Hello! Popping in with a card for a few challenges: Altenew Year in Review (I used the color combo from February), Freshly Made Sketches and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge. I was so surprised and delighted to find in my mail on Christmas eve an envelope from Altenew with a sweet little stamp set called Billowing Blossoms inside. It really made my day especially since a package that I was expecting to get from Ellen Hutson (which is about 35 miles from me) did not arrive. Instead it went to San Francisco, CA, Oakland, CA, Stockton, CA and then back to San Francisco! The package is back in Washington state, but I'm not holding my breath that I will get it anytime soon! Anyway... I stamped one of the flowers from the set using Altenew Frosty Pink ink and then added the center using Coral Berry. The leaves were stamped with Frayed Leaf and Forest Glade. I then die cut the image with a Spellbinders oval die and stamped it with the sentiment from the Altenew Pear Tree mini stamp set. I used the same inks and a Altenew image called Snowing (I believe it was a freebie in one of my orders) to stamp the panels that I die cut with an AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die. Some light gray cardstock was die cut with the Altenew Watercolor Stripes cover die and adhered to a white cardstock base. I then adhered everything to the card front. 
Hello and happy Friday! I'm popping in with two cards that I made the other day. First up is a card that I made using the gorgeous So Loved stamp set from the new Simon Says Stamp You Are Loved release. SSS was so kind to send me a set before the release and I shared a card on Instagram and my flickr that I made using the set. The card I'm sharing today was made for the current Color Throwdown challenge, as well as the current CAS(E) this Sketch challenge. I started by stamping the outline images I wanted to use in red and green inks from Stampin Up!. I then used the solid images to complete the stamping. Second generation stamping was used for the flowers. I then filled in with additional images from the set. The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Diecember release and is called Big For You. Again, Simon Says Stamp generously sent me this die and I shared a card I made with it on Instagram and flickr. I die cut the sentiment from kraft cardstock and then twice more from white and adhered them together. I trimmed the panel per the CTS layout and then adhered it to a kraft cardstock base. The sentiment was then adhered on top. 
The second card is for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: Christmas. I have had the Concord & 9th Snow Flurries stamp set and matching dies for ages and I have wanted to make something with them, but unfortunately never found the time. When I went on my second shopping trip to Impress Rubber Stamps I picked up this pad of specialty papers from DCWV. All the papers are in the Rose Gold family so I used several from the set for the card. The big snowflake from the set was stamped using Memento Desert Sand ink as it turned out to be a pretty close match to the rose gold... who knew?! After stamping the panel with the snowflake it was die cut with a rectangle die. I die cut the small snowflake from glitter and mirror cardstocks from the pad and layered then together. Another piece was die cut with a larger rectangle as a mat for the sentiment panel. I turned the sketch on its side because my sentiment looked better that way. I placed the snowflake on the panel, arranged where I wanted the sentiment, removed the snowflake and then stamped the sentiment in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne. Everything was adhered to the card base and I finished with some Pretty Pink Posh rose gold sequins.
Hello there! Popping in with a card for a couple of challenges: Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown. Twice this week I got the chance to do a little shopping at one of my favorite places Impress Rubber Stamps. During my first shopping trip I picked up a Memory Box die set called Delicate Pine Frame. I used that die set to create my card. Another thing I picked up was a paper pad from American Crafts that has lots of fun Christmas/holiday themed papers as well as glitter paper and mirror cardstock. I used a piece of patterned paper that had a gray background with snowflakes on it to die cut the larger frame. The frame with the tree was die cut from the green glitter paper in the pad. The birds were die cut from red and coral card stock. I die cut a piece of white cardstock and then adhered the snowflake frame. The tree frame was adhered with foam tape and then I added the little birds. The sentiment is from the PaperTrey Ink Make It Market Holiday Folk mini kit and was stamped with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink. Super simple, but that what I need right now to get the last few Christmas cards I need done! My sweet friend Greta reminded me about the monthly Memory Box challenge so I will be adding my card there, as well. Thanks, Greta! Realized that this will work for the new Time Out challenge so I'm sending it off for a visit there!
Hello there! Popping in with a card that I will be sharing over at the Paper Players challenge, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge and the Visions of Sugarplums challenge. Last year I purchased the beautiful Simon Says Stamp Stained Glass Greetings stamp set. At the time it came out there weren't matching dies, but about a month later they released the matching dies. Sadly I wasn't able to get them at the time, but finally this year I did... yay! I used that stamp set and the dies along with the SSS Frozen Fractals set to make my card. I stamped all the snowflakes on white cardstock with VersaMark watermark ink, applied clear embossing powder and heat set. I then inked up the piece with distress oxide ink in blueprint sketch bluffing off the excess. The piece was then splattered with white acrylic paint mixed with water and when dry die cut with a rectangle die. The words were stamped on vellum with VersaMark, embossed in white and then die cut with the matching dies. I adhered the words and ampersand by rolling up medium sized glue dots and placing them behind the words where there is embossing. The little sentiments were stamped using VersaFine CLAIR in Nocturne on a strip of paper, trimmed down and adhered. The finished piece was adhered to a white cardstock base. This has also been entered in the SSS flickr challenge #111.
Hello! Well... the rush for me to make and send out Christmas cards is on, but thankfully I have two more made! Both of these were made with the fun November Spellbinders small die kit. I think the name is a bit of a misnomer because the kit comes with 14 dies... that isn't a small number to me, lol! Anyway the first card is very, very simple. I used the layout from Freshly Made Sketches to help me along. I used glitter cardstocks in bright green, bright blue and sparkly white for all the top die cuts and then made additional cuts using plain white cardstock. All the cuts were stacked together and then adhered to the black cardstock panel along with the little dots (another one of the dies). Another panel of cardstock in a color similar to the bright blue was layered behind the black panel and I was finished with the card. This card will also be heading over to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes. 
