A Real Feather

I wasn't going to make a card for the latest Less is More challenge as I didn't have a good idea for it.

And then, while walking my dogs yesterday, I found my inspiration!  A beautiful feather was lying on the ground and I instantly thought of a card!  Here it is:

I think it's a hawk's feather which would make sense as there was a hawk's nest near my house and all summer we heard and saw the three babies swooping above the trees.

I stamped and fussy cut the bird as I thought it would look great perched on the feather (and I love the sentiment that is part of the bird stamp).  I used a mix of two inks trying for some colour variation in the bird.

I cut a circular opening in a scrap of paper to create a mask and sprayed inside the circle.

The feather is glued on, the bird is popped up with foam tape, and the whole panel popped up on fun foam.

It will be a perfect birthday card for a friend who is a keen bird watcher.

Supplies:

Stamps - Fiskars For the Birds

Ink - Ranger Potting Soil, Versafine Vintage Sepia

Paper - white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - real feather, Nesties circle, Lindy's Stamp Gang spray, foam tape, fun foam

Bubble Wrap for Christine

My friend Christine of It's a Card Day's Night was chosen as SCS's Featured Stamper this week.  Known as "calex" on SCS, she has a wonderful gallery showcasing her often innovative mixed media style.

I chose this card of hers for my inspiration, and made this card: 

I wanted to try using bubble wrap for a background the way Christine did. I used silver ink on the bubble wrap and then pressed my cs down onto it. I liked the look of it so left it plain, except for stamping and heat embossing a sentiment on it.

I added two layers of a die cut, with the top layer done in silver cs, and then bordered it with the same silver cs. Popped it up on fun foam and it was done.

Congratulations, Christine!

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - Versafine Smokey Grey, Delicata silver

Paper - white cs, silver glitter cs

Size - A2

Accessories - bubble wrap, Poppy Stamps snowflake die, fun foam

Friends

The current Addicted to CAS challenge is:

I'm in the mood to make Christmas cards so pulled out one of my favourite Christmas images for this card:

Don't these two horses look like the best of friends?  I ride and volunteer with therapeutic riding so I've definitely noticed how some horses have a real bond with each other.  And they are herd animals so definitely have to have other horses around for company.

It's a nice quick card - stamped in black with just the Santa hats coloured and a bit of glitter added to the snow on the fence and the hat brims and pompom.  It's cut with an oval and mounted on an embossed background for texture.

Thanks for dropping by!

Supplies:

Stamps - Impression Obsession Santa Horses

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - red marker, Spellbinders oval, CB snow embossing folder,

Perfect Winter Holiday

The new Less is More challenge is:

I once rented a cabin with friends in the winter and we nestled in with our books, some jigsaw puzzles, lots of good food and wine, and spent our days relaxing by the fire after going out for lovely walks in the perfect sparkly snow.  It was heavenly!

Here's my card:

I chose a stamp of a little cabin with very distinct smoke coming out of its chimney so I'm sure there's a lovely warm fire inside.

I did some minimal colouring with Copics, then went over all the snowy bits on the roof, ground, and trees with a Quickie glue pen and added glitter. Because it's a small image, I used a very fine glitter - it doesn't show up very well in the photo, but it's quite sparkly in real life.

The sentiment makes it work for either a Christmas card or a winter notecard.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black cabin, PTI sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - white and green cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Copic markers, Spellbinders deckle rectangle die, Quickie glue pen, glitter

Sparkle!

A Christmas card for a couple of challenges:

The Christmas Card Throwdown (either heat or dry embossing):

and the Merry Christmas Challenge "Sparkle".

I did dry embossing for the first challenge and, for the second, I used a die cut that says "sparkle" and used shimmer cs and gilding flakes so that the whole card sort of sparkles.

For the ornament, I covered a scrap of cs with double sided tape and added gilding flakes.  Then die cut the ornament.

It's attached to the embossed background (copper shimmer cs) with foam tape and "hung" with silver cord.

The sentiment and the cardbase are silver shimmer cs.

So happy to have another card made for my stash!

Supplies:

Paper - silver and copper shimmer cs, scrap of white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - silver gilding flakes, Spellbinders ornament die, silver cord, W Plus 9 sparkle die, Crafts Too embossing folder, double sided tape

Salted Sky

Time to remind you about the CAS Watercolour challenge that closes on August 24th!

I find the salt technique is perfect for snowy / frosty / wintery looks so went with a Christmas card:

I did a very wet blue watercolour wash and sprinkled with lots of salt, then left it overnight to dry.  After I brushed off the salt, I had a lovely pattern to use for my frosty sky.  I used a simple die cut to lay over it, adding a tiny scrap of gold cs into the house's window.  My sentiment is stamped and heat embossed, and the panel cut out with a stitched die and popped up on fun foam.

Please come and join us with your clean and simple card that uses watercolour and salt!

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - ColorBox Sapphire Silk

Paper - white cs, watercolour paper, tiny scrap of gold cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - blue watercolour paint, clear embossing powder, Memory Box die, Lil Inker stitched square die