An Image Only Inspired by Nature, a Nordic Christmas, and a Little Taste of Spring

A chilly day that kept me inside instead of working in my garden.  So I made this card for Stamping Sensations "Inspired by Nature" and ABC Christmas Challenge "I is for Image Only - No Sentiment".

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, hand trimmed around the oval, and mounted on fun foam on a red card base.

A second card for today - for The Twelve Months of Christmas "Nordic Noel".  I'm also linking it up with the Rudolph Days challenge.

I cut the Tim Holtz Nordic Winter die four times (once out of each of white, red, green, and brown cs). I put the white outline (or negative) piece onto a sheet of double-sided tape. I stuck some of the red, green, and brown pieces into their openings. That left all the tiny circles and stars openings - I certainly didn't have the patience to stick little pieces into them but I had to cover up the stickiness of the tape so I sprinkled clear glitter over the panel and pressed it into all those tiny openings. I peeled off the back protective layer from the tape and added it to the card base, and then added a sentiment die cut with a narrow banner die.

One more today to slip into We Love Stamping "Spring is in the Air" before it closes.

Stamped and coloured with coloured pencils, then framed with a second layer of white cs with a rectangle die cut in the centre.  The frame is popped up with foam tape.

 

                          

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Northwoods
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white, red, green, and brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - sentiment banner die, Tim Holtz Nordic winter die, clear glitter, Sook Wang sheet of double-sided tape

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SU flowers, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils, Spellbinders rectangle die, foam tape
 

 

Easter Bunny with Chicks, and a Snowman with Pressure

For Stamping Sensations (Birds, Animals), ATCAS (Bunny), Festive Friday (Easter - I picked yellow, bunny, and Easter sentiment from the list of options), Shopping Our Stash (rabbit or chick), and Double D (Easter):

Stamped, watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched rectangle. I thought of doing the chicks' little sweaters and the ball of yarn in various colours but I'm going to send it to my sister and her favourite colour (like mine) is blue, and keeping it to blue reflects the colours in the Double D mood board (see below).

I've been away visiting family so didn't get any Christmas cards made for two weeks, so now I'm back, I'm getting some quick ones made to keep up with my goal of 8-10 a month.  Did this one for Can You Handle the Pressure "Dry Embossing and Your Favourite Colour" (and as I said above, blue is my favourite colour).

I used a narrow snowflakes embossing folder on the top and bottom of a mini slimline card base.  I stamped the image in blue, trimmed the panel, ran the ink pad around the edges, and popped it up on fun foam.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - House Mouse "Will Knit for Friends", SU sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Local King
Ink - Distress Faded Jeans
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - narrow snowflakes embossing folder, fun foam

Bird in a Santa Hat

Jingle Belles want to see a "Santa Hat" on a card and Cardz 4 Guyz want to see a "Masculine Christmas Card".  I have a friend whose kids call him "an old fart" when they're teasing him so I made this with him in mind!

I stamped and coloured the bird and Santa hat, and die cut them both.  I stuck them to a cream panel on which I'd stamped the sentiment, then rubbed some green ink around the edges of the panel to create a border.  I added it to a background of dp.

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and Santa Hat, Old Island Stamp Co. sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Archival Library Green
Paper - cream cs, ColorBok dp
Size - 6.25x3.25" slimline
Accessories - Tim Holtz Crazy Birds and Santa Hat dies

Patterned Paper Hearts

A Valentine for the Tic Tac Toe challenge (I chose the left vertical column from the challenge graphic at the end of the post - die cut, heart, patterned paper) and the Time Out challenge (I chose the word "love" from their quote):

I have some beautiful Craft Consortium patterned paper that my dear friend Loll gave me. It has different shades of a similar colour in it and various random beige veins. I went over the veins with a Stardust gel pen to give them a bit of sparkle.

I die cut various shapes and sizes of hearts from the paper and from white cs so that I could glue the paper heart onto the cs hearts and give them more substance.

I got to try out a friend's Glimmer Hot Foil system. I ran the Poppy Stamps Heart String die through with pink glimmer foil and that created the outline in which I stamped the sentiment and also gave me a line across the card on which I arranged the die cut hearts. A border with dark pink shimmer cs finished it off.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

 

Time Out Challenge

Supplies:
Stamps - TH sentiment
Ink - Distress Picked Raspberry
Paper - dark pink shimmer cs, white cs, Craft Consortium dp
Size - 6.25x3.25" mini slimline
Accessories - Stardust gel pen, IO heart dies, pink glimmer foil, Poppy Stamps Heart String die

Pink Christmas

I always like to enter the Jingle Belles "Pink Christmas" challenge as they donate money to breast cancer research for each card that's entered.  I'm really squeaking in under the wire this time as the challenge is about to close.

I found a piece of background I'd sprinkled with pink Magicals (and then spritzed with water) in my UFO box and thought it was perfect for a poinsettia die cut.  It worked well for a mini slimline.  I heat embossed the sentiment in pink, added a narrow strip of the Magicals piece to balance out the panel, popped it up on fun foam on the card base, and added sparkly pink embellishments.

Jingle Belles

I'm also adding it to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Poinsettias and Posies".

And ABC Christmas Challenge "U for Unusual Christmas Colours"

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - ColorBox pink
Paper - white cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - Penny Black poinsettia die, pink Magicals, fun foam, clear embossing powder, pink sparkly embellishments

Christmas Music and Christmas Tree

Getting more Christmas cards done on a dreary drizzly day!

First up for Jingle Belles "something musical on your card", I have musical dp, a horn, and a line from a Christmas carol:

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils (including a metallic gold one for the horn), trimmed with a stitched square die, popped up on fun foam on a musical dp.

