Happy Happy Birthday

The theme for December's Our Daily Bread Designs challenge at Operation Write Home is to use primary colors. I couldn't help but think of doing a child's birthday card. When I was looking through my stamps, I came across Spellbinders' "Your Day" set. I just love the elephant in this set, and had to use him. Thankfully, I was able to find an OWH sketch to accommodate the image!

I did have to "doctor" the sketch a bit. I made the focal panel slightly wider, to give the image a little more "breathing room." I also flipped it horizontally, and replaced the banner in the upper corner with the balloons.

I began by stamping my image onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I taped the panel to my cutting board that I use for watercoloring, and painted it with watercolors. For the ground, I smooshed some Pumice Stone Distress ink onto an acrylic block, then watered it down and applied a light wash to the bottom of the panel. I did the same with Tumbled Glass Distress ink for the sky portion. After drying it with my heat tool, I removed the tape and set it aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

I decided to use a greeting from this stamp set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. The set comes with a solid balloon stamp that coordinates well with that particular greeting. I first stamped the balloon in Stampabilities "Light Pink" pigment ink onto white cardstock. When that dried, I stamped the greeting over it with Ranger's Adirondack Brights "Clover" ink. After giving that time to dry thoroughly, I fussy cut the balloon. I also used the smallest die from this Simon Says Stamp set to die cut 2 more balloons from patterned paper scraps.

For the background, I decided to go with a bright red. I found a piece of yellow gingham patterned paper in my scrap stash, and cut a strip of that to go along the side of the red. After gluing the gingham paper to the red cardstock, I die cut the panel with the largest die from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" set. I also matted the focal panel with blue cardstock, leaving a 1/16" border all around.

Finally, it was time to assemble the card. I determined where I wanted the focal panel in relation to the 3 balloons, and adhered it to the background. I tied white embroidery floss around the bottoms of the pink & yellow balloons. (The bottom of the blue balloon would not be showing, so I didn't add floss around that.) Since I wanted the elephant to be "holding" the balloons, I poked a hole on each side of his trunk. After gluing the balloons in place, I threaded the other end of the embroidery floss through the holes, and wrapped it around the trunk. Finally, I tied a small bow with more floss, and adhered it over the floss around the trunk with a small dab of Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I decided I had to use a googly eye to up the cute factor, so I used more Multi Medium to glue one on the elephant.

The only thing left was to adhere the finished card front to a cream A2 card base, and this card for Operation Write Home is DONE!

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.

One Sketch Two Ways

Our Daily Bread Designs' biweekly challenge this time is a sketch challenge. I also decided to create a few love/Valentine's Day cards for Operation Write Home. So I figured, why not combine the two and create a couple of cards based on that sketch for OWH?

I decided to create a masculine and feminine card for this challenge. For the masculine version, I used the "Anchor Single" stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs. I stamped it onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils and a damp brush.

After matting the focal panel on black, I cut 2 pieces of patterned paper from my scrap stash and matted them with black as well. I also used a piece of burlap paper from The Paper Studio as my background. After wrapping some jute twine around the card front panel, I matted it with more black paper.

For the greeting, I die cut a banner from grey cardstock with a Spellbinders die, and stamped the "I Love You" from this Simon Says Stamp set in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I shortened the banner a bit, and punched a hole in the end. I threaded jute twine through the hole. I tied it to the twine wrapped around the card front, and that finished card #1.

I used ODBD's "Violet Single" stamp for my second card. I stamped it onto 140 lb. watercolor paper as well, and also used my Inktense pencils to color it. I fussy cut it out, and mounted it onto a piece of lavender cardstock I'd die cut & embossed with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals LG" die.

I used a Stampabilities background stamp and Hero Arts' Soft Leaf shadow ink to stamp the background onto white cardstock. I cut 2 pieces of patterned paper from Fancy Pants Designs' "Park Bench" 6x6" paper pad, and matted them with more of the lavender cardstock. I adhered those in place, and wrapped yellow bakers twine around the card front.

For the greeting, I used one from Avery Elle's "Love Notes" set. I stamped it on white cardstock using Adirondack Eggplant pigment ink, & clear heat embossed it. I cut it into a tag shape, punched a hole, and used yellow bakers twine to tie it to the twine wrapped around the card front. Finally, I matted the front panel onto more lavender, and adhered that to my card base.

I'm also entering these cards in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.

Merry Mail

Catch the Bug challenge blog has their "Stella Says Sketch #221" challenge going on right now. I created this card for that. It's actually one of a set of 4 cards that I made using the same design and stamps, but different papers.

I decided to go with a kraft card base this time. I felt it kind of went with the homey, "country" style of my focal image. I stamped the "Holiday Mail" image, from Deep Red Stamps, onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, with Ranger's Archival Jet Black ink. I die cut & embossed it with a Spellbinders "Labels Four" die, and colored it with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush to blend the colors. Once I'd finished coloring, I replaced the panel inside the die, and lightly blended Tumbled Glass Distress ink around the mailbox. It's subtle (so subtle, in fact, that it doesn't show up in the photo!), but I think it adds just a touch of dimension to the image panel.

