Wishing You a Year of Joy

 

 

The theme for Double Trouble's challenge this time around is "Shades of Fall." As usual, it is a recipe challenge using at least the number of the following ingredients: 3 colors (shades of Fall), 2 images, 1 stenciled or dry-embossed element. As you notice, I have flowers on my card. Flowers (except maybe for mums) don't exactly scream Fall - unless you live in the South. Here in Texas, our flowers (including mums) bloom sometimes into November. Below is a photo I shot at a pumpkin display here in our town in October of 2023. The purple flowers in that display helped inspire my color palette for my images.

 

Pumpkin Wonderland

 

I began with my background. I had applied the molding paste to my panel, using the "Ribbon Weave" stencil from A Colorful Life Designs quite some time ago, & it's been sitting in my stash ever since. I decided it would work perfectly for this card. I placed the stencil back over the panel, lining it up with the molding paste design, & ink blended with Abandoned Coral, Dried Marigold, & Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide inks (my 3 shades). I decided to go with basically a pastel Fall color scheme, since the background is more of a supporting character to my main images.

 

I die cut my images from Strathmore Mixed Media paper, using the smaller flowers & leaves in the "Brushstroke Flowers #2" set from Sizzix/Tim Holtz. This is a new-to-me set, so I was glad to be able to use it. I used my DIY Distress Spray Stains (a la Tiffany Solorio) in Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, & Rustic Wilderness to color scraps of the paper before die cutting. After I had die cut the flowers, leaves, & flower centers from the papers, I felt they still looked a little flat. So I got Tombow water-based markers in purple & green, and kind of flicked & tapped with the brush tip onto each main die cut. I also colored the layering pieces with the markers to make them darker. Then I spritzed all the pieces generously with water to get the marker color moving & dried them with my heat gun. That gave me the effect I wanted. After they were all thoroughly dry, I glued the layers for each piece together.

 

I stamped my greeting, from the "Sentiment Strips: Birthday" set from Pretty Pink Posh, in Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide ink onto white cardstock. Then I die cut that with one of the "Sentiment Strips" dies. I arranged my flowers & leaves & glued them together so I could work with them as one unit. After the glue dried, I positioned them & my greeting strip on the background panel & glued them down. Finally, I added my panel to a white A2 card base that I'd adhered a yellow mat layer to.

 

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

 

Die Cut Divas October Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Clean & Simple"

613 Avenue Create October Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

The Paper Funday Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

All Sorts Challenge #835: "Autumn Colors"

Woody Merry Christmas

This week's challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is to use red, green, & brown on a holiday card. I have had this "Christmas" stamp from Recollections of a woody car carrying a tree (discontinued) literally for years & had never inked it up. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to use it.

I began by stamping the image onto a scrap of Canson XL watercolor paper. I painted it with my watercolors, using a gold watercolor from the Fine-Tec Pearlescent Colors to paint the baubles on the wreath & garland. After it had dried, I used my craft knife to cut out the windows, and then fussy cut around the outside of the image with my scissors. I used a black brush-tip marker to "paint" all the exposed edges of the watercolor paper, just to make everything look more seamless. When I had finished all that, I just kind of looked at it & wondered where to go from there.

My first instinct was a snow globe shaker card, but because of the length of the car, it would have been a massive snow globe, unless I made it oval-shaped, which I wasn't too keen on. I also toyed with the idea of stamping some pine branches onto my card front & "hanging" the car from them, as if it were a Christmas ornament. I finally decided to stop overthinking it & just make a traditional shaker card (minus the snow globe element).

I found a piece of burgundy patterned paper in my scrap stash that was big enough to use as a panel on my 6-1/2 x 5-1/4" card. I cut that panel to 1/16" smaller than my card base on each side, & used a "Nesting Ovals Die" from Waffle Flower to cut the center window. I cut a piece of white cardstock the same size, & die cut a window with the next smaller oval die, so it would create a mat around my shaker window. Then I adhered those panels together.

I cut a piece of kraft cardstock slightly smaller than my burgundy & white panels, & adhered my image to that. To create "snow," I used a Ranger Distress Embossing Dabber to pounce embossing ink through the "Falling Snow Splatter" stencil from Simon Says Stamp onto my panel & car. I sprinkled on Hero Arts White Sparkle embossing powder & melted that with my heat gun. To further enhance the snowy scene, I applied ink with the Embossing Dabber to the car tires & area under the car & heat embossed with the same powder.

