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.

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.

Christmas Card Club - Snowy Scene

Hello and welcome to my last Christmas Card Club post for 2016, as our group will be taking a break until January 8, 2017. This challenge was selected by our Rita (RMG Creations) and Rita chose a Snow Scene. Since we've had a few cold days & nights lately in our area (and other places have certainly had even more intense cold than Upstate South Carolina!) this challenge seemed particularly apt!!  The scene was not difficult to do, but it certainly was did not photograph well. I've increased the contrast using an editing program, so that it didn't look as washed out.

- MB Box Tree Branch Circle cut from a pale gray cardstock. Adhered Sookwang tape behind the cutout after removing all the little bits. This technique is one done by Jennifer McGuire (inked inlay) and I probably didn't chose the best circle cutout die to try this technique. Used another white piece and sponged DI Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar, Milled Lavendar and Broken China to create a sunrise sky. Starting with the lemonade at the top of the c/s, layering the pink(sugar) over this, it did look quite like a pretty sunrise morning. It shows a bit up at the very top of the circle, and IRL does show up nicely. Then die cut this sponged piece, using a dryer sheet under the card stock so the little bits would not get lost (still tricky though, since some of this die's inlays are so tiny). Also ran the piece back through the Big Shot to set the inlay pieces into the sticky tape better.

- MB Small Quiet Deer cut twice (snippets), layered for dimension, then used clear WoS for some shimmer.

- Stitched Hills die for a snowdrift, so that the deer was grounded.

- Poppy Stamps Merry Christmas script - 2 layers, then WoS to cover.

Lastly, sprayed some shimmering pearl mist over the card...from about 3 ft above the card, - still got a few blobs! All in all, I liked the card though. If you have time, do check out Jennifer's video.

Also hope that you will find time to visit my fellow teammates to see what they have shared with Rita's Snow Scene Challenge...you'll see lots of inspiration.

Thanks for joining me today, and there will be some lovely Christmas cards added to the friend's page - hopefully later today. Hugs & Blessings, and some peace in the next few weeks of pre-Christmas stress!

Christmas Club - Mixed Media and Trees

Welcome to another Christmas Card Club post...and this time yours truly picked the challenge: Mixed Media with trees (the mixed media could be sponging, paste, sprays, texture or anything of that sort.)

Recently received some stencils from Stamplorations and decided to use one of those with Brushos, then try it with some embossing paste. First made a background with greens using Brusho crystals, Nuance, Colorburst and Infusion powders. Started with a slightly damp piece of 148# Strathmore water color paper, sprinkled the crystals and powders very carefully, then used Dylusions sprays that had been either diluted with water or mixed with the white Dylusions. It created an interesting color.
Then used the stencil over a slightly dampened w/c cardstock, sprinkled very carefully the same products through the openings of the stencil. That didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped, but I'll share it anyway. Then tried the same stencil using some Silver Dreamweaver embossing paste. I liked that one better.

- Christmas Trees Mini stencil - sprinkled the crystal & powder products over the stencil after slightly dampening the white Strathmore water color cardstock prior to placing the stencil. (masked off the sencil design I did not want). Spritzed the powders very lightly to create movement, then blotted with a paper towel. When this dried completely, replaced the stencil, spread some Golden gel beads over the stencil.(clean the stencil quickly after using this gel bead paste or embossing paste- before it hardens on the stencil). The beads paste is starting to harden or dry a bit in the jar; did not spread easily, and I was not pleased with the result. (one of the times I say "now why did I not leave well enough alone?"). Also got some of the color out in the white area surrounding the tree....so how to fix this? Since the gel beads are quite dimensional, die cutting was not an option. Traced an oval die, hand cut the motif.   First tried a white gel pen to cover the problem areas but that wasn't very effective. Then used white acrylic paint, dabbed it around the background area. The white paint picked up some of the extraneous colors, and changed to a dappled blue green, which looked better.

Memory Box die to cut the green brusho background (this has an oval in the rectangle die).
Tim Holtz Texture fade embossing on the white background. Placed the oval tree shape onto some white fun foam, for the design as you see it.

M.Box Merry Christmas die for the sentiment - 3 layers, embossed with Ranger Queen's Gold. The star is 2 layers, from a tiny punch, same Queen's Gold. This one is definitely an experiment in mixed media.

