A Birthday Card and a Sympathy Card

Amazingly for me, I don't have a Christmas card today.  But I will have one tomorrow!!

For a friend who is an avid bird watcher.  I will be seeing her on her birthday so I could make something I can hand deliver.  It's for two challenges - Can You Handle the Pressure "Trees / Leaves" and The Sisterhood of Crafters "Birthdays".

I dry embossed the background and had a perfect vertical sentiment that would just fit in a section of the panel that had no embossing on it.  I added a die cut leafy wreath, a die cut bird that I smooshed in various Distress inks, and a piece of moss I found in my garden that was perfectly nest-shaped.

Shopping our Stash wants Sympathy cards - a good challenge to get me to make one for my stash as, at my age, sadly I seem to have need of sympathy cards fairly often.

I masked off a rectangle on my focal panel and sponged from three corners first with the lighter ink, then the darker. I stamped the leaves and text with second generation grey ink, and then stamped the sentiment with full strength grey ink. On top of it all, I stamped the cream leaves with white pigment ink and then heat embossed with cream embossing powder. It's popped up on fun foam on a dry embossed background.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow vertical sentiment
Ink - various green, yellow, orange Distress inks
Paper - white and grey-green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - moss from my garden, leafy wreath die, bird die, leafy branches embossing folder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Very Versailles, unknown sentiment
Ink - various aqua / turquoise Distress inks, Archival Watering Can, ColorBox white
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - textured embossing folder, cream embossing powder, fun foam

Another Easter Bunny

I made this card for my friend who hosts a large Easter brunch.  It's also for Shopping Our Stash (Hippity Hop), The Paper Players (Bunny) Inkspirational (I was inspired by the colourful eggs in their mood board), and Stamping Sensations (Birds, Animals, Flowers, and / or Nature).

I stamped the nest onto linen cs and cut a slit along its centre. I stamped the eggs on a scrap of cs and coloured them with alcohol markers and then fussy cut them and arranged them in the slit I'd cut in the nest. The bunny is die cut from a scrap of cs smooshed in various light brown and beige inks. I added a bit of pink with a coloured pencil to his ears. He's glued on to the nest and then I die cut the panel with a stitched square die and popped it up on fun foam on the card base.

   

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment, SU Nature Walk (eggs), Rubber Monger nest
Ink - Ranger Potting Soil, light brown and beige inks
Paper - white linen cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Charlie and Paulchen bunny die, alcohol markers, Lil Inker stitched square die, fun foam, pink coloured pencil

Two Holiday Cards - One Christmas, One Easter

Can You Handle the Pressure is an "anything goes as long as you use an embossing folder" challenge so I did a Christmas card as I'm behind on my quota I try to get made each month ready for my sale in November.

I love text in the background of a card.  Usually I stamp the text but the challenge inspired me to use a text embossing folder instead.  The image is stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with an oval die, and bordered with red cut with the next larger oval die.

And for Easter, I made this card for My Time to Craft Challenge "Easter Flowers".

I put the wildflower stamp in my MISTI and inked it up with various Tombow markers, one colour at a time and spritzing each time. I pulled a bit of the colour out to fill in the flowers that just had outlines.

I stamped and fussy cut the nest and eggs, glued the eggs in the nest and set the nest in front of the wild flowers.

Can You Handle the Pressure?

My Time to Craft "Easter Flowers"

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU Beautiful Season, Impression Obsession sentimen
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - cream cs, red shimmer and cream shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Twinkling H2Os, script embossing folder, Spellbinders oval die cut

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Indigo Blu wildflowers, SU sentiment, SU Nature Walk eggs, Rubber Monger nest
Ink - Indigo Blu wildflowers, SU sentiment, SU Nature Walk eggs, Rubber Monger nest
Paper - mixed media and off-white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tombow markers

Twofer Birds with a Nest

The wonderful Darnell of djkardkreations has started a new challenge blog called "Twofer".  The idea is to make two cards using the same stamp or die for two different occasions or celebrations.  The first prompt is:

I have no feather stamps or dies but I do have lots of birds.  So here's my Twofer:

I used a new die of a branch, nest, and birds.

First up I made a birthday card for a friend who is an avid bird watcher.

I've always been full of admiration for people who can colour die cuts that have no lines or definition on them.  But I gave it a try.  My results did not make me that happy, but thanks to advice from a few stamping friends, I went back over it and added more shading and definition and am now happier, though I'm going to practice with some less complex dies!

My colouring was done with Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, but then I went back in with Inktense pencils to deepen up the birds, add a bit of shading on the large branch, and some twiggy texture to the nest.

The background was done by sprinkling some blue Brushos on coated cs and spritzed with water.  When dry, I stamped the sentiment with StazOn and trimmed the panel with a stitched rectangle die.


My second card uses the same die to create a pale silhouette against blossom to use as a card to celebrate spring:

The die is cut from a piece of cs I'd sprayed with a slightly shimmery grey spray - it was sitting in my UFO box.

For the background, I sponged various pink and green Distress inks through a stencil, added a sentiment in green ink, and used a co-ordinating pink card base.

It's certainly far easier and quicker to use a die cut as a silhouette than to paint it!!

Looking forward to Darnell's next Twofer challenge - it's fun to come up with two ways of using the same stamp or die.

Supplies:

Stamps - unknown birthday sentiment, Stampendous spring sentiment

Ink - StazOn black (first card); Distress Peeled Paint, Tattered Rose, and Picked Raspberry (second card)

Paper - white and coated cs, watercolour paper (first card); white and pink cs (second cs)

Size - A2

Accessories - Ali Express die (both cards); blue Brushos, Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Inktense watercolour pencils, Li'l Inker stitched rectangle die, fun foam (first card);  Tim Holtz blossom stencil, shimmery grey/silver spray

Remember the Green and Pink

It's the middle of April already so time to remind you that you only have until April 24th to link up a card featuring watercolouring in green and pink in the CAS Watercolour challenge.

My garden is finally coming to life after our longer, colder, and snowier than usual winter, and the beautiful ornamental cherry trees are starting to bloom, so I was inspired to pull out a stamp that includes some spring blossom.

I stamped in Archival ink and then painted with my Gansai Tambi watercolour paints.  A simple sentiment, a trim with a stitched square die, and a piece of fun foam to pop it up on a kraft card base, and it's done!  A fun image to watercolour and detailed enough that it needs no embellishments.

Head on over to CAS Watercolour for more inspiration and to link up your card.

I'm also entering my card in the new Less is More challenge "Spring Walk" - I love seeing the blossoms and the birds building their nests when I'm out walking the dogs at this time of year!

Supplies:

Stamps - B Line Designs bird and nest, PTI sentiment

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - kraft cs, watercolour paper

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Lil Inkers stitched square die, fun foam

SCS Challenges

A couple of cards done for SCS challenges this week:

First of all, for the Free for All challenge "Pick a Combo" - pick a color combo for your card based on some of the top 2017 Pantone choices, with one of your choices being Greenery (the 2017 colour of the year).

I chose Greenery, Flame, and Hazelnut from the Pantone chart here:

I wanted to make a card for a friend who is a bird-watcher and who just bought a new condo.

I stamped the bird's nest in archival ink on watercolour paper, painted it using colours as close to the Pantone colours as I could get - Greenery for the leaves, and Flame and Hazelnut for the bird and flowers.

I then fussycut it, die cut a branch to ground it on the card (thought I doubt that thin little branch could hold the nest IRL!!), and added it to a white cs panel on which I'd printed the computer-generated sentiment.


The second card is for the CAS Challenge - Words (let a sentiment stamp carry the whole card).

I used a sentiment stamp for a sympathy card. I love what it says. In case it's hard to read in the photo, it says "Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy. - Eskimo folklore".

