Greetings from the Forest, and Santa Visits a Village

Hello!  I have two fun cards to share today.  As coloring goes, these were quick and the designs are easy.  They're not CAS, but they went together lickety split.  Both are digital stamps from Bugaboo.  The first is Autumn Critter Stack 01.

• Printed on X-Press It Blending Card and colored with Copic markers.
• Die cut the lower edge with Impression Obsession Holiday Bottom Word Edgers.
• Matted on dark green and then a chocolate brown card base.
• Added a die cut Cheery Lynn Holly Corner, colored with Copic markers and gave it Holiday Red Stickles berries.
• Finished off with a dusting of snowflakes made with a Signo Uniball white gel pen.  Highlighted each of those with a blue Copic so they'd show up better.

The next is AKV Santa Tree.  It was a Friday Freebie I picked up a while back.  Every Friday there's a freebie at Bugaboo.

• Printed on X-Press It Blending Card and colored with Copic markers, then cut out Santa.
• Covered white card base with BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses designer paper.
• Die cut Memory Box Oval Master Frame, then embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder.
• Stamped old PSX "Ho Ho Ho" in Cherry Cobbler, then die cut with Poppystamps Mainstreet Stitched Tags.  Positioned tag on frame, then punched 1/8" hole through tag and frame.  Set the knot of twine bow into hole.  Added die cut star (Sizzix Primitive Stars).
• Put lots of Scotch brand foam mounting tape on back of frame and adhered to card, then glued Santa in place.
• Applied lots of Stickles glitter glue -- Goldenrod to stars and center of bow, Burgundy and Stardust to tree ornaments, Frosted Lace to Santa's hat and coat trim.  The bow on the present is actually colored brown and I added Chocolate Spica glitter pen to that.  It doesn't show up in the photo, and it looks black but, trust me, it's brown.

Sheesh, that sounds like a lot of steps for what I'm calling simple cards.  Honestly, they were simple.

Bugaboo is having their annual 50% off sale -- all the way through Dec. 31st.  Can I resist?  Probably not!  Have a happy day!

Watercolored Paperwhites

Hi, friends!  It's a new week and I hope I'll have more than one Christmas card to share.  I took the time to watercolor this one -- Power Poppy's Glistening Paperwhites.  This arrangement of paperwhites with juniper and eucalyptus was the perfect colors and shape for the one leftover part from when I made this set of cards.  My leftover part is the filigree mat which I'd cut in Sage Shadow (retired SU!).  I made it prettier by smooshing it all over with Versamark ink and embossing with iridescent embossing powder.  Now it's all sparkly!

 

 

I stamped the image on 140 lb watercolor paper with Ranger Archival Shadow Grey ink and watercolored with Tombow Markers.  Only seven markers were required, whereas I probably would have used a bazillion Copics.  That always amazes me.  Speaking of Copics, I did use some warm grays to shadow around the image after watercoloring.  Why Copics?  Well... they won't run the water-based ink, so I was able to get into all those small spaces without making a mess of my finished painting.  Ordinarily I'll do the shadowing first and then color the image, but I forgot this time.

 

 

After the watercoloring was complete I added a little shimmer to the blooms with silver Gansai Tambi paint, then splattered the panel with gold.

 

When I was painting my paperwhites I got to thinking I was making them too blue, so I did a Google search of watercolored paperwhites and found quite a variety of interpretations.  So I say don't doubt yourself, just color and enjoy.  Each painting is an individual work.  Heaven forbid they should all look the same, right?

 

More info in the recipe below.  Have a good day!

 

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Glistening Paperwhites  Paper:  140 lb Arches hot press watercolor paper, retired SU! Sage Shadow, Shimmery White card base  Ink:  Ranger Archival Shadow Grey, Versamark for sentiment, Tombow markers for watercoloring  Other coloring:  Gansai Tambi silver and gold watercolor paints  Accessories:  Embossing Arts Iridescent Peacock embossing powder, Spellbinders Devine Eleoquence and Labels Twenty-Eight

All That's Gold Does Not Glitter

This is the last of my gold, black, and white Christmas cards.  I got a little fixated on the color combo this year, but I'm all better now.  It's very elegant, which I am not, so I don't know who I'm going to fool with these cards.  They look like something a business would send out.  However, I do like them.  They were being a little camera shy, so not such great pictures.



The first card uses a Memory Box Glowing Candles die in mirror gold cardstock.

Both cards use a retired Stampin' Up! sentiment -- Many Merry Messages -- stamped in Versamark and embossed with Ranger Queen's Gold.  I also used some gold peel and stick trim on each card.

The second card uses a Die-Namites Partridge Branch die in a satin gold cardstock.

