with Sheep Two Ways

A bunch of challenges inspired this card.  The top left image of the sheep on the Four Seasons challenge started me off as it reminded me that I have this stamp of a lovely winter scene with sheep.  It even comes with the sentiment built in.  And then two challenges wanted sparkle or glitter, and another wanted a snowy day.  See below for the challenges.

I stamped on white cs and coloured the image with coloured pencils.  Then added sparkle with a quickie glue pen and glitter to all the snow lines.  Instead of bordering it with black cs, I took a fine point black marker and a ruler and simply made black lines around the edges.  Keeps it nice and flat for mailing!

 It's also a perfect image for watercolouring so I did a second one using watercolour paper and paints:

To my eye, I don't see much difference between the coloured pencil version and the watercoloured version.  I like using both mediums so can't even say I prefer one over the other!

Challenges:

Four Seasons Challenge "winter"

 

Once Upon a Time "The Snowy Day"

 

Stamping Sensations "add some sparkle" to a stamped focal element  - I added glitter to all the snow lines

Sparkles Christmas Challenge "add glitter accents" - I added glitter to all the snow lines

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Sheena Douglass Country Christmas
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs for the first card; watercolour paper and cream cs for the second card
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils for the first card; watercolour paints for the second card; glitter, black fine point pen

Inspired by My Pyjamas

My friend Darnell entered a challenge I wasn't aware of - Shopping Our Stash.  They have such a fun current challenge - Pyjama Day (make a project inspired by our favourite pyjamas).  

I was inspired by my very cosy flannel pyjamas covered in sweet little sheep, many of them wearing patterned sweaters:

I had the perfect stamp in my stash.  I stamped and watercoloured the image, and framed it with a pierced dot square frame die.

Shopping Our Stash "Pyjama Day" 

Supplies:
Stamps - Inky Doodle sheep, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, cream and red cs
Size - 5" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, pierced dot square frame die

Robin on a Shovel

Time for a new Peace on Earth Challenge!  I was inspired by the mood board (lower left image).  It was the perfect opportunity to get out a stamp I'd never used.

A simple stamped and watercoloured image, with a heat embossed sentiment, a bit of splatter, and sponging around the edges of the panel to add to the rustic look.  I popped the watercoloured panel up on fun foam on a layer of dp that ties in with the colours.

My inspiration came from the photo on the lower left of the Peace on Earth mood board:

 

Please come and join us!  There's lots of other inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.  You can be inspired by our mood board or you can make an "anything Christmas goes" card.

Supplies:
Stamps - Sheena Douglas Stampworkz robin, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, Distress Antique Linen
Paper - watercolour paper, cream cs, Flair Design dp
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - watercolour paints, clear embossing powder, fun foam

Two Colour Challenges

Colour challenges are an iffy thing for me.  I only do them if a) I like the particular colour combination and b) something comes to mind right away.  I don't like agonizing over how to use certain colours.  So for me to do two colour challenges in the same week is very rare!!

 First up The Color Throwdown "Red, Green, and Brown".  That definitely inspires me as I immediately thought of a Christmas swag with berries.

I had the die cut star sitting on my desk but it was just white so I smooshed it into a puddle of various brown Distress inks. I was really happy with the rustic look it ended up with.  

I also had a scrap of green smooshed cs sitting on my desk that was perfect for die cutting the greenery pieces.  The berry branch is cut from a scrap of dark brown cs.

Glued it all onto a white card base and added a sentiment, stick-on pearls for the berries, and a tiny bow.

The second card is for Colorful Options "Basic Black".  I went with Christmas again, thinking it would be good for a masculine card. 

I die cut the sentiment out of a panel of black shimmer cs and layered the panel over a white card base.  Then die cut the Memory Box Countryside Circle die out of white cs and then die cut it with a stitched semicircle die.  That gave it a nice straight bottom edge to sit on top of the Let It Snow sentiment.  Added a few die cut snowflakes and it was done.

The Color Throwdown "Red, Green, Brown"

Colorful Options "Basic Black"

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - SU Real Red, various Distress browns and greens
Paper - white and brown cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Spellbinders star dies, TH greenery dies, red pearls, red metallic twine

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - black shimmer cs, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box Countryside Circle die, Memory Box Let It Snow die, various small snowflake dies, cross-stitched semi-circle die

New Gilding Flakes

Jingle Belles want to see something new either from Santa or that we gifted ourselves.  Those of you who know me well know that I love blue.  I treated myself to some gorgeous blue / silver gilding flakes.  I also bought a set of lovely rectangle dies from The Greetery.

I die cut the dove and coated it with glue and then pressed in the beautiful blue / silver mix of gilding flakes. I added it to a panel trimmed with the fancy rectangle die and layered that over blue cs to have some colour showing through the rectangle die. The sentiment is stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with a pearly blue embossing powder.

Jingle Belles "What Did Santa Bring You?"

NBUS "Never Before Used Stuff"  - it's the first time I've used the gilding flakes and the rectangle die.

Supplies:
Stamps - A Muse sentiment
Ink - Versamark
Paper - white and blue cs, scrap of green glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix Delicate Wings dove die, Cosmic Shimmer Blue Ice gilding flakes, The Greetery Nordic Frames rectangle die, Stampendous Sapphire Pearlustre embossing powder

Zooming Youngsters

Sneaking in under the wire for the ABC Christmas Challenge "Y for Youngsters and  / or Z for Zoom".  I've got both in this card with the young mice hanging on for dear life behind the older mouse as they zoom down the snowy hill.

Thanks to the challenge, I pulled out a stamp I'd never used before, watercoloured it, added a stamped sentiment and a TH chitchat sticker (seemed so perfect for what the older mouse might be saying), and bordered with red.

ABC Christmas Challenge "Y is for Youngsters and / or Z is for Zoom"

NBUS - Never Before Used Stuff

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Stampendous House Mouse stamp, sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, red and off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, TH chitchat sticker

Hearts from Snippets

For the latest Snippets challenge, Diane says it has to be anything but Christmas.  That prompted me to make the first of several Valentine cards that I'll make this year.

I went through my pink scraps and pulled out this pile of snippets:

They were perfect for die cutting a series of hearts of various shapes and sizes.  I decided it worked well for a slimline card and I have the perfect long narrow script stamp to create a minimal background for the hearts.  I stamped the script in a pale pink and then the sentiment in a brighter pink that I heat embossed.  And then stuck my hearts on top in a slightly haphazard row.  A nice quick card that is great for using up snippets!

Snippets Challenge "Anything BUT Christmas"

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment, Kaiser Craft script
Ink - Distress Tattered Rose, ColorBox Pink
Paper - white cs, snippets of pink cs and dp
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - various heart dies, clear embossing powder

Mouse on a Gatefold

Christmas is over but creating Christmas cards is never over for me!  Here's my first one for this year.

Simple stamped and coloured image, bordered with red glitter cs, on a gatefold card base with dp added to the two panels.

For these challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge "Christmas"

SCS Ways to Use It Challenge "Open the Gate" - create a gatefold card

Sweet Stamping "Christmas Creations"

Winter Wonderland Challenge "Anything Christmas"

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black image, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - red glitter and white cs, ColorBok dp
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils