Christmas Card Club - Challenge 16

Hello and welcome to a new Christmas Card Club post. Challenge 16's theme was selected by our Scrappymoi (Maureen, she of the Rudolph Day fame). Maureen wanted to see  winter activity themes such as sledding, skiing, or sleighs. As always, we members have the choice of 'anything goes' if we don't have suitable images for that challenge's theme, which is helpful. Anyway, when I saw the challenge theme, I immediately remembered an old Penny Black Snowie, which I've always loved to color. In looking for him, discovered another old wooden stamp, no manufacturer name on it, so made 2 cards this time. I needed a bit of copic coloring therapy.

 

 

 

The 'icy snow' on the hillside looked a bit pink when I spread it out with my fingers for 'snow'. It's Stickles Stardust. All of my stickles are pretty old stash, so I don't know if this product discolors with age...It doesn't look pink in the bottle, and didn't at first when I was smooshing it around. As it dried, it has a pinkish look.

 

Some Impression Obsession and Sue Wilson die trees cut out of snippets, colored with various copic greens. The die is a Memory Box one, cuts 3 pieces. Adhered the larger rectangle to Snowie, then inlaid the outer rectangle, finished with the oval center. The DP is from an older 6x6 winter pack. Since I knew I'd be using the additional trees for dimension, thought it would work.

 



 

 

No idea who made this cute little sled of mice, but it was fun to color. Did some cloud practice on the sky and added white flocking for the snow. Again, some stardust stickles right around the sled, and this didn't look pink (same Stardust bottle though). MFT stitched frame with red & white dots. Hmmm...then tried to find something besides plain white to use as DP. Thought the blue snowflakes DP would work, then added the MB Christmas die in the leftover red from cutting the frame. After I looked at this one for a while, sort of wished I had stayed with just plain white, maybe embossed with a snowflake EF. Oh well....Sometimes what is in my creative thinking doesn't turn out as I hoped it would!!!

 

Hope you have time to check out the other team members interpretation of this challenge. Their links are in the right side bar. Wishing all of you a happy Sunday and our heat is back. I will be doing some blog visiting this afternoon to see what lots of you have been sharing. Thanks for joining me, and big hugs coming your way

 

 

 

 

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.

A Cute Christmas Card

Good afternoon, and today over at our Christmas Club the lovely Lorraine chose as our theme for today... Cute Christmas. Well, that assignment is pretty easy, with all the cute snowmen, reindeer, teddy bears and various subjects-- so here is the image I chose to fit this particular theme. Thanks, Lorraine, for giving us an cute assignment!

- Penny Black Skiing Snowman image, colored with copics, spica pens, WofStella, Sakura Silver Star and SU white chalk pen.

- S/Binder Label 25 to die cut, outlined the edge of the cut with a Sharpie blue pen

- Background paper is from waste paper at the airbrush table. Loved the blue mottled background and thought it looked like a snowy day. (Incidentally, this paper is the non-print side of a large desk calendar - sometimes it will be the heavier tissue paper that comes in packaging boxes. Such paper makes great covering protection when spraying or airbrushing, and can yield beautiful design paper)

- MS punch on some of the same paper, with a narrow strip of some green dp to bring out the trees.

- bakers twine wrapped under the raised image, and Elizabeth Craft sentiment...that's it. Can't beat that for easy & cute!

Thanks for joining me, Happy Sunday. We have a lovely sunshine day after several gray days, so the sun is a welcome sight. Hope to get round to visit lots of my visitors this afternoon. In the meanwhile, have a pleasant afternoon, and many Hugs.

Sparkle n Sprinkle Snowman

Hello and HooRay! Saw my 200th follower pop into the list this morning. ASAP will do the Random Generator gig, &  post the winner of the blog candy.

I am doing a Happy Dance, can you see me??? I said YESSSS when I saw that number, and DH came in to see what the fuss was about. He just said "Hmmm...that's nice" when I told him   :-[

Extending warm welcomes to: Alethea of Lilo Design, and for NO. 200, MaggieC of The SilverCrafter. Thank you for becoming followers and helping me achieve my latest goal. Please do take some time to leave some love and have a fun browse around these bloggers' fantastic work.

An update on yesterday's test: Mammogram was pretty easy...the tech is very skillful, takes quick pictures and seldom has to retake one. Found that my bone density could not be done yesterday - due to insurance constraints. Will need to be rescheduled for Jan 2015, to keep my mammo & bone density tests done at the same time & comply with insurance constraints. I was lucky that the bone tech checked my records to see that it had not been quite 2 yrs since my last one, else I would been billed rather than our silly insurance rules covering it! Next headed for a nearby Panera Bread & had a yummy brunch of mini-quiches, orange scones, & caramel cappuccino.  Then thus fortified, we did some running around errands.

Here's one of the hardest cards I've had to try to take a picture of to date. I've been messing about with the camera and this card all day.

- image is a sale stamp picked up on our Christmas visit to Sparkle n Sprinkle in Ruskin, Fla. Stamped on Xpress snippet & colored very easily with copics.   Just dabbed on various bright colors.  Used some spica pens, wink of stella on different places. Wink applied over the snowflakes then glittered.

Die cut with a S/B & edged lightly with BG0000 & splotches of BG0000 under him, for icy patches. Dabbed on a smidge of brushable glue using a toothpick, then sprinkled some Crystal Ice glitter over the snowflakes & the ice patch. Hat fur got brushable glue, then Twinkling Clouds. This product makes the nicest snowy look when added. I liked it so much I purchased a larger jar of it, so I don't run out.

- Card base is Bazzil textured navy blue, embossed with THoltz Tall Pines EF. Glue added here & there on the 'branches', dusted Swan Wing glitter tinsel over the glue. Looks quite icy IRL.

