Christmas Sparkle for Christmas Craft Creations

Hello friends!  For the month of June, the challenge at Christmas Craft Creations is to use heat embossing as the focus of your project.  My card today is for the reminder post - the challenge is open until 11:00 am MDT on Tuesday July 11th.

Christmas Craft Creations

I'm also playing along with the lovelies at Inkspirational, where the current challenge is to emboss your background.

Inkspirational #292

I don't know about you, but I have what I wouldn't call a "bad" habit (although my wallet may disagree lol!) but a tendency to get carried away after seeing all the new beautiful Christmas crafting supplies that are released every year and buying more than I use in a season.  The stamp I used today is one of them.

The snowflakes are part of the beautiful Snowed In Background stamp from Taylored Expressions and because it is red rubber, I easily got beautiful results despite the intricate detail of the snowflakes.  It was stamped with Versamark onto aqua paper then silver heat embossed.  I then inked around the perimeter of the panel with a darker aqua color and once that dried trimmed the panel down to 3.75" x 5".

Next the sentiment, which is from Poppystamps Christmas Sparkle stamp set, was stamped on the aqua paper, silver heat embossed then die cut with a circle die and mounted on a slightly larger circle die cut from matte silver cardstock.  The sentiment was added to the panel with thin foam squares.  The panel was then adhered to a 4" x 5.25" panel of the same silver paper then added to a white card base.  I loved how it looked but thought it could use a bit more sparkle, so I added Ocean Waves crystals to the center of all the snowflakes except the tiniest of them.  I wish I could show you how it sparkles IRL, it looks so pretty, but unfortunately my camera just can't capture that.

Thanks so much for visiting and I do hope I've inspired you a bit, and for even more inspiration to start or add to your Christmas card stash, be sure to head over to the challenge blog where the other design team members have some beautiful cards to share!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Taylored Expressions Snowed In Background, Poppystamps Christmas Sparkle

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Simon Says Stamp Matte Silver, Concord and 9th Aqua Sky

Ink:  Versamark, Concord & 9th Oceanside

Dies:  Hero Arts Nested Infinity Circle dies, 

Other: SSS Ultra Fine Silver embossing powder, Studio Katia Ocean Waves Crystals

Fragrant Florals Embossing

Hello friends!  Today I have a card that I made using an embossing technique that Jennifer McGuire recently shared on her blog post here. There's also a link to her YT video there too.  It was really fun and pretty easy to do - I actually made four card fronts but turned only one of them into a card for today's post.  I'm sharing this over at Inkspirational, where the current challenge is to emboss your background.

Inkspirational #292

My card uses an embossing folder from one of my favorite Altenew product suites called Fragrant Florals.

Isn't that embossed impression pretty?  To begin, I used silver pigment ink and lightly but throughly inked up the raised portion inside the embossing folder.  I placed a panel of peacock cardstock on the uninked side, then closed the embossing folder and ran it through my die cut machine.  For a couple of the panels I had to run them through twice, to get better inking of the debossed area, but I think that was due to the ink pad being a little dry.  

Now I'll bet you're thinking to yourself "Gee, that doesn't look like peacock cardstock" and you'd be correct, partly because the next step is to use a brayer and ink the panel with a darker ink.  In this case I used Simon Says Stamp Cadette ink.  Not really darker but layering it on really made the background pop as well as the contrast with the debossed silver.  Also, I recently got a photo box and the lighting changes the color of anything aqua or teal.  I had a similar issue with my prior lighting setup and I'm not sure what to do but I don't want to spend any more $$ for now so I'll have to figure out some kind of workaround. In the meantime, the card appears blue.

To finish off the card, the panel was trimmed down to 3.75" x 5" then layered on the card base.  The die cut hello sentiment was cut from silver then backed with the shadow die from the same cardstock and added with thin foam squares.  I realized when I edited my photo the center of the letter o would have probably given it a more finished look, but I'm hopeful the recipient won't mind!

Thanks for taking time to stop by!  I'll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card for the Christmas Craft Creations reminder post, so pop on over if you have a chance!

Take care!

Stef

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Concord & 9th Peacock, SSS Matte Silver

Ink:  Encore Silver Pigment ink, SSS Cadette

Dies:  Altenew Vertical Greetings

Embossing Folder:  Altenew Fragrant Florals

Peaceful Birthday for Sunday Stamps

Hello friends!  Well, isn't this month just rolling by?  It's time once again for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps!  This time it's a sketch challenge by yours truly - I hope it inspires you to join us!

Sunday Stamps

It had been a while since I'd made a slimline card and I like all the real estate for creating that it provides. For my card, I did rotate it so it is portrait rather than landscape style. I also apologize with the photo quality of the first shot - I had a heck of a time getting the sentiment to read clearly, even after photo editing.  I'm currently using an older smartphone and I think it's time for an upgrade lol!

The Peaceful Birds stamp and die set from MFT were perfect for making a slimline birthday card.  All the images were stamps, colored with Copics and die cut with the matching dies.  The MFT mini clouds stencil and some light blue ink were used to create the clouds on a 3.25" x 8.25" panel.  I then laid out my scene so I'd know where the grass layer would go and ink blended a couple of green Distress inks on a separate panel of white, then die cut it with a grass border die.

Before adhering the scene panel to the card base I colored a strip of white with the same Copic marker as the one used for the birdhouse, added it to the white card base, then layered the panel on to finish things up.

Do you like making slimline or mini slimline cards?  We'd love to see yours in the gallery, the challenge is open until 4pm MDT Friday 7/7.  In the meantime, please pop over to the challenge blog where the other DT members have created some fabulous cards for your inspiration!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  MFT Peaceful Birds

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Black

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Simon Says Stamp Marine, Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness Distress

Dies:  Peaceful Birds, Lawn Fawn Grassy Borders, MFT Skinny Strips

Stencil:  MFT Mini Cloud Edge

Copics:  B28, 26, 23, YG45, 41, G28, 17, 03, Y26, 08, 13, R20, C3, 000, YR16, E49, 47, 44, 43, 41

African Daisy for Color Hues

Hello friends!  We have a new challenge at Color Hues, and this time the lovely Karen has chosen yellow and green for the color combo. 

Color Hues

I decided to use a newer stamp that hadn't been inked up yet, making a relatively CAS card.

I wanted to have a light yellow background, so I opted to have white daisies.  My lightest yellow Copic marker was used for the background, and I didn't color it solid, doing a lot of flicking back and forth that left bits of white here and there.  I used light grays to provide some shading of the daisies and some really bright and cheerful greens for the leaves.

The panel was trimmed down and when I finally settled on a sentiment (are you ever indecisive about the sentiment or it's placement?  I sure can be!), it was stamped in black pigment ink.  Next, I used a cover plate die on a panel of white, adhered that to the base, then added the main image that was layered on a slightly larger black panel and called it done, opting to not add any embellishments.  Like I said, pretty CAS.

You'll find some amazing inspiration by my super-talented teammates over on the challenge blog and  I hope you'll join us and share what you're inspired to make with these colors!  The challenge remains open until 9 a.m. EST Wednesday June 28th.

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Altenew Paint-A-Flower: African Daisy and Fancy Greetings

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, black

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Altenew Obsidian

Dies:  Pinkfresh Studio Stitched Diamonds Cover Plate die

Copics:  YR24, Y15, 11, 000, C3, 1, 00, YG09, 07, 05, 01

Billowing Peonies for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  It's mid-month and time for The Flower Challenge reminder post.  This month our theme is to use your favorite flowers.  I hope you'll join us and share your favorite flower!

The Flower Challenge

Warning - this is a longer than normal post as I couldn't make just one card. ;-)

As I shared in my post at the beginning of the month, I love peonies and we had some beauties in our front yard this year but unfortunately the series of thunderstorms we've been experiencing cut their life a bit short.  But I do have a couple photos to share.

The pink flowers start out almost red, then bloom out to the light pink, and while it's hard to see, the whites one have small, vibrant pink stripes right in the middle. 

Now onto my cards.  When Altenew celebrated their 9th anniversary in April, I just had to get their mega-sized Billowing Peonies bundle.  The stamp used today is HUGE and I had to use my Memory Misti to stamp it!  I decided to use the accompanying stencils to color them pink and white like those in our garden.

The card ended up being 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches and I used my W R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 Punch board to make a custom envelope.  Altenew inks (listed below) were used for stenciling the image, then it was die cut with the coordinating die.  A separate panel was ink blended with light blue, then both the floral image and the panel were lightly splattered with Altenew Jet Black ink spray using a small paintbrush.

When the splatter dried, I used the punchboard to round two corners of the panel, adhered the floral image, then trimmed off the overhanging parts.  The panel was adhered to a white card base, then I added the die cut sentiment.  A few clear sequins finished things off.

I couldn't help but stamp a few more images while I was at it, so I made a couple more cards.

Similar to the last, it was stenciled, splattered with black ink spray, then the panel trimmed down with a rectangle die and added to a light gray card base.

And of course, I couldn't stop before coloring at least one flower with alcohol markers!  I tried out some of my new OLO markers - the flower was certainly a treat to color and the markers blended beautifully.

So there you have it, my total love affair with anything peony on full display lol!  Now, be sure to head over to the challenge blog, my amazing teammates have even more stunning floral cards to share with and inspire you.  Remember, you have until the 25th to play along!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Altenew Billowing Peonies

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Black, Fog

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Altenew Obsidian, Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, Rubellite, Warm Sunshine, Honey Drizzle, Firefly, Grass Field, Shadow Creek, Limestone, Silver Stone, Industrial Diamond, Sea Breeze

Dies:  Altenew Billowing Peonies, Versatile Greetings and Featured Sentiment dies; Simon Says Stamp Fancy Hello; Hero Arts Rounded Rectangle Infinity die; Pink & Main Layered Square dies

Other:  Altenew Jet Black ink spray and Billowing Peonies stencil set, Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequins, W R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 Punchboard Envelope Maker, Honey Bee Stamps Small Clear Dew Drops

OLO markers:  V2.8, 2.7, 2.6, 2.4, 2.3, 1.1, G1.8, 1.7, 1.4, 0.1, YO 2.7, 2.5, 2.3, Copic Y04

Just a Bunch of Hocus Pocus

Hello there!  I'm back with my second post of the day (you can find my Sunday Stamps DT post here.) For this post I'm playing along with the super fun challenge at Inkspirational, where they want us to share seasonal cards.  

Inkspirational #291

Every year since my grandchildren were young, I have sent each of them a Halloween card.  Now that they are adults, I still do it because it's fun, they love getting them and I love to make them.  So, the card I'm sharing today was one I made for my granddaughter last fall but have never shared it in a blog post, so I thought now's the perfect time!

My favorite Halloween movie (and probably so for many people) was and is Hocus Pocus.  I'm a huge Bette Midler fan and she and the other two women were absolutely hilarious.  So, when I saw that Stamping Bella had this stamp, it was a must have for me.  

After stamping the image, I used Copic markers to color the witches and the background, using a lot of inspiration for that from the super talented Elaine Hughes and the other DT at SB.  The panel was then cut down with a wonky rectangle die, then adhered to a black A2 card base.

The sentiments are from a separate stamp set (both listed below) and after they were white heat embossed on black, I fussy cut them down to size and added them with a bit of foam tape.  The last step was to add some Honey Bee Stamps Obsidian Rhinestones, including a small one for the necklace on the middle witch.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  I hope you have a great week ahead!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps: Stamping Bella Curvy Girls Witches 3 and Frightful and Delightful

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Hero Arts Pitch Black

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Other:  Simon Says Stamp Wonky Rectangle die, Honey Bee Stamps Obsidian Rhinestones

Copics:  Hair: (YR35, 33, 31) (E29, 09, YR18, 14) (C9, 7, 6, 3); Dresses: (BV29, 09, 06, BG99, G28, YG67, 17, 25 W9, 7, 5) (RV99, 19, 66, 55, BV17, V17, 15, 12) (E57, YR18, 16, Y17, BV17, V17, 15, 12); Background: V25, 22, T6, 4

Fisherman for Sunday Stamps

Hello and welcome!  It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps and this time we have some muted colors that I found to work well for my husband's birthday card.  I used red, gray and steel blue.

Sunday Stamps

I'm also playing along with Seize the Birthday's Anything Goes Challenge.

STB #263

My husband is a fly fisherman and I have found when crafting companies create stamp sets with fishing images, they are mostly for bait fishing.  So I was pleased when I found this stamp from Whimsy Stamps.

I started by stamping the image on white cardstock, then ink blended Simon Says Stamp Morning ink in the background for the sky.  I used Copic markers to color the water, his waders, jeans, vest, shirt and hat and was going to call it good but the background looked to vacant.  I used very light gray copic markers to faintly draw in the trees on the other side of the water.  I am not much of a sketch artist but these are easy trees - draw a line for the trunk and add random squiggly lines for the limbs and it gives the impression of tall fir trees without having to get too detailed.

The main panel was die cut with a deckled rectangle and added with foam tape to a gray panel that was die cut with a larger deckled rectangle, then embossed with a retired Stampin' Up embossing folder.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut with an extra layer to give it a bit of dimension. The final step was to add the fishing line coming off the end of his rod; the stamp didn't have that so I just drew one with a ruler and a black Copic Fineliner pen.

Be sure to pop over to the challenge blog to check out the wonderful cards by the other DT members and hopefully be inspired to join us!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Whimsy Stamps Fisherman, Honey Bee Stamps Pickup Lines

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Simon Says Stamp Slate

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Altenew Obsidian, SSS Morning

Dies:  Pickup Lines coordinating sentiment die, Altenew Mix and Match Frames, Waffle Flower Deckled Frames

Embossing folder:  ret. SU Bark

Copics:  E35, 34, 30, 21, 11, 00, 000, T0, 2, C6, 4, 2, B99, 97, 93, 91, R59, 39, 37

The Joy is in the Journey

Hello friends!  Today I'm sharing a birthday card that I made for my nephew and am playing along with Ann's challenge to create a masculine card at The Paper Players.

PP643

The Paper Players always has great challenges, I have found myself not having time (making time?) to play along, so this week I made sure to do so.

I used Altenew's Spectacular Adventures stamp and die set.  I think the idea of the reflection in glasses is so clever and there are three different scenes to choose from - obviously I chose the mountain scene.  The glasses were stamped in black, then I used Gina K's Warm Glow Amalgam ink to stamp the scene.  It's a light ink to use for that "no-line" stamping look.  Copic markers were used to color the scene, then the piece was die cut.

I used one of my favorite plaid prints from the retired Stampin' Up Plaid Tidings DSP - I hoard this paper pack lol!  The panel was trimmed down and layered on a white card base.  The sentiments were stamped on a white strip, layered on a slightly larger one of Garden Green cardstock, the adhered to the card.  Lastly the glasses were added with foam tape for a bit of dimension.

Thanks for talking time to stop by.  I hope you're having a great week!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Altenew Spectacular Adventures, PTI Stylish Sentiments: Birthday

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Garden Green, Plaid Tidings dsp

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne, Gina K Warm Glow Amalgam

Die:  Spectacular Adventures

Copics:  G46, 43, W1, 0, BG000, 0000

Peony Birthday Wishes for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  The new month also brings a new challenge at The Flower Challenge.  This month the theme is to use your favorite flower - how easy is that?  Well, unless you have multiple favorites, then you'll have to choose one - or even better, make more than one card for the challenge!

The Flower Challenge

I'm also joining the current Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

If you follow my blog, you may know that peonies are my very favorite flowers and I have a one to share today that I colored in what I guess is my current favorite color - peach!

This gorgeous image is from Altenew, and as a peony lover, one I could not resist adding to my collection of flower stamp sets.  I used Copic markers to color it, then it was die cut with the coordinating die.  The sentiment is from Spellbinders, foiled in gold and die cut with a sentiment label die.

Next the Diamond Frame cover die was cut from Concord & 9th Nectar cardstock, then adhered to a white panel that was ink blended around the outside with the same shade of ink from C&9, and added to a white card base.  The floral image was layered with two additional die cuts for dimension, adhered to the card front, then the sentiment was added with both glue and then foam squares.  To tie in the gold on the sentiment I added three sparkling gold gems and that finished it off.

I'd love to know what your favorite flower is and I hope you'll share with us this month!  The challenge is open through the 25th.  In the meantime, be sure to take a peek at the stunning array of flower cards from the other DT members!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Altenew Build-A-Flower:  Pristine Peonies

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Hammermill, C&9 Nectar

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Nectar

Dies:  All from Altenew - Pristine Peonies, Diamond Frame Cover and Featured Sentiments

Foiling:  Spellbinders Everyday Sentiments II Hot Foil Plate and Gold Glimmer Hot Foil

Gems:  Spellbinders Aura Color Essential Gems

Copics:  R32, 11, E00, YR23, Y15, YG67, 17, 25, 03

Lighthouse Birthday for Color Hues

Hello friends!  The start of a new month brings about a new Color Hues challenge and this time the lovely Jules P. has chosen the fabulous color combo of red and aqua.

Color Hues Challenge

I'm also sharing my card over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where this week's theme is Anything Goes.

I love this color combo and had fun using it with another die set, this time from Hero Arts.

Rather than try to do an inked background or even color the individual pieces of the cover die, I opted to inlay multiple colors of cardstock - white for the frame and clouds, three aquas for the water and sky, red and gray for the lighthouse and cream and black for the sailboat and birds.  Once everything was cut out, it was pretty simple to inlay all the pieces.  

I kept the sentiment simple, stamping in Altenew Obsidian then die cutting with the coordination die.  Once that was adhered the card was finished.  With a large number of summer birthdays coming up, I was happy to have another card in my stash.

So what are you inspired to make with these colors?  I do hope you'll join us for this challenge, it will be open until 9:00 am Wednesday June 14th.  In the meantime, be sure to slip over to the challenge blog where the other DT members have a fabulous assortment of cards to spark your creativity!

Thanks for visiting!  Take care.

Stef

Stamps:  Waffle Flower Elegant Sentiments

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Hero Arts Ivory, Concord and 9th Oceanside and Aqua Sky, Simon Says Stamp Sea Glass, Fog and Smoke,, Stampin' Up Real Red and Black

Dies:  Hero Arts Lighthouse and Sailboat Cover Die, WF Elegant Sentiments matching die