Challenges With Holiday Cards

Hello Again!

Happy December!  I should be making more holiday cards, but just had to participate in a couple of challenges.

First up is a card for a new to me Time Out Time Out Challenges #124  I do follow Anita at My Papercraft World and I even had the pleasure of meeting her a couple years ago!

My card today is for the December challenge asking for something joyful. Pretty things like snowflakes and silver glimmer paper make me joyful, thus my card. The card is CAS, but pretty, I think.

Using my new this season die from Poppy Stamps, Inc. called Seed Snowflake Joy, I cut a piece of Stampin' Up! Night of Navy cardstock. I backed up it with SU Glimmer Paper in Silver allowing a tiny edge to show at the sides.The panel was placed at an angle and simply glued to a card base of Papertrey Inc. Basic white cardstock.  Easy peasy, but I like it. 

Next up is a card for CAS Christmas Challenge asking for stars. I only have one on  this card. The Star of Bethlehem is fascinating the little fawn. Look at him staring. His eye is much blacker in real life as is his nose. He really is looking at the bright star, IMH.

The sitar is cut from the same silver glimmer paper and is the smaller die by Memory Box, Inc. called Star of Wonder. The little fawn is made from a Hero Arts October 2018 Kit stamp and die and done on kraft cardstock. I highlighted his spots with a SU Chalk Marker. As I am showing him at night, the background is black cardstock. Can you see that I used a Tim Holtz/Sizzix die but embossed with it instead of cutting. A SU stitched white circle highlights the fawn making him a star too! The snow is made with the Lacquer Pen from the same kit and my NBUS HA White Puff embossing powder. 

My last card is the only one mailed so for. I made a Hanukkah card for a friend. I do not have a greeting stamp, however, several years ago bought this Menorah stamp from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.

The Menorah is stamped in StazOn Jet Black ink onto a silver circle recycled from a peanut butter jar inside seal. A piece of SU dark blue Glimmer Paper from last year's Glimmerr Paper Assortment pack was embossed with the SU Seasonal Wreath Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (whew, what a long name) for more texture. I cut away the center of the wreath to showcase the lighted candles. The candles were wicked with yellow Wink of Stella. I placed a white frame cut with the PTI Pierced Feature Frame Dies to anchor the focal point onto some Basic Gray base. I just wrote a note inside. Done and mailed in time for some of the many days of celebration.

So that's it for now. Back to making cards to hand deliver. Thank you for visiting.

                             

November CCC

Hello Friends!

I was quite pleased with the card I sent to Lucille in CO for the November challenge at the Card Chain Challenge. Many of my favorite bloggers play there too. Check it out, and join the group in 2019! I think I will duplicate this card (not my usual thing) to send out to someone as I finish up my personal cards. I haven't received my card from Spain, yet, but it is always special getting cards from new cyber friends. Something to look forward to.

Here is my card.

The colors challenge this time called for ivy, holly and gold plus one of the theme ideas was deer, so I managed to get all into this card. Rudolph is practicing for his up-coming trip! The deer die is cut from Stampin' Up! gold cardstock. It is from Simon Says Stamp, called Dancing Deer. It is a two piece die set. Rudolph's nose is red bling from my stash. I particularly love the bright red paper used for the base. It is Lipstick Red also from SSS. The little trees are part of the Fremont Pine Landscape die by Poppy Stamps. They are tucked into a curvy snow hilltop cut with a SugarPea Design die from the Card Front Element Builder set. See, I still use many, many online companies for my card making treasures as well as getting from my local craft store, Crafters Haven which is in Minneapolis.

Well, I have 10 holiday card fronts made but not finished inside, so gotta get busy. Take care and thanks for visiting today. Thanks too for commenting. They are always such a treat to read. I will visit you too, honest. 

Christmas Cards Are Challenging

Hello Fellow Card Makers!

Entering a card today for the Muse: ChristmasVisions #114  Am regretful about not joining much, as I do love seeing the cards and inspiration. When I saw the "free for all" challenge, I decided to post a card made a while back but not blogged about. Have only finished a few Christmas cards.

I've put the Merry Christmas greeting inside since I could not figure out where to put a sentiment on the front.

This card was made with many snippets so  I am also entering it into the Pixie's Crafty Workshop Playground Challenge # 340.


The snippets are the white cardstock for the sweater itself, including all the separate ribbing pieces at the cuffs, collar and hem. The silver snowflakes and the sentiment are snippets of paper too. It just occurred to me that I that I could add a red circle into the center of the snowflake on the sweater to match the greeting. Done; looks better, in real life.

Here are the details. The background is from Michael's Recollections Paper in a nice gray stripe. The sweater is by Elizabeth Craft Designs, a die called Winter Sweater. The snowflake is from there too. I've looked everywhere and cannot find the embossing folder that I used for texture. Senior moment(s) and a messy desk! Sigh. The silver and red shiny cardstock is from Stampin' Up! To adhere the small pieces as well as the greeting, I used Stick It. A wonderful invention! The sentiment dies are from a NBUS set also from Elizabeth Crafts called Words 5-Winter Wishes. Got it on a recent sale. I am really pleased with this card. Think I'll send it to a friend in a warm place. Teehee

Bye for now. Must really get some more Christmas cards done. Anyone else as late creating as me? Thank you for visiting.

My Twofer, Finally!

Hello!!  A couple of nights ago I finally finished my Twofer for November. This one is for Twofer Card Challenge #11  Where has this year gone? I really struggled trying to do something different. Here we go; am smiling now.

Two Together:

Separately:

I have used this wreath before to make a get well card, so this time I was thinking about encouraging someone. The wreath and sentiments are from the Gina K. Designs set called We Can Do This. I had this Darice little squires embossed piece of purple cardstock in my "to do" box. The wreath is stamped in Stampin' Up! Lemon Lime Twist, which is a great fairly new and cheerful green, IMHO. The white cardstock is all Linen Cardstock Fresh Snow from Papertrey Ink. I used a Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Mats die too. My style seems to lean to layers, so a snippet of black anchors the top layer. I am coming late to the sequins user party, but am getting to like them after all. Here I scattered a few coordinating purple ones from a Neat & Tangled  package. Placement of sequins is still hard for me, though.

For some reason I thought of a Venn Diagram when I started to make a second card. When did I learn about that? About a hundred years ago. Tee hee  Although I did use Christmas colors, (SU's Real Red and retired Handsome Hunter), my mind somehow saw a Valentine's Day card. A matching and bigger heart is also part of the above named set. The sentiment is from the old stand-by SU set, Teeny Tiny Wishes. I do get a lot of use of that set! I did think that I was all finished with the card, but it did seem to be missing something. Light bulb time! I used another Darice embossing folder. It's called Hearts Background. Now I am quite happy with the card.

Done for another month. Thanks to Darnell and her gang for encouraging me to create and use my stuff!

A Few of My Latest Cards & A Challenge

Hello Again - Thanks for visiting!!  Lots of cards this time. Read on if you have time! 

Card #1: 

On the left is the front of the card I made for my grandson Gavin's 17th birthday. On the right is the inside. He loves puzzles and has since he was a toddler, so the puzzle die set from Stampin' Up! called Puzzle Pieces was a must to add to my collection. I first cut the pieces in scrap white adhering them together with tape on the back, thus creating my focal point. The sentiment is from an unknown company...it may be a freebie received with an online order. The enamel dots are also SU. The inside is the piece de resitance. I stamped happy birthday, (sorry I don't recall which one) in white ink on some black cardstock and used the die again. I scrambled the pieces and put them in a small clear bag, then stapled that to the inside blank space. I cut some of the bigger puzzle pieces to add some color and glued them underneath. Done. Gavin said it was quite a fun card. Easy to assemble, but fun.

Card #2:

I mentioned before that I was experimenting with making shaker cards. Here I used the My Favorite Things Trio Shaker Pouches along with the matching dies. My card was made for a neighbor who turned 90 recently! She is a wonder, still working part time, volunteering, traveling and driving all over. The sequins are from Taylored Expressions and the die cut balloon is the small one from a SU punch. I added Glossy Accents to the balloon backed with paper from PaperTrey Ink called Bitty tar Basics. I love the purple stars. Inside I used the same paper to die cut congrats with a die from Queen & Co. Word Dies #1.  I really struggle with making shaker cards, but the plastic inserts to hold the sequins does help.

