Christmas Card - Unique Color Combination

The season for mailing your Christmas cards is fast approaching and once again you may be in panic mode that you have enough cards created.  I create all year and really have no idea how many I have done.  If I don't have enough, maybe I will send valentine cards  to the people who do not receive a Christmas card.  Of course, the mail system is a big gamble for mailing cards.  Will they or won't they make their destination and how long will it take.

On a more positive note the color challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown intrigued me.  Could I make a card in these colors.   

For my white color choice, I took an old book page and painted it with gesso to fade out the words.  I die cut the black snowflake from several layers of black cardstock and layered them together.  I cut a kraft snowflake from several layers and glued them together.  The book page was adhered to a kraft card base after I had distressed the edges.  The two different snowflakes were glued together and a twine bow was added to the center of the kraft snowflake.  A sentiment strip from Simon Says Stamp completed the card.  No the card was completed once I added all the splatter - both black and white.

I really do like how this card turned out and I may make some of these for next year.  I will have to check out the dimension on it.  I don't want to upset the US Postal Service.

Thanks for the challenge and thank you for stopping by.  

November Stencil Challenge for Happy Little Stampers

It is time for a new stencil challenge at Happy Little Stampers for the month of November.  The challenge is always anything goes.  I chose to make a Christmas card.

Stencils have evolved so much in the last few years and had made coloring so much easier for people.  Many people fear having to color an image but many new stencils save you the challenges of coloring.  

The stencil I chose to use is from Simon Says Stamp.  I believe it came out last year.  It is a two layer stencil.  I chose to work with blue inks.

The first card is a mini slimline.  I used blue glitter paper to mat the stenciled image and to also die cut the sentiment.  I used a blue card stock for the base.  Since there were stars in the stenciled images I added some clear star embellishments to the card front.

Here is a close up of the sentiment and you can also see the stars.

Of course, I stenciled the design twice and made this into an A2 card.  The sentiment was part of the stenciled background.  Once again I added the clear stars.

Please join us for the November Stencil Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

 

A Christmas Challenge and Oldie Moldie Monday Collide

It is Monday time to show some love for your old supplies.

I decided I wanted to play along with the sketch challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and thought - I wonder if I have an image that is already stamped and colored.  Well I looked in a semi organized box of images and I found this sweet marshmallow snowman.  I then dug through my ample supply of Christmas paper and found these fun selections of patterned paper.  With the "merry' piece of paper I don't even need to add a sentiment to the card.  I even know who I will send the card to.  A young child is battling cancer in our small community (she just had her leg amputated above her knee this week) and think this holiday card will make her smile.  I sent her another card today which is just a fun card to make her smile.

Here is the sketch.

Here is my card.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies - they still make lovely cards.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

So Thankful For Your Friendship

 I have been working on some fall cards to send out to family and friends.  A few of these cards are going to go from high school classmates that I have reconnected with over the last few years.  I really did not know these ladies in high school that well so it is nice to know them as adults.  We are probably all better people as adults.  It is a little sad also because we just lost a classmate this week to a heart attack.  It is very sad.

I am participating in the current challenge at The Paper Players where the theme is thankful.

I have been wanting to use this stamp set that has been in my supplies for a very long time.  It is a set from Paper Smooches.  The card was in my head and it turned out exactly as I had pictured it.  I stamped the first layer of leaves with oxide ink on kraft cardstock.  I then stamped and embossed another leaf image three times and used gold embossing powder.  I die cut the sentiment from fall colored cardstock and stamped the simple sentiment.  Does happiness fit in an envelope?

Thanks for stopping by.

Fall Friendship Cards

 I have spent some days at home so I have been able to finish up some cards I started when I visited my friend Annie.

We made the backgrounds on the gel plate using alcohol inks.  You first put down a layer of the clear alcohol blending solution.  You then added your colors of alcohol ink and laid your paper on top of the gel plate (we did use small gel plates so ended up with space for our card fronts).  By putting down the blending solution first, you did not stain your gel plates.  The leaves were done on glossy paper the normal way you use alcohol inks.  The leaves were cut with a Tim Holtz die.  The sentiment is from an old set of Gina K's.

I am entering the card into the current challenge at Sunday Stampers.  It is a color challenge.  

Here is the card I am highlighting.  I believe it has at least 3 of the colors from the challenge in the card.

Here is another card using a round gelli plate.

Nature has bright blue leaves somewhere - I am sure of that.

It was so much fun to spend time with Annie and create.  She always comes up with good ideas for us to try.

Thanks for stopping by.

November Christmas Challenge for Happy Little Stampers

Christmas is fast approaching so it is a good time to join the November Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  The challenge is always anything goes with an option.  This month the option is Bah Hum Bug.

I chose to do "anything goes".  I had recently bought a new Christmas collection from 49th and Market and I wanted to use it.  I love to do collage cards so gathered together different elements of the paper and add ons and went to town creating.  I used my distressing tool to distress the edges of the paper and inked the edges of everything to give it a more aged look.  I was working on some junk journals and my sewing kit was sitting there and I added some hand stitching on the front of the card.  I really like how that added a little different design element to the card.  I added the front to a kraft card base and gold splatters completed the card.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our November Christmas Challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

 

November Birthday Challenge for Happy Little Stampers

It is November and time for a new birthday challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  As always the birthday challenge is anything goes.  Now is the time to get a jump start on your upcoming birthdays or to catch up.   

I have been playing with the new dies from Tim Holtz - Artsy Leaves.  Leaves are a favorite subject I like to use for my fall cards.  I decided to use them on a birthday card for a close friend.  This is a 5 x 7 card.  I have been enjoying making larger cards.

I made many leaves out of scraps of paper.  Some paper is paper I have created and other paper is just cardstock and patterned paper in my scraps.  Do you have lots of scraps?  

I first took a round doily like stencil (sorry I don't know who made it).  Placed it on watercolor paper and then added peeled paint oxide ink through the stencil.  I removed the stencil and sprayed the design with water so it would run.  You can see the way it ran outside the leaves.  This is an easy way to add a background to a card front.  I then took my leaves and made a design I liked.  I used some press and seal to pick up the arrangement so I could stamp the sentiment.  I had figured out where to put the sentiment while the leaves were in their final arrangement.  

I then added glue to the back of the leaves and carefully put it back on the card front.  I had to add more glue by carefully lifting edges and sneaking in some glue to finish the card.  I splattered some of the Tim Holtz mica spray over the entire front of the card.

I matted the card front with dark brown card stock.  I made the card base out of some heavier green card stock.  I had strips of card stock left over from earlier projects so I decided to just take those strips in various widths and glue behind the image.  I liked how it brought in some more of the fall colors.

Here is the inside of the card.  

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our November birthday challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Oldie Molde Monday

 It is Monday - time to create with some of your old supplies.

Today I chose to use some beautiful paper that was gifted to me a year or two ago and a sentiment stamp I have had for a few years.  I know the sentiment stamp is from Gina K.

A very simple card where you let the paper do the talking for you.

Remember to use your old supplies.

October Stencil Challenge for Happy Little Stampers

It is time to get your stencils out and make a card for the October Stencil Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  The challenge is always "anything goes" so come play along.  

I needed a thank you card for a friend who send me a beautiful quilt for my new room.  It looks so lovely on my new couch.  I have been wanting to use my collection of ephemera from Art by Marlene.  I love the bright colors of her designs.

I first took my background and used a stencil with squares on it and used pink, yellow and an aqua blue ink colors to lightly stencil the background.  I wanted a very soft background but to pick up the colors in the elements I used.  I then took a circle stencil and used translucent sparkly texture paste all over the background.  It is so pretty with the added shimmer.  

I then laid out all my pieces until I found the perfect layout.  Some elements are glued directly to the background while others are popped up with foam.  My friend is a fellow card maker so "connected in creativity" seemed perfect for the card.

In this close up picture you can see both the color from the square stencil and the sparkly dots from the second stencil.

