Christmas Card Club Challenge - Anything Goes

Hello & back again with my Christmas Card Club post, and this week's challenge was selected by Sylvie of Gibmiss. Sylvie made it an easy challenge for all of us, selecting Anything Goes.

 

- PTI Cover Plate Winter Floral Die cut from pattern paper. The frame edge shows the paper design, but colored the floral elements using some Kaiser gel pens, Pentel colored Slicci pens and WoS markers.

- the frame is adhered to a textured deep turquoise color base, which is showing aqua in the photo. It's really quite a pretty bright turquoise.

Memory Box sentiment die cut from an old purchased Christmas card backing (rather glossy & thicker than card stock, so very dimensional). This snippet was heat embossed with several coats of WOW Pearl Gold.

Once the die had been colored and adhered to a backing, the card was fast to assemble. Wasn't sure how coloring the DP would work, but I rather liked it once I had it all colored.

Hope you'll take time to pop over to visit my team members (blogs are listed in the right side bar) and see what they've shared for this fun Challenge!

We've had just absolutely gorgeous weather, and I finally took some pictures of the trees around us, and the decorations we'd put on the front porch. However, the camera battery died, so will have to post the pictures once I get the battery recharged!

Have a wonderful day. And as always, thanks for joining me. Hugs

Penny Black for Rudolph Day October 2016

Good Evening. Welcome to a very late Rudolph Day post. What is Rudolph Day, you may ask? It's a fun Christmas Challenge that is held by our sweet Maureen of Scraps of Life by Scrappymoi.  Rudy Day opens each month on the 25th and closes on the last day of the month. Maureen always has some lovely prizes, and it's a great way to build up your Christmas stash for the coming year. The rules are very simple: A card with a Christmas theme.

 

 

Lately I've been watching some Penny Black videos done by Jill Foster. She uses some of the scenic PB images with a Misti, inking the scene with a dark ink, restamping to get a good image. Then Jill uses TomBow markers to add more detail to the scene, and then uses a water brush over the image to soften. After using versamark and embossing with clear EP, then she will sponge Distress inks or other inks to create the background. That's what I attempted here.

 

PB Woodland Wonder image, stamped with Versafine Smokey Gray, and then Versafine Olympia green. Since I wasn't planning to do any marker details, I cleaned & reinked the image (while still in place on the mini Misti) and overstamped with versamark, heat embossed with a clear EP. Taped the borders to create a frame, then inked with (1)DI Spun Sugar (2)Iced Spruce, and various shades of blue distress ink. Finished the top edge and corners with Chipped sapphire.

 

A white gel pen added some stars and a few branch highlights.

 

- Impression Obsession deer (cut out of a velvet paper, left over from another project - snippet!) and a PBlack tree die (Nature's Beauties) cut from a white snippet and colored with Green Copics.

 

Finished off with a Cheery Lynn Winter Holiday Word sentiment - from a white snippet.  Heat embossed with Ranger's Liquid Platinum, several coats.

 

- Cardbase is a deep turquoise, although it looks aqua in the photo. The card stock is textured as well.

Hope you'll join in with all the other Rudy Day-ers to get some great Christmas inspiration, and maybe take home the prize!

 

Thanks for joining me. Don't forget to check back for the Christmas Club Card which is due tomorrow. Hugs & Blessings.

Coloring Book Zentangle Flowers

Hi, and welcome. Have you seen all the adult coloring books that are out now? I look through them for designs that I might enjoy coloring, but I'm always flummoxed at the large designs, never knowing how to use them. Some time ago, came across some smaller books, that possibly might work for card designs. Since I enjoy copic coloring, & wasn't quite sure how the paper would take to the markers, I copied some of the designs onto Copic Xpress paper (hope that doesn't violate any copyrights!)

Here's a card made from one colored quite a while back, and the design is from Color Zen Perfectly Portable Pages by Valentina Harper (found my book at a Michael's store for $5.00). The paper would probably work well for pencils, but I wanted to use copics, so needed a better & heavier quality paper. It was fun & therapeutic to color also.

 

 

Removed the page from the coloring book, copied onto Copic Xpress paper using the inkjet printer. Let the ink dry well before trying to color it.  (might be able to add some clear heat EP over the ink while it's still damp, and that would retard any smearing).

 

Used some of the Kaisercraft Gel pens on the flower & leaf veins, and added some gold Nuvo Crystals to the stamens.  Shaded the outside edges with DI Victorian Velvet.

 

- green edging was made by sponging DI shades of green over white c/s. Rubbed Perfect Pearls Gold mica powder over the sponging while it was still 'wet', and then burnished to a glow. Dry embossed with the C/B Falling Snow EF. Added this as a side and bottom border for a bit more color.

 

- die cut the sentiment from a snippet of the same green background, 2 layers. Added a trio of tiny pearls to finish off.

 

Hope you've had a lovely day and ready for a pleasant weekend. Thanks for stopping by. Big hugs & blessings too.

 



Pet Sympathy

Good afternoon, and welcome. We've had a beautifully cool & sunny day, and it's definite that Fall has arrived at our South Carolina area. Life is going on as usual here at our house, and matters on the health front have improved, for which I'm thankful. Mr. still has some medical tests to finish, waiting on results of some previous tests, but he's feeling much better.  I am still regaining energy and struggling with Mo-Jo. I expect some of that is due to a bad habit of lazy as well.

Some weeks ago, DD had to make a decision to put down one of her greyhounds. Reilly had not been eating well, and after some extensive tests at several vets, she was diagnosed with liver cancer which had spread other places. She came home for a few days, and then went to the Rainbow Bridge. DD says the other dogs were quite lost for some days, as Reilly was the 'organizer' of the trio. A bit of time has passed, & finally completed the image that was colored right after we got the news. The ODBD set we  bought years ago. Thought the image would be a snap to color, but it was more fiddly to color well than I expected. Have yet to find any good greyhound stamps to add to the stash, so this puppy will have to serve.

 

ODBD Dog Sympathy Cling set (E340)...has some nice sentiments in it too. Colored with Copics, diecut with a Sizzix oval.

 

- Darice oval die used for mat. Used the spaces in the die to stencil on a darker color.

 

- border is a snippet from a brusho session, and the DP covering the white cardbase was embossed with a S/B Mbossability folder. Got the debossed side by mistake but that's ok, as each side is pretty. I had to remember to only use one plate for the sandwich. I have broken a C/Bug in the past using these Mbossability folders, and some of the new embossing folders are quite thick too. If you're using them, pay attention to your die cutting machine when doing so!

 

- leaf frond from the snippet box and the die sentiment was cut from the same piece as the border strip.

 

Added some new cards to the Cards by Friends page, so hope you'll have time to enjoy them with us.  There is a link to the card maker's blog under each, so you can visit the blogger and see  their other lovely work. It's a joy to see these sweet thoughts up on the mantel as we come into the room & know that someone thought of us.

 

Hope you've had a good day. Thanks for visiting. Hugs

 

 

 



Christmas Card Club - Festive Sentiments

Hello, and welcome to another Sunday's Christmas Card Club post. Today's challenge was chosen by our Carol of CMDesign.  Before I share the card, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who emailed and asked after us during the past excitement with Storm Matthew. We are about 5 hours inland and west of the coast, closer to the mountains actually, than to the sea. We only had a couple days of overcast skies, few drizzles. Some of our friends along the Eastern Seaboard were not so fortunate as our area. It did my heart good to realize so many kind people were thinking of me, when I had not been posting.

As for why I've been MIA, first Mr. was ill. He'd improve, then get a relapse. Then I developed 'something' - either one of my respiratory problems, or a bug I caught from DH. Our days have been spent either on medical appointments, or just resting, sleeping or trying to feel better! Hopefully we're both on the mend, although next week he has medical appointments 4 days of the week. Ugh!

