Rudolph Day for April 2018

Good afternoon and I'm skating in at the last moment with a card for April's Rudolph Day. Just by the skin of my teeth, but what the hey, here I am! Been busy, what can I say?

- Navy Blue Card stock

- Penny Black Snowflake die (cut one from glitter paper, one from white card stock, rotated slightly when layering)

- S/B fancy square die for the square background on the snowflake.

- VOS for the blue check dp behind the s/b die.

- embossed with a Snowflake EF... dabbed Tsukineko Delicata White glimmer, then silver glimmer over the embossed snowflakes

- Joanna Sheen Brittania word dies (some of my very first word dies, thanks to Mrs. A, who told me about them) 2 layers, heat embossed with Brutus Monroe Sterling EP.

Very simple card, but I like the sparkle. There's still a few hours before April's Rudolph Day closes, so maybe you can sneak in behind me!

Ya'll have a nice afternoon; I'll be doing some catch up commenting, and maybe plant a few plants we bought over the weekend. I got them home and thought "now WHY did I go buy this stuff?"

Thanks for joining me and come on back when you can! Hugs & Blessings.

Christmas Card Club - Challenge #9

Hello & Welcome. Once again it's time for a Christmas Card Club post, and the theme of our challenge for this week was selected by Rita . Rita wanted to see wreaths. Got lots of wreath dies and stamps too, so I decided to focus on some dies to make my 2 cards this week.

First though, I'd like to welcome a new follower, Ishani, of Quillish. I do hope you'll take time to go over, say hello to Ishani, and enjoy some of her fabulous cards. I found Ishani via Maxine of Kiwime's Kreations. I love finding new friends at an old friend's blog! You might want to say hi to Maxine as well, if you don't already know her!!

Card #1 - a Penny Black wreath die - 3 layers. I forgot to use my nice metal shim that is so good for intricate dies. Had 3 layers that were cut from a piece of white insert cardboard(snippet!). The dies cut pretty well, but I still had to do some fussy scissor cutting on each die cut, because of my forgetting. The ribbon cut very well, however. Colored each layer with copics, glued together. Used a generous inking of versamark, then Ranger Queen's Gold. On the red ribbon, also colored, used some new Gina K Red Hot. I've been looking for a nice red embossing powder, and I think this one made me happy.

 

Cuttlebug embossing folder, heat embossed the edges with the Queen's Gold. The sentiment was cut from the same insert cardboard, 2 layers - copic colored, embossed with Red Hot.

 

Card #2

 

 

 

 

Multiple wreath dies, some 'twig' shaped dies from Gina Marie were cut from colored snippets, also previously made backgrounds. Two other leafy wreath dies were cut from different green snippets. Then a holly leaf die was cut from white c/s and colored with copics. This die had the bow, jingle bell and extra leaves. Added the layers together. Colored the bow and jingle bell (2 layers) then added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze. The card front was a previously created background made with various sprays, then embossed with a poinsettia EF. The sentiment was from a Concord & 9th set, 2 layers, embossed with the Red Hot. 

 

Hope you enjoyed my efforts. Do please visit my team mates, whose blog links are on the right side bar. Should you be interested in joining our group, let me know. It's a great way to build your December stash.

 

Ya'll have a great Sunday, and come again when you have time. It's getting porch weather so pretty soon we could swing, have some ice tea, and watch the world go by! Hugs & Blessings, and thanks for visiting.

 





Christmas Card Club Challenge #8 - Christmas Greenery

Every 2nd Sunday,  our group of ladies in a Christmas Card Club share our cards - designed to a specific theme one of us has chosen. This week it was my pleasure to select the challenge theme of Poinsettias or any other type of Christmas Greenery. I had just used the poinsettia theme for our last Challenge of Christmas Flowers, so decided to go with Christmas Greenery. This stamp had a basket of holly, so decided that would be my card focus for this challenge.

- image colored with copics, WoS. I liked the way it turned out, but since there was a piece of water color paper that had been cut to size, messed up on one side, I decided to use the opposite (clean) side, to stamp the image again, and try to watercolor it using Zig markers. Used Hero Arts Concrete Flannel, the misti, and several stampings to get a good outline on the w/c paper. (140#). Heat set the outline before starting to w/color and it didn't bleed.