I chose my patterned paper from the "Woodland Wonderland" 6x6" paper pad by The Paper Studio. I used a pale blue cardstock to mat it, die cutting the long sides of that with one of Pretty Pink Posh's "Stitched Borders 1" dies. I adhered the patterned paper piece to the mat, and adhered that to the card base.

After gluing the focal panel in place, I stamped the greeting, using one from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message" set, in Versafine Onyx Black below the patterned paper. And that finished this card. Hopefully the recipient will enjoy getting it as much as I enjoyed making it! (If not, they just don't get to keep it! LOL)

Happy Christmas

I recently got this stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. It's kind of a "build your own" Christmas greeting set. It's nice for simple greetings on the front of your cards. I also came across this image on Pinterest. I have a similar embossing folder, and decided to pair that with two of the dies from Spellbinders' "2013 Snowflake Pendant" set. I felt, with the elegance of the embossing folder and dies, a simple greeting was in order, so I used the SSS set.

I cut my white background panel to 4x5.25", and ran it through my die cutting machine with the Darice "Snowflake Swirl" embossing folder. I also taped 2 of the snowflake dies together (one inside the other), and die cut a snowflake from sliver glitter cardstock and another one from white cardstock. I glued the silver to the white, just in the middle, and slightly offset to provide some layering and dimension. Finally, I glued that to the embossed panel, again leaving the "arms" of the snowflakes loose; and glued a jewel to the center with a bit of Glossy Accents.

I stamped the greeting on vellum. I had quite a bit of difficulty getting the right effect, especially since the inks I used all seemed to have a tendency to bleed on the vellum as they dried. Finally, I figured out to stamp in Memento "Gray Flannel" ink, which gave me a light grey to complement the silver snowflake, and immediately blot off the excess ink with a piece of scrap copy paper. That gave me the result I wanted--subtle and NOT blurry! :)

I ran the vellum strip through my Xyron machine, to apply an even layer of adhesive to the back. Finally, I stuck it down towards the bottom of the embossed panel, matted that panel with more silver glitter cardstock that I'd die cut with Avery Elle's "Custom Panels" A2 die, and adhered that to a 4.25x5.5" card base.

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Winter Inspiration" challenge. (I thought of this design when I saw the photo of the snowflakes on their mood board.)

Joy of the Season

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge this week is to create a project inspired by a mood board one of their design team members put together. One of the photos on the board is of a cardinal. I have this stamp (source unknown), and when I saw that photo, immediately thought of it. And yes, I'm still making Christmas cards, so it seemed a perfect fit.

Because of the size of the image, I felt the design was pretty straightforward, so I did not pick a sketch from anywhere. I first stamped it in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink onto Strathmore Mixed Media Paper. I did a technique called "outside the box" die cutting. The basic procedure is to lay your die (that is smaller than the image) over the image. Mark where the inside of the die meets the image, and use scissors to cut into the image at those points. Then just slip the die under those image portions, and die cut the rest around the image.

After die cutting & embossing with a Spellbinders "Labels Eight" die, I colored the image with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. I had done an online search for cardinal photos, to guide me in my coloring. Once I finished that step, I set that aside to dry.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.5x7", the size of my folded card base. I felt that, even with the subtle pattern, it would compete with the greeting too much if I stamped directly on it. So I stamped the greeting (from this Hero Arts set) onto a strip of vellum instead, using Versafine Onyx Black ink, and heat embossed it with Recollections Detail Clear embossing powder. I used the heart stamp from this Simon Says Stamp set for the hearts on the greeting strip, stamping them in Stampabilities "Cherry Red" pigment ink and clear heat embossing them.

To finish the card, I glued the focal panel to the card front. I ran the vellum strip through my Xyron Sticker Maker to apply adhesive to the back, and adhered that towards the bottom of the front, wrapping the ends around to the back. Finally, I adhered the completed card front to my base.

Christmas Candle

I got this image from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps', thinking it would make a really great Christmas card. I felt the image was enough to stand on its own, so I chose a simple sketch from Operation Write Home to feature it:

I thought an oval would lend itself better to the image, so I substituted that for the rectangle in the sketch.

I printed the image onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, and die cut & embossed it with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals SM" die. I colored the candle with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. The holly leaves were the hardest element to get the coloring right. I wanted them to be vibrant, but not garish. Thankfully, I finally found the right combination of colors--without going overboard!

For the greeting, I used one from this Hero Arts set. I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto another scrap of Mixed Media Paper. I then die cut & embossed it with one of the dies from Spellbinders' "Labels Eight" set. While the paper was still in the die, I sponged Spun Sugar Distress ink over the inner portion. This gives the effect of a matted piece, without adding an extra layer.

I chose a striped patterned paper from my scrap stash for the background. After adhering a piece of mauve cardstock to that, I die cut the panel with one of the dies from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" set. I then glued the focal panel & greeting to that.

Because I couldn't find cardstock in my stash that was the "right" shade of pink for the background mat, I die cut a piece of white cardstock with the A2 die from Avery Elle's "Custom Panels" die set. Then I inked around the edges with Spun Sugar. Finally, I adhered that & the main panel to an A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes"
a2z Scrapbooking's December Challenge: "Watercolor"

Shepherd Cards

One specific request my mom made for Christmas cards this year was religious-themed cards. So I made these two for her to send (among others.)

