Inspired By #197 - Color Challenge

Hello friends.  There's a color challenge going on over at the Inspired By Challenge, and I do LOVE playing along with color challenges!!  Take a look at all the BEAUTIFUL colors in this inspiration photo they provided...

I love the deep reds, the greens, the blues on the dishes, and what I'm going to call gold on the table runner and the 2 candles.  And here's what I came up with using those colors in an attempt to finish up the last of my Christmas cards!

Back in the beginning of the Summer I won a gift certificate to Concord & 9th, and bought the Mistletoe Messages Dies and the Mistletoe Messages Stamp Set, and then completely forgot about them until I was looking for something else the other day and came upon them.  This set was so easy to use that I made a couple cards and even a couple tags too!  Better late than never!!  Anyway, I started this card by stenciling some light blue snowflakes (The Greetery - Frosty Flakes Stencils) on my background as a nod to the dishes in the photo.  For the Mistletoe, I used some of SU!'s Shimmer Vellum in Evening Evergreen and also die cut one just from plain white cardstock to give the vellum piece a bit more sturdiness.  Once the 2 were glued together, I ran the edges of the leaves across my Versamark pad and then sprinkled with gold embossing powder and heat set.  Between the shimmer of the vellum and the shine of the gold embossing, this Mistletoe is soooo pretty!!  I added the bow using some matte gold cs (Gina K) and the berries are die cut from Cherry Cobbler cs.  

 The sentiment is part of the stamp set, and I finished by adding a few gold pearls and a few gems (PFS) that have a touch of pink in them when the sun hits them just right.  Pretty easy and I love how festive it came out!  

Only a couple more days to play along with this challenge, but check out all the fabulous inspiration from the DT, and then if you're not finished with your Christmas cards, play along (HERE) to get them finished up!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Filled Embossing Folder Technique

Hello friends and happy black Friday!!  Have you all been up since the crack of dawn, shopping all the great online crafting sales??!!  I've shopped so much this whole year that I told myself NO BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING for me!!!  We'll see how long before I cave!  Haha!!

A few weeks back I watched a Jennifer McGuire video (HERE) where she used embossing folders and filled the backside of her embossed cardstock with glitter paste, that gave an incredibly beautiful sparkle and shine to the embossed cardstock!  So, like any self- respecting crafter, I went straight to SSS to check out how much glitter paste cost, because of course I didn't have any!  Well, it comes as a 6 pack at SSS and costs $30, which was a little more than I wanted to pay for a technique I might not like or not want to play with again, so I kinda gave up.  Kept thinking about it though, and finally had the thought that maybe glitter glue would work and you can get that at the dollar store!  And 3 bottles for a buck at that!!  I think the glitter paste would probably work better as far as the glitter staying where you put it, but for a dollar, I'm very happy with my results and I spent an enjoyable day making a bunch of Christmas cards!  Let's take a look...

  For this card I started with a piece of Soft Succulent cardstock (SU!) and embossed it with a MB embossing folder...Gracious Leaves.  I used the gold glitter glue and spread it over the back recessed side of my embossed cardstock, and then waited for it to dry.  Once dry, I trimmed it down and added a strip of gold mirror cardstock and a strip of Evening Evergreen (SU!) cardstock to a white card base.  I decorated the card with a die cut sentiment from MB called Special Merry Christmas and some stamped and die cut holly leaves and berries from SU!'s Poinsettia Petals stamp & die set.

Here's a close up so you can better see what the glitter looks like on the recessed side of the embossed cardstock...isn't it pretty?!

My 2nd card is basically the same as the first, but portrait orientation, and the embossing folder I used on this one is SSS's Holiday Greenery and the sentiment is MB's Joy & Cheer.

Another closeup so you can see the details better!

My 3rd card uses a FSJ Evergreen embossing folder, and I also embossed the card base on this one too!  I used an evergreen spray from PTI's Sprigs & Sprays stamp & die set, with a little die cut "string" from The Greetery's Fit to Be Tied set in gold mirror cardstock.  I used the same gold for my sentiment which is from MB's Merry Christmas Posh Script die.

I finished this card with just a few red gems on the evergreen sprigs.

OK, totally different color family for my last card...Misty Moonlight cardstock (SU!) with the Winter Snow embossing folder (also SU!) and silver glitter glue!  As much as I love the gold and green cards, I absolutely LOVED how the silver glitter showed up in the recessed little snowflakes...when the sunlight catches it, it is absolutely beautiful!!

