Santa Hedgies for Rudy Day

Good evening, and welcome. It's time for the October Rudolph Day Challenge, and next month will be the last one for 2018. In case you don't know about this challenge, it is a Christmas Anything Goes themed challenge, which opens on the 25th of each month, and closes on the last day of that month. Our hostess, Maureen always has some nice prizes, and it's just a fun and fairly easy rules challenge...just do something related to Christmas. 

Here's my entry for October....I've managed to join in each month of 2018 (I _think_!)

Penny Black image

CZ Design die sentiment

Hedgies colored with copics; Polar White Flowersoft for the fur and used a quickie glue pen over the string of stars. Then dumped some Brutus Monroe Gilded Gold over the wet glue. The glue pen allowed the EP to adhere fairly well, so IRL the stars have a nice glimmer. A silver slicci pentel pen helped the scissors to look metallic.

the snow was created by using a rather dried up snow writer (it wouldn't come out of the end so used an embossing paste spreader to put some on the card; then used my finger to spread it). Then dumped on some glitter while this was wet.

I sprayed a fixative over the flowersoft to keep it from falling off (hopefully) and the wet 'snow paste' held the glitter as it dried.

used red mats and a dot dp snippet piece to add some color on the background.

3 layers of snippets made up the sentiment. A red snippet in the middle, with 2 white snippet layers colored with copics. A business card was handy, so used the white back and sandwiched the red snippet between. The thickness of the business card gave a nice dimension. Nuvo Crystal glaze applied, once the layers were put together. Laid this on the kraft non-stick mat, as I applied the Glaze. This way when it blobbed over, as it does sometimes, it was not on the card, leaving a splodge that the camera picks up.

Please check out this month's Rudolph Day Challenge, and see lots of inspiration & then play along if you are able. Only a few more weeks to build your Christmas Card stash!

Hope to be back later with a card for our Christmas Card Club. Ya'll take care, and thanks for joining me. Hugs

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.

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.

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.

July CAS Mix up Challenge

Good evening. We had a nice little rainstorm this afternoon. Has cooled down the temps beautifully. After spending the afternoon as we usually do on Sunday - with my 2 brothers, then  we ate out as a family. Came home, got showered & into my summer jammies;  sat out on the porch swing, reading and watching the heat lightning for a little while. Very pleasant, almost too cool for bare arms, so as twilight fell, I came inside.

I've been working on this card off and on for a while, hoping to get it finished before the July CAS Mix Up Challenge ends. I hope it fits the requirements.

Played with Distress and Oxide inks, smooshing onto a craft mat, spritzing, sometimes with water, sometimes with a pearlized spray. Smooshed pieces of 140# watercolor pieces into the inks. Think it was Twisted Citrus, Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed and Peacock blue. Don't remember which was DI and which was DOX. Let layers dry, then added more of the same colors, but at each layer, used a different combination of the same inks. Sometimes after finishing the smooshing, sprayed a gold spray lightly over the piece to dry. When doing the next layer, I'd try to let some of the gold show through. IRL you can see the gold glimmer, not so much in the photo.

Die cut with a Penny Black fern shape, which dictated the smooshing colors I selected. The negative piece will be used for something else later.

A white snippet from which an oval die shape had been cut, was used for the topper. Placed the die behind the oval, tucking some of the fronds to the outside. Thought that looked cool, but the plain white looked 'plain'! Used the 3D Sizzix branches EF to emboss the front. Had thought to ink up the folder, but remembered for the CAS the background needed to be white. (Not real certain if the embossing will disqualify this as CAS!) Needed to have a background behind the die cut, so used another white snippet.  Memento New Sprout inked the EF before running this through the Big Shot. Added a couple sequins & used a tear drop pad of New Sprout to emphasize the oval edge. (Adhered the pieces, but later wished I'd used some fun foam behind the topper to create more dimension). The sentiment was inked with some green pigment ink, but then while it was still wet, decided to heat emboss with Ranger Queen's Gold. I was glad I had, as I think this showed up better than the green ink would have.

Hope all of you had a pleasant and relaxing weekend. Blessings and Hugs, and come back when you have time! Thanks for visiting this evening.

Gina K. Stencil FLowers

Hiya, First, apologies for being slow in returning visits. I have to remember to go check the Awaiting Comments (as I'm sure a lot of you are having to do as well) to publish. I have a backlog of visiting to do, and I promise I'll catch up. We've been having some rainy days most of this week, with intermittent thunderstorms. Even though the computer has a good surge protector, I still power it down when the thunder starts.

Anyway, enough with the excuses. Recently I got 2 pretty stencils from Gina K. I decided to try using a dauber and some pigment ink over a dark cardstock to see how it would look. Here's the result:

Used a pale & darker yellow (don't remember what brand, but it was pigment ink) and then Hero Arts Unicorn white - daubed with a finger dauber, trying to do a little shading. A light green was used on the leaves and probably should have been a darker green to show up better. The cardstock was a navy blue, no texture. After finishing all the inks, went back using versamark on a finger dauber, covered all the stencil design. Then sprinkled some clear embossing powder. It has quite a nice shine IRL.

Did the same with the simple sentiment. Inked with the Unicorn white, used a WOW pearlized EP over it. Decided the bottom corner needed a little 'something', and these little embellies were in my line of sight. So there you go. I always need a card of this type, so I'm trying to build a little stash of such. Gina K had done a video using this stencil with a beautiful Gold ink & white card stock, and I hope to try that one of these days.

Recently read a post by my blog pal Loll  with a technique she calls Embedded Brusho technique (and she has a link to a good video, so check her post for the vid). Now I had seen another Youtube on this technique, tried it, and it didn't turn out well at all. (Trash offering). After reading Loll's instructions, I tried again, with much better results. (I did check out the video link first though).

Here's a couple of the results:

This used some Nuvo Shimmer Powder, Violet Brocade & Cherry Bomb and a WR Memory Box EF.

 

 

#1 was the first impression. (Shimmer Powder is rather similar to Ken Oliver Color Burst - powder rather than crystals.) Sprinkled it on the watercolor paper, then embossed & spritzed the w/c after this came out of the Big shot, but still in the folder. The folder had picked up some of the powder as it embedded into the w/c paper).

 

#2 (bottom example)  - 2nd pull after spritzing the product that got on the folder and it's much lighter.

 

#3 (top example)- 3rd pull, as there was still some color droplets left on the folder, so spritzed it again, got the color on the w/c paper; used a brayer to try to get most of the droplets off, but also since #1 was still quite wet, I pressed this piece into some of that color.(hope this makes sense).  #1 was quite vivid. Decided it was brighter than I wanted it, (a bit garish actually!) so I sprayed some pearlized mica spray over it, and that softened up the colors. I've made a card, which I'll share later.

 

This set was actually my first try with the EF, and used Brusho Turquoise and a Ken Oliver Color Burst in one of the newer orange colors that just came out. Didn't like this color effect too much. I tried swiping an old colorbox cats eye pad in a popcorn white over it (as the lady does in the video to tone down the colors). I couldn't really see much effect - but I didn't want to perhaps ruin one of my good white inks. Decided to spray the iridescent pearl over it, and I'm liking it better. Now what to do with it? The 2nd piece is just from dabbing (or smooshing - if you will!) this w/c piece over the wet on #1 before I put the spray on it.

I used another folder with some turquoise and Lime Green Brusho- and got about 5 pulls off it. Will show that in another post. This is a great technique when it works right LOL!

I had fun! My problem is I don't always know what to do with my results? You ever have that problem?

Will be trying to catch up visiting in the new few days. Don't give up on me. Thanks for joining me this afternoon, and Big hugs to anybody who might need one today.



 

Happy Birthday Flower

Hi and thanks for joining me this evening. I've been a little missing on blogging the past couple of weeks. We had things going on - some medical, some family obligations - and you know...just life. Hopefully most of the medical stuff is in the past, just going for checkups and stuff like that. It's getting pretty hot in our area, and our air conditioning had to go on over the weekend. We did have some lovely porch times, as we had nice breezes to cool; it was so nice to open up the house and air out the winter's mustiness.

Anyway, I'd seen a youtube showing a stamp that makes 'stained glass' effects using any stamp image in your stash. It was DRS Designs Large Stained Glass, so tried the techniques used in the video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Bv9adZ2a0.

Sparkle n Sprinkle Dahlia was embossed with a sparkle gold, then colored with copics in yellow shades. This would have shown up better had I used black to emboss it.

Background was colored with copic BG colors - which is not showing up great in the photo either. Then the Stained Glass stamp was inked with Versamark black, and stamped using the Misti. It took quite a few efforts to get it stamped thoroughly, especially at some of the corners and along the bottom edges. Good thing I had used the Misti. I'm hoping the next time it's used, it will stamp a bit better. Think it would also have looked better had I colored in some of the 'pieces' with a darker blue shade to emphasize as done in the video.  Used 3 coats of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) - inking with Versamark, then sprinkling UTEE, heat, and repeating this process 3 times. Let it cool well, then bent the piece to cause crackling.

