Just Us Girls #806 - Mood Board Week

Vicki has a great winter mood board for us this week at Just Us Girls.

Here's a larger image so you can see more detail.

I combined several pictures in the lower middle of the board for my card.

I was looking for something else when I came across this paper with the log cabin on it.  Perfect!  All I did was add a stacked tree from Cutting Edge, using foam tape between the layers and Puff Paste for the snow. The sentiments is from Penny Black.

Which part of the board will entice you to make a card?  Check out what the Design Team and our guest Laurel have made for inspiration.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.

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Color Hues #116

 Today's card is for the Color Hues challenge - red and blue. 

I love seeing bright red cardinals in the trees during the winter, especially if there is a little snow on them.  The trees, not the cardinals.  lol  I used Honey Bee's Winter Birds cutting him from three colors of red. The branch is from their Winter Foliage, edged with some embossing powder.  Plain blue wouldn't work for the background so I used an MFT Brush Splatter stamp with Unicorn White ink.  The sentiment is from Let Nature Sing, embossed in white on the same blue as the sky. 

Thanks for dropping by.  I'm off on a crafting adventure tomorrow.  I'll tell you all about it later.

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Just Us Girls #706 - Photo Week

The host this week at Just Us Girls is Carol Mc and this is the photo/moodboard she chose to inspire your cards. 

Here is a larger view.

You can choose from the images or the colors or even the sentiment.

Here's what my mind's eye saw.

Whenever there's an opportunity to make a bird, I'm going to do it.  The beautiful cardinal and the sentiment are from Honey Bee's Winter Birds.  The greenery and branch are from their Winter Greenery dies.  A little Oxide ink background and some snow made with Puff embossing powder and a few splatters give the scene a wintry look. 

What image inspires your imagination?  Go see what the Design Team and our guest Melissa have made and then make a card for our challenge.  We'd love to see you in the gallery.

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Triple B Challenge #1

Diane and Darlene, the creative geniuses behind several other card challenges have come up with another one.  Triple B which stands for Birds, Blooms and Butterflies.  That is right up my alley so I'll be sending cards to them often.  The one I have to share today I made for another of their challenges but missed the deadline.

 

I wanted to see if I could turn HoneyBee's Winter Birds cardinal die into a female.  I think she looks pretty good in Desert Storm cs with selective inking.  I gave her a snowy branch from HB's Winter Foliage to perch on with a little gloss for the berries.  An inked oval with splatters and a coverplate from Altenew make up the background.   

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a wonderful week.

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Christmas Kickstart #68

I have a card for Christmas Kickstart featuring trees.

The tree dies from Deanna Pannell were cut from a panel smooshed with Distress Inks.  The big tree is stacked but it's difficult to see.  Snow was added to the trees with Frantage and to the background with a SU embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Pink Fresh Studio. 

Thanks for dropping by.  Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends.

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Just Us Girls #568 - Photo Week

It's Photo Week at Just Us Girls and Carol has chosen a most interesting one for us.

What do you see in this picture that inspires a card?  Buildings?  Snow? Lights?  The thing that caught my attention was the light pole.

I stamped the lamp post from Penny Black and clear heat embossed it so I could ink the background with several Distress Inks after first masking off the area around the candle.  Then I went in and added yellow ink to the circle, fading it into the blue.  Next came the splattered snow and a sentiment from CP.  I also added a little snow to the post with Snow Marker that puffs when you heat it.

I can't wait to see how the photo inspires you.  Check out the Design Team and guests Carol and Melanie to see what they saw.

Color Hues #7

I finally got a technique to work for my card at Color Hues.

It doesn't show up well in the photo but there is snow on the branches.  I inked the background with Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink then stamped the image from PB in Unicorn White.  After moving the stamp the slightest bit down and to the left I stamped it in HA Navy ink.  I think some of the white has faded back but it still gives the impression of snow, especially after I splattered it with white gouache.  To create a little more interest and texture, I added the Altenew frame along with one of their sentiments.   

My gift card holders have been put on the back burner for grocery shopping and present wrapping.  I hope to get back to them today.  How are you progressing with all your holiday cards and gifts?

CAS Christmas Challenge -June Reminder

I'm back with another card for the CAS Christmas challenge - Masculine. 