Next try:

Same stencil over water color #148..using Silver Dreamweaver embossing paste, and this time included the star at the top of the stencil. Removed the stencil, and while the paste was still wet, sprinkled some coarse Martha Stewart glitter over it. Doesn't show too much in the photo, but IRL, it sparkles beautifully. I was much happier with this effect than that with the green.

Hand trimmed the tree piece..the silver mat is a textured lightweight silver DP. Embossed this mat with a PTI die. Jennifer McGuire has an excellent video showing how to emboss using dies.

T.Holtz Texture fade embossed white card stock, then sponged it lightly with Delicata Silver. First I had tried using Versamark on the EF, then sprinkling a Silver EP over it after embossing. Evidently didn't get a good layer of the versamark, because the EP didn't stick in a lot of places. Brushed all of that off pretty well, then sponged it with the Delicata Silver.

- M.Box Merry Christmas die - 3 layers of the same dp as the mat. The Dreamweaver paste spread like butter...

If you have time, please visit my fellow team members, whose blog links can be found in the right side bar. And thanks for joining me today. Hope you liked these cards, and enjoyed my adventures. I like to know when other card makers have problem cards, and what they do to try to salvage the project. I learn as much from mistakes as I do from a well executed card. Hope you don't mind that I share my boo-boos! You can always skip over that part, if you don't want to read the story.

And we did have a lovely family Thanksgiving to all who asked. Big hugs, and prayers too for some of my blog buddies who are in need of them just now. Come again when you can.

Christmas Card Club - Reindeer

Hello and welcome to another Christmas Card Club post. Today fellow club member Lorraine selected our challenge, and Lorraine wanted to see Reindeer on our cards. So off we go in search of Reindeer!

- Background of SU Razzleberry was embossing with a holly swirl motif.

- Simply Refined Die purchased from Scrapbooking Made Simple (don't think it's in stock now). Die cut from white card stock, just to see how well it would cut, since it's quite intricate. Used my super duper metal plate, did a back and forth pass, rotated quarter turn, and another pass. It cut very nicely, and decided to use the white die cut. Inked with versamark, heat embossed with Ranger's Queens Gold. 

adhered to the embossed Razzleberry card front. Added a horizontal strip of 1/4" doublestick tape, used a gold Glitter Ritz powder. Added 1/8" vertical strip of the tape, and the same glitter ritz. Burnished.

- final touches were to add a red rhinestone glowing nose, and a brown rhinestone for an eye, a sticker sentiment, and Voila, it's done. In the photo I see a bit of white on the bottom left corner, and since that's the fold, can't trim that off. So will be matching the Razzleberry with an appropriate copic marker and fixing that if I can.

Please do take time to see what my fellow Christmas Card Club members have shared with our Reindeer theme. Their blog links are in the right sidebar.

Thanks for joining me today. Have a wonderful Sunday. Big hugs and prayers going out to those friends who are on the prayer list.

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

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.

 

 

 

Christmas Card Club - Hats & Mittens

Good afternoon, Happy Sunday. Today it's time for another Christmas Club card, and our challenge theme of Woolie Hats & Gloves was chosen by our Kate. Hunted through my supplies, and while I could find a die for mittens, not a stamp or die with winter type hats! Remembered a delightful gift received recently...LOTV precolored images sent by a very sweet Sylvie. Sylvie is another CCC member who makes the most gorgeous cards with LOTV products. So off I go to work on this challenge. Sylvie, thanks so much for sending the wonderful LOTV package, which saved the day for me on  _this_ challenge. Hope you will approve of how I used your kind gift.

 

 

- LOTV image, enhanced with some WoS silver on the skates, Spectrum Noir sparkle blue on the mittens, hair ribbons, glossy accents on the ice puddles, and some rhinestones on the falling snow.

 

- die cut the image with a pierced rectangle die, used the next size rectangle for the snippet blue mat and just cut the silver mat to be a skinny one behind the other two pieces. The silver was backing from an old Christmas card that I've saved just the front of it. (part of my cleaning effort to get rid of a lot of house clutter! Saw that the back was shiny and enough space to use for 'something'. So...another snippet).

