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9/30/2018

Christmas Card Challenge #20

Good Morning, welcome to Challenge #20 for our Christmas Club Challenge. This time our challenge theme was selected by Rachel. Rachel wanted to see turkeys, camels or sheep. As always, if a member does not have any supplies that fit with the particular challenge for the week, it can be anything goes. I have plenty of turkey images, but they are for Thanksgiving or Fall cards, rather than Christmas. Discovered I don't have even any digi images of a sheep! So it had to be camels. As for those, only have camels with 3 Wisemen riding them.


So here's the card I made for today. As usual, it didn't end up as I'd envisioned when I started out.


SU Come to Bethlehem set for the 3 Wisemen and the sentiment

Die-Versions Bethlehem die

Taylored Expressions Poinsettia EF
Cuttlebug Snowfall EF

DI Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves (DOX) and DI Chipped Sapphire for the sponged sky, and Aged Mahogany DI for the ground.

Brutus Monroe Copper Penny, Gilded Gold EP -(Star) and Ranger Queen's Gold

After sponging the watercolor weight c/s, stamped the SU image and heat embossed. My idea was to mask and have the city of Bethlehem in the distance. That didn't work. Sponged another c/s, used just the wisemen to stamp part of the image and again emboss. Die cut the Die-versions City of Bethelem and that didn't fit my idea. Decided to fussy cut the Wisemen from the first boo-boo. Cut the City die and placed it on the card so that I could layer the Wisemen in front of the buildings. Used some dimensional foam behind part of that die. Placed the cut out Wisemen over the stamped Wisemen- which created a shadow effect.

Edged this piece with some more Copper Penny to frame it. Cream lightweight c/s was embossed with a Taylored Expressions Poinsettia EF, and another cream piece embossed with the Cuttlebug Snow EF. Cut a border from the Snow EF, adhered all to a tent fold card base. Lastly the sentiment from the SU set was heat embossed with Queen's Gold, and colored with gray & lavendar copics, hand cut to fit the space, and edged with Queen's Gold.

Please take time to visit my CCC team members to see their ideas on this challenge. Their blogs are listed in the right hand sidebar. As always, thanks for taking the time to visit, and have a wonderful Sunday. Hugs


9/29/2018

A House Mouse for Rudy Day September 2018

Hap-PY Saturday! Checking in with the September Rudolph Day card (will be back later for a Christmas Club Card post).  For any readers who don't know about Rudolph Day (or as I call it "Rudy Day") - it's a Christmas themed Anything Goes challenge that opens each month on the 25th and runs until the end of that month. There's always lots of inspiration from the cards submitted and our Dear Hostess Mo has some nice prizes as well. So if you have never played along with this challenge, give it a checkout, using the link above, ok?

We have an 80th surprise birthday party to attend in a little while, so best get to it. Here's the Rudy Day card:


Stampabilities - House Mouse Monica - You Cane Light the Way

Spellbinders Super Ellipse Die (S5-188)

Memory Box Holly border die

Cottage Cutz sentiment die

Copic coloring, used the Gina K Amalgam black ink - I'm liking this ink, and have been using it along with the Momento Tuxedo Black that I normally use with copics. So far, have had no bleeding problems.  This also has some WoS on candy cane, and Nuvo Crystal Glaze on the lights to give a 'glass' effect.

Die cut the image with the S/B Ellipse. Red mat done with drawing the _inside edge_ of the next size larger die, then trimmed a little off where needed. The red paper was a snippet that was just large enough to cut this mat.

VOS red & white stripe paper.

- snippet of Coordination green cut 2 Holly borders, then added some red Nuvo drops for the berries.
- snippet of same green cut the Ho Ho Ho (left off the exclamation points) and under top layer, had 2 white snippet layers which were colored a dark green). Applied Nuvo Crystal Glaze once this was down. On the first "H" too much glaze came out, and had to try to pick it away with a straight pin. The photo picks it up, but not noticeable IRL. Sometimes the ease with which this product comes out of the tip, is not always a blessing. But guess it's better than fighting with the clogged Glossy Accents, ...maybe!

For the lights glow: Yellow copics colored around the lights, then added versamark and some Chunky Glitter mixed with white EP, and heat embossed. After I had the holly borders down, I remembered that I have a border die that has little bulb lights on it. Story of my life!!!

Off to link up with September's Rudolph Day, and hope to see you there. Back later with the Christmas Card Club post, due tomorrow! Ya'll have a wonderful afternoon, and thanks for joining me. Hugs


9/27/2018

A Bucket of Flowers for a Sympathy Card

Welcome....recently needed to send a sympathy card to a blog pal who lost her husband very unexpectedly. Thought this image would work well for this occasion. Didn't realize until I saw the photo, that the central image doesn't look as though it's on straight. Why is it that I check, recheck, things look ok, until I see the photo?! Honestly, I do double check the cards...I don't think my eyesight is _that_ bad!


Inky Antics image  colored with Copics and WoS, a Pentel silver pen for the rim around the oval. A S/Binder die scored the frame on the outer white oval.

Dry Embossed the background, then added a border. SU punch for the sentiment.

That's all folks! Come back when you can ...and I'm still having some comments stay "awaiting publication", some are coming into the Hotmail address and some are going into the spam folder. So I'm having to check several places for any comments, and my apologies if I miss you. Or if I miss returning a visit if you've left a comment.

Hugs & have a great day.

9/25/2018

A Crazy Dog Birthday

Good evening, and welcome. We've had cooler weather the first 2 days of the week so far(75F), and it's been quite overcast. Today there was just a tiny sprinkle of rain. Had I not been driving, wouldn't have known it was raining, except for seeing some drops on the windshield. We were out early for me to have a 'swallow' test - trying to find out why my voice has gotten hoarse. Was expecting it to be most uncomfortable, with nasty tasting stuff. Nope, none of that...the different liquids I had to drink (different consistencies I mean) were not anything I'd want a lot of, but it didn't taste terrible. Some kind of machine - sort of like an ultra sound type - showed the liquids & solids as it went down my throat. Weird to watch. Nothing was uncomfortable, and no abnormalities were apparent. I have a tendency to get choked or strangled very easily and when I was seeing the specialist for the hoarseness, he sent me for this test.  That's my exciting social life- medical stuff.

DD's 51st birthday is October 1 and she loves dogs. So of course she gets 'dog themed' cards usually. DH & I both thought she'd like the THoltz Crazy Dogs - which is why that set found it's way home with us. Here's the card:

Had the elements colored (Copics) and couldn't think of a single idea as to how to use them - did some Pinterest searching. I saw something with this goofy dog holding balloons on his bone, (don't remember who had it pinned, else I'd link to that  card). That gave me the balloon idea. Found some pattern paper snippets. Sky background, then the 'grass' to create the card front. Hunted up a SU balloon set that I knew I had. Used a metallic water color set (VOS) to watercolor these fussy cut balloons after heat embossing with a gold twinkling EP. And when that got embossed, no twinkling did I see. The same EP was used for the Elizabeth Craft Birthday sentiment.

Dog did not die cut well on first effort, so stamped, colored and die cut another pooch. Layered the boo-boo doggie underneath the 'good doggie' - raised up with dimensionals. Food bowl and ball also popped up. The big red balloon is just adhered, but the lavender and blue balloons had some dimensional foam. Cut under his nose, so the bone could hang out of his mouth. The hardest thing about this card was trying to glue the balloon strings under the balloons - should have done that first!!!

Thanks for joining me this evening, and hope your week is off to a great start. Big hugs and lots of Blessings - We can ALL use some of both of those things I'm sure.

9/22/2018

CAS Christmas Challenge - September

Welcome to a Saturday afternoon CAS Christmas Challenge post. The theme word for September is Wreath and I have loads of wreath stamps, for one thing, because I have always loved these images. So I wanted to try very hard to join in this challenge. Have you ever worked on a card that it just seemed as though it didn't want to get made? Well this one today, falls in that category. Get a cup or a glass of something cold, and join me for a couple minutes!