The second card will be heading over to the Fusion challenge as most of the colors found in the inspiration photo are also used on my card. I used more dies from the November Spellbinders small die kit to make this one, as well. When I originally started working on this card I die cut the words Merry and Christmas from the kraft cardstock because I just wanted to have the words to move around and place where I liked them. But then I decided to actually go with that color as part of my design. I die cut that sweet little deer from the same kraft cardstock and brown glitter cardstock and then pieced the glitter cardstock inside the kraft outline. The bow was die cut from red glitter cardstock and adhered to the deer. I die cut the berry branches from dark red cardstock and adhered them together. I die cut additional words from the same dark red cardstock that was used for the berry branches and then stacked them together with the kraft words. I love how you can just see the red peeking out from underneath! Then everything was arranged on an off white cardstock panel. I finished by adhering the berry branches to the deer. I really like the rustic look of this design. Will be sending this one over to the Visions of Sugar Plum Christmas/Winter challenge.
Hello! Popping in with a card for this month's Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge (holiday/winter), the Fab Friday challenge (a sketch), Color Throwdown (colors) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (anything goes). At the beginning of each month I tell myself that I'm going to play along with the Stock Your Stash challenge and then more times than not the month ends and I don't get anything made. Determine to not let that happen this month! I used the fun RC Vintage Ornament stamp set along with the Topped Off Tag die set. I stamped the ornament using VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink and then die cut it with the matching die. The ornament topper was die cut from white cardstock and the pieces adhered together. I then added a little bow using black twine. The tag and one of the toppers were die cut from white and black cardstocks, adhered together and then black twine was threaded through the top. I had previous die cut some snowflakes from silver glitter cardstock using the Let It Snow die set. Two of the snowflakes were added to the tag and then I adhered the ornament. White cardstock was die cut to fit the card front and then some polka dot vellum was die cut and adhered over the top. The panel was added to the card base and then I attached the tag. 
Hey everyone! I'm popping in with a couple of tags that I made for Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event bonus day! If you head over to Tracey's blog you can see all of the tags made by the A Jillian Vance Design team for this event and to play along by creating a tag based on tags created for any of the event days. There are tons of prizes to be won so get creating and get your tags posted by December 3rd in order to be in the running for a prize. All the information can be found here. For my tags today I used the Minnie Pearl Tag die set along with the Jingle Bells die set and the Stately Stag die set. The sentiments are from the Christmas Blessings and the Let It Snow stamp set. You can also see all the tags on the A Jillian Vance Design blog. 
Hey friends! Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was awesome! My great nephew Max was born on Thanksgiving day and I got to meet him that afternoon! He is ADORABLE!! Anyway... a quick post of a card for this month's PTI blog hop. It is a fun inspiration photo featuring candy canes and lollipops. I don't have anything remotely like that in my PTI stash so I focused on the red, white and light blue colors from the photo. There is absolutely no stamping on this card... all die cutting! I used the Bold Borders Yuletide die for the card. I simply die cut the main die from red and white cardstock and adhered them together. The Be Merry was die cut from Spring Rain cardstock three times and adhered together. I adhered the frame to my cardstock base with glue, popped up the red panel with foam tape and then adhered the sentiment. Super simple, but I like it! Think I will also add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge. 
Hello! With Thanksgiving happening this week in the US I'm starting to realize that I need to get a few more Christmas cards completed. To that end I made this card using the beautiful Altenew Festive Poinsettia stamp and die set that I purchased a few weeks ago. I stamped the image with VersaMark watermark ink and the heat embossed in gold on watercolor paper. I watercolored the image with distress inks re-inkers in Forest Moss, Festive Berries and Wild Honey. Once the piece was dry I die cut it with the matching die. I watercolored a background with Old Paper distress ink re-inker and then added splatters with some black watercolor paint. The piece was die cut and then adhered to a panel of gold glitter cardstock. I stamped the sentiment in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and then added the poinsettia. This will be heading over to the Altenew November Inspiration challenge, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of all that glitters is gold challenge. One more Christmas card down.... several more to go, lol!
Hello! The weekend is here! I hope you have some fun plans. I'm popping in with a couple of cards that I have made over the last few day. First up is a card for Freshly Made Sketches. I recently ordered a few things from Honey Bee Stamps and received a little card with my order that can be colored. I decided to try my hand at coloring with grays using the card. I pulled out my Prisma Color pencils and found three compatible grays and got to coloring up the flowers. Once I finished with the flowers I found a green that was in the gray family, as well and a light yellow that I toned down even more with a white pencil. I trimmed the panel just a bit once I was done. I adhered some black cardstock that I embossed with an embossing folder to a light gray cardstock base and then added my panel. I have to admit that I really pleased with how things turned out!
The second card is for Color Throwdown and CAS(E) this Sketch. When I saw the CTD color palette I immediately thought of one of the Starbucks Christmas mugs that you can find in their stores. They are so pretty and feature I stylized poinsettia on them so I decided to make a poinsettia for my card. I just love poinsettias! I pulled out my AJVD Poinsettia die set to create the poinsettia using red and aqua cardstock. Once the flower was created I added strips of silver glitter cardstock to a white cardstock base. I placed my flower on the card where I wanted it and then placed my sentiment stamp. The flower was removed, the sentiment was stamped using VersaFine CLAIR Tulip ink and then I adhered the flower. Love the super clean and simple design.