- used the same glitter gold EP to create the gold outer frame.

- white c/s was embossed with a floral EF, then sponged with DOX colors of Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey.

- old wooden stamp with a calligraphy font for the sentiment, embossed using the same gold used above, die cut with a pierced die, then edged with the gold again.

This is a pretty floral, but it just doesn't show up well with the way I've used it here. It's hard to see the flower details. Lesson learned!

There's a new card to enjoy on the Cards by Friends page, which I hope you'll take a peek to see.

Thanks for visiting, and take care. God Bless, many hugs.

Thank You

Thanks for coming by for a visit, and to share this Thank You card with me, that I've been forever finishing. Pieces of it have been on my desk for some time, and each day I'd plan to finish it, something would interfere. Isn't that the way life goes? My life goes that way, anyhow!

So here it is:

- Memory Box die, cut from white cardstock. Heat embossed first with Ranger's Princess Gold, & I didn't like the look. Re-versamarked it, then used an SnS EP (can't remember the name of it) but looked much much better. A similar size piece of previously created background - from sprays or brusho-s I don't remember that either, as it came from the background box! - was cut to size and glued to the circle to create a background

6x6 card pack had some paper that I thought looked ok with the circle motif. A Hero Arts Infinity circle die embossed a frame for the circle before it was adhered to this DP. (you use the tan pad that embosses instead of cutting...if you are lucky! I have sometimes cut through if it's a thin paper like this was, instead of the thicker card stock. Placing an extra piece of c/s on top of or below the thinner paper is helpful. If you think to do it, which I usually do not, until I ruin the first piece of paper!!!

Stamped the sentiment on a snippet of vellum, heat embossed with the same color used on the circle die. It looks quite different when on the vellum. A few yellow pearls to trim - that's it!

Ya'll have a nice Wednesday. God Bless.

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.

 





More Rubber Band Cards

Happy Saturday afternoon, and it's been lovely in our area. Temperatures show that it's in high 70-s, but truly it doesn't feel all that warm. Nice, though!

Made some more cards using the fun rubber band technique shown in this video by my talented pal Loll. Took photos this time to show what tools I used, and first up shows the brayer & the size of rubber bands used for this card.

 

 

 

Look closely where the brayer fits into the white handle, and you will see that one of these bands broke. There were 2 bands wrapped on the roller. One broke as it was being rolled. Had a large bag of rubber bands, and they must dry out awfully rapidly, as so many broke as I tried to wrap them. I'd like to buy a smaller bag, but this was the only size I could find at the time. Anyway, it still worked to create the look. The final design definitely depends on the width of the rubber bands used.

 

 

Decided to try the bands over an acrylic block as shown in the video. Used 2 narrow rubber bands on the block. Use an embossing buddy over the surface of the card to keep the ep just where you want it. After inking the block edge of the rubber bands with versamark, just stamped around all the surface of a white c/s, embossed this with a silver EP. Then used DOX in Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, and Mermaid Lagoon (I think) to sponge the surface. Buffed off the sponging with a soft cloth. Then die cut with some dies that were bought from Ali Express. Here's the 2 cards created from this piece.

 

On the filigree leaf, wrapped another rubber band across the block and dabbled around the black mat  of the filigree leaf. Used Ranger Blue Pearl, Green Pearl, just to see what these pearl embossing powders looked like on a dark background. They don't usually show up very well on white (I tried embossing the sentiment this way, and ended up covering it with the black fishtail). The card fronts were dry embossed with a square die to add a subtle frame around the black mats . Due cut the happy die from black c/s, inked with versamark, sprinkled the blue pearl EP & heat embossed.  Right black mat edges were dragged over the versamark, then sprinkled some of the green pearl EP over it to add a little more interest.

 

The April CAS Mixup Challenge is still open until April 24, so why not have a little fun with this technique, and link your cards there?

 

Thanks for visiting & enjoy your weekend. Hugs & Blessings.

 

 



 





Christmas Card Club Challenge #7 - Animals

Hello. It's time again for our bi-monthly Christmas Card Club Challenge...#7 for 2018. This time our Kate selected the Challenge theme of Animals.  This challenge is a group of cardmakers who share cards every 2nd Sunday during the year, and each member takes a turn to pick a theme...something related to Christmas. If you'd like to join in our group, let me know, as we'd love to have you join us. It's a good way to build a stash that come December, you'll be happy to have ready.

 

 

This trio of dancing penguins was one I found in the UFO box. I thought these little guys could fit the bill of 'animals' for the challenge (guess they could rightly be called birds too- but I decided for this card, they are definitely animals! I hope this is ok, Kate ).

