Seasonal Cardinals / Blue and Yellow Birthday

The Inkspirational challenge wants "Seasonal" - cards based on occasions and images specific to the season.  I went with a winter card, that could be used for Christmas.  It's got holly, snow, and cardinals, plus a seasonal sentiment.

It's stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched square, and glitter added to all the snow on top of the fence.

As a break from Christmas cards, I needed to make a birthday card.  It's for Color Hues "Blue and Yellow" (one of my favourite colour combinations).  It's also for AAA Birthday (anything birthday).

I smooshed two pieces of mixed media cs, one in blues and one in yellows. I stamped some subtle text about happiness on the yellow piece, and stamped some silhouette wildflowers on the blue piece. I bordered the blue piece with a piece of corrugated card, tearing one of the edges for more interest. And finished off with a sentiment cut out with a stitched tag die.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, glitter, Lil Inker stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Magenta Floral Silhouettes, Savvy Stamps sentiment, PaperArtsy happiness text
Ink - various Distress Oxide blues and yellows; Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - mixed media, white cs, corrugated card
Size - A2
Accessories - stitched tag die

A Gilded Bird and Green with No Grinch

A gilded bird for Seize the Birthday "Anything that Flies" and for Double D "Birds".

I tore a strip of cardboard from a box, and roughly peeled one layer of the paper off. Then randomly brushed gesso over it.

I put double sided tape on a small scrap of cs and added gilding flakes to it. I die cut the bird, getting his breast area onto the reddest section. I also die cut it twice out of scrap cs and glued them together for more dimension. The branch is cut from brown cs twice and glued together. Then glued both onto the corrugated cardboard.

I stamped and heat embossed a vertical sentiment in gold on a piece of chalk coloured cs and trimmed it with a stitched rectangle die. Added it to the card base and added the corrugated cardboard piece to it.

My second card is for Jingle Belles "Get Your Grinch On" (use green).

 

 

The base of the focal panel is dry embossed, then a variety of greenery die cuts arranged as a swag over it.  I wrapped baker's twine around my focal panel and made a bow at the top of the swag.  I splattered the swag with diluted white acrylic paint and an old paint brush. 

I cut the greenery die cuts out of different scraps of green cs so I'm also taking it over to Snippets.

 

      

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown vertical sentiment
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - scrap of corrugated cardboard, chalk and brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz bird die, gilding flakes, unknown branch die, gesso, gold embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs, scraps of different green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix embossing folder, TH greenery dies, sentiment label die, red/white baker's twine, white acrylic paint

Grey Day Cards

We just had two glorious days of sunshine and warm weather and now it's gone back to chilly and grey.  Not at all appealing for gardening so here are two Christmas cards instead!

Jingle Belles want to see us use our holiday leftovers and Cardz 4 Guyz wants to see embossing (wet or dry).  In this card, I used a wet embossed background and a bunch of leftover bits of die cut greenery and a couple of leftover die cut snowflakes on a scrap of corrugated cardboard.

I roughly painted some gesso over the cardboard. I stencilled tiny snowflakes on the cardbase with embossing paste.

The leftover bits of greenery were die cut from a piece of cs smooshed with green inks.  I embellished them with tiny red pearls. I added a couple of leftover die cut snowflakes and a small sentiment.

The next card could also go to Cardz 4 Guyz as it has a dry embossed background.

I created a dry embossed background panel.  Then I die cut the snowflakes, coated them with glue, then dabbed on bits of the Blue Ice gilding flakes, tamped them down, and brushed on a blue metallic pigment powder in the empty spaces. I burnished them and then added them to a snowflake embossed background. For the sentiment die, I added glue and the same pigment powder to a piece of scrap cs and when dry, die cut it.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various green Distress inks
Paper - white cs, corrugated cardboard
Size - 6x3.25" slimline
Accessories - gesso, Tattered Lace Noel die, TH greenery dies, Cheery Lynn snowflake dies, Memory Box tiny snowflakes stencil, Dreamweaver embossing paste, tiny red stick-on pearls

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix snowflake dies, Cosmic Shimmer Blue Ice gilding flakes, Dreamweaver Metallic FX Navajo Sky pigment powder, Nuvo Glue Pen, Tim Holtz sentiment die

Mixed Media Christmas and Cream Coloured Ponies

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants to see a Mixed Media Christmas Card.  I did a fairly CAS version of mixed media.

My mixed media are corrugated cardboard, gesso, ink, and embossing paste.

I roughly painted some gesso over the cardboard. I stencilled tiny snowflakes on the cardbase with embossing paste.

I used a piece of cs smooshed with green inks for the greenery die cuts and embellished them with tiny red pearls. I added a couple of die cut snowflakes and small sentiment.

My Twofer is a non-Christmas card for AAA Cards "Inspired by a Song or Movie".  One of my favourite movies is The Sound of Music and I love the song "My Favourite Things".  I chose the line "cream coloured ponies" - perfect for me as horses and ponies are among my favourite things.

