Christmas cards...

Hello!  Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Since I decided to be a little proactive when it came to our Thanksgiving meal I got several things done before Thursday and that left me with time to work on a couple of Christmas cards.  I still need more, but I now have another two to add to my stack.  The first card is for the current CAS(E) this Sketch challenge, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  I kinda went a little crazy (for me anyway, lol!) and bought several stand alone dies from Simon Says Stamp.  I used a SSS die set called Christmas Foliage that was part of the most recent Simon Says Stamp release.  I die cut all the various pieces from white glitter cardstock several times and then cut a small piece of red glitter cardstock so that I could die cut the little berries from that.  I then used a classic Spellbinders square die to die cut my sentiment that is from the Simon Says Stamp Yuletide Holiday.  I stamped the sentiment using VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink.   I embossed the bottom portion of a piece of white cardstock with a Swiss dot embossing folder and then die cut the piece with an AJVD rectangle die.  The square was adhered with foam tape and then I adhered all the pieces to create my little corner piece finishing up with the three little red berries for a pop of color.  Once everything was dry I adhered my panel to a white cardstock base.

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.  I must admit that my take on the sketch is very loose, but hopefully it passes muster.  I used the Simon Says Stamp Ornate Ornaments stamp set, again, for my card.  And just like the other card that I made using the Ornate Ornament set I did very simple watercoloring with my ZIG markers.  I stamped two of the ornaments on a piece of smooth Bristol cardstock with watermark ink and heat embossed them with silver embossing powder.  I then colored both the ornaments.   The third ornament was stamped on a scrap of smooth Bristol with watermark ink, heat embossed in silver, colored and die cut with the matching die.  I added the little ornament strings and sentiment in silver, as well.    The panel was die cut with a AJVD rectangle die and then adhered to a light gray cardstock base.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy Wednesday...

Hello and happy Wednesday!  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the US.  Are you ready?  I'm getting there.  The pumpkin pie is made (I haven't made one in ages!) and I will be working on getting a few other things put together today so Thanksgiving isn't so crazy!   I do have a post up on the AJVD blog today and here is a little peek:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project.  Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving and thanks for stopping by!

Fall and Christmas...

Hello there!  I have two cards to share for challenges that will be closing in a few hours.  First up is a card for Freshly Made Sketches.   A few weeks ago I colored up the large oak leaf image from the beautiful Colorado Craft Company stamp set called Oak Leave & Acorns from their Big and Bold line of stamps.  At the time I colored up the larger image I had also colored the smaller oak leaf and acorn image, as well.  I set that image aside, forgot where it was, found it, then forgot it again, and finally found it one last time!  Determined to not have it disappear again I die cut it with one of the rectangles from the AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die set and then adhered it to a kraft cardstock base pursuant to the FMS layout.  I then stamped the sentiment on additional craft cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink, trimmed it down and adhered it to the image panel.   It has been so long since I did the coloring in this card that I don't remember what exactly I used, but I think it was my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors.   The paper used was Canson watercolor paper and the image was stamped in Acorn ink.

The second card is for a few challenges:  the Paper Players, Color Throwdown and Inspired By.  For the Inspired By challenge I was obviously inspired by the large lawn ornaments.  After embossing the ornament from the Simon Says Stamp Ornate Ornaments stamp set in silver I did some very simple coloring with my ZIGs and a little bit of water.   The ornament was die cut with the matching die and the little string from some silver glitter cardstock.  I then adhered them together with Nuvo Deluxe adhesive.  Strips of orange and silver glitter cardstock were cut and adhered to a white cardstock panel that I die cut with a rectangle die from AJVD.   The strips were adhered along with the ornament and then I added the sentiment (from a now retired SSS stamp set called Gifts of Love) that I stamped in VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink.  Super quick and easy and now I have one more Christmas card!

