halloween greetings

 Hello!  Popping back in with another card for a few challenges:  Color Throwdown, Just Us Girls and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   Let's have a look at what I made.

It's pumpkin season and I am here for it!  I LOVE PUMPKINS!! And making card with pumpkins on them, lol!  Couldn't resist using the Simon Says Stamp Pumpkin die set along with the CTD colors and inspiration from the JUGs mood board.  I die cut the pumpkin from orange cardstock and then added some light inking with distress oxide ink left on the blending brush I use with orange oxide inks.  I die cut the stem and leaves from aqua and green cardstocks and did the same thing with them.   Black cardstock was die cut with a rectangle die and then embossed with the spider web embossing folder.  I adhered that to a light gray cardstock base, added the pumpkin and leaves and finished with the sentiment that was stamped in black on the same light gray used for the card base and die cut with a tag die.  To tone down the gray I used the residual ink on my black soot oxide blending brush.   Another Halloween card to send to one of the littles in my life!

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

celebrate today...

 Hello friends!  I'm popping in to share a card that was supposed to be posted to the Birch Press Design blog on Wednesday, October 16th.   Unfortunately, the BPD blog was hacked and Dave, the owner of Birch Press Design was forced to remove the entire blog!    I decided to share what I made here so those of you who aren't on Instagram or don't want to go to the BPD Facebook page can see what I made.  So here we go!

I used the recently released Meadow Berry Branch Contour Layers and Evening Moths dies set for my card.  I wanted bit of a fall/rustic feel for the card so I used orange Memory Box cardstock for the berries and two red Memory Box red cardstocks that are more on the coral side of red.  

I used glossy accents on the berries and moth and then sprinkled on Rock Candy glitter for some subtle sparkle.  I used a Poppystamps circle die set for the two circles in the background.  They were die cut from cream Memory Box woodgrain cardstock.   The background rectangle was die cut from Memory Box kraft woodgrain cardstock.  

After adhering all the pieces as you see, I finished the card with the Celebrate Today Noted Script hot foil plate that was foiled using matte gold foil.   A little side note about hot foiling.  I haven't done it in ages so I was a little worried that I had forgotten how.  Thankfully I remembered and my foiling turned out perfect!  

Well, that is it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

merry & bright...

 Hello!  I'm popping in with a card for Freshly Made Sketches that I made using products from Evergreen Season by 49 and Market.   I think this also fits the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add texture.  I have lots of texture in those layers, lol!  Let's have a look!

I haven't had much time lately to make cards because my son is learning how to drive (finally!) and I the one spending the time in the car with him as he learns.  He is a good driver, but the process is taking longer than I thought it would.   Very different from when I learned to drive.  Anyway, being short on time I turned to the laser cuts and ephemera pieces from Evergreen Season along with pretty patterned papers to get my card made.  Yes, there is a tag underneath all the greenery, lol!   I die cut the two pieces of patterned paper with a rectangle die.  I then used the same rectangle die on the angle to cut the top piece and layered the two together.  I added the red twine to the tag, added thin foam squares to the back and then adhered it to my card front.  I layered on all the laser cut elements and the merry & bright banner.   It doesn't show well in the photo, but I did add glossy accents to the pine cones and then sprinkled on some Rock Candy glitter.  

Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

sweet wishes release...

 Hello, hello!  Did you see?  Simon Says Stamp has a brand new release called Sweet Wishes.  You can find the complete collection of products right here.  Simon Says Stamp generously sent me the beautiful Sketched Leaves stamp set and I created two projects with the set.   I went full on autumn colors mode for both projects.  Let's have a look at the first one.

For the card I started off by stamping the maple leaf on watercolor paper with VersaMark watermark ink, applying gold embossing powder and then heat setting it.  I then used my Tonic Studio Aqua Flow pens in autumn shades of red, yellow and brown for the background.  Once the piece was dry, I die cut it with a rectangle die and then sprayed it with distress mica sprays in Harvest Moon, Mulled Cider and Fallen Acorn.  I roughed up the edges for a more rustic look.  I embossed the sentiment in gold on vellum, trimmed it down and tore one edge.  I wrapped the other edge around the back of my panel, secured it with glue dots and tied the bow.  The panel was then adhered to an off-white cardstock base.  Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add texture.  

I really had alot of fun creating my next project.  Let's have a look at it. 

