Twofer Birds

I love birds as a theme for cards so had to squeeze in some time today to make cards for Darnell's Twofer Card Challenge:

Here's the Twofer photo:

I really love that bird stamp with the wonderful quote on its body.  The card on the left is a thank you card for my sister who has really inspired me to follow some of my passions.  The one on the right is a birthday card for a close friend who does bird watching.  The sentiments for the occasions are on the inside because I wanted to use the word stamps that came with the bird stamp.

First up:

I started with a piece of background I made at Loll Thompson's house using Jennifer Maguire's Distress ink monoprint technique (see video here).  It uses blue Distress ink with a leafy background stamp - this is the monoprint version (or what I think of as the negative version).  It came out a bit patchy so I decided to add some layering with the music background stamp and two of the words that came with the bird stamp.

The bird is stamped, heat embossed, and fussy cut, with its legs glued to the die cut branch and its body popped up with dimensional tape.  The whole panel is popped up on fun foam.

And the second card:

I put the bird stamp in my MISTI and coloured it with Distress markers, repeating until I was happy with the results.  Then I put the "happiness" stamp in the MISTI and got it close to the bird's feet to ground the bird.

I placed a leafy stencil over it and used a finger dauber to sponge around the bird with pale blue and pale green.

After I trimmed the panel into a square, I decided I needed something below the "happiness" stamp as I'd kept the stencil sponging above it.  So I wrapped twine around the bottom.  And then had an "ah ha" moment that it would be perfect on a kraft base - popped up on fun foam of course for some dimension.

I'm also adding it to Loll Thompson's new CAS Stencil Challenge:

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Fiskars "For the Birds" set, Impression Obsession music background, unknown leaf background stamp

Ink - various Distress blue inks, Adirondack Lake Mist, Vivid Cobblestone, Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - white and brown cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Sizzix branch die, clear embossing powder, foam tape, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Fiskars "For the Birds" set

Ink - Memento Sky Blue, Distress Bundled Sage, Archival Jet Black

Paper - white cs

Size - 5.25" square

Accessories - Distress markers, Dina Wakely Little Birdies Leaf stencil, twine, fun foam

A Night Sky and Stenciled Holly

Yesterday was a horrible rainy day and I got to spend some of it in my craft room and got pieces made for several cards.  This evening I put two cards together.

The first one is for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge:

I have a sentiment stamp of the second line of "Silent Night" - it seemed the perfect place to start when planning my card.

I made a night sky background by sponging four colours of Distress Inks, then flicking some drops of water onto it.  I die cut the little landscape and two small stars and a small Christmas star.  Put it all together with a stitched border and popped the panel up on fun foam.


Then I wanted to do another card for Loll Thompson's new CAS Stencil challenge - an easy challenge to start with:

And, since I was in Christmas card mode, I chose a holly stencil and created this:

I sponged with Distress inks, then trimmed with an inverted scallop die, and bordered in red glitter cs cut with the next size up of inverted scallop die.  I embellished with red glitter domes and heat embossed the sentiment in sparkly red embossing powder.

Two more for the Christmas card stash!

Supplies for Card 1:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black;  Distress Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Seedless Preserves, and Dusty Concord

Paper - white and gold cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - Memory Box Country Landscape and Star of Wonder dies, Simon Says Stamp mini stars die, Lil Inkers stitched square die, fun foam

Supplies for Card 2:

Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment

Ink - ColorBox Chianti; Distress Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles, and Brushed Corduroy

Paper - red glitter and white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Tim Holtz holly stencil, Spellbinders inverted scallop dies, red glitter domes, Old Island Red Dragon embossing powder

Tags on Cards

Krafty Chicks are challenging us to use "Tags".

I love making tags but don't really use them as tags so for me, they are a layer to go on a card.

First of all, the tag:

I used the splash watercolour technique with various blue Distress inks to colour the tag.  Then I stamped the little snowflake flurry across the top and heat embossed in white; and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.

I die cut the tree twice and glued them together.  I patted Versamark all over it and heat embossed with Frantage Shabby Green embossing enamel.

I patted green and blue Distress inks on my craft mat, spritzed with water, and dragged a piece of seam binding through it.

Secondly, how I created the card:

I stupidly scored my card base on the wrong line of my ScorBuddy, but didn't want to waste it so decided to keep the back of the card wider than the front.  To tie the card base to the tag, I ran a strip of double-sided tape down the part that stuck out wider than the front and covered it with the Frantage Shabby Green embossing enamel and heated it.  Then added the tag to the front, popping it up on fun foam.



Here's another card using one of the tags I made.  This one is a bit over the top for me, but I did it for a SCS challenge to use stickers - never got around to posting it on my blog so thought I'd add it here.

For the tag, I layered with Distress Oxide inks, various stencils, some 3D sparkly paint (on the holly stencil), text stamping, and finally a die cut "merry" (cut once in black and once in gold with the black barely peeking out from behind the gold) and gold star stickers. I added a bit of gold ribbon to the top. 

On the white cardbase, I ran a long gold star border sticker, adding some of the tiny stars from the interior of the border sticker in random spots.


Which one do you prefer?  The first one in my more CAS style or the more ornate second one?

Supplies for the First Card:

Stamps - Rubber Soul snowflake flurry, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - Versamark, ColorBox white, Versafine Onyx Black, various blue Distress inks

Paper - white cs, pre-cut tag

Size - A2

Accessories - Tim Holtz tree die, clear and white embossing powder, Stampendous Frantage Shabby Green embossing enamel, seam binding

Supplies for the Second Card:

Stamps - unknown Christmas text stamp

Ink - various Distress inks

Paper - kraft tag; gold, white, and black cs

Size - 8x5.75"

Accessories - various stencils, 3D green sparkly paint, PTI merry die, star stickers, star border sticker, gold ribbon

Snowy Day

I love the look of sparkly glittery snow, but at the same time, I don't like being cold, so this image gives the best of two worlds - the beauty of the snow combined with a warm cozy cabin with a fire going in the hearth.

I used a great winter scene stamp I've had for years - stamped on watercolour paper and watercoloured the sky, road, and cabin.

I added a double row of score lines around the image to frame it and punched the corners.

Then I went over all of the snowy trees, roof, fence, and ground with glue and added fine glitter - I hope it shows up a bit in the photo!

The panel is popped up on fun foam.

I'm entering it in three challenges:

CAS Watercolour - "Winter" 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - "Add Some Sparkle"

Paper Players - "Snowy Day"

If you have snow where you live, I hope you're keeping warm!

Supplies:

Stamps - Old Island Stamp Co. cabin, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - PTI cream cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - watercolour paints, Martha Stewart glitter, Scor Buddy, SU corner punch, fun foam

Sponged Hearts

I'm finally getting around to making a card for Loll's new CAS challenge, CAS Stencil Challenge.  The first challenge is a pretty basic one:

A friend has asked me to make her a few Valentine cards so I decided to use a heart stencil and sponge an ombre series of hearts.

I started by going over all of the hearts with Spun Sugar, then the lower three quarters with Picked Raspberry, then the bottom half with Worn Lipstick, and the bottom quarter with Festive Berries.

I stamped the "cherish" sentiment on vellum and trimmed to a strip that I layered over the centre of the hearts panel.  I created a frame with a rectangle die and a smaller stitched rectangle die.  The vellum is secured under the frame.  It's all popped up on the card base with fun foam.

Be sure to check out the new challenge here and take a look at the inspiring cards from the Design Team and link up your card by January 24th!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Cherish sentiment

Ink - Archival Jet Black; Distress Festive Berries, Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, and Picked Raspberry

Paper - white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - TCW heart stencil, Lil Inker Stitched Rectangle die, Spellbinders rectangle die, fun foam

Blue Valentine

Those of you who know me will understand why I could not resist the latest Color Throwdown challenge:

A friend asked me to make her a few Valentine cards and blue is also her favourite colour so I thought I'd do one of them in blue:

I used Karen Dunbrook's technique of smooshing by applying the ink with a scrap of acetate.

I used quite a small piece of acetate as I wanted to limit where my ink went. I lightly penciled lines on my mixed media cs to indicate where I wanted the ink to go.

I started with the lightest blue, patted it on my craft mat, misted it, picked some up on the acetate, and pounced it between my lines. Then dried with my heat tool and repeated with the medium blue and darker blue.

The hearts are die cut out of white shimmer cs. I popped them up on foam tape.

I added a sentiment (on a lttle punched label as my attempt to stamp straight onto the card ended up crooked so restamped and punched it out.

The panel is trimmed with a stitched rectangle and taped onto a blue shimmer card base.

What do you think - is it okay to step away from red and pink for Valentine's Day?

Supplies:

Stamps - SU sentiment

Ink - Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Faded Denim

Paper - mixed media cs, blue and white shimmer cs

Size - A2

Accessories - heart dies, SU label punch, foam tape, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die