Rudolph Day - Challenge 1 for 2017

Good morning, and I'm skating in at the last moment to join in with the first Rudolph Day of 2017. Our hostess with the mostess is Maureen of Scraps of Life and this challenge is open each month from the 25th to the ending day of each month. It's a great way to have fun, build your stash of Christmas cards throughout the year, and perhaps win a nifty prize. AND to see some fabulous inspiration by all the folks who do join in with Rudy Day.

Here goes with my card, and it was hard to photo - the mirror paper creates a glare:

- Impression Obsession Fancy Ornament Die Set (DIE026-O) cut from watercolor weight paper. This had been given a watered glaze with Silk Glaze paint (NBUS) in a yellow green & sort of purple color. Because the paints had never been used, and were rather old, had to have some water added to the pot to make them easy to spread with a brush over the wet paper. After this dried, spritzed some water, then some Brusho crystals just to see what would happen. The gold specks showing in the filigree is actually the yellowish green Silk and the darker blue is from the purple Silk. Interesting effect, but rather lost when it was die cut.

- the underlay behind the ornament was cut with a classic S/B circle that fit the shape of the ornament.

- gold top of the ornament a tiny snippet left on some glitter paper and the bow was from a snippet of textured red. Sometimes it seems a bit is just too tiny to bother tossing in the snippet box, but it can come in handy for just the right use!!

- Rectangular gold mirror paper was a cut out snippet also from another project, and the embossed outlines are still visible.

- border strip cut from a purchased card received this past Christmas, and thought the traditional colors of the plaid would look ok as a border, plus the gold trim.

- White background embossed with a wood grain folder, and this too, was recycled from material that held a die. Embossed quite well, too!

- Avery Elle die set for the sentiment, cut from the same piece as the ornament.
That's all!! Off to link up at Rudolph Day before the linky expires. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for joining me, and have a wonderful day. Hugs.

Krafty Pencil Flowers

Good evening, and today was a beautifully sunny, blue sky day after several gloomy days of rain & gray. I was a happy camper to see the sun.

Yesterday went to a Silhouette Cameo stencil cutting class.  Had to dust off the cameo. (shameful yes). It took some doing, because my cameo was cutting an acetate material that my friend Loll - who does stencils all the time - recommended. (couldn't find the stencil material that was purchased a while back). But finally the teacher's patience and my efforts paid off. First, I think I selected a more complex shape than I should have. Should have just been something very basic. Also we learned that the silhouette Platinum blade worked better for the acetate with my cameo. But here's the final result, and we were both very pleased with it. Hard to photo the material, so I had to darken the photo. (Big pats on back to ME but even more to the teacher!!! LOL). And thanks to Loll for the stencil link.

 



Now in case you didn't know this, there is a BIG NBUS challenge going on over at Darnell's  . She has some optional rules for different techniques that can be part of the challenge --- BUT - the main requirement is to use a NBUS. You ask, what does this NBUS mean? It is Never Before Used Schtuff
(the Blog-a-nition tab has a lot of these peculiar terms if you get cornfused). I missed the deadline for the kraft & pencil, and dang, I did 2 of 'em. I'm rather rubbish with pencils, but here's the one I liked best. Will share the other one later.

 Pretty sure this old wooden stamp was a NBUS, and was stamped with a Hero Arts soft green shadow ink pad (which was NBUS too). I didn't want the outline to show. Then used Polychromos (oil base pencil) to color. The kraft paper is just some Recollections c/s from Michaels, and it seemed really difficult to blend. I struggle with that using pencils & watercolor anyway; considered using gamsol, but decided not to do so. Used a white gel pen to add some highlights, and a copic green multiliner pen to darken the leaf and some stems. (then as usual, wished I'd left that alone!)

Scored the bottom lines, then used a S/B basic square to emboss a frame, which was outlined with a copper Pentel Slicci pen. Had to rescore the lines after embossing the square.

- Sentiment from a clear set (and that definitely is a NBUS -- had to cut the words apart too as it's a 2-line sentiment). Used WOW Ultra embossing ink, then WOW Copper pearl to heat emboss.

Finally added a small rhinestone as the center of the pink flower. (Don't laugh! I keep trying to get better with pencils! Maybe one day I'll get a decent one.)

Added some cards to the Cards by Friends page too. Hope you'll have time to enjoy them with us.

And join in with Darnell's NBUS Challenge too. Ya know what, even though I missed the kraft & pencil, #9 still has an optional NBUS general usage, so I'm going over!

Hugs & thanks for joining me. Come again when you can. Don't forget tomorrow is also the start of the first Rudolph Day for 2017.

