Santa is Coming

Ho ho ho!  Time for a batch of Christmas cards.  I played with the Picket Fence Studios Santa Mischief set which I bought solely for the sentiments, but the Santas grew on me so I made a card for each of them.

It's possible that everything on these cards is retired.  We all have a few oldies in our stash that we still love to play with, right?  I stamped all my Santas in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.

Memory Box Pine Forest Frame, Impression Obsession Ho Ho Ho and Small Snowflake Set,
TH Sizzix Snowfall embossing folder, Darice Corner Scroll embossing folder

I stamped a snowflake background for the next card and added some designer paper borders.  Santa's list needed some writing on it so I scribbled in gray fine tip pen.

Taylored Expressions Stitched Rectangle Stacklets, Spellbinders Long Classic Rectangles,
Impression Obsession Small Snowflake Set

The third card has a little scene which I laid out exactly as shown on the stamp package.  I cut a snowy hill, added a snowflake border above, and accented with the little snowflake centers that popped out of the border.  The gentle bokeh sky background is Mintay paper.

Precious Marieke Snowflake Border

My first Santa is going to head over to the Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge because, even though he's not a lamb, he does remind me of the red-coated lambs in the inspiration board.

That's three more for the Christmas card box and Santa Mischief can take a rest till another year.

Thank you for stopping by!

Double D Challenge: Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Who's Got the Pumpkin?

 

Hello, friends!  The Double D Challenge is all about pumpkins today.  Darlene wants to know, "Pumpkin, pumpkin, who's got the pumpkin?

Check out the inspiration photo with pumpkins galore, and see the prize the DDs have for a random winner.  As always, the team votes for creative winners, as well.

 

I have a painted patch of two stylized pumpkins and a scattering of fancy leaves.  They're from a 2020 Penny Black set called Owlsome.  I loved it for the whimsy, yet have only used it once, tsk tsk.  Today it's colored with Tombow markers and blender.  The sky is smooshed watercolor.

You can probably tell I hand cut the leaves and added them to the finished painting.  Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangles provided a border.  That's about it.  Not a lot of hooplah to 'splain about this card.

The team has a lot of pretty pumpkins to share on the Double D blog, so do hop over and get inspired.  I hope to see your pumpkins in the gallery!  Have a beautiful fall day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Owlsome  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot press watercolor, cinnamon Bazzill  Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black  Coloring:  Tombows and Stampin' Up inks  Other:  Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangles

A Hint of Orange for Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge

The Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge always has the most inspiring mood boards (see at end of post).  They've got an orange theme going on currently -- not required to follow it, but a fun idea.  I scratched my head and then remembered I hadn't yet colored the fox mug from Penny Black's Mugs of Joy, one of several stamped images from this set shared by a sweet blog friend.

The fox is a rusty shade of orange.  The homemade resin dots were punched from SU Really Rust and Groovy Guava, then coated with Diamond Glaze.  The baker's twine is a peachy orange.  The photo below shows the gold lines in the designer paper, as well as the gold paint I brushed onto the die cut leaves, and maybe you can make out the glint of gold paint on the stamped leaves and stars.  Also, I smooshed white pigment ink onto the green card base just to soften the color.

I worked with a lot of spare parts which largely determined the card design.

Okay, time to head over to the Peace on Earth Challenge and link up my card.  Maybe I'll see you there.  Have a beautiful day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Mugs of Joy, Memory Box Holiday Wishes  Paper:  Hammermill white, Neenah white, Bazzill dark green, Memory Box Christmas Plaid designer paper  Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin Up Old Olive  Coloring:  Copics, gold Twinkling H2O's paint  Other:  Lil' Inker Silly Stitched die set, MFT Die-namics Wonky Stitched Squares, Paper Smooches Foliage 1, Judikins Diamond Glaze, 1/4" & 1/8" hole punches

Birds, Birds, Birds

Hello and welcome back!  It's nice to see you on this beautiful fall day.

I currently have an excess of crafty things sitting on and around my desk and I'm going to have to tidy up or I'll get nothing done.  But first... I finished three cards using three different Cottage Cutz die sets, and now those three never-been-used die sets are tucked away in the Cottage Cutz bin.  That's tidying up, isn't it?

The first is called Spring Bird w/Vine, but I thought I could make it look fall-ish by using certain colors.  I made up my own bird species.  It's part of the joy of crafting.

Cottage Cutz Spring Bird w/Vine, Creative Expressions Mini-Hello & Hi
Spellbinders Scallop Labels and Tag

For all three cards I worked with an old Heartfelt Creations paper collection and Spellbinders dies for the mats.  The focal dies were cut in Neenah 110# white and colored with inks and blending brushes.

Moving backwards into summer, the next die set is called Garden Bird.  It does not have an extra wing part for layering so I cut a whole extra bird and trimmed out the wing to make my own layer.  Easy and makes a lot of difference.

Cottage Cutz Garden Bird and Hello Phrase, Spellbinders Essential Arches

I'm including one extra photo to show sparkle and shimmer:

Card #3 is representing spring with the Spring Potted Flowers set.  The bird is sweet and I love the die set, but I don't like the way I colored the flowers and leaves.  Not sure what I was thinking when I colored solid and forgot to leave any light areas.  This die set is worth a do-over.  Maybe I could put poinsettias in the pot for Christmas.

Cottage Cutz Spring Potted Flowers w/Bird, Impression Obsession Have a Nice Day
Spellbinders Long Classic Rectangles

I'll send my fall card over to two challenges today:

Triple B Challenge --  Birds, Blooms, and/or butterflies.  I did not use the beautiful colors in the mood board this time, but I'm inspired to make another card before the month is over.
NBUS Challenge #67 -- All the Cottage Cutz bird sets and the Spellbinders Scallop Layers and Tag are never before used schtuff.

Now I plan to do a little more tidying up and move on to the next set of cards.  Thank you for stopping by!

Double D Challenge: To Spook or Not to Spook

 

Hello, and welcome to another Double D Challenge!  I like the title and theme of Diane's challenge this time around -- To Spook or not to Spook.  Make a Halloween card, or a pink card for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or combine the two by making a pink Halloween card.  Cute!

Pictured below is the inspiration board and a prize for a random winner.  The DD team votes on creative winners as well.  See the challenge blog for more details.

 

I made a straight up Halloween card in order to use my never-been-used Spooky Ghost & Crow die set by Cottage Cutz.  Those dang sales at The Scrapping Cottage... I try to resist, but I do enjoy these dies.  I combined with other dies from my stash to craft the rest of the card.

I cut in white and colored with inks and brushes.  The frame is glitter cardstock and I added Orange Peel Stickles glitter to the star on the crow's hat.

In the photo below I mostly wanted to capture the semