Peace On Earth #54

Hello friends.  I'm still in Christmas mode and had a new Press Plate from Spellbinder's that fit the mood board beautifully for the current Peace On Earth Challenge.

And here's what I came up with...

I started by masking off the bottom third of the cardstock and then started ink blending with pink, purple, and blue.  If you've never ink blended on cotton cardstock, you really NEED to try it...it blends like soft butter!  Next I used my Better Press and a new Press Plate (Season's Greetings Evergreens - Spellbinders) to create the tree line over the ink blending.  I wish you could see this in person...the deep etching the Better Press does is SOOOOOO cool looking!

I added a black strip of cardstock to ground the top 2/3rds of the card and then finished with the pressed and die cut sentiment (comes with the set) and a few black gems (Gina K).  Oh, and also did some ink splattering with white acrylic paint for snow on the top 2/3rds of the card.  Another easy peasy card and also another for next years Christmas stash.  

You can check out all the beautiful cards from the DT for inspiration right HERE.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Jan. 4th @ 8:00PM.

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

Double D Challenge - Winter/Snow Scene

Hello friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas?!  We celebrated a week ago as it was the only time all 3 girls could get together, and a good thing we did it early as almost everyone came down with colds this week!  It was still a nice Christmas with just my 91 year old mom yesterday, and on Christmas Eve it was so warm out that we grilled hot dogs for dinner...pretty much unheard of in Michigan on Dec. 24th.  Last year at this time we had a blizzard and 17" of snow!  Go figure.  But anyway, you came here for a card, and I'm still in the Christmas mood and had just received an order from Spellbinder's 50% off sale, so I created this sweet little Winter scene using the Dancin' Penguin dies.  Take a look...

Isn't he a cutie?!  And the best part is that his skating feet swing back and forth so it really looks like he's skating!  I stamped the little piece of ice from MFT's Cool Day stamp set, and then ink blended the background and then did a bit of splattering with white acrylic paint.  I stamped the trees from Gina K's Christmas Greenery set and then embossed the panel with SSS's Icy Snowflakes ef.  LOVE the way this background turned out!  Next I assembled the die cut pieces of the penguin and used thicker foam circles behind him for dimension and to give room for the skates to swing back and forth.  Pretty easy card and a great start for my 2024 Christmas card stash!

     

 Lots of beautiful inspiration from this wonderful mood board and from all the DT too, so check it all out right HERE and then play along to get a head start on next years cards.  This challenge is open till Sunday, Dec. 31st @ 8:00PM.

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

A Christmas Playtime with Michele

Hello friends.  Michele and I had another playdate shortly after Thanksgiving, and while Michele had all her cards done right away, I didn't have time to work on finishing mine up until last week...Christmas kinda snuck up on me this year and I just don't move as fast as I use to!  But anyway, we had a FABULOUS time together at Michele's house with all the usual card making, laughing, talking, and of course eating!  (Michele treated me to her awesome egg drop soup and egg rolls...yummmmmmm!!)

I have 6 cards to share with you today, the first two stenciled beauties from PFS's Lush Peonies Stamp, Stencil, & Die set.

Stenciled with yellow shades and then die cut and added to a die cut background using ASD's Tiny Crosses Coverplate Die with foam tape for dimension.  The die cut sentiment is from SSS using gold mirror cardstock and a few yellow gems finished it off.

This one was stenciled with shades of purples, and then I cut part of it off before adding foam tape once again for dimension against the background done with Waffle Flower's Tiny Crosses Texture Die.  My sentiment is from Spellbinders Letter Press plates, and finished off with a few light purple gems.

OK, let's head into Christmas now.  Michele had asked if I would bring my TH Twigs & Stump die set, and trust me, it's no hardship to play with these 2 adorable snowmen!

   Don't they just crack you up with their facial expressions?!!  I dressed them up in a red & white classic Christmas color combo and attached them to an oval opening with a piece of striped vellum embossed with the Snowflakes embossing folder from Honey Bee.  I added a few die cut snowflakes from Impression Obsession and clear gems to finish off this card.  No sentiment as I haven't decided if it will be a Christmas card, Thank You card, or Winter birthday card yet.