For the first card, I chose the following sketch from Operation Write Home:

The image is this one from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I printed it, leaving a slight border, onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper; and colored it with Inktense pencils & a damp paintbrush.

I die cut a piece of kraft cardstock for the background with a die from My Favorite Things "Blueprints 13" set. For the outermost mat, I used the A2 die from Avery Elle's "Custom Panels" to cut a piece of textured green cardstock. I then adhered the kraft to the green. I chose 2 patterned papers from my ample scrap stash to go behind the focal image, and after determining placement, glued those and the focal panel to the card front.

For the greeting, I stamped one from this set, also by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, onto a piece of white cardstock, with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I die cut and embossed that with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals SM" die, and inked around the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress ink. I glued it in place, and finally adhered the completed card front to an A2 card base.

I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #223 for the design of my second card:

I really like this sketch for images like this one, because of the large panel on top, with another amply-sized piece for a greeting.

The image also comes from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I printed it on 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils, adding more stars with a white gel pen.

For the greeting panel, I stamped one from this Hero Arts set in Versafine Onyx Black onto white cardstock, and cut it down to the measurements indicated in the sketch. I matted it on a piece of brown cardstock, and wrapped a piece of sheer blue ribbon around the one end.

After the focal panel dried, I matted it on brown cardstock as well. I die cut the background with Avery Elle's "Custom Panels" A2 die, and adhered the 2 panels to that. I felt the space between the focal & greeting panels needed a little something, so I die cut the holes with one of the dies from My Favorite Things "Blueprints 18" set. (I was quite pleased to discover that particular die goes all the way across the short side of an A2 card!) I inked a strip of white cardstock with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, and glued it behind the holes. Finally, I adhered the completed front to an A2 card base, and that finished these two cards.

I'm entering these cards in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes" (both cards)
a2z Scrapbooking's December Challenge: "Watercolor" (only the second card)

Two Hanukkah Cards

A couple of our friends are celebrating Hanukkah right now, so I decided to make them cards. Hanukkah card ideas seem to be rather hard to find. Thankfully, I was able to locate a few from which to choose.

I got the inspiration for my first card from this blog post. Since blue and white/silver are traditional colors for Hanukkah, I decided to keep that as my color scheme. I chose 2 blue patterned papers & 3 metallic/textured papers, all from Recollections.

I began by creating a blank canvas sized to 4.25x5.5" in Photoshop, and sized & positioned the dreidel pattern on that. Then I typed my greeting underneath, & printed it all onto a piece of light blue cardstock. I used my craft knife and a ruler to cut out the dreidel portion, leaving a window in the card front.

After taping the pattern to the front of the cardstock with low-tack painters tape, I proceeded to cut and fold my paper strips. Finally, I positioned them over the pattern and taped them to the back of the cardstock. Once I'd finished, I removed the pattern. I inked the edges with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink, applied foam tape around the sides of the back of the panel, and adhered it to an A2 card base.

Just the center flame appears

For my second card, I followed directions I found in Kimber McGray's book, 100 Fresh & Fun Handmade Cards. I used dark blue cardstock for the card front. I cut the menorrah base from silver cardstock, and the candles from white. I also used gold cardstock for the flames. I added the wicks with a white gel pen. The "happy" die cut was made using this Simon Says Stamp die, and I stamped the letters to spell "Hanukkah" using Riley's ABC's from Lawn Fawn.

All nine flames are exposed

The card is a basic spinner card. The flames are on a circle sandwiched between the card front & base, attached to the card front with a mini brad through the center candle. It also has a notch punched out to expose part of the circle so it can be turned. In one position, only the center candle flame is lit, but when you turn the "wheel" around, all 9 flames come up over the candles. I think this is a neat effect, and not hard to achieve.

I'm entering both of these cards in Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes" challenge.

Merry Christmas Bells

YAY--I MADE IT! I actually finished a card for each of the challenges in Bugaboo's 2nd Annual "Holiday Chaos" series!!!!! The final day's theme is "Clean and Simple," so I broke with "tradition" (mine, at least) and made a true one-layer card. I took the inspiration for my card from this one by Kristina Werner. I liked the repeating bell element and the somewhat haphazard arrangement with the line the bells hang from providing some stability.

To begin, I opened my image, Bugaboo's "Christmas - Mistletoe Bell," in Photoshop, and placed it on a blank (digital) canvas sized to 4.25x5.5". I duplicated it 4 more times, for a total of five bells. I centered one vertically on the canvas, and moved the others so all the bells were about the same distance apart. To add a bit of interest--and because I intended to draw in a wire for them to hang from--I made sure to stagger how high each bell was placed on the canvas. After I got them positioned, I merged all those layers into one, and centered the merged layer on the background. I cropped the greeting from this set by Fred, She Said, and added it to the lower right of the background, lining the "s" up with the right side of the bell above it. Finally, I printed the completed composition onto a letter-size sheet of 110 lb. white cardstock. I cut the sheet in half, and scored the final card base to create a landscape A2 card.

I colored my bells with colored pencils, blending the colors with Gamsol on a paper stump. When that was done, I lightly penciled in my "wire" for the bells to hang from. When I got that how I wanted it, I erased it enough so the line showed only faintly, and then traced over it with a red gel pen. I folded the card in half and creased along the fold line with my bone folder. And there it is--probably the fastest card--and simplest design--I've made since starting our Christmas cards for this year!

