Time Out #302

It's another pick two at Time Out.

I think it's fun to make a card by picking two or more words to inspire me.  For mine I picked white, sparkle and I guess you could say nature.

It all started with the snowflake circle from Memory Box cut in Altenew Moonstone glitter cardstock.  The Winterhaven images from Catherine Pooler were cut from white and arranged on a circle to fit behind the snowflake frame. To keep it white, I taped the window and door cutouts in place. Nuvo glitter drops were added to the tops of the houses and trees.  The peace die from Ellen Hutson is also cut in Moonstone.  

The sponsor for this challenge is Top Flight and they will award the winner a $25 store credit. 

What two will you pick for your card?  We can't wait to see.

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Just Us Girls #482 - Word Week

I'm the host this week at Just Us Girls and it's Word Week.  The word I chose is

Don't ask me why.  I was just at a loss for a word that would encourage you to make a card.  Everyone has at least one house stamp or die don't they?  I haven't peeked to see what the Design Team has done but they never disappoint.  Why don't you check them out for some inspiration.  We have Christine Perez as our guest this month. 

Here's my card.

The little houses and trees are from CP and are colored with Zigs.  The set also includes the hill die.  Usually I just leave the windows open but I fiddle diddled around and fit back in the die cut pieces.  What was I thinking?  I mean they are TINY!   And now that I've said that, why didn't I do the doors?

I hope we will see your "house" card in our gallery this week.  You could be our Chic of the Week with a chance to guest design.

Fusion - Christmas Ride

I had fun recreating the little scene for the Fusion Challenge.

Isn't that a sweet image?  Mine is a little different - more rural.

Ink blending courtesy of Distress Inks, houses and Santa from Catherine Pooler and sentiment from Happy Little Stampers.  They play together so nicely.

I hope all your holiday plans are coming together.

Merry Monday #287

I had an idea right away about what I wanted to use for the Merry Monday challenge.

And then I scrolled down and saw that DT Member Marcia Hill had used the same set.  Now the challenge was how to use mine without copying her.  I think I managed.

I started by using texture paste through the SSS snowfall stencil.  While that was drying I cut my houses and trees from patterned paper.  The slope is cut from the same CPD die set as the houses, stamped with the PTI sentiment and popped up.

For those of you interested, the World Championship of Robotics is this weekend in Detroit.  I won't be going in person to see my granddaughter but I will be able to watch the live stream on my computer.  I just keep it on in the background so I can see the team when they're competing and meanwhile I get some crafting done.  Win, win.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a wonderful day.

Inspired By . . . #9

Over in the meadow is the theme for the Inspired By. . . challenge this week and there is a photo to inspire us.

I wasn't quite sure how to interpret this so it took me up until the deadline to get a card made.

I ended up with a rather literal translation using several embossing folders, paper scraps and a die set from CPD.  The sentiment is from MSE. 

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your day is sunny and bright and that you scatter joy.

STAMPlorations - February

I am so glad I checked the deadline for the STAMPlorations challenge.  I've had a card made for weeks but never posted it.  Although I've already posted a card today, it's now or never for this one.

I made a similar card before but I didn't have the Candied Apple Distress Ink at the time so the sentiment and layout were a little different.  You can see that card here,

I stamped and masked Shirley's houses on Bristol and inked it ombre' style before adding the sentiment from HA.  The inside says "So paint the town red."

Thanks for dropping by - again.

Inkspirational #135

I knew I had the Stamploration houses to make a card for Inkspirational's "Urban" word prompt but how to implement it took me a while until I found the perfect sentiment from PTI.  Are you ready?  This one's for you, c. ;)

DOXs were used to smoosh a background and then the houses were masked and stamped around the sentiment.  I just wish there was a bright red oxide ink.  Maybe in the next collection.

I have some more posts to schedule and a couple of cards to make before the busy wedding and Open House weekend.  What women would want to put herself through that?  Fortunately she's the mother of the groom so not much to do there and has plenty of family to help with the Open House. The wedding is outdoors and the reception is in a barn.  Sounds like we're in for a fun time.

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by.

Curtain Call - At Home

It would have been so easy to make a wood background with words because that's what Curtain Call's photo is but I went in a totally different direction.

I decided to make gingerbread houses with my Stamplorations set.  I white embossed them on Neenah Desert Storm and colored them with Inktense Pencils.  I used a white pen to doodle around the edges like icing on a cookie.  If only real gingerbread houses were this easy.

Thanks for dropping by.

Happy Little Stamper Sketch and Christmas Challenges

Sometime when I'm playing around with ideas and stamps, things come out better than when I plan and take care.  Case in point.  This card for Happy Little Stampers Christmas - Poinsettia.

I had just gotten this stamp from Penny Black and wanted to test it out so I rubbed some Distress Markers on it, gave it a spritz and stamped on a scrap piece of Neenah.  A few splatters got on it and some of the stamping wasn't that great but the more I looked at it the more I liked it.  Instead of tossing it in the recycle bin, I added a few more splatters with my TH sprayer, a strip of DP and some gold and a gold embossed sentiment from Happy Little Stampers.  Oh, yes, and some gold Liquid Pearls for the centers.

My next card is for another Happy Little Stampers challenge - the sketch challenge.

Step one:  Ink up the background with Tumbled Glass DI and stencil SSS Snowfall with Unicorn White.  Step two: Cut the little houses and trees from SSS and color them with DI, adding yellow vellum behind the windows and some embossed snow.  Step three:  Cut the hills with SSS dies and stamp one with the sentiment from HLS.  Next it's time to arrange and rearrange until I liked how it looked, popping up the front hill and house  Even though there are a lot of parts to this, it would be easy to make in multiples.

I've been jumping around from Halloween to Thanksgiving and now to Christmas and back to Halloween tomorrow.  Gotta love the Holidays.

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Uniko Challenge #24

Have you seen the inspiration photo over at Uniko?

Isn't this just a delightful fairy cottage?  I had to make a card like this with a NBUS clearance stamp I recently purchased.

I colored it with my Zigs, cut the panel down and popped it up on some Winter Wisteria.

My brother and SIL from North Carolina have been visiting and we've been, as they call it, "junking". They are collectors extraordinaire and it's fun to see all the things they buy.  I did add a few things to my old kitchen utensil collection but not much else.  While they've been here, I have posted cards that I made last week.  I have one more for tomorrow and that's all.  We'll head for the lake this weekend so I may not get anything else made unless I get time tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by.  I always appreciate your visits and comments.

Less is More #228

I'm struggling to get some cards made for a variety of challenges.  I was busy all day yesterday but threw this card together last night for the Less is More "Home" themed one layer challenge.  I knew I wanted to use the little houses from Shirley (The Bee's Knees) and Stamplorations.  The biggest hang-up was finding a sentiment.  Take a look

I used my Inktense pencils for the color.  The sentiment is made from Milo's Letters by Lawn Fawn. It only took me 10 tries to get the letters lined up.  It looked so easy when I saw one of the teachers in an online card class do it.  I'm just going to call this a practice session.