Simplicity like this helps move things along in the Christmas card production, that's for certain.  I think I have 25 cards done now, which is about half of what I need.  Hmmm...  do I see some purchased cards in my future?

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I do enjoy our visits.  Have a good day!

Bittersweet Wreath

Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving holiday, if and when you celebrate it!

 

This is my last fall card of the year, using the last of this year's fall stamps.  Actually, this stamp is a digi from Power Poppy, called Bittersweet Wreath.  Printed on X-Press It Blending Card and colored with Copics.

 

 

I know you're probably busy with no time to linger, if you even have time to visit at all, so I won't keep you.  I feel as though I need to slow down or refocus or narrow my activities for the time being.  When I spread myself too thin I'm never satisfied with the outcome of things.  A Type A personality I am not!  Have a happy day!

 

 

Give Thanks

I have just a couple more fall cards for this week and then it's full speed on the Christmas cards.  I was growing, perhaps, a little weary of fall colors -- not that I don't love them; they're still a favorite.  However, I wanted to work a little more color variety into this one, so I went with purples -- SU's Blackberry Bliss ribbon and Rich Razzleberry designer paper to go with the purple coffee mug.

 

 

I started out with the Versamark resist panel -- leaves and wheat stamped in Versamark on glossy cardstock.  I let the Versamark dry for a while, then rubbed with saffron and olive inks.  Wrapped with ribbon through a die cut ribbon slide, then stitched.

 

I mixed up three Power Poppy sets:

• Feeling Fall -- leaves and main image
• Prairie Cheer -- wheat
• Olive & Oak Expanded -- sentiment

Colored with Copic markers and applied some much neglected Rain Dots.

 

And that's it!  I'll come back Wednesday when we'll all be super busy getting ready for Thanksgiving.  I'm the hostess with the mostest this year.  When I was working I'd do my shopping on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday evening I'd bake two pumpkin pies.  It's much easier now that I'm retired, thank goodness.  Hey!  One more thing to be thankful for!  Enjoy your day!

 

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Feeling Fall, Prairie Cheer, Olive & Oak Expanded  Paper:  X-Press It Blending card, glossy white, Bazzill off-white card base, gold for ribbon slide, SU designer paper  Ink:  So Saffron, Old Olive, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Blackberry Bliss ribbon, Rain Dots, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers, Taylored Expressions Basic Buckles, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Jingle and Jiggle All the Way

There's nothing like bright and fun when I feel like a little pick me up, and since I like to have a variety of cards to send to my diverse group of friends and family, I'll gladly sprinkle in a little fun along the way.

 

This card was quicker than it may appear:  A starry background with a landscape background over that, a frame from the scrap drawer, and some easy Copic coloring.

 

 

The reindeer's bottom is on a wobble spring and jiggles for giggles when given a little tap.  The spring compresses nicely for easy mailing.

 

My only embellishment is a fallen star, which is really just there because I stamped the sentiment too far to the left and needed a filler.  The star was cut in mustard card stock, then coated with Stickles Stardust glitter glue and micro-fine glitter sprinkled over that.  I touched it with my finger to lift some of the glitter and allow more color to show through -- as though it's a bit tarnished.  After all, it's a fallen star.

 

 

When viewed straight on, as when holding the card in your hand, the reindeer's jiggly bottom is not offset as it appears in the photo.

 

Well, that's enough fun for one day.  More explanation can be found in the recipe below.  Have a wonderful weekend!

 

 

Stamps:  Art Impressions Jingle Set  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white for reindeer and die cuts, Neenah Classic White for card base, SU More Mustard for star, SU Night of Navy for starry background  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Copics for coloring (YG03 on the frame)  Accessories:  Stickles Stardust glitter glue, Elizabeth Craft Warm Diamonds Micro-Fine glitter, wobble spring, Poppystamps Stitched Landscapes, Taylored Expressions Starry Night cutting plate, Sizzix Primitive Stars, Impression Obsession 6-in-1 Rectangle Frames (used the outer-most negative)

Traditional Christmas Colors

Onward to another Double D Challenge!  This time it's Traditional Christmas Colors -- red, green, white, with optional gold.  I used all of them with my watercolored basket of greenery.

 

 

 

The stamp set I used is Power Poppy's Simple Joys, watercolored with Tombow markers.  I can step right outside my door and gather up the evergreen boughs and cones and holly, so this looks like home to me.  There's lots of greenery in our inspiration board:

 

 

 

 

There are so many ways you can go with this -- poinsettias, candles, that cute little truck.  Oooh, I see some nutcrackers, too, and snowflakes.  Gosh, I'm getting in the mood for Christmas!

 

Hop over to Double D and get inspired by the team samples, see the prize being offered to a random winner, and check out the winners from our last challenge.  Enjoy!