The sentiment is from MB's Let it Snow Posh Script die, and the die cut snowflake is from Poppystamps Giovanna Snowflake die.  A couple silver pearls from PFS finished off this card.

I even decorated the insides of all my cards with the pieces that were left over from cutting down the embossed backgrounds!  This really was a FUN technique, and quite addicting too...I'll definitely be doing it again!  Thanks so much for sticking with me through this looooooong post, and hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!  Time to start decorating for Christmas at our house!!  :0)

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Color Hues #30 - SILVER & GOLD

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Color Hues Challenge today where they are looking for cards with SILVER & GOLD.

I have a pretty simple but dramatic card to share with you using silver foiling and gold embossing on a black card base.  Take a look...

I'll apologize up front for my photography skills...I always thought WOS and glitter were hard to photograph, but Silver & Gold on black is even harder!  The shimmer from the silver foiling and the shine of the gold embossing in real life is much brighter!!  But anyway, I started with a black card base, and then added a panel of black that I foiled in silver using The Greetery's Deco Triangles Hot Foil Plate. (I added foam strips behind this layer to add some dimension from the card base.)  For my next layer, I used one of The Greetery's Deco Frame Dies and also foiled that in silver, before adding foam strips and adding it over the first layer.  (Did you know that you can use your dies to foil with?  The outlines are not as bold as an actual foiling plate, but it still comes out shiny just like regular foiling.  Try experimenting with some of your dies to stretch their use even more...it's FUN!!)  For my sentiment, I used The Greetery's Everyday Labels stamp set, and embossed it in gold and then used the coordinating die to cut it out.  I die cut 2 extra of the sentiment shapes to add a bit of sturdiness to this layer before attaching it to the 2nd layer.  

 To finish my card I added a few silver & gold pearls from PFS.  This will be going to my brother who has a December birthday, so I refrained from adding any more bling or anything else to dress it up!  :0)

There is lots of FABULOUS inspiration from the DT using Silver & Gold, so check it all out right HERE and then play along.

And for my American friends, I wish all of you and your families a very blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!  And now I'm off to start prepping for my feast for tomorrow!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Playing House Cards with Birgit

Hello friends.  A few weeks ago I spent the weekend with Pinkfresh Studios and the Create & Connect Event they held.  It consisted of 5 two hour classes teaching us new tip and tricks in stamping, and the classes included a box filled with brand new Pinkfresh Studio stamps, dies, stencils, large roll of washi tape, a hot foil plate, and gems. It was seriously like Christmas opening up that box!!  Anyway, one of the stamp, die, and stencil sets was a set called Built on Dreams and my sweet friend Birgit (who also signed up for that weekend) and I decided to have our own little challenge using this stamp set.  I have 3 cards to share with you today, and then hop on over to Birgit's blog and see what she did with the exact same stamp set!

I used the stencils and 4 shades of blue inks to blend the floral images in the house shape, and then stamped the outline image before die cutting the house image.  I used the hot foil plate they included in the kit to dry emboss my white background, and then added a blue layer and attached all to a white card base.  The sentiment was cut from MB's Posh Script Big Hugs Die from glittery silver cardstock.  The silver is much brighter IRL!  Also added a few silver pearls to finish off this card.

 My 2nd card came out a bit different than I was picturing in my head.  I was picturing a gingerbread house in my mind, and used all 5 stencils to blend the design on in white pigment ink first.  Once it dried, I went back in again with the 5 stencils and added colors that I thought would look like gumdrop colors (like when you make a gingerbread house), but instead it ended up looking more Spring like to me!  Hard to tell in the photo, but I did spray Sheer Shimmer Gold Mist over the card, so it really has a nice shimmer to it in real life!  I used the die to make a side folding card, and love that it's a shaped card.  The thank you was heat embossed in white on kraft and die cut...this was all part of the kit too!  A few sequins finished off this one.

 As soon as I saw this set, I knew I wanted to make a Christmas card with the house shape, so I did my stenciling with a couple shades of green and red on kraft, and like the 2nd card, die cut it so it was a side folding shaped card.  I also foiled my sentiment (PFS but not part of the kit) and added a few gold pearls to finish it off.

 That's it from me today, but make sure you check out Birgit's post to see what she did using these same stencils, stamp set, and dies!  I know she will blow you away with her creations!!  Thanks for playing along with me Birgit...just like old times!!  :0)

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

  

Inspired By #196 - Neighbor Tag

Hello friends.  The inspiration photos at the Inspired By Challenge lately have been wonderful, and are really helping me to finish those last Christmas cards up!