- MB Frostyville Border (988146) diecut from Studio G 6x6 paper.  I had seen this Youtube by Scrap Made Simple. Stacy demonstrates using a cutting die with design paper backed onto double sided  adhesive. She used Sookwang, and so did I.  Poked all the bits out, peeled the adhesive away, and didn't have to glue tiny places. Loved this technique, and will use it again.

Snowy was adhered to a DP banner (snippet from the diecut border), & sent to the top corner as I didn't want to cover up all the decorating. Frustrating trying to get a decent picture, but finally had to settle on this one. I've used some snippets, so this will get linked over at Pixie's Snippet Playground for Week 107. I spent a most enjoyable last evening being inspired by all the lovelies that have been shared by those Playground Elves, and laughed my head off at Miss P's poem. Trust me, you gotta check this out if you need a good chuckle and craft inspiration.

Realized I should enter this one in the January 2014 Sparkle n Sprinkle challenge too, since I used so many of their products!

My assignment this afternoon is to empty the hot water heater closet - which is by my airbrush table - so that the plumber can have clear work space to install a new heater come Saturday. Purchasing a new hot water tank was one of our chores yesterday.

Thanks to all you wonderful, supportive followers who have made my blog journey such fun. I'll be back with a candy winner as soon as I get the DH off my back about doing something besides sitting here at the pc & wasting time!!! (sound familiar? He's usually very good but I do know there's some chores that need to be done in time for the Saturday project). So off I go, Thanks for your visit today. I know I rambled on a bit, but heck, I'm excited.  HUGS! HUGS! Hugs

Friday Fun Day Challenge #30

Good afternoon & big welcome. Since it's Friday (Errgh - the 13th!), you know that's it Friday Fun Day at Jo's Scrap Shack . So pull up a chair by the fire, have a cup of something hot, and let's visit for a little while, if you've got time.

Our theme for this Friday was selected by fellow DT member Amanda who chose the theme Winter. Our sponsor was Stamp Art Design by Kathryne and I chose this little guy (Snow Mail). Isn't he adorable? Colored up very easily too, after printing on Copic Xpress paper, and I used copic markers with some spica glitter pens.

Here he is:

- Outlined one Snowmail image with a Sakura silver star gel pen after airbrushing the sky with B0000. Colored a second copy with copics, fussy cut Snowy & Mailbird, which were popped over the silvery outline. The little touch of silver that shows underneath the arms, adds to the frosty feel.  Sparkle n Sprinkle Cloud 9 added along the ground for some snowy texture. S/B Deckled Rectangle die cut the focal image, and thin black mat cut with Perfect Layers Rulers, which I'm trying to learn to use properly.

-  Dylusions Blues created the background on 90# water color paper. Some sprays were pure color, some diluted, some mixed with white linen. I spritzed the paper first so that the sprays would run. Added some pearly spray & a spritz of gold after the colors had started to 'set', but not yet dried, so that I could tilt the paper & get some color spreading. Sometimes I blot with a paper towel - which I did on this one - sometimes just allow to air dry. Air drying gives a more marble look I think. Thought this piece created the illusion of falling snow.

- Impression Obsession die cut trees (DIE084-V) out of a white textured snippet, popped up with tape, added stickles on the branches for glittering snow.

- MS drippy goo border punch using a glossy paper snippet which made great icycles, added some stickles just cause I was in the stickles mood! :-). This border is for Halloween I think, but it made some good icycles too.

- Winter sentiment is from the 3 Twenty Crafts Winter Wonderland set, stamped on a white snippet inked with Memento Bahama Blue ink.

We'd love to see what you create using the Winter theme, so please pop over to Jo's Scrap Shack for the simple rules, link up and play along with us for FFC 30 this week. Do check out what the fellow DT members have created for your inspiration today.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Friday, get ready to enjoy the weekend. As always, thanks for visiting & come again when you have time to chat! Hugs

Christmas and Rudolph Day

Happy Sunday afternoon. Thanks for stopping to visit a little while. We have a beautiful sunny warm afternoon here in our area. The temp was 80 - so was the humidity. I've been working on a couple of cards, and trying to get one finished in time to enter in the fabulous Rudolph Day Challenge over at Sarn's.  I started out with a Madonna & Child stamp on some vellum and an idea which totally fizzled, so after 3 different efforts - I gave it up. (for a while anyway). Remembered I had the colored image used in the card I'm sharing today, so finished up a card using this little snowman.

Jingle Belles

Good afternoon, and I'm back with a card you may have seen just a peek of earlier, if you saw my desk on WOYWW 192 fun earlier this morning.  There is a nifty winter challenge going on here featuring something icy, water-y, frozen, etc. So I thought I'd give it a go with this cute little Snowman (B06S - Freezer Space) that I purchased from The Stamp Doctor at a recent stamp convention. He made me smile when I saw his cute sign. The image was colored with copics, and then - just because I had been experimenting with some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), I used the UTEE on his hat & scarf. This gives a lovely shiny look to Mr. Snowman.

- diecut with S/Binders Marvelous Squares, largest die
- snowflakes diecut with Impression Obession (small flake) & Memory Box Crystal Snowflake (larger) on silver holograph paper
- Distress Inks Tumbled Glass & Stormy Sky sponged around diecut edge
- Recollections Starry Night paper pack - blue background, silver snowflake pattern

I'm off to link up my card, so I hope you'll check out the challenge and see some lovely cards at Jingle Belles Ho Ho H20. As always, thanks for dropping in for a visit. I appreciate your visits & comments so much as it means you took time from your busy day to think of me! Hugs