I used double-sided tape to adhere a piece of Grafix Dura-Lar acetate to the back of my window panel. Before adding my foam tape, I went ahead & stamped the greeting, from Hero Arts' "Holiday Cardinal" set, with StazOn Cotton White ink onto the acetate. Then I added 2 layers of foam tape all around the edges with diagonal pieces of tape in the corners closer to the oval window. I removed the backing paper from the foam tape, & poured in some clear seed beads, being careful not to let the panel "jump" & send any beads flying. Finally, I adhered a second piece of acetate to the foam tape to seal in the beads. (This was a trick I learned from Nina-Marie Trapani, to provide less friction to anything inside the shaker.)

To adhere my image panel behind my shaker, I added double-sided tape to the back piece of acetate on my shaker panel. I peeled back part of the liner paper on each strip to expose only some of the adhesive. (I got that trick from Julie Ebersole.) Then I carefully positioned the window over the image panel so the car was centered side-to-side within the window & not directly behind the greeting. I pressed the panel down so the exposed adhesive stuck to the corners of the image panel, & then carefully pulled back the remainder of the liner paper. I made sure everything stuck securely. I added a 6-1/2 x 5-1/4" kraft panel to my white card base, & finally adhered my shaker panel to the card front with tacky glue. This way I can make sure it will NOT fall off!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #834: "Traditional Christmas Colors"
Little Red Wagon Challenge #829: "Captain's Log" (painted woodgrain pattern on the Woody car panels)
613 Avenue Create October 2025 Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)
Die Cut Divas October Challenge: "Anything Goes"
The Paper Funday October Challenge #81: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: "Get Ready for Christmas"

Peace

 

This week's challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is to use the colors teal & silver. Small amounts of black &/or white are allowed, but the primary colors need to be teal & silver.

I began by heat embossing the large background image from WPlus9's "Joyful Poinsettia" stamp set (discontinued) in silver onto a panel of white Hammermill 100 lb. cover weight cardstock. I love this particular cardstock for stamping and ink blending, as it is very smooth & not overly absorbent. Once I melted the embossing powder & let it cool for a few seconds, I ink blended over the entire panel with Salvaged Patina Distress ink. Then I went around the sides with Mermaid Lagoon Distress ink, not going all the way to the center so there would be a bit of a "glow" effect from the Salvaged Patina. Finally, to up the drama & contrast, I ink blended just around the edges with Uncharted Mariner, which is a deep teal blue color. I did a little more blending with Salvaged Patina, just to smooth the transitions among the 3 shades, & then wiped off any ink sitting on the embossing with a dry cloth.

I had a leftover peace die cut (made with a discontinued die from Winnie & Walter) sitting on my desk from a previous project It was white, but I thought it might work for a greeting if I die cut it from silver metallic cardstock. Not to let anything go to waste, I decided to layer the silver word with a couple of white die cuts, just for a bit more dimension. So I die cut the peace from Recollections Silver Foil cardstock & a scrap of white cardstock, & glued all 3 layers together.

To finish my card, I adhered my emboss-resist background panel to a white A2 top-fold card base. Then I glued the layered peace die cut on, centered on the panel. I considered adding some sequins or something, but decided to leave it as-is.

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

Paper Funday Challenge #80: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Die Cut Divas September challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create September challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Enjoy Your Day

The sketch for the current challenge at Try a Sketch on Tuesday inspired the design of my card.

I had the die cut background panel left over from another project. It's been sitting on my desk, & I decided to use it finally for this card. I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4x5-1/4" (the size of my panel) & glued the die cut panel to that. I wanted it to be there, but subtle, hence the white-on-white. Then I die cut a window in the panel with one of  Creative Expressions' "Octagon" dies (discontinued). To make a narrow frame for that, I die cut another octagon from green cardstock with the same die. Without removing the die, I traced around the outer edge. Then I was able to cut around that with scissors. Finally I glued that to my panel & adhered a scrap of patterned paper behind the window.

I used Altenew's "Vintage Flowers" layering stamp set & coordinating dies for my focal element. I decided to go with peachy-orange for the large flower, & used blue on the smaller ones, since blue is the complement of orange. After stamping the flowers & leaves, I die cut them & glued them to my card front. I used a bit of foam tape to pop up the main flower.

For the greeting, I pulled out one of my new favorites, "Sentiment Strips: Birthday" from Pretty Pink Posh. I stamped it on green cardstock with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink & die cut it into a banner with one of the "Sentiment Strips" dies. I glued it to my panel so the banner end slightly overlaps the bottom blue flower, just to make the design more cohesive.

To assemble my card, I trimmed about 1/16" off each side of my background panel, and adhered it to a 4-1/8x5-3/8" mat. Finally I adhered that to my white A2 card base.

