Meowy Christmas for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  We have a fun new challenge over at the Paper Players this week!  The amazing Elizabeth is hosting our Clean and Simple challenge and is asking us to use critters on our cards.  

Paper Players

You can use any type of critter as long as you keep your card CAS - minimal layers and embellishments, simple and uncluttered with plenty of "white" space.

I'm continuing to work on my holiday card stash and I also used a stamp set that I've had for nearly, cough, cough...five years and have never used.  I figured it was high time to do so, and I'll be sharing over at Darnell's NBUS challenge.

Having had cats for at least half of my life, I couldn't love that sentiment more!  It makes me giggle, as does that very tense looking kitty (who knows what's in his cup???).  The cat was stamped then I did very simple coloring with my Copics before fussy cutting.  

The frame was die cut 3 times, twice from white and once from red metallic, then layered together on top of the Sea Glass card base.  The white center portion was stamped with the sentiment, layered inside the frame, then the cat was added with thin foam tape. 

I had cut three Christmas lights from another stamp in the set, colored them, then covered them with Glossy Accents. They, along with some torn up pine needles were added to the floor beneath the cat.  (sorry, they're a bit hard to make out; they're more visable IRL) Those darn cats will make such a mess of your holiday decorations if left unattended, as any cat owner will tell you! 

I hope you'll share your CAS critter card with us this week!  Before you head off to your crafty space, I encourage you to check out what the other DT members came up with (they're so talented!).  The challenge remains open until Friday, August 22nd at 3pm EDT.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• Simon Says Stamp/Tim Holtz Stamptember 2020 stamp set (this set isn't available any longer but TH has other Snarky Cats stamps available at SSS or other retailers, if you have a warped sense of humor as I do lol!)
• Tim Hold Mini Holiday Greens die
• Waffle Flower Nesting Piercing Ticket Frames die
• Copics - R59, 37, 35, T4, 2, 0, C3, 1, 0, Y11, B00
• Olos - G1.7, 1.5, 1.4

Gnomie Christmas for Color Hues

Hello friends!  It's mid-month already (!!?!) and time for a new challenge at Color Hues.  The fabulous Julie is hosting and has chosen a wonderful color combination.  

Color Hues

I considered several options but decided to add to my Christmas card stash with a funny gnome take on the holiday.

The stamp set is one that I bought a couple of years ago from Colorado Craft Company. The gnome Santa is kind of different looking but I was really enamored with the polar bear and the three penguins.  Plus I thought the sleigh looked pretty cool too. 

I colored everything with Copic markers.  Santa and the sleigh were red, of course, but then I added gold to all the metallic parts of the sleigh and the bell on Santa's hat.  I used the matching dies to cut them out.  

I had the sky background in my background stash.  I'm guessing but I think it was created using a Distress Spray stain and a Mica Spray stain because it has a shimmer to it.  A couple of snow hills were hand cut, layered on the background, then I added the images.  I covered everyone's eyes then splattered the entire panel with white splatter medium for lots of snow.  After that dried, the final step was to add the sentiment, which is from another CCC stamp set.

I hope that you'll be joining us for this challenge and if you need further inspiration, my very talented teammates and guest designer, the lovely Leslie Miller, have a wide variety of cards on the challenge blog just to do that!  The challenge will be open until Friday, August 29th at 9am EDT.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• CCC Chillin' Gnomies stamps and dies
• CCC North Pole sentiment stamp
• Guessing - Salty Ocean Distress Spray Stain and Snow Flurries Distress Mica Spray Stain
• Simon Says Stamp White Splatter Medium
• Copics - R59, 46, 27, 05, 20, YR27, Y15, 13, 11, T4, 2, 0, C9, 7, 6, 5, 3, 1, 0

Peony Bowl for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  I'm here today with my reminder card for The Flower Challenge.  This month we're adding embellishments to our floral creations.  

