Friday, January 3, 2025

Group of Seven Cardmakers - OMBRE

Hello friends.  Hope the New Year has been off to a good start for all of you and that the busy, busy, busy of the holiday season has slowed down a bit so you can relax and have fun in the craft room again!  Because it's very COLD and snowy here in the midwest, the new challenge over at the Group of Seven Cardmakers caught my eye and made my first Christmas card of 2025!


The group is featuring the OMBRE technique, and I started my card with a ombre background using Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky & Chipped Saphire distress inks.  Once I finished with my ink blending, I added a bit of water splatter and white acrylic paint splatter to give the impression of a snowy sky.   


I used The Greetery's Twinkle Background Die on my snowy background and then added a piece of silver glitter cs behind it, before attaching to a white card base.  I used PTI's Psalm Reflections: July die for my top layer and stamped it with PTI's Reflections: November stamp in black and embossed with clear to make the sentiment shiny and a little more bold.  I added foam tape behind  this layer before attaching to my card panel for a bit of dimension.


 Here's a closer up shot so you can see a bit more of the water and white splatter and the ombre look to the background.  I'm loving the sparkle that shines through too to give the card a bit more of a celebratory look!  This would have been a quick and easy card except for the fact that I dropped the top layer that I had added the foam tape to and of course it ripped the ombre layer when I tried to remove it...grrrrrrrr!  Had to start all over with the ink blending, but hey, accidents happen and I got to spend a bit more time in my happy place, so it was all good!

The DT has some absolutely BEAUTIFUL cards to share with you using the OMBRE technique, and you can check it all out right HERE.

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



Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Color Hues Challenge #101 - Red & Kraft

Hello friends and Happy New Year!  We're back with a fun new challenge for you here at the Color Hues Challenge and our hostess Sheri would like to see KRAFT & RED on our cards.


I have a fun and modern floral card for you today using a Spellbinders die set called Towering Blooms that I snagged for a great price back in early December when they were having a warehouse sale.  Take a look:



I started by using a white neutral background that I embossed using Spellbinder's Autumn Chevron embossing folder, before attaching it to a kraft panel and white card base.  Next I die cut the flowers, leaves and vase from kraft and red cardstock and then did a bit of ink blending on the red flowers and the vase (to differentiate between the vase and the leaves and also ran the vase through my Subtle ef for a bit of dimension). 


 Hopefully you can see the ink blending a bit better on this close up?  Next, I started arranging all the pieces on my embossed white layer until I was happy with the arrangement and then added the black centers to the 2 largest flowers and behind the branch with the buds.


Here's an even closer close up so you can see the texture on the vase and the embossed white background.  The die set comes with 3 sentiments, and I chose the "smile" one that I die cut in black so it would stand out from all the kraft and red.  Super easy card to put together and I love the fun and modern look to these blooms!

The DT and our Special GD Stephanie S. have come up with some AWESOME inspiration for you for using these 2 colors, so make sure you check it out and play along with us...we'd love to see YOU in the gallery!  You can find all the info you need to play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till Tuesday, Jan. 14th @ 9:00AM. 

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