Be Jolly

Playing along with Less Is More this week, CASEing Susan's card in honor of her birthday. I'm loving this little penguin these days, so I had to feature him on this card. I used the Small Circle Burst from Memorybox and the sentiment die from STAMPlorations. I added a little bling with Wink of Stella and liquid crystals.

Thanks for looking!

 

Cardmaking Side Effects

Some members of my family have likened me to The Grinch, given my historical lack of enthusiasm for Christmas. That's why it amazes me that I am having so much fun making Christmas cards instead of viewing it as a chore. I think my heart has grown several sizes lately, all because of my rediscovered passion for cardmaking! Probably.

This card was lots of fun. It wasn't difficult, but I took my time, putting it together over several days to get the layout right, since I was CAS-ing some I'd seen on the Lawn Fawn blog. The hardest part was embossing in white on black paper without getting white crumbs all over the black!

I used an embossing folder for the snowy hill and cut the hill with Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside Border die. I attached the sides to the background piece, which had been embossed with the stars then colored with distress oxide inks. The little animals are from two Lawn Fawn sets, cut out with dies then attached inside the pocket with foam squares.  I added a little Wink of Stella to the animals and some liquid drops to the sky.

Thanks for looking!

Something Old, Something New

I love simple, iconic images like the reindeer in the card below. Keeping the whole CAS idea, I used them as the color focal point on an embossed, white background. For the single-word sentiment, I die cut "merry" using one of Cathy Zielske's alphabets.

 Although you can't see it, I added a little sparkle to the letters and reindeer with my Wink of Stella pen.

Thanks for looking!

Christmas Cards

Time to get busy making Christmas cards for my friends and family, but I'm not complaining! I began by using parts of some older sets from my Stampin' Up! stash. I wanted to start with a clean and simple design, and I really wanted to use a penguin. So here's my first design.

 I used My Favorite Things Small Circle Burst die over a piece of cardstock dry embossed with Stampin' Up's Softly Falling embossing folder. I cut the sentiment with my Cricut and added some Wink of Stella over the letters to make them sparkly (hard to see). 
 

 

Experimenting with a homemade light box to try to improve my card photos. Hey, this is a serious hobby, people!! Anyway, I liked this photo because it looked like there were Christmas lights inside. Or something.

 

Here's the inside of the card. I stamped the penguin and sentiment with Versamark then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I masked the little penguin using the cutout from the circle burst die and smooshed distress oxides, spiced marmelade and fossilized amber, all around. Little bits of color using my Spectrum Noir alcohol pens and a touch of Wink of Stella finished it up. Thanks for taking a look!

Inventory Time

What do I do with all these cards? I play in my craft room and my inventory grows to way more than I need, yet I play on. Fortunately, there are thoughtful people out there who come up with ideas for putting our cards into the hands of people who will appreciate them. Jennifer McGuire has posted on her blog the Caring Hearts Card Drive, which is going on now until November 17. She and several cardmaking friends are collecting handmade Christmas cards from us to be distributed to nursing homes around the country. Cool idea, isn't it? 

A nice benefit for me is that having a deadline got me thinking about Christmas card design ideas. Below are a few of the cards I made for the drive using new stamps and old ones (wish I'd made two of each so I'd have a head start on my own cards!). Thanks for looking!

I stamped several snowflakes from an older Stampin' Up! set, heat embossed them in silver embossing powder, and cut out a circle before mounting on a piece of red cardstock that was dry embossed. I wrote the sentiment with a silver American Crafts pen.

Still working with the circles, this one was done with Lawn Fawn's new Beary Happy Holidays. The background paper is from Carta Bella's The Great Outdoors 6x8 pad. I also lined the GinaK envelope with the patterned paper, because the gray needed a little festive touch.

 

 

More from the Beary Happy Holidays set. I'm definitely going to make a few for myself. Such a cute set!

Here's one I started last year using a very cool technique I found on Splitcoaststampers. It involves inking up an embossing folder to create a foreground and background at the same time.

Lotus and Leaves

Still getting back into the swing of things after vacation, so this week I thought I'd try creating a card that fit two challenges, Addicted to CAS and Less is More. For the background I used the negative of a die cut from Altenew and distress oxide ink in Iced Spruce. The lotus flower and leaves are also from an Altenew set. I stamped the flower with black Versafine ink, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I colored the blossom using Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. The leaves are layered with GinaK inks, with a base of Jelly Bean Green overlayed by the veins in Moonlit Fog. The sentiment is from a Concord & Ninth stamp, which I stamped and heat embossed. Thanks for looking!

Stars

Playing along with this week's Less is More one-layer challenge, code word "Stars." I used Lawn Fawn's Upon a Star set for the foxes, stars, and sentiment. I first stamped the stars with Versamark, then the foxes and part of the sentiment with Versafine and clear embossed all. I stamped the word "star" with Encore silver metallic ink and clear embossed that, too. The foxes were colored with Spectrum Noir markers (I'm still learning which colors work together!) and I smooshed the sky area with distress oxides to create a resist. Finally, I added a tiny bit of Wink of Stella to the foxes ears and tails (can't really see it) and a few crystal drops. Thanks for looking!