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Layer It Up/Use Ephemera"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #554: "Lots of Layers"

The Paper Funday Challenge #80: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Ellibelle's Corner Crafty Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Ellibelle's Corner Garden Party Challenge #7: "Anything in or from a Garden"

Die Cut Divas September Challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create's September Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Double Trouble Challenge #199: "Sweet Surprise" (also TSOT Challenge #678)

Joy to You Teepee Card

The August technique challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is to create a teepee card. (Because there were 5 Saturdays in August, this challenge ran through today.) To my knowledge, I have never so much as heard of a teepee card, so went looking for a tutorial. (The challenge hostess did provide a link to a video tutorial, but I found another one by Sam Calcott at Mixed Up Craft that was easier for me to follow.) I discovered a benefit with a card like this is the base can be made from a lighter weight cardstock, as long as you add the mats & layers with a good, strong glue. So I used Beacon 3-in-1 glue for the main construction on my card layers.

I began by creating the panels for my card base. Initially, I was going to have it be from sprayed/ink-smooshed panels. So I cut three 5x5" squares from Strathmore Mixed Media paper - a heavyweight paper that can take a lot of water well. I pulled out my never-before-used Distress Oxide sprays in Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, & Blueprint Sketch to color my panels. I quickly gave up on the Milled Lavender, as it was just too pale to compete with the other two colors. After I finished spraying, I dried the panels with my heat gun & did a bit of ink smooshing with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink to add a bit more contrast. I also added water droplets with my Distress Sprayer. I didn't pick up the water with a cloth, but rather just dried the panels with the water on them for a less-bleached look. Finally, I used Frozen Fog Distress Mica Stain to add a shimmery spritzing to my panels.

I glued the panels together, positioned as per the tutorial, & quickly ran into my first problem. Apparently, if you use one-sided cardstock like I basically did, it does matter which way the cardstock layers face. I managed to glue one panel facing the wrong way (so the back showed when the card was popped up, rather than the front). 😝 Because I used a strong glue to adhere my panels together, I had no way to undo my mistake. Rather than start over though, I just shifted course. I was able to cut the triangular layers that would go on top from my "ruined" card base, & cut new card base pieces from solid cardstock. Problem solved! So I went ahead & cut my triangular mats to size from Recollections Silver Foil cardstock & glued those mats & layers to the card base. I also added 2 small bits of Velcro where the one side overlapped the other to keep the card closed when it's upright.

Angled view of card

My original idea for decorating was to use ornaments & make it a "Christmas tree." So I stamped & die cut several ornaments using the "Holiday Style" stamps & dies from Sunny Studio Stamps. When I looked at them on my card, though, I just wasn't feeling it. So I shifted course again & decided to die cut snowflakes from white glitter cardstock. Fortunately, I had a large enough scrap of glitter cardstock in my stash to accommodate several snowflakes. I die cut the snowflakes with the "Paper Snowflakes Mini" set by Tim Holtz (discontinued). I used matte Perfect Paper Adhesive glue to adhere them all in place. I did keep Sam Calcott's tip in mind to have overhanging bits on a particular side, so they don't overhang the card edges when it's folded flat. (That would necessitate using an even larger envelope.) In the end, I only had the one large snowflake overhanging an edge, but it's still a good point to keep in mind.

For the greeting on the front, I used the "Season's greetings" from Honey Bee Stamps' "Pretty Poinsettias" stamp set (discontinued). But wait - the greeting says "Joy to you." Yep - another course shift. I stamped the Season's greetings in Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink, die cut it with the coordinating die, & adhered it to my card with liquid glue, with the card laying flat. I put an acrylic block on top to keep the greeting from popping up, & left it for a couple of days. When I removed the block, I noticed 2 problems: a bit of the ink had bled (presumably "encouraged" by moisture coming through the cardstock from the glue) & when I propped the card in its display position, the greeting slanted. I had aligned it parallel to the bottom of the triangle, not even thinking that that side would slant when the card was popped up. Again - liquid glue = no clean removal. I was in no way about to start over, though, so I found the Joy to you greeting in Simon Says Stamp's "Holiday Greetings" set (discontinued). I stamped it - again with Villainous Potion - & die cut it with a Hero Arts "Nesting Oval Infinity" die. I die cut 2 more ovals & layered them behind the greeting oval for more stability. I made sure this time to add liquid glue only around the edge of the oval, where it shouldn't affect the ink. Finally, I used a combination of double-sided tape & liquid glue to adhere it to the card front, covering my messed-up greeting. This time, I made sure to have the card propped up so I could level the greeting correctly. And that FINALLY finished this card! It was quite a journey with a few twists & turns, but I wouldn't hesitate to make another, especially now that I know the pitfalls to avoid!

