Wednesday with AJVD...

Hey!!  Happy Wednesday everyone!!!  Stopping in to let you know that I have a card up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek:

Hope you have a wonderful day and that you will take the time to check out the full project on the AJVD blog!

tis the season...

Hello!!  Wow... November is almost history and now the Christmas crunch is on!  I still need a few more Christmas cards and so I used the current Merry Monday Christmas challenge, as well as the current WCMC9 challenge of Christmas.  I used the lovely Magnolia Wreath, again, along with the dies from the Season of Cheer die set.  I stamped the full wreath in the light green and then overstamped with VersaMark watermark ink, applied sparkle embossing powder and heat embossed.  I did not repeat that step with the rest of the stamping as I just wanted the main wreath to stand out a bit more.  The word season was die cut from blue glitter cardstock along with two more from scrap cardstock and adhered together.   Die cut the other pieces from white and silver cardstock and then get to work putting together the card.  Took a bit of arranging, but I got everything placed to my satisfaction.  I'm including a close up of the wreath so that you can see the sparkle.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, MFT blue glitter and brushed silver; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th and AJVD; Embossing Powder:  Stampin Up! iridescent ice; Inks:  VersaMark, Stampin Up! Pear Pizzazz

Yeti for Christmas???

Hey there!!  Popping in with a last minute card for the current MFT sketch challenge.  When the MFT set Beast Friends came out I thought it was super cute especially since I love watching shows about Big Foot, the Yeti, etc.   But I kept putting off getting the set until recently because my crafting dollars are limited and there is so much to buy!   I colored up my little Yeti in traditional Big Foot/Yeti colors of shades of brown.  Once he was done I die cut him with the matching die and then colored up the trees and the little santa hat that he is wearing.  I inked up my background with Salty Ocean and Broken China distress oxide inks and then splattered on some water to create "snow".  The hills were die cut with my AJVD Slippery Slope dies and adhered to the panel after I die cut it with a Stitched Dot rectangle die.  The upper corner was trimmed off with a AJVD border die.   I layered up all my elements and then adhered the sentiment that I heat embossed in white on black cardstock.  AS you can see I'm still working on my coloring technique with colored pencils, but I like how my little Yeti turned out!

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT smooth white; Stamps:  MFT; Dies:  MFT and AJVD; Inks:  VersaFine and VersaMark; Prisma Color pencils 

PTI November blog hop...

Hey there!!  Stopping in with a quick card for this month's PTI blog hop.  We were provided with a beautiful inspiration photo that got me thinking about my Make it Market Mini kit Color Pop: Autumn.   The base of this card actually got started back in the late spring/early summer when I was doing a little bit of organizing of my PTI products.  I decided to die cut all the pieces from the different Color Pop kits that I have and then took it further when I decided to use some of those pieces along with the pre-designed sheets and create some cards.  This card isn't all die cuts, though.  I did do a little bit of stenciling and stamping on the small leaves.  All I had to do was pick out a finished card front that I thought corresponded the best with the inspiration photo and then add my sentiment.   I chose the beautiful word dies from the Especially for You stamp and die set and cut them from gold glitter cardstock.   Adhered them to the card front and then added it to a kraft cardstock base and I was done!  I will also add this to the current Time Out challenge to be inspired by words.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the hop!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, MFT gold glitter; Cardstock panel and die cuts:  PTI; Stamps:  PTI; Dies:  PTI and AJVD; Inks:  red and brown

many thanks...

