Addicted to CAS #287

I've been trying to work on Christmas cards and Addicted to CAS inspired me to make a couple with their Christmas theme.

The gold heat embossed sentiment is from SSS.  To add a little color and a holiday feel I added the holly from Spellbinders Christmas Wonder.   To show you that 'white space' doesn't have to be white, I made another card.

The same sentiment is embossed in silver and the leaves were changed to a brighter green.   So happy to have two more cards for my stash.

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Freshly Made Sketches #682 and Color Throwdown #831

I fiddled around for a long time before I came up with something for Freshly Made Sketches and I'm still not sure I like what I did.   

I went through a lot of my patterned paper and fell in love with this one from a Color Wash pack from years ago.  I cut it apart and used different corners of the 6 by 6 piece to make the background.  The dragonfly is from Honey Bee, embossed in silver and colored with DI.  This is the second one I made since the first one didn't show up well.  The sentiment from the same set is also embossed in silver. 

I'm glad I went to see the challenge at Color Throwdown before I finalized my post.  Glory be, they are asking for sage green, yellow and coral.  I see tones of that in the background but I also painted the wings with Scattered Straw and Abandoned Coral.  I hope their DT thinks this qualifies. 

I'm so glad you dropped by.  Have a good weekend!

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Christmas Kickstart #97 - Positively Poinsettias

Jo asked me to be her elf at Christmas Kickstart for April.  I can't tell you how excited I was to get that invitation.  I also got to pick the theme for this month's challenge and this is it.

I don't know about you but I have a number of poinsettia stamps and dies so I thought it would be good to let you use yours to get a kickstart on your Christmas cards.  Here's mine.

This is a BetterPress plate from Spellbinders called Festive Poinsettias. It works beautifully as a hot foil plate that covers the background so you can use the available stencils to color in the image.  The sentiment is from  Pinkfresh Studio's Basic Banners, heat embossed in silver.  I really had to search for a place to take the photo since the foil background wanted to reflect a range of different colors.  It worked best standing up.  

Now it's your turn to make a card featuring poinsettias.  Please be sure to read the challenge guidelines on the blog.  I'll be back on the 15th with another card to inspire you.  I'd love to see your card in the gallery. 

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Time Out Challenge #284 - The Red Carpet

It's a theme challenge at Time Out and we're walking on the Red Carpet.

I wasn't sure how to go about making something for this challenge and stewed about it for a while.   After looking at close-ups of the dresses, I used one of them for my inspiration.

I picked various shades of purple scraps, inking the bottom two to make them darker,  cut the edge with a scallop die from SSS and added silver for the bodice.  They were layered on copy paper and cut with another SSS die that I thought resembled the curves of a woman's body.  I said resembled.  Remember this is art not reality.  lol  I found the perfect sentiment from PFS and heat embossed it in silver.  

Our sponsor for this challenge is Picket Fence Studio and they are offering our winner a $25 store credit.  We are also joined by Carol Mayne as our guest designer.  She was the winner of challenge #279.

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Cards 4 Guys #366

There's a sketch at the Cards 4 Guys Challenge and this is what I did with it.

I have a paper pack with a lot of backgrounds that I bought for masculine cards and used three of them on my card today.  The circles and stars are dies from Sizzix cut with graphite foil from Concord and 9th.  The sentiment from PTI was silver embossed on the same paper used for the strips connecting the center section to the background. 

ETA: Thanks to Lisa for suggesting I send my card to The Paper Players.  They have a similar sketch. 

Thanks for dropping by. 

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Freshly Made Sketches #598

There's a great sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and it had me bringing out my Hanging Flowers from Altenew.

Abandon Coral and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks were smooshed onto Ranger watercolor paper and the flowers and leaves cut from it.  The panel was embossed with the Subtle folder before arranging the flowers in opposite corners.  A silver embossed sentiment from WF was added to the middle.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 24.23

A big sale at Concord and 9th brought me the Yuletide Ornament set and allowed me to make a card for this week's 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

The ornament and sentiment were heat embossed in silver..  In order to color the ornament,  I stamped and cut out a mask and then blended on Tumbled Glass, Salvaged Patina and Peacock Feathers.

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Just Us Girls #679 - Word Week

It's coming up to wedding month and that is the word Lisa K has chosen for Word Week at Just Us Girls.

