Cocoa and Embossed Tulips

It's been ages since I posted.  Blame it on two things: the Winter Olympics that turned me into a couch potato and my new puppy (see photos at the end of the post).  But I'm back to making cards!  Here's one for Christmas and one for a friend's birthday.

The current Twelve Months of Christmas challenge is "Cozy Cocoa".  It's also Feb 25 so time for the Rudolph Days challenge.

I stamped the image and coloured it with coloured pencils, trimmed it with a stitched circle die, added it to a circle of dp, and bordered with a green thin circle.  I die cut "joy" out of the same green as the thin circle.

Next up a birthday card for a friend who loves tulips.  It's for Allsorts "Embossing",  Colorful Options "Pink and Purple", and The Neglected Stuff Challenge (my Dreamweaver brass stencils are very neglected).  And sneaking in under the wire for Can You Handle the Pressure (I've got lots of dry embossing going on, and a die cut for their optional theme).

I used an old Dreamweaver brass stencil for the focal panel. I rubbed various mini Distress inks on it, then laid it on cs and ran it through my Cuttlebug to transfer the colour and emboss the tulips.

The background is a floral embossing folder with lighter Distress colours rubbed over the debossed side before running it through the Cuttlebug.  I stamped a vertical sentiment in purple and trimmed it with a stitched banner die.

    

I realized I hadn't yet introduced my blog friends to Pippin - my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  I got him in November and puppy training and puppy love have pretty much occupied my mind and my time since then.  He and 9 year old English Cocker Spaniel, Tessa, are getting along really well together.  Here are a couple of (more like several) photos:

Arrival day - lonely in the dog bed        Tessa makes him welcome

The sweetest face ever!                                       Meeting therapy horse, Leo.

                                 

Squishing together in Tessa's bed.          Growing up really quickly.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and green cs, David Walker Imaginations dp
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Lil Inker stitched circle die, Tattered Lace joy die, SSS thin circle frame die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - vertical sentiment
Ink - various pinks, browns, purples Distress inks
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Dreamweaver tulip stencil, stitched sentiment banner die, floral embossing folder

Reindeer with Trees

The top left image of the new Peace on Earth mood board immediately inspired this card.

I stamped, coloured, and masked the decorated Christmas tree, then stamped some undecorated trees in the background.  I die cut the reindeer twice and glued them together.  Then grounded it on the card with a sentiment die cut on a banner.  I added red liquid pearls to the ornaments and coloured the star with a metallic gold pen.  I used hammered cs for the card base.

Here's the mood board.  The Peace on Earth Design Team have all been inspired by it.  We'd love to see how it inspires you!

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown decorated tree, Deep Red trees, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Iced Spruce
Paper - white and brown cs, hammered white cs
Size - 5.5" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Dee's Distinctively reindeer die, banner die, red liquid pearls, gold metallic pen

Valentines

Three Valentine cards today (my best friend always asks me to make some for her each year which gets my fund raiser started well before my Christmas card sale in November!).

We Love Stamping wants hearts and Sweet Stampin' wants love - both require stamped images so this card is for them.  It's also for NBUS as it's a stamp I've had for a while and never used.

I stamped it, coloured the hearts with a red alcohol marker, trimmed the panel, bordered it with black, and added it to my card base.  A great "back to basics" kind of card!     

Color Hues wants red and pink, and Try It On Tuesday wants love.  Time Out wants at least two of sparkle, heart, red, pink, aperture, and twine (I have heart, red, and pink).  It's also going off to Snippets as I used some leftover bits of red cs, a bit of a pink smooshed background, and a couple of strips of white cs for the sentiment and the embossed strip.  

Another quick and easy card but this time using die cuts.  I die cut the three hearts and the sentiment banner, and dry embossed the background strip.

And one more that is less CAS, more mixed media.  It's for Allsorts "Create Your Own Background".

I made a background by first stamping some randomly inked text with Vintage Photo ink. I then laid a heart stencil over the text stamping and used translucent embossing paste through it. It looked kind of bland so I lightly sponged over the panel with the Vintage Photo and that gave more definition to the stencilled hearts.

The large heart is stamped with Versamark on burgundy cs and then gold Pearl Ex was brushed over it (and sealed it with a fixative). I fussy cut the heart, put fun foam on the back, and added it to the background panel.

   
      

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Unity heart branch, Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - red alcohol marker, Spellbinders square dies

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - Memento Rosebud
Paper - white and red cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - various heart dies, SU narrow strip heart embossing folder

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown heart stamp, Wendy Vecchi text stamp
Ink - Versamark, Distress Vintage Photo
Paper - white and burgundy cs
Size - A2
Accessories - heart stencil, embossing paste, gold Pearl Ex, fixative, fun foam

Valentine's Day Rabbit and Christmas Horse

Of course I'm always working on Christmas cards, but at this time of year I need to take a little break as my best friend always orders a few Valentine cards from me.  This one is for Paper Players "Love is in the Air", Try It on Tuesday "Love", and Shopping our Stash "Love Me Do".

I die cut the bunny twice out of a bit of leftover beige smooshed background and the stool out of some brown cs that had a faint woodgrain pattern. The sentiment and heart stems are die cut from plain red cs.

Today's Christmas card is for the ABC Christmas Challenge "A is for Anything Christmas and / or B is for Bright".  The red card base could qualify for "bright" and of course it can qualify for "anything Christmas".

I stamped the image and used coloured pencils to colour the horse and wreath. They are the best medium to colour this image as the wreath is full of tiny little details so would be hard to colour with anything other than nice sharp pointed pencils. I used a gold metallic pencil for the bow and some of the details on the bridle.

I had a red pre-made card base with an oval already cut out of it. The image fitted perfectly into it.

    

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - white and red cs, brown woodgrain cs, leftover scrap of beige smooshed background
Size - A2
Accessories - Charlie and Paulchen bunny and stool, Impression Obsession heart stems, Poppy Stamps sentiment die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Serendipity Clyde
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - premade red card base, white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils, metallic gold pencil