 

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Simple Joys clear stamp set  Paper:  140 lb hot press watercolor, kraft card base, Graphic 45 Raining Cats and Dogs designer paper  Ink:  Palette Noir, Palette L'Amore Red, Tombow markers for watercoloring  Accessories:  Gold cord, Memory Box Cross Stitched Frame Borders, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Amethyst Snowflake Bird and More

Hello, stamper friends, and happy Friday!  I have three cards to share today, all of which started with my wish to use this pretty Memory Box Snowflake Bird.  I cut it in plain amethyst card stock first, then cut another in patterned amethyst paper to fill in the blanks.  After changing my mind several times I ended up with this design:

Dies:

• Memory Box Snowflake Bird
• Poppystamps Stitched Landscapes
• Die-namics Stitched Rectangle Frames
• Cheery Lynn Holly Corner
• Poppystamps Noel Snowflake (I cut off the dangling snowflake due to lack of space in the design)

The patterned paper is old and not Christmas papers at all, but the colors worked together.

Since I'd cut a second bird from patterned paper, I decided to use that outline on an ultra-clean and simple card:

I added a few sequins and one of my favorite Christmas sentiments from the retired SU! Many Merry Messages set.  The photo makes it appear to be stamped in black, but it's actually artichoke.  All the cards have lots of sparkle.

Finally, the last card is made up of some of the dies I cut when I was trying to make up my mind about the first card.  That's how we wind up with spare parts, isn't it?  Sheesh!  I still have one spare part left over, but I have plans for it.  Hope that works out without ending up with yet more spare parts.

The dies for the last card are as follows:

• Spellbinders A2 Devine Eleoquence (that's how they spell it, folks)
• Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Eight
• Frantic Stamper Tall Pine Trees
• Poppystamps Snowflake Ribbon
• Poppystamps Noel Snowflake (again with the snowflake cut off)

Same non-Christmas patterned paper covering the card base, and lots of sparkle.  I used Stickles Stardust glitter on the trees and Elizabeth Craft Warm Diamonds micro-fine glitter on the Snowflake Ribbon.

I'm going to enter the first card in the Cardz 4 Galz current challenge:  A Contemporary Christmas.  I hope it qualifies because of the non-traditional colors, stitched dies, and so on.

Thanks for visiting today!  Wishing you all a beautiful weekend!

Texting BFF's

Welcome back!  It's a birthday card today for a thirty-something friend.  She's very "into" her phone so I thought this card would be fun for her.

 

 

The girls are Art Impressions "Texting BFF's".  I colored with Copics on X-Press It Blending card and sprinkled a few sparkly Nuvo Crystal drops around.  Hand cut the sentiment flag and punched a flower.

 

I sped through the coloring rather quickly and I see some blending corrections that need fixed.  Funny how you don't always notice those things until after you see the photo.  I'm in a rush now, so no time to be picky.  I'll just have to fix it later.  It's a myth that you'll have all the time in the world when you're retired, sheesh.

 

I hope you enjoyed just stopping by and looking.  It's kinda fun to see some fresh colors this time of year, isn't it?  I'll pop in Friday with some Christmas cards.  Take care!

 

 

Stamps:  Art Impressions Texting BFF's  Paper:  X-Press It Blending card, other white for card base, Echo Park Creative Agenda designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Sherbet Shimmer Nuvo Crystals, flower punch, Taylored Expressions Rectangle Stacklets

 

Simple Joys

Hi, all!  Back to Monday and another week with a few cards to share.  I made some headway on Christmas cards over the weekend, but I have some other things to sprinkle in here and there, too.  I'm going to start out the week, though, with a Power Poppy Simply Joys card.  You probably know how I love my Power Poppy stamps.  Well, I'll be coloring up quite a few of those for Christmas.

 

 

This set begs for simple, I think, so I kept it that way.  Just a bit of designer paper and a scalloped edge.  A little glitter on the ornaments.  A kraft card base and some stitching and sponging.  I stamped one of the sentiments repeatedly down the side and put another sentiment in the ornament and cut it out.  Coloring was done on X-Press It Blending Card with the following Copics:

 

 

That's it from me!  I'll pop in later this week with more.  Have a good day!

 

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Simple Joys clear stamp set  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, kraft, red, American Crafts Kringle & Co designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento London Fog, Copics as pictured above  Accessories:  Stickles Stardust glitter, Fiskars scalloped edge scissors

Autumn Critters and Autumn Window

Might as well finish up the week with one more card and make it something on the lighter side.  These critters tickle my funny bone and, hey, I've seen them all outside my window.  That's probably a moose, though, isn't it?  I do not see moose outside my window, but plenty of deer.  This is Bugaboo's Autumn Critter Stack 02.

