Framed Cardinals and Framed Chocolate

Jingle Belles wants to see frames on our Christmas cards.  I framed some cardinals with a silver pierced rectangle frame.

The image is stamped and watercoloured. The sentiment is heat embossed. I went over the ornaments with Glossy Accents, and framed the image with a pierced dot die cut silver frame.

Festive Friday is celebrating World Chocolate Day.  It seemed a good opportunity to use a sentiment stamp I have that refers to chocolate.  I have these elements from the challenge list: a sweet sentiment, chocolates (in the sentiment), cream, and brown.

I sprinkled black and brown Brushos on cream cs and spritzed with water to let the colours run, then stamped the image in brown and heat embossed.   Since I had the pierced frame die out from the card above, I decided to create a frame for this card as well - this time in light brown - and then mounted it on a dark brown card base.

 

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black image, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, ColorBox silver
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs, silver shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, silver embossing powder, SU label punches, MFT pierced frame die, Glossy Accents

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Kay Foley
Ink - brown pigment ink
Paper - cream cs, light and dark brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - brown and black Brushos, MFT pierced frame die, clear embossing powder

The Sentiment Takes Centre Stage

Shopping our Stash challenge wants us to make the sentiment the focal point.  I have a sympathy sentiment that I just love so made a couple of cards using it.

I got out my blue acohol markers and did random horizontal scribbles with them, then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on top.  For the first card, my vertical lines weren't as wide so I trimmed it smaller, bordered with blue, and added a strip of dry embossing down the right hand side.  For the second one, I trimmed it with my A2 layering dies and added a gold border and a few gold and white splatters with acrylic paints.

Supplies:
Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white, blue, and gold cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue alcohol markers, clear embossing powder, Spellbinders border embossing folder, gold and white acrylic paints

Three Shades of Brown in a Christmas Card

I'm just totally in a Christmas card making mood!  Or maybe it's that the January challenges are all really appealing to me. 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants three shades of brown, not what I'd normally pick for a Christmas card but it can work!

I've got three shades of brown in the reindeer, with the darkest one repeated for the sentiment.

My reindeer was created by first stencilling through a reindeer stencil with light brown Distress ink, then laying a star stencil over top of the reindeer stencil and stencilling through that with a darker colour.  I then took a dark brown and added it to the antlers and a bit to the feet, back, and tail.

I wasn't happy with where I'd positioned the reindeer on my cs, so I fussy cut it.

I stamped the sentiment in the dark brown on a square of cream cs, then popped the reindeer up with dimensional tape.

I added some tone on tone die cut stars around the reindeer.

I love the sentiment - it says: "On Christmas Eve a long time ago, my sister swore she heard reindeer hooves on the roof. I believed her then and I believe her still today. We can all use a little extra magic in our lives I always say."

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Supplies:
Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment
Ink - various brown Distress inks
Paper - cream cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - ARTplorations Christmas Reindeer stencil, star stencil, SSS small star die, dimensional tape

Embossing Folder for a Friend

Just Us Girls want us to use an embossing folder on our cards this week.  I haven't done anything innovative or fancy with mine, just used it as a major design element and a frame for the sentiment.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment first so that I could make sure I got the embossing folder nicely centred over it before running it through my Cuttlebug.   Then I trimmed the panel, popped it up on fun foam, and embellished the embossed flowers with royal blue gemstones that matched the ink really well.

Just Us Girls challenge

Supplies:
Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Blueprint Sketc
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - Crafts Too embossing folder, clear embossing powder, royal blue gemstones

Encouragement

A card for my youngest sister who's having a hard time during Covid as she's lost most of her hours at work and is so worried about getting way behind on her mortgage.

I love the Kay Foley sentiment stamps and I have this one that I think offers real encouragement when people go through a hard time.

Since the sentiment takes up most of the card, I wanted to create an interesting background for it so used a whole bunch of Distress Oxide inks (the colours for this week's Color Throwdown).  I dabbed each ink on my craft mat, spritzed with water, then pressed my mixed media cs into it, drying between layers.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment and added two die cut wildflowers for interest.

I'm linking it up at the Color Throwdown challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Oxides (Wilted Violet, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Antique Linen, and Seedless Preserves)
Paper - white and black cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz Wildflower dies, clear embossing powder

"U" is for "Upon"

A card for the ABC Christmas Challenge where this month, we have to choose either "U is for Upon" or "V is for Very Quick".  I went with the first one and used an appropriate sentiment stamp that I really like.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in dark red.  The star wreath is cut from gold glitter paper and just manages to fit around the sentiment.  I trimmed the panel with a stitched square die cut, bordered it with dark red shimmer cs, and popped it up on a cream card base.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versafine Crimson Red

Paper - gold glitter, dark red shimmer, and cream cs

Size - 5.25" square

Accessories - Memory Box Starry Wreath, Lil Inker stitched square die, Ranger Polysparkle clear embossing powder, fun foam

Q is for Quote

The ABC Christmas Challenge this month is "Q is for Quote".  One of my favourite Christmas quote stamps is by Kay Foley and this seemed the perfect opportunity to use it.

