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
 

 

Spring Bluebells and Two Christmas Cards

Since it's spring, I'll start with a spring card.  Shopping our Stash Challenge is asking for Spring or Easter, and the Four Seasons Challenge wants Spring.  And since the bluebells are a Penny Black stamp, I'm linking it up to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.

The Scilla are starting to bloom in my garden so this seemed the perfect stamp.  I stamped  and heat embossed in gold, then coloured with coloured pencils.  With Tea Dye ink to give a vintage feel, I stamped the definition of spring in a couple of places, sponged  around the edges, and stencilled some splatters.  Then stamped the flower name and cut it with a narrow label die and added it to the top.  The panel is popped up on fun foam for some dimension.

Moving on to working on my Christmas card stash.  Double D wants to see Cute Little Animals and Jingle Belles want us to be inspired by one of the cookies in this image:

I saw the cookie on the left near the bottom with the tangle of lights and thought of the stamp I have with a cute little dog all tangle up in Christmas lights.

I watercoloured the image and went over the lights with Glossy Accents. I trimmed with an old Spellbinders label tag, and bordered with green and added to a red card base. And I found the perfect sentiment that refers to lights! 

And finally Christmas Craft Creations wants to see Designer Paper on our cards.  I love colour coordinating DP with the colours I use in my focal image. 

The image is stamped and coloured with coloured pencils and popped up on fun foam for some dimension.

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black Scilla, Purple Onion spring definition
Ink - ColorBox gold, Distress Oxide Tea Dye
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold embossing powder, coloured pencils, splatter stencil

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black dog, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and green cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, Glossy Accents, Spellbinders label dies

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment, unknown owl stamp
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs, dp
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam

A Threefer!

I don't very often post three cards at once but I'm trying to get a few challenges done and I had plenty of time to craft on the weekend.

First up for Stamping Sensations ("things with wings") and Once Upon a Time ("Harold and the Purple Crayon"):

I chose the colour combination from the Once Upon a Time challenge book cover:

I sprinkled blue and purple Brushos on mixed media cs and spritzed with water.  The stamped the butterfly collage over it. The Brushos made some nice shades of colour so I chose similar pink and blue sprays to use on the background. Once the sprays were dry, I stamped the background with a small font script stamp.

Next for My Time to Craft Christmas ("something starting with R"), I went with a reindeer and for Christmas Cards All Year Round ("3 of something"), I went with 3 trees:

I used a technique I learned from Karen Dunbrook of tearing many strips of scrap paper to use as masks, starting at the bottom with the first sponging of ink, and then moving up the card. Once my background was dry, I stamped my images and sentiment. Then once they were dry, I sprinkled chunky white Frantage and White Diamond embossing powder over the panel, and heated it from underneath so it wouldn't blow away - a great way to create snowfall.

And finally for Sweet Stampin' Challenge ("spring or Easter"), I went with spring and for Cardz 4 Galz "Spring Flowers" and My Time to Craft Challenge "Springtime":

I watercoloured the image, trimmed it, and popped it up on fun foam on a dry embossed panel.

Challenges:

Stamping Sensations - things with wings

Once Upon a Time - Harold and the Purple Crayon

Christmas Cards All Year Round  - 3 of something

My Time to Craft Christmas - something starting with R

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - spring or Easter

Cardz 4 Galz - spring flowers 

My Time to Craft - springtime 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Hampton Art Windowpane Monarch, unknown script stamp
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - mixed media and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - various pink and blue sprays, blue and purple Brushos

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Tim Holtz
Ink - various blue Distress inks, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Frantage Chunky White Embossing Enamel, Judikins White Diamond embossing powder

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Stamplorations tulips, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, white linen cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, SU embossing folder

 

Holly and Crocuses on Square Cards

Christmas and Spring on the same day!

For the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Holly and  / or Ivy" challenge:

I started by sponging my background with different shades of green Distress inks. I then stamped the text over it.

I inked the holly leaves with Peeled Paint and did the berries and stem with red and green markers, and then heat embossed with the Peeled Paint Embossing Glaze - it adds some colour and shine but allows the text stamping to show through.  (For more detail on the technique I used, see this video.)

I used red raindrop embellishments for the berries and added the sentiment on a die cut strip at the top to cover up a very blobby bit of background sponging.

Moving on to crocuses.  For The Paper Players' "Clean and Simple Blooms" challenge, The Four Seasons "Anything Goes Spring" challenge, and the We Love Stamping "Anything (stamped) Spring challenge:

 
I watercoloured the image, trimmed it with a square die, and bordered it with green cs before adding to a cream coloured card base.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown
 

The Paper Players

 

We Love Stamping "Anything (stamped) Spring"

 

The Four Seasons Challenge "Anything Goes Spring"  (I was inspired by the crocuses on the top left and the yellow of the forsythia on the bottom left for my card.)

