Greenery in a Jar

Great inspiration from this month's Peace on Earth mood board!  The photos of the greenery in jars prompted me to use a jar die that I've never used before.

I die cut the jar from white cs and sponged a bit of grey around the edges for shading and dimension.  I smooshed scraps of cs with various green Distress inks and then die cut the greenery and holly from it.  Then arrange it in the opening of the jar, added it to a white card base and embellished with red gemstones for the berries.

Here's the Peace on Earth mood board that inspired me.  Head on over to our blog for more inspiration from the design team, and then make a card for our challenge either inspired by the mood board or an "anything Christmas" card!

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - various green Distress inks, Memento London Fog, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz greenery dies, holly die, mason jar die, red gemstones

A Challenge Card and an Improved Card

I'm on birthday cards today, a brief break from Christmas cards.

Seize the Birthday wants "Flowers" as its topping.

And The Flower Challenge is "Use Your Favourite Flower".

I used a new flower stamp that I love because it is an agapanthus, definitely a favourite flower because it is blue!

I put the stamp in the MISTI and inked up with various mini Distress inkpads and markers, spritzing with water, and stamping onto watercolour paper until I was happy with the results.

I trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle die, added a vertical sentiment, and bordered in navy blue cs.

It will go off to my cousin in England who grows the most amazing agapanthus!

On to a second birthday card.  I made this card a couple of years ago:

See this post here for the details.  I was not totally happy with it and never sent it but my friend who is an artist has her birthday coming up so I pulled it out again and revamped it a little bit:

I re-stamped the image and added some watercolour paints to the jar, the brushes, and the tips of the brushes.  Then fussy cut it and glued it on top of the original stamped image.  A simple fix but it made all the difference - I am so much happier with the card now!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Penny Black agapanthus, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - various mini Distress inkpads and markers

Paper - watercolour paper, white and navy cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, blue pearls

Supplies for card 2: 
See this post here

Squeaking In Under the Wire

I've been meaning to do two cards for Darnell's March Twofer Challenge, but somehow March flew by!  So I'm getting them done and linked up on the last day!

I recently bought a new Penny Black stamp full of different flowers that is perfect for the challenge.

The first one is a "best wishes" card that I will probably use as a birthday card and put the "happy birthday" sentiment inside, and the second is a "summer time" notecard.  I went with softer colours, the full image, and some tiny flower sequins for the first, and, for the second, brighter colours that make me think of the heat of summer, just part of the image, and a die cut frame.

Here's the first card.  I'm also entering it in the "Inspired by All the Little Things" challenge where the image is:

I watercoloured the image with my Gansai Tambi paints - I find they give me the flexibility to achieve a soft watercolour look.  I did a bit of grey around the bottom to ground the image and mounted it on a thin dark grey mat.  My plan had been to use 3 or 4 regular sequins on the open space but I couldn't decide on placement and they just didn't look good, so I scattered quite a few tiny flower sequins around and glued them down, and then wished I'd just let the image stand on its own.  Oh well - no way to peel them off without damaging the panel.

And the second card:

I coloured this with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers - I laid down the colours and blended them into each other without using any water so I got rich strong colours.  I trimmed it down and attached it to the card base.  I then created the top layer with the sentiment, an opening, and a cross-stitch frame around the opening.

Thanks, Darnell, for creating the Twofer challenge - it really stretches my skills to think of two different ways to use a stamp!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black flowers, unknown Best Wishes, Rosie's Road Show Summer Time

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - white and dark grey cs, watercolour paper

Size - 5.75" square, A2

Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolours, Zig Clean Brush markers, tiny flower sequins, foam tape, Ali Express cross stitch dies