I stamped and heat embossed the quote in gold, then trimmed it down and bordered it in gold.  I popped it up on fun foam on top of a background created by using silver embossing paste and a star stencil.

Here's a close-up of the quote so that you can read it clearly:

I'm also taking it over to The Double D Challenges "The Moon and  / or the Stars".

Thanks for dropping by today!

Supplies:

Stamps - Kay Foley

Ink - ColorBox gold

Paper - white cs, gold shimmer cs

Size - 5" square

Accessories - gold embossing powder, silver embossing paste, star stencil, fun foam

Christmas Sentiment with Reindeer

I have always loved the sentiment stamps by Kay Foley.  I have lots of them, including several Christmas ones, so when I saw the Merry Monday challenge to use our favourite Christmas verse, I had to go with a Kay Foley one - but it was hard to choose which one.

When I finally settled on which Kay Foley sentiment to use, I made this card:

I let the sentiment be the star of the card.  All I added to it was a stamped and die cut reindeer positioned above the sentiment as if he is the reindeer making the sound of hooves as mentioned in the sentiment.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black Leaping Deer, Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa and Potters Clay

Paper - PTI cream, Bazzill rusty red

Size - A2

Accessories - Penny Black reindeer die, dimensional tape, brown gemstone

Vintage Santa Paper

The Jingle Belles challenge is asking for "the spirit of Christmas past" - anything that speaks of vintage Christmas to us.

When I worked as a librarian, I would sometimes check discarded damaged books for useful paper, images, etc. that I could use for card-making - and that's where my fabulous background paper of vintage Santas came from - perfect for this challenge.

I wanted my fabulous sentiment stamp to take centre stage - I just love what it says about believing in Santa and other Christmas things. I stamped it and heat embossed it, then cut it out with a frame-lit die and popped it up on dimensionals, punched some holly leaves to fill the very empty lower corner to give some balance and interest, and finished with red gemstones.

I'm also linking it up at the "anything goes" at the Merry Christmas Challenge.

Supplies:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versamark

Paper - PTI white cs, scrap of end page from old book, scrap of green cs

Size - A2

Accessories - platinum embossing powder, Sissix Framelit die, red gemstones, holly leaf punc

Straight from the Heart Friend

Time to remind you that you only have until February 24th to link up your CAS Watercolour cards.

Even though it's February, the theme "heart" need not refer to Valentine's Day.  For my reminder card, I made a friendship card for my best friend:

She truly is a wonderful friend who's seen me through my best and worst times, even to the point of taking time off work and flying 3,000 mil es with me when my mother passed away two years ago so that I wouldn't be on my own.  So this Kay Foley sentiment stamp is perfect for a card for her.  I sent it to her for Valentine's Day, with a Happy Valentine's Day sentiment stamped inside it - I firmly believe we should celebrate more than just our spouses or partners on Valentine's Day.

Blue is my friend's favourite colour (one of the many things we have in common) so I did a blue background by sprinkling blue Brushos on Yupo and spritzing with water.  I got some nice puddling, and then sprinkled a bit more to get some grains of Brusho that didn't dissolve.  I then let it air dry.

I stamped a wonderful Kay Foley friendship sentiment that has the word "heart" in it, using black Staz-on as I wasn't sure if it would smudge on the Yupo.  I trimmed it down with a stitched rectangle.

I used a cream shimmer cs for the card base and also to die cut a few tiny hearts and a fleur de lis border.  It's fancier (or maybe just more feminine) than most of the cards I make these days but I think that suits a Valentine.

We'd love to see your heart-themed watercolour cards but please be sure to keep them clean and simple!

Exciting News!!!

Starting March 3rd, 2018

 

 

Loll and Bonnie who run the CAS Mix Up and CAS Watercolour challenges are starting a new challenge - CAS Christmas!  Be sure to check back on March 3rd for the first challenge and participate to get those Christmas cards made throughout the year!

Supplies:

Stamps - Kay Foley

Ink - StazOn Jet Black

Paper - Yupo, cream shimmer cs

Size - A2

Accessories - blue brushos, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, Spellbinders Fleur de Lis rectangle die, little hearts out of another die cut

Metal and Rust

Some fun with mixed media!

The latest SCS Mixability challenge is "Petals to the Metal" - a mixed media project with flowers or petals made of metal of some sort.  And the SCS Ways to Use It challenge is "Shape Up" - make a shaped card - any shape except for the typical squares or rectangles.  I came up with this card to meet both challenges:

I chose a hexagon for my shape and created a poinsettia out of heated metal. I die cut it twice, shaped it, and then attached both layers to the top hexagon with a brad.

The top layer was created with a holly stencil and green spray, and then when the spray was dry, I splattered with some liquid copper paint and added a sentiment.


On Sunday, Christine (calex on SCS) of It's a Card Day's Night and I spent the day with Loll Thompson, experimenting with various new supplies and techniques.  One of the things we tried was rusting powder.  While none of us were too thrilled with our results (or with the bad smell it creates when you add the vinegar), I decided that I'd use a small piece as a frame for a sentiment on this card for SCS CAS challenge "I Love Chocolate":

It has a chocolatey colour so seemed perfect for the Kay Foley sentiment about Belgian chocolates.