TFC 105R

 

Many years ago, when I was learning to color with my Copic markers, there were a number of people I followed, trying to learn their techniques and color choices, etc., which led me to Power Poppy.  It is owned by Marcella Hawley and as far as I know she still does all the illustrations.  I bought a couple of stamp sets and a few digi images, which have been tucked away. I haven't used them in ages and I thought it was way past time, especially since the image I used is one of my very favorites.

Isn't that an amazing illustration?  Since the peonies in our garden are a glorious pink, I was inspired to use the same color here.  It is an intricate image, so it did take a couple of hours to color but I love how it turned out.  I used some light brown markers to create a "table" and since I colored the bowl blue, I opted to use a light yellow in the background.

I trimmed the image down, matted on black then added to the card base.  I found some pretty gems that in real life are very close in color to the bowl.  I chose not to add a sentiment.

You still have 10 days to join in this month or add a second card - the challenge ends on the 25th.  In the meantime, do stop by the challenge and see the amazing inspiration by my talented teammates, there are some gorgeous cards to behold!

Thanks for taking time to stop by!

Stef

• Power Poppy digi print (not sure if it was Peony Bowl or ??)
• Honey Bee Stamps Winter Wonder gems
• Copics - B05, 02, 00, Y26, 15, 000, YG67, 45 17, 05, G29, 21, 40, E43, 41, 40
• Olos - RV 0.6, 0.5, 0.2, 0.1

Full of Thanks for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  I just want to thank everyone who joined in my theme challenge at the Paper Players last week - we had some amazing cards in the gallery!  And now it is time for a new challenge that the wonderful Claire is hosting.  It's a color challenge and she's chosen a beautiful palette that makes me think of fall.

Paper Players

In looking through my autumn/fall stamps and dies, I found one that hadn't been used in a couple of years and thought it would work perfectly with these colors.  Except for a slight booboo I made...and fixed.

I began with stamping and Copic coloring the autumnal spray with the challenge colors, except I forgot that the only green was Old Olive.  I finished up and then it dawned on me that the bright yellow green I used on some of the leaves wasn't going to work.  Fortunately, alcohol markers are transparent, so I was able to use another color to glaze over the parts that weren't olive and avoided a redo.  After that, the image was die cut.

I wanted to keep things simple, so a panel of white was trimmed down and lightly ink blended with a brown at the bottom and the orange above.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut before both pieces were added to the panel, which was then mounted to the card base with foam tape.  All done!

What do these colors bring to mind for you?  My wonderfully talented teammates have a wonderful array of designs with these colors, so I encourage you to pay a visit to the challenge before heading off to your crafty space.  Our challenge will remain open until Friday, August 15th at 3pm EDT.  I hope to see your card in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• Simon Says Stamp Full of Thanks stamp and die
• Simon Says Stamp/CZ Design Clean Line Gratitude stamp and die
• Copics - YR18, 09, 07, 15, 21, R59, 39, 37, 35, YG99, 97, 95, 67, 63, 61, 17, 11, 05, 03, 01, V09, 06, 05, 01, E59, 57, 55

Blossoms Birthday for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  It's a new month and a new theme for The Flower Challenge.  This time we're asking you to use embellishments - any kind, whatever you like as long as your card features flowers.  Easy, right?

TFC

I have a frame die that was made specifically for adding sparkling gems so what could be more perfect?

I've been wanting to use the Butterfly Blossoms set from Simon Says Stamp again and thought these sweet flowers would frame up nicely, along with the tiny butterfly.  They were colored with Copic markers then die cut.  

Originally, I thought I would use a gold metallic frame, but I didn't care for how it looked and decided to go with white since I ink blended the interior with light blue.  I found some gems and looked through my blue cardstocks for something that would go with the inked frame center and the gems and chose a piece of SSS Island Blue. Sooo pretty! 

The frame was layered three times and adhered to the blue card front, then the center with the flowers and butterfly adhered was popped into the middle.  After testing out a few sentiments, I ended up with one of SSS Reverse sentiment strips, then finished things off with the beautiful gems all around the frame.