Twig and his own Christmas tree are starring in this card with another embossed background using the Honey Bee Snowflakes folder again, and a snowbank using a die from The Greetery.  The sentiment is an oldie from PTI called Think Big Favorites #20.  Hard to tell in the photo but the tree is splattered with white and GOLD acrylic paint and the gold really does have a nice shimmer to it!

I know this card is a little dark for a Christmas card, but I think it just might be my favorite...must be Michele and her love of grays is rubbing off on me!  My background is a coverplate die from The Greetery that I swiped a gray ink cube up and down across my white cardstock panel first, and then used the die.  I love the wood textured look it gives and makes this card a bit rustic.  I added a Ornate Banner die cut from PFS before layering my Magnolia Wreath die cuts (The Greetery) that I splattered with white & black acrylic paint.  I used gray and silver metallic cardstock for the Rustic Star die cut (also from The Greetery) that I hung like an ornament over the center of the wreath, and then finished with some silver metallic pearls and a pre-printed sentiment strip from SSS.  

The photo of this last card does not do it justice...in real life this card sparkles like crazy!  I started with residual ink leftover on my ink blending brushes in turquoise and purple using a new stencil from The Greetery called Snowflake Prints.  Keeping the stencil in place I used Gina K's Glitz Glitter Gel and once it dries, it really sparkles and shines!  I cut off a little bit at an angle on the bottom and added a strip of turquoise cs to differentiate from the card base.  Next I die cut the word JOY using TSM's Festive Foliage Dies and then stamped "to the world" beneath.  Pretty simple card really that sure does pack a punch in real life!

So there you have what I started at Michele's and then finished up at home last week.  I'd definitely say we were both pretty darn productive considering all the talking, laughing, and eating we did too!  Make sure you check out Michele's post right HERE to see what she did using some of these same products...you won't be disappointed!  (I can hardly wait to see what she did with Twig & Stump!!)  Thanks for another wonderful play day and year of friendship Michele...you truly are the best!!

 

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

The Flower Challenge #87 - Reminder

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there's still time to play along with us at The Flower Challenge where this month we're looking for GOLD on your cards, along with flowers of course!!

I'm still on a Poinsettia kick and couldn't resist using one of my favorite stamp/die sets from Gina K called Precious Poinsettia.  I love it so much I even made 2 cards with it, so let me show you what I've come up with...

Isn't she a beauty in all her traditional color and gold embossing?!  I used Real Red for the flower leaves and Mossy Meadow for the leaves and then added foam tape to the back before adhering to my background die cut using The Greetery's Twinkle Background Die.  I placed gold mirror cardstock behind the die cut background to add lots of shimmer and shine to my card.

My sentiment was embossed in gold on a strip of Mossy Meadow cardstock and I added foam tape to the back of it also.  

My 2nd card is very similar in that I just changed up the colors using Ballet Slipper (C&9th) and Soft Succulent (SU!) inks along with the gold embossing.  I also used Spellbinder's Hemstitch Rectangle dies for a border around the Poinsettia and finished with some gold thread and a Tiny Tag (PTI) in Soft Succulent cs and gold embossing for the Very Merry sentiment.  

There's lots of GORGEOUS inspiration from the rest of the DT, so check it all out right HERE and then play along and flood our gallery with lots of GOLD and flowers!  This challenge is open till December 25th @ 5:00PM. 

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

The Flower Challenge #87 - GOLD

Hello friends.  Happy December!!  It's time for a new challenge here at The Flower Challenge, and this month we'd love to see you add some GOLD to your cards...and flowers too of course!!

Being as it's December, I had to choose a Poinsettia as my flower, and a new set from Concord & 9th/Simon Says Stamp collaboration (Festive Flower) fit the bill nicely! 

 I started by stamping my background first using an older retired SU! stamp called En Francais with Delicata Golden Glitz pigment ink...it really makes my background shimmer!  For the leaves and sprigs I stamped in layers over the scripty background, using my MISTI and spritzing with water after I inked the stamps to give a water colored look.  I used the same faux water coloring technique on the flower, but on a separate piece of white card, and then fussy cut out once it was dry.  

