Masculine with Text and Old and New Supplies

For the Allsorts challenge "For Boys or Men", and for Try It On Tuesday "Add Some Text", I've made a card for a male friend's birthday.

My friend is a huge fan of the Irish playwright, Samuel Beckett, so I found some text written by Beckett on the internet, printed it off, did a bit of extra stamping on it, and sponged it with Distress inks to make it look old.  I added a Tim Holtz paper doll and a sentiment cut out with a narrow strip die, and mounted it on an off-white card base.

Making sure to also keep working on Christmas cards, I did this for Jingle Belles "Something Old, Something New", Shopping our Stash "Out with the Old, In with the New", Penny Black Saturday Challenge "Something New", We Love Stamping "New Things", and NBUS "Never Before Used Stuff".  My new is the Penny Black stamp, my old are my watercolour paints, my kraft cs, and my Glossy Accents. 

 

    

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Memory Box sentiment, Tim Holtz Paris postmark, Lavinia plant
Ink - Archival Watering Can, Versafine Smokey Grey, Distress Vintage Photo and Old Paper
Paper - heavyweight printer paper, off white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - sentiment die, Tim Holtz paper doll

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black birds, Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, kraft and red cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, Glossy Accents

Festive Bear, Red and Kraft Valentine, and Snowy Horses

Three cards again today - I was home all day (that's rare for me) so spent the afternoon making a few cards to enter in challenges before they close.

First up for Festive Friday "National Winnie the Pooh Day".  My card has nothing to do with Winnie the Pooh but it uses five of the elements from Festive Friday's list - brown, yellow, red, bear, and colouring techniques (I used coloured pencils with Gamsol).  It's also for The Twelve Months of Christmas "Polar Bears".

I stamped the image in dark brown then coloured with coloured pencils, using lots of red, yellow, and brown.  I blended the shading on the bear with Gamsol and blending stumps.  I trimmed it with a stitched square, bordered with brown cs, and added it to a square card base.

Next up the first of the Valentines I make every year for my best friend (she orders 10 every year).  She loves seeing text on the background of the cards.  It's for The Color Hues Challenge "Red and Kraft".

The background is a kraft dp printed with old fashioned script.  I topped it with a die cut heart duo and die cut sentiment, and added it to a matching red card base.

And back to Christmas cards, for Jingle Belles "Something Old, Something New" and Simply Clean and Simple "Something New".  I used a new horse stamp I hadn't yet used (so I'm also linking it up with the NBUS Challenge) and a snowflake background stamp I've had for many years.

I stamped snowflake background in pale blue, then stamped the horses below it. Added a sentiment, trimmed the panel with a square die, bordered with black cs, and used a quickie glue pen and glitter along all the snowy lines on the fence.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU Bearing Gifts
Ink - Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves
Paper - white and brown cs
Size - 4.5" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Gamsol, Lil Inkers stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - red cs, kraft script dp
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - Tim Holtz love die, Poppy Stamps Heart String die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Cardio horses, Penny Black sentiment, Impression Obsession snowflake background
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Broken China
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - square dies, glitter

 

Holly, a Winter Cabin, and Ornaments

Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants us to feature a Christmas carol or song.  I chose "Deck the Halls".  Rudolph Days and 12 Months of Christmas are both "anything Christmas".

I put the holly stamp in my Misti and inked it up with various Oxide inks and Memento Dew Drop inks, stamping and reinking until I was happy.  I added some lightly stamped text and postmarks to the background.  Then sponged around the edges.  I finished with a Tim Holtz clippings sticker with the line from Deck the Halls, and added Wink of Stella to the berries.

Christmas Crafts All Year Round wants bows, gifts, or decorations.  I went with decorations.

I created a dry embossed background that creates a three-sided border of ornaments, leaving space in the middle for my die cut ornaments to hang.  I did one each out of red, green, and silver mirror card, and hung them with silver thread.

Stamping Sensations wants to see "Winter".

I love this winter scene.  I stamped it in black and heat embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder (it's very sparkly in real life).  I bordered it with black shimmer cs.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black holly, unknown Christmas script stamp
Ink - various Oxide and Memento Dew Drops, Adirondack Lake Mist
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Wink of Stella, Tim Holtz clippings sticker

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Delicata Copper Glitz
Paper - white cs; red, green, and silver mirror cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Crafts Too embossing folder, Spellbinders ornament die, silver thread

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Crafty Individuals winter cabin, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - chalk cs, black shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SU Iridescent Ice embossing powder

Masculine Christmas and Poinsettias Embossed and Stamped

Cardz 4 Guyz wants a masculine Christmas card. 