Card #3:

This card is a re-make of one I posted a while back, but because I wasn't happy with the words I tore it apart. Reuse and recycle. Right? Then I re-glued the leaves onto a new card front in SU Very Vanilla. Looks white here, but the Fall colors look better on the cream. I am much happier with the CAS look. Inside I stamped Happy Thanksgiving with the SU wooden Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp onto a small banner. That went atop another orange leaf like the middle one on the front, and I was done. This card has been mailed to family in Florida.



Card#4:

Last but not least is another shaker card that will go into my stash for an upcoming birthday. I am entering it in Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge #339.

The snippets used are an left over piece of alcohol inked paper in pretty blues and greens which is the back holding the sequins. The frame I made from PTI Linen cardstock die cut with Poppy Stamps Small Madison Window. Remember that? I snipped off the interior cross pieces leaving this nice open space to showcase the pretty background. Used thick double sided tape to adhere a snippet of clear acrylic to hold in the sequins. Not sure who made the sequin mix, but it is all silver and has stars too. The happy birthday on a white snippet banner was stamped in Encore Silver with a stamp from Lawn Fawn that I received on my birthday! To finish, I embossed the front of the card base with the SU folder called Lucky Stars. The beautiful blue is SU and called Pacific Point.

So that is it for me this time. Whew! Thanks so much for visiting tonight. Prayers and good thoughts to all those affected* by the fires in CA. I feel so badly for those in my former beloved California. Lived there 30 years, don't you know.

*edited to correct my grammar.

Some Snippets!!

Hello and Happy November~

It is getting close to the closing of one of my favorite challenges, the one  from Pixie's Crafty Workshop. Today I am entering the latest challenge, Pixie's Playground Challenge #338.

I had this snippet of Stampin' Up! cardstock in Tempting Turquoise (I think) on my desk after again trying to make a shaker card. More about that later. Also had several circles cut out in various colors. Anyway, this card is the result. All of the dogs and his accessories are cut from snippets of basic white Papertrey Ink cardstock, stamped and colored with watercolor pencils. The dogs are celebrating my new dog  Jessie (see previous post) and of course, Di's new puppy.

I tried to color these cute dog pictures in colors matching my Jessie who is multicolored buff, white, with a little black. To me, he is the world's best friend and I am thrilled to have him. The base card is an A2 size. The cute dog cut outs are from My Favorite Things set called Puppy Pals. I am lucky to have both the stamps and dies. The sentiment is from a NBUS set to me, the Hero Arts October monthly kit. I do need to craft with more of it, as the kits has wonderful images and sentiments. I used both Karat Aquarell pencils from Staedtler and Art Grip Acuarelle from Faber-Castell. My trusty watercolor pen did the rest. I really do love water coloring this way. 

A short post today, but I've really been busy making cards, so more posts coming up.

Thanks for visiting.

Good News & A Bunch Of Cards

Hello!

My good news is that I have adopted a dog. His name is Jessie who is right now asleep on my bed. He came to me on Thursday and we are doing really well together. Jessie is 10, a former puppy mill dog who is learning how to be a regular dog and trust humans. He is a Shih Tzu, the same breed of dog I've had before, and used to foster. He is skittish, but coming along beautifully after many weeks with a foster mom and now with me.  We've work to do, but I love, love him already.

Next up are the last of my Halloween cards. These I made for my 3 teenage grand kids. First is a Pop Out Explosion card CASED from Dee Slater, a Stampin' Up! demo who made a great video on YouTube. The photo on the left shows my card closed with the belly band in place, and the one on the right show it open. The card has gone in the mail, so I apologize for the poor photography.

All the paper supplies and kitty punch are from SU. The Happy Halloween sentiment stamp is by Recollections from Michael's. The card was quite a struggle to make for this spacial relationship challenged crafter, but in the end I am pleased.

