Watercolor Pencils from a Postcard Book

Good evening, and welcome. Let's start off by welcoming a new friend:

Marjeta(Margaret) of Marjeta's Workshop

 

I'm so happy you found my blog Margaret, and after not gaining any new followers for a while, I've been doing the happy dance to see the numbers increasing. I hope that my old friends will pop over to another new friend, and get to meet you and enjoy your work too! Thanks for becoming a new follower.

 

BLOG CANDY #2 WINNER: #257 ---Congratulations Sherry of Loose Stitches and Unraveled Threads.

 

Please contact me with your mailing information by Thursday, March 30, so that I can get your goodies in the mail. Moderate comments is on, so no one besides myself will see your personal data. 

 

Now, today's card:

 

 

The image for this card came from a postcard book found in our local Hobby Lobby - a sale item. So many of the adult coloring books have such 'busy patterns', are larger & may not be designs that appeal to me. When I find the smaller sized ones, and if it's flowers, usually I'll look through the book to see what is in it. This was done on watercolor weight paper, has flowers.

 

 

Decided to try using watercolor pencils, and a tiny brush. I keep trying to improve my w/c skills, and this one -- well, it was ok. After finishing all the coloring, went back with the pencils, used a damp brush touched to the pencil lead, to add some darker shading. After doing that, used a white gel pen to add some 'dots' over the flowers. Lastly added some Nuvo Jewel drops for a little accent.

 

Edged the image with a dauber and some green ink. After adhering to a purchased aqua card base, thought "why not do a vellum sentiment so that the flowers show through?". Of course then had to try to lift the glued piece without damage, and it was just easier to get up the area where the embossed hello is. The vellum is just folded under the card and used a bit of wet glue to stick it down again. I think it would have been placed best lower down the card, but ...it is what it is...(what a cliché!)

 

Here's a few pictures taken before the weekend of the thrift blooming on our retaining walls by the driveway. I think the proper term for this plant is Phlox, but around here folks call it thrift. The few little tulips blooming by the steps are all the bulbs left from Fall 2003 planting. I've been too lazy to plant more!! Wanted to snap these before the weekend rain flattened them...we only got a drizzle, but the rain is welcome.

 

Thanks for visiting, and Big hugs. Come again when you can. I'll try to take some pictures of the clean up progress...it's slow, but it's coming along. DH said he couldn't tell I'd done much cleaning of anything! I moved the furniture around, and I don't think he's too happy with that! Oh well.

 

Also, don't forget to keep visiting...I'm finding plenty of things as I sort, that I loved enough to order a couple of times! I may just have another candy draw, so watch the sidebar. AND if you are interested, please do show the thumbnail. Or if you are kind enough to post the thumbnail, but don't want the goodies, that's ok, just let me know when you comment..Thanks. 

 

 

High retaining wall, right below front porch

Walkway by the retaining wall, coming down from front porch

Low retaining wall. The thrift is creeping into the mondo grass that covers this area

Tulips by the front porch steps. Bulbs planted in Fall 2003. Not much left of those!

 

 

 

 

March 2017 Rudolph Day

Welcome to March 2017 Rudolph Day. This is a Christmas Challenge that opens each month on the 25th and is open until the last day of that month. Rules are very simple: the card must have a Christmas theme of some kind...your choice. Maureen always has some nifty prizes to win, and there's lots of inspiration to check out, and then perhaps take time to play along...

My card has been in the works since December 2016 when we were in Florida. Did some stamping, coloring, fussy cutting of the critters, then when we were home again, did some die cutting. Finally put the card together last week, on one of my cleaning breaks (making some progress...slowly!)

This Rudy Day card was inspired by Vicki's so cute penguin card and when I was stamping out the critters, I remembered how she had done the silver & snowy hills, so that gave me the idea for these little guys. Thanks Vicki!

- Background was die cut with a star background die (done some time ago, and I don't remember which company, nor do I remember the company for the critters...I'll guess Lawn Fawn, but not sure. I can look up if anyone truly wants the names!) Navy cardstock is backed with some gold glitter paper.