 

 

Tried to replicate the same colors as card #1 and I have to confess, I _still_ think #1 looks better. I see in the photo, which I had  not caught IRL, that I need to do some darker shading on the berries to sort of 'separate' them. I can do that with pencils - I hope. I keep trying to master this w/color stuff...

 

Used the same supplies on both cards. (the red card front c/s came from a Christmas pack. Took out 2 sheets without realizing I had 2 sheets in hand, cut to make the 4.25x5.5 size card shape I usually use. Voila, there was 2 sheets together so I made one card base with the solid red, and the other with the red & gold dots.)

 

-MBox sentiment die - 3 layers, used Brutus Gilded Gold to emboss it. The circle mats were also gold embossed but I think I used a different gold power for that.

 

Hope you can visit our card group to see some gorgeous cards made on this theme...their blog links are in the right side bar. Enjoy. Thanks for visiting and come again when you have time.

Hugs & have a great day.

 

 



March 2018 Rudolph Day

Good afternoon, and welcome to March 2018 Rudolph Day (which I nearly forgot about!) While returning some visits on Tuesday night (the 27th), I saw some Rudy Day entries, and suddenly realized the significance of the date. If you don't know about the Rudolph Day Challenge, look here.
This is an easy challenge to play in, as all one must do, is have a card with something Christmas as the theme, and the challenge opens the 25th of each month, and ends on the last day of that month. It's a terrific way to build up your Christmas card stash all during the year.  Here's my entry for March's Rudy Day. Hope you like it.

 

- Dee's Distinctively Birch Tree Frame (IME-266) - Enhanced with Warm Gray copics to look like birch trees we see in New England. Covered with WOW Embossing, then sprinkled WOW clear EP glitter over it. This EP is translucent, allowing what is underneath to show, and this created an icy, brrr feel to the oval cutout.

 

- IO Die 333-H (birds, cut from white snippet, colored with copics, WoS)



- background sky created with DOX Broken China, Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers, and Memento Sky Blue. Used a white gel pen for snow.

- Gina Marie Designs Double Pierced Oval was dry embossed around the Birch Tree frame.

- Memory Box Be Merry Flourish, 2 layers of snippets. Used Brutus Monroe Ultra Fine Sterling EP to emboss the sentiment. I had first colored this with a red copic and it didn't look right, so decided to use the Sterling instead. Liked this better.

Entering in March 2018 Rudolph Day
Snippets Playground Challenge 322 (must use snippets or scraps!)

Both challenges still are open! C'mon and join in.

Thanks for visiting, and come again when you have time! (hopefully my comment notification problem has corrected itself...!) Hugs & Blessings.

Caroling Cardinals for Rudolph Day February 2018

Good evening, and welcome. I'm skating just under the wire to play in February's Rudolph Day....so best get to it! You ask what is Rudolph Day (or as I usually call it "Rudy Day")? Well, it's an Anything goes as long as it's Christmas themed challenge, hosted by Sweet Maureen (Scrappymoi)...opens on the 25th of each month and closes whatever the last day of the month is. Easy peasy, so do join in. Helps to build a good stash come December.

Artful Stamper image (wood block, VOS), colored with copics, enhanced with gel pens, black nuvo drops (on the eyes) and some glitter and snow for them to dance upon. That center guy is doing some moves, isn't he?

- Spellbinders dies, Authentique 6x6 dp, and red top fold card base (Recollections)

- SU punched out sentiment...which was cut from a snippet of the Authentique pack.

Let's be off to that linky tool at Rudolph Day. Ya'll come back when you can, and big hugs going your way.

Penny Black for Rudolph Day

Hi and welcome to the first Rudolph Day Challenge of 2018. I missed a lot of Rudy Days last year, so I'm going to make a concerted effort to join in if at all possible in 2018 (that wasn't a New Year's Resolution or anything, but hey, it would make a pretty good one, yes?) You DO know about Rudolph Day? It's a challenge hosted by Scrappymoi, opens on the 25th each month, closes at the last day. The only rule is 'anything Christmas'.