Before I go I want to let you know that Spellbinders' Pre Black Friday blow out sale has started and runs through December 3rd at midnight MST.  Here are some of the deals they are offering:

    •    Save up to 50% Off select items

    •    Doorbuster Deals – Select/limited quantity items at highly discounted prices

    •    Merry Everything Christmas Kit – Now $60

    •    Glimmer Hot Foil System – Now $99

    •    Tool ‘n One Kit - Now $20

    •    Jane Davenport Making Faces Bundle - Now $80

    •    Holiday Clearance Savings - Deals from $1

    •    10% Off Any Club – Must use code SNOW10 when subscribing. (New Members Only)

Just click here to find all the deals.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

25 Days of Christmas Tags!

Hello everyone!  Stopping in today to share a tag that I made for annual Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.  A Jillian Vance Design is a sponsor for this fun event and my little tag features several different A Jillian Vance Design products.  As some of you know I have a hot foiling system.  I have been having fun getting used to foiling with it and used it for my tag.  I used the Delicate Snowflake Trio and gold foil on red cardstock.  Once the foiling was done I die cut my tag using the large tag from the Minnie Pearl Tag die set.   I then die cut the smallest snowflake from the Delicate Snowflake Trio set from gold mirror cardstock and adhered it to my tag with Just Glue It adhesive.  The sentiment is from the Just BeCLAUS stamp set.  I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed using WOW! Metallic Gold Rich Pale.  I trimmed down the sentiment, cut it in half and then popped it up on my tag with foam dots.  In keeping with my red and gold theme I finished off the tag with some red and gold twine.  (Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.)

The gold foiling looks so pretty in real life!  Thanks for stopping by today.  If you have played along with the 25 Days of Christmas Tags yet there is still time and lots of wonderful prizes to win!  Have a great day!

smallest things..

Hello everyone!  I'm popping in to share a card that I made with two newly released die sets from Spellbinders.   The sets I used are the Die D-Lites Tallulah and Kaleidoscope Triangle dies.  I went with a white, pink and light gray color scheme for my card.  I Kaleidoscope Triangle dies set consists of three dies.  I die cut the bottom and top triangle from MFT white cardstock and the middle triangle from rose gold mirror cardstock from Tonic Studios.  Once I had all the triangles die cut and adhered together I adhered them in a row on a piece of light gray cardstock that I trimmed down to fit the front of a white cardstock base.  I then die cut Tallulah from the same MFT white and rose gold cardstocks.  I applied washi tape to the back of Tallulah so I could inlay all the pieces back into her face.  Tallulah comes with a set of flowers and leaves so I die cut those from MFT white and rose gold cardstock and adhered them together.  Tallulah was adhered to the triangle border and then I added the flowers to form her hair.  Three rose gold sequins were added to the top flowers.  The sentiment is from the stamp set found in the Spellbinders May 2019 card kit of the month called Stay Wild and the stamp set carries the same name.  I stamped it in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne on MFT white cardstock, trimmed it down and then adhered it to the triangle border.  Lots of die cutting on this one, but it was so fun to put together!  I used Nuvo Deluxe adhesive to adhere everything together.   I used my Gemini Jr and Big Shot Plus die cutters for all the die cutting.  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.   Decided to add this to the current Word Art Wednesday challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget that Spellbinders is having a pre-holiday sale right now that runs through December 3rd.  You can check out all the great deal right here!

Happy Wednesday!

Hello everyone!  Hope you are having a good week.  We are having a soggy one here in the Pacific Northwest!   Today is Wednesday and that means I have a post up on the AJVD blog and here is a little peek of my card:

Hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full card and to let me know what you think!  Have a great day!

snowflakes!

Hello!!  It is raining, raining, raining here in the Pacific Northwest, but just the other day I got my Spellbinders November small die kit and I could not wait to make something with the gorgeous snowflakes in the kit.   So... I made two cards, lol!  I was inspired by the colors and snow in the photo for the challenge over at the Paper Players.  However, I did not pay attention to the fact that they wanted a clean and simple design based on the photo.   I was entirely caught up in the idea of creating a night sky background for my snowflake that was made using two of the coloring in the inspiration photo (green and blue).  Interestingly I had actually started die cutting all the pieces for the snowflake on Saturday night so I did not know what the Paper Players challenge would be!  Anyway, I ink blended my background using distress oxide ink in Tumbled Glass, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot.  When I was done I cut a rough circle from some scrap paper, placed it on my background and splattered the piece with watered down acrylic paint.    When it was dry I die cut it using a rectangle die from A Jillian Vance Design.  The large snowflake is actually created by die cut three different pieces and then layering them together.  Had to do that five times for each part of the snowflake.  I used silver mirror cardstock and green and light blue glitter cardstocks.  There is a little accent piece that was die cut from additional light blue glitter cardstock.  I adhered all my pieces together to make my snowflake.  It was at this point that I looked at the challenge, again, and realized my card might not fit.    I finished it and then hatched the idea for the second card that does better fit the challenge.   The sentiment is from a stamp set from A Jillian Vance Design called Just beCLAUS and was heat embossed in Imagine Crafts black on vellum and was die cut using a banner die that is also from AJVD.  Everything was adhered together using my favorite glue Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive.  I do love how this card turned out!   Affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