 

 

 

They're colored with Copics on X-Press It Blending Card.  I covered the card base with some old BasicGrey Origins papers and added leaf accents and a candy dot.

 

Speaking of "outside my window"... 

 

 

That's one angle of the view from my new stamp room window.  I'm blissfully happy to have this in front of me when I sit and color, rather than a blank wall.  See any of those critters out there?   Hmmm... not today, but it does look rather autumn-ish, doesn't it?

 

And, speaking of critters...

 

 

Here's my Dooby Doo (LuLu) with two toys and a piggy.  Just thought I'd throw that in 'cuz she's so cute.

 

Back to the card...

 

 

Now that I have the window, my (ahem) ultra-sophisticated photography set up involves setting a card on top of one of my stamp-containing photo boxes and snapping a quick pic.  The work space is lit with two Ott lamps, so that balances out the light.  It may not be magazine quality, but it's easy and natural and I can't help but love the dappled green in the background.

 

I'll leave you now with a list of card ingredients and a wish for a happy weekend.  Take care!

 

Stamps:  Bugaboo Autumn Critter Stack 02, Stampin' Up! All Year Cheer 1 (sentiment)  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, white card base, YoYo Yellow, BasicGrey Origins designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Stickles Stardust glitter glue, candy dot, Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers, Impression Obsession Small Leaf Set

Gold, Black, and a Pop of Merry Red

I thought I'd throw a Christmas card into the mix this week so I can play along in the Merry Monday Challenge #220 -- "How will you decorate your door?"  The last time I played a MM challenge the theme was gold, black, and white, which I liked more than I expected, so I went with that again, but added a pop of merry red.

I probably could have decorated an honest to goodness real wreath more quickly than I made this card.  Lots of die cutting and arranging small parts.  The "merry" is three layers of black topped with a layer of red.  Underneath it all is a twig wreath which is part of a Halloween die set.

I used gold mirror cardstock, other gold cardstock, gold glitter paper, and a gold glitter pen.  All the white is Neenah 110 lb.  The dies are as follows:

• Cheery Lynn Happy Halloween Twiggy Wreath
• Cheery Lynn Holly Corner
• Poppystamps Small Blooming Poinsettia
• Impression Obsession Christmas Icons
• Memory Box Merry Cursive

The gold glittery circles (Christmas balls) are courtesy of 1/2" and 1/4" circle punches.

Merry, merry!  Have a good day!

Happy Harvest!

Hello, friends!  After a bout of stomach flu that left me weak for several days I got back to my stamp room just in time to join Diane's team for another Double D challenge.  Our theme this time is a dual choice:  Happy Harvest and Give Thanks.  Take your pick within those parameters.  I made a harvest card because I love this time of year and I'd not yet colored my beautiful new Power Poppy Fall Haul digi stamp.

 

 

 

 

Using an old Mojo Monday sketch made the card design easy.  This is #273 from 2012.  Funny choice of designer paper for a fall card, perhaps, but it has fall-ish colors and this eons-old scrap needed to be used.  The pumpkin and burgundy makes a rich color combo for the card base, I think (inspired by the paper).  I don't know if you can make it out, but I stamped my retired SU! Linen background on the burgundy base to give it the appearance of texture.  I did that front and back.

 



Check out our inspiration board -- so pretty:

 

 

 

 

I used these Copic markers for coloring:

 

 

I'd like to point out the ribbon slide (yay, I dipped into my ribbon stash again!).  The ribbon slide is actually a die cut, one of my half price going-out-of-business purchases from our local craft store (sad face).  I cut it twice, adhered the two together for strength, then coated it with Diamond Glaze.  They must have discontinued these as I can't find a viable link, tsk tsk.  I've always had a fondness for ribbon slides (buckles) and I'm going to enjoy the five shapes in this set -- any color, any pattern, any texture, anytime.  I'll never run out of ribbon slides!

 

 

Notice the window in the background of these photos?  It's finally been installed and I'm so happy!  Every inch of my stamp room was covered with a fine layer of dust afterward, but so worth it.  It's all cleaned up now and put back together.  I'll probably wait till after Christmas to start painting.  After all, I've got lots of Christmas cards to make.

 

Hop over to Double D and get inspired by the team samples for our Happy Harvest and Give Thanks Challenge.  See the winners from our previous challenge and get a peek at the prize that's up for grabs this round.  I hope you can play along.  Have a good day!

 

 

Stamps:  Power Poppy Fall Haul digi, SU! Linen background  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, old designer paper scrap  Ink:  Printer, Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard (to sponge leaf sprig), Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Jute ribbon, Diamond Glaze, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers, Taylored Expressions Basic Buckles, Paper Smooches Foliage 1