I embossed the center of the flower with gold, but it looked too plain, so I added 3 gold sequins over the top of the embossing.  I attached the flower with foam tape over the leaves and sprigs, and then added a strip of Real Red cs and gold mirror cs to the right hand side of the card.  The joy sentiment was also cut from the same gold mirror cs.  

Make sure you check out all the lovely inspiration from the rest of the DT right HERE and then play along with us...especially if you're trying to finish up those last minute Christmas cards!  We'd love to see YOU in the gallery!  This challenge is open till December 25th @ 5:00PM.

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

Color Hues #77 - Pink & Silver

Hello friends.  Happy December and welcome to a new challenge here at The Color Hues Challenge where our hostess for the entire month is Nancy and she would love to see Pink & Silver on our cards.

I had a little shopping spree at Spellbinder's and decided to use this new (to me) die set called Gnome Drive Holiday and came up with this sweet Christmas card...

I remember when gnomes first came out and I wasn't too thrilled with them and wondered what everyone saw in them...obviously I've changed my tune!  Isn't this little guy driving in his spiffy pink sports car just ADORABLE?!!  I just used pink, white & glittered silver cs to cut out all the pieces and then assembled.  The front grill and the steering wheel I did a little ink blending on just to give a little more color for contrast.

 My embossed background is an old SU! favorite called Winter Snow and my sentiment is from Spellbinders's Make it Merry Sentiments.  No stamping on the outside of this card...just die cutting.

Make sure you check out all the wonderful inspiration from our DT and Special GD Amanda HERE and then play along with us!  Remember that this challenge is open all month long, so plenty of time to play...we would love to see all your pink & silver cards decorating our gallery this month!!  This challenge is open till December 28th @ 9:00AM.

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

Peace On Earth Challenge #52

Hello friends.  Still trying to finish up these last few Christmas cards, so I'm playing along with the gals over at the Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge where they have an absolutely STUNNING mood board for inspiration!

The snow and wintry scenes are so pretty looking when you're viewing from inside your nice warm house, aren't they??!!  I love making wintry scenes on my cards too and have been seeing a lot of cards out in blogland recently where they are using torn paper as a masking edge to make snow banks, so I thought I would give it a try.  Big fail for me...my snow banks looked more like a gray and cloudy sky!  I ended up cutting my paper with gently sloping hills and used that as a mask, and had much better luck!  I have 2 cards to share with you and here's the 1st one...

I started by ink blending at the top of my card with blue ink and worked down to a bit of purple and pink (very lightly).  At this point I did some splattering for snow with white acrylic paint and then added my snow banks with Soft Stone ink (Gina K).  For a first try, I didn't think it looked too bad.

Next I stamped a tree line twice using Gina K's Christmas Greenery stamp set in black for a silhouetted look and also stamped my sentiment from the same stamp set.  A pretty simple card but I really like the way it turned out!

My 2nd card I did basically the same way except in a vertical format and using Lavinia stamps.

I used the following stamps to create my silhouette scene: Christmas Tree Group, Forest Hares, & Forest Scene.  I love the bit of orange blending in this sunset scene...it really adds a pop of color!  These types of cards are very addicting to make, so there just might be a few more coming!

There is a lot of BEAUTIFUL inspiration from the DT for this challenge, and you can find it all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Nov. 30th @ 8:00PM.
 

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

Double D Challenge - Stripes and/or Dots

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Double D Challenge where they are looking for DOTS and/or STRIPES.  

I know I had mentioned a week or so ago that I had finished making all my Christmas cards for this year, but I just ended up selling a bunch...I mean how do you say no to family?!!  So anyway, I have another Christmas card to share using both stripes & dots.  Take a look...

Isn't he a cutie?!  I've had this Penny Black image (beaming) for a couple years and this is the first time I've inked him up!  I stamped him in black and then clear heat embossed so I could color him up with my Copics.

