Christmas Baubles and Wildflower Thoughts

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants to see "Baubles".

The ornaments are stamped in black (though it came out kind of light as the ink pad is old) and then coloured with two green and one red Tombow markers. I coloured the tops of the ornaments with a silver gelli pen. I trimmed it, leaving a white border, and popped it up on fun foam on a red card base.  And a non-Christmas card for CAS on Friday "Use Dies and Only Word Stamps": On the focal panel, I used a die to create three square openings and put a piece of dp behind them.  I stamped the vertical sentiment to one side of it.  And die cut the flower and added it to the top.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Northwoods
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - Tombow markers, silver gelli pen, fun foam

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown vertical sentiment
Ink - Memento Nautical Blue
Paper - white cs, dp
Size - A2
Accessories - Poppy Stamps flower die, 3 square openings die

Simplified Bokeh

The Group of Seven Cardmakers are trying a simplified bokeh technique, following the instructions in this video "Bokeh Made Easy".

I liberally wet my watercolour paper and then dropped various shades of blue and purple watercolour paints into the wet paint.  Once dry, I tried stencilling different sized circles over it with white pigment ink but I think my ink was too dry to be effective.  So I put a blob of white acrylic paint on my craft mat and thinned it down with water, and then sponged that through the circles stencil, overlapping some of the circles.

My piece was large enough to make two cards.  One with a dandelion circle die over the bokeh and a blue glitter cs circle under it.  The other has white acrylic paint splattered on the bokeh and a winter cabin / trees die on top.

There's lots more inspiration from the rest of the Group of Seven cardmakers.  Feel free to join us by trying the technique and linking up your card.

Supplies:
Stamps - Hero Arts Merry Christmas
Ink - Distress Faded Jeans
Paper - white cs, blue glitter cs, watercolour paper
Size - first one is 4.75" square, second one is A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, white acrylic paint, SSS Twinkle Flower die, Memory Box Countryside die, Lil Inkers stitched circle dies, Spellbinders

A Red Valentine and a Shiny Birthday

I've got two cards to post today.  First up a Valentine card:

Using mixed media cs, I sprinkled two shades of red Brushos through the hearts on a heart stencil and then spritzed with water. After it dried, I framed it with dark red cs with a large heart die cut in the centre. 

Next up, a birthday card:

I used the "black ice" technique.  I followed this tutorial on SCS.

To make the background, I took a piece of silver foil cs and lightly dragged my black Staz-on pad down it to create some streaks. I then stamped the wildflowers with the black Staz-On and then heat set just to be sure I wouldn't smear it. Then I lightly dragged a Versamark pad over it in the same direction as the black streaks, covered with clear embossing powder, and heat set it.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white on black cs and cut it into a banner and add it to the main panel. I bordered it in black and added to a white card base.

The first card is going to these two challenges:

Addicted to CAS "Hearts"
 

Tic Tac Toe Challenge - I used the left hand vertical row - Red, Heart, Sentiment

 

The second card is going to:

Seize the Birthday "Sparkle and Shine"

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - PTI sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - red cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - large heart die, Brushos (Scarlet, Brilliant Red), TCW hearts stencil

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Unity Insightful Meadow, SU sentiment
Ink - Versamark, Staz-on black, ColorBox white
Paper - silver foil cs, black and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, white embossing powder

April Showers = Dandelions

I made a card today for two recent SCS challenges - the CAS challenge "April Showers" and the Ways to Use It challenge "That’s What the Doctor Ordered".

Because I'm using a stencil and two stamps that I've never used before (and I've had the sentiment stamp for many years!!), I'm also entering it in Darnell's NBUS challenge.

April showers is definitely what I'm experiencing today - very dreary and drizzling all day. So a good day to make a card!

 

I started by stamping the dandelion in black ink. Then I laid the raindrops stencil over it and sponged with two shades of blue ink. I added the sentiment once I removed the stencil so that I could think about its placement amongst the raindrops.

I trimmed the panel down and added a thin strip of black cs to the right side to balance the sentiment. The panel is popped up on fun foam and a bit of Wink of Stella added to the centres of the dandelion seeds and to the little sprigs at the bottom.

I know the showers help my flowers to grow but they seem even more successful at getting the dandelions to grow! I need to get out and weed the garden!

Supplies:

Stamps - Magenta dandelion, Gina K sentiment

Ink - MFT Black Licorice, Memento Summer Sky, Distress Tumbled Glass

Paper - white and black cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Simon Says Stamp raindrops stencil, Wink of Stella, fun foam