Okay now for the second card.  This one uses the three snowflakes from the kit and the layout is based on a fun sketch courtesy of Sunday Stamps.  Big shout out to the design team at Sunday Stamps for picking the card I submitted for the last challenge as one of their Top Cups!  Thanks!  Anyway, I used the same green and blue glitter cardstock along with a silver cardstock to die cut my snowflakes.  They were backed with circles die cut from light gray cardstock using Spellbinders classic circle dies.  I adhered silver thread to the back of each circle and then to the back of the rectangle I die cut from white cardstock (AJVD rectangle die).  I adhered the large circle flat to the panel and the other two with foam adhesive.   The sentiment is from AJVD (same stamp set I used for the first card) and was also heat embossed on vellum using Imagine Craft black embossing powder and VersaMark watermark ink.   The panel was then adhered to a card base made from the same light gray cardstock I used to die cut the circles.   I finished things off my adding little bows tied with the silver thread.  Now this card more fully fits the inspiration/theme of the Paper Player challenge, I think.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Don't forget about the Spellbinders pre-holiday sale going on.  It last until December 3rd and you can find all the details here.

For a Wonderful Friend

Hey there!  Popping in with a card I made for the Card Concept.  I used the Concord & 9th Wonderful Florals bundle and lots of distress inks.  I stamped the image with Antique Linen because I was originally going for a no line look, but in the end I outlined all of the flowers, leaves and berries because it was a bit challenging for me to achieve the no line look with some of the flowers.   But practice makes perfect so I will definitely be taking on coloring this image using the no line technique in the future.  I was inspired by all the colors in the inspiration photo for my card that I think fits into the clean and layered category.   After coloring the main image I die it with the matching die and then die cut the word wonderful using that matching die.   The letters were colored with distress ink and then popped up.  I adhered the piece to a kraft cardstock base and then added the rest of the sentiment by embossing it on vellum using Imagine Crafts black embossing ink.  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.   Please see list of additional supplies below.

Before I go I want to let you know that Spellbinders is having a huge pre-holiday clearance sale.  You can find all kinds of deals.  Click here to go to the sale.  Sale runs through December 3, 2019 at midnight MST.

Supplies used:  Range Distress inks in:  Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Carved Pumpkin, Antique Linen, Iced Spruce, Forest Moss, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, and Broken China; Watercolor paper:  Canson; Watermark ink:  VersaMark

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Christmas and Thank You...

Hello!  Got some crafty time in and made a Christmas card (yay... one more down!) and a thank you card.  First up is my Christmas card.  This one is for the Paper Players and Reverse Confetti's stock your stash challenge (holiday/winter).  I used the Reverse Confetti Triangle Trees stamp and die set along with another die from Reverse Confetti Polka Dot Panel.  My idea started out a little differently then the resulting card and for a time as I was trying to make the card I didn't think things were going to turn out well.  But in the end I was able to bring the card together in a way that I liked.  I stamped the trees in the Paper Players color combo and die cut them with the matching die.  The sentiment was stamped on white cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and trimmed down.  I die cut the Polka Dot panel three times from white cardstock and then adhered them together.   The tree with the polka dots had little dots of Nuvo Crystal drops added and when everything was dry I added little snowflake sequins to the tops of each tree.   After arranging and adhering the trees to the polka dot panel I started to have trouble when I began trying to arrange the silver thread.  Thankfully I was able to get it on the card and it didn't look awful!  The panel was then adhered to a light gray cardstock base.