After fussy cutting him out, I attached him with foam tape to a panel that I die cut a window opening using MFT's Peek-A-Boo rectangle die, and added a piece of polka dotted dsp from PTI.  My sentiment is also PTI.  I added a little WOS to all the lights and then put a drop of glossy accents over the top of that to make my lights sparkle & shine.  Easy peasy and I used both stripes (his hat and shirt) and dots (background panel).

Lots of awesome inspiration from the DT and you can find it all right HERE if you'd like to play along.  This challenge is open till Sunday, Dec. 3rd @ 8:00PM.

I'm also entering this over at Darnell's NBUS Challenge as this is the first time I've used this sweet little elf.

 

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

Color Hues #76 - Red & Metallic Gold

Hello friends.  Time for a new challenge here at The Color Hues Challenge and our hostess Jules would love to see Red & Metallic Gold on our cards.

My first thought was Christmas with these 2 colors, but I was in need of birthday cards right now, so here's my take on the red & gold theme...

This was my starting point with a piece of Real Red cs that I embossed with Altenew's Flowers & Leaves 3D EF.  Next I inked up my brayer with Cherry Cobbler ink and lightly brayered over the raised portion of my panel to give a bit more definition to the flowers and leaves.  I also sprayed the panel at this point with Sheer Shimmer Glimmer Mist that gives the whole card front such a pretty shimmer.

 I did some partial die cutting with a strip of black cs and used Honey Bee's Bitty Buzzwords dies for the "birthday" using the shadow die on the black strip and then the word die on gold metallic cs.  I used a coordinating word stamp for the "greetings" and embossed it in metallic gold.  

  I used foam tape on the back of the black strip for some dimension and then finished with a few gold metallic pearls from PFS.  Pretty simple card really, but I love how elegantly it turned out!

You can check out all the beautiful inspiration from the rest of the DT and our Special GD Claire right HERE and then play along with us!  We'd love to see what YOU come up with using this color combination!  This challenge is open till November 28th @ 9:00AM.

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

The Flower Challenge #86 - Reminder

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there's still time to play along with us at The Flower Challenge where this month is a color challenge...using black, white & yellow.

I pulled out my RC Flower Builder Dies to come up with this bold card...

I started with a Waffle Flower coverplate die called Woven Pattern, die cut in black and attached to a white card base.  My flowers were die cut from white cs and then ink blended with Squeezed Lemonade & Mustard Seed DOX inks.

I also added a bit of rock candy glitter (TH) to the top edges of the flowers for a bit of sparkle and then attached them to my background panel along with the stems and leaves that I chose to leave white.  My sentiment is a pre-printed strip from Gina K.

 A pretty bold and graphic card, but I'm really happy with the way this one turned out!  Hope it gives you some inspiration to play along with us using these colors, and there's also a LOT more inspiration from my talented teammates right HERE!  We hope to see YOU in the gallery soon!  This challenge closes on the 25th @ 5:00PM.

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

Peace On Earth #51

Hello friends.  I've finished my Christmas cards for THIS year, but am still making them to get a head start on next year.  And before you think I'm just showing off here, you should know that the hardest part for me isn't making the cards...that's the easy part!  The hard part is taking the time to write in each card and address them and actually get them in the mailbox on time!  But anyway, playing along with the gals over at the Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge where they have another fabulous mood board for inspiration.

See if you can guess what I was inspired by...

Yep, the stockings and the Poinsettia.  I am still loving this Waffle Flower Postage Collage Die that my sweet friend Michele has let me cut multiples of, and that was my starting point for this card.  I used post it notes to mask off each square and lightly blended red ink onto them.  The stockings were made using WF's Little Stocking Die (a freebie with one of my orders) and the Poinsettia's were made using WF's Layered Poinsettia Die and polka dotted dsp from PTI.

The tree and sentiments all come from WF's Triangle Tree stamp and stencil set, and although hard to tell in the photo, the star on top of the tree is gold embossed.  I finished with a few Disco Ball sequins (Gina K), some GA's on the Poinsettia centers, and then attached to a red card base.  Pretty simple card but I'm loving how bright and festive it is!

Lots of awesome inspiration from the DT if you need to still get going on your cards, and you can check it all out right HERE.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Nov. 16th @ 8:00PM.

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