Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Whimsical Christmas, GDP106


I love whimsy, and there is a bumper crop of whimsical stamp sets in the new Holiday catalog. I fell in love and bought 3 right off.  This one is Mistletow Friends, it's the second one I've used so far. the sentiment is also whimsical and fun.

I used my blender pen and ink pads to color with, but it would be perfect for the color pencils too. I just used the thick Whisper white, but if you are going to use a lot of water, switch that to either watercolor paper or the shimmery white, it has a coating that takes the water better.

I've been experimenting with taking photos different ways when using the metallics.  I laid this one down with a block under the top, it shows much of the gold foil, but the tiny edge of the layer under my Berry Burst looks pretty dark.  Still working on it.

I colored my image first, then die cut, put my 2 layers on top of the White card base, then decided how big I wanted my Gold layer, I did about 2", then my white strip with the sentiment. I put a dimentional right near the flag cut and just a bit of glue on the edge covering the circle. It should stay nice for sending.

Here is the challege for this week:
Click here to check it out.
My colors today are: Berry Burst, Smoky Slate, Powder Pink, Lemon Lime Twist, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb cake.


Friday, September 22, 2017

Snowflakes falling, Christmas card. JAI378


I have a fun and simple card for you today.   But first, the Just Add Ink challege this week is to add texture. You can go here, to play along or just enjoy the cards.

I had this embossing folder in my stash, not sure where it came from, but I really wanted a snowflake folder. The foil snowflake is in the Holiday catalog, I love these things, they come in both silver and gold in one package. The backs are Very vanilla and can be colored.
Yeah, sorry the ribbon is from a package from last years holiday catalog and is retired. It's Rich Razzleberry.   The new embossing folder with the big snowflake in the center would have worked, but I have not ordered it yet. There is just too much I want and too little money.  We all have that problem don't we?

The sentiment is from Hearts come Home stamp set, the set has several sentiments and I love them, they are very usable.


Thursday, September 21, 2017

Peace On Earth. Christmas card 2017


I don't have a challenge card for you today. What I have is a background that I was playing with after watching a tut from Jennifer McGuire and the card was done using the Carols of Christmas bundle.
There are just so many ways to use this set. So many different pieces in both the stamp set and the dies.

I had a great time playing with the background. I used watercolor paper, a brush and some water. I tried Jennifer's little trick of wiping a bit of color on a large block from each of the colors you want to use in your background, onto the block.  Just put the open pad down on the block leaving some color. Wet your brush and play. Be sure to clean your brush between colors.   What you can't see is the glittery spray I used, that is very hard to photograph, I sprayed the whole piece before adding any elements.  I also splattered some water drops and embossed those. They don't show well, but you can see them if you look really close.
But, I think I did manage to capture the embossed sentiment. I use a light coming from the top, which doesn't work well for embossing and glitter, but I laid the card down with a block under the top to raise it a bit and added a second light on the back side.

For some reason when I apply a color lightly, either sponging or watercolor, the lightest areas don't look like there is color, but there is.   The trees were cut out using silver glimmer paper.  It was really an easy and fun card to make.
My colors today are: Pool party, Marina Mist, Emerald envy, Island Indigo.
I do hope I've given you some inspiration.


Monday, September 18, 2017

Noel Christmas card, Merry Monday 257


Hello fellow stampers! It's monday, and this time of year my favorite challenge is Merry Monday!
Here is our instructions for this week.


I made my stocking my tag on my card.  I kept thinking I should make a standard tag and put my stocking on that with some other things, but in the end I just decided my stocking could be my tag. It's hooked at the top by it's loop.
The centers of my tiny pointsettia are glittery, but it's very hard to tell. I just can't seem to get the lighting right. It works if I lay it flat, but I don't care for the photo angle then.

Anyway, this only took one stamp/die set.  It's not a bundle now because it's a carryover from last year. So you will find this in the Annual catalog not the new Holiday one.  The darling Noel is a part of the die set, there are lots of pieces to this die set and I think it'll carry you over for years to come if you purchase it.

Thanks for looking and I hope I have inspired you a bit.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Stampin Up, Beachy Santa


I have had this in my head since the new Holiday 2017 catalog came out.   I'm in the middle of turning my living room into a Beach theme and this was perfect to hang on the wall or put on the shelf.

I ended up using 4 differnt stamp sets, but most of it is done using just 2.  Santa's Suit and Glamper Greetings.  Of course the Palm trees were from Beachy Little Christmas.

Putting the reindeer in at the top was a last minute decision.  And Santa can be either grabbing for his clothes or waving the reindeer in.  I choose to think he is doing both, waving the reindeer down while he grabs for his clothes to get ready.

The camper could have been a little bigger, but it's all I had.   But hey, he can go down chimminys so why not into the camper?

The frame is a 5x7 with a glass top. I was getting these at Walmart, but I'm not really seeing them there anymore, they were really cheap too.  But those lucite frames would work too.

I made this 5x7, and the top layer is 1/4" smaller on 2 ends. I hand cut some  mounds for the sand dunes.  Sahara Sand for the sand and Soft Sky for the sky/water.
The other colors are: Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Basic black, Smoky Slate and Soft Suede.

If you decide to do something similiar, have fun. I did.


Thursday, September 14, 2017

Snowflake Christmas, FMS305


It's a sketch challenge from FMS this week.  These are 2 of the dies that come with the thinlit set in the Snowflake Sentiments bundle.  They sure are pretty, aren't they?   I love gold with black and/or white. Got both this time.  I think the whole card would have had a different look had I put a layer of gold between the white card base and the black DSP.
If you look close, you will see rhinestones on the top rows in the middle of the stars.  

Here is the FMS sketch for this week:




So, that left a whole lot to our imagination.  The team did a great job!  What fabulous cards, check them out Here:


Monday, September 11, 2017

It's a wonderful life, Merry Monday 256, Christmas card.



This weeks Merry Monday is a theme challenge.  Create a card based on your favorite Holiday movie. Can you see It's a Wonderful Life in here?   I didn't have an angel, especially a male angel. But here is the town and snow and santa. I can just imagine George and family celebrating in one of those houses.

I used some brand new sets that I just got from Mr Brown today.  And I am in love with the sentiment here, it comes in Hearts come Home bundle.   Go on over and see how the team did up their favorite movies. 

Colors for this are Whisper White, Night of Navy, and Silver.
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Thursday, September 7, 2017

It's begining to look like Christmas. FMS304, Merry Christmas



I just can't stop using this stamps set. The demo's in my group have been saying that since their orders started arriving.  But it happens, and so I really don't usually think to much about it when they say that.  But honestly! I really can't stop.  I took this fall set and I'm still using it and for Christmas. It's so much fun trying out color combinations!  It's a 2 step stamp set, for both the flower and the leaves.

First you stamp the background for this, then over top the detailed stamp.  I used Lemon Lime Twist for the bottom and Tranquil Tide for the top, such different colors, but it works!   I've turned my flower into a wreath today. I actually have a totally different card doing the same thing and in different colors I'll be posting, so watch for that one.

Simple, simple, stamped the holly leaves on the card base, cut the white strip, then the Lemon Lime strip just 1/8" wider.  After stamping my wreath, I cut that out, the a slighter larger scallop round then a slighter larger Tranquil Tide round.   Stamped Merry Christmas using Mistletoe Friends.

So, here is Freshly Made Sketches sketch for this week, be sure to STOP BY  and check out the teams cards, they always do a bang up job!