Next is the one made especially for my youngest grand daughter who still loves purple. Aren't the ghosts cute? It is called Ghost Collage from Poppy Stamps. I cut if from white cardstock and placed behind it a leftover piece of alcohol inked paper in purples and black from my stash. The card base is also white cardstock, however, an extra piece was glued behind the inked piece as some of the colors bled through. Inside I used the same sentiment from above and put near it just one of the ghosts cut from black c.s. just for fun.

Lastly is the card made for my only grandson, Gavin, who is turning 17 next week. He has a pet mouse as well as a cat AND a hedgehog. SU paper used here and the owl and the mouse stamps are all found in the set called Spooky Cat. Unfortunately it is retired. The window is the Small Madison Window also from Poppy Stamps. I put a snippet of clear packaging behind the window to look like glass. Can you see the owl is sitting on a little branch and looking right at the mouse? lol The grands don't go out trick or treating any longer, of course, but I know they like candy and Halloween.

If you can stand one more card, read on.

I am posting the card I made for the October CCC exchange. It is so fun getting cards from around the US and the world. I got mine for Kenya today!

My card has been received by Gail (also known as Ionabunny) who is one of the wonderful monthly coordinators. She lives in Norway. The challenge this month color options were denim, cornflower and white. I used SU Dapper Denim for the sentiment and the faux wings from a old SU bird punch (cannot find the name). The funny Bird of Paradise die is by My Favorite Stamps Die-Namics and I only have the dies, not the stamps. Sigh. They sold out before I could get them, but the dies were on sale! The requested theme sentiment is from the SU Eastern Beauty set, popular last year but hardly used by me.

So that is it for now. Thanks so much for visiting! I'll come visit you too! Promise!

A Halloween Card + A Flower Card

Hello Again!

Greeting from rainy Minnesota! Great weather for making cards, I think. Posting two of my recent creations - for quite different occasions.

First Up:  Here is a floral birthday card I made for a good friend who turned 86 last week. She is spry, witty and lovely to be around. We are celebrating tomorrow and I do know that she loves flowers.

First I die cut a panel from PaperTrey Ink white linen cardstock to make an over-lay. Another NBUS, it is from Simon Says Stamp! called Folk Dance. Then I cut another full piece to use as a stencil. Using Distress Oxides in Picked Raspberry and Iced Spruce from Tim Holtz/Ranger, I sponged on the colors as neatly as I could. Placed the first panel on top gluing it with my Quickie Glue pen from Sakura. This gives the card some dimension. The whole piece then was glued onto a top folding A2 card base of the same linen paper. The sentiment is embossed with WOW white powder onto a small piece of black cardstock. It's from PTI also.

I CASED this card from one I saw on-line somewhere. Please, if it is your idea or you know who dreamed it up, let me know so I can give due credit.


My Second Card: This is the first of three Halloween themed cards that I made this week and I am submitting it to Pixie's Crafty Workshop Challenge #336 as it is made with many snippets.

When I dug out my stash of Halloween designer paper, the fun orange cat pictured here was with it. So I cut another with my Stampin' Up! Cat Punch in Basic Black. All the layers behind the kitties are snippets left over from last year's cards. All are by SU. The sentiment is computer generated and on more left over white and Pumpkin Pie cardstock. In my drawer filled with holiday stamps was the little plastic pumpkin. It started life as a button, but I cut off the shank before using a dimensional to sit it with the cats. I have no idea where I got it, but there are several more!

I do hope to post the other Halloween cards as well as others that I made recently. Time willing. Thanks so much for stopping by to visit.

Happy World Card Making Day

Hello,

I hope you had a chance to make a card or two today as we all celebrate World Card Making Day. I don't know who started this special day, but am happy to be part of at least one group that has members from all across the world.

Here is the card I made today:

Probably not the best greeting card that I have ever made, but there's a story about it.

I made this card at the request of a friend who plays a lot of the game Mexican Train. He knew I had a picture of the little wooden train taken a while back. I reminded him that the picture was blurry, but he said it was OK. His directions were very specific: "Show two trains" and put thinking of you inside". The card is for another friend who is sadly newly diagnosed with breast cancer and isn't playing the game right now. He liked the card when I delivered it this afternoon. Whew!