Was inspired by this card by my so talented friend, Bonnie K. Of course then I had to buy the Penny Black stamp. Decided I'd use it for Rudy Day, as I needed to make something that didn't take a long time to color. First thought about using gold to emboss it, but had gotten some NBUS Altenew Platinum that needed a try, -- was pleased with the effect. Did some DOX sponging..(trying for a glow right around the tree, not sure I've achieved that. Still pleased with the outcome. My first try at coloring the swirls inside the tree wasn't great, neither was my second. Tried with an alcohol marker - got it messy outside the embossed edges. Then tried another effort with gel pens, still not great. Went to Polychromos pencils, not dark enough in the tiny spaces to show well, so went over the pencils with the Kaiser glitter pens. Liked that better).

Embossed Penny Black Starry Tree withWOW watermark pad, then heat embossed with Altenew Platinum Crisp EP. Colored elements within the tree with pencils and Kaiser glitter pens. Using a snippet of my other failed efforts, sort of masked the edge of the tree while sponging DOX Twisted Citron, Bundled Sage & Iced Spruce at the bottom. Spritzed a pearlized mica spray, while shielding the tree image. That same snippet mask was used to ink WOW versamark over the edges, then heat embossed with Platinum. Two slivers of that same snippet were trimmed, inked with copic blue greens, then used WOS for a little glitter. Started coloring the strips with the Kaiser glitter pens, but the ink didn't flow well. I'm not particularly thrilled with these pens, as they don't seem to hold much ink. A couple of times use, then they appear to dry up, even though you can still see ink in the barrel. Pulled out the trusty copics, inked, WOS, done. The blue doesn't match the swirls color but I liked the contrast between the platinum and this color, so....

Penny Black Rejoice die, cut 4 layers from the last of the failure snippet, then embossed with the same platinum used elsewhere on the card. After seeing the picture, the sentiment didn't get centered as well as might be.

Is anyone else having a problem with Blogger slowness when leaving comments? At some blogs, I hit publish and then it 'goes'. Other times I publish, wait, hit the publish button again, and finally it appears to take the comment. I'm not always sure.

Please do check out this fun challenge, as Maureen (Scrappymoi) always has some lovely prizes. So see you at Rudolph Day January 2018. Be there, or be square!

Thanks for joining me today, come again when you can, and hugs & Blessings. Stay well, as there is so much sickness about.

Christmas Card Club - Christmas Baking

Hello and welcome to Christmas Card Club Challenge #2 for 2018. Our theme this week is selected by Maureen, whose choice was something with Christmas Baking. Would you believe I don't have _any_ stamps or dies that I could imagine would remotely fit this theme, so I started hunting for some digi images. Couldn't find anything that really floated my boat as the saying goes, but remembered a clipart I'd seen at Christmas time....so I hunted clipart. Found a gingerbread house....that should do it! (Mind you, I've never even thought about baking a gingerbread house! But I love gingerbread and sometimes I do bake it too!)

 

So here goes:

The main focal image was a clipart image that I sized and printed. Added a few more touches of color with copics and then added some die cut holly over a smaller holly that was pictured on the chimney. There's 2 layers of this image and on the top one, I used a stylus around the trees and heart, some of the candies, to add a little dimension to the picture. Also added some more white dots on the trees using a white gel pen.

Die cut a Sue Wilson die for the outer edges (the green dots dp).  The bronze frame around the gingerbread house was just a white card stock that was sponged with DOX colors of Gathered Twigs, Spiced Marmalade, Peacock Feathers and Fired Brick. Used a S/Binder square die to cut this out for the frame. The photo doesn't show it well, but the outer rim of the green dots paper was embossed to show the design of the die. There's 2 pieces of the SW die behind the house.

The card base was sponged with the same DOX colors as the frame, but looks a bit different since more of it shows.

Used a NBUS MB die set to create the peppermint candy corners. The gingerbread men were stamped, colored with copics and Kaiser glitter pens, fussy cut because I couldn't find the matching die.

Sentiment was 3 layers of die cuts done with white snippets, colored with copics and WOS.

Please take time to visit my team members (whose links are on the right sidebar) and see how they interpreted this Christmas Baking challenge! And thanks for joining me today, and come again when you can! Hugs & Blessings.

