Believe in the Magic of Christmas

 I'm sharing my last holiday card for the year and a technique I learned from the

recent Online Card Class. Richard Breaks shared some amazing Aurora borealis skies

and I couldn't resist giving it a try. 

 

I started with a rather dark cardstock from my scrap pile and blended blues and

Distress Oxide inks for the glow. I spattered some stars, then added the glittery

"believe" and silver embossed the second part of the sentiment. 

I finished off the card with a star that came from a Hero Arts retro die set. I don't 

think it was intended to be a star but it worked for my card.

The sky passed the test with my husband when I asked him what the design was

supposed to be. Decades ago, he would travel to Alaska for his sales job and got to see

 the Aurora borealis in person o I was quite pleased with his answer.

I'd like to take this time to with you a very Merry Christmas and I hope Santa

brings you what you wish for! 

Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas 2021

 

 

 I'm joining Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas 2021 and even made multiples (gasp!)

of a tag for Day 11 with the carol "O Christmas Tree".

I was inspired by Carissa Wiley's tag and colored my tree in ombré colors of peach.

I used an older, discontinued Geo Tree die for the first time and a sentiment from

another discontinued set, Home and Hearth. 

The gold branch? I wanted to ground the tree and found some branches so I colored them

with gold watercolors and adhered them to the base of the tree. A bit of twine finished off

the tags. 

I'm off to enter these. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Inspired by Challenge 199C -- Tweet Winter

I'm linking up another project to Inspired by Challenge because of the chubby guy

in the graphic. And I happen to have a flock of bird stamps and dies.

 

 

I used Laurel's simple sketch, too.

The bird and branches are Nestled from Penny Black. I tried to channel the amazing

Jill Foster to color the bird, but ended up ink blending him because the first two 

attempts were a watercolored mess. 

 

A band of color was blended per the sketch design and I adhered the bird and

branches and finished off with the sentiment from Hero Arts.

 

Hope your weekend is going well. Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Inspired by Challenge 198C -- Winter Love

Cutting it close with my entry to Inspired by Challenge 198C -- Winter Love.

 I was inspired by the graphic and Laurel's sketch.

 

 

Here's my card. A pretty literal take on the simple sketch.

 

 The background was debossed with Altenew's Dotted Swirls plate to mimic the

rising steam. I chose an non-caffeinated sentiment from Gina K Designs and adhered 

the panel to some plaid patterned paper from The Stamp Market. I happened to have 

a pack of heart confetti on my desk and chose three white ones to finish off the card.

 

Ok, off to link up this card so I won't be late again! Thanks for stopping by!

 

* * *

Thrilled to have my card given the Honorable Mention honor! 

Thank you to the IB team!

 

 

The Paper Players #568 -- Gnomes or Fairies

I'm entering this card under the wire (again!) with inspiration from Amy and

her cute gnome couple card. I also discovered a new challenge blog--The Paper Players.

 

I remember having a small stash of gnomes from several years ago when gnomes

made their crafty comeback. I put my card together with supplies from FIVE different 

companies! See how well they play together?

A card base was  covered with plaid paper from Photoplay, then topped with a

panel that was debossed with MFT's Snow Swirls Cover Up Die-namics. Two of

Whimsy Stamps Snowy Trees were inked and adhered to the panel and the gnome

was popped up between them. I didn't plan well and stamped the Mama Elephant

sentiment over and thankfully, it's somewhat legible.

Thanks so much for visiting and wishing all those who celebrate a 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

* * *

 

Edited to add: I missed the deadline. I didn't take into account the time difference

and DLS, too. Insert sad face here...Lesson learned--don't enter challenges so late!

 

Altenew November 2021 Inspiration Challenge

I found some time to play along with Altenew's November 2021 Inspiration Challenge. 

The photo caught my eye and I thought it was time to break out Altenew's Tropical Leaf Mix

Die Set.  

 

 

 

After die cutting some leaves from watercolor paper, I used Kuretake Zig markers and

a water brush to color them in pink, yellow, and purple hues. 

I adhered them to a stitched slimline card base and spattered gold ink over them. The

panel was then adhered to a slimline card base. The sentiment was white embossed on 

dark gray card stock, then adhered over the leaves.