Hey!!  Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving day!  Popping in with a card for the current Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights challenge, as well as the EE anniversary challenge to use your favorite EE stamp set.  For my card I used my favorite EE stamp set Mondo Hydrangea.   I really love that gorgeous big hydrangea in the set, but for this card I used only the leaf.  When I saw the pin-sights inspiration photo my eye was immediately drawn to the photo of the leaves in various different shades.   To create my variegated leaves I stamped the leaf multiple times on watercolor cardstock using VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink and then began watercoloring them with Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors.  In order to get the variation that I wanted I would color a leaf in one color then move on to the next leaf and so on.  As each leaf dried I would add more color and let it dry again.  It was a bit labor intensive, but I love how each leaf turned out.  Once they were mostly dry I die cut them with the matching die and then shaped the leaves so they would have some depth.   I did a wash of color in teal on a panel of watercolor cardstock and then die cut it once it was dry.  The sentiment is from the EE Fancy Thanks stamp set.  I did a few tests runs to make sure that I got the word many placed as close to the thanks as I could.  Once I had it set I stamped it on the panel with Vintage Sepia and then added the leaves.  To jazz things up a bit I added the twine bow and Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins in 3 sizes.
I think I will also add this to the current SIP challenge of thankful, grateful, blessed.  I'm adding this to the new Time Out challenge to be inspired by words.   See the beautiful quote below.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SSS fog, Ranger watercolor; Stamps: Essentials by Ellen; Dies:  Essentials by Ellen and AJVD; Ink:  VersaFine; Watercolor medium:  Kuretake Gansai Tambi; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh; Recollections twine

wednesday with ajvd...

Happy Wednesday everyone!!  Stopping in to let you know that my regular Wednesday post is up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek:

Have a wonderful day... I hope you hop over for a look at my card.  

two very different cards...

Hey there!!   I have a couple of cards to share and they couldn't be more different!  First up is a card for the current MFT sketch challenge and the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (furry friends).  I love this cute MFT Otterly Love You stamp set.  We live pretty close to the water and from our neighborhood you can hear the seals calling to each other out on the water.  One of my friends lives right on the water and she routinely has otters coming up into her yard.  Otters are cute, but I can tell you... they are very messy!  I have been doing some coloring again. This time with color pencils.  I stamped the little otter and colored him with three shades of gray and then added in a touch of brown.  The rocks he is sitting on were colored in two shades of gray as well.  I trimmed both out (I don't have the die yet... but they will soon be in the mail and on their way to me... YAY!) by hand.  I die cut the white panel using a MFT Inside Out Stitched Rounded Rectangle and the heart using an AJVD Stitched Dot heart die.  The two were layered together and then I adhered the otter and the rocks.  The sentiment was stamped in gray and then die cut with a MFT fishtail flag stax die.  Everything was adhered to a light gray panel and then the panel was adhered to a white cardstock base.  I need to continue working on my coloring, but I do really like how this little guy turned out!

My second card is for the November Altenew inspiration challenge, as well as the current Freshly Made Sketches and as you can see it is very different from my first card.  I recently got the Altenew Coral Charm stamp and die set and have been wanting to make a card with it using the Altenew inspiration colors.  The FMS layout was the perfect opportunity.  Because the color palette is limited I knew I did not want to use the solid floral image, but only the outline and the two filler images.  I initially tried out my idea on white cardstock and decided to switch to cream because I knew it would tone better with the warm colors in the palette.  I stamped the outline in brown and then used a warm yellow for the largest filler image and a pumpkin orange for the second filler.  The leaves were stamped in brown using the outline and filler image.  Once everything was die cut I had to figure out my arrangement.  I fiddled around for a bit and then came up with an arrangement that I like that included some additional stamping in the warm yellow.  After that was done I figured out where the sentiment would be, stamped it and then added in the flowers and leaves.   I'm pretty darn pleased with how this one turned out!

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Card 1:  Cardstock:  MFT, Simon Says Stamp, Stampin Up!; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Dies:  MFT, AJVD; Inks: VersaFine Smoky Gray; Prisma color pencils

Card 2:  Cardstock:  PTI; Stamps:  Altenew; Dies:  Altenew and AJVD; Inks:  Stampin Up! So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie, Memento Rich Cocoa

Christmas blessings...