Here's how I made it. On retired Blue Bliss  SU cardstock, I first stamped some lines to resemble a track. Used Memento London Fog ink for the lines. They are from my fun and NBUS Catherine Pooler's For Everything  stamp set. Next I die cut the clouds from an old Studio Calico kit to make some smoke. Lastly, the two trains were fussy cut from the photo that I printed onto glossy paper from my stash. I popped them up with dimensionals. The whole blue piece was then glued to black fun foam for a border and placed it on an A2 white card base. Done!

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Teehee  Thanks for visiting my blog and Happy Stamping to all!

Jeanne

CAS Mix Up September

Hello!

Today I finished an entry into the CAS Mix Up September Challenge. Guess I am not ready for Fall after all, as my card looks summery. Anyway, here is my card!

This challenge asked us to use markers to ink up a stamp, plus stamping and a choice. I decided to show some love for this flower. I used the direct to paper stamping technique, which I rarely do. By Penny Black, the stamp is called Ebullient. Just had to look up the definition of that word. It means "over-flowing with enthusiasm" according to my Random House Dictionary. I think the flower arrangement does flow. I keep a dictionary near my desk. Do you?

My sentiment is from the JustRite Large Elegant Sentiments set and was stamped in VersafFine Onyx Black. For my choice, I framed the flower, literally, with a frame die cut from my newest purchase!  Bought from Papertrey Ink, it is called Pierced Feature Frame Die. Love it! A piece of Bazzill green cardstock just happened to match my markers. The two markers are labeled Tombow ABT and numbered 703 (pink) and 173 (green). The top folding card base is PTI Basic White. Quite a simple card to make.

That is it for now. Just a short post. Thanks for visiting today. I really appreciate any comments people leave!  :-)

It's Time for Leaves

Hello!

Yes, it's time to think about Fall or Autumn, so here is my card for Darnell and Her Gang's 9th Twofer Challenge. Only a few trees are starting to turn colors here in the Minneapolis area, but I sure love the colors when they show. Down by the Mississippi and the Minnesota rivers the leaves are especially gorgeous. The only not fun part of Fall is having to rake leaves several times! LOL

My Twofer:

I made the Beautiful Fall card first after looking at my Woodgrain embossing folder from Stampin' Up! sitting on my desk from another project. Wanting even more textural interest, I turned to an oldie but goodie and saved hoarded Handmade Textured Paper from ProvoCraft & Ellison that I have had for years. It was made in India and is dated 2002. Luckily I had two shades of orange and some red left. Notice the different types of texture in this lovely paper. For the greeting I combined two clear stamps by an unknown maker. They go back to my earliest days of card making, if I remember right. The ink is SU Early Expresso, although it looks black in the picture. The card base is made from their Thick Very Vanilla. The leaves were cut out with my Maple Leaf  ek punch.

My Christmas card uses the same leaf punch. I only had one sheet of dark green cardstock that I think it is SU's Handsome Hunter, long retired. Punching out 6 leaves, I assembled them into a green tree and just for fun left on the stems. The plaid black and white designer paper is also from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is from The Last Word stamped in Memories Direct Red  ink. Inside I stamped the whole O Christmas Tree poem from the same set. I could not find the stamp set or the inks when I looked on line.  I am a saver of all the things I like!  :-) I hand cut the trunk from a scrap of brown paper. The side folding A2 card base is Lipstick Red  from Simon Says Stamp.

Here's a closer look at the cards individually:

This Twofer challenge is a lot of fun, as I am sure you agree. I hope you will also enter a card.

Thank you for visiting today. Happy crafting!

Challenges & A Few Cards

Hello and Happy Almost Autumn!

First up

Here I am posting my entry to the CAS Christmas Card Challenge for September. The challenge this time is to make a creation with a wreath. This card was fun to make but difficult to photograph. As I am sure you all know, shiny cardstock doesn't photograph well. I like my card and hope you do too.

