A Reindeer in a Shaker and a Snowman

Some snowy stuff today.  First of all a reindeer in a snowy shaker for Shopping Our Stash "Shake It Up":

I die cut the snowglobe out of white cs and out of two layers of fun foam. I glued a circle of acetate between the white cs and the top layer of fun foam. I die cut a tree out of a scrap of green smooshed background and the deer out of a scrap of textured gold cs, and tore a scrap of white cs for snowy ground. I glued them all to the navy card base, sprinkled a little bit of Stampendous "Spoonful of Snow" on top and then added the snowglobe to the top of that. The sentiment is die cut from the same scrap of gold as the reindeer.

Since a shaker card looks different every time it's shaken, here's another view with less of the glittery snow in the sky:

My second card is a snowman for ABC Christmas Challenge "S for Snowman" and Sparkles Christmas Challenge "Build Me a Snowman".

I love this snowman because it rains more than it snows here in Vancouver so I love the fact that he has an umbrella!

Watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched rectangle die, popped up on fun foam on an off-white card base.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - green Distress inks
Paper - navy and white cs, gold textured cs
Size - A2
Accessories - small deer die, snowglobe die, Christmas tree die, Stampendous Spoonful of Snow, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Serendipity snowman
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, MFT Wonky Stitched rectangle die, fun foam

A Mixed Media Card for a Guy

Cardz 4 Guyz want us to "Get Messy with Inks, Paints, or Sprays.  I really struggle with masculine cards but pulled out an older Tim Holtz image for this one.

I did a background of smooshing with Oxide inks - tapping them on my craft mat, spritzing with water, then smooshing my piece of mixed media cs into them, drying between layers. 

I then stenciled with a grid stencil and vintage photo ink, stamped the postmark and blue splats for extra interest.

The man and the sentiment are stamped in black and heat embossed in clear. And the panel is popped up on fun foam for extra dimension.

He's got an umbrella so I'm assuming it's a rainy day so I'm adding it to The Paper Players "Rainy Days" challenge.

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Tim Holtz man and sentiment, SU French Foliage postage mark and splat
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various Distress oxide inks
Paper - mixed media and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, grid stencil, fun foam

Summer on the Beach

We've been having lovely summer weather in Vancouver (even too hot at times, but lots of sunshine).  So a beach-themed card seemed perfect for the Four Seasons Challenge's last Summer challenge.  

I used a stamp I haven't inked up before and created a simple watercoloured scene, framed in black.

The Four Seasons Challenge has a lovely mood board for inspiration.  I saw the image on the top right (see the mood board below) to inspire my beach scene.  I used the colours of the drink for my umbrella and deck chairs.

I'm also linking up with Darnell's NBUS (never before used stuff) challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps - Inkylicious beach scene, Lawn Fawn sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, black and cream cs
Size - 5.25" 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

S for Snowman, V for Vocabulary

Cards for a couple of "ABC" challenges.

First up, Christmas Cards All Year Round "Something that Starts with S or T" - I went with S for snowman.

Stamped, watercoloured, trimmed with a wonky stitched rectangle, and popped up on fun foam on a blue/grey card base.  I decided a sentiment would make it look too busy so put it on the inside.

On the other hand, the sentiment is a major feature of my second card.  It is for the ABC Christmas Challenge "V for Vocabulary".  I interpreted that as using quite dominant words on my card.

I stamped the long narrow image of ornaments and coloured with coloured pencils. Then trimmed the image and added it to the focal panel along with stamping a green vertical sentiment. I trimmed the panel with a deckle edge die and popped it up on fun foam, and finished by adding Glossy Accents to the ornaments.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Serendipity snowman
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, blue/grey cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, MFT Wonky Stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown (Northwoods?) ornaments, Serendipity sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Archival Library Green
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Glossy Accents, Spellbinders deckle edge die, fun foam

A Vancouver Snowman

Here in Vancouver, Canada where I live we don't get much snow and, when we do, it's often nasty wet snow so lots of people use umbrellas when it's snowing (which seems very weird to me!).  When I saw this stamp, I thought it was a perfect depiction of a Vancouver snowman!

I stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched rectangle, popped it up on fun foam on a shimmery blue-grey card base, and added Stickles to those wet snowflakes!

It's my reminder card for this month's CAS Christmas challenge.  Our host, Hideko, has chosen Snowman as this month's challenge.  So please join us with your CAS cards depicting snowmen.  You have until June 24th to link up.  There's lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team over at CAS Christmas!