Merry Christmas/Snowballs - 25 Cents

Challenge #6 for Bugaboo's 2nd Annual "Holiday Chaos" series is to make a card with one or more Christmas critters on it. I recently got this image from them, and felt it would be perfect for this challenge--and a cute Christmas card to boot!

I began by working up a design in Photoshop. Originally, I had the greeting, from this Doodle Pantry set, below the image, and it worked. But when I was going back to our craft room to cut the focal panel, I thought I'd use the stitched rectangle die from the "Femme Frames" set by Mama Elephant. That decision threw a bit of a monkey wrench into my design, because with the size of the die cut, the greeting no longer fit under the image. And if I shrank the image to make the greeting fit, the whole design just didn't look right. So I ended up moving the greeting above the penguins, and cutting off the lower words on the greeting. But it works! So after these digital acrobatics, I finally printed the image out onto my die cut watercolor paper.

After masking around the edges of the stitched rectangle with painter's tape, I colored in the penguins with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. I also added some light shading to the snowballs, just to make them look a little more 3-dimensional. When my coloring had dried, I applied clear water over the sky area, and washed in a light blue watercolor. I purposely left the wash just a bit blotchy, to add additional interest. Finally, I went over the penguins' eyes and the greeting with a black gel pen, so they would stand out a bit more.

I decided to mat the focal panel in black, so I cut a piece of paper with the scalloped "Femme Frames" die, and glued the watercolor panel to that. I printed a sentiment on the inside of an A2 card base. I accidentally tore a bit of the top layer off on one edge of the cardstock on my base (oops!). It wasn't bad enough that I couldn't cover it up though, so I die cut a piece of pale blue cardstock with the Avery Elle "Custom Panels" A2 die. I adhered my matted focal panel to that, and adhered that to my card base. To add a bit of sparkle, I glued some small silver sequins to the front with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. And that finished this card. Despite my creative twists and turns, I think it turned out quite well!

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Bling It On" challenge.

Warm & Friendly Greetings

Day 5's theme in the 2nd Annual Holiday Chaos challenge series by Bugaboo Stamps is to make a humorous card. I don't have any Bugaboo images that seemed to fit the bill, but thankfully, they allow you to use other images. I found this one on the Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps blog. Being in East Texas, where we don't get much snow at all--much less at Christmas--it seemed to me like a perfect image for a holiday card. I found the greeting on this blog post, which I thought went perfectly with the image. Kind of an ironic humor!

I chose this sketch from Operation Write Home to base my design on:

I keep all my OWH sketches in a binder. This one is actually rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise on the page, so it really didn't occur to me not to use it in that orientation. Yes, I'm getting a bit dotty with all the card making I've been doing these past few weeks! LOL

After printing my image onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper, I colored it with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. I also used Distress inks as watercolors: Tumbled Glass for the sky, and Pumice Stone and Mowed Lawn for the ground. I accidentally got a bit of color onto the white portions of the "snowman" and the little boy's shirt, so I went over those with my Uniball Signo Broad white gel pen. I ended up having to color all the white areas on the cardboard boxes, so the penwork wouldn't stand out so much. I think it ended up giving it a nice, subtle bit of texture--kind of like brushstrokes from the boy's paintbrush.

For the background, I chose two patterned papers from my stash of holiday scraps. I adhered the green snowflake paper to the bottom of the other, and matted them with a dark blue, which I felt played off the blue in the sky and the boy's jeans. Even though it was not indicated in the sketch, I also added a narrow blue mat to the focal panel, to help it stand out from the background, before adhering it to the card front.

I formatted the greeting in Photoshop, and printed it onto a strip of white cardstock. I cut one end into a fishtail, and glued it in place below the focal panel. After adhering the front to my card base, I threaded 3 white buttons from my stash with red embroidery floss, and glued them down with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. Another card done!

Merry Christmas Snowman

The theme for Day 4 of Bugaboo's 2nd Annual "Holiday Chaos" challenge series is a recipe challenge. The recipe calls for one image, two of something, and three of something else. I used their "Winter Snowman" image, 2 patterned papers, and 3 buttons for my card.

I began, as I usually do, by choosing a sketch from Operation Write Home:

I had to make the banner slightly taller to accommodate my greeting. Consequently, there was not enough room for it if I matted it, so I inked around the edges with Black Soot Distress ink instead. Otherwise, I followed the sketch.

I printed my image onto a piece of 140 lb. Strathmore watercolor paper. After taping it to my work surface, I colored it with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush, using regular watercolor for the sky. Then I set that aside to air dry, while I worked on the rest of the card.

I chose 2 patterned papers from my holiday scrap stash. I cut them to the sizes indicated in the sketch, and matted them with black paper. I adhered the snowflake pattern on top of the plaid. For my greeting, I chose one from this Hero Arts set. I stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock in Versafine Onyx Black ink, and cut the cardstock into a banner shape.

By this time, the image panel was pretty much dry. I matted it with more black paper, adhered it in place, and glued down the greeting strip over the bottom of it. Finally, I picked 3 red buttons from my stash, and sewed them onto the card front with white embroidery floss. I put little drops of Ranger Multi Medium Matte under the buttons, just to keep them from wiggling around. Then I adhered the completed card front to an A2 card base.

