A CAS Basket and a Mixed Media Background

Two very different cards today.  One a CAS card, and one definitely not CAS - lots of mixed media playing around.

For Simply Clean and Simple where the theme is "Baskets":

Stamped and coloured with coloured pencils and then centred in a snowflake frame embossing folder.

And for Try It on Tuesday "Make Your Own Background":

I had a piece of cardstock that I'd used to mop up leftover blue and grey ink after I'd done some smooshing.  I stamped a grid stamp and the Birthday Wishes sentiment on it trimmed it down to fit an odd-sized card base I had.  Then I took another bit of the same leftover ink on, stamped with various stamps (including one that mentions the dragonfly), did a bit of random stencilling with paste, and then layered the two background pieces, and topped with a stamped and fussy cut dragonfly.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black basket, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Ultimate Crafts snowflake frame embossing folder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Three Square Cards

My computer died last Thursday so had to get a new one.  So I'm very last minute getting a bunch of cards posted for challenges that are about to end.  

We Love Stamping wants to see wildlife - I went with a bear.  Addicted to CAS wants stripes - my bear has a lovely striped scarf.  And Time Out Challenge wants a clear element on the card - I used Glossy Accents which dries clear.

I stamped and coloured the bear and the oval of ice. Added the sentiment and trimmed with a square die. Popped it up on fun foam on a blue glitter card base. And then painted Crystal Glaze over the oval of ice.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants snowmen.  Christmas Cards All Year Round wants something that starts with E or F.  I went with F - my card has friends having fun together.  And Jingle Belles want something whimsical - I think it's pretty whimsical to have all those critters building a snowman.

Stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a square die, bordered with a green square, and a sentiment stamped in red and trimmed with a small label die with the red ink rubbed around the edges.

AAA Birthday wants a birthday card with die cuts.

For the background, I used the Watercolor Imprint technique, following the instructions in this tutorial.  I used Distress Oxide inks.

Then die cut the birds on a branch out of off-white cs and tan cs, very slightly offsetting them when I glued them together so that there's a slight tan shadow. Stamped the sentiment (a belated birthday sentiment) in Brushed Corduroy and die cut it with a banner die.

      

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown bear, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - blue glitter cs, white cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam, Nuvo Crystal Glaze, Spellbinders square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Anita Jeram (Colorado Craft Co), Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, SU Real Red
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and green cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, small label die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Brushed Corduroy, Blueprint Sketch, Mowed Lawn 
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and tan cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - sentiment banner die, Rubbernecker leaf stencil, unknown bird die

Valentines

Three Valentine cards today (my best friend always asks me to make some for her each year which gets my fund raiser started well before my Christmas card sale in November!).

We Love Stamping wants hearts and Sweet Stampin' wants love - both require stamped images so this card is for them.  It's also for NBUS as it's a stamp I've had for a while and never used.

I stamped it, coloured the hearts with a red alcohol marker, trimmed the panel, bordered it with black, and added it to my card base.  A great "back to basics" kind of card!     

Color Hues wants red and pink, and Try It On Tuesday wants love.  Time Out wants at least two of sparkle, heart, red, pink, aperture, and twine (I have heart, red, and pink).  It's also going off to Snippets as I used some leftover bits of red cs, a bit of a pink smooshed background, and a couple of strips of white cs for the sentiment and the embossed strip.  

Another quick and easy card but this time using die cuts.  I die cut the three hearts and the sentiment banner, and dry embossed the background strip.

And one more that is less CAS, more mixed media.  It's for Allsorts "Create Your Own Background".

I made a background by first stamping some randomly inked text with Vintage Photo ink. I then laid a heart stencil over the text stamping and used translucent embossing paste through it. It looked kind of bland so I lightly sponged over the panel with the Vintage Photo and that gave more definition to the stencilled hearts.

The large heart is stamped with Versamark on burgundy cs and then gold Pearl Ex was brushed over it (and sealed it with a fixative). I fussy cut the heart, put fun foam on the back, and added it to the background panel.

   
      

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Unity heart branch, Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - red alcohol marker, Spellbinders square dies

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - Memento Rosebud
Paper - white and red cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - various heart dies, SU narrow strip heart embossing folder

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown heart stamp, Wendy Vecchi text stamp
Ink - Versamark, Distress Vintage Photo
Paper - white and burgundy cs
Size - A2
Accessories - heart stencil, embossing paste, gold Pearl Ex, fixative, fun foam

Mixed Media Reindeer and Stencilled Festive Leaves

Playing around to create a card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's "Mixed Media" challenge.  And since it has an animal on it, it's also going to Try It on Tuesday's "Animals - Real or Imaginary" challenge.

My mixed media are ink, embossing powder, Bister powder, and white acrylic paint.

