Blue with Dove and Starry Sympathy

 Many of you know I love blue so I'm thrilled to see these two challenges - Addicted to CAS "Code Word Blue" and Try It on Tuesday "Feeling Blue".  And AAA Cards wants a CAS card with something that flies in the air.

I roughly painted a paneil with a couple of shades of blue acrylic paint and then stamped and heat embossed my dove in white.  I trimmed the panel with a hemstitch square die and mounted it on a white card base.

My Time to Craft wants to see a sentiment - I went with the sentiment being a major part of the card.  It's also perfect for Word Power where the sentiment has to be the focus of the card.

I stamped my sentiment in black and then lightly stencilled some stars over and around it.  Trimmed the panel and popped it up on fun foam of a dull gold shimmer card base.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown dove stamp
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - blue acrylic paints, white embossing powder, Spellbinders square hemstitch die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Verses sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, Distress Oxide Antique Linen
Paper - white cs, dull gold shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - star stencil, Spellbinders rectangle die, fun foam

Red and Green for One, Recycled for the Other

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants Green and Red this time.  Here's my card:

Stamped and watercoloured, and then die cut it with a hemstitch rectangle die and layered over a red card base. I find that the hemstitch die adds a great deal of interest to a simple image while still keeping it CAS.

I've also got a card for Jingle Belles annual Earth Day challenge to include at least one recycled, reused, or upcycled item.  I have two on my card - a piece of a Christmas coffee cup sleeve and a glittery reindeer that I removed from a commercial card I received.

 

 

I trimmed the coffee cup sleeve but kept its curved edges.  Added it to the card base.  Then added the reindeer by gluing its legs right to the card and popping its body and head up with foam tape.  Finished off by stamping the sentiment.

 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown 

 

 

 

Jingle Belles

 

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU Christmas Cardinal
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coffee cup sleeve, glitter reindeer off a commercial card, foam tape

A Cardinal and a Puppy

A Christmas card Twofer today.  First up for the Christmas Cards All Year Round "Red and White" challenge:

I pulled out a really old stamp that I've had for years and stamped and heat embossed it in red. I die cut the panel with a square hemstitch die and backed it with red shimmer cs. I die cut the sentiment "joy" with the same cs. The whole panel is popped up on fun foam for dimension.

And the second card is for the Christmas Kickstart "Pawfectly Pawsome Christmas" challenge.

I thought this stamp with the puppy's paws hanging over the box fit the "pawfectly pawsome" idea so well!

Stamped and watercoloured, framed with a green pierced rectangle frame, and mounted on a red card base.  The sentiment ended up crooked so I restamped it on a little strip of cs and glued it over the crooked one.

Christmas Cards All Year Round "Candy Cane and / or Red AND White"

Christmas Kickstart

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Inkadinkado cardinal
Ink - ColorBox Chianti
Paper - red shimmer and white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Ranger Rich Red embossing powder, Spellbinders square hemstitch die, Tattered Lace joy die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Hobby Art "A Christmas Tail"
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, MFT Pierced Rectangle Frame die

Monochrome Brown and a CAS Nativity

The Double D challenge is "Monochromatic (any colour)" and the ABC Christmas Challenge is "K for Kraft" so I've combined the two for this card:

This uses a wonderful technique that my friend Loll taught me.  Here are the steps:

-       Stamp image in brown permanent ink

-       Using torn masks, create snow hills, sponging white over most of the area, leaving just a little at the top of each hill

-       Continue to add sponged snow hills down your card front…you can add in some trees, or whatever you want along the way to add depth to the scene. Sponge sky as well (leave halo around images).

-       Use white pigment ink, white acrylic ink, or white acrylic pen to add snow on buildings, trees, etc.

-       Splatter diluted white acrylic paint to add falling snow

-       Stamp sentiment in same brown ink as image

I then trimmed the panel, cut a dark brown panel and angled it behind the main panel, and added it to a kraft card base. 

While that card took a fair bit of time to make, my second card was quite a quick card.  It's for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown theme challenge "Nativity".

The image and sentiment are heat embossed in gold and then trimmed with a hemstitch die.  I created a matching gold panel to go behind it by rubbing gold ink around the edges of the piece and heat embossing in the same gold.  Popped it up on fun foam and it was done.

Double D Challenge "Monochromatic (any colour)"

ABC Christmas Challenge "K is for kraft"

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Art-Kure St. Mellion Church
Ink - Distress Walnut Stain, ColorBox white
Paper - kraft and dark brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - white acrylic paint

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown nativity stamp, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - Gina K ivory cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold embossing powder, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, fun foam

Handles and Snowflakes

I'm back to Christmas cards with this post.  

Here's a card for the Double D "Something with a Handle" challenge.  Usually their wonderful mood boards inspire my card but this time I had to skip it and search my stamps and dies for a handle.  I found a lovely NBUS stamp so I can also enter it in Darnell's NBUS Challenge, and it's between the 25th and the end of the month so can enter it in Rudolph Days March Challenge.

Stamped, watercoloured, trimmed with a hemstitch die, bordered with dark red cs, and put on a cream card base.

And today's twofer is for Christmas Kickstart "Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies":

I've been using Jennifer Maguire's technique a lot lately (seen in this video).

I embossed bright aqua blue foil cs with the snowflake embossing folder, then sanded the raised part, exposing the white cs underneath the blue foil layer.