I started this card with stamping and heat embossing this wreath from Memory Box set called Watching the World Bloom. Wanting to use my newest goodie from HSN, Spectrum Noir Metallic Markers, I chose the Christmas-y colors,  Red Garnet and Green Citrine. I was pleased that one end was a nice narrow point so I could color the small leaves and flowers. The wreath had been stamped on a scrap of Stampin' Up! Basic Black that I feel highlights the colors nicely. The sentiment Merry & Bright is an old stamp from SU dated 2002. It was the only holiday stamp that fit into center of the wreath.  LOL  After cutting the image with a Spellbinders circle die I backed it with some black fun foam for dimension. Next, I started looking at all my green paper for a matching background. Yay, I was pleased to find one 6 x 6 piece left of the green Foiled cardstock from DCWV that I've been hoarding for years. Shiny & bright, right? The card base is also from SU. My thinking is that this is a CAS card so hope it passes muster.

Card #2

My next card is a birthday card I made for a dear friend who has a birthday that we are celebrating this week. Can you believe she and her 2 years younger sister have the same birthday, September 11th? We will honor Rosemary and the memories of the tragedy of 9/11/2001 too.

Rosemary's card is a CASE of Jaydee's recent card for The Paper Players challenge 409. I used the same colors, but changed up the flower stamp and background and added some ribbon. My supplies are all SU. The cardstock is Mint Macron and Blackberry Bliss. My flower is from the Beautiful Day set that was heat embossed with Ranger Gold embossing powder. I fussy cut the flower out twice for some dimension. The fun background is done with the Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Whew, what a long name! To finish the I card I grounded the flower with some ribbed ribbon and added three shiny brads. Remember brads anyone? I hope Rosemary likes the card, I am pleased with it.

Card #3

Also a birthday card, the final card is the one I made for my daughter Stephanie's birthday. She has seen the card, loved it and told me to save it for her. Her b-day is the 29th. She is celebrating with dinner at the local Spaghetti Factory (as usual). :-)

This card started with a piece of glossy cardstock that I had inked up with Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks. Colors used are Stonewashed, Aqua and touches of Peach Bellini. I made the background quite a while ago. The CutPlorations  fun and big birthday die is from Stamplorations, a NBUS purchase that I just had to add to my collection of b-day paraphernalia. I cut it from a snippet of SU Early Espresso cardstock and inlaid it into the blue background. I'll use the blue birthday cut out another time. To add the "happy" I inked up small Verve stamp in the same dark brown color and cut it out with an small oval whale punch from SU. Love my punches as well as my dies. Inside I placed another die cut saying Hugs from Lawn Fawn. The card base is A2 size and side folding also in the Early Espresso cardstpck. I am honored that my daughter likes my cards and even brags about them sometimes. Because I used snippets for the white oval and the birthday die cut, I am entering this card into Pixie's Crafty Playground Challenge #334. 

So that is some of what I have been up to lately. Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll come visit you too! 

       

August CCC Card

My card for the August 2018 Card Chain Challenge has winged its way to Karen in California, so I'm publishing now as it has been received. I followed the challenge sketch option and with some bling, matched the color options closely too. Isn't that a great sketch? I sure will use it again. Am not really happy with the picture, as I took it at night and the flash went off even when I did not want it too. Sigh.

Anyway, this was the best of about 10 shots. As I was nearing the time limit to get my card into the mail to get it to CA by the deadline, I went with this photo. Here's some details.

Using VersaMark and WOW Opaque Bright White embossing powder, I first stamped the circle lines to crisscross like in the sketch onto Stampin' Up! Basic Black cardstock. This took many tries to get them to play nice with each other. But, isn't it fun to watch the magic when using a heat gun and embossing powder? The small circles design lines are from same Uniko Studio set used in my last post. Just used the more solid circles. The sentiment is from Jillibean Soup Handwritten Sentiments set and was also heat embossed. I mounted the panel with my NBUS SU Foam Adhesives Strips for some dimension. It is hard to see in the photo that it say "hello there!" The dots are in the challenge colors of "Bubblegum, Sapphire and Pistachio" also from SU. and called Glitter Enamel Dots. They have some nice sparkle in real life. The top folding base card is my go-to Paper Basics White from Papertrey Ink. A pretty quick card, all-in-all.

Many thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again!

August Twofer

Good Evening Friends!

It is getting down to the wire to complete my entry to Darnell and her gang's Twofer Card Challenge #8 .  This time the challenge calls for something geometric. Can you see it? On both cards? Circles!! A conventional entry, I think. Quite a busy week for me; just finished my cards last night.