 

- Could not find an appropriate blue for the card front, so took a precut white c/s, sponged DI blues over it, until it looked like a suitable snowy background for the skaters, then embossed it with the C/Bug Dots folder.

 

- MBox mittens die from a snippet of red, to add some more mittens for embellishment. This looked too plain and flat, so used an EF that was in the pile, then a piece of strip Washi tape, cut to fit the cuffs to add a little zing.(used red to bring out the scarf colors- looking at the finished card, thinking perhaps should have used blue). The corner bow is part of this die, but the 'string' on one mitten tore removing from the die. Decided to remove the strings, just use the bow, added a rhinestone, Voila.

 

- Sentiment is from a very old page of stickers. That's it!!! Thanks to Kate for a fun challenge, and many thanks to Sylvie for her generosity, which meant I was able to meet the challenge this week!!! Hugs to both of you.

 

Please be sure to check what the other club members have shared - you'll find the links to their blogs on the side bar.

 

Also check the Cards by Friends page, where some new cards have been added. As always, thanks for stopping in. And have a wonderful afternoon. Blessings & Hugs.

Let's See Some Wings

Hello and welcome to the Sunday Christmas Card posting where our theme "Let's See Some Wings" was chosen by Christine over at Christine's Cards and Crafts.  Our choice was angels, fairies, birds...I chose birds.

Here's card #1 using a white wash on kraft technique seen in a video by Melanie Muenchinger.

 

 

- PBlack Holly Concert image, stamped in Versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Seafoam White. Mement greens in 2 shades for the leaves, blues for the birds and reds for the berries. Used a water brush to dab directly into the pad, making sure the brush was not too wet, then brushed onto the kraft. As Melanie suggests, left more uncolored space at first. Because of the smaller areas, this was not what I wanted. After looking at the results, went back and w/colored in the remaining areas. Tried spattering some white over the craft (falling snow!) & this easy technique is not as easy as it looks! Smudged some green around the edge of die cut.

 

- S/B Gold Label 4 for the image die cut. S/B Grand Label 4 used for the mat.

 

- Light blue cardbase embossed with the Taylored Expressions Holly cutting plate using a thick tan rubber mat so that the metal would not cut, but just emboss. Smudged this with DI Sage, which was also added to the mat & main image.

 

- SU sentiment stamped with SU Real Red on vellum, heat embossed with clear EP. Impression Obsession holly leaves die - Christmas Red stickles added to the berries. Punched with an SU oval punch.

 

- Memory Box Poinsettia die cut twice from vellum to get multiple layers of the flower, which were colored with copics. Shaped, and glued at the centers.

 

Card #2

 

Recently found a new to me product called Embossable Acetate, which can be colored and embossed. I've used packaging acetate for alcohol inks and embossing before...this product is thicker.

 

- Nellie Snellen Snow birds EF . White snow done with an SU white chalk marker coloring on reverse side. Used gel pens for the birds & sun.

 

- Blue background was also embossed with the same EF, and just slightly offset. This looks quite nice IRL, but did not photo well, as the acetate is a bit 'bowed'. The blue flower corners cover the vellum glue - which is not supposed to show..but  does when you know it's there!

 

Closing today with a wish that you have a wonderful Sunday afternoon, and visit again when you have time. Many Hugs.



Christmas Card Club - Winter Scene

Happy Sunday! I expect you think I've departed for parts unknown..I'm still here!!! Just been taking things easy, and feeling better each day. And honestly, haven't been in the mood to make cards or blog. I've been reading, doing minimal house chores, taking naps, visited with a couple of neighbors, sitting on the porch when the days have been pleasant ....just totally chilling out. It's been lovely.

Today it's time for Sept 4's Christmas Card Club Challenge (can you _believe_ it's already September? We've had a few cooler, much welcome days, but then it got hot again). Our sweet Rachel chose our theme today, of a Winter Scene. I started 2 cards and about halfway through, decided each time - this isn't what I want. Then I saw a simple Penny Black card shared on Facebook.
Then I knew what I wanted to create. Hope you like it.

 

 

- Sponged Memento Summer Sky as lightly as I could to create the background. Die cut a Taylored Expressions Cutting Plate birch tree die. Used copics for a bit of shading over the white c/s.