Christmas Card Club - Stars

Welcome to Christmas Card Club Challenge #2, and the theme of North Star (or any stars) was chosen by our Maureen (Scraps of Life by Scrappymo). Reminder: Maureen is also the hostess for Rudolph Day, which will start on the 25th of each month and end on the last day.

Before sharing today's card, please help me give a warm welcome to Anne D of Cobnut Crafter. I met Anne when another blogger (Barb's Faraway Cards) gave a shout out to Anne. Anne is a new blogger in the UK, but her cards look as though she's been a card maker for long years. Thanks, Anne, for joining as a new follower, and I hope some of my friends will follow the link and come over to enjoy your beautiful work and become your friends too!

Here's the card with the Stars theme, & I chose the most beautiful & wonderful Star of all time:

- Background is Paper Studio silver star patterned vellum placed over a Paper Studio navy cardstock, then on a white top fold card base.

- DieVersions Three Kings (DV-522) was diecut from a lightweight cardboard from a piece used to hold the die in place when it shipped. (This die is a NBUS and the material is a snippet!). Used WOW clear embossing ink over the kings, then heat embossed with WOW Outerspace EP. (It looks quite like gunmetal gray, actually very pretty). Then placed the embossed piece on an old versamark ink pad that has gotten dirty, reinked it, then applied a coat of WOW Silver Pearl which added even greater sheen. Sorry the photo doesn't show it very well.

- White glitter paper that had previously cut a snow hill was trimmed to place at the bottom of the card.

- Star that is part of the Kings set, was trimmed from the die (it is attached to the nose of the right most camel on the die. I wanted to place it in the sky). This was heat embossed with the WOW Silver Pearl, 2 coats and IRL it gleams very nicely.

- Die-Version Word die cut from a snippet of white cardstock, then one coat of WOW Outerspace EP. Did not add another coat of the silver pearl, and IRL it looks much smoother than the Kings, also looks more like Liquid Platinum.

I hope you'll have time to check out my CCC team mates interpretation of Maureen's challenge. Their blogs are listed on the right sidebar.

Also joining in with Darnell's #8 NBUS Challenge, to celebrate her Blog Birthaversary.

You'll get lots of inspiration at both the NBUS and our group's Christmas Card Club, so I hope you have time to follow the links, maybe play along with the NBUS & Snippets Challenge. (you may ask: what is NBUS? Well, our Darnell coined that term. It means Never Before Used Schtuff, and we ALL have it! )

Thanks for joining me today, and hope you've had a terrific week. We had some 78F sunshine days, some cool gloomy days and Saturday - it rained most of the day.

Blessings & Hugs;  Prayers to those who are in need of them. Come again when you can.

Stampingbella Birthday Chicks

Good evening, and here's hoping you're all set for a lovely weekend. Our snow is all gone, and today our temp went to 78F. Crazy weather for our area in January. However it was so nice to have warm sunshine, and we enjoyed a nice ride down in the country doing a couple of errands in a little nearby town. We skipped driving on the interstate to drive on some state roads in what is basically a rural terrain.

OK, here's today's card. Colored the image while in Florida, but then it's taken me much too long to decide how to card it up.

- Stampingbella image colored with copics, some WoS, and die cut with a Sizzix die. Sponged the edges with DI Victorian Rose, while still in the die, and then used Picked Raspberry to drag the edges of the die cut image for a little more hot pink.   Did a faux mat with the turquoise and hand cut that. Sentiment is from the same stamp set.

- Hot pink c/s was trimmed to card base size, and embossed with the Lil Inker Stitched Spirals Die (used the tan embossing mat, so that the c/s didn't cut, just embossed). Sponged over the raised areas with DI Seedless Preserves to get a little closer to the shades of these chicks' feather boas.

- MStewart birthday cake punch, a white snippet, colored with copics, and some WoS on the candles. (when dragging the die cut through the Picked Respberry, of course there was a little smudge. Hunted punches to cover, and a butterfly just didn't seem to be appropriate!).

It took me a while, but I finally got visits paid to all the lovely comments on the Christmas Club & snow posts. Sorry I was so slow, but life has been busy, and sometimes I'm just not in the mood to sit at the computer :-). For one reason, I sit down with some coffee in the morning, & next thing, it's noon with nothing accomplished. So I'm trying to do better about that, not even turning on the computer until late afternoon. Of course I can find other ways to waste my time!!

There's a new card on Cards By Friends, so if you have time, do enjoy it with us. Ya'll have a good weekend, and thanks for joining me this evening. Prayers & Hugs to all my friends who might be needing those just at the moment. Come again when you can.