 

 I've missed so many challenge deadlines--I'm off to link up this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Color Hues #28 -- Red and Kraft

I'm a newbie at playing along with Color Hues Challenge. I consider myself color challenged 

and usually take forever to come up with a design after given the color choices.

I can't think fast enough.

 

 

Challenge #28 with RED and KRAFT seemed simple enough and I had an idea in mind

for the design. And how fun is that gif?

Ironically, I used stamps and dies from two companies that are no longer in

business, and I consider myself lucky to own their products.

Neat and Tangled 's Warm Winter Scene Cover Plate has always been a

favorite and those little trees won me over years ago. I cut the plate from 

a scrap of alcohol inked paper. 

The trees were cut from white card stock and I adhered all the pieces to a

mini slimline kraft panel. The perfect Paper Smooches sentiment was white 

embossed and I added some "snow" with Nuvo Drops and a white gel pen.

 

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're off to a good week!

Inspired by Challenge #191 -- I'd Fall for You

Once again it's leaves that drew me to Inspired By Challenge #191--I'd Fall for You.

Check out their cute prompt.

 

 I chose to go with Laurel's sketch.

 

I kept it simple and substituted a large maple leaf for the circular element.

A panel was embossed with a woodgrain pattern and I used a scissors to distress

the edges.

The Stamp Market's "fall" was cut from dark brown card stock and the secondary

"happy" was white embossed, trimmed, and adhered to the panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Flower Challenge #61

I've only recently started following The Flower Challenge and it's their 5th Birthday!

I missed the earlier four. 

 

 This month's challenge is to use a shape so I opted for a shaped circle card. I thought

about using Wonky Rectangles as the card base but I've misplaced the set and "wonky

rectangle" doesn't seem like a familiar shape. And it's been a while since I've made

a shaped card so a circle is what I went with.

For my flower, I chose Altenew's Fantasy Floral die and covered white card stock 

with their Painted Fantasy washi tape before cutting out the pieces. It was a bit 

challenging but I finally assembled a bloom that I was happy with.

Altenew's Dotted Swirls Debossing die gave the background a bit of texture and the

card base was cut with MFT's stitched circle dies. I adhered the bloom and leaves

that were inked with The Stamp Market inks. Since we're celebrating a birthday,

I gold embossed a Pinkfresh Studio sentiment, and finished off the card with sequins.

 

 

 Happy 5th Birthday to The Flower Challenge! Here's to many more years of floral fun!

Guest Designer for Inspired By Challenge #189

Danni Reid of Inspired By Challenge invited me to guest design for Challenge #189

and I humbly accepted. They now have a new format with a Christmas and non Christmas

prompt in addition to Laurel's sketch.

 

I chose the Christmas prompt, Mistletoe 25 Cents.

And here's my card. I was inspired by the gorgeous wreath, a bit of gingham, and silver.

 

 
 I cut the Grapevine Wreath from Honey Bee Stamps twice from kraft card stock

and inked them with brown inks before layering them, offset, to create a

fuller wreath.

 

The sentiment was silver embossed inside the wreath and I added greenery and

silver circles cut from glitter card stock. The final touch was a bit of black and

white gingham adhered to the bottom of the card.

Visit Inspired By Challenge to see what their design team created and come and

join the challenge. Huge thanks to Danni and to the IB team for for the invite!

Inspired by Challenge -- Colorful Fall

I found some time to play with the latest Inspired by Challenge 188 because...leaves.

 

 

 

 

I love leaves and own about a dozen different leaf stamp sets and dies.

I used the maple leaf dies from Concord & 9th and chose to use the IB sketch.

 

I inked 5 leaves in different colors and arranged them per the sketch. Gold ink was

spattered over the card and the sentiment was gold embossed.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Flower Challenge 60--Colour Turquoise

Lately I've been playing with stencils and love this coloring medium. Stencils have come 

a long way and layered stencils do all the heavy work for you. Your job is to line them up! 

I used Altenew's Polka Dot Buds Stencil and made several panels in different 

color combos.

 

 When I saw that the latest Flower Challenge was Colour Turquoise, I chose a panel that

fit the challenge. 

 

The blooms and leaves were stenciled with ink from The Stamp Market. Notice the edges 

of the panel? I was inspired by the fabulous Yoonsun and remembered that during my early 

years of crafting, I was distressing the edges of cards like a mad woman. You, too?