The second card is for the current Sunday Stamps challenge (a beautiful color palette... hopefully I got the colors right and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Thanksgiving/thank you.  Last year my dear friend Greta was so kind to share with me a large prize she won and I was able to get the Penny Black Berry Flourish die.  I finally got around to using it (hangs head in shame) for this card.  I die cut it twice from watercolor paper and then used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to color the leaves and the berries.  Hopefully you can tell that I did use at least four of the colors.  Once the branches were dry I arranged them on a piece of kraft cardstock that I had die cut with a rectangle die so I could determine where to place the sentiment.  The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Thankful Flowers stamp set and was stamped with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink.  I then glued the branches in place and added the little bow tied from some beautiful golden yellow twine from Spellbinders/Fun Stampers Journey.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wondeful day!

Happy Wednesday!

Hey there!  Hope your week is going well.  We are deep in fall weather here in the Northwest... that means rain and cold!  Not complaining... I will take that over snow and cold any day!  It is Wednesday and that means a new post is up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek of my projects:

I'm really excited about today's projects so I hope that you will head over to the AJVD blog to see them and to let me know what you think.  Have a wonderful day!

hello friend...

Hey there!  Popping in with a card that I made using another one of the new Shapeabilities Scenic Snapshots die set.  This die set is called Springtime Snapshot and features a cute little windmill and tulips!   As I thought about what I would make using the set the windmill made me thing of Dutch Bros. Coffee.  If you live on the west coast then you have heard of Dutch Bros.  I happen to have one of their cups and used the colors from the cup to create my windmill and the flowers.  Just like my previous Scenic Snapshot card I decided to cut all the pieces from watercolor paper and then color them with distress markers and a little bit of water.  I also did ink blending on my background using smooth Bristol cardstock and distress oxide inks.  One of the dies in the set creates what look like clouds to me so I die cut a mask from a post it note and used that to add them to my card.  When the ink blending was done I die cut the piece with a Spellbinders Classic Rectangle die and then adhered all the elements of my little scene.  Not gonna lie... it was a bear creating all those little tulips, but I think worth it in the end.  The hello sentiment is a die from a past Spellbinders Small Die kit of the month and the sentiment is from a Spellbinders stamp set that I received last year as a thank you for being a kit club member.  The word was die cut from black cardstock and the sentiment was stamped on white cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink, trimmed out and popped up.  I just love this cute little scene.   Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of thinking of you.   Also, wanted to remind you that you have today and tomorrow to get in on all the great Glimmer Hot Foiling systems deals!  You can find them by clicking here!  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at not cost to you.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

poinsettias...

Hello!  I have a couple of cards to share featuring one of my favorite plants... the poinsettia!  I just love them and have been known to keep my poinsettias around way past Christmas.   One time I was able to keep one going for over a year!  Anyway my first card features my most favorite poinsettia stamp ever... Christmas Star from Penny Black.  This stamp is a wood mounted stamp from 2010.  To me it is the perfect blend of a modern stylized poinsettia and what one actually looks like in real life.  Because it is wood mount and I have not decided to remove it from it's wood block you have to make sure you ink it up really well because you only have one chance at getting it right!   It is even harder when you are stamping on watercolor paper!   I stamped the image using Antique Linen distress ink on Canson watercolor paper and then colored the image with Festive Berries, Scattered Straw and Gathered Twigs distress inks.  I added in the veins on all the leaves with a Candied Apple distress maker and the centers of the flowers (they are the little dots in the center!) with a Scattered Straw distress marker.   When the image was fully dry I carefully added a wash of Scattered Straw.  You can't really see it in the photo, but it looks really pretty in real life.   The sentiment (from an Ellen Hutson stamp set) was stamped in VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed with Ranger gold embossing powder.  I trimmed it down on each long side and then adhered it to a card base that had strips of red glitter cardstock adhered to it on each side.   I think I will add this one to the current Time Out challenge as it works perfectly with the colors in the inspiration photo as well as the holiday theme.  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