It's stamped and heat embossed in gold, cut out with a stitched rectangle, popped up on fun foam, and embellished with some die cut stars. The stars are made from scraps of corrugated cardboard, randomly painted first with gesso, then with liquid gold paint.

It's also for the CAS Mix Up challenge to use corrugated cardboard.  It's open until February 24th.  There's no deadline for the SCS challenges.

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - BLine Designs "home tweet home"

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, white and kraft cs

Size - A2

Accessories - watercolour paints, Memory Box branch die 

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Verses Rubber Stamps

Ink - ColorBox Gold

Paper - white cardstock, corrugated cardboar

Size - A2

Accessories - Lil Inkers stitched rectangle, gold embossing powder, various star dies, gesso, gold paint, fun foam

Spring Birds

Just lately I've been woken up every morning by the singing of the spring birds - they're so busy starting their nests and courting!  Appropriate then, that I've done two cards of spring birds today.

First up is one that is still a bit wintery as it's got some snow on it, but the snowdrops are blooming on it so definitely a spring card. I made it for the SCS Free for All challenge, "Going to Pot" - use any type of pot or container on your card.

I watercoloured the image with my Gansai Tambi watercolours - love those paints! Added a Quickie glue pen and snow glitter to the snow on the edges of the pot, leaves, and branches, and along the ground lines.  And then popped it up on fun foam.

The second one is for the SCS Ways to Use It challenge to use book pages on your card.

As some of you may know, I'm a retired librarian so my professional instinct is to rebel against cutting a page out of a book!  But I have an old copy of the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady that was discarded from the library because it was falling apart so I decided it wouldn't be too painful to take a page out of it!

I found a page in the entries for the month of March that refers to various birds' nests - perfect to use with my stamp of bird, nest, and blossom.

I used mixed media cs for the image as the Zig brush markers work really well on it. And it's a fairly heavy cs so works well when popped up on foam tape. I painted it quite pale first as that's the look I like for blossom, but it looked lost against the book page so went over it all more heavily - and now it looks too bright!

I sponged the edges of the piece of the book page with Distress Brushed Corduroy and then splattered some watered down ink over it.

I'm stamping Happy Easter inside it and giving it to my best friend's mother who has invited me to Easter brunch. The dates on the book page are so perfect for it as it includes the date of the brunch! Ironically my BF's mother is also a retired librarian so I'll see how she reacts to a page cut out of a book!

Happy Easter!

Supplies for the Robin and Pot card:

Stamps: Penny Black
Paper: cream cs, watercolour paper
Paper Size: A2
Ink: Archival Jet Black
Accessories: Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Quickie glue pen, snow glitter, fun foam

Supplies for the Bird Nest and Book Page card: 

Stamps: B-Line Designs bird and nest

Paper: cream cs, mixed media cs, page from a book

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Archival Jet Black, Distress Brushed Corduroy

Accessories: Zig brush markers, foam tape

Bird and Blossom for CAS Mix-up

I just can't get enough of Loll's and Bonnie's new challenge, CAS Mix-Up.  It perfectly suits my style and interests!  The March challenge is stamping, watercolouring, and your choice.

Sponging my stencil with my Distress inks is my choice of another medium this time.

 

I used a stamp I'd never inked up before. I stamped it on a scrap of watercolour paper, painted it with watercolour paints, and fussy cut it.

The background is a Tim Holtz stencil, sponged with pink and green Distress inks. It's popped up on the card base with fun foam and the nest is popped up on the background with pieces of foam tape. 

You've got until March 24th if you want to join in with the CAS Mix-Up challenge.

I also did the card for this week's SCS CAS challenge - "Spring Critters".

 

Stamps: B-Line Designs bird, PTI sentiment

Paper: white cs, watercolour cs

Paper Size: 5.25" square

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Peeled Paint and Spun Sugar

Accessories: Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, foam tape, fun foam, Tim Holtz blossom stencil