The Dove of Peace

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

 

Here's a prayer that your day will be or has been - just the most wonderful and happy day of 2017 for you. I wanted to post a Christmas card made just especially for all those who are so kind to visit here, share sweet comments about the cards & posts I do, and for those who often chat with me by email. Your support this past year has meant so much to me, and helped me get through some tough days. When I would feel down or blue, I'd get an email or a lovely card from one of you, and my spirits lifted. Many times it enabled me to face whatever the next day might be bringing. I know that many of my friends are also dealing with some tough Life's Issues...This thing called Life visits all of us at one time or another. My prayers go out to those of you who are facing these trials.

 

I think I've mentioned here that I seldom watch the news on television. It's depressing, always something unpleasant or hateful, and that's what inspired the card today. It's a very simple card, but expresses my Christmas wish for each of you AND the world we live in.

 

 

 

Background made using Silk acrylic - royal blue as a wash over watercolor paper. While wet, sprinkled Brusho Prussian Blue, Ultra Marine and a bit of white. Spritzed with Dylusions After Midnight spray to bloom the crystals. Let that dry just a bit, then spritzed a pearlized spray for some sheen, with just a little more water to make the colors spread all over the background. I wanted a deep royal blue, and this was exactly what I had envisioned behind this white dove.  

 

- Martha Stewart mega bird punch...5 layers of snippets layered to create some dimension. Added pearls for the eyes (wish I'd left that off!) and the flower center. Leaf twig colored with copics.

 

- Hero Arts Infinity Circles cut the blue background and the outer gold mat. An old Cuttlebug Dots embossing folder for the topper. Memory Box peace die cut from a snippet of mirror c/s that had Stickit backing on it.

 

I was watching Jersey Boys while I worked on this card. Franki Valli & the Four Seasons was the sound of my teenaged years; I really enjoyed the movie and those wonderful songs.

  

Blessings, Hugs AND Peace in your world -  ya'll come back when you have time. I expect all of us can do with a little time off during this holiday season. Thanks for popping in to visit.

 





Christmas Rose

Good Evening, and here it is: Christmas Eve. We have some eucalyptus and basalm candles burning, so it certainly smells like Christmas inside. Many long years ago (maybe 40+) DH had one of the then popular ceramic Christmas trees made for me, by a friend of his. This was before we got into ceramics. Surprisingly with all our moving around, the tree is still intact, all the little lights still work, so that's turned on tonight. And best of all, Mr has had 3 good days where he wasn't feeling punk. Yesterday we had a big family celebration at the daughter of Brother #2. Two of his sons were missing, but with the grands, great grands - there were enough people there, to make a lot of noise! Very festive and lots of delicious food too. Tomorrow I'll be doing some food here for DH & me, and think Bro #2 will join us. Brother #1 will be at one of his daughter's - so that's another milestone holiday for each of them to have gotten through alone - but thankfully, not truly alone!

So I've been working on a special card for the Mr. Had gotten aWplus9 Christmas Rose stamp and colored it up. Disaster. It's not an easy stamp to color, even though I thought it would be. First stamped in Memento Toffee Crunch, as I wanted a sort of 'no line' look with pastel colors. (I had looked up Christmas Rose on google to see the color ranges). Worked 2 nights, and it went from bad to worse. My coloring was ok...BUT...the pastel colors looked really washed out. Decided to check youtube to see if somebody had used this image (I knew Jennifer McGuire had, which is where I saw it..but of course I couldn't find that one!) Luckily I found Floral Highlighting with Kelly. Loved what she did so much, I cased it! Now mine doesn't look quite as good as Kelly's turned out, but I was rather pleased with it (so big thanks to Kelly! I'll edit this post later to share my first efforts...)

 

 

I didn't use exactly the same copic colors or Distress Ink colors as in the video, and also used a DOX one, but basically I CASED what Kelly did, with immense gratitude. I was getting a little panicky about having a nice card done. I think Mr. will enjoy having it. He always prefers the cards where I've done copic coloring rather than just the die cut ones. I thought about doing some gold spatters, but caution won the day.

 

So Merry Christmas to ALL of you, and big thanks to so many of you who thought of us with the lovely Christmas cards you've sent us. I hope I've shared all of them...and that you've had time to take a peak and enjoy them with us.