When I first saw the stamp set I knew that I wanted to create a decor type piece with it.  I went with a tag design using a Stampers Anonymous #8 thick board tag with a distress #8 heavy stock tag on top.  For this piece I used distress oxide inks in Carved Pumpkin, Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage and Gathered Twigs.  I blended on the inks to my liking and then splattered the tag with water.  I let the tag dry for a bit and then stamped on the three leaves using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink.  I finished the tag with lots of splatters foundry wax in the color Gilded.  I heat set the splatters to give them shine and make them permanent.  The edges of the tag were also roughed up for a more rustic look.   You don't see it in the photo, but I used some Tim Holtz washi tape to cover the sides of the thickboard tag for a more finished look.  Then I adhered the inkblended tag using Multi Matte Medium and let it dry.  

For the leaves I used the same oxide inks on a piece of cream colored heavy stock cardstock.   Once I had the inkblending done I stamped each leaf using the Acorn ink and then trimmed out each leaf.  There are matching dies that you can find right here, but I don't have them (yet!).  Since the leaves are fairly large, trimming them out was pretty quick and easy!   I also splattered the leaves with lots of the Gilded foundry wax.  The edges were roughed up and then I glued each leaf on top of the image stamped on the tag by adding glue down the center of each one.   To finish I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink, applied gold embossing powder and heat set.  The sentiment was then die cut with a cute little fancy shaped tag from Simon Says Stamp.  The edges roughed up and it was adhered to the tag.  I also added a little bit of inking to the edges of the leaves before gluing them on.  Some Memory Box fairy drops in autumn shades were added, along with the ribbon bow.  I custom colored the ribbon using the mica sprays in Harvest Moon and Mulled Cider.  I really love how this tag turned out!

The challenge at Just Us Girls is to create a project based on the word leaves.  My tag fits the challenge perfectly so I will be posting it there.   Love it when things work out like that!

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

fall cards...

 Hello, hello!  Popping in with a couple of fall themed cards to share.  I thought our normal wet and dreary fall weather had arrived the other day, but nope!  We are back to sun and relatively warm temperatures.  It's a little annoying as I really want to wear my warm and cozy tops, but some days it is too warm!  Oh well, I'm sure the wet and cold will be here soon enough, lol!   And I should not be complaining anyway, my corner of the world has not faced the devastation that the southeast has!  Absolutely sickened by the response of the current administration, as well!   Anyway, you came here to see cards, so here they are.

This one will be heading off to Freshly Made Sketches.  I generally don't make cards as busy as this one, but felt in the mood, lol!  All the papers, stamps and dies are from a Simon Says Stamp fall themed card kit I got last year.  Finally putting it to good use!  I used distress oxide inks for the leaves.  I inked up the leaves using the tiny distress ink blenders and they worked like a charm.  I pounced on one color and then was able to add the secondary color exactly where I wanted it to go!  To make things easy on myself I die cut all the images first, left them in the cardstock and then lined up the images.  It worked perfectly.   I trimmed down the background paper, added some additional pieces behind it for strength and adhered it to my card base.  The gingham paper was die cut with a tag die from the kit, the leaves adhered along with the sentiment.  I finished everything off with the two little bows.  I really like how it turned out.  Will add this one to the current Time Out challenge, as well.

This card is for Color Throwdown and as you can see I used that pretty tag again!  It was right there at my finger tips so why not?   The mushrooms are from a die set from the Greetery.  I inked them up with distress oxide inks and then adhered them together.  I had the embossed background panel on my desk as well so decided to use it, too.  I went with the debossed side as sometimes I like that look better than the embossed side.  The embossing folder is from Simon Says Stamp and came in the card kit that I used to make the first card.  I die cut the tag from off white cardstock, inked up one corner with distress oxide ink that was left on the blending brush and then added the mushrooms.  The sentiment is from the Greetery Oakwood sentiment set.  I finished off the card with the double bow at the top of the tag.   More my usual clean and simple style!   Adding this card to the Simon Says Stamp World Card Making Day line up.  

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Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day. 

cozy hugs...

 Hello, hello!  I'm back with another card that I made using one of the laser cuts from the 49 and Market Vintage Orchard set.   When I saw the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this particular laser cut immediately came to mind.   Let's have a look at what I made.

As you can see the card is very simple.  I die cut kraft cardstock with a rectangle die.  I added splatters of  Gilded foundry wax and then heat set the splatters with my heat tool.   Sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Cozy Autumn Hugs stamp set and was stamped using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn in.  I used thin foam squares on the back of the laser cut and placed it on my panel.

I stamped the second sentiment on kraft cardstock with the Acorn ink, as well and then adhered that to the laser cut with tiny foam squares.  The panel was then added to a kraft cardstock base.   Making cards has been a little hard for me to do lately due to not having the time so it is nice having the laser cuts to help me quick and pretty cards!  So this card will be going to Freshly Made Sketches and to the current Time Out challenge to be inspired by a quote about autumn.  My friend, Greta, is on the design team.  The card she made is absolutely amazing.   Also adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!