Hello!!  Hope your week has been good.   Here in the Puget Sound area of Washington our week started out pretty wacky with high winds and tons of rain. We lost power 3 times on Monday evening!  Thankfully the outages didn't last long, but it was still annoying!!  Our week has ended way better though with a little bit of sun!  Anyway... I have a card to share.  This is for the current Color Throwdown, Dies R Us and SSS flickr challenges.   The DRU challenge is snowflakes I pulled out my SSS Frozen Fractals stamp set and embossed all of the snowflakes in the set on watercolor paper with silver embossing powder.  Then I did a wash of dark blue watercolor over the top.  The SSS Christmas Blessings die set was cut from light blue glitter cardstock and then adhered to a vellum banner so that they would stand out a bit more against the blue background.  I finished things off with some silver embroidery floss tied in a little bow.  

Hope you have  wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SSS fog, Range watercolor, PTI vellum, MFT blue glitter; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  Simon Says Stamp, MFT and AJVD; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink; Watercolor medium:  Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors; Ranger silver embossing powder; Silver embroider floss

wednesday with ajvd...

Hey there... stopping by with my usual Wednesday post letting you know that I have a card up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek:

Have a wonderful day!! Hope you will check out my project!!

two wreaths...

Hey there!!  I have two cards to share today and both have wreaths on them.  First up is a card for the November Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge of Christmas.  I have had the beautiful C9 Magnolia Wreath stamp and die set for about a month and have been dying to make something with it and the new challenge was perfect chance.  Since this was my first time using the set I kept things pretty simple to get a feel for how the images work together.  I used Memento Pistachio and Stampin Up! Always Artichoke inks for the wreath and then added in the berries with SU!'s Real Red.  The banner was also stamped in Real Red and then trimmed out.  The wreath was die cut with the matching die.  I stamped the pine border from the C9 Seasonal Borders stamp set in kraft on the bottom of my kraft cardstock base for a subtle tone on tone look.  The red cardstock panel was partially embossed with SU!'s Decorative Dots embossing folder and then I added the wreath and banner.   Can't wait to use this stamp set again!

Card number two is for the current Inspired by All the Little Things, as well as the November Sketch for You to Try.  I got seriously sparkly with this card, lol!!  I'm also going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of snow white.  Lots of RC die cuts used on this one.  I managed to incorporate the tree portions of the Inspired by All the Little Things inspiration photo by using a piece of patterned paper from the RC Very Merry paper pad.   I die cut the RC wreath from silver glitter cardstock and then used two of the little dies that come with the wreath to die cut the little white pine branches.  Once those were adhered I added "berries" using the Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Confetti mix.  I layered up the glitter cardstock, vellum strip and the white tag then added the wreath.  The sentiment from the RC Tinsel 'n Trim stamp set was embossed in white on a banner that was die cut with the banner from the RC Tag Me die set.  Finished by adding a bit of white twine.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!  We are having some crazy wild weather today... super strong winds... not my favorite!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, SU! Real Red; white; Stamps and dies:  Concord & 9th; Inks:  SU! Crumb Cake, Real Red, Always Artichoke, Memento Pistachio; SU! embossing folder

Card #2:  Cardstock: MFT white, MFT silver glitter, PTI vellum; Patterned paper:  Reverse Confetti; Stamps and dies:  Reverse Confetti; Ink:  VersaMark; Embossing powder: Hero Arts; Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Confetti mix

celebrate...

Hey there!!!  I  have another card for the current Essentials by Ellen Mix It Up challenge.  I used current MFT sketch so I will be posting it there, as well.  This time I combined the EE Mondo Peony stamp set with MFT's celebrate die and a sentiment from the All Smiles stamp set.   I stamped the peony and the leaves on watercolor paper with VersaFine Smoky Gray and then watercolored everything with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors.  I found some MFT plaid paper that had a bit of the color I used for the flower running through it and trimmed it to fit my card front.  I then trimmed down some MFT Sweet Tooth cardstock and adhered it with foam dimensionals to the card front.  I die cut the word celebrate from more Sweet Tooth three times, adhered them together and adhered to the plaid portion of the card front.  The sentiment was embossed in white on vellum and adhered to the word.