 

God Bless, and I hope each of you has those you love best with you tomorrow, and will be able to enjoy the day with splendid health. Family, Love and Health...and remembering the most precious Gift given us so long ago. Hugs

 



A Yappy Christmas

Welcome....are you counting down? Have you gotten everything done that you meant to do? I am amazed at the people I know who have their tree up on December 1, all their cards addressed and mailed that first week. Gifts bought and wrapped and under the tree, or mailed in a timely fashion. I was fairly organized when I was working, but I'm certainly not now! Seem to get worse as the years go by too. Oh well, it's really not about the gifts...it's about Christ and family and love, and I'm ok with that.

Had to make this card in a hurry, as I thought I'd be working on it in Florida, and once we knew a little box needed to go in the mail, I had to finish it up ASAP. It's a cute My Favorite Things clear set, and I selected different images from the set to create a little scene. I didn't do any grounding, which - as I'm looking at the photo, I should have done. Some of the red lights were really magenta or orange shade, but got changed to red during the editing process. Used a Gina K red velvet to stamp the sentiment, and that showed up as pink in the photo. Didn't look good at all, so thus the editing..which also changed the things that should have had a more pink hue. Oh well, DD will like the card. It has a dog on it.

Of course copics were used along with an old Snow Writer on the fur of the hat, which surprised me by not being all dried out. Glossy accents on the jingle bell, the ornaments and the star.

Impression Obsession light string die, cut from white c/s, and colored. The Glossy Accents added a touch of gleam to the lights...(there was only one red one, and the round ornament was magenta). The top light (not on the string) was orange, and there were some different shades of orange on the string too. Oh well, it happens. The finished piece was die cut with a S/B scallop die and then used the same die to cut the folded card base.  (oh yeah, in the photo, the dog, tree and stocking stayed as colored!!)

I hope you are able to get in a little relaxation. Yesterday I caught up a bunch of comments from the last 2 posts, watched the rain, and balanced the checkbook. Intended to go to the basement to do some stamp cleaning, put away a bunch of schtuff...the last bit hasn't happened yet.

Blessings & Hugs, and ya'll come when you can.

Poinsettia Christmas

Hello and welcome. Not too long until the big day. Still have a few more cards to get made that will be hand delivered.

I always make my brothers a special card for the holiday. This year was a little pushed for time, so made all 3 pretty much the same. The image is a clear Avery Elle one, heat embossed with my favorite Ranger Queen's Gold. Colored - carefully with copics. Flower centers were colored with a Pentel gold slicci pen. These are getting harder to find in my area...this is my favorite gold pen.

- The colored image was die cut with a Gina Marie rectangle. Added some Impression Obsession tiny holly & leaves, which were colored with copics, and then a few sequins.  Pretty simple, and I hope they will like it.

Do please check out the Cards by Friends page if you have time & enjoy some of the lovely cards we've received. Ya'll stay cozy and come back when you can. Hugs & Blessings.

A Happy Birthday Poinsettia

Good evening, and thanks for stopping by for a little visit. We have a dear friend from our days in Florida, who is going to be 100 years old on Christmas Eve. This sweet lady has since been moved out to California by her son, so that he can better look after her, but aside from most things age-related, she is still sharp although due to some falls in the past, she moves about with a wheelchair. She loves to read, watch tv, goes to craft & social functions at the living facility where she resides. So what to make for this special lady? We even looked at Hallmark as I wanted something very elegant and beautiful for her. I was quite disappointed, as all of the cards we saw were humorous or just not suited for this milestone occasion. So, thinking...well, it's Christmas AND her birthday, she likes flowers...poinsettias, right? So here's what finally evolved, and I will say right up front, it looks much better IRL than it does in the photo.

- A Penny Black poinsettia background was stamped using versamark, heat embossed with Queen's Gold.

- White cardstock was die cut with a Tim Holtz Mixed Media die (which I thought I had in my stash; then when I went to pull it from storage, that was not one of the 2 mixed media sets I have! Murphy's Law!) After this corner was die cut, the piece was embossed with a Tim Holtz poinsettia EF.

- A stampendous poinsettia image was stamped with versamark, heat embossed with Queen's Gold, and colored with copics (carefully, as the nibs don't like the embossed edges). I did 2 sets of this poinsettia, adhered one layer. Then on the 2nd layer, used a stylus to raise up the petals on some leaves. Looking pretty good, until I tried to 'deboss' the center, and stylus poked through! Grrr! So first thought of Nuvo drops, but then decided to drop some glossy accents into the center, then add some of the tiny, tiny gold beads (forget what these are called..it's not prills). Of course these little things just go all over, but I managed to mound them up and it dried overnight.