Recently got an order from Hero Arts and got 4 of the new glimmer metallic inks. After using DI markers on the wreath with the Misti helping, had the image die cut, matted and adhered to the card front, when I decided to try using the red glimmer on the berries. The glimmer does indeed shimmer, but.....Look at this:

See all those smudges? And guess what? They wouldn't be scratched off with a pick tool or erased off with the TomBow sand eraser. Thought it had dried ok, but evidently had not. I was very unhappy when I saw what I'd done! Back to the drawing board, as the saying goes; did the same stamp again, same DI markers, same die shape...thought I'd just adhere it over the top of the messed up image - which I had removed to photo, messing up the first card front (that also had smudges on it, but not so bad as this image!)

On the 2nd effort, things were going good, and I had decided to forget about the metallic ink on the berries...as I didn't want to mess it up again. Then went to stamp the JOY with versamark & misti. Forgot to insert misti's black foam, (the image is cling, so I removed the black insert to get a good inking)...The J didn't stamp well. No problem... hey, with the misti you can restamp. Well, something must have moved, cause it didn't stamp 'just right on top'. Oh I thought, I'll just take a cloth, buff it out. Tried and I couldn't see the versamark ink; dropped on the gold EP. WRONG! Looked awful.

Once again, inked up the wreath, did all the same procedures, and kept that black insert right there with the clear JOY stamp so I wouldn't forget again! This time things worked ok. Here's that result.

- Stacy Stamps image, inked with DI markers Twisted Citron, Shabby Shutters, until I got the depth of color I wanted. Then used a regular brush, wet with water, to move the color around. It was a small round brush. I'm trying to learn how much water to use, without making blobs of color. Once the water coloring was finished, reinked the stamp with Mowed Lawn to crisp up the image. Cleaned the stamp, inked with versamark, and heat embossed with Clear Detail EP. Candied Apple and Barn Door on the berries. 

Hero Arts clear sentiment, heat embossed using Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold. S/B die for the circle shapes.

PTI impression plate for the texture on the card front.


Here's a picture of the stamp and what happened with the image that I messed up on the sentiment stamping. Decided to stamp the sentiment on a separate piece of c/s, add some dimensional tape under it to cover up the EP boo-boo. Added a S/B pinking circle mat. Spattered a card front with red & green Lindy's (I need to work on my spatters too!) and said "If I need an extra card, this is it". Ha!


So that's my CAS September Wreath card! You still have a few days to join in. 

Thanks for visiting, and have a great evening. Hugs & Blessings.





9/21/2018

CAS Watercolor Card Challenge - September

Good evening, and hope you've had a great week. Ours has been fairly busy. Going to exercise classes (or therapy) 3 times a week, keeps us on the go a lot. By the time we spend about 90 minutes doing the routine, perhaps get lunch or run a couple errands, get back home, I'm tired! I feel the exercise/therapy is helping...but it's a slow process. I'm able to do more than I expected to do, and while I'm walking, I'm wearing one of the gadgets on my finger that is measuring my oxygen levels as well as my heart rate. The oxygen level stays up pretty well, but when I walk outside into the humidity, still get quite short of breath. I expect it will improve, in time, and with cooler weather. Gosh, we're into Fall. And the folks at the CAS Watercolor Challenge selected the theme of Trees.


I knew the perfect stamp to try to watercolor, so hunted it up. Did it first with DI markers, then used some zigs to do the same image - just to see the results. Stamped, die cut, and then couldn't find either piece. Soooo....got the stamp back out, and redid again for this card, using DI markers, huffing, stamping with the misti.


Rubbernecker Cling Stamp
PB Snowflake die
- stitched die for the mat (it was handy, and I don't know what set it came from. Thought it would frame the fall tree nicely if I heat embossed it with Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold)

Here's the card and the stamp shown together, and I tried to color the image with the stamp photo as a guide. Couldn't quite get the reds in the foliage just as I wanted, but maybe next time. Put a little more green in there than Rubbernecker did too. 