The rusting powder was done on kraft cs by painting gesso around the edges, then sprinkling on the rusting powder, letting the gesso dry, then spritzing with vinegar, letting it dry, and repeating the vinegar a couple more times.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, popped the panel up on fun foam, and placed it on a background layer of white cs.  I twisted dark brown and copper ribbon together and added it to the side of the background layer.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Penny Black sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - white cs

Size - 4.25" across the points of the hexagon

Accessories - copper, Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die, Penny Black stencil, Mr. Huey's green spray, liquid copper paint, Spellbinders hexagon dies, black brad

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versafine Vintage Sepia

Paper - white and kraft cs

Size - A2

Accessories - gesso, rusting powder, vinegar, clear embossing powder, copper and dark brown ribbon, fun foam

Cards for National Chocolate Day

When I saw yesterday's SCS Ways to Use It challenge, I discovered that yesterday was National Chocolate Day - never knew there was such a thing, but I took it as an excuse to go out and treat myself to some lovely chocolates and to make two cards that refer to chocolate.

The challenge is "Celebrate Chocolate" by using brown, white and/or cream with the option of red, gold and silver.

I have two fabulous sentiment stamps by Kay Foley that refer to chocolate so decided to make two cards so that I could use them as my focal points.

For the first card, I used the option of gold:

I used cream cs, stamped the sentiment in brown, and framed it in brown. I stamped a bit of Gorgeous Grunge splatter on the card base and scattered some gold sequins around the frame.

And for this card, I used the option of red as it toned in well with the reddish colours that come out in brown bister:

I stamped the sentiment on a piece of coated cs that had been sprinkled with brown bister, spritzed, and air-dried. I then layered it with red and brown borders, and used a cream card base.

It will make a great get well card next time I need one.

Speaking of dogs, as the second card does, my sweet pup, Tessa, is growing so quickly.  Here she is out on the back porch soaking up some sun:

Thanks for dropping by today!

Supplies for the first card:
 

Stamps: Kay Foley sentiment, Gorgeous Grunge splatter 
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Bazill brown linen cs 
Ink: Memento Rick Cocoa 
Accessories: gold sequins, MFT pierced frame die  

Supplies for the second card:

Stamps: Kay Foley
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, coated cs, brown and red cs
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia
Accessories: brown bister, clear embossing powder, fun foam, Nesties matting basics rectangles    
 

Red Birds and White and Gold Words

Today I made cards for two challenges over at Splitcoaststampers.  First up is the Technique Lovers' Challenge "Watercolor Powders".

I used two colours of bister powders, sprinkled them on coated cs, spritzed with water, and allowed to air dry. When dry, I stamped the Berry Branch on it, added the die cut birds and word in red, bordered in the same red and added to a cream cardbase.

It's also for the October SCS Christmas Card Challenge theme of birds on a Christmas card.

Next up is the CAS Challenge "Use Your Words"- use word stamps only, no image stamps. 

 I love my Kay Foley sentiment stamps so it was a good chance to feature one of them. It is stamped and heat embossed in gold on white cs and bordered with gold cs.

The background is faux mother of pearl using a bit of watered down Inka Gold instead of the usual pearl paint. I sponged over it with Distress inks in various reds and warm browns.

Because the sentiment talks about tiny white lights and things decorated with gold sparkly stuff, I sprinkled on some white Frantage ep and some gold UTEE and heated them from underneath. I wanted to tie the sentiment to the background a bit!

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies for the first card:

Stamps: Penny Black Berry Branch

Paper: PTI cream cs, red cs, coated cs

Paper Size: 4.25" square

Ink: Staz-on Black

Accessories: blue and natural bister, Tim Holtz winter die, Memory Box bird dies

Supplies for the second card:

Stamps: Kay Foley sentiment

Paper: white and gold cs

Paper Size: 6"x4.25"

Ink: ColorBox Gold, various Distress inks

Accessories: Inka Gold, Stampendous Frantage white ep, gold UTEE, gold detail ep

Techniques: faux mother of pearl

Flying Reindeer

This week's Winter Wonderland Christmas card challenge is to have the sentiment be the main focal point on the card.  I have several wonderful Kay Foley sentiment stamps so chose one of those and made this card.

 

One of my goals in 2015 was to make one card every week with some dp on it as I really need to use up some of my paper stash!  I haven't managed to do one every week as I much prefer using all the interesting new background techniques involving stencils, inks, brushos, etc.  But I got one done this week as the sentiment I was using made me think of some dp I had with flying reindeer on it that would go perfectly with one of the lines in the sentiment.  

Thanks for dropping by to look!

Supplies:

Stamps - Kay Foley

Ink - ColorBox Scarlet

Paper - white cs, red glitter cs, Loisirs Harmonie dp

Accessories - detail embossing powder, Nesties oval die,  Sissix Fancy Label die, foam tape