- Die cut the snow hills with a stitched die, silver and white glitter paper.

- The negative sentiment die cut was done with a recent THoltz Sizzix die that was on sale in our local Hobby Lobby for $7.00. Got two of those, as I've never been real sure how I'd like this look. Seemed like a good sale was the time to find out!!

Don't forget - today is the last day of the blog candy #2. Will be doing R.Generator tomorrow, so do post that thumbnail...Last time lots of folks lost out, because when I'd check the blog, I didn't see that picture. Good luck to anyone who is interested in the goodies (and I always add a few little extra surprises beyond what is pictured!) Rita's win was mailed to her on Thursday. Congratulations, Rita!!!

Now I'm off to link up with March 2017 Rudolph Day. Why don't you play along with us? Thanks for popping in this evening, and hope your weekend was good. Ours was quite, some drizzly rain.  Hugs

CAS Mixup Challenge with Smooshed Flowers

Hello again and back with the card for the March CAS Mix up challenge.

But first let me say a warm welcome to some new followers:

Lynn in IN. of Ruby-Dooby-Doo Crafts

Chantal of Chantal Hobby Blog

Sherry G. of Loose Stitches and Unraveled Threads

 

Ladies thanks so much for becoming new followers, and I hope you will find time to visit whenever you can.  I encourage my old friends to check out the work of my new friends, and enjoy some fine inspiration with these talented bloggers. I know they'll be happy to get to know you as well. 

 

Rules are easy, and shown in the badge. Remember, the card must have white (and don't forget to stamp something, as I've done on occasion!) I hope there is enough white to be eligible...

- smooshed with Brushos and Color Burst in Orange, yellows and some tangerine (Color Burst). I just sprinkled the products onto a craft mat, spritzed water, some gold spray, and smooshed away until I got results that I liked. Did several of these, and die cut one to use for the flowers. The green stems are a snippet left from this card.

Lil Inker Diamond Lace Coverup Die used to emboss the background, and of course Debossed the pretty side, but it looks nice either way.

- Paper Smooches Dainty Flowers. Replaced the stems, leaf insets, and the flower petals with snippets of other smooshed pieces. No difficult inlay, just glue!

- Penny Black clear Garden Friends set for the sentiment, using DI Spiced Marmalade and Abandoned Coral, with the Misti. Not sure if this stamp just doesn't give a sharp emboss-- if it was the water color paper OR if it was using the DI inks. It's a bit fuzzy, but we're gonna go with it! Fishtailed the ends, added some Nuvo crystal drops...and that's it. Happy Spring!

There's a couple of new cards added to the Cards by Friend page, so if you've time, please to enjoy these with us.

Don't you want to try some smooshing of your own? There's still time over at the March CAS Mixup Challenge. 

Thanks for joining me this evening, and don't forget Blog Candy #2 is still available, but you must be a follower, and have the thumbnail picture on your blog.  Big Hugs.

CAS Watercolor - Spring Tulips

Good afternoon, and welcome. Today's card is another watercolor effort, so that I could join in with the Spring Celebration at the CAS Watercolor Challenge. Also Blog Candy #1 winner will be revealed later in the post!

 

 

- Stacy Stamp tulips inked Direct To Rubber with Tombow markers, spritzed and stamped the outline image. Then used a brush to pull the color out towards the center. This was the 3rd effort. Looked at it for a day or so, decided to try to use it, but alas, no background, no grounding...just 2 blooms dancing in the air. Cut a mask using effort #1 which was pretty rubbish, covered these stems, and inked up an old wooden script stamp with Memento Desert Sand very lightly. Thought for a second and decided Summer Sky (blue) might be better to suggest a sky background, so just inked the blue over the Desert Sand, and Voila. Because the mask was water color paper, of course there was a big space around the image, what to do? Got a finger dauber, used the blue ink, rubbing off the ink a bit on a scrap and tried to lightly smudge right next to the image, without getting it too heavy. What do you think?