Got this Rubbernecker stamp at a stamp show some time ago, along with some florals. After I finished this card, picked up something on my desk, and Voila, there were the 2 other images that I had done. I swear, I had looked under all the stuff, and they were either hiding from me, or Pixies live here!!!

There's still a few days to enter the CAS Watercolor Challenge for September. Ya'll have a great weekend, and thanks for visiting. Hugs. 



9/15/2018

Christmas Card Club - Challenge #19

Good evening, and it's my 2nd post of the day. We're still quiet weather wise here in my area, and thankful to be so. Hope it stays that way overnight. We're expecting some rain (according to MSN, but MSN has predicted rain all week, and we got none)

It's time again for the Christmas Card Club Challenge, which is a group of card makers who share cards every 2 weeks on a theme selected by one of our members. We also have the choice to do 'anything goes' if we don't have the particular images needed for that week's challenge. Mrs. A chose a theme of Polar Bears or Teddy Bears. Had images for both but there's a NBUS set I've had for a while, found while looking (of course) for something else. So I decided on Polar Bears.

 

 
MFT Stitched Rectangle Frames
Avery Elle Snow Much Fun stamp and die set
Hampton Art Tree Die (this has some clear patterned tree  images with the die)
 
Frame die cut was versamarked, and heat embossed with Sparkle n Sprinkle EP in a dark blue, then re-inked and sprinkled an icy blue over the darker blue.
 
- snippet of snow flake paper added to make a sky background. Used the center piece cut from the frame, just covered it with the DP.  Various snippets of Christmas paper used to cut the trees. The solid green tree is the reverse side of the circle pattern tree. I decided to go for whimsical trees rather than make realistic ones.
 
- white c/s embossed with the C/Bug snowflake EF (it's called snowflake, but it looks like dots to me) Tore this embossed c/s to make snowbanks. Adhered, then tucked the trees around. Lastly added the polar bear and bunny on the sled, which was done with copics and WoS. The frame was adhered to the card base, then inlaid the 'created scene' inside the frame. Sentiment & sled popped up on dimensionals.Thought about using some Nuvo drops to put ornaments on the green tree, decided to stop. Sometimes I have a problem knowing when to quit :-)
 
Team member blog links are on the right sidebar. Hope you'll give them a visit and see what they've shared for Mrs. A's Bear Challenge.
 
On another note: Blogger is once again not sending all comments to my email. Some are coming in, some are awaiting publication. I don't know why. But I'm trying to be sure I don't miss anyone.
 
Ya'll take care and hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Be safe if you're having weather issues. God Bless and thanks for visiting. Hugs too. 

September 2018 Twofer Challenge Cards

Good afternoon, and so far, all is well in our area of Upstate South Carolina. Prayers going out for those Carolinians, Georgians and Virginians, who got so much attention from Florence. Thankfully our area has been spared. We've had hot sunny days, no rain. Yesterday we did have a bit of breeze, but definitely couldn't call it wind. Today it's overcast and perhaps the breeze might be a little stronger, but nothing to fret about. We did spend one evening picking up some of the little yard decorations about the place, brought in the bird feeders. Anything we thought could be a projectile to damage a neighbor's property in case of strong winds got taken up.

https://twofercardchallenge.blogspot.com/2018/09/twofer-card-challenge-9.html
The September 2fer Challenge word is Leaves. So here goes:

 
 


MFT leaf set (an oldie and no matching dies) inked and stamped to create a background. First effort I tried using some old Kaleidescope pads that were in the pretty fall colors. As you know, when closed, those multi-pads in those, have a little 'pull' to keep them apart so they don't bleed together. When using the Misti to try to ink a couple of times, I discovered that 'pull' feature was awkward, so my first try wasn't all that great. (I used that one to cut 2 layers for the hang in there). Got the Hero arts Ombre pads and those worked better. This MFT set has the 'solid' leaf and then has a 'vein' image. Having the Misti surely helped to get even inking impressions on this background. When it was all stamped, used a gold spray - from way high up - to add a little gold dusting.