I'm also entering this card in a2z Scrapbooking's December "Watercolor" challenge.

Holiday Bells

Day 3's challenge at Bugaboo's 2nd Annual Holiday Chaos series is a color challenge. They provided a photo/color palette, to be used as the inspiration for a holiday card:

For my card design, I chose this sketch from Operation Write Home:

I actually experimented with different sketches using the focal image from Bugaboo Stamps that I'd chosen, and this one seemed to be the best to showcase it.

I printed my image onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils, using a paintbrush & water to blend the colors. I used the inspiration photo to guide most of my color choices.

Once I finished coloring, I let that piece dry. I cut 2 paper strips, using patterned papers from Iron Orchid Design's "Rejoice" 6x6" pad. I also cut a piece of cool grey Core'dinations cardstock to 4.25x5.5" (again following the color palette), and embossed it with a Darice "Argyle" folder. I lightly sanded the embossing with a sanding block. With this particular cardstock, since the core is a slightly lighter color than the surface, sanding can help give it a two-tone look.

To help define the patterned paper pieces, I inked around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink. I also inked the edges of the focal panel, just to keep things uniform. I glued the patterned paper strips to the background, and then glued the focal piece in place. Finally, I inked around the outer edges of the card front with Walnut Stain, stamped a sentiment on the inside of the card, and adhered the completed front to my A2-size card base.

Merry Christmas

The second challenge for Catch the Bug's 2nd Annual Holiday Chaos series is a sketch challenge. This is the sketch they provided:

I decided to make the focal image round instead of a square. I used this image from Bugaboo Stamps, printing it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I die cut it with a Spellbinders "Standard Circles SM" die. For the mat, I die cut & embossed a piece of dark brown cardstock with the largest die from Spellbinders' "Splendid Circles" set. After coloring the ornament on the focal piece with watercolor pencils and a damp brush, and watercoloring the background around the image, I glued the piece onto the brown die cut piece.

I cut 4 pieces of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 2.5" square. After inking the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress ink to give them a little more definition, I glued them in place on a piece of cream cardstock. Because of the fine detail in the die cut mat, I ran the focal panel through my Xyron Creative Station, to apply a layer of adhesive to the back, and adhered it in place over the squares. I punched a 5.5" long strip of white cardstock using the Double Edge Snowflake Trim Punch from Martha Stewart Crafts. I cut another piece of white cardstock to 1.5x5.5", inked it with Gathered Twigs, & adhered it to the card front. I ran the snowflake strip through my Xyron Sticker Maker, and when the Distress ink had dried, adhered the strip on top of the Gathered Twigs panel. Finally, I printed a sentiment on the inside of my card base, and adhered the completed card front to that.

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Christmas/Holidays" challenge.

Reindeer Merry Christmas

Bugaboo Stamps' blog, Catch the Bug, is having their 2nd annual Holiday Chaos challenge this week. Given that it started last Saturday, & I'm just now getting cards done for it, the "chaos" theme seems very apropos to me right now! The theme for Day 1 is "Sparkle and Shine." I used Bugaboo's "Snowflake Reindeer Silhouette" image. It comes in black, but I was able to recolor it to a dark brown in Photoshop.

I used this sketch from Operation Write Home for my card's design:

It looks simple enough, but the lack of provided measurements--plus having to figure out the angles--makes it a bit of a bear to work with, at least for me. Thankfully, I was able to work out my design full-size in Photoshop, so then it was just a case of cutting the panels correctly!

After sizing and rotating the reindeer on my Photoshop canvas, I positioned the greeting from this Hero Arts digital set. I recolored the greeting to match the reindeer. Finally, I printed the image, greeting, and guidelines on a piece of cream cardstock.

I cut the main panels from the cream cardstock, and then cut pieces of patterned paper from my scrap stash for the other two small panels. After gluing all the panels to a piece of dark green cardstock cut to 4.25x5.5", I cut and glued down pieces of red ribbon edged with gold. I added some Christmas Red Stickles to the reindeer's nose, and after that dried, mounted the card front to an A2 card base. A simple, but I think, striking card!

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Christmas/Holidays."

Holiday Card Trio

Since I'm in full-holiday-card-making mode, that's probably all you're going to see for the next couple of weeks. Hope you don't mind!

My first card combines 4 different images from two companies. I began by choosing the snow globe base, globe, & topper from Doodle Pantry's "Snow Globe Gala" collection. The inside image is "The Mousie's Gingerbread Housie" from Dearie Dolls Digi Images. (This is a great source of delightful images, all of which are available for free download for personal use!) I used Sketch #79 from Operation Write Home as the basis of my design:

I rotated the sketch 90 degrees counterclockwise, but otherwise made no alterations.

After arranging the digital elements in Photoshop, I printed them on a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper. Because of the detail in the gingerbread house and mice, I used colored pencils to color them in. I did a little blending, but mostly just straight coloring. I also colored the base & topper of the snow globe with pencils, using Gamsol to blend the colors. Finally, I rounded the corners with my 1/4" Corner Chomper.