 

Die cut with a set of Sizzix dies that came with some magnetic plates, don't know the name. Then used a piece of 'failed brusho' experiment to cut the skinny mat, with the next size of the same die set.

 

The Brusho piece was made at an earlier effort, just testing colors when trying to use the cling wrap. Started with sprinkling different colors of the crystals, nothing was working, and I had the brilliant idea to use a little black. Nah, not a great idea...looked awfully dark. So just stuck a piece of the cling wrap over it, left it (forgot it is more honest!). When making this card, I spotted that piece, pulled off the cling wrap. Yeah, it's still pretty black looking, but the Gotcha - was that you could see some color and sparkle where some gold spray hit the colors. It doesn't show in the photo, but IRL, there is quite a sparkle that just hints around the frame. So don't just toss the mistakes into the garbage...Look at a few days later.

 

- CTMH clear set inked with blue Versa Fine ink for the sentiment, tied the baker's twine and scored a top edge line. I hope this will be considered CAS enough to fit in with the CAS Watercolor Challenge which is open for a few more days!
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NOW: for the winner of the Blog Candy #1 which ended March 19:

Winner 230: https://rmgcreations.blogspot.com/ (which turned out to be Rita, who is also on my Christmas Card Club team! ). I really had to work to get a winner, as the names that kept coming up, either didn't have the blog candy pic posted on their blogs OR had previously said they didn't want to be considered for the give-away! So Rita, please contact me by Saturday(3-25), with your information, and I'll be sending the first set of blog candy on the way to you!!!

Don't forget there is another blog candy draw - so if you are interested, do place that picture on your sidebar! I don't want to have to work so hard next time!!! LOL

I'll be back later this evening with another post, and I will be sharing some Cards by Friends, AND have some Welcome Shoutouts to a couple of lovely new followers.

Thanks for joining me, and big hugs.

STICKY POST

Regular post below

 

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BLOGAVERSARY CANDY RULES 

 

1. Winner(s) must be a follower, who visits when you can...please don't follow just to get the goodies, and thanks. I will mail internationally too.

2. Please post the candy picture(s) on your sidebar (forgot to add this!)
 

3. Will add a few more surprises with each post I can do during the time from March 12 to March 19 when the candy is won. So watch the picture in the sidebar for updates.

 

4. All items are new, but depending on mailing costs, may need to take out of original packing to keep down the postage.

 

5. Please leave comments if you'd like to be considered & if you don't have a blog, please say how I may reach you if you're a winner. Comment moderation is on, so your info will stay private.

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Christmas Card Club Challenge 6 - Quilts

Hello & Welcome once again to our Christmas Card Club Challenge. This week Margaret selected our challenge theme to be Patterned Papers. Received an order from Gina Marie with a quilt die that I wanted to try, and it seemed perfect for this challenge. First time I've used a quilt die, and the piecing is just as tricky as it can be with actual fabric quilts.

My first try was in progress when I realized I'd made the card base as usual: 4.25x5.5 while the die is a 4x4. Already had the frame adhered to the card base when the light bulb went off. So had to cut some more card bases, in a square format. Another realization was it's a good idea to use double sided paper, and you don't have to cut the die but once to get the 2 patterns. Of course if one was skilled at pairing colors, more combinations would work, but since it was my first effort, I tried to stay with just 2 patterns per quilt. Ahem...onwards:

 

Gina Marie 4x4 Quilt Block stitched Flower Burst die - using 2 different pattern papers. This was the first try. Cut the die 2 times using different papers to get the 'quilt blocks'. Another tip is to keep each paper's block all together before cutting the block a 2nd time. Saves time separating the quilt pieces! Embossed the card base on this one with an EF.

The 2nd card with the same die, different arrangement of the pieces changes the design. This is also a 4.25 x 5.5 card base. Embossed the sides of this one with a border EF, trying to place the pattern of the embossing so that it overlapped correctly. Then once the sides were trimmed, the side embossing doesn't show anyway....