Same MFT set, stamped, and fussy cut each leaf. Used Altenew Rose Gold EP on the aspen leaf; a Ranger gold on the oak leaf, then re-versamarked it, dribbled some Ranger Copper over that.  On the maple, used the Rose gold, the copper and added in some WOW red. Used a tiny spoon to try to get the EP where I wanted it, then used the heat tool. I rather liked how this turned out. Background is a watercolor wash using the new Altenew watercolor set that was featured recently. Used a Darice Fall leaf EF and cut off the bottom portion so that I could stamp the Altenew sentiment in red. (Actually the way I had placed the c/stock in the folder, that fall was backwards on the blue side of the c/s. Another good reason to cut it off! The 4 leaf patterns in the square are debossed, but I think it looks ok anyway!)
Tied some twine in a bow, and called 'er done.

Now recently I shared a card with a PBlack berry image watercolored. The first try was using a 140# watercolor c/s, and I just didn't like the texture. I finally got around to snapping a photo...what do you think?
And if you have time, check out the Cards by Friends tab at the top to see an absolutely stunning card we received from the talented Miss Bonnie. When I showed it to DH, he asked "Did she _paint_ this?"  My reply was "of COURSE she did". We are so blessed to have lovely friends who brighten our lives with sharing their wonderful card making talents with us.

One other little tidbit to share: Got this package in the mail today:

Look at the tiny bottle of Lindy's compared to that huge box filled with packing paper. No wonder the postage rates are so ridiculous. This tiny bottle could have been put in a small mailer envelope and probably shipped for a $1.00!


Hope you'll find time to join in with Darnell's September Twofer Challenge #9. All of us are needing some Fall leaves cards!!!

Thanks for joining me this afternoon, and many grateful thanks to so many of you who emailed us to check that we were safe. It warms my heart to realize so many folks that I've not met, probably never will get the chance to meet IRL, were concerned enough to email. Fortunately our area has been lucky that we've not gotten extreme weather in the years we've lived here (16 now). I hope any of you who were in Flo's path, are safe, and that your families and friends are also.

God Bless.


9/08/2018

Thank You

Good morning. Seems I'm doing Sympathy or Thank You cards this week. Still need to work on birthday cards, and hopefully some Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving cards too. Recently we had a good visit with a blog friend, and I wanted to say Thank You for some wonderful hospitality. The overspray waste from using brusho and other products still has a bit of paper left. Thought this would make a nice background sky for a Loon die that I have.

- Your Next Stamp border stamp...used some cube inks in shades of blue and purple, to complement the background of the Loon.

- Gina Marie Loon die

- Crafters Companion Thank You Die - 3 layers of white snippet stacked, then colored with shades of Copic Blue Violet...

I didn't think about this until DH mentioned it...the folks we were visiting have some very nice Duck decoys decorating their home. I hope they will enjoy this card!!!

Just for grunts and giggles, I changed the email addy for the comment notification to my old Hotmail address. Which I can now see in the Outlook that was in the Windows 10 operating system  as well as my other email addy which I normally use. My guru set up accounts so that I can see these 2 inboxes, along with 2 other email ID's I had him set up because of these blogger problems. After trying many, many tiresome times to get blogger to send me a new subscribe message to that address, I changed it to Hotmail, and Voila, shortly thereafter, got a subscribe message, which of course I DID! So hopefully I may start seeing the comment notifications there. Fingers X'd!

Thanks for visiting, and ya'll have a great day. Blessings.


9/06/2018

Sizzix 3D Thank You

Good morning and welcome to another scheduled post. I wanted to make a thank you card for our friend who found the old record player and mailed it recently. He's a fella who doesn't go in for frilly, so thought the Sizzix Mechanical 3D folder would make an appropriate card for him...