I am also entering this in the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon Challenge #823: "Fancy Fold"

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday September challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Happy Holidays Ornaments

This month's color challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is "Baby Blue, White, & Light Brown." I had gotten the "Holiday Ornaments" stamp set by Pretty Pink Posh several months ago, & it's been lying on my desk ever since, waiting for me to use it. I thought this was the perfect occasion to break it out.

I decided to use Gansai Tambi Pearl Colors watercolors to paint the ornaments, just to give them a little extra pizzaz. I stamped them on Strathmore mixed media paper & painted them with the blue & white paints in the set. I had to water down the blue quite a bit to get it to the right value, but it worked out great in the end. After the paint dried, I noticed that parts of the white areas seemed a bit dingy when I looked at them at certain angles, so I went over those areas with another layer of the white pearlescent watercolor. That improved things. The problem might have been different thicknesses of the paint layers catching the light oddly. At any rate, after the paint had thoroughly dried, I fussy cut each ornament with my scissors & poked holes through the ornament hangers.

I die cut a panel of light kraft cardstock with one of the "Stitched Indented Rectangles" from Elizabeth Craft Designs (discontinued). After putting white metallic thread through the ornament hangers, I glued the ornaments in place on my panel. I folded the thread ends to the back of the panel & adhered them in place with double-sided tape. After the glue dried thoroughly, I heat embossed my greeting, from Honey Bee Stamps' "Pretty Poinsettias" stamp set (discontinued). Finally, I adhered my panel to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

Ellibelle's Corner I Spy with My Little Eye Challenge: "Something to Celebrate"

Ellibelle's Corner Crafty Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"

The Paper Funday Challenges #79: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Happy Holidays

This week's stash challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is all about heat embossing and/or foiling. I decided to go the foil route with this card. The camera doesn't do the shine justice, but take my word for it - in the light, you need sunglasses to look at it! :)

I began by creating my background. I taped one of the stencils from Vicki Boutin's "Peppermint" set (discontinued) over an A2-size panel of dark teal cardstock. I applied Liquitex Heavy Gloss Gel medium over the stencil, then pulled the stencil off - VERY carefully so as not to smudge the gel! After the medium dried completely, I laid my silver Minc foil over the panel & ran it through my Mini Minc machine. Then I trimmed 1/8" off two sides, so I would have a narrow border around my panel on my card. Because I used a gloss medium, the foil sticks to it when you run it through a Minc, laminator, etc. This only works with toner foil, not hot foil, & a gloss medium. You can even use something like gloss Mod Podge, though you might not get the dimensional effect you do with a gel medium. (I learned this technique from Lindsay Weirich, at The Frugal Crafter YouTube channel.)

I die cut the greeting & its shadow layer using the "Jolly Holiday Greetings" set from Concord & 9th. I actually cut the shadow layer twice from white cardstock & glued them together to make it thicker. Because the cardstock was on the thinner side, I was concerned it might not layer over the dimensional foiled background with only one piece of cardstock without being bumpy. I glued the "happy" to the backer with liquid glue, but I noticed a little of the cardstock dye ran when the glue squidged out a little. So I ran the "holidays" through my Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker to apply adhesive to the back. That worked out much better. Thankfully, I was able to touch up the few spots where the dye ran with a white gel pen.

I used Honey Bee Stamps' "Winter Greenery" die set for my berry branches & leaves. I die cut the berries from two different red cardstock scraps. For the branches, I didn't have the color brown I wanted in my scraps, so I ink blended Gathered Twigs Distress ink & onto a scrap of a pale brown cardstock. Then I cut my branches out of that, & my leaves from a pale green cardstock.

To position everything, I laid my greeting onto the panel without gluing it down, & used that as a guide. After I had placed my branches & leaves, sticking out from behind the greeting, I carefully removed the greeting layer & glued my embellishments down with liquid glue. At first, I just tacked down the ends that went behind the greeting to hold everything in place, then went back & glued the rest of each die cut in place. I glued my berries to the branches, & finally glued down my greeting with liquid glue. I put a couple of heavy acrylic blocks on top of the greeting to hold it securely until the glue dried. All I had left to do then was adhere it to a white A2-size card base.

I'm also entering my card in the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"
• Creative Knockouts Challenge #551: "Sparkle & Shine"
• Ellibelle's Corner I Spy with My Little Eye Challenge: "Something to Celebrate"
• The Paper Funday Challenge #78: "Anything Goes with Optional Twist - Fun with Stencils" (playing the twist)