- This card base is 5x5 and fits the square in a more pleasing manner, I think. This time I selected a double sided pattern, which means you only need to cut the die once to get the 2 paper patterns. (If I'd given any thought before cutting at the start, I would have realized this! DUH!)

Also 5x5 card base. You can see that some of the pieces & frames of the different papers were interchanged. Outline stickers were used for the sentiment, and perhaps a larger font would show up better. I wanted the quilt to be the focus, so the small sentiment is ok with me. Another option would be to add a circle piece in the center, or a decorative button.

Aside from the rather tedious 'piecing', which I did while watching tv, this is quite a fun die to use. Thought I'd gotten the pieces inlaid quite well, but the camera picked up some flaws that the eye didn't catch. I was inspired to collect some of these quilt dies by my friend Carol L, who makes exquisite paper quilts. So thanks Carol for enabling and also telling me about Gina Marie dies!!

Please do go visit my fellow teamies, whose blog links are on the side bar. Don't forget that tomorrow will be: TA-DA: Random Generator thing-y for Blog Candy 1. So check back to see if you're a winner.

In the meantime, have a lovely Sunday. Big hugs & prayers to those in need of them.

Edit: Thanks to one of my CCC team members I'm reminded these quilts will fit into the Snippets Playground, where I have been too long absent. I didn't say in the blog, but quite a few of the bits used in the 'quilts' _were_ snippets. So I shall be linking in with Mrs. A & Parsnip at the Snippets Playground, Week 273 & 274!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Top of th' Morning to Ya.

 

 

Thanks for visiting so I could wish a Happy St. Patrick's Day to ye, whether you're Irish or not!

Just to share a wearin' o' the green and post the last of the St. Paddy's Day cards. Hope your day is just spiffy, and that you're going to have a marvelous weekend.

Some snippets and papers from the very old stash (VOS - and some of those are snippets too!)

 

 

 

Created this background with an old wooden stamp, and the loopy die is a Gina Marie die. Impression Obsession shamrock is one of my favorite shamrock dies because of the texture of the leaf, and don't remember what company the lucky die is...but the Horseshoe in the first card is part of the same set.

 

Now let's get ready for Easter!! Hugs & come again when you can. Don't forget to keep checking the sidebar.

 

 

 

CAS Water Color Challenge with Brusho Background for Spring

Good afternoon & welcome.Still sorting, storing, etc, and have quite a mess here, but progress is being made. Thanks to the advice of a sweet blog friend, I am trying to think of this effort as 'bites in time'....set a time goal as to how long to work, what to accomplish in that space of time, and rest when the time is up. Good advice, because this is certainly a daunting task.

Hope that anyone in the path of Storm Stella has shoveled out, kept their power going so there was heat, and nobody had any serious problems during the storm.

Check in the sidebar for another blog candy picture...as of now, TWO giveaways. Since the first week expires on the 19th, and I've not done a post until today, there will be a 2nd blog candy. Who knows, maybe another one??? Perhaps I can do one weekly and find loving homes for some good NBUS. And YAY I finally got to 350 followers, so another cause for celebration!!

There is still time to join in with the March CAS Watercolor Challenge. I've been trying to carve a bit of time to make something, and last night, on a little sort break, decided to try the brusho-cling wrap technique done by my sweet friend Loll on this card. Tried the first stage of this last night, so the background could dry overnite. I'm happy to say my 2nd effort turned out better than when I tried the cling some time ago. Think the fact that I used more intense colors this time made the difference.

 

 

 

- Lemon Brusho crystals sprinkled onto dry mixed media (90# canson), sprayed with a silvery/pearl spray - let that bloom. Added Emerald Green brusho, spritzed again with the pearl spray. That didn't seem to spread the colors as much as water does, so then sprinkled Color Burst Turquoise powder, spritzed this with several sprays of water, keeping about 12" above the piece. IMHO, the brusho crystals are easier to control than the C/Burst powders.