I love my Swedish Dala horse dies. These stylized horses have been symbols of strength and courage in Sweden for hundreds of years and little handcrafted wooden versions are sold as gifts, as Christmas decorations, etc.

I die cut them out of cream cs and twice more out of scrap cs, stacking them together for more dimension. I created a background by sponging with various green and blue Distress inks and then adding a few water droplets for interest. I trimmed it with a stitched rectangle, heat embossed the sentiment on vellum and wrapped it around the panel (a great way to attach vellum so the glue or tape doesn't show through), and then glued the horses on, using the vellum strip to ground them. The panel is on a matching cream card base.

Challenges:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Rudolph Days March Challenge

AAA Card Challenge

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various green Distress inks
Paper - white cs, corrugated cardboard
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - gesso, Tattered Lace Noel die, TH greenery dies, Cheery Lynn snowflake dies, Memory Box tiny snowflakes stencil, Dreamweaver embossing paste, tiny red stick-on pearls

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - various Distress greens and blues
Paper - cream cs, watercolour paper, vellum
Size - A2
Accessories - Charlie und Paulchen Skandi-Pferdchen dies, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, clear embossing powder

Poinsettia on Corrugated Card

The Sparkles Christmas Challenge is asking for Poinsettias - one of my favourite themes for my Christmas cards.

I used part of a corrugated coffee cup sleeve for a background panel. The holly is cut out of regular green cs and the poinsettia and sentiment out of dark red shimmer cs.

I taped the top and bottom of the holly die cut under the corrugated cardboard so that it looks entwined around it.

I shaped the poinsettia a bit with a stylus and put little rolls of tape behind some of the petals to pop them up a bit more. I added large gold gemstones to the centre. And small dark red ones to the holly.

We're having a lot of snow here in Vancouver so I'm definitely in the mood to make Christmas cards!

Supplies:

Paper - dark red shimmer, green, and white cs, corrugated coffee cup sleeve

Size - A2

Accessories - Tim Holtz joy and poinsettia dies, Memory Box holly die, large gold and small red gemstones

Rustic Snowflakes

I am kind of sad today as this will be my last ever card for one of my favourite challenges - the Merry Monday Christmas Card challenge is closing down.  I'll miss them as they always had great challenges that appealed to me.  Their last challenge is this:

I was inspired by the wood wall, the pleated white curtains, and the white Christmas tree.

I used a scrap of corrugated card. I brushed a bit of white gesso randomly over it.

Three die cut Tim Holtz snowflakes, a sentiment stamped in a colour close to the corrugated card, and three pale gold gemstones finish it off.

Thanks for the years of great challenges, Merry Monday - we'll miss you!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black sentiment

Ink - SU Baked Brown Sugar

Paper - white cs, corrugated cardboard

Size - A2

Accessories - TH Snowflake dies, gesso, pale gold gemstones

Merry Monday Mug

Merry Monday has a great inspiration photo challenge this week:

It inspired this card:

I started by embossing a background piece of white cs with a stripes embossing folder.  I added a piece of corrugated cardboard on top of that (trimmed down from a coffee shop cup sleeve).

Then I stamped and heat embossed the mug and the steam, and die cut them with their matching dies.  Also die cut the sentiment.  Glued them onto the corrugated strip and the card was done!

I'll be back tomorrow with a tag for an exciting tag event hosted by Loll Thompson so be sure to drop by.

Supplies:

Stamps - Stampin' Up

Ink - ColorBox red and grey

Paper - white cs, corrugated cup sleeve from a coffee shop

Size - 5.25" square

Accessories - embossing powder, Stampin' Up dies, Stampin' Up embossing folder, Tattered Lace sentiment dies

SCS Challenges

A couple of cards done for SCS challenges this week:

First of all, for the Free for All challenge "Pick a Combo" - pick a color combo for your card based on some of the top 2017 Pantone choices, with one of your choices being Greenery (the 2017 colour of the year).

I chose Greenery, Flame, and Hazelnut from the Pantone chart here:

I wanted to make a card for a friend who is a bird-watcher and who just bought a new condo.

I stamped the bird's nest in archival ink on watercolour paper, painted it using colours as close to the Pantone colours as I could get - Greenery for the leaves, and Flame and Hazelnut for the bird and flowers.

I then fussycut it, die cut a branch to ground it on the card (thought I doubt that thin little branch could hold the nest IRL!!), and added it to a white cs panel on which I'd printed the computer-generated sentiment.


The second card is for the CAS Challenge - Words (let a sentiment stamp carry the whole card).

I used a sentiment stamp for a sympathy card. I love what it says. In case it's hard to read in the photo, it says "Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy. - Eskimo folklore".

