Joyeux Noel...

 Hello!  Hope you are staying cool in your part of the world.  It has been pretty warm in my corner of the world, but things are supposed to cool down a bit this week.  I hope so!   Anywhoo, I have a card to share for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.  Let's have a look.

In a recent order from Scrapbook.com I got the super cute and very tiny Waffle Flower die and stencil set called Postage Poinsettia so I just had to use it.  And given that the CTD colors are red, yellow and green it was absolutely perfect for the challenge.  I stenciled it three times, stamped each one with postage images from the Waffle Flower Postage Collage stamp set and then die cut each one with the matching die.  I embossed a white cardstock panel with the Simon Says Stamp Holly Branch embossing folder and then used my Waffle Flower 0+ blender brushes to add green to the holly leaves and red to the berries.  I turned the sketch on it's side to create a landscape card rather than a portrait one and attached the three "postage stamps" using thin foam squares.  I finished with the sentiment that I found in my stash that I foiled several years ago using red foil.    Now I have one more Christmas card to add to my small stash!

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

tiny trees...

 Hello friends!  I'm popping in to share a card that I made for the current Color Hues challenge of red and gold.  Classic Christmas colors and so I made a Christmas card!   I used a Waffle Flower Crafts stencil called Duo-tone Christmas Tree and the 0+ blender brushes.  

The stencil is unique in that you stencil a set of trees and then shift the stencil over to the open area and stencil a second set of trees to fill up your card front.  For my card I used Lumberjack Plaid distress ink to stencil the trees and then added some Aged Mahogany to the bottom of each tree.  I then moved the stencil over and added the second set of trees using Ranger Lunar paster in Slippery When Wet (a bright gold).  I removed the stencil, cleaned it off and let the panel dry.  Once dry I die cut it with a Memory Box arched rectangle die.   The large Merry Christmas is also from Waffle Flower and that was stamped using Lumberjack Plaid and then Aged Mahogany pounced on in certain areas of the stamp and then layered on the Lumberjack Plaid.  Gives it a bit of an ombre look.  I die cut dark red cardstock with a rectangle die, adhered it to my white cardstock base and then adhered the arched panel.  The sentiment was added along with tiny gold stars to the little red trees. 

If you are on Instagram I'm having a giveaway of a sample set of Waffle Flower's new blender brushes over there.  The giveaway is sponsored by Waffle Flower.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birthday Wishes...

 Hello friends!  I back to share a card that I made for a few challenges:  Paper Players (sketch), Color Hues (colors) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (anything goes).    I'm also going to share more thoughts on the new Waffle Flower Crafts 0+ shader brushes.  Here is what I made.

I don't know about you, but sketches that involve one of the elements being set slightly askew (like in the Paper Players sketch) give me fits.  I think it is because the off kilter panel makes it hard for me to put the sentiment on straight.  Anyway, I persisted and this is my card, lol!   I started by die cutting the Memory Box Backyard Wren die from white cardstock.  I then used one of the 0+ shader brushes to add kraft colored ink to the layers of the bird.  I really liked that with the small shader brush I was able to get the depth of color I wanted where it was needed.  I was also able to add more color to the bird's head after I had put the bird together and I didn't get the ink everywhere.  Waffle Flower sent me one of their little sampler brush packs that you can see in the photo.  I used the 0+ shader in the pack, as well as the larger 1+ shader.  I used the 1+ shader brush for the body of the bird.   While larger than the 0+ shader brush you are still able to ink up your die cuts with precision.   Once I had the bird done to my satisfaction I worked on the branch that it is sitting.  The branch is from the Birch Press Design Hillside Branch and Bramble Contour Layers die set.  I inked them up with the kraft and yellow inks and then layered them.  I die cut the rectangles from yellow gingham and white woodgrain cardstock.  In her introduction video about the new shader brushes Nina talks about how they pick up much more ink than the original brushes (or other brushes for that matter) and she isn't kidding.  I had to use a blender brush from another company to ink up the edges of the woodgrain panel.  I had to work twice as hard to get ink on that blender than I did for the Waffle Flower shader brush!  To finish the card I layered everything onto another panel of the white woodgrain cardstock.  I thought I had die cut down the panel, but when I went to adhere it to my kraft cardstock base I discovered that I had not!  Yikes... too late to trim it down so I just adhered it to the cardstock base as you see.   The last piece was the sentiment.  I got it on, but it wasn't easy, lol!

I hope I was able to share some additional good information with you about the new Waffle Flower shader brushes.  I can tell you that I plan on getting a set of 1+ brushes in the near future.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

hey there...

 Hello!  I'm popping in today to share a simple card I made using a new product from Waffle Flower Crafts.  Waffle Flower was so kind and sent me a package of their brand new Shader 0+ brushes to try out and give my thoughts on.   I used the mood board/color combo from JUGs for my colors and the new Waffle Flower Pop Up Fall Leaves panel die and the coordinating Fall Leaves stencil which Waffle Flower generously sent to me, as well.  

You can see the shader brushes I used on the right hand side of the photo.  How cute are they?  Even though slim in size they fit nicely in your hand.  I die cut a piece of white cardstock with a rectangle die and then die cut the pop up leaves from that.  I selected the following distress ink colors based off the JUGs color palette:  Ripe Persimmon, Wild Honey, Aged Mahagany and Fired Brick.  I layed the stencil on top of the die cut panel and started blending on the ink.  I had initially thought I would blend two ink shades together, but I realized that I could achieve the shaded look I wanted with just one color.   It is very simple shading, but I like the more graphic look that I achieved.    

Because the brushes have a slight slant to them I found that for me what worked best for me was using a stroking motion instead of the usual circular motion that is used with most blending took.  You can blend with them that way it is just that the other way worked better for me.  And even for their small size they pick up a lot of ink.   Waffle Flower also sent me one of their sampler packs to try out.  I hope to have a few more cards to share made with these new brushes.  Life has been a bit of a struggle this past week.  My oldest was in a car accident that thankfully he emerged from with only lacerations, scrapes and bruising.   We are also thankful that he was driving our Subaru.  They have one of the best safety records and now we, as a family, can attest to that!   I think from all the stress I caught the cold my youngest had and that has knocked me for a loop.  I'm feeling better, but still lacking energy or drive!

I finished the card with a Waffle Flower sentiment that I foiled in gold and die cut with the matching die.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!