I added a black and yellow mat before adhering it to a bright pink/purple card base.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our October stencil challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

October Christmas Challenge for Happy Little Stampers

It is time for a new Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  The challenge is always Anything Goes but each month there is an optional choice.  This month the choice is to use a Stencil.  I actually played along with the optional choice this month.  

The snowman stencil is from Simon Says Stamp.  It is four different small stencils to make this cutie.  There is also a stencil to make a stocking hat on the snowman.  How cute would that be for another snowman card.

You really have to think about what order you stencil the design in.  After my first attempt, I did it in this order.  I first stenciled the hat and then the face of the snowman.  I found that it was almost better to stencil the scarf on a separate piece of paper and fussy cut it out and glue to your snowman.  This way you can get perfect placement of the scarf.  I would also stencil the scarf parts separately.  On this snowman the ends of the scarf were each fussy cut and glued on separately.  

I used some oval window dies to cut out the snowman image and the mat.  All the paper is like fine wine - aged very well in the deep dark regions of my basement.  Old paper still works well for cards.  I die cut some snowflakes and added a red embellishment to compliment the red in the plaid paper.  A Tim Holtz sentiment was added to the card.  

Here is a close up of the snowman.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our October Christmas Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.
 

October Birthday Challenge for Happy Little Stampers

All of a sudden it is October and time for a new birthday challenge at Happy Little Stampers.   This challenge is always fun because it is "anything goes".  Everyone needs to make some birthday cards and this gives you an opportunity to get ahead or caught up.

I have a friend who recently moved back to Kansas and the state flower for Kansas is the sunflower so I wanted to incorporate a sunflower as part of her birthday card.  Luckily I had this sweet image from Woodware stamps with a sunflower with an adorable gnome.

He was watercolored with the Tim Holtz watercolor crayons.  I love the depth of color that I was able to achieve in the sunflower.  The image is a little large so this is a 5 x 7 card.  I found some fall paper that worked well with the image.  A simple birthday sentiment and some gold splatter completed the card.

Here is a close up of the gnome.

Please come play along with us at Happy Little Stampers with our birthday challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday Does A Challenge

It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.  I am going to combine Oldie Moldie Monday with the current challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. The challenge this week is technique but more specifically to use a stencil.  

I have a large assortment of stencils.  Many times I try the stencil out and then the image goes in a box to be created with later.  Needless to say I have a large box with "created with later" images.  This snowflake stencil is one of them.  It may be a Gina K Stencil.

Here is the snowflake all stenciled in beautiful blue colors.  I am guessing it is oxide inks.  I made it a long time ago.  It is a beautiful stencil.  It is very large.  I decided to make two mini slimline cards out of this large snowflake.  I have a die for mini slimline cards so used that to make my snowflake panels.

I found some cardstock that worked well for the mat of the snowflake.  I also found this glitter paper which I covered the front of the card base with.  I have a very large collection of snowflake dies and cut some out of the same color cardstock I used for the mat.  I splattered the card with irridescent ink and added some bling to the middle of the snowflakes.  A simple greeting completed the card.  I now have two more holiday cards completed.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.  They still make wonderful cards.

Fall Leaves Take 3

Fall and leaves are some of my favorite subjects to create cards for.  I love the colors of fall, the weather and the changes in our world.  I do not look forward to winter but it is another opportunity to create differently.

This month the challenge at The Male Room is leaves.  A challenge right from my heart. 

I fell in love with the new leaf dies from Tim Holtz.Artsy Leaves.  I gathered together all different colors of paper and dark brown cardstock and started die cutting.  I made 5 of these cards.  One will be sent to my youngest brother.  I like the sentiment - everyone always needs a little extra happiness in their lives.

I fell in love with the new leaf dies from Tim Holtz.Artsy Leaves.  I gathered together all different colors of paper and dark brown cardstock and started die cutting.  I made 5 of these cards.  One will be sent to my youngest brother.  I like the sentiment - everyone always needs a little extra happiness in their lives.

Thanks for stopping by - stay tuned for more fall creations.

Oldie Molde Monday

 It is Monday, time to show some love for your old supplies.

I had these stamped rainbows in my supplies so I finally made them into cards.