Sizzix Mechanical 3D EF
Altenew ink - brown shade from one of the cube sets to ink the inside of the folder prior to embossing
Crafters Companion die (found at Tuesday Morning, reduced price)...3 layers (white snippet) colored with various shades of Copic earthtone colors. Added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze after adhering. This die did NOT cut all that well, even using the nice metal shim that helps with most dies. I was happy that I'd not paid full price after seeing how much 'clean up' had to be done to the die cuts.
I do like the font though.

Done and done....I think I like this folder for a masculine card.

Thanks for visiting, and have a blessed day.



9/04/2018

Botanical Sympathy

Welcome, and I hope all my USA friends had a great Labor Day weekend. Ours was quiet, hot, and not a lot different from the routine of our usual days. The kids are all back in school, the weather is still hot, and perhaps by the middle of September, we might start seeing some cooler days. It cools off nicely on some evenings. One evening we watched a couple of our neighbors playing with drones..I'd never seen one close up before. Expensive toys!

Sadly, another sympathy card was needed. One of our neighbors lost her Mom last week, after a long illness. I like the Sizzix 3D Botanical folder so that's what I used for a quick (relatively speaking) card.


Inked the folder with a CTMH sea glass ink. Took a couple of inkings to get a nice even color over all of it. First try, used versamark over the raised areas, then embossed with a clear pearl WOW  EP. Didn't look so hot, so started over, and decided to leave the embossing off.

SWilson Double Stitched Rectangle die cut out the sentiment with a small frame. Used the same CTMH ink to stamp (thank goodness for the Misti) and added a few pearls, and that's it.

Ya'll have a nice day, and stay cool if the weather is hot where you are. Plan to have a couple of scheduled posts this week. Trying to get a few things caught up, and will attempt to visit the lovely folks who have left comments. Still have some birthday cards to make and need to start on the Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving ones.

Thanks for visiting. Blessings & Hugs.




9/02/2018

Christmas Card Club - Challenge 18

Welcome to another Christmas Card Club Challenge...The theme for Challenge 18 was selected by Zoe. Zoe's choice was Christmas Foliage/Trees. This group of card makers has a challenge every 2 weeks and our theme is chosen by one of the members. We also have the option to do something 'anything goes' as long as it's Christmas related. I hope Zoe will approve of my choice of "Christmas Foliage".




This is a Penny Black image which I decided to try water coloring with Tim Holtz DI markers. Used a Direct to Rubber technique, stamped and restamped using the Misti. After getting the ink down, I used a regular #4 round brush dampened with water to spread the color around a bit. I'm trying to get accustomed to the proper amount of water on a brush so that it moves the color and doesn't 'blob'. First stamped this using 140# watercolor paper on the smooth side, and was not happy with the result...too much texture. So tried again using a smooth Bristol card stock, and liked the results much better.

A Sue Wilson Double Stitched rectangle die cut the piece, which is popped up on craft foam; added some candy stripe washi tape to each side of a top fold card, then glued the berry piece and this one is done. 


Edit: Thanks to Brenda for advising  that the above card will also fit into the September CAS Mixup Challenge. So linking that allenge. 
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Decided to use another Penny Black cling image, but this one I colored with copics.


Used the same white Bristol card stock, stamped with Tsukineko Rich Cocoa, then used various copic markers to color...adding some white highlights to the berries with a white gel pen. Then used some DOX to edge around the corners and edges to tone down the 'white'. Used a snippet of Christmas paper as a mat (cut out the center)...and this one is done. I found coloring the pine cones much easier than  #1's berries.  I'll keep trying to work on my watercolor and hope I can improve over time. I know it takes practice, practice, practice.

Now I hope you'll take time to visit my team members, whose blog links are listed on the right side bar. As always, thanks for spending time to visit here. I'm trying to visit all the sweet people who leave comments - still not getting the comment notices in my email, although I've followed the instructions in order to get blogger to send me a 'subscribe' notice. Not happened yet. I hope I don't miss anyone.

Ya'll have a good day, and for my American friends, have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Be safe. Hugs and Prayers to those of my friends who are needing them. Blessings.