 

The image had been colored with copics, so just added some colored gel markers on their hats & scarves, added some Sakura Silver Star to the snowflakes. Mixed some Stickles Star Dust & Liquid Pearls opal and brushed on under their feet. IRL it's quite irridescent. Added some glossy accents over that, to look like ice (looks a bit yellow in the photo, but looks 'slick' IRL).  Added some Hero Arts Silver stars and sequins.

 

Background was DOX blues applied with a large sponge dauber.

 

- Poppy Mod Snowflake Background coverplate die over the blue background. Applied WOW embossing ink, then WOW Clear Glitter EP. This is very sparkly, as the EP is translucent, and you can see the color behind the EP. Had meant to do this over the sponged blue background, then had a change of plan to use the coverplate. Some of the Hero Arts sequins were added to the die cut snowflake centers. I'm not sure why the snowflake die & 'ice' have a yellow look in the photo. It looks white IRL.

 

- The sentiment was stamped with  Memento Teal Zeal  ink, then applied a WOW blue pearl EP over the ink to get a nice gleam.

 

I hope you'll take time to enjoy the cards my fellow team members have shared today. Their blog links are shown in the right hand sidebar.

 

Thanks for joining me - I'm a bit behind in returning comments. Been a little busy and will try real hard to catch up in the next few days. Don't give up on me!  Blessings & Hugs. Come again when you have time.

 

 

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.

Christmas Card Club Challenge #3 - Angels

Welcome to #3 Christmas Card Club Challenge for 2018. This week's challenge theme is Angels or Fairies, chosen by Granmargaret.  I found a cute NBUS Inky Antic clear set that seemed to fit the bill. Did the first card, and was not real happy with how it turned out. I used a S/B die that I tried to shorten to fit the size of card that I generally make, and then wasn't thrilled with the color that the heat embossing powder turned out to be.

First however, please help me welcome a new follower: Sheryl, of I Am. I found Sheryl's blog when she was introduced by Maxine (Kiwime's Kreations) and popped over to say hello. Met Sheryl and now I, too,  have a new friend. If you have time, do please go over to say Hi to Sheryl, and enjoy what she is sharing. Isn't fun how we can meet new friends like this????

#1

- S/B Flourished Frame cut the rounded center motif and the rectangle that fits around it. Edged the image with Wow embossing ink, then heat embossed with Ranger Queen's Gold. Used a White Pearl EP on the outer rectangle. To get a sheen on the angels' wings, I used a tiny brush coated with White Opal Liquid Pearls mixed with Stickles Star Dust, and that turned out with a nice sparkle. 

- Next mat layer is S/B Cascading Grace, which was much too large for the card base. Split the center portion out, joined with 1/8" double side adhesive. It doesn't meet just perfectly & that disappointed me.  Heat embossed with NBUS Altenew Peach EP, since I wanted to use the starry background DP. I'm not sure what made me think this peach color would look more like rose gold that would work with the dp. It's ok, but doesn't really float my boat. Used a gold braid ribbon, not thinking this would be too thick under the image and sentiment. Additionally it has a tendency to fray. Had tried another gold ribbon to hide the split in the mat, but it looked wimpy. Thought about this overnight, decided to have another try.

#2

Die cut the image - liked the coloring better in this card - with another die shape ( can't remember now which one it was!) Used a red Copic Spica pen to color the candles, orange for the flame.  Edged this die shape with embossing ink, then Altenew Platinum EP. Really liking this EP. Gold mat under this layer is S/B Gold Label #4. Covered cardstock with a sheet of double stick adhesive, then die cut. Embossed using the rubber pad; peeled off the top layer of the adhesive; sprinkled well with Ritz Glitter in a gold color. Burnished, but think some of the embossed areas around the outer edge might show in the photo.

Another S/B die for the bottom mat, did the same double stick adhesive gig, and sprinkled Cool White Glitter Ritz. This card looks much better IRL, than my photos show. Asked DH which he liked best, but he wouldn't commit. I like #2 better.

4 layers of white snippets cut with a MBox word die, layered , then heat embossed with Queen's Gold. The photo shows some white in the layers, so think a gold pen will fix this. The bottom edges of the word have Darice dimension strips tucked underneath, since the top part is resting on the die layers. So which do you like best?

Please take time to go visit my team members' interpretation of the Angels or Fairies Challenge. Their blog links are listed on the right side bar.

Have a great Sunday, God Bless, and I hope anyone who is dealing with the flu or any other sickness, will be feeling tiptop again real soon. Come again when you have time.