Marbled Thanks

Today's card is for the Paper Players.

I had a lovely piece of marbled background in my UFO box that seemed perfect for the autumn colours in the challenge image.

I used the shaving cream technique and created a bright colourful background. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment and trimmed the panel down. I used scraps of co-ordinating colours of cs to cut three wildflower die cuts. The panel is popped up on fun foam.

A brief change from Christmas cards!!  But back to them tomorrow!

Supplies:

Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment

Ink - Oxide Walnut Stain, various reinkers

Paper - white cs, mixed media cs, scraps of red, brown, and blue cs

Size - A2

Accessories - shaving cream, Tim Holtz wildflower dies, clear embossing powder, fun foam

Pine Tree with Magicals

I was thrilled to be asked to be one of the November Guest Designers for the SCS Color Challenge. This is my first card for it.  Here are this week's colours:

The colour on the right is silver.  The dessert option (just for fun) is to use heat embossing.

Here's my card:

I don't have Stampin Up ink or papers so have to get as close as I can with the supplies I have.

To get the first two colours, I used different Magicals powders. I sprinkled them on mixed media cs and spritzed with water, getting them to dissolve and flow. They give some lovely shimmer to the background that, unfortunately, I could not capture in my photo.

I die cut the pine tree using mixed media cs. I pressed a couple of shades of green and one of brown on my craft sheet, spritzed with water, and did the splash technique on the tree, continuing to add and blend colour until I got something close to the dark green in the challenge.

For the silver, I die cut a silver glitter star and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in silver - heat embossing is the dessert option this week.

To assemble the card, I die cut two more pine trees out of white cs, glued them together, then glued my green one slightly offset to give a slight white edge for more contrast from the background colours and to give a little impression of snow on the branches.

I die cut two white snowbanks, one of which has the sentiment on it.

There's no deadline for entering a SCS challenge so if ever these colours inspire you, head on over to the SCS CC712 Cabana Party in the Silver Meadow challenge.  And I'll be back next Tuesday with another card in the colours of that week's challenge!

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - ColorBox silver; Distress Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Frayed Burlap

Paper - silver glitter, white, and mixed media cs

Size - 6x4.25"

Accessories - various aqua and green Magicals, Stampendous Silver Tinsel embossing powder, Tim Holtz Pine Tree Bigz die, sloped hills dies, small star die

A Christmas Tag

My dear friend, Loll Thompson, is doing her fabulous Twelve Tags of Christmas with Loll and Friends again.  And I'm honoured to be her first Guest Designer.

When I made this tag, I seemed to be stuck in bird mode as at the time, I was hosting the CAS Christmas "Birds" challenge.  So ended up reaching for a bird for my tag!

I started by placing a snowflake mask over mixed media cs and then sprayed with a couple of different blue sprays (sorry, I didn't make a note of which ones).  One gave heavier coverage, the other a lighter more speckled spray.

I then trimmed it down into a tag shape.

I die cut the bird / branch die twice and glued them together, keeping the bits that come out of the bird in place on the back one.  I then painted it with various brown and red Distress inks.

I created a little scrap of smooshed cs in the same browns as I used on the branch and die cut the sentiment.

I glued both on the tag and added red Stickles to the berries.  It was a bit flimsy so I cut a piece of white cs, leaving it slightly wider on the two long sides, and taped the tag to it.

I pressed the same brown Distress inks on my mat, spritzed them, and dragged some TH Crinkle Ribbon through it to use on the top of the tag.

Here's a closer photo:

And here's a close-up of the sweet little bird:

You have until November 23rd to link up your tags - they must have a Christmas theme.  Each day there will be a tag by a different Guest Designer and on by Loll over at Stamping with Loll - so lots of inspiration!  And Loll says this is the final time she'll be running the Twelve Tags of Christmas event so it's now or never to enter!!!

