First Signs of Spring

Vancouver has had a crazy winter - lots more snow and colder temperatures than normal.  But the birds are coming back and the snowdrops in my garden have been coming up.  Here are some almost ready to flower in the rock wall in my front yard despite the snow:

So when SCS's CAS Challenge was "Think Spring" this week, I immediately thought of a stamp I have of snowdrops in snow and created this card:

It's stamped and watercoloured, framed with a die cut frame, and a tiny bit of glitter put on some of the snow.

For those of you in the northern hemisphere, I hope you're seeing some signs of spring!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - white cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - Gansai watercolour paints, MFT Pierced Rectangle frame die, glitter, Quickie glue pen

My Favourite Christmas Stamps

This week's Ways to Use It challenge at SCS is "It's My Favorite" - use your favourite stamp on your card.  Since Christmas cards are my favourite kind of cards to make, it seemed logical that my favourite stamp would be a Christmas one.   The problem is I have two favourite Christmas stamps - in fact they are so beloved that I actually bought a second one of each of them just in case something happened to them!

First up is Stampendous's "Snowy Postcard":

I stamped it twice - once in Archival ink for the outer frame because I was sponging it with Distress inks, and once in Memento ink for the inner image because I wasn't sure if blending with Gamsol was okay with Archival ink or if the Gamsol would make the Archival ink run (if anyone knows, please leave me a comment letting me know).

I sponged the frame in Distress inks, coloured the circle with a gold pencil, and coloured the holly with Distress markers, adding Glossy Accents to the berries. Then I fussy cut the inner image away and discarded it.

For the image, I coloured the Memento stamped piece with coloured pencils and blended with Gamsol. I then set it behind the frame and mounted on a white card base.

Using a Quickie glue pen, I went over all the snowy areas in the image and added a clear white glitter a local craft shop called "white snow glitter" (no brand name). I applied the glue thicker in some areas so that it wouldn't look totally flat.  Here's a close-up of the glitter:

My other favourite Christmas stamp is Impression Obsession's "Santa Horses".  It makes for a very quick CAS card.  I always make several to put in my fundraiser card sale in November to raise money for the therapeutic riding stable where I volunteer.  Here are two variations:

 

This one is simply stamped, with the hats coloured red and some tinsel glitter added to them, and some regular glitter added to the top of the fence. I die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle and bordered with black.

 

Again simply stamped with the hats coloured in red and regular glitter applied to the hats and fence.  I used a Nesties label die and popped it up on fun foam for dimension.

Three more for my stash - hooray!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Stampendous "Snowy Postcard"

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy

Paper - white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - coloured pencils, Gamsol, green and red Distress markers, white snow glitter, Quickie glue pen, Glossy Accents 

Supplies for cards 2 & 3:
Stamps - Impression Obsession "Santa Horses"
Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - red marker, Quickie glue pen, tinsel glitter, regular glitter, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle, Nesties label die, fun foam

In the Garden

I'm home from a lovely couple of days visiting a friend who lives on a island off the coast of Vancouver - lots of walks with our dogs, some good food and wine, sitting by the fire, and catching up.  It was so relaxing.

Now trying to catch up with a couple of challenges, starting with SCS Free for All "In the Garden" - a project with something you would find in the garden.

I used a NBUS stamp from Penny Black - I've had it for ages (shame on me). It's got spring blossom, a bird, and a butterfly - all things I find in my garden.

Watercoloured, die cut with a stitched square, and popped up on fun foam - pretty basic!

I'll be back tomorrow with more.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, white cs

Size - 5" square

Accessories - Gansai watercolour paints, Lil Inker stitched square die, fun foam

Metal and Rust

Some fun with mixed media!

The latest SCS Mixability challenge is "Petals to the Metal" - a mixed media project with flowers or petals made of metal of some sort.  And the SCS Ways to Use It challenge is "Shape Up" - make a shaped card - any shape except for the typical squares or rectangles.  I came up with this card to meet both challenges:

I chose a hexagon for my shape and created a poinsettia out of heated metal. I die cut it twice, shaped it, and then attached both layers to the top hexagon with a brad.

The top layer was created with a holly stencil and green spray, and then when the spray was dry, I splattered with some liquid copper paint and added a sentiment.


On Sunday, Christine (calex on SCS) of It's a Card Day's Night and I spent the day with Loll Thompson, experimenting with various new supplies and techniques.  One of the things we tried was rusting powder.  While none of us were too thrilled with our results (or with the bad smell it creates when you add the vinegar), I decided that I'd use a small piece as a frame for a sentiment on this card for SCS CAS challenge "I Love Chocolate":

It has a chocolatey colour so seemed perfect for the Kay Foley sentiment about Belgian chocolates.

The rusting powder was done on kraft cs by painting gesso around the edges, then sprinkling on the rusting powder, letting the gesso dry, then spritzing with vinegar, letting it dry, and repeating the vinegar a couple more times.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, popped the panel up on fun foam, and placed it on a background layer of white cs.  I twisted dark brown and copper ribbon together and added it to the side of the background layer.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Penny Black sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - white cs

Size - 4.25" across the points of the hexagon

Accessories - copper, Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die, Penny Black stencil, Mr. Huey's green spray, liquid copper paint, Spellbinders hexagon dies, black brad

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versafine Vintage Sepia

Paper - white and kraft cs

Size - A2

Accessories - gesso, rusting powder, vinegar, clear embossing powder, copper and dark brown ribbon, fun foam