I used the same PTI set as I did for my other card for this challenge, this time featuring the skis.  I stamped them in dark gray on gray cardstock and silver embossed the bindings.  Texture paste through a SSS stencil makes the snowy background and my new puff embossing powder edges the torn hill.  The card needed a little color so the sentiment is stamped in red and clear heat embossed.

There is still time to enter the challenge and the Design Team has even more cards to inspire you.  Head on over to CAS Christmas and check them out.

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.

Merry Monday #283

Look at this cute photo.

At Merry Monday we are to add a puppy to our Christmas card.  Not having a specific Christmas puppy I had to improvise and I'm glad stamps from different companies work so well together.

I took the Santa and sentiment from MFT and added the little dog from PB.  Both are colored with Zigs.  For the background I used my Clarity brush to make a soft winter sky and then stamped it with a snowflake looking stamp from CPD in Fairy Dust.  I thought a little shine was needed so I embossed on some glitter.  I used texture paste to create a snowy ground and popped up the images.  I think that little pup is glad to hear that he can expect something good from Santa this year. ;)

You're all on my nice list too.

Merry Monday #274

Although the snow is gone for now, and I'm not looking forward to more, I'm more than willing to make a snow card for Merry Monday.

I've had this HA Snowy Tree stamp for over a year and I think this is the first time I've used it.  I stamped a row of trees in the background and then stamped one on vellum, adding white embossed snow.  The snow fall and sentiment are also part of the set and were embossed.

I'm glad you dropped by.  Have a great weekend.

CAS(E) This Sketch #251, Little Red Wagon #423 and CAS Mix-Up December

I have a fun little card for you today that fits in three different challenges.  The starting point was the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.

I turned it on it's side and made this.

The little snowball rolling hedgehog is a PB image that I borrowed from Michele.  I embossed a strip of cardstock with my fabric folder that I think looks like drifted snow that he rolled his ball through.  I added snow with embossing paste through a SSS stencil and then stamped the sentiment from My Craft Spot (closed).

The Little Red Wagon is looking for Christmas Critters so I'm sending him off to them and also to CAS Mix-Up because I stamped, dry embossed, and used embossing paste with a stencil.

I'm off to a Christmas lunch with my Lunch Ladies (high school classmates) today.  It will be a fun time of reminiscing and sharing.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you have something special planned for today too.

Merry Monday #259

I depend on Merry Monday to help me get my Christmas cards done.  This week they want to see a Christmas tree on a card.  The difficulty is choosing which tree to use. 

I decided to go non-traditional and use the bottle trees from EE.  I cut a square frame, stamped a sentiment from the set and stenciled snow with glitter paste.  While it was drying I stamped the trees, masking off the bottoms to stamp later in black.  I added some gray to the bases and when that wasn't enough I added more stenciled snow to the top and glued glitter to and around the trees.  The top panel is popped up on fun foam. 

I'm so excited!  Michele is coming today!!! We'll be doing some sharing of crafty supplies so stay tuned to what we make with each others stash.

I'm so glad you dropped by.  It would be nice if you could drop in in person too.

Merry Monday #219

When Merry Monday asks for a card with a bird on it I just HAVE to use my Altenew cardinal.

I don't usually do multiples of cards but I love this one so much I may have to do more.

The sentiment is from Penny Black and I think it could be used for this time of year with all the beautiful fall colors.  Enjoy the beauty around you wherever you live and whatever season it happens to be there.

Merry Monday #196 and Inkspirational # 104

It's been a productive day today and I have a couple of cards to show you. Merry Monday is asking for a card in black, white and silver/gray.

I started with some Soft Stone cs and used a SSS stencil and embossing paste to add snow.  A torn piece of Neenah adds a drift and place for the sentiment from PTI, which is also where the skis came from.  The sentiment and ski bindings are embossed silver, which I have as much trouble photographing as I do gold.   

Keeping with a similar color scheme, I have a card for Inkspirational, who want a card in pink and gray.  

I only took this picture 6 times with different settings trying to get it to come close to the actual color.  No amount of photo editing was helping the situation.   This one is pretty close.  The background is Soft Stone cs again, with a couple of other grays as accents.  PTI's Vintage Linen flower is embossed in white on watercolor paper and painted with DI.  I made a card like this for an earlier challenge and missed the deadline.  It had a different color base but I like it so much I recreated it for this challenge.

That's enough for today.  I have more cards ready for tomorrow.

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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