 Wouldn't you love to have an Advent calendar like this with all the sweet little houses?!  While I didn't make an Advent calendar card, I did use houses, pine trees, and the colors from the inspiration photo to come up with this mini slimline card...

The houses and trees are both from a new Gina K set Winter Whimsy and I also used a new set from one of Gina's designers (Melanie Muenchinger) called Slimline Starters which allowed me to stamp the double frame border before die cutting the stitched rectangle.  After stamping my houses in Evening Evergreen (SU!), I used a glue pen which ended up spreading the coloring around a bit like water coloring, and I love how that turned out!  Before the glue dried, I added some Distress Glitter (Tim Holtz) and tiny star gems.  The red houses I pop dotted for some dimension, and the kraft colored houses were glued directly onto the tree stamped layer.

  To finish my card I added a layer of Evening Evergreen cardstock behind the stamped layer, and also did a sentiment strip with the Evening Evergreen cardstock and white embossed using SSS's Tiny Words Christmas.  Really like how this one turned out!!

You can check out all the FABULOUS cards from the DT right HERE and then play along...especially if you need to get crackin' on those cards!!  Thanks Inspired By for the great inspiration...I loved it!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Christmas Kickstart #56 - Christmas Snippets

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where Jo and her guest elf Di are looking for Christmas cards made with SNIPPETS.

Are you a saver of all those tiniest pieces of DSP and cardstock?  I'm one of those that do and then hardly use them, but just can't bear to throw them away, just in case...  Well, this is the perfect challenge to use some of those little snippets up, and here's what I came up with using a couple pieces from my SU! stash...

I used a Penny Black die called Ornament Branch to cut my snippets from a piece of Soft Succulent Shimmer Vellum for the branch and a piece of leftover DSP from SU! called Expressions in Ink for the ornament.  I used one of the Spellbinders Hemstitched Rectangle Dies to cut a white layer that I added to a white card base, and then glued my vellum branch and pretty pink and gold ornament to the die cut layer.  I also added a tiny snippet of gold mirror cardstock for the hanger part of the ornament.

I thought about adding a sentiment, but I really loved the CAS look to this card and decided to leave my sentiment for the inside.

Are your Christmas cards done and ready to mail out in the next few weeks?  I am soooo close...just a few more!  If you need to play catch up, check out all the inspiration from Jo and Di and all the beautiful cards already in gallery HERE and then play along.  This challenge is open till the 30th.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

CAS Christmas Reminder Nov. 2021 - CHRISTMAS CRITTERS

Hello friends.  Just a friendly little reminder that there's still time to play along with us this month at CAS Christmas.  Our hostess this month is Barb, and she would like to see CHRISTMAS CRITTERS on your CAS Christmas cards.

I used an older image from Penny Black (you can always tell it's older when the stamp is mounted on a wood block, right??!! ) that I actually just picked up last year after seeing someone make a card with it and knew I had to have it to add to my critter collection!  Take a look...

 Can you see why I had to have it?!  I think this overdressed duck image is just too CUTE, and I had fun coloring him simply with a few of my Copics, and then matting him with a thin layer of red foil cardstock.  My sentiment was also mounted on a thin piece of red foil cardstock and is from TE's Modern Holiday stamp set.

My background is a new to me embossing folder from SSS called Holiday Greenery, and I think it finished off my simple card rather nicely!

You have until the 24th to enter this challenge, so check out the inspiration from the DT and play along with us right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

The Flower Challenge #62 - Add Leaves & Peace On Earth Challenge #3

Hello friends.  Playing along with a couple different challenges today and trying to get some more Christmas cards made.  The Flower Challenge is looking for us to add LEAVES to our cards and the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge has a wonderful mood board to inspire us!

I had bought Altenew's Poinsettia 3D Die Set last year, and thought since The Flower Challenge was looking for LEAVES and Poinsettia's are technically LEAVES (and not flowers, even though they sure look like flowers!!), they would make a perfect card for this current challenge!  Take a look...

  I started this card with a background using a cover plate from Cutplorations called Circles All Over (thanks Michele!!) and then added a piece of plaid (SU! - Peaceful Place DSP) to the side to add in a bit from the Peace on Earth mood board.  I also added in a little strip of black cs next to the plaid to add a defining line between the background and plaid.  Next I added my beautiful Poinsettia leaves that I die cut using Altenew's Poinsettia 3D Die Set and SU!'s Shimmer Vellum in Soft Succulent...the sparkle in real life is SOOOO PRETTY!  Here's a closer up:

My sentiment is a die cut from The Greetery called Abundant Joy and is one of my favorite new goodies this year!  I want to put it on every card I make this year, but am trying to show some restraint!!  I used Gina K's brushed silver metallic cardstock for the top part of the die cut (and also the center of the Poinsettia), and then some plain black for the bottom layer of the sentiment to make it stand out.  Pretty simple card really, but I'm loving how it turned out with all the shimmer and shine, and also that it fit TWO challenges!!  And actually I'm going to add it to one more challenge...Darnell's NBUS #32 as my Poinsettia dies have never been used since I bought them last Winter (HAD to have them, and then forgot I had them...probably the only one out there who has ever done that, right??!!  Hahaha!!)