Supplies:
Stamps - TH sentiment, Serendipity snowman
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, light blue shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, Stickles, fun foam

Looking Back

I don't do vintage style very often, but I do have one stamp I love and it is perfect for the Double D Challenge "Looking Back in Time".

To go with the old-fashioned image, I used vintage colours and some lace.

I stamped the image on watercolour paper with Distress Oxide Vintage Photo - I used the Oxide ink rather than the regular Distress ink as it gives a sharper image.

I pressed a few colours of mini Distress inks on a palette and watercoloured the image with them. The Vintage Photo from the original stamping blended in with them a bit, making the colours seem even more vintage.

I pressed some Vintage Photo on my mat, spritzed it with water, and ran some lace through it. It came out darker than I wanted but I went with it anyway.

I went over the snow on the umbrella and in the sky with a Quickie glue pen and then added Rock Candy glitter for a bit of subtle sparkle (sorry, I couldn't capture the sparkle in my photo).

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps - Crafty Individuals

Ink - Distress Oxide Vintage Photo, various Distress mini inks

Paper - watercolour paper, tan and PTI Vintage Cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - SU lace, Distress Rock Candy glitter

People in the Snow

The SCS Christmas Card Challenge proposes an optional theme each month. I try to use it for at least a couple of my quota of 10 Christmas cards a month. I got a bit behind and never finished my February quota so just made two using the February theme of "people". So I have just done a couple for that (and to finish off my quota).

This first one makes me think of Vancouver's recent weather.  I was out for a walk with the dogs the other day in what can only be called a "slush blizzard" - it was sort of snowing but really it was slush falling out of the sky.  We came home totally soaked.  I really should have carried a huge umbrella like the children on this card:

Stamped, watercoloured with Zigs, added a bit of glitter, and popped the image up on fun foam.

While I had all those supplies out, I went on and used them with a different stamp, but also one with quite a vintage look:

Same basic technique as the first card - stamped, watercoloured with my Zigs, and finished off with a bit of glitter.

The sun has come out this morning and we're all hoping we've seen the last of the snow!

Supplies:

Stamps - Crafty Individuals image and Penny Black sentiment (card 1);
Inkadinkado (card 2)

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - PTI cream cs, watercolour paper, black cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Zig watercolour markers, glitter, fun foam

Stenciling for CAS Mix-Up

The April challenge at CAS Mix-Up is stamping, stenciling, and your choice of at least one other thing.

My choice is embossing paste.  Here's my entry:

I stamped my image and sentiment, and then laid a homemade stencil of raindrops (made for me by Loll Thompson) over top. I inked the stencil first with Memento Sky Blue but it was too blue and too pale, so went over it with Distress Stormy Sky and ended up with a colour I liked. With the stencil still in place, I went over it with clear glossy embossing paste. I coloured the puddles in with a bit of Stormy Sky.

I rarely (more like, never) do one layer cards - I find them incredibly hard but I also made this for the SCS Try a New Technique challenge "Hellos and Goodbyes on a One Layer Card".  I actually feel like I managed to pull off a decent one layer card!!!

It's also for the SCS CAS challenge "April Showers" and the Dragonfly Journeys challenge "April Showers / Umbrellas / Rain".

Supplies:

Stamps: Deep Red woman, PTI sentiment

Paper: white cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Ranger Archival Jet Black, Distress Stormy Sky, Memento Sky Blue

Accessories: homemade stencil, clear glossy embossing paste

Rain and Wind

I really dislike the combination of rain and wind - when the wind blows the rain under your umbrella, through your raincoat, etc. In fact, I don't like rain much at all (though I know we need it!) and unfortunately for me, I live in Vancouver, Canada - part of the rainy Pacific Northwest coast!! But I love this city and wouldn't move!

I made an alcohol ink background with some silver mixative in it - it looks like a stormy blowy sky to me. Simple stamping of the woman with her umbrella blown inside out and the sentiment ("life moments" seemed perfect for one of these kind of moments!) in Staz-on (the background was done on glossy cs).

It's for this week's SCS CAS challenge - to make a CAS card using one of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges (a charitable challenge at SCS).  I chose UnderstandBlue's challenge "Whatever the Weather" - make a card on the theme of the weather you like the least.

Supplies:

Stamps: Deep Red woman, Tim Holtz sentiment

Paper: black and white cs, glossy cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Staz-on Black

Accessories: various alcohol inks, silver alchohol ink mixative, foam tape

Techniques: alcohol ink polished stone