I cut 3 strips of patterned paper from my scrap stash, and glued them to a piece of brown cardstock, cut to 4.25x5.5". I glued on my focal panel, and then adhered the whole panel to an A2 card base.

My next card uses one of the images from Hero Arts' "Feathered Friends" digital set. I paired it with a greeting stamp (source unknown), which seemed to complement the playful feel of the image.

I used OWH's Sketch #232 for this card:

Since the ribbon I used for the small pieces on the right of the focal panel was rather narrow, I ended up using 5 pieces instead of the 3 indicated in the sketch.

I printed my image on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. The images in this set are very delightful to color, since there is not a lot of fine detail, making it easier to get some nice shading. I'd highly recommend checking them out!

After marking the position of my focal panel on the mat, I stamped the greeting in Versamark, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I glued the image to the mat, and adhered the 2 patterned papers together. I marked the position of the focal panel on this background, and glued the ribbon pieces in place, using pins stuck through them into a piece of cork board underneath my card front to hold them until the glue dried.

While that dried, I took a white A2 card base, and blended Aged Mahogany Distress ink around the front edges, to create my mat. I felt the color was too cool, though, so I went back over it with Fired Brick Distress ink, which gave me the perfect tone. Finally, I glued my card front to the base.

The inspiration for my final card came from one in this blog post, that I'd found through Pinterest. I liked the idea of the embossed panels, with the opposite corners rounded.

I first cut my green panels, and rounded the corners with my 1/2" Corner Chomper. Then I embossed them with the "A2 Holly" folder from The Paper Studio. I adhered those to red cardstock, which I'd cut slightly larger than the panels. Finally, I adhered them to a piece of ivory cardstock cut to 4.25x5.5".

I stamped the holly leaves from this set by Clearly Besotted, using Hero Arts' Forever Green mid-tone shadow ink. I also stamped the coordinating berries from the same set, in Antique Linen Distress ink. I wanted a light ink, but enough so I could see where I'd stamped. After punching this out with a 1" square punch by EK Success, I added Christmas Red Stickles over the stamped berries.

Unfortunately, I had not thought ahead to leave myself room for a greeting. So I stamped one (source unknown) in Versamark on a piece of vellum, and white heat embossed it. I cut that into a strip, and glued it in place with little dots of glue behind the embossing, and folded and glued the ends behind the card front. I finished the card by adhering the front to an A2 card base.

I'm entering these cards in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Holiday Cards"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Christmas/Holidays"
a2z Scrapbooking's December Challenge: "Watercolor" (bird card only)

A Pair of Christmas Cards

I am frantically trying to create our Christmas cards for this year--preferably to be ready to send before Christmas! I created these two towards that goal.

For my first card, I used the line image and greeting from this set from Doodle Pantry. I first die cut the main panel from watercolor paper with the largest die from My Favorite Things "Blueprints 15" set. This creates a panel slightly smaller than an A2 card, with a nice faux-stitched edge. After sizing & positioning the image & greeting in Photoshop, I printed them onto the watercolor panel.

I masked the image off with masking fluid, and did a gradated watercolor wash for the sky. When the watercolor had dried, I removed the masking fluid, and colored the image with my Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. Then I set that aside to dry thoroughly.

For stars, I used Simon Says Stamp's "Falling Stars" stencil and Golden Light Molding Paste. I positioned the stencil over the panel, and carefully applied the paste, being sure not to cover any of the image or words in the greeting. Then I set the panel aside again to let the paste dry.

I die cut a piece of navy cardstock with the A2 size die from Avery Elle's "Custom Panels" set. I adhered the focal panel to that, and finally mounted it on an A2 card base.

My second card features another Doodle Pantry digital image set, "Blessed Christmas." I die cut a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper using the smaller of Mama Elephant's "Femme Frames" dies. I printed the Bible verse and image from the set onto that. I taped it down to my cutting board that I use for watercoloring, masking off around the faux-stitched edge. I colored the Baby Jesus with Inktense pencils. I was kind of nervous about this, because I'm not used to doing skin tones with those, especially darker skin tones. I experimented on a scrap of watercolor paper before coloring my image, and I think it ended up looking pretty good. I finished the panel by going over the background with a wash of different yellow watercolors.

For the blue mat, I die cut a piece of cardstock with the scalloped frame die from the "Femme Frames" set. I also die cut a piece of gold cardstock from American Crafts with the A2 die in the "Custom Panels" set. I adhered all three panels together, and mounted the completed card front onto a white A2 card base.

I'm entering both cards in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Holiday Cards"

The Key to My Heart

Operation Write Home has a "Red Friday" blog hop going on this week that started last Friday. The theme is love cards. There are several designers on the hop with cards to check out, many with videos. You can comment on the participating blogs for a chance to win prizes. You can also create a card inspired by something you see on the hop, with the love theme, and link it up. Prizes are awarded for linked cards, too!

I took my inspiration from the card featured on this post by Sharon Harnist. I loved her white stamping on black, and it made me think of the popular chalkboard effect.

I began by choosing this sketch from Operation Write Home:

I rotated it 90 degrees, and left off the piece in the middle. I also added a banner with my greeting.