Are you ready to play along this month?  What are your favorite embellishments?  We'd love to see!  The challenge will remain open until August 25th.  Before you head off to your crafty space, I encourage you to visit the challenge, where my talented teammates have some beautiful inspiration to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• SSS Butterfly Blossoms stamps and dies
• SSS Reverse Sentiment Strips set (not sure which one, mine are all mixed together)
• Altenew Sparkle Frame
• Altenew Deep Sea Sapphire Gem Sparkles
• Copics - YR16, Y17, 08, G19, 02
• Olos - O4.6, 4.3

By the Water for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  For this week's Paper Players theme challenge, I am hosting and chose one of my favorite things to do and that is be by the water.

Paper Players

When I was young, my parents took us to the Oregon coast for a week every summer and to me, there's nothing like the ocean.  However, I also love camping beside a lake or hiking along a stream or river, just enjoying nature.  We would love to see you're favorite place by the water this week!

For my card, I used another of the Waffle Flower Postage Collage stamp sets.

I started by cutting out the individual scene panels with the Postage Collage Block die, then inked the sky in each.  I used my Misti and stamped each panel with various tropical scene stamps.  Since I was going to all this work, I did make two cards.

For both cards I used the Postage Collage die and cut it from white card stock, then adhered the panels.  The first was simply added to a black card base with foam tape.  For the second card, I found some cardstock that was similar to one of the sky colors to use for a mat before adding to a white card base.  I used the same sentiment for both, stamping, die cutting and layering on two additional die cuts for dimension.  The final touch was to add waves in each vignette using a white gel pen.

Do you have a favorite spot by the water?  I hope you'll share it with us this week.  For more inspiration, be sure to use the link above to see what my talented teammates have created for this challenge.  The challenge will remain open until 3pm EDT, Friday August 8th.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• Waffle Flower Postage Collage Tropical Sunset Stamp set
• WF Postage Collage die and Block die
• Simon Says Stamp Butterfly Blossoms sentiment stamp and die
• Card #1 - Altenew Starlight, Rubellite, Mid-Yellow and Turquoise inks
• Card #2 - Altenew Dusk, Fuchsia, Sunray and Turquoise inks
• Sakura White Gelly Roll pen

Cozy Birdhouse for Color Hues

Hello friends!  The summer is sure cruising by and here it is, August 1st! Over at Color Hues we have a new challenge, this time hosted by the amazing Carol.  She has chosen a lovely combo of pink and gray.

Color Hues

Making a bunny with these colors definitely crossed my mind but instead I decided to use a couple of cute die sets to make a fun little scene.  Since the dies are new, I'll be linking up to Darnell's NBUS as well.

NBUS

I started out by inking the background using a cloud stencil and a light pink ink on an A2 panel of white.

Next all the elements were die cut from white, which were colored with a variety of inks in pink, gray and brown.  For the sentiment, I took the inkpad direct to paper, let it dry overnight, then die cut it.  

I started creating the card front with the branch, which I layered on two additional die cuts, then wrapped some hemp twine on it before adding it to the top of the panel.  The twine was pulled taut, then I used a little tape to hold it in place.

Then came the birdhouse and fun little birdies.  I put the house together first, added foam tape to the back and positioned it so that the roof hid the taped twine.  The interior panel is also cut from the die but it's hard to get it exactly centered, so next time I think I'll create a slightly larger one.  After adding the birdies, the layered die cut sentiment was centered and I was done.

I encourage you to use the link above to see what my oh, so talented teammates have created with this color combination.  After seeing all that great inspiration, I hope you'll head off to your crafty space and join us!  The challenge will remain open until Thursday, August 14th at 3pm EDT.  

Thanks for visiting and take care!

Stef

• Simon Says Stamp Birdies and Cozy Birdhouse die sets
• MFT Mini Cloud Edges stencil*
• MFT Hello There Dienamic set*
• SSS Mocha Cappucino and Latte inks
• Altenew Baby Pink, Pinkalicious, Rubellite, Idustrial Diamond and Pure Graphite inks

*Sadly, MFT has closed but I am guessing there may be products available online or other retailers.