Background Blues and Window, Wreath, Wood

The second card is for AAA Colourful which has a colour board of shades of blue.  We can use any of the shades we like - I went with the paler ones and tried to get a similar swirly blend of colours as on the colour board.

The background is a blend of blue acrylic paints on mixed media cs.  I used rustic white cs for the die cut panel and the card base, and stamped the sentiment in dark blue.

My other card is for Tic Tac Toe.  I picked the diagonal line that reads woodgrain, free, and die cut.

I made a small wreath with various green dps and the Martha Stewart pine branch punch. I put some pearl embellishments on it. Then layered it on a die cut window and a piece of wood grain cs. I used a square green card base and added a small vertical sentiment.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Twilight
Paper - mixed media cs, rustic white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - unknown die, blue acrylic paints 

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Distress Frayed Burlap
Paper - wood grain cs, white cs, various green dps
Size - 5" square
Accessories - Martha Stewart pine branch punch, window die, pearl embellishments

Double Stencilling / Christmas Horse

The Allsorts Challenge wants to see stencils.

I stencilled with two different stencils on my focal panel. I started by spraying the piece of white cs with a pale blue spray (which left a few nice splatters as well as colouring the cs). Then stencilled the tiny grid lightly in purple, and then stencilled the branch with darker purple. I added a sentiment and few sequins and found a purple cs for the card base. It's for one of my sisters who has had some challenges lately so I chose an encouraging sentiment.  My second card is for Try It On Tuesday "Animals, Real or Imaginary" and Sweet Stampin' "Christmas in July". I stamped the horse and coloured with coloured pencils, then framed it inside a red panel with an oval die cut, and mounted on the card base.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Red Lead sentiment
Ink - Distress Victorian Velvet and Seedless Preserves, Archival Jet Blac
Paper - white and dark purple cs
Size - A2
Accessories - pale blue spray, sequins, Memory Box Texture Mesh stencil, Lime Citron branch stencil

Supplies for card :
Stamps - Serendipity Clyde
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Spellbinders oval die

Slimline with Pine Cone, a Tobogganing Bunny, and a Wreath

Three more cards for challenges about to close - all Christmas this time.  First up for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Slimline":

I put the stamp in my MISTI and inked it up with Inktense watercolour pencils, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped on watercolour paper.  I stamped the sentiment in red and sponged a bit of Distress Pumice Stone along the bottom edge.  Trimmed the panel and bordered it with red cs.

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge wants to see Four-legged Friends.

Stamped and coloured with coloured pencils, trimmed, added to a red card base, and embellished with small die cut snowflakes.

And lastly for the ABC Christmas Challenge "F is for Foliage" and "G is for Gems":

I made a thin circle out of scrap green cs using two circle dies, then punched many little pine branches out of scraps of dp (mostly pieces that had images of grass or leaves on them). I glued them onto the die cut circle, added it to the background square of dp, and bordered with a square of red cs. Finished with a small die cut sentiment in the middle like the inspiration image has and red gemstones for berries. It's not the quickest card to make but I really like the final results.  

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black image, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Distress Candied Apple and Pumice Stone
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and red cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - Inktense watercolour pencils

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - 5.5x4"
Accessories - coloured pencils, small snowflake dies

Supplies for card 3:
Paper - off white and red cs, dps, scraps of green dp
Size - 5" square
Accessories - Martha Stewart pine branch punch, Spellbinders circle and square dies, Spellbinders joy die, red gemstones

 

Valentine's Day Rabbit and Christmas Horse

Of course I'm always working on Christmas cards, but at this time of year I need to take a little break as my best friend always orders a few Valentine cards from me.  This one is for Paper Players "Love is in the Air", Try It on Tuesday "Love", and Shopping our Stash "Love Me Do".

I die cut the bunny twice out of a bit of leftover beige smooshed background and the stool out of some brown cs that had a faint woodgrain pattern. The sentiment and heart stems are die cut from plain red cs.

Today's Christmas card is for the ABC Christmas Challenge "A is for Anything Christmas and / or B is for Bright".  The red card base could qualify for "bright" and of course it can qualify for "anything Christmas".

I stamped the image and used coloured pencils to colour the horse and wreath. They are the best medium to colour this image as the wreath is full of tiny little details so would be hard to colour with anything other than nice sharp pointed pencils. I used a gold metallic pencil for the bow and some of the details on the bridle.

I had a red pre-made card base with an oval already cut out of it. The image fitted perfectly into it.

    

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - white and red cs, brown woodgrain cs, leftover scrap of beige smooshed background
Size - A2
Accessories - Charlie and Paulchen bunny and stool, Impression Obsession heart stems, Poppy Stamps sentiment die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Serendipity Clyde
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - premade red card base, white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils, metallic gold pencil

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

Final Christmas Card Post for 2025!

I can't believe it's the end of 2025 already!  That was one fast year!

To finish off with a couple of Christmas cards.  The first is for Inkspirational "Cold" and Addicted to CAS "Christmas".

I've been making some backgrounds lately using the cling wrap technique (see this SCS tutorial). For this one I used Magical Powders (shimmery powdered dye based pigments) sprinkled and spritzed with water on black mixed media cs with cling wrap scrunched up on it to create my background. Love the sparkle and the texture I got.

I topped it with a die cut village and a sentiment and added the panel to a slimline card base.  That sky looks very cold and icy to me, and having the houses and landscape all in white makes them look like they are covered in snow!

For 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Use a Previous 2025 Technique", I chose the one from May "Use Die Cuts or Punches" and got out my old Martha Stewart pine branch punch and some square dies.  It's also going to the Snippets challenge as it used up lots of bits of green cs and dp for the wreath, a scrap of dp for the background, and scraps of green and red cs for the bordering layers. 

I made a thin circle out of scrap green cs using two circle dies, then punched many little pine branches out of scraps of dp (mostly pieces that had images of grass or leaves on them).  I glued them onto the die cut circle, added it to the background square of dp, and bordered with squares of red and green cs.  Finished with a small stamped sentiment and red gemstones for berries.  It's not the quickest card to make but I love the results.

     

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 7x3.75"
Accessories - aqua Magicals, village die cut

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - scraps of various dp; chalk, red, and green cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Martha Stewart pine branch punch, Spellbinders circle and square dies, red gems

Christmas Scarf and Washi Wreath

Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants to see "festive wear".   I've got a cat all bundled up in his green Christmas scarf.  It's also going to We Love Stamping "Anything Christmas" and Stamping Sensations "Christmas".

A simple card, stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a wonky stitched rectangle die, and bordered with copper cs.

Simply Clean and Simple wants to see "Holidays / Winter".  It's also going to Try It On Tuesday "Get Ready for Christmas".

My lovely friend, Darnell, gave me some very wide fancy washi tape that has lots of Christmas images and matching dies - perfect for quick CAS cards.  I taped the washi tape onto white cs and then die cut it. For this card, I only used the wreath. Added it to a pale gold shimmer card base, and found a sentiment die that would fit in the centre of the wreath.

    

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Tim Holtz
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, copper and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - light gold shimmer cs, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - PinkFresh Holiday Elements washi tape and die, Penny Black Be Merry die