For the Cardz 4 Guyz "Slimline Card" challenge, I did a Christmas card that I think would be fine for a guy:

I put some double sided tape on cs and added foil to it, then die cut my tree. I die cut it a second time from scrap cs and glued them together to give the tree more dimension.

I cut a top panel for the card and ran it through an embossing folder - because the embossing folder is meant for A2 cards, it left an unembossed area at the bottom that was perfect for the sentiment.

Jingle Belles

Cardz 4 Guyz

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU rocking horse, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Archival Acorn
Paper - white cs, musical dp
Size - 5.75" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam, Lil Inker stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Faded Jeans
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - Impression Obsession fir tree die, Deco emerald foil, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Blue and White Christmas

It's time for January's second Peace on Earth Christmas challenge.  I went with one of my favourite Christmas colour combinations - blue and white.

I created the background by swiping various blue Distress stains across some watercolour paper that I'd lightly spritzed with water to help the colours blend.  When dry, I stencilled some tiny snowflakes with white embossing paste.

I layered the Delicate Pine Frame die over it and added it to a panel stamped with a right angle sentiment.  Then popped that panel up on fun foam on the card base.

I was inspired by the white tree and blue and white colour scheme of the lower left image on Peace on Earth's mood board (although the challenge is an "anything goes" Christmas challenge so you don't have to use the mood board).

Head on over to the Peace on Earth challenge blog for more inspiration!

I used up a little off-cut from the background and created this mini slimline:

I ran a piece of white cs through a dotted embossing folder.  Because the mini slimline size is 6.25", the embossing folder left an unembossed strip at the bottom - perfect for stamping the sentiment.

I layered a deer / tree die over the background piece and assembled the card.

I really like the mini slimline format - a great way to use up little scraps!  

I'm also entering the following:

Colorful Options "Winter Blue" challenge

 

The Sisterhood of Crafters "The Color Blue" challenge 

The Four Seasons "Anything Goes Winter" challenge

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown corner sentiment
Ink - Distress Faded Jeans
Paper - white and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - various blue Distress stains, Memory Box tiny snowflake stencil, white embossing paste, Memory Box Delicate Pine Frame die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Distress Faded Jeans
Paper - white and mixed media cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - unknown deer / tree die, various blue Distress stains, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Memory Box tiny snowflake stencil, white embossing paste

Two Santa Cards

Vancouver had a big dump of snow last night and it's been abnormally cold (for us, though not for lots of you!) so it seemed a good day to make cards, do a blog post, etc.  Of course I'm still doing Christmas cards but the snow makes it feel like the thing to do!

First up one I did before Christmas but mailed out to a blog friend so didn't post it earlier.

One of the stamps in the SU Bokeh Dots set makes a lovely winter night sky background.  I stamped it, added a thin black border, die cut the Santa and reindeer in black, and added a vertical sentiment.

It is going off to:

AAA Cards Challenge - Christmas and Optional Twist "Slimline"

Next up is a rescue of a first attempt at colouring the Deep Red Vintage Santa stamp.  I made a real mess when I coloured the border around it and was going to toss it but decided to just die cut the inner circle and make a quick card with it.  I recycled the back of a commercial card I received last year so that I could link it up with "Z is for Zig Zag" at the ABC Christmas Challenge.

I used alcohol markers to colour the image - they are not my strong point so just used them like markers without any shading.  I do like the vibrant colours you can get with them and the way all the details and shading on a stamp will show through them.  There was a black blob below Santa's hand (actually the bowl of his pipe but by the time I realized that, I'd already added a bowl up next to his hand).  So to cover up the blob below his hand, I used a TH remnant rub over it.  It also takes care of adding a sentiment!

Come back in a couple of days and you'll see my more successful version of the Deep Red Vintage Santa!

Meanwhile I'm linking this one up with:

ABC Christmas Challenge - Y is for Yummy or Z is for Zig Zags

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Something that Starts with X, Y, or Z - so my zig zag background works here too.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU Bokeh Dots background, Rosie's Road Show sentiment
Ink - Distress Faded Jeans, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 6.3.25"
Accessories - Frantic Stamper Santa and sleigh die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Deep Red Vintage Santa
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs, recycled red zig zag commercial card
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Spellbinders circle die cut, TH "Dear Santa" Remnant Rub-on, alcohol markers, fun foam

Christmas Mini Slimlines

A couple of Christmas mini slimline cards, one vertical, one horizontal, both using up little scraps or snippets that were hanging around on my desk!

I had a tiny snippet of a galaxy background that I'd made for other cards and it just fit behind the tiny reindeer  / tree die.  I cut the die out of another leftover snippet of white cs.  I stamped the sentiment in grey so as not to look stronger than the night galaxy sky.

The horizontal one:

There are always little snippets of background leftover after I trim a background down for a card.  Here I used both a snippet of a blue Oxide ink smooshed background and a snippet of embossed dots, and topped them off with the polar bears cut from a snippet of white cs (of which I save far too many!).

Linking up one or other of them with:

Pixie's Crafty Workshop Snippets Challenge

Double D Challenge "Lots of White"  (the upper left image in their inspiration board inspired the colours in my first card)

 

AAA Cards CAS Challenge "Christmas and optional twist Slimline"

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Simon Says Stamp sentiment
Ink - grey ink for sentiment, various Distress inks for galaxy background
Paper - white and mixed media cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - unknown reindeer / tree die, diluted white acrylic paint for splattering galaxy background

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Power Poppy sentiment
Ink - various blue Distress Oxide inks, Versafine Clair Twilight
Paper - white and mixed media cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - unknown bear die, Cuttlebug embossing folder