I stamped one of the images from the "Cocoa's Heart" clear stamp set (no longer available) from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto a piece of black paper with Hero Arts Unicorn White pigment ink, then set it aside to dry. For the background, I randomly stamped two of the hearts from this Hero Arts set onto a piece of dark pink cardstock, using Versamark ink. I heat embossed them with Recollections Detail Clear embossing powder, for a shiny tone-on-tone look. I also stamped a greeting from "Cocoa's Heart" onto a piece of black paper, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder.

To create the "chalk dust" look, I lightly blended Ranger Adirondack Snow Cap pigment ink over the black paper pieces. Since this kind of dulled the focal image, I went over that with a white gel pen. I also drew some small hearts and added the "U+ME={heart}" to the panel with my white gel pen.

I matted the focal panel with brown cardstock, to look like a chalkboard frame. I adhered it to the pink background, and matted that with black paper. After wrapping black and white bakers twine from Maya Road around the card front, I punched a hole in the greeting banner, and tied it on with more twine. I added some Ranger Multi Medium Matte to the knot to keep it from coming untied. For the outermost mat, I rubbed more black paper with the Snow Cap ink, and adhered the card front to that with foam tape. Finally, I adhered the completed front to an A2 card base. I will be sending this card to Operation Write Home.

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.

Two Holiday Cards

This is the fifth year for the Caring Hearts Card Drive, to collect cards to distribute to nursing home residents who might not otherwise get holiday cards. I made these cards to send in.

I began my first card by die cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with the smaller of Mama Elephant's "Femme Frames" dies. I stamped the cardinal and one of the greetings from this set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps on that. I taped the panel to a cutting board that I use for watercoloring, masking off the area around the faux stitching lines to create a mat. After coloring the image with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush, I blended Tumbled Glass Distress ink over the background, being careful not to go over the cardinal.

I die cut a piece of dark green cardstock using the scalloped frame die from the "Femme Frames" set. I blended Antique Linen Distress ink on the front of a white A2 card base, and finished by matting the focal panel and adhering that to the card base.

For my second card, I chose this sketch by Operation Write Home:

I created the focal image by combining the "Snowman Birdie Feeder" image from Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps with the "Snow Globe Gala" digital stamp set by Doodle Pantry. I colored the image with colored pencils, blending the colors in the base & topper of the snow globe with Gamsol on a paper stump. Finally, I inked around the edges of the panel with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.25x5.5", and adhered it to an A2 card base. I had to cut the 3 strips of navy cardstock slightly wider than indicated in the sketch, to accommodate the snowflake buttons. I adhered the strips and the focal panel to the card front, and glued the buttons down with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

I'm entering both of these cards in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.

Ho^3

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having another "Stella's Sketch" challenge. The only real requirement is that the sketch is obvious in the finished card. The sketch for this challenge is Sketch #219:

I decided to flip it horizontally. Since I used a patterned paper for my background, I also left off the 3 round embellishments under the focal panel. The tricky part for me about using sketches that don't have measurements is trying to work out proportions of the elements. So I turned to Photoshop to work out my measurements. I created a blank canvas at 4.25x5.5" (the size of a standard A2 card), and digitally drew my elements on that. I also added the image I used, to get it sized perfectly. After noting the size of each, I just had to print it out.

For my focal image, I used this one from Bugaboo Stamps. I printed it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. After this dried, I matted it on a piece of dark green cardstock, leaving a 1/16" border all around.

I die cut an oval from a piece of gingerbread man patterned paper (from my scrap stash), using one of Spellbinders' "Classic Ovals" dies. I glued it onto the same dark green cardstock, and trimmed around it to create an approximately 1/16" mat.

Unfortunately, I don't know who made the stamp set I got the greeting from. I've been wanting to used that Ho-cubed stamp for quite some time. Since this card is intended for a child, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. In case you're wondering, Ho^3 equals "ho ho ho" in mathematical terms. :) I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto a scrap of brown cardstock, and cut it into a banner shape.

After cutting another piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.25x5.5", I started assembling my card front. I glued the oval piece partially behind the focal panel, and glued that to the patterned paper panel. I glued the banner over top of everything, and finally adhered the completed card front to an A2 card base. I have already sent this card on to Send a Smile 4 Kids, hopefully to brighten the holiday for a hospitalized child.

Snowman Birthday

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating their November release with a blog hop & challenge to create a wintry birthday card. This is my creation for that challenge.

I used the following sketch from Operation Write Home for my design:

For once, I stayed exactly true to the sketch, with no alterations. :)

I combined 2 digital images for the focal panel on my card. I used Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Winter Friends" for the scene inside one of Doodle Pantry's "Snow Globe Gala" images. After printing it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, I colored it with watercolor pencils and a damp paintbrush to blend the colors. I wanted a softer look, since it is such a relatively small image, so I didn't use my Inktense pencils this time. After coloring in the globe part, I added snowflakes with a white gel pen. I also added some shimmer with a gold gel pen to the decorative detailing on the snow globe topper & base.

I created the greeting in Photoshop. I admit, the wording is probably a bit of a stretch, but I wanted to make this card as wintry--and cute--as possible! :) After getting everything formatted and sized, I printed it on a piece of white cardstock.