They will either go to the foster care home or to some friends going through a difficult time.

Remember to use those stamped images you have.  They make wonderful cards.

Two Challenges Together

I am returning to cardmaking slowly and I thought some challenges would help me be creative.

I chose the sketch challenge from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

I also am doing the theme challenge at Paper Players.  The theme is four legged friends.  

Here is my card.  This image has been floating around the design tables for quite awhile.  I have several great nieces who are cat lovers so thought this would be a perfect card for one of them.  The paper is also old.  This really could be an oldie moldie Monday post since all the supplies are very well aged.

I used a square die to make my card base and cut the base patterned paper with the same die.  I did take liberty with the sketch by adding the contrasting stripe in the background.  Yay - one more Christmas card done.

Thanks for stopping by.  

September Stencil Challenge For Happy Little Stampers

It is time for a new challenge at Happy Little Stampers using your stencils.   As always, the stencil challenge is "anything goes".

Stencils are such an economical way to add supplies to your card making arsenal.  Stencils have also evolved over the years and it is amazing what you can do with a stencil.

I used a stencil and mask from A Colorful Life.  I started with cream cardstock and used the open stencil to add a base layer of color to the leaf.  I then took the stencil with the veins and added all the beautiful colors that you see on leaves in the fall.  I was using my oxide inks.  After I had added the color, I came back in and smoothed all the colors together with a light brown ink.  I fussy cut the leaves.

I traced the leaf pattern and cut it out of gold vellum to place behind my leaf.  I decided I wanted a more colorful background for my leaf so went to my cardstock and found four fall colors and cut diagonal stripes in the paper (I have stripes for three more cards - luckily I made 4 leaves).  I die cut the word hugs from dark brown cardstock and several layers of kraft to give it a little dimension.  I matted my striped background with dark brown cardstock and adhered it to a kraft card base.  Gold splatters completed the card.

Here is a card made with the negative of the leaf.  After I have done the stenciling, I sprayed the stencil with water and smooshed it onto a piece of cardstock and got the leaf outline.  I had a small stamp set with oak leaves so stamped them in fall colors and scattered them around the card.  I stamped a sentiment.  Gold splatters completed this card also.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers and play with your stencils.

Thanks for stopping by.

September Christmas Challenge for Happy Little Stampers

It is time for a new Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

The challenge at Happy Little Stampers is always anything goes but there is always an option for your design.  This month the option is Snow Globe.  I chose to do anything goes.

For my card this month I used another Colorado Craft stamp I had purchased a year or two ago and had not used.  (It feels good to use some of this product we had to have and then did not use immediately.)  The stamp is quite large.  I actually stamped it four different times and used different types of embossing powder for the image.  I am sharing two of the images on cards today with you.  The other two are still in the thinking pile.

I used white embossing powder for the image on this card.  The pink color is a colored powder that you sprinkle on and spray with water.  You get some great variations of color by doing it this way.  The pink color is so bright.  I have always love black, white and pink for a color combination so decided to make a very nontraditional card.  I trimmed the ornament panel.  One side has been slightly removed.  I matted the image with black cardstock.  I adhered a piece of my favorite black and white stripe (from My Favorite Things) to the front of my white card base.  I added a small strip of shiny black cardstock at the bottom of the card.  I adhered the image over the top of the finished card front.  I cut the sentiment from the shiny black cardstock.  Three small shiny black dots were added to the upper right corner to add some balance to the card.

Here is my second card using the same image.  This is a mini slimline card.  The bulb was trimmed quite abit for this card front.  I stamped the image with an oxide ink and used clear embossing powder.  I colored the image in with the same color of oxide ink.  The image was matted with two different colors of cardstock and adhered to a white cardbase.  The sentiment was embossed in gold embossing powder on one of the colored cardstocks.  Gold splatter completed the card.

Please join us for our September Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

 It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

These cards were made from a very old collection of papers I could never part with.  The frogs were so cute and I knew they would make cute cards.  I have been working on a box of cards for a foster care home and I knew these cards would make the kids smile.

Remember to use your old supplies, they still make wonderful cards which will bring a smile to someone's face.