Snow Pictures

Hello - and we still have some of our snow from Friday night with us. After yesterday's sunshine and again today, had expected more of the snow to be melted. Our temps didn't go as low as the 6F predicted for last night, but we did get to 17F, which is pretty cold for our area. Yesterday morning, got a few pictures, and while I know this little snowfall is not a lot compared to what many of you get, it's really Big Deal for our area here in Upstate South Carolina. Most things come to a screeching halt, but we did see cars managing to pass in front of the house all day yesterday. There's a big steep hill that one must traverse to leave our subdivision and get out to the local highway that runs past where we live. Didn't see the same cars returning (as can be the case if they can't make it up the hill due to ice), so guess the roads didn't ice under the snow.

Hope you enjoy these. I was especially pleased to be able to capture the little red guy. Tried to get some at the feeder, but I was looking through a window & screen, and results were awful. Decided to open the window, slide up the screen, and was able to snap this little fella. However the air was cold enough, we didn't want that window open very long; also the feeder is close to the window - which is by our kitchen table - so doubt the birds would have felt easy to be at the feeder with this human so close. We saw a lot of bird activity yesterday, and one of the cardinals that visited, was such a glorious golden-brown reddy color. We've seen these before, but usually we either see the brilliant red males, or the drabber red-brown females. I'm sure the golden one was a female, but she had more of the brilliant red in her plumage than the females usually do, and the golden feathers were just so dressy.

Also just posted a new card in the Cards by Friends, and have a few more to share - that were waiting on us when we got back home.

Will be trying to get round to visiting later this evening. Hugs & thanks for  popping by. Stay warm & safe  if there's 'weather' where you are!

Christmas Card Club - Challenge 1 for 2017 - Anything Goes

Hello and welcome to the first Christmas Card Club challenge of 2017, and our sweet Dutchess selected our theme for this week: "Anything Goes". I must confess after the holidays, returning home from visiting the DD in sunny Florida, dealing with year end business and starting files for 2017, I did not have a great deal of Mojo. Had several ideas, but couldn't settle to any of them. Saw a sample on the back of a Penny Black package of the deer used on today's card, and Voila: This is what I did.

- the background was created using H20's (which I'd forgotten that I had, since I've not been very successful at using them well). Had seen a video by Jill Foster using Shimmerz paints, and thought to try the technique with the H20. Used Canson Mixed Media #98 paper; slightly wet the surface, just dabbed the different colors of H20 on it, using icycle, blues, lavendars, a rose gold and a buttercream yellow. The paper warped a bit as it was dried with a heat tool.

- Stamped tree stamp with Hero Arts Ombre green shades, then slightly reinked over that with Memento Northern Pine.

- Impression Obsession tree die cut from a textured Bazzill green, then used a finger dauber to add some Hero Arts Unicorn White for a snow 'effect'. once the trees were mounted on the card, added some glue, dropped Martha Stewart chunky glitter, and finally added some SnS Twinkling Clouds. The trees are mounted on foam.

- Fish tail banner cut from old dictionary page, and the other banner is a 'half-cut of a fishtail' from a previously created background. (snippet!)

- PBlack Leaping Deer cut from a created background - think it was done with  brushos using Yupo paper, but not sure. There are 2 layers on the deer. Added some sparklies, an outline sticker sentiment, and that's it.

Hope you'll have time to visit my fellow team mates to see what they have shared for our first 2017 challenge. Also hope to do a post later this afternoon to add some pictures of cards that awaited us when we got home, and some of the snow pictures from the little storm we got Friday night.

Thanks for joining me today. Hope your New Year is off to a great start. Blessings & Hugs.

Happy New Year - Welcome 2017

 

 

Good Morning, and Welcome to 2017!!!! As you are reading this, we'll be in the pickup heading north - leaving the warm sunshine for chilly Upstate South Carolina. We've heard there will be some rain, which does not fill me with delight. Traffic is crazy enough when the roads are dry, but when it's wet, tires can slide....etc etc.

 

I just wanted to take a moment to wish all my wonderful Blog Buddies a very healthy, happy, and hopefully, a prosperous coming year. I know that some of my friends are dealing with some Life issues;  I pray that you will be given the strength to endure, & that comfort to your heart will be sent as well - as you face whatever Life is dealing you just now. I'm so thankful for each one of you that visits here. Let's have a Crafty 2017 as part of our New Year's goals.

 

It may be a couple days before I post again. I'm always a bit 'down' when we have to say goodbye to the Daughter. Doubt that will ever change....But.... I do get over it eventually. I also find that it seems to be a bit of a 'let-down' after all the holiday excitement; I don't remember feeling so, when I was much younger. Does that happen to you too?

 

Big Hugs. Come again when you can. God Bless