Yoonsun uses Tim Holtz Paper Distresser Tool. I owned one before, but used a scissors 

and it did the job. I love the look of distressing. It's very forgiving and you don't have to 

worry about gluing down your panel perfectly or even having the corners curl up. 

It's part of the look!

 

My card was finished off with a sentiment from Waffle Flower Crafts. I thought about

adding some embellishments but didn't want to take away from the busy background.

 

Shout out to Yoonsun for inspiring me to distress again. You may be seeing future projects

with paper distressing on them. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Altenew September 2021 Inspiration Challenge

I found some time to enter Altenew's September 2021 Inspiration Challenge after 

seeing the color palette and photo by Altenew team member Laurie. She shared that

she shot the pic from her patio--what a green thumb she has!

I decided to play with my favorite Altenew stencils--Hill Blossoms Layering Stencil Set

on a slimline card. Here's how I was inspired.

My original plan was to make a one layer card but my inky fingers got in the way 

so I ended up die cutting the images and adhered them to a slimline panel. I added 

the die cut  "hello" and stamped the secondary sentiment beneath it.

The panel was adhered to a slimline card base and finished off with clear sequins.

 I have to add that the "hello" was part of a set that's discontinued. I didn't realize

it until I was trying to link the product. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Online Card Classes -- Crushing on Cardstock Day 4

I'm so happy that I squeezed in a little craft time, after signing up for the latest

Online Card Class--Crushing on Cardstock. Their classes are "go at your own pace"

but after seeing Jennifer McGuire share a technique, I had to give it a go.

 

 Check out the texture inside the die cut circle. Reminds me of mulberry paper.

I can't give out details but if you've been crafting for a while, you might be able

to figure out how the technique was done.

After assembling the panel, I added a Berry Branch from The Stamp Market

and finished off with the Altenew sentiment. I thought about adding sequins or

enamel dots, but didn't want to detract from the texture.

And I can finally display the participant badge!

I'm hoping to work on more projects from this class. I love that it was short n' sweet

and that I managed to join in at least one day. Thanks, Jennifer and Kristina, for a

fun class. Looking forward to the next one!

 

 

 

Leaf Fragments

When Tim Holtz shared his latest release, full of Halloween goodness, I grabbed the

 Leaf Fragments Dies as quickly as I could. I'm a sucker for leaves and the leaf fragments 

are such an original design--Tim said they were his favorite!--I just had to have them.

The leaves were die cut from watercolor paper and ink distressed with inks from Concord 

& 9th and The Stamp Market. I chose three leaves and spattered them with gold

 Kuretake watercolors.

To go with the tattered look on the leaves, I tore the edges of an embossed panel and 

adheredit to a white card base and spattered more gold ink over it. I adhered the leaves, 

then added the gold embossed sentiment.

These days, my crafting time has been drastically cut but I know I'll be making more

cards with these fun dies. Thanks so much for stopping by!

The Flower Challenge #58

 

I'm joining The Flower Challenge #58 because the Coneflower Dies from Honeybee Stamps

arrived and I was anxious to put a flower together. 

 

The theme for the challenge is Add Spots or Stripes and I chose stripes so I could use

some patterned paper from a discontinued MFT pad.

Truthfully, I've never heard of a coneflower but thanks to Google and a few samples 

from the Honeybee DT and others on IG, I colored and assembled a bloom.

 

 

I fashioned a stem, because the die set doesn't come with one, and adhered the bloom

and leaves on a striped panel. I stamped the sentiment, then adhered the panel to a 

mini slimline card base.

I think I'll have to construct a few more coneflowers because mine reminds me 

of a droopy daisy. Thanks for stopping by today!

* * *

Edited to add: Honored that my card was chosen as a Top Pick.

 

Thank you to The Flower Challenge DT!

It's a Good Day

Hello! I hope things are getting back to "normal" where you are.

 

When I saw the new Essentials by Ellen Abstract Sunset Die, I decided to do some

paper piecing using a patterned paper pad with earthy colors. How perfect is that?

It took a while to put together and because they're two sided sheets, keeping them

together was challenging. But I learned a bit of patience and managed to assemble a 

scene with almost all of the colors in the pad.

 

The sun was inlaid in the sky, and the card was finished off with the sentiment from

Good Day, another new product from the EBE release.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're off to a great week!