I chose two patterned papers from my scrap stash for the remaining 2 blocks on the card. I wanted to warm the card up just a bit, so I decided to use a pink cardstock for the background. I felt it tied in well with the pink retro snowflakes in the larger piece of patterned paper, as well as the pink birdhouse. This is definitely a feminine birthday card! After arranging and gluing down all the panels, I adhered the completed card front to a white A2-size card base. I will be sending this card to Operation Write Home.

Happy Day!

A friend of ours recently had a birthday, so I created this card for her. My inspiration came from a project that Yana Smakula did for Online Card Classes' "Watercolor for Card Makers" class earlier this year.

I first embossed the bicycle into a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Spellbinders' InSpire "Bicycle" die and the embossing sandwich for my Grand Calibur machine. I next wet the bottom of the paper with clear water, and painted it with green watercolor. After that dried, I wet the sky area, and used blue to paint that. For the bicycle, I wet each area separately, and dropped pigment onto the wet paper, letting the water help blend the color.

I die cut 3 balloons from patterned papers in my scrap stash using the smallest die from Simon Says Stamp's "Balloons" die set. I adhered them in place, popping the yellow balloon up on foam tape, and the blue one with a double layer of foam tape. I tied a piece of black thread in a bow around the bottom of each (not an easy task!). I added a small drop of Ranger Multi Medium in the matte finish to each knot, just to make sure it stayed in place. Finally, I pierced a hole through the paper under the bicycle saddle, and threaded the long end of each thread through that, and secured them on the back with a piece of tape.

I stamped the cloud image from this set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto a scrap of white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and die cut it with the coordinating die. I stamped the greeting from the same set on that piece. I also stamped & die cut the sun from yellow patterned paper, adding the smiley face to the center. I adhered the sun directly to the background, and popped the cloud up with foam tape.

I double-matted the watercolor panel with yellow & green cardstocks, before adhering it to a 5.5x8.5" card base. I felt the sun and balloons needed something extra, so I added some shimmer to the sun with my clear Wink of Stella brush pen, and a coat of Glossy Accents to each balloon. And, I might add, our friend really liked the card!

Peace & Joy

This card is my final entry in Hero Arts' Holiday Challenge ("Mad About Metallics" & "Anything Goes" categories). This time, I decided to create a card for us to send out to a friend or family member. I'm sadly behind on these cards!

I chose this Operation Write Home sketch as the basis for my design:

It so happened that I have a Spellbinders "Standard Circles SM" die that is exactly 3" diameter, so that worked out perfectly for this sketch!

I opened the dove from Hero Arts' "Swirl Christmas" digital set in Photoshop. After changing the color to a light blue, I added a digital patterned paper from Dreamees to it using a clipping mask, lowering the opacity of the pattern to let the blue show through a bit. I printed the image onto a sheet of copy paper, and temporarily adhered my die cut circle over it, getting it as centered as possible. Then I ran that through the printer again, printing the dove onto the white cardstock circle. Finally, I inked around the perimeter with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink.

For the background, I cut a piece of dark blue cardstock to 4.25x5.5". I also cut a piece of patterned paper to 2.5x5.5", and a strip of silver glitter paper to go behind the focal panel (sources of both papers unknown). I adhered the patterned paper to the top of the blue cardstock, and adhered the glitter paper strip in place.

I stamped a greeting from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message" set onto the lower right corner of the background, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. Finally, I glued my focal piece in place, and adhered the entire front to an A2 card base. And that finished off this card. Once I got the dove worked out, it really went pretty quickly. I think this card would be easy to make multiples of.

I'm also entering this in a2z Scrapbooking's November challenge: "Anything Goes."

Merry Christmas

Hero Arts is having a holiday challenge at their blog. I created this card with that challenge in mind. I'm entering it in 2 categories: "Mad About Metallics" & "Anything Goes."

I began by choosing this sketch by Operation Write Home:

I chose a patterned paper from my scrap stash, and die cut it with the scalloped frame from Mama Elephant's "Femme Frames" set. To create the mats, I cut pieces of white cardstock, inked around the edges with Versamark, and sprinkled on Ranger Gold embossing powder. After melting the powder with my heat tool, I had to apply more Versamark and embossing powder, since I'd missed some spots. I glued the patterned paper piece to the larger mat, and set that under a book to dry and flatten, since the heat from the heat tool had warped the cardstock significantly.

After printing the tree from this Hero Arts digital set onto white cardstock, I die cut it with one of Spellbinders' "Classic Ovals" dies. I inked the edges with Delicata Golden Glitz pigment ink, to tie in with the gold from the patterned paper and embossed mats.

I laid the die cut oval over the now-dry background, and positioned the green cardstock strip, without adhering anything down. I just wanted to see exactly where to stamp my greeting. I chose a greeting from Hero Arts "Merry Christmas Message" set, & stamped it in Versamark onto the green cardstock. I heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder.

Finally, I matted the green cardstock with the other gold embossed piece, and glued that to the card front. I glued the focal panel on top, & added dots of Christmas Red Stickles to the tree for ornaments. After inking a scrap of white cardstock with more Delicata ink and zapping it with my heat tool to set it, I die cut the star using one of My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" dies, and glued it to the top of the tree. I will be sending this to this year's Caring Hearts Card Drive.

I'm also entering this card in a2z Scrapbooking's November challenge: "Anything Goes."