Have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT, Ranger (watercolor) and PTI (vellum); Patterned paper:  MFT:  Stamps:  Essentials by Ellen and MFT; Dies:  MFT; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts; Inks:  VersaFine and VersaMark; Watercolor medium:  Kuretake

Christmas cards!!

Hey!!   Hope your week is going well.  I have two Christmas cards to share that use lots of fun AJVD products.  First up is a card for the current Merry Monday Christmas challenge and Freshly Made Sketches.   The challenge at Merry Monday is to use kraft and red.  I used red glitter cardstock and red foil cardstock to create my poinsettia using AJVD Poinsettia dies.  I brought in the kraft part of the challenge by die cutting a panel of kraft cardstock with an AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die and then die cutting one corner using an Elegant Stitched Dot border die.  The panel was then stamped with kraft ink using the AJVD Dainty Dot Background stamp.   I die cut the word greetings from the Poinsettia Greetings die set and adhered that to the panel.   Now here is where I made a mistake.  I attached my panel to the cardstock base per the sketch (which I flipped on it's side and turned into a rectangle) and then added my poinsettia.  At that point I realized I had not stamped the word season's... YIKES!!  Thankfully I had put enough foam dimensionals on the back to make it sturdy enough to stamp the word!!

The second card is for the current Inspired by All the Little Things challenge.  I have been trying to play along with their challenges over the last few weeks, but always run out of time.  I was determined that I would get something made for this week's challenge as I absolutely loved the inspiration photo.  I die cut my pine branches using a newly released AJVD die set from a dark green cardstock and layered them on a black cardstock base.  The sentiment was stamped in white ink.  I stamped the Christmas stocking in VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then colored it with Kuretake Gansi Tambi watercolors.  Once it was dry I trimmed it out.  A snowflake was die cut and adhered to the pine branches along with the stocking.  Love how this one turned out and now I have two more Christmas cards made!!


Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Pinefeather, True Black and kraft; Stampin Up! Real Red; Ranger watercolor paper, Stampin Up! red glitter; red foil; Stamps and dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  VersaFine, Simon Says Stamp white pigment, Stampin Up! Crumb Cake and Real Red; Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors

wednesday with ajvd...

Hello!!!  Popping in to let you know that my regular Wednesday post is up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek:

Have a wonderful day!  Hope you will head over to the AJVD blog for a peek!

a card and a tag...

Hello!!!   Stopping in with another card for the MFT sketch challenge that uses the colors from the current MFT color challenge.  I used the Snowflake Splendor card kit, again.  This time I used the stamp set to create my snowflakes using three of the colors from the palette.  I stamped three snowflakes and then layered two behind the dark pink panel that was die cut with the MFT Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle Stax.   The sentiment is from an older MFT card kit Snowflake Sparkle and was stamped on vellum and heat embossed in white.  I added a few Pretty Pink Posh sequins that are close in color to the dark pink although a couple are coming across as purple!

I don't often make tags, but decided to make one using an AJVD stamp set called Pine Branches for the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to make a Christmas tag.  I stamped one of the images from the set in opposite corners with watermark ink, applied white embossing powder and then heat set.  I then inked up the piece with some Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink.  The piece was then die cut with the tag from the AJVD Minnie Pearl tag set and some additional distress oxide ink added.  I splattered the tag with white paint mixed with water to add some snow.   The word Peace was die cut from some silver glitter cardstock and then adhered.  I added some ribbon in a color similar to the Iced Spruce ink and then tied it with some mini tinsel trim.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:  Card:  Cardstock:  My Favorite Things and Stampin Up!; Dies:  My Favorite Things and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up!, Memento and VersaMark; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts white; Vellum:  PaperTrey Ink

Tag:  white cardstock; Stamps and dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Ranger distress ink, VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts white; white acrylic paint; Ribbon:  PaperTrey Ink; Tinsel Trim:  Stampin Up!

grateful...