I already have a card made for my granddaughter's wedding so this one will be saved for future use.

I got this Sizzix embossing folder a while ago thinking it would make great wedding or anniversary cards. I rubbed Lost Shadow Oxide Ink on the folder before sending it through my die cutting machine. I placed the panel on some silver cardstock and added the embossed sentiment from The Greetery.   It's softer and prettier in real life.

Now it's your turn to make a wedding card.  There's plenty of inspiration from the Design Team and our guest Claire on the blog.  Who knows?  Guest designing may be in your future if you enter the winning card. 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 16.23

It's technique week at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  

I really need to add some heavy vellum to my stash.  My thin stuff didn't work so I used my LF pearlescent vellum.  I think that was a mistake order but I do love it. 

After embossing with SSS Pepperberry folder, I added an Altenew double-sided sticky sheet and adhered it to white a card base.  For some reason it looks a little pink.  The folder comes with a die that I cut, embossed and colored with Zigs. The silver heat embossed sentiment is from PTI.

I had to try a second one, putting the vellum on Vintage Jadeite from PTI.  It's only May and I'm half way to my needed Christmas cards.   I'm feeling pretty good about that.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Week 10

I'm still at it.  Week 10 of 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and I have a card for their black and silver challenge.

This was my second attempt.  Stamping black on silver cardstock didn't go well so I did the reverse.  The images and sentiment are from Woodware and although it looks dark, the panel is bordered with silver. 

Thanks for dropping by.  Has your weather been as much of a roller coaster ride as ours?

 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 23-2

Several ideas crossed my mind for the color challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown but not one of them seemed right. Then I remembered my GinaK gnomes.  

It's hard to photograph silver but it's there in the polka dots and sentiment.  The gnome, dressed in turquoise from my scraps, is popped up on Desert Storm cardstock.  I hope the white beard is okay.

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Just Us Girls #660 - Photo Week

It's Photo Week at Just Us Girls and Vicki has chosen this beautiful Christmas scene to inspire you.

Here's a close up.

I focused in on the beautifully wrapped gifts to make a card using a SSS die.

 

The die was cut from blue foil cardstock. Then the fun began by picking out a variety of papers for the 'wrapping' - a couple of golds and silvers, some teal sparkle and a gold polka dot colored with DI.  The one in the middle looks white but is silver as is the embossed sentiment from CASual Fridays. 

There are so many things in that photo that could be used for a card.  I hope you'll join us in the gallery for our last challenge until January. 

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The Flower Challenge #67

April's prompt at The Flower Challenge is Add a Heart.

In my resolve to use older stamps, I pulled out one from SSS that I have hardly used since purchasing six years or so ago.

It's actually a bouquet of flowers in the shape of a heart.  I heat embossed the image in silver and watercolored with the new Salt Water Taffy DI.  I wasn't sure the heart shape was apparent enough so I added a tiny one at the base of the image and cut around it all with a braided circle from PFS. The heat embossed sentiment from  is from Hero Arts and the card base is Berry Sorbet from PTI. 

To show our support for the people of Ukraine, Viv made us all watermarks featuring their national flower and the colors of their flag.  We will be using these for the duration of the war. 

Esther Asbury is our guest designer this month.  She and the Design Team have some wonderfully creative cards to inspire you to make a card for the challenge.  We hope to see you there.

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Freshly Made Sketches #517

I thought I was going to skip the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches until I remembered a new die I got from STAMPlorations.  I thought it would work great for the sketch.

The die was cut from mirrored silver and pink sparkle cardstocks with the pink inlaid into the silver for my card.  (I saved the other pieces to make a reverse card later.)  The panels were cut from Hero Arts rounded rectangles and the Altenew sentiment was heat embossed in silver.   I have all my valentines made  so I'm getting a head start for next year.

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CAS Christmas Challenge - April 2020

Back in 1958, Brenda Lee recorded a song called "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".  During that same time, aluminum Christmas trees were all the rage.  I took those elements and a stamp set from My Sentiments Exactly and made my card for CAS Christmas Challenge - Christmas Song.

You don't know how many times and ways I tried to photograph this card so the silver embossing would show.  It looks really dark here but it's so pretty and shiny IRL. Before the embossing, I stamped the tree in Antique Linen Distress Ink to make it easier to color the tiny circles with Zigs.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I appreciate it when you do.