The background is green Bister powder, sprinkled on the cs and then spritzed with water and allowed to dry naturally. Then I splattered with some white acrylic paint. The reindeer is stamped and heat embossed on the Bister background. Then a torn strip of white cs creates the snowy ground that he is walking through. I used a silver shimmer card base for a bit of contrast.

I was really happy with how this turned out but not so happy with the second card I'm posting today.  It's for Addicted to CAS "Leaves".

I stencilled with various Distress inks and small blending tools so that I could get the right colours in the right spots.  Then framed it with a white panel so that I could have more "white space".  Added a sentiment and bordered with green cs.  I'm not sure why I don't like it - maybe I'd have liked it better as a square card?  Or with a different frame?  Anyway, here it is for what it's worth!

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Studio Light reindeer, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, silver shimmer cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, green Bister powder, white acrylic paint

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - A Muse sentiment
Ink - various Distress inks
Paper - green shimmer, white, and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders square inverted scallop die, TH stencil

Muted Blues and Greys

I've got three cards today, all in muted blues and greys.

For Double D "Butterfly", Triple B "Birds, Bees, or Butterflies", and Stamping Sensations "Birds, Bees, or Butterflies", I messed around with some mixed media:

I stuck random bits of Tim Holtz rice paper on a piece of white cs, added a bit of gesso, went over some sections of a harlequin stencil with molding paste, stamped with music, text, and splat stamps in grey on a few random places.  Then trimmed the panel and edged it with a black marker.  I stamped teh butterflies in grey, fussy cut them, and edged them with the black marker and popped them up on the card.

Still in the grey colour scheme, I did a variation on a card I made a while back.  This time it's for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Let's Wreath It Up" and the Cut It Up Challenge "Anything Goes with a Die Cut".

Using a brick wall stencil, I went over it with a rough mixture of black, copper, and white embossing paste. It came out way too dark and too shiny so I then sponged white gesso over it to lighten it and dull it down a bit. I also splattered a bit of the white gesso on it and then trimmed it with a square die. Trimmed it with a square die and popped it up on the card base with fun foam.  I die cut the wreath twice out of scrap cs and once out of off white shimmer cs, glued them together and added it to the brick wall.  I added a sentiment (die cut with a narrow banner die) over the centre of the wreath.

The new Sparkles Christmas Challenge is "Include a Tree".  

I went with my old Penny Black stamp of snow blowing off trees.  I laid down a circle mask for the moon and then stippled around it with pale blue ink.  Stamped the trees and sentiment and heat embossed with sparkly embossing powder.  Trimmed the panel and popped it up on fun foam.

 
     

     

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - The Stampin' Place butterflies, various music, text, and splat stamps
Ink - Versafine Morning Mist
Paper - white cs, TH rice paper
Size - A2
Accessories - molding paste, harlequin stencil, gesso, black marker

Supplies for card 2: 
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Distress Pumice Stone and Hickory Smoke, Versafine Smokey Gray
Paper - mixed media cs, chalk cs, off white shimmer cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - MFT brick wall stencil, Dreamweaver black, copper, and white embossing paste, Sizzix wreath die, fun foam, white gesso, narrow strip die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Penny Black Snow Dust tree, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne. Memento light blue
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear sparkling embossing powder, circle die to create moon mask

Adapting Thelwell to Christmas and Out of My Comfort Zone Butterfly

ABC Christmas Challenge is "N for Non-Christmas Stash".  My childhood wish was to get a pony for Christmas (sadly I never did but I've managed to spend lots of time with ponies over my lifetime!). I used some non-Christmas pony stamps (of illustrations by the cartoonist Thelwell) on this Christmas card:

I made it very Christmas-y by using red and green borders and stamping the tree in green and the sentiment in red.  I combined two different Christmas sentiments to reflect the child's desire for a pony.

Playing around in the craft room on a rainy day, I decided to mix some embossing powders on the same image and ended up with this card.  Definitely outside of my comfort zone in terms of colours!  It's for Sweet Stampin' "Use a Stencil", Stencil Fun Challenge "Trees and / or Leaves", and Stamping Sensations "Birds, Bees, and / or Butterflies".

I created the butterfly by stamping it on black cs with Versamark ink and then carefully adding various embossing powders to different sections. Then I fussy cut it.

The background is stamped with a text stamp in light ink on mixed media cs. Then I laid the bay branches stencil over it and sprayed randomly with three different sprays - love the effect I got!

Layered the butterfly on top with foam tape popping up his wings, and used a cream card base.

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Isobel Craft Collection Thelwell stamps, Penny Black and Simon Says Stamp sentiments
Ink - Archival Potting Soil, Memento Cottage Ivy and Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - white, red, and green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders rectangle dies

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black butterfly, SU French Script
Ink - Versamark, Adirondack Lake Mist
Paper - mixed media, black, cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - various embossing powders, Heidi Swapp gold spray, Mr. Huey's leaf green spray, Lindy's mystic malachite spray, TCW mini bay branches stencil, foam tape