 

- Impression Obsessions deer trio were cut from a piece of silvery DCWV mercury paper.

 

- Various tree dies were cut from green glitter paper, and placed around 2 stitched dies that created snow hills. Put dimensional foam behind a couple trees to bring them more into the foreground.

 

Before placing the deer on the card, tore a piece of gesso'd paper to place behind them, and then used foam bits to pop their bodies up, using liquid glue to keep their legs in place. Lastly added some Stickles Star Dust for shimmer. The camera picked up the opaqueness of the stickles on their legs, but the eye doesn't see it! We'll just say this is snow from where they walked to the front of the card!!!

 

Well, you know I had to add a red bird...which came from a white previously cut bird that was in the Impression Obsession small bird die (154_A)  envelope. (There's no crest on this fella, such as a cardinal would have, but again, we can take creative liberty. This was a last minute addition!!

 

Please do check out my fellow team members' inspiration on this fun challenge. Once I had the final idea, it was fun to envision this scene!!!

 

Hugs & have a wonderful afternoon. Thanks too, for the good wishes so many have sent to me. I'll try to be more proactive with blogging - but it's been relaxing to have some time just for me!

 

 

 



Christmas Card Club - Lots of Layers

Good evening, and I'm woefully late with my Christmas Club card, and I'd also like to apologize to everyone for being so remiss about returning visits to the sweet people who have been kind enough to leave comments & love. Lots of things going on around here of late, one of which is cleaning up post-bathroom renovation. Thankfully, feeling like some headway is being made towards seeing the light at the end of the messy tunnel. That has had to be a priority, as we're having some visitors next month.

Next, I'm having a little abdominal surgery tomorrow morning, so that required a few visits for tests, preop instructions, etc. This may limit my activities for the next week or so. Not sure yet just how much. (excuses, excuses!!!) It's nothing serious, but needs to be done. So I do hope you will all understand. I may not be here much next week; I don't know if I'll be able to traipse up & down the stairs & all my craft supplies are in the basement. Anyway, on to my very late Christmas card, with big apologies to Maureen, who wanted to see layers, layers!

- Simon Says Winter Friends Santa - fussy cut (there is a die set for this)..after coloring with copics.

- Penny Black Winter Wonderland Bird

- Memory Box trio of trees die (a green snippet) has a bit of Star Dust Stickles on the top

- Cottage Cutz sleigh die (red glitter snippet)

- Lawn Fawn Stitched hills die (which was covered up with stickles and SnS Twinkling Clouds...why? Because I put the snow hill down first, then decided to add the trees, so the bases of the trees needed to be covered up, that's why! Tried to lift the snow piece, but it was adhered down too well)

- My Mind's Eye 6x6 pack - stash

- Star Dust stickles for some sparkle in the sky

- VOS sticker sentiment. I do hope I've got enough layers to make Maureen happy!!!

If you've a few minutes, check to see my team members' creations for this challenge theme. Their blog links are on the right side bar. And many thanks for visiting this evening, and not giving up on me totally. One of these days, I'll get back to normal, whatever normal might be just now!!!

Hugs & Blessings.

Christmas Card Club - Ornaments

Happy Sunday Afternoon. It's time for another Christmas Card Club, and today, Margaret (Dutchess) selected the theme of Baubles (In the States, we say Ornaments!).

For many years, I've saved pretty cards. Decided to take a page from Mrs. A's book, and do a recycle effort. The card used for today is probably about 15 yrs old, and seemed like a good choice to use for this theme. Since it's been quite busy around here, with putting things back in place, it helped to be able to make a rather fast card, once the decision was made to recycle.

 

 

Added 3 strips of Sookwang (double sided adhesive) tape along the bottom, used Ritz Glitter, burnished well.  After trimming a bit off the top & bottom of the recycled card front, used a Martha Stewart border punch on the bottom edge.

 

M/Box sentiment cut from Sookwang, Ritz Glitter sprinkled over it. Trimmed both sides of the recycled front to fit on a card base. Added strips of Sookwang on each edge of the card base, more Ritz Glitter added. Debated on adding some pearls to trim the ornament, considered the postage that would be required for a more dimensional card, decided to leave as it is.