I added two snowflakes die cut from sparkly cs. The sentiment on the top right is a wax seal that I made while at a friend's house.

Double D "Something with a Handle"

NBUS Challenge "Never Before Used Schtuff"

Rudolph Days "Anything Christmas"

Christmas Kickstart "Snowflakes are Winter's Butterflies"

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black basket, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, dark red and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white cs, aqua blue foil cs, sparkly white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - snowflake embossing folder, snowflake die cuts, wax seal

Polar Bears, a Cabin, and a Sentiment

The month is flying by and I've got some challenges I want to enter.

First up, did you know there was such a thing as Polar Bear Day?  Well there is, and part of the reason is to draw attention to the world's largest carnivore and the threat of extinction facing it.  The Day of the Month Card Club Challenge chose it for its February challenge.  And polar bears are perfect for the Paper Players wildlife challenge.

Stamped and watercoloured, then trimmed and put on a gold shimmer panel that has "merry" die cut out of it.

Moving on to Christmas Cards All Year Round where they want to see a cabin or cottage.

I kept it simple to let this lovely detailed image take centre stage.  Stamped in navy, trimmed and bordered with navy cs, and glitter added to all the snowy places.  In real life, it's lovely and sparkly.

And finally, a chance to use up a strange piece of background from my UFO box.  The Christmas Kickstart Challenge wants the sentiment to take centre stage.

I don't know what I was thinking when I made this background - I sprayed some gold spray on navy cs, then scrunched up some cling wrap on top and let it dry.  Then added two types of Frantage embossing powder (one with chunky white bits, one with smaller white and gold bits) and heat embossed from underneath.  I was going to toss it and then decided to try using it for this challenge with just a gold die cut sentiment and a few die cut gold stars.  To add a bit more interest (as if there wasn't enough going on already), I die cut the navy panel with a hemstitch rectangle and layered it over a gold card base to co-ordinate with the sentiment and stars.  So what's the verdict - a hot mess (as Jennifer McGuire likes to say) or a passable attempt at mixed media?  Believe me, you won't hurt my feelings as I'm quite ambivalent about this one!

Challenges:

Day of the Month Card Club Challenge - "Polar Bear Day"

 

The Paper Players - "Wild about Wildlife"

 

Christmas Cards All Year Round - "Cabin / Cottage"

Christmas Kickstart Challenge - "The Sentiment Takes Centre Stage"

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, gold shimmer and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, TH merry die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Crafty Individuals cabin, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Twilight
Paper - white and navy cs
Size - A2
Accessories - glitter

Supplies for card 3:
Paper - navy and gold cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold spray, cling wrap, Stampendous Frantage embossing powders, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, Memory Box star dies, Penny Black sentiment die

A Snow Person

Christmas Crafts All Year Round wants "Snow People" this month.

The snowman is stamped and coloured with coloured pencils, trimmed with a hemstitch rectangle die (I'm in love with these dies as they really add a lot of interest to what is basically a very simple card), and layered on a red card base.  The little star over the letter "i" in the sentiment inspired me to add a few tiny stick-on star embellishments.

Our cold snowy weather has really got me enthused about making Christmas cards!

Supplies:
Stamps - Inkadinkado
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, tiny silver stick-on stars

Cozy Snowman

I'm a bit of a stick-in-the-mud about traditional Christmas colours but I always make an exception for the Jingle Belles challenge when they do their fund-raising challenge for breast cancer.  Stephanie and Lauren who run the challenge each donate $2 for every pink Christmas card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Here's my snowbaby staying cozy in her pink hat and scarf:

Stamped on watercolour paper, watercoloured, trimmed with a hemstitch square die, layered over pink cs, and added fun flock to the pompom and brim of the hat.

Linking up with:

Jingle Belles "Pink Christmas"

 

Christmas Cards All Year Round "Something that Starts with S or T"

Penny Black Saturday Challenge "Anything Goes" 

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, pink and cream cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders square hemstitch die, fun flock

Hemstitch Border

I've seen people using a hemstitch border with a background colour showing through and really like the look of it so finally broke down and bought the hemstitch dies.  Here's my first card using it:

The design of the card was inspired from some cards I've seen on Pinterest with a bunch of squares of alcohol ink background and heat embossed images.  I used a variety of blue AIs as it's my sister's favourite colour and her birthday is coming up.  I dribbled the AIs on glossy cs, spritzed with blending solution and let the colours run and then dry.

I die cut six squares out of the panel and put each one in my Misti (using a Sizzix Sticky Grid sheet to hold them in place as the little squares were too small to hold down with magnets).  I stamped and heat embossed various bits of wildflower images, half of them in white and half in gold.  

Then I arranged them on white cs with a gold heat embossed sentiment below, and die cut with the hemstitch rectangle.  I didn't have any gold cs that perfectly matched the gold heat embossing, so cut a rectangle of white cs and heat embossed its edges in the same gold embossing powder.  Layered it behind the main panel and then added the whole thing to a white card base.

Seize the Birthday is calling for "Faux or Real Stitching" so I'm linking up there, hoping that faux hemstitching counts for the challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps - SavvyStamps sentiment, various wildflower stamps by Magenta, Rubbernecker, Penny Black, and Lavinia
Ink - ColorBox white and gold pigment ink, various blue alcohol inks
Paper - white and glossy cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders small square die, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, white and gold embossing powders