I started with the background - used a circle die to cut a round mask for the moon and a hilly slopes die for the snowy ground (both cut out of masking paper). Then splattered masking fluid on the sky for snow. Then sponged with two shades of blue Distress ink, leaving it lighter around the moon. Once the ink was dry, I removed the paper masks and rubbed off the masking fluid. I die cut the buildings and trees out of black cs and added them to the background. Finished off by using white gouache on a fine paint brush to add snow to the roofs.

My second card today is for Can You Handle the Pressure (dry embossing with an optional theme of poinsettias - I went with this theme).

I stamped and watercoloured the candle / poinsettia image, trimmed it with a square die, popped it up on fun foam on a square of off white cs that I'd run through a floral embossing folder that could well be poinsettias.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Make an Impression sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - masking fluid, masking paper, SSS Winter Village dies, circle die, hilly slope die, Dr Phil Martin's bleed-proof white gouache

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stamplorations
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, square dies, Sizzix embossing folder

Heat Embossed Reindeer Panel and Bleached Iris

For the ABC Christmas Challenge "E is for Embossing", I went with heat embossing.

I created a background by spraying some silver spray on cs.  When dry, I stamped the image panel in black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I bordered with silver glitter cs and mounted on a silver shimmer card base.

For the Penny Black Saturday Challenge, I used a lovely Penny Black iris stamp I've had for ages.  It's also for Seize the Birthday "Spring Floral" - the early small irises are starting to bloom in my garden!

 

 

I created a blue background by sprinkling with various blue Brushos and spritzing with water.  I let it air dry.  Then stamped the irises and used a small paint brush and bleach to lift the Brushos colour from inside the iris image.  Then stamped a few bits of random script around the irises and added a sentiment die cut with an oval and lightly sponged with blue ink.  Bordered with black cs.

 

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous reindeer panel
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs, silver glitter cs, silver shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - silver spray, clear embossing powder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black irises, Stampington & Co script, A Muse sentiment
Ink - Distress Tumbled Glass, Versafine Clair Twilight and Nocturne
Paper - black and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - bleach, blue Brushos, Spellbinders oval die

Valentines, Houses, and Berries

Sneaking in under the wire with a Valentine card for Festive Friday "Valentine's Day" (I chose red, hearts, and a love sentiment out of their required elements list) and the Tic Tac Toe challenge (I chose the left hand vertical row of heart, red, and die cut).  I'm adding it to the AAA CAS Valentine challenge as well. 

I found the die cut heart that had text stamped on it in my UFO box. It's leftover from this card made back in 2022. So I decided to turn it into a Valentine for this year.

I dry embossed a strip of hearts across the card base, layered the heart on it, added a die cut sentiment, and a small matching solid red heart to the centre of the big heart.

And also sneaking under the wire with a Christmas card for the Jingle Belles challenge "Something Old ... Something New".  I have a very old window die and some old little snowflake dies combined with some new house dies.

I die cut the window out of cream cs and glued it to a white cardbase. I die cut the snowflakes and houses out of kraft cs and smooshed them into some brown Distress inks smeared on my craft mat. Added them to the card along with a stamped sentiment.

And today I have a Threefer so that I can sneak in under the wire once more.  This time it's for My Time to Craft Christmas "Berries".  I'm also adding it to the ABC Christmas challenge "B is for Berries".

It seemed a great opportunity to use up some berry-covered dp.  I paired it with an image that also has some berries on it.  I coloured the image with watercolour paints and cut my focal image with a circle die.  I cut a slightly larger circle out of a shimmer cs that's the closest colour I had to the stems in the dp and the leaves in the image for a border. 

   

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Wendy Vecchi script background stamp
Ink - Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - white and dark red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box heart dies, Poppy Stamps sentiment die, SU hearts embossing folder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU cardinal, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Speckled Egg
Paper - watercolour paper, dp, off white and shimmery light green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders circle dies

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - PB sentiment
Ink - Distress Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, and Gathered Twigs
Paper - kraft, white, and cream cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - Charlie und Paulschen house dies, PB tiny snowflake dies, Memory Box
window die