Make sure you check out all the FABULOUS cards from the DT's at The Flower Challenge and also the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge, and then play along if you need to finish up those Christmas cards...it's coming quicker than you think!!

  

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Inspired By #194 - Welcome Friends

Hello friends.  Had to play along with the gals over at the Inspired By Challenge after seeing the Christmas inspiration photo, as it was right up my alley with it's country charm!

I love the rustic look, the colors, well, everything about this beautiful inspiration photo!  And since I'm trying to finish up the last of my Christmas cards, this seemed like a perfect challenge to participate in this week!  Here's what I came up with...

 I loved the ship lap background in the inspiration photo, so I started there using The Greetery's Ship Lap Builder Dies and after die cutting, added a very light layer of kraft ink to the pieces.  I matted this layer to a piece of kraft cs, and then also die cut my wreath (Reverse Confetti's Wreaths Confetti Cuts) from kraft cs.  I decorated the wreath with a new PTI set called Sprigs & Sprays: Holiday using Ocean Tides (PTI) ink and Poppy ink (C & 9th).

 I die cut the little string wrapped bow from The Greetery's Fit to Be Tied die set and my sentiment from MB's Special Merry Christmas using Poppy cardstock from C & 9th.  A few red gems from Lucy's Little Gems finished off this rustic Christmas card.

You can check out all the fabulous cards from the DT and play along right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

CAS Mix Up Nov. 2021 Stencil Challenge

Hello friends.  I'm playing along with the lovely Loll and the CAS Mix Up team for this months challenge, and Loll would like us to use the STENCIL MONOPRINT technique on our cards.

I was SO excited when I saw this challenge as I absolutely LOVE doing this technique!  I pulled out one of my favorite snowflake stencils by Gina K called Snowflake Mandala and came up with this card...

I started by inking up my stencil with Salty Ocean, Salvaged Patina, & Peacock Feathers Distress Inks, and then spritzed quite liberally with water before pressing into my water color cardstock.  I laid a piece of paper towel over the stencil and then set my laptop on top of it and left for 15 minutes!  I always love the big reveal when you lift everything off and see the results, and I may have squealed a bit when I saw how this one turned out!  Haha!!  Once it was dry I cut down a portion of it and mounted it to a piece of white cs that I had die cut using Spellbinders Hemstitch Frame Die.  

  I wanted to put a piece of colored cardstock behind my die cut panel, but couldn't find a blue that matched what I had come up with on my monoprint, so I got my Distress Inks out again and made my own matching colored cardstock...I love the perfect match!  I finished this simple card with a die cut sentiment using MB's Let it Snow Posh Script and die cutting it from vellum for the bottom layer and a holographic cardstock (Recollections) for the top layer.  It really sparkles and shines in real life!!  

Check out what Loll and the DT came up with using this wonderful technique (they also have a couple video links in case you've never tried this technique before), and then play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till the 24th.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Color Hues #29 - ORANGE & BROWN

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Color Hues Challenge today and they are looking for ORANGE and BROWN on our cards this time around.

I had saw a card by Dana Kirby using colored strips of cardstock that jumpstarted the idea for my card, and I hope I'm not going too rogue for this challenge by using shades of orange and brown, but here's what I came up with...

I started by cutting different widths of Early Espresso, Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Really Rust, & Pumpkin Pie cardstocks (ALL SU!), and then mounting them diagonally to my card panel.

I mounted my trimmed panel to a top folding white card base, and then added a die cut my sweet friend Birgit sent me from Die-manites (DRU) called Pumpkin Harvest...doesn't it look wonderful left in white against the colored cardstock strips?!!  For my sentiment I added another die cut from an older PTI set called Counting My Blessings Die Collection and also left it white for a white on white look.  I finished this card with a few crystal gemstones and love how CAS it turned out!

This challenge is open till Nov. 14th, and there are oodles of lovely inspiration from the DT using the ORANGE and BROWN color theme, so check it all out right HERE and then play along!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!