Hey there!!  Popping in with a card for the current Essentials by Ellen Mix it Up challenge.  This month we get to mix up our EE products with MFT products... YAY!!  I have been wanting to ink up the MFT mini stamp set grateful ever since I got it (about a month ago!!).   I knew it would work well with the EE Mondo Hydrangea since both are rather large.  I stamped the hydrangea on watercolor paper with watermark ink and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  Once that was done I watercolored the hydrangea with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors.  I stamped the little single flower three times, heat embossed in gold and watercolored them.  When they were dry I die cut them with the matching die.  I stamped the word on vellum and heat embossed it in gold then trimmed it out.  The little for you is part of a sentiment that is found in the MFT Geometric Leaves stamp set.  That was embossed in white and trimmed down.  I layered everything up and adhered to a kraft cardstock base that I wrapped with a bit of gold twine.   My layout is based on the current CTS sketch so I will be adding this to their gallery, as well.

Hope you have a wonderful day!  We are having rain mixed with snow so a perfect day to stay inside and craft!!

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI kraft and vellum, Ranger watercolor cardstock; Stamps:  My Favorite Things and Essentials by Ellen; Dies:  Essentials by Ellen; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing powder:  Ranger gold, Hero Arts white; Twine:  Stampin Up!; Watercolors:  Kuretake

fall and winter...

Hey there!!!  I have a couple of cards to share!  I don't remember the last time I was able to make two cards in one afternoon, lol!!   I just haven't had the time or the inclination to make a lot of cards lately, but hopefully that is changing!  First up is a card for the current PTI Make it Monday challenge.  I don't often do the MIM challenges... not sure why... but there it is.   I actually wanted to play along with last week's MIM challenge, but never found the time so when I saw Stephanie Gold's fun technique I just had to give it a try.  Yes... my card is a rather shameless CASE of her gorgeous card, but I just loved her design!!  I changed it up a little bit by using the sketch from the current Stamp Ink Paper challenge.  I die cut and stamped the wreath using the same set Stephanie used (Twig Wreath), but all my bits and pieces also come from that same set.  After wrapping my wreath with twine and layering on all the little pieces I die cut the word bountiful (from the Color Pop Autumn Make It Market mini kit) from kraft cardstock and adhered it to my wreath.  I stamped the word blessings on PTI vellum (the best vellum to heat emboss on), heat embossed in copper, trimmed it down and adhered.   Some PTI bitty dot basics paper in Terra Cotta Tile was trimmed down and adhered to some PTI Rustic White cardstock.  Once everything was dry on the wreath it was adhered to my panel and then the panel was adhered to a kraft cardstock base.   I do really like how this turned out.  Also adding this to the current Dies R Us challenge... anything fall.  So that is the fall part of this post... now on to winter!!

The second one is for the current MFT sketch challenge.  I had one snowflake left that I created when I made the last two cards using the beautiful MFT Snowflake Splendor card kit and when I saw the new MFT sketch I knew I had found my way to use that snowflake!  I die cut my banner from Sno-Cone cardstock and silver glitter paper from the kit using a MFT Jumbo Fishtail Flag Stax die and then layered together.  The sentiment (from Snow Globe Sentiments) was stamped on vellum, embossed in silver and then trimmed down.  I adhered the snowflake to the banner and then added my banner to some MFT Sweet Tooth cardstock die cut with an AJVD die.  That piece was adhered to a Sweet Tooth cardstock base and then I adhered the sentiment strip.  Still have more ideas for ways to use this gorgeous kit... so stay tuned!!

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Card 1:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, vellum and Rustic White; Patterned paper:  PTI; Stamps and dies:  PTI; Inks:  PTI (Terra Cotta Tile, Summer Sunrise), VersaFine Vintage Sepia, VersaMark watermark; Twine:  Recollections; Embossing powder:  Stampin Up! copper

Supplies:  Card 2:  Cardstock:  MFT Sweet Tooth, Sno-Cone, silver glitter, vellum, PTI vellum; Stamps and dies:  My Favorite Things; VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing powder:  Ranger silver