- Sentiment was heat embossed with the same gold on heavy weight vellum. I was going to add 100th between the words, but did not have any number stamps that looked appropriate with the size of the sentiment letters. Inside it references the milestone, and I hope she will enjoy knowing this card was made just especially for her. We've always thought a great deal of this elegant & refined lady and don't get to see her since she moved to California.

Some lovely cards were added to the Cards by Friends page tonight. Are you as intimidated to send your cards to fellow card bloggers as I am? But we sure do get a bright lift to our day to receive them from these sweet people. I have a few more, but haven't photo'd those as yet.

Have a wonderful week, and hope you can find some relaxing time. We aren't real sure we'll make our trip to Florida for Christmas. DH had a procedure to shatter the kidney stone on Thursday, and we're not 100% sure that it's successful. He's done pretty well, but still seems to have some pain at night when he lies down. Still watching to see if anything passes...just didn't feel it was the thing we should do to take a 12+ hr drive, perhaps encounter a problem while away from his doctor and his records. So we're just a little 'down'...but all things happen for a reason.

God Bless. Hugs too.

Backgrounds, Tree, Snippets

Happy Sunday afternoon. We're having a gorgeously sunny & most pleasant afternoon after an overcast & rather gloomy day on Saturday. Today I'll share a couple so-so cards, finished from salvaged bits (snippets) and  boo-boo.

Here's the first - the boo-boo

 

- Background created from mica products(Mineral burst, color burst, pearlized sprays) using #140 watercolor paper. This was the first try with the liquid mineral burst, and I was quite happy with the results here.

Used several sizes of snowflake dies and glitter paper to layer the medallion. Cut the Penny Black die from the same paper, but letters of this die were very tricky to handle. There's 3 layers, and each layer was difficult to get adhered together straight. After it was placed on the background, it didn't look at all as I wanted. After looking at it, took a gold gel pen and outlined around the words, and decided 'that's it'. I hated to toss the pretty background.

Tried this as a square card, and it didn't look right. Used the 5.5x4.25, added a border of gold glitter paper top & bottom, and some SU sequins to cover the join. This is one that may stay in the stash box and get cannabilized for something else. Not real happy with this die either...too fussy to have to work with (for me anyway!) It's a very pretty font on the die though.

- this one is the Snippets one! The tree was cut from a ?Hero Arts? die that cuts the tree shape and the little branches, which are then lifted out from the surface. Used a mica created background for this, then rubbed some Nuvo Mother of Pearl mousse around before lifting the branches. The Nuvo MoP. had been closed properly, still has the inner seal, but it had dried out quite badly. I'm wondering if spritzing a little water into the container might rehydrate...anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd only used it once before, but it's been a while. I had a problem with the small pots of Inca Gold old formula some years back.Wondering if the mousse is going to give me similar problems. It does give a nice sheen though.

A snippet that had a circle die cut from it, was handy and another piece that had some embossing paste....used the cut out as a stencil atop the paste piece, and sponged various shades of dark blue to create a night sky. I was trying to create a way to use the tree, as that was the jump off point for this card. Added some white gel stars. Torn paper with Sparkle n Sprinkle Twinkling Clouds spread over liquid glue to create some snow drifts. Decided to add 2 little Art Impression birdies, and the sentiment. Done!

Now for just a couple of the Thanksgiving cards that got made, but not mailed in time.

The next 2 were sponged DOX & embossed background. The image is an old Art Impression cling that I have always enjoyed coloring.

Still have a couple more Thanksgiving cards I may share, where I was experimenting with the Whitewash technique.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Hope that you had a good weekend, and ready to tackle the  seasonal rush that is beginning! Hugs & Prayers.

Dry Embossing Christmas Trees

Good afternoon, and thanks for stopping in. Hope you've been having a good day, and enjoying whatever it is that you might be doing.

