Birthday Flowers, a Hollyhock Garden, and Green and Gold Christmas

I've got three cards for today.  I've really been in the mood to make cards lately!

First up a birthday card (a belated one as I know the post won't get it there in time!).  It's for Cut It Up's "Happy Birthday" challenge.

I inked up a Penny Black background stamp with Distress Oxide Shabby Shutters and Speckled Egg and patted off some of the ink with a rag.  I inked on hammered cs which added to the faded texture of the stamping.  I die cut the flowers and smooshed them into the same two inks.  I  used a separate "belated" sentiment stamp over the "birthday wishes" stamp.

Addicted to CAS's code word is Garden.  One of my favourite flowers is hollyhock and I always have a section of my garden devoted to them.

I stamped and heat embossed the hollyhocks in gold on watercolour paper, then painted them and splattered a bit of gold paint. I created a frame by cutting out the centre of a piece of gold cs with a double stitched rectangle die.

Last one is a very quick CAS card for Color Hues "Green and Gold".  It's also for the Neglected Stuff challenge - I haven't used this stamp set since 2017!

I stamped the base tree in green, then heat embossed the overlap in gold.  I wanted a border that matched the gold on the tree and sentiment so I cut a rectangle one size larger, went around the edge of it with Versamark and heat embossed with the same gold embossing powder all around the edge.

 
     

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black background stamp, SU birthday wishes, Impression Obsession belated
Ink - Distress Oxide Shabby Shutters and Speckled Egg, Archival Potting Soil
Paper - white hammered cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Poppy Stamps flower die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - The Stampin' Place hollyhocks
Ink - ColorBox Gold
Paper - watercolour paper, gold and off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold embossing powder, watercolour paints, Memory Box double stitched rectangle die cut, Spellbinders rectangle die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SU Solemn Stillness tree, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - ColorBox green and gold
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold embossing powder, Spellbinders rectangle dies

An Old Layering Stamp Set

The current Less is More challenge is stamp layering.

One of the very first stamp sets I ever bought was designed for layering (though not the way some of the newer ones are where you build up the image).  I still love this old set and it is great for CAS cards.

One of the things that got me hooked on stamping was heat embossing and when I saw the SU set "Solemn Stillness" and the way you could heat emboss the swirly stamp on top of the tree, I had to have that set. I probably got it 10 years ago!

I used it in a very straightforward way - stamped the base tree in green and heat embossed the swirly stamp on top of it in gold.

I love the sentiment that comes with the set so added it below.

It's bordered in gold with a few gold stars scattered about.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Solemn Stillness

Ink - Memento Cottage Ivy and Tuxedo Black, ColorBox Gold

Paper - white and gold cs

Size - A2

Accessories - gold embossing powder, tiny star punch, Nesties matting basics dies

Snowy Peace

This week's Technique Lovers' Challenge over at SCS is "Let It Snow".  It calls for creating snow in some way (other than a stamped image of snow).

One of my favourite ways is using the chunky white Frantage embossing powder - sprinkling it on and then heating from underneath so that you don't blow it off the cardstock.

I started by stamping the tree in Versamark and heat embossing in white. Then I created a mask for the snowy ground and sponged around the tree with three shades of Distress inks. I removed the mask from the horizon and added it lower down so that I could lightly sponge a bit of a snowdrift.

Then used the chunky white frantage all over the panel.

I finished off by added die cut doves and a die cut sentiment, and popped the panel up on fun foam.

It's for my best friend who loves blue and white, and only likes Christmas cards that have a theme of "peace".

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Solemn Stillness tree

Ink - Distress Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, and Dusty Concord; Versamark

Paper - white cs, pale blue glitter cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Memory Box small dove dies, Impression Obsession Peace die, Frantage Chunky White embossing powder, white embossing powder, fun foam

Peaceful Snow

I'm back from vacation and happy to be checking out some challenges.  I made this card for the SCS CAS challenge (Sparkly Sentiments) and the Sparkle Creations Christmas Card Challenge.

For Sparkle Creations we were to be inspired by this photo:

I immediately thought of the old SU set "Solemn Stillness".  I stamped my tree in Versamark and heat embossed in white ep, then sponged around it with Distress inks (more blues than purple as I'm not a huge fan of purple).  I cut two layers of snow banks and added a bit of sponging to them.

Once the snow banks were glued on, I sprinkled with chunky white ep and heated from underneath.

I popped it up on a piece of fun foam and added a die cut sentiment, cut out of glitter cs.


I might come back and try one using the other Solemn Stillness stamp, and maybe even stretch myself and do it in purple!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Solemn Stillness

Ink - Versamark, Memento Summer Sky, Distress Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, and    Dusty Concord

Paper - Gina K white cs, pale blue glitter cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Impression Obsession peace sentiment die, white embossing powder, Stampendous chunky white embossing powder, fun foam

Green and Gold

I love Christmas card challenges as they help me get cards made for my fundraising sale at the end of November.  This week's Less is More challenge is not technically a Christmas card challenge but is perfect for one - it's a colour challenge to use green and gold.

I pulled out one of the very first stamps I ever bought - the lovely Solemn Stillness set from Stampin' Up.

 

The green part of the tree is stamped with a dye ink, the gold part with a pigment ink with sparkly gold embossing powder added.   I took many photos but could not get one that really showed the sparkle.

 Supplies:

Stamps - SU Solemn Stillness

Ink - StazOn Forest Green, ColorBox Gold

Paper - green, gold, and cream cs

Accessories - gold embossing powder, gold sequins, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die