It's stamped and heat embossed in gold, cut out with a stitched rectangle, popped up on fun foam, and embellished with some die cut stars. The stars are made from scraps of corrugated cardboard, randomly painted first with gesso, then with liquid gold paint.

It's also for the CAS Mix Up challenge to use corrugated cardboard.  It's open until February 24th.  There's no deadline for the SCS challenges.

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - BLine Designs "home tweet home"

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, white and kraft cs

Size - A2

Accessories - watercolour paints, Memory Box branch die 

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Verses Rubber Stamps

Ink - ColorBox Gold

Paper - white cardstock, corrugated cardboar

Size - A2

Accessories - Lil Inkers stitched rectangle, gold embossing powder, various star dies, gesso, gold paint, fun foam

Corrugated Reminder

It's mid-month so time to remind you to come and join in with the CAS Mix Up February challenge. 

I seem to be on a star kick with the corrugated cardboard challenge as my first card also featured stars - in that case a few small ones.  This time I'm using one large star from a package of large die cut corrugated cardboard stars.

The star came completely plain brown so I dressed it up to fit in with the idea of mixed media.  I randomly brushed gesso and gold paint over it.

The sentiment is stamped and heat embossed in gold on vellum, and is wrapped around the star and taped underneath.

For the background, I stamped and heat embossed a few small stars, using the same gold.  I then sprinkled some Frantage Shabby White embossing enamel on the panel and heated from underneath - it contains some fine gold specks as well as larger white bits.  It didn't give me as much gold as I wanted, so sprinkled on some gold UTEE and heated that from underneath.  It's hard to get the sparkly effect when taking a good photo of the whole card so here's a close-up to show all the gorgeous gold-ness:

I finished off with a bit of gold and white ribbon for hanging the star (it came with the hole already punched so had to incorporate it.  Both the star and the background panel are popped up for dimension.

Since it's the first challenge I've ever hosted, I've really enjoyed seeing all the entries so far and am hoping there will be lots more by the deadline of February 24th!  So come on over to CAS Mix Up for some more mid-month inspiration from the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Julie Beech.

Supplies:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment, small Stampendous stars

Ink - ColorBox gold

Paper - white cs, vellum, Craftsmith corrugated star

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - Craftsmith corrugated star, gesso, gold paint, Ranger gold embossing powder, UTEE gold embossing powder, Stampendous Shabby White embossing enamel, fun foam

Corrugated Cardboard for CAS Mx Up

February already!!  And I have the honour of hosting this month's CAS Mix Up challenge.  I love mixed media cards that use some corrugated cardboard on them.  It's a big trickier for CAS Mix Up as we do insist the cards entered truly qualify as clean and simple, with lots of "white space".

Here's my card:

For my corrugated cardboard, I used a couple of Starbucks coffee cup sleeves that I'd saved.  From one of them, I cut the branch die.

I brushed gesso randomly over the other one and, when it was dry, I brushed liquid gold paint randomly over it.  I then die cut the three stars.

I used the splatter stamp from SU Gorgeous Grunge for a background to the branch, stamping it with gold ink.  The sentiment is stamped with brown ink.  I rubbed the brown ink pad over the die cut branch to add a bit more definition.  I hung the stars from the branch with gold cord.

The focal panel is popped up on fun foam.

To meet the criteria of CAS Mix Up, I have stamping, corrugated cardboard, and, for my choice, I have die cuts, gold paint, gesso, and gold cord.

We've got some wonderful inspiration from the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Julie Beech of Handcrafted by Jules.  I'd love to see what you can come up with for the challenge.  You have until February 24th to enter.  Please be sure your entries include stamping, corrugated cardboard, and at least one other choice from the CAS Mix Up list of "your choice options".  And also remember that we are looking for clean and simple cards only.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Gorgeous Grunge splatter stamp, Verses sentiment

Ink - Delicata Golden Glitz, SU Baked Brown Sugar

Paper - white cs, corrugated coffee cup sleeve

Size - A2

Accessories - gesso, gold paint, small star dies, Tim Holtz branch die, fun foam, gold cord

Tea and Cookies for Santa

Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge posted this as an inspiration photo:

There is a tiny Santa and sleigh in the back of the picture so it gave me the idea of the tea and cookies being for Santa.  Here's what I came up with:

To represent the texture on the mug in the inspiration photo, I took a piece of corrugated cardboard and painted it white with gesso. 

I stamped, heat embossed, and die cut the mug;  die cut a spellbinders oval for the plate; and die cut two tiny Christmas trees and went around the edges of them with a glue pen and added glitter to them (it shows up better in real life).

I made the sentiment on my computer.  The cs for the card base and the plate has a tiny bit of shimmer in it.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU mug

Ink - ColorBox Chianti

Paper - red and white cs, corrugated cardboard

Size - A2

Accessories - SU mug die, clear embossing powder, gesso, tiny evergreen die, glue pen, glitter