Here's another background card from playing with Ken Oliver Mineral Burst and other products, using mixed media card stock and a Sizzix 3D embossing folder. This time the background dried overnight, was dry embossed with this folder, then  spritzed some different mica sprays over it. I'm trying to teach myself to keep the sprayer about 18" or more back from the card surface. I've been finding if I spritz, let dry well, then emboss, the piece still doesn't feel the 'hardness' to yield as good an emboss result.

Had some bits & pieces from previous backgrounds, so they got pulled into use for this card too.

The Impression Obsession die cut tree was cut from a snippet of created background. Used the foam tap that comes in a 'line' form (rather than the squares). Cut into skinny pieces to be able to pop up the tree. Colored the tape with a copic so it was not so visible from the side. I was trying to position the tree trunk between the raised letters, so it's not evenly placed; hence the sentiment out to the left side. Hoped to create a more balanced look. Thought this worked with the embossed sentiment. The sentiment was cut from 3 layers of snippets, and is from an Echo Park die set. Snippets were just big enough for the die to fit - the 2 back layers were from a messed up Halloween scene. Goes to show, those little bits come in handy :-).

Ya'll have a wonderful afternoon, big hugs.

Spiral Christmas Tree for Rudolph Day

Waay Haay! Finally, have a simple card ready in time for Rudy Day. In case you don't know about Rudolph Day, it's hosted by the very fabulous Scrappymoi (Maureen), is open every month from the 25th to the end of the month, and the only rule is that the card have a Christmas theme. Pretty simple, yes?

Have been playing with some products, making a few backgrounds if I had a little time and was in the mood. So today's card is the product of those efforts. Found a Sizzix 3D EF at the local Hobby Lobby, had a coupon, and well, you just couldn't not buy one, right?

 

 

Background made from sponging DOX in blues and lavenders, with some iced spruce to tone down the colors just a tad. Sprayed some pearlized water over this and dried overnight. (A tip: Do the embossing and _then_ spray with the pearlized stuff...; tried that next time and that seemed to work better for me)

One caution on these Sizzix 3D embossing folders: Check the sandwich with _your_ machine, as it would be easy to break the machine. After a few efforts and the machine felt 'too tight', I just opened  the tabs on the multi-purpose platform, put the EF down with no bottom plate; added a shim from some saved die backing (like you get the S/Binders dies on), added the top cutting plate. It rolled through with no forcing and I still got a nice impression. It was not the sandwich suggested on the Sizzix package.

 

Impression Obsession Swirl Tree die cut from another play piece made from Ken Oliver Mineral Burst, colorburst crystals and pearl spray.

 

Sentiment from an Echo Park word set, cut from the same tree paper... used some snippets from other spray pieces to make 2 more layers to add dimension. Added Glossy Accents after this was adhered, then sprinkled some white glitter over the wet. It's quite bling-y after drying. Did the same on the star as well.

 

Very simple to do with pieces handy. So now I'm off to join some lovely folks over at November's Rudolph Day Challenge.

 

Didn't include links to products used, but if you are interested, will happily try to provide the info.

Thanks for joining me, and have a wonderful blessed day! Hugs



 

 

 

Christmas Card Club - Challenge 7 - Christmas Flowers

Hi and welcome to another Christmas Card Club post. Our theme this week was chosen by Carol who wanted to see Christmas Flowers. I happen to love Poinsettias (apparently more than I realized by the number of poinsettia stamps I'm finding during my sort-through of stamps).

 

 

 - Poinsettia inked with WOW clear embossing ink, then heat embossed with Ranger's Queens Gold. Tried using the Misti for this, as the red c/s has a texture and did not stamp well. I had difficulty using the Misti, so finally just started over, using a clear & see through block and the process worked better. The sentiment came from the same set, was heat embossed with Queen's Gold. It looks straight IRL, but looks a bit wonky in the photo. The camera always sees what the eye missed**.

Edit: since this card has some boo-boo surprise on it, and since I just remembered Darnell's 2nd Annual April Fool's Boo-Boo Hop, I'm going to link it into that challenge!

- plaid background is from a 6x6 Christmas pack in the stash. This is a side fold card. Was not terribly happy with how this one turned out, so searched out a MB Poinsettia die, and then another MBox set which has the petals in layers of different sizes.

- Die cut the base die from Canson #98 Mixed Media C/stock, as I'd decided to try to water color with Zigs. Once the bottom flower which is a single die, was finished, colored each petal layer (there are 3 in graduating sizes, and the stamen)...colored those. Adhered the single flower with dimensional foam squares, then layered the remaining layers with liquid glue. Added some Nuvo Crystal over the stamen.