 

I'm a bit late on posting today's card, so apologies for that. Also quite behind on returning some sweet comment visits over the last few days, but will do my best to catch that up. Just been very busy trying to restore order in the house. So bear with me!

 

I hope you'll take time to visit my fellow Christmas Card Club team members, and you'll find their blog links on the right side bar. And do please have a wonderful afternoon.

 

Thanks for joining me and big hugs coming your way.

 

 

Christmas Card Club - Traditional Colors - Tutti Wreath

Hi, and once again it's time for our Christmas Card Club to share cards. This week our sweet Christine selected our theme to be Traditional Colors. Hope you'll enjoy my take on the theme, and if time allows, be sure to check out my team members inspirations on the Traditional Colors theme. Their blog links are in the right side bar.

 

 

Tutti Wreath die cut in gold mirror paper. Added some Red berries using VOS glitter stickon. Tried to cut this die using Shimmer Sheetz and the nifty metal plate. It's so intricate, some places didn't cut well, so after a bit of scissor work, decided to just use the gold c/stock instead. This cut very nicely, with a couple of passes. I think the shimmer sheetz will be best left to non-intricate dies!

 

placed the gold wreath on Christmas red paper which had been dry embossed with a Sizzix Jolly Holly EF(658751). Added a scant border of the same gold paper, burnished it down (looks like the top piece could use a bit more burnishing in this photo). This gold c/stock does not photo well.The embossed piece has a fun foam behind it for some dimension and is adhered to a textured red card base.

 

Die-Versions sentiment die cut from the same gold c/s. That's it. I think red & gold are very traditional Christmas colors!

 

Also have a beautiful new card posted on the Cards by Friends to enjoy with us.

 

Ya'll enjoy a wonderful Sunday, and thanks for stopping in to visit. Big hugs.

 

 

Christmas Card Club - Snowmen

Hi - today is Christmas Card Club Sunday, and I'm a bit late with this post. Our group of cardmakers share a Christmas Card Challenge every other Sunday, and this week Lorraine of Rainey's Craft Room wanted to see Snowmen. So after apologies for being late, here is my Snowman.

- sky background airbrushed using a plastic cloud template, & various shades of Blue Violet, Blue, Bluegreen, in the 0000 & 000 shades. Finally sponged some DI blues in the corners to create a bit more depth.

- Sue Wilson tree dies cute from a snippet of dark green, added brushable glue once these were in place. Over the wet glue, sprinkled polar white flower soft (much of which has fallen off! I have the WORST luck with that stuff!  I did press gently into place and let it dry too). Added some star dust stickles because the flower soft was such a disappointment as snow.

- Inkadinkadoo Snowman - stamped with Memento London Fog, colored with copics. Paper pieced his scarf, applied glossy accents on his vest, and some star dust stickles rubbed around his snowy tummy and hat.

- torn strips of American Crafts glitter paper for the snowy ground, then added star dust for ice.

- Impression Obsession deer cut from a velvet texture brown dp. His hooves have some stickles around his hooves.

Left off a sentiment --will decide as needed whether this will be a 'for winter' or 'for Christmas' card.

Hope that other folks have better luck with Flower Soft than I do. The flower soft glue is in a container that I fight with to try to squeeze the glue out. (store it upside down in a jar as directed in a class I took on Flower Soft. Have tried other glues - thick ones, thin ones. This time was a SnS Brushable glue, sprinkled the F/Soft the wet glue, pressed & let it dry. The stuff still fell off. I get very discouraged when trying to use this product. Be interested in hearing about your experiences with it or suggestions to make it less frustrating. It's so pretty if it works properly).

Please do see what my team mates have shared on our Snowman theme (blog links on the right side bar). Realized I've still got a couple wonderful birthday cards to post on the Cards by Friends Page too.

Have a great day, and hope it's cool where you are this afternoon. Thanks for joining me, and big hugs.

Christmas Card Club - Cute

Hello and welcome. Today's post is for our lovely Christmas Card Club ladies. We make & share Christmas cards all year long, posting for each challenge every 2 weeks (or as my Brit friends would say 'fortnight'.). Each member gets to choose a theme, and we try to make cards around that idea, and it certainly helps to have a nice stash come December. This time our sweet Sylvie of Gibmiss wanted to see Cute. So I hope this card will be deemed 'Cute'--- I thought the image was cute when we found it in a sale bin at a stamp show.