Wishing you all a happy spring!

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black holly, Make an Impression sentiment, unknown text stamp
Ink - Distress Scattered Straw, Old Paper, Bundled Sage, and Peeled Paint
Paper - white cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - red and brown markers, Tim Holtz Peeled Paint embossing glaze, red raindrop embellishments

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Serendipity crocuses, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, green and cream cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders square dies

Spring Rain

The Paper Players challenge is "Spring is in the Air".  And We Love Stamping wants "Anything Stamped Spring".  Here in Vancouver spring is not just snowdrops and crocuses, but a fair bit of rain, wind, and mud.  So here's my spring card:

I created the background with blue and a tiny bit of brown Bister on coated cs. When dry, I stamped the woman and sentiment with black StazOn. I tried to get the puddles at the bottom of the woman on the brown part - mud puddles seem to be a big part of spring around here (and my dog loves them!).  I added some grey Nuvo drops to represent raindrops but they don't show up that well in the photo.

The Paper Players

We Love Stamping "Anything (stamped) Spring"

Supplies:
Stamps - Deep Red woman, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - StazOn black
Paper - white and black cs, coated cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue and brown Bister, grey Nuvo drops, fun foam

The First Spring Flowers

My garden was awash with clumps of snowflakes all through March.  They truly are one of the joys of spring.  So they are my choice for The Paper Players "Springtime Flowers" challenge.

Stamped, watercoloured, bordered with a bit of dp that picks up the colours in the image, and popped up on fun foam.

The Paper Players "Springtime Flowers" challenge

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black snowdrops, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - mixed media cs, white cs, unknown dp
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam

Twofer Snowdrops

I don't very often do my friend, Darnell's Twofer Challenge as my brain doesn't seem to want to come up with two very different designs for two different occasions using the same stamp at the same time.  But this month it is "Flowers" and, while I was making a belated birthday card for a friend yesterday, my brain decided that it did have an idea for using the same stamp differently.  Here are the two cards:

The one on the left is a card to celebrate spring, the one on the right is the belated birthday card (people really shouldn't have birthdays in early January - it's just too darn close to Christmas!).

I made the birthday one first:

It's for a friend who loves birds and is a keen gardener.  Last year she asked me to split up some of my clumps of snowdrops so that she could get them growing in her garden so this seems the perfect image for her January birthday - my snowdrops are already poking their heads up in my garden.

Very simple to make - stamped, watercoloured, trimmed, bordered with green shimmer cs to match the snowdrop leaves, and embellished with some glitter on the snowy bits of the image.

The Twofer uses just the snowdrops part of the stamp:

For this one, I restamped part of the image and watercoloured, then die cut it into a circle, and die cut a circular frame from the same cs as the rest of the card.  I stencilled the background leaves in two shades of green Distress Oxide ink and stamped a definition of spring over it.  And added glitter to the snowy bits of the image.

Thank you, Darnell, for getting my brain to come up with a Twofer this month by giving it a theme that it likes!!!

Twofer Card Challenge "Flowers"   

   
  

I'm also adding it to Seize the Birthday "Snowy Background".

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black robin and snowdrops stamp, SU birthday sentiment, Purple Onion spring stamp
Ink - Archival Jet Black, Distress Oxide Bundled Sage and Evergreen Bough, Memento London Fog
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs, cream cs, green shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, glitter, Spellbinders circle dies, Dina Wakely leaf stencil

A Mini Spring Card and a Purple Christmas Card

Popping in under the wire for a couple of challenges!

First up, Just Us Girls "Mini" challenge:

I made a small card (4.5x3.5"), with a small image of small flowers.

I got out an old PSX stamp of crocuses, stamped and watercoloured the image and painted some earth around the flowers to ground them. I added a bit of splatter in yellow and purple. I didn't want the sentiment to be as bold as the image so stamped it in brown instead of black. Then trimmed it and popped it up on fun foam.


Then off to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Non-Traditional Colours" challenge:



I'm not a huge fan on non-traditional Christmas colours but made myself go with a purple background!

I used various purple and violet Oxide inks and created a smooshed background. I used it to back my reindeer / trees / snowflake die, and also die cut the sentiment out of a scrap of it. Popped the panel up on fun foam for more dimension.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - PSX crocuses, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black, Memento Rich Cocoa
Paper - mixed media and cream cs
Size - 4.5x3.5"
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders rectangle die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Ink - various Distress oxide inks
Paper - mixed media and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tattered Lace winter die, reindeer / snowflakes frame die, fun foam