Here we go!

I made the balloon card first wanting to use a set from Unity Studio that has been in my stash for years! Yup, it's labeled 2012-2013. Called Background Builders:Round In Circles, so this is my take for a geometric image. My card is a CASE of the card shown on the back of the stamp set box. The roundness is in several part of the design elements decorating the side of the card. For color and sparkle, I cut the balloons from Stampin' Up! Glimmer Paper Assortment Pack using their Balloon punch. Added some floss for the strings and used dimensional tape to adhere the sentiment and balloons. This sentiment was in my birthday stamps drawer, but I am not sure who made it. Of course this is a birthday card.

My truck is a Hero Arts wood stamp also from 2012. It was colored with my NBUS goodie from Spectrum Noir Metallic Markers in Jade Green and stamped first. I put on several layers of ink, but do not feel much shine is there. User error? I stamped the design image to match the other card here using it as a road. Ranger Archival Ink in black was used to stamp both cards. See the tires? They are round too. Err, sort of. I need practice on coloring. LOL I put clear Wink of Stella all over the hello sign. As I was afraid to add more on the front in case I messed up, I just mounted the card front onto a mat and layered it on a SU Basic Black card base. Called it a day. Yay!  Done! I am thinking it is a masculine card for any occasion, and I do need a thank you card for my daughter's father-in-law who fixed my car.

Here is a close-up look at the two cards individually. Enjoy.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you like these cards as I liked making them, especially the balloon one! Bye for now. 

Two More Cards

Hello!

Am joining a few challenges with two of my latest cards. Hope you like.

First up is my entry for the Less Is More Challenge #377- Pets. As you know I love dogs especially, but love cats too, so it was easy to find a pet stamp in my stash.

My pet image is from a NBUS set called Puppy Pets from My Favorite Things. I got the dies too. Yay!  I remembered seeing a how-to-do video recently regarding using matching dies, so looked it up and found it was a video from Catherine Pooler. Watching the video helped a lot for cutting out from snippets of paper the pup, bowl, and also for the sentiment. Also by MFT, it is one of the first time successfully using the Label Maker Sentiments set. This saved me some fussy cutting, not my favorite thing to do. The pup is thankful for his food, or he can be sent to a friend who has been helpful to me lately. I think he is really cute, don't you?

I used my water color pencils from Farber Castell called Art Grip Aquarelle to color the dog and food bowl. Then went over them with a water brush. The pencils are not labeled as to color name but have these numbers: 183 (light brown), 106 (dark brown), 143 (blue), 128 (red) and 199 (black). The scallop border was cut from PTI white cardstock as is the card base. The die is a Card Front Element Builder die recently bought from Sugarpea Designs. Lots of nice boarders in this set. I am also adding this card to Pixie's Crafty Workshop #332 since mostly snippets of paper were used for this CAS card and Di had a pet on this challenge too. Hers made me smile!

My second card was created to join the current CAS Watercolour - August challenge.

My first try was deep-six'd as I had used yellow Wink of Stella on top of the water coloring, and that proved not acceptable. Thus I stamped the image once more with my oldie but goodie wood stamp from Penny Black. Funny enough, it is called Sunshine, but it is definitely a sunflower. Right? I used Ranger Archival Ink to stamp the flower on regular cardstock. Again I colored the sunflower with the Farber Castell pencils and just went over it with my water brush. Then I fussy cut out the flower. OK, I know I said that I don't like to do that, but it was necessary! LOL Colors used were 105 & 104 (yellow) and 186 & 168 (green).

I decided against using dimensionals to adhere the flower to my water colored sky background instead glued down making it easier to mail. I notice the card bends a little. Oh, well. This background was made with Distress Oxide Salty Ocean and Distress Ink Peacock Feathers. I rubbed the inks onto my craft mat, spritzed with water then painted on watercolor paper with a brush. I think the flower is just waving in the breeze. My simple sentiment saying hello is from the Today, Tomorrow & Always TIME set from Uniko Studio.

So that is it for now. Thanks so much for visiting. I sure love visitors and the comments YOU leave!