Pumpkins Challenge

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What a sweet surprise to be chosen for the Flower challenge! When I heard the news I was just beginning a two-week camping trip in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan  with my husband and was concerned I wouldn't have the technology available to be Guest Designer. With a little extra effort I was able to coordinate with free WiFi spots to get it done. Of course, I always travel with a few card making supplies! I'm proud to be able to post this badge on my blog. 

For the Pumpkins challenge, I once again called on one of my favorite stamp sets from Sunny Studios. I used watercolors in different shades with these easy, three-layer stamps on heavy watercolor paper, which I love for the texture it creates. Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Time

Playing along with Less is More's sketch this week. I used Sunny Studio's Pretty Pumpkins layering set with both distress oxide and Gina K inks for a variety of colors. I masked the individual pumpkins to arrange them behind each other, then dry embossed the front of the card. The sentiment is from Altenew. I stamped it on vellum with versamark then heat embossed with gold embossing powder, adding a few little sequins for bling. Thanks for looking!

Summer Friends

All summer long we've enjoyed watching the hummingbirds flutter around at the honeysuckle vines, the coral bells, and the feeder. A couple of weeks ago there was a flurry of activity as they gathered as much energy as they could store for their long treks - they fly alone, individually, we found out - back to Central America. 

Suddenly, they're gone and the garden is too quiet. I made this little card with those tiny, jewel-like birds in mind, and to play along with Less Is More's "Take Flight" theme and Addicted to CAS's "Florals."

I used a small, square notecard of 120# watercolor paper and simply colored directly on the Penny Black stamp with watercolor crayons. Then I sprayed the stamp with water and stamped the paper. Easy and fun! I embossed a stitched frame, and added the sentiment from a Cathy Zielske set. To give it a little bling, I added a few dew drops.

Thanks for looking!

 

More Apples!

I'm still into apples. For this card I used the same stamp set as previous, stamped with Versafine onyx ink, and embossed with clear embossing powder. I did the same with the sentiment, which is from Cathy Zielske. I also added a few liquid crystal drops for accent. The fun part was coloring the apples. I used Prismacolor pencils once again. I didn't expect the colors to come out so clearly on kraft paper, but I was pleasantly surprised. It just took a little layering and shading, which is what coloring is all about for me! 

I'm going to enter this card into this week's Addicted to CAS and Less is More challenges. Thanks for looking!

 

Apples

I'm playing along with Addicted to CAS this week where the theme is Apples. For this card I created a background using a stencil from Altenew, Watercolor Stripes, with distress oxide inks in Faded Jeans and Twisted Citron. I reached back in my stash for the Stampin' Up apples stamp, and colored the apples with Prismacolor pencils. I stamped the sentiment, also from Stampin' Up, with versafine onyx ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I also created the dry embossed border using a frame from the Spellbinders Card Creator set.

 

Sending Good Thoughts

Had time for another kraft-on-white card because I just love two colors together on a card! I used a Stampin Up set to stamp, emboss and die cut the flowers. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things. The card stock is from Gina K. Since this is a thank-you card, I plan to send it to one of the Houston first responders suggested by Sandy Allnock. Just a small way to give moral support to those great people who are giving so much to the victims of the hurricane.

Kraft on White

 

I'm entering this card in three challenges, CASology's "Bud," Addicted to CAS' "Friend" and CASual Fridays' "Kraft and White."  It was this last one that finally got me inspired for the other two. I just love the look of white on kraft paper! For this card I stamped Altenew's Simple Flowers with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. The Hello is from Cathy Zielske; I embossed that also. I cut the Friend sentiment using a My Favorite Things die and layered several for texture. A fun and easy card! 

Perfect Holiday

Eleventh hour push! Hoping to get in under the wire on this week's Less is More

challenge #342, "Perfect Holiday." I stamped the chair from Stampin' UP and the sentiment from Cathy Zielske with Versamark ink, then heat embossed both with clear embossing powder. I dry embossed the waves using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside dies. Finally, I colored the chair and flower pot with my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.  My perfect holiday? Toes in the sand.  After some hiking, that is, but trying to keep it CAS here! Thanks for looking.

 

Enchanted and Inspired

Playing along this week with Altenew's Inspiration Challenge. Using the Enchanted Iris set, I stamped the flowers, leaves, and sentiment with Versamark, then heat embossed with gold embossing powder. Then I lightly colored the flowers with shimmering watercolors in turquoise, die cut them, and mounted them on white cardstock using pieces of foam mounting tape for dimension. I used two graduating sizes from my Cottage Cutz Stitched Rectangle set from GinaK Designs to create the layered frames, then mounted them to Neenah solar white 80lb. card stock. For the finishing touch I used several turquoise pearls from my stash. Thanks for viewing!