Tree of Gifts

Today's card was inspired by the Addicted to CAS challenge:

It got me to use a new Jofy stamp that I hadn't yet inked up.  (I have far too many stamps like that - problem is I keep turning to my tried and true stamps!)

One of my problems with using this particular stamp is that it is very tall and narrow and doesn't work for an A2 card so I really have to step out of my A2 comfort zone!  The card is 4x8"!!  And of course that meant making an envelope for it - thank goodness for the We R Memory Makers envelope punch board!

The image is stamped and coloured with coloured pencils.  I bordered with gold cs.  I went over the stars and baubles with Glossy Accents, and added Wink of Stella to all the ribbons and Stickles to the dots at the ends of the squiggles.  My photo doesn't really capture the shimmer and shine they give.

I'm also adding it to the Stamping Sensation challenge "Get Ready for Christmas", since stamping is the predominant element of the card.

I'm already planning some kind of system for 2019 to use all my NBUS stamps - commit to two a week maybe?

Supplies:

Stamps - Jofy tree, Stampabilities sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - white and gold cs

Size - 4x8"

Accessories - coloured pencils, Glossy Accents, Wink of Stella, Stickles

Quilting with Spruce and Merlot

This is week three of my four weeks as Guest Designer at the SCS Color Challenge.  This week the challenge is "Vanilla Merlot under the Shaded Spruce".

I don't have the Stampin Up inks or papers that the challenge is based on so I have to come as close as I can.  Here's my card:

I am having so much fun with my new Gina Marie quilt die and I had some perfect dp languishing in a drawer. I die cut three times - once out of ivory cs, and once out of each of two different dps.

I used the ivory outline and stuck it onto double sided tape. Then carefully added the tiny pieces from the two different dps - one of them was double-sided so I flipped a few of its bits over to use the reverse pattern.

I popped the quilt up on fun foam on a dark red cardbase and die cut "joy" out of the same dark red cs.

Supplies:

Paper - dark red cs, Gina K Pure Ivory cs, various dp

Size - 5.25" square

Accessories - Gina Marie quilt die, Tim Holtz joy die, fun foam, sheet of double sided tape

Winter Chill

A very straightforward card made with a few challenges in mind:

SCS CAS Challenge "Take the Chill Off" - a card depicting how you would  take the chill of winter off.

The Paper Players "Sweet Treats".

And Jingle Belles "Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding" - any kind of holiday food or drink.

I stamped my image on watercolour paper, coloured with Inktense watercolour pencils, trimmed it and mounted it on cream cs. Added the sentiment, bordered in black, and used a blue card base.

It's making me want to curl up on the couch with a good book and a pot of tea (can't stand coffee!).

Supplies:

Stamps - Stamplorations

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, black, cream, and blue cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Inktense watercolour pencils

Gold Nativity

The current Less is More challenge is a colour challenge:

I chose gold as my metallic colour:

A very CAS card - image and sentiment stamped and heat embossed, bordered in matching gold cs, and using an ivory cs for image and base - love ivory and gold together!  Less is definitely more in this case as I love the simplicity of it!

Supplies:

Stamps - Stampendous

Ink - ColorBox gold

Paper - Gina K Pure Ivory cs, gold shimmer cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Ranger gold detail embossing powder

Vintage Santas

November has sped by so far - it's already time to remind you to enter the CAS Christmas challenge.

It seemed a good opportunity to pull out an old set of inchies stamps that includes several vintage portraits of Santa.

I stamped the three different Santa portraits with Versafine ink - it gives better detail than many other inks would do.  I trimmed them by hand and placed them over a background created with a dot stencil and a light green ink that I applied to get a variegation of tone.  I framed it with dark red cs.

I stamped the "Dear Santa" sentiment with the green ink I used on the stencil and popped up the panel on fun foam.  The card front seemed in need of something so I twisted some red and green twine together and wrapped it around the card front.   In real life, the green twine is the same shade of green as the green ink.

Now it's up to you to link up a CAS card featuring Santa - you have until November 24th.  There's lots of inspiration over at CAS Christmas from the Design Team and our November Guest Designer, Pam (Expressions with Heart).

I'm also linking it up over at The 12 Months of Christmas where the theme is "All Tied Up for Christmas" - use ribbon, string or twine.

Supplies:

Stamps - Darkroom Door Christmas Inchies, Penny Black sentiment

Ink - Versafine Crimson Red, Distress Oxide Peeled Paint

Paper - PTI Vintage Cream

Size - A2

Accessories - Tim Holtz Dot Fade stencil, Spellbinders rectangle die, red and green twine, fun foam

Christmas Rose

November is flying by at a frightening speed.  How are you doing with getting your Christmas cards done?  I'm here to remind you to get a card made for CAS Watercolour that will be perfect for the season:

My card includes both florals and greenery, and it uses a really old (but still much loved by me) stamp:

One reason I love it so much is because I have various Hellebores (commonly called Lenten roses) growing in my garden, one of which is the Christmas rose, more officially and properly known as Helleborus niger.  Botanical names and common plant names get so incredibly complicated - the older brain reels from trying to keep them straight!  The Christmas rose is supposed to bloom at Christmas but mine doesn't usually do much till mid-January, but every year I hope to see it at Christmas.

I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on watercolour paper, and watercoloured the image.

When dry I trimmed it down with a Spellbinders rectangle die and left it in the die while I carefully sponged around the image with Distress Antique Linen.  When I took it out of the die, I was left with a nice narrow white border.  I attached it to red cs so that I'd have a narrow red border as well.

And finally popped it up on fun foam on a green cardbase.

There's more inspiration over at CAS Watercolour from the rest of the Design Team and this month's wonderful Guest Designer, Maura (see her SCS Gallery here).  You have until November 24th to link up your card.  Please remember to keep it clean and simple with quite a bit of "white space" (on my card the white space is dark green - that's okay because we're talking about "empty space", not literally "white".  Also please note that we're looking for florals and / or greenery, but not Christmas trees.

Hope to see you in our gallery!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Christmas Rose (from the SU Christmas Cardinal set)

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Antique Linen

Paper - watercolour paper, red and dark green cs

Size - A2

Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders rectangle die, fun foam