 

When this color started to spread nicely, used a cling wrap larger than the background size and just bunched & scrunched it over the wet color. Left overnight. IRL the pearly spray added a nice silver look to the scrunched patterns, but the photo doesn't show this.

 

Die cut with a Gina Marie Double Pierced Oval (and the negative has a nice row of double piercing too.) This die came from Gina Marie site - but couldn't find to link there. Probably just overlooking.

 

G.Marie Spring Flower layering set cut from white snippets...the flower has 3 layers, the leaf has 2.

Adhered together, edged with some Distress Inks. We will soon have dogwood blossoms in our area, and this shape made me think of the dogwoods.

 

- stamped the sentiment from a clear set, cut the snippet into a fishtail shape, scored 2 lines to add a little emphasis, and called it done.

 

Sharing at CAS March Watercolor AND at the Snippets Playground week 271-272, where Parsnip may say "You are a stranger". (but I hope not).

 

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. I'll be back to the Craft Salt Mines once I find some lunch.

Hugs

 

Easter Eggs and Blog Candy

Hi Ya, and Welcome to a Fifth Blogaversary post. YAY! that time sure passed quickly. And how many wonderful friends I've made during the past 5 yrs, and even got to meet a few of you IRL.

First, though, let me welcome 2 new followers:

Donna S of Donna 4 Papercrafting
Cheryl B.
 

 

Thanks so much for becoming new followers. I couldn't find a blog for Cheryl either, so if Cheryl visits here again, and you have a blog, please do let me know! I'll add the link, so that my friends might be able to visit & enjoy your work too!

 

Now...here's today's card, and we'll talk about the blog candy after the card:

 

 

 

 

 -Inky Antics Rabbit & Cart - colored with copics and WoS. Check out the cotton tails on these little bunnies. Eggs came from this set and another clear Easter set.

- various Impression Obsession grass dies cut the layers of grass from differing shades of green snippets.

- used an Inky-licious brush to do some clouds (definitely could use some more practice with my clouds!)

My cleaning & sorting is still ongoing. It's amazing how many duplicate items I've run across...but I hope they can find a home where they can be loved & used (and not forgotten!)

 

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BLOGAVERSARY CANDY RULES 

 

1. Winner(s) must be a follower, who visits when you can...please don't follow just to get the goodies, and thanks. I will mail internationally too.

2. Please post the candy picture on your sidebar (forgot to add this!)
 

3. Will add a few more surprises with each post I can do during the time from March 12 to March 19 when the candy is won. So watch the picture in the sidebar for updates.

 

4. All items are new, but depending on mailing costs, may need to take out of original packing to keep down the postage.

 

5. Please leave comments if you'd like to be considered & if you don't have a blog, please say how I may reach you if you're a winner. Comment moderation is on, so your info will stay private.
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As anyone who has ever won blog candy here can tell you, I include a few little extras when the package is mailed besides what is shown in the picture. I like to appreciate my followers who visit here. Depending on how many items I add to the picture, I may do more than one Random Generator draw (since I don't know how to use the Linky, I'll use my followers spreadsheet names).

We got our little snow flurry this morning (I was asleep so saw no white stuff. DH said he did). It was quite frosty today too, with a very chill wind. Tonight & the first days of the week are predicted to be colder, rainy & foggy. Don't think we have to go out anywhere, so will be good to stay cozy inside.

Took some pictures of what I can see in our yard today, thinking what crazy weather we've had.






 

Daffodils coming up by an old plow we have in the front bed

 

Flowering Cherry Tree, with a white Bradford Pear behind it. You can see that our grass is starting to green up.

 

Tulips coming up by our front steps. These bulbs were planted about 15 yrs ago. Guess I should plant some new ones next Fall, as we only have a few that are still sprouting each Spring.

 

 

Thanks for joining me this evening. Ya'll come back, now heah? Big hugs, and stay warm if it's cold & stormy where you are.