I'd also like to let friends of Creative Crafts by Lynn (jimlynn) know that Lynn is quite under the weather. She'd been having some back issues, which worsened, and she ended up in the hospital. She is currently at home, after a few days stay, and that's the last update I've heard from her. I think some of my followers also visit Lynn. I'm sure she'd appreciate a prayer, or some positive thoughts, if you know Lynn.

Now on to the Christmas Club Card:

- SU image that met the challenge criteria, stamped with versamark, then heat embossed with Ranger Queen's Gold. Colored with Copics, WoS, and metallic pens.

- die cut with a sizzix die, mat cut with the larger die in the set. Edged the mat with versamark, then added some Queen's Gold.

- Dark green Bazzill textured c/s embossed with C/Bug Snow Dots EF. Sponged Delicata Gold ink around the edge...mounted on a white top fold card base.

- Memory Box Bells cut from a snippet of gold, Impression Obsession holly leaves cut from white snippet, colored with copics and WoS.

That's it!!! My fellow team members' blogs are listed in the sidebar, so I hope you'll have time to pay a visit and enjoy some lovely Christmas inspiration. Not too long now -- so best work on getting some cards ready.

One last note: I see that some more followers have disappeared from the number count at the top...anyone else seeing this happen? Of course, since I've been MIA and no new posts, that could be an answer as well! I'll try to do better about this....Just sometimes Life gets in the way.

Thanks for your visit, and enjoy your day. We've had some absolutely gorgeous Fall days, sunshine but cooler air. Love it!!! Big hugs, and again, thanks for your emails.

Christmas Card Club - Festive Birds

Happy Sunday and welcome to another Christmas Card Club. This club is a group of card makers who come together every 2 weeks to share a Christmas card, with a challenge theme selected by one of our members. This week, Valery Anne chose a theme of Festive Birds. ( Valery has an awesome new blog look too!

We'd had visitors, been away for a couple days; right after we got back home, Mr. had a relapse of the same symptoms he had immediately after getting the Super-Duper Flu Shot being given to seniors. I had the shot at the same time, no symptoms. Therefore, I've had my TLC hat on for the past few days.  Friday was basically devoted to being in a doctor's office, going to a hospital clinic to get a chest xray; doctor wanted him to go there, so she'd get the results back by afternoon. She suspected pneumonia in both lungs. Sure sounded like he had it too! However we got a call late evening, that the lungs were clear...no pneumonia. It's some kind of respiratory viral infection, and I'm hoping no one else catches it from him. He's been quite miserable. Not much being done here except tend the sick. I don't know if your men folk are like mine, but he is a _terrible_ patient. (for me - for the nurses, he couldn't be sweeter!) Is it like that around your house???

Anyway, finally got a card finished, and thanks once again to Sylvie of Gibmiss, because her recent gift of some wonderful LOTV toppers came to the rescue!!!

 

Selected this LOTV topper because of the group of birds. Did absolutely NO shading - only used an oval zigzag stitched die to change the rectangle shape of the LOTV image. Added another scant oval red mat behind the die.

 

- Sue Wilson background die cut from some patterned paper. This die is from one of SW Festive Collections, and with the magic metal shim - a couple of passes through the Big Shot, it cut like a dream.

 

- white c/s sponged with DI Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Abandoned Coral and Pumpkin in spots, then added in Stormy Sky and Broken China. Sprayed this with some Tattered Angels Gold and Lindy's Starburst sprays for some glitz. I was trying to get a background that would look nice behind the SW die, and still compliment the colors in the LOTV topper. IRL the shimmer from the sprays shows quite nicely.

 

- Elizabeth Craft pine branch die cut from white c/s, colored with copics. Because the holly berries that are part of this set, were fiddly to try to color such tiny bits, used Nuvo Crystals to make some berries.

 

- Cheery Lynn sentiment die, 3 layers, cut from the same snippet as the frame was. That's it folks.

 

Please take time to visit my fellow club members (links to their blogs is in the sidebar).

 

Thanks for joining me today, and my apologies for taking so long to return visits. I eventually get there, but - it's been busy here. Both our visitors got back to their homes safely, and we're so happy they got to come.

 

Have a great day, and Blessings & Hugs.