- White background embossed with a Candy Cane stripes EF.

- Sentiment is from an old Inkadinkadoo clear set and the Misti was used for this - the white paper has a texture, and it required repeated inkings to get a sharp & even image.

Please do check out what my fellow team members have created to inspire us on the Christmas Flowers theme. Each member is listed in the right sidebar, and clicking on the name should take you to their blog.

Thanks for joining me & hope your weekend has been wonderful. Hugs & God bless.

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

Recycling for February Rudolph Day

Good afternoon. Welcome to February's Rudolph Day Challenge, which opens on the 25th of each month and ends on the last day of that month.

My card today is one that has been made up for a couple of weeks. Sorting through the cards received this past Christmas were some that I thought had 'recycle' possibilities. A Memory Box Oval Master frame that had come in an order, made me think one card would work fine with that die.

 

 

- Covered a white card base with Paper Studio plaid pattern.

 

- Die cut the original Christmas card with the MB Oval Master Frame die. This die also cuts a thin oval frame, which was used on this card. If you look closely at the oval in this card, you'll see part of the picture image from the ornament.

 

- Another scallop, stitched oval die had been used to cut a frame using the back of this same original Christmas card, and thought it looked pretty good with the ornament motif. However, that red frame had something showing that I didn't want on the card, so -- Martha Stewart poinsettia punch to the rescue. Used some cream c/stock to punch out several layers, shaped and formed some poinsettias to tuck around, hide part of an image that I didn't want visible. Added some gold seed beads to create the stamens of the poinsettias. Some of the flowers were colored and cut apart to form leaves. Thought these rather complimented those flowers in the printed image.

 

- DieVersions die cut sentiment from a snippet of gold mirror paper. Aside from the plaid background, pretty much this entire card is snippets I guess! We received another card with what I thought was this same ornament, and had thought to fussy cut and add over the top with some tape to create dimension. However, once I had the idea, found the other card, nah, it has a pretty poinsettia image, rather than an ornament. The rest of the card is identical though - to the one I recycled here. Same design except for the switch of the ornament to a poinsettia!

 

Do pop over to Scraps of Life to join in with February's Rudolph Day Challenge. Maureen always has some lovely prizes! Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Big Hugs

 

 

Christmas Card Club - Snowy Mountains

Good Morning and welcome to our 4th Christmas Card Club Challenge of 2017. Our teamie Culliesocks (Kate) wanted to see Snowy Mountains, Sleighs, Skies. Well, this is one challenge that had me putting on my thinking cap (somehow I overlooked that Sleighs could be a motif! I was looking through my old wooden Stampscape stamps for some mountains that I thought I remembered! Gosh I have several sleigh dies..totally missed it on that one, Kate!!!) Anyhoo....here's what I came up with & hope it's going to fit the bill:

 

 

 Supplies:

Stampendous: Cling Christmas Cottage, Stampscapes 182G Tall Peaks, both stamped with London Fog. Fussy cut out the topmost area of the stamped cottage image, then masked and stamped the Tall Peaks behind the cottage.

Light copic colors to create a snow scene

- Hero Arts Infinity Nested Ovals, Marvy Snow Marker, 6x6 Rockin Christmas paper pack (picked up on sale at one of the local stores), Nuvo Jewel & Crystal drops added to create more snowy effects. Really got a huge clump of snow in one place on the mountains when trying to get the marker to flow. Decided to leave as is, and when this product was heat embossed, it really puffed up nicely. The Nuvo Crystal product was dropped on some of the ground snow, spread with fingers to create the glisten of snow in sunshine. Along the path - built up snow piles.

The cottage scene was stamped twice, and the holly & pinecones motifs colored a bit darker than what was on the original scene, cut out and applied with some dimensional foam over the mountain paper cut out oval to add some dimension. The mountain theme paper was just a lucky find when searching through 6x6 paper packs.

I hope you'll find time to visit my team members to see their inspiration of Kate's challenge theme.
(Blog links are on the right side bar). Do have a lovely Sunday, and Big hugs & prayers to all in need of them. Thanks for popping by this morning.