- Impression Obsession (designed by Hannah Davies) cling rubber, inked in Tuxedo Black, colored with bright colors of copics. Added some lines in the birds' wings with a turquoise pentel pen, also used some fine line Staedtler Fine Liner pens (found mine at Target...but Amazon has these). Covered over some of the colored areas with WoStella, which managed to smear the turquoise, but still looks ok! Added SU Crystal Effects, which shines nicely IRL.

- Nuvo Crystal Drops (bright gold)

- Gina Marie Scalloped Square Frame die - this creates inner portion and a frame. Colored frame with copics, added some Crystal effects. After drying, placed the birds back in the frame. Matted with black, card base covered with a 6x6 pack of DP, that was on sale. (very thin DP - but some pretty patterns. Chose this chevron because it had the tropical colors of these goofy birds in the pattern)

- EK Success Tree punch - 2 layers. One from a snippet of green dots. Stamped an HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiment embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum (close up below). Then stamped another tree from clear package plastic snippet, tied some silver twine through the star that was punched with a small handpunch (you know, the kind we used to make holes with in school, but this one has a tiny star! It didn't like the plastic either!!!).

This closeup shows the sentiment better.

I'd be interested in hearing from you, if my links to products used, is at all helpful..OR if it may be distracting as you're reading. I don't know how to add all the product pics the way I've seen it done on other blogs. If it's more distracting than helpful, then I'll stop doing it!!! Sometimes I can't always find a good link. If a product is used that you want more details than I provide, do please contact me and I'll try to help if I can.

I hope you'll check out the Christmas Club member links as shown in the right sidebar. It's always such fun to see how each interprets the challenge theme.

Have a wonderful day, and God Bless. Big hugs too!

Christmas Card Club - Star of Wonder

Good Morning, and it's time again for our bi-weekly Christmas Club to share some cards. This week, Zoe of Stamping Scene selected our theme as Star of Wonder.

It's been a while since I had a little brusho & spray session, so that was my first effort on getting a card ready for this challenge. Used Strathmore 140# water color cardstock, Brusho-s in Cobalt and Ultra Marine Blue. Then added some pearlized spray. Puddled all that around...drizzled some Color Burst Metallic Sky Blue & Amethyst, and finally after playing with all this, spritzed on some Lindy's Starburst Spray - in a dark blue. Sorry, don't remember the name. It was good to play.

Used these backgrounds on both the cards shared today.

 - Sue Wilson Wisemen Striplet die cut from one of the brusho backgrounds. Some silvery American Crafts glitter paper backs this. Debated whether to add a little touch of silvery wax paste over the blue, decided I best leave it alone as is.

- Another Sue Wilson border die cut twice from another American Crafts glitter pack, slightly different shade of silver than the one backing the striplet die cut. Think this border is from the SW French Collection.

Didn't have a good space for a sentiment, so used a small silver sticker at the bottom of the die cut.

- Used the darker of the brusho backgrounds to stamp a Hero Arts nativity stamp over the background, heat embossed with Ranger's Queen's Gold.

- Pretty Pink Posh Scalloped Rectangle Frame cut from white c/s, heat embossed 2 coats of the Queen's Gold. Placed the frame over this background, and once it was adhered, decided to leave some of the blue showing outside the frame. This is mounted on white craft fun foam.

- Sue Wilson flourish  (it's part of one of the border sets, with 3 parts to this die - and I didn't use the cutting edge - so had to hand trim parts of this). Used a white snippet, then heat embossed with 2 coats of Queen's Gold.
- the card front is embossed with a C/B geometric EF, that was used as a cushion when embossing some design paper recently. Having an extra layer of card stock under the dp, keeps the folder from 'tearing' the paper.

Again, not much space for a sentiment, so used a silver sticker, which was colored with gold pens, with a top coat of Wink of Luna Gold.

I do hope you'll check the sidebar for the links to my fellow club members, as I'm sure each will have some awesome cards to share for this challenge. Hope my Star of Wonder is what Zoe had in mind!

Thanks for popping in. Have a wonderful day. Blessings & Hugs.