The second card is for the current Altenew inspiration challenge.  I also watercolored this image using distress ink.  When I saw the inspiration photo and the color palette I knew that I wanted to try coloring a poinsettia with a variegated color of cream and pink.  I stamped the image from the Altenew Festive Poinsettia stamp set with Antique Linen ink on watercolor paper and then covered each of variegated leaves with a wash of Scattered Straw.  As each leaf began to dry somewhat I can in with Worn Lipstick distress ink to get the variation in color.   It was tough when I got to the smaller leaves trying to keep the separation of the leaves, but overall I like how the image turned out.  I colored bottom leaves with Forest Moss distress ink.  Once it was totally dry I splattered on some additional Forest Moss and die cut it with the matching die.  I created a background by wetting some watercolor paper and then adding a wash of Scattered Straw and then dabbing on some Worn Lipstick.  When the piece was fully dry I splattered on some Forest Moss.   The piece was die cut with a Spellbinders classic square die and some patterned paper from a Tim Holtz 8x8 Christmas paper pad with a smaller Spellbinders classic square die.  Off white cardstock was die cut with an AJVD rectangle die and then I adhered the squares and determined where the sentiments would go.  They were stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne and then I adhered the poinsettia with foam dimensionals.  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

adventure...

Hello everyone!  I have a fun little card to share that I created using a new die set from Spellbinders.  It is from their Shapeabilities Scenic Snapshots line of dies.   The die set I am using today is called Adventure Time.  I have information below about a great sale going on at Spellbinders so make sure you check it out!  I decided to use it to create a little scene reminiscent of my visit to the Grand Tetons this summer.   I wasn't there at night, but when we first caught sight of the Tetons we had stopped at a picnic area at the north end of Jackson Lake so that is kind of the perspective that I'm showing.  I used the layout from Freshly Made Sketches for my card so I will be posting it there and since my little scene is a forest one I will also be posting it to the Paper Players challenge.  I die cut all the many little pieces (and there are several more... you can create a little fire and a tent!) from Canson watercolor paper and then colored all of them with distress markers (Forest Moss, Gathered Twigs, Squeezed Lemonade, Pumice Stone, Tumbled Glass).  When they were all dry I assembled the mountains and the trees.  I cut a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol cardstock and then blended on distress oxide inks in Tumbled Glass, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot.  The piece was then die cut with a Spellbinders square die from their Nestabilities line.  I used some plaid paper from the Spellbinders Stay Wild card kit and die cut it with another Nestabilities square die.   All the little pieces of my scene were arranged on the ink blended square and then that was layered on some white cardstock from the Stay Wild kit along with a strip of the same plaid paper.  I then die cut the word adventure three times from white cardstock, adhered them together and then adhered that to the strip.  The panel was then mounted on a premade card base.    Affiliate links used where possible at no extra cost to you.

I also wanted to let you know that right now Spellbinders is having a big sale on the Glimmer and all Glimmer products!   Some details can be found on the banner below.   Just click here to go to the sale.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day and don't forget to check out the Spellbinders Glimmer Blitz!

It's Wednesday!

Hello everyone!  Yep... it is Wednesday and that mean I have a project on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today.  I also want to let you know that AJVD is having a mini release this week so there is an opportunity on the AJVD blog to win $25 in store credit!  Here is a little peek of my card:

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see my full project and find out how you can win!

i believe in you...

Hello!  Popping in to share a card that I made for a few challenges:  MFT sketch challenge, the Paper Players challenge (into the woods) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (anything goes).    My youngest and I used to watch Finding Big Foot together and loved it so when MFT came out with the Beast Friends stamp set and die set  I had to get it.  It always makes me laugh when I see people leaving their yetis white because yetis have never been described as being white, but dark in color.  Anyway, I guess people think they are white because of the yeti from Monsters, Inc.!   I stamped the yetis with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink on Canson watercolor paper and then colored them with distress inks in Gathered Twigs and Black Soot.  I then colored the trees with Forest Moss distress ink and their scarves in Chipped Sapphire and Crushed Olive.  After everything was dry, die cut and I started putting the card together I accidentally ruined one of my yetis and had to start over!  Thankfully it was easy to that done, but boy of boy you should have seen my face when I made my mistake, lol!  I used an MFT Inside Out stitched rectangle die to cut out a stencil and then inked up two rectangle with Tumbled Glass distress oxide ink on Tim Holtz woodgrain cardstock before arranging my two yetis and the trees.  I then stamped the sentiment from the set on vellum with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with black embossing powder from Ranger.   All die cutting done using my Gemini Jr.  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at not cost to you.

 Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!