Double D Challenge: Nautical

Hi everyone!  A new Double D challenge starts today.  Here's Diane's fabulous board and a prize.  I love it all to pieces!

I was inspired to make something relatively clean and simple with a mix of dies and stamps.  No coloring, just colored cardstock.  It was rather nice for a change!

Penny Black Immense Enjoyment die and Enjoy Builder stamp set.  Two layers.
Impression Obsession Sailboats.
Frantic Stamper Making Waves.  I cut right across the card front, then separated the pieces, backed with the same blue as the big "enjoy".  Smaller wave dies from the set were used inside the immense "O".

I borrowed a banner die from a Poppystamps sentiment set, and those little black stars popped out of a background I cut for a Christmas card a while back.

That's the gist of it.

Come see the team's inspired samples at Double D.  Play for fun and maybe you'll win a prize or become a top favorite in the process.  Enjoy!

Guesting with Christmas Kickstart Challenge

Hello friends!  It was the nicest surprise when Jo invited me to be her Guest Elf at Christmas Kickstart Challenge #88!  A kickstart is exactly what I need this time of year when it comes to Christmas cards, and then once I get started I have all kinds of fun.  Thank you, Jo!

For the month of July we're doing Festive Frames.
I do love to dress up a frame!

In this case I made a wide frame by nesting some unrelated pinpoint dies.  I backed the frame with thin foam mounting tape and adhered it to the card.  When I was sure of where all the decorative elements would go, I stamped the sentiment panel and recessed it within the frame.

Then the fun part...  I Copic-colored one of my beloved Penny Black critters and cut her out.  Added a ric rac border for her to sit on, and pine bough corners overhead.  When I reached for my pine bough dies I found these in the envelope, already cut and stippled with white acrylic paint -- oh, happy day!  I added Diamond Glaze to the string of lights(?), and scattered homemade resin dots for extra fun and frivolity.  The sentiment, by the way, is from an Impression Obsession set.

Remember, those homemade resin dots are my new favorite thing -- punch circles of whatever size, then coat with glossy glaze.  It dries hard, sticks securely, and adds almost no dimension to interfere with mailing.  Love!

I hope you'll come join us at Christmas Kickstart Challenge #88 with your festive framed Christmas card.

Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Christmas Fun, Impression Obsession Dear Santa  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 80# & 110#, CTMH Ponderosa Pine, red & green scraps for resin dots, scrap designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black  Coloring:  Copics  Dies:  Spellbinders Scored and Pierced Rectangles, Memory Box Pinpoint Double Frame, Poppystamps Wispy Pine Needle Corners, Taylored Expressions Ric Rac Borders  Other:  SU Subtle 3D embossing folder, 1/4" & 1/8" punches, JudiKins Diamond Glaze, Scotch brand foam mounting tape