Supplies:

Ink - various brown and red Distress inks

Paper - mixed media, white cs

Size - 3x6"

Accessories - Memory Box Delicate Snowflakes mask, various blue sprays, Penny Black Wonder and Joy (bird on branch) die, Tattered Lace sentiment die, TH crinkle ribbon

Jingle Belles Christmas Flower

The new Jingle Belles challenge is a Christmas card featuring flowers.

I went traditional in that I used a poinsettia, but non-traditional in that I made it pink.

I stamped and heat embossed the poinsettia in gold, and started painting a couple of petals with watcolour paints but didn't like the colour at all, so switched to two shades of pink sprays and got a colour I really like. I fussy cut it, cutting off the two petals I did with watercolour paint. I tucked it around a frame so that it wouldn't look odd with two petals missing!

Added a gold sentiment and an embossed background and was happy I'd saved the poinsettia!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black poinsettia, Rubber Soul sentimen

Ink - ColorBox Gold

Paper - white cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - Sizzix embossing folder, gold embossing powder, Impression Obsession frame, Tattered Angels Rose Glimmer Mist, Mr. Huey's First Kiss spray, foam tape

Starry Santa

We're getting close to the time when we need to have enough Christmas cards made so here's hoping the CAS Christmas Challenge will get you inspired to make one using November's theme:

I went with a very old stamp - Stampin Up's Star Santa.  I love the way he's juggling those stars!

I stamped in Archival on hot press watercolour paper, painted him with my Gansai Tambi paints (they include a metallic gold that I used for the stars),  and added a heat embossed sentiment.

I trimmed the panel with an A2 matting die.  That left me with plenty of space on the right hand side to use an old star border punch I've had forever so that I could add interest to the panel by layering it over a gold shimmer cs piece.

Here's a close-up photo:

Love the punched stars allowing the gold to peek through and echo the stars Santa is juggling!  And love having used two really old things - I think both the Santa stamp and star border punch were bought in the first year or two of my card making!

Head on over to see what the rest of the Design Team, this month's host, Christine, and our great Guest Designer, Pam (Expressions with Heart) have made to inspire you.  You have until November 24th to add your link.  Please keep your card clean and simple, and follow this month's theme of Santa.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Star Santa, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - Archival Jet Black, ColorBox gold

Paper - hot press watercolour paper, gold shimmer and cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - gold embossing powder, EK Success star border punch, Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics dies, fun foam

Christmas Greenery

I'm hosting the CAS Watercolour challenge for November and, since it's coming up to the time when we need to mail our Christmas cards, I thought I'd challenge you to get some of those cards made!

You can use any kind of watercolour technique you like.  For my card, I chose a new way of using Brushos (or any other powdered ink).  Loll Thompson, Christine Alexander, and I tried this out at our last crafting get together.

With the stamp in my MISTI, I inked it up with Versamark.  Then shook out a bit of my Brushos colours onto a palette, slightly moistened a paintbrush, picked up some colour and painted it over the Versamark.  When I'd painted the whole stamp, I lightly spritzed with water and stamped.

I ended up with some areas that were not very well covered in colour.  I could have moved the colour around with a wet brush but decided to leave them as it looked like snow on the leaves.

Some of the berries were too "blobby" with no definition between them so I added a bit of definition with a red coloured pencil.

I stamped my sentiment and splattered a little bit of black ink, trimmed the panel, bordered it with a very narrow black border, and added it to a cream card base.

With a glue pen, I carefully went over the parts of the leaves and berries that weren't well covered in colour and added white glitter.  Here's a close-up:

We'd love to have you join us between now and November 24th.  Please be sure your card is clean and simple, uses some kind of watercolouring, and has Christmas florals or greenery as its theme.

There is lots more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer, Maura (see her SCS Gallery here), over at CAS Watercolour!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black branches, Serendipity sentiment

Ink - Versamark, Archival Jet Black

Paper - cream and black cs, watercolour paper

Size - 5.75" square

Accessories - green, brown, and red brushos, red coloured pencil, glue pen, glitter