 

 



St. Patricks Day Frogs & Organization too

Good evening, and welcome. We've had a lovely sunny day, warmish according to the temps, but such a wind that howled & chilled. Tomorrow the prediction is for a wintery mix, and may get snow flurries. What crazy weather! We've had snow in March before. I can remember seeing the tulips peeking up above the snow. However, flurries don't stay on the ground, and we should not have to go out in any 'weather'. Hope it will be nice where you are.

Back again with another St. Paddy's card. Got most of them in the mail. Still have about 3 more to finish up. This afternoon, Mr. was waiting on me to go out and I was hurrying to finish up, so this  one  just has pattern paper and a design from a 6x6 pack + some die cuts.

Lots of snippets on this one too. The wonky stitched  outer frame is left from another project, as is the green one. The DP also a snippet - from VOS. The center motif is a page in an Irish themed 6x6 pack, so just cut one out. Impression Obsession shamrocks were cut from a snippet from some created background done who knows how long ago. It's left over from die cutting a Christmas tree, probably early in 2016. The photo doesn't show it, but there's some gold mica in the striations of color. I like the shamrocks best of all on this card. It truly is one of the fastest cards I've ever made. (being told "if you want to go get something to eat, you better get a move on" can speed up the process. I just happened to remember having this 6x6 pack and that it had a page with squares on it, that can be used for motifs).

Here's another project I've been working on - off & on. Debated on sharing, since it's so messy (embarrassing really). Last year we got some Ikea Alex cabinets. Mr. put together for me, put castors on the base so these can be rolled to wherever. Been trying to sort through wooden and clear stamps, get them together as to 'themes'. I had stored previously more by companies, and that's definitely not a good organization. Didn't realize how many flowers, birds, dogs, frogs, leaves & trees I have. Also tried to sort the Christmas themes as to Santa, wreaths, Snowmen, Poinsettia, Christmas animals, religious, sentiments & keep those together; ditto for other holidays too. I can already see that some of the drawers I've labeled, will have to be changed as I'm finding more stamps & I wanted to try to keep the drawers consecutive with the theme (say 2 drawers of birds and then not have a 3rd one in another cabinet). I'm open to any organizing ideas you care to suggest. Also I'm stacking stamps on top of bottom layer, so I foresee I'll still have to search. At least hopefully it will just be in one place, not all over the room. (I'm hanging my head in shame at this mess and  how long it's taking me to get things cleaned up. My friend Hazel, has spurred the incentive to get cracking on doing this, as she has been doing some hard work at reorganizing her space.)

the plastic 3-bin drawers look sad, and I'm trying to think of another use for these. They're still in good shape, so don't want to just toss. Behind the door on the right of the picture, there are 2 double wire paper racks. Got these as a 'bargain' when a store closed. It's great storage if you have 100 sheets of the same pattern. Not so efficient if you have a couple sheets of many different color patterns. I want to eliminate these, and perhaps put 2 more tall file cabinets, or some more tall Alex cabinets (or something similar). Behind the 2 chairs are the big plastic bins you pack stuff in & it's adventurous moving in that space. One day I hope to move the chairs to the back wall, where the sofa is, maybe put the sofa in place of the chairs. You can just see the dark recliner (hand-me-down from a neighbor who redecorated) and that's where I sit to watch tv, color & doze at night. The plastic bins in the dark bookcase hold small dies, which I have sorted by theme, and also embossing folders. I don't like the look of the bins in the bookcase, but where to store. These bookcases used to hold books, dvds and things that looked 'nice'...not so messy. I'm lucky that DH doesn't fuss at me for the chaos I've created in his tv room!

 the narrow bins on the floor are from Harbor Freight (a guy's place! and used for storage in garage. They are inexpensive, hold clear stamps in a standing position, you can flip through easily, see what you have. I'm trying to separate these by sentiments, flowers, etc. Hopefully I can get all the stamps & matching dies together in a labeled clear envelope so I'm not hunting for the die to go with a stamped image...like I do presently. You can see the ground level window that lets in little natural light. In the next picture you can see another Ott light - and there's a fluorescent hanging light above the desk. Also lights on the ceiling fans, but these just give room light, not good work light. You can't see the recliner I'm usually in at night, but there is a floor Ott light by that chair, just as there is one by the sofa.

 

Desk is on this side of the room. The table shown is the same height as the desk and has way too much mess. Shelves above the desk and this table are loaded. The tall Alex cabinets in the previous pictures were along this back wall. Decided to move the shorter cabs to this wall, and put the SU stamp bins where they are easier to swivel if I'm looking for a color. Across from this area, is another table that has the cameo & laptop, but you can't see it just now because of all the mess piled on top of everything. It's daunting, but I've been trying to work a few hours each day. Nobody but myself could possibly see that I've made any progress!!! Please tell me I'm not the only card maker who has this kind of mess! You can be sure that IF/WHEN I get this all sorted away, I will share pictures of a clean, straightened up room. Of course I still may never be able to find anything :-)

 

Just added a new card to the Cards by Friends page, hope you'll have time to enjoy it with us. And perhaps go visit the kind person who sent it to us.

 

Thanks for joining me - hope your weekend is going to be just swell. Hugs & Prayers.

 



 

 

Christmas Card Club Challenge #5 - Something Non-Traditional

Welcome to Christmas Card Club Challenge #5, the theme of which is "non traditional, a little whacky, unusual colors" and was chosen by Zoe, of Stamping Scene. I decided to go with non-traditional colors.....

 

 

 

 - Orange background was created with Brushos, Colorburst powders, some Paper Artsy Infusion powders. Sprayed the dried piece lightly with a little Tattered Gold spray. Once this dried, Dreamweave Gold Embossing Paste was applied using a Hero Arts Star Grid stencil - just around the outer edges to frame the tree.

- A salvaged piece of cardboard from a shipping box was separated to get the corrugated look. Applied white gesso, then a layer of Ranger Bronze Stain. Dried, then applied more gesso, some Paper Artsy Rusting Powder, spray with white vinegar and let it rust.**

- Impression Obsession Christmas Tree die to shape the tree. At first intended to die cut, but thought that would seriously flatten the corrugated shape. Flipped the tree to the back side, traced around the die in a rough tree shape, and hand cut it. Several punched tiny stars were made from gold glitter paper, glued together to create some dimesion on the star.

- Memory Box sentiment cut the same glitter paper, 2 layers. In between these layers, is a thicker layer using a cardboard snippet that handy. Hope this fits the unusual colors theme that Zoe was looking for. It could also fit in with the whacky part of the challenge too!

**Inspired by this card at Cathy's Card Spot. If you didn't see this unique and lovely card, I encourage you to zip over to enjoy it.

I also hope you will take time to check out what my fellow teamies have shared for this Sunday's Club Challenge.Their links are over on the right side bar.

Hope your weekend has been lovely, and that you're looking forward to a great new week. Thanks for stopping by. I'm a bit behind on commenting, but hope to catch up this afternoon. Big Hugs

Easter Basket

Hi There and welcome. So happy you could pop in.  I'm trying to finish up with the St. Pat's and get a few Easter cards made to be mailed in a more timely manner than I did with the Valentine cards.
Found this Easter image in the box of UFO's, added more contrast to something I'd colored who knows how long ago. The image is fairly large to put on the size of cards I normally make, so decided to make it just a round card. At first I had thought to use a Cheery Lynn doily behind the image, made from vellum, but then the card would have been large (think extra postage!), so the round shape won out.

- Don't remember the stamp manufacturer (could be Northwoods**). Used some WoS & Spectrum Noir glitter pens over the eggs and on the basket cloth, flowers. Die cut with a Hero Arts Infinity Circle die in the size that fit well with the motif.

- Impression Obsession sentiment Die257-D - cut twice. Colored top layer with a Yellow WoS. Left bottom layer white, and finally managed to do the 'shadow layer' in a way that pleased me.

- Used Dewdrop stamp pads in Desert Sand and Pear Tart to edge the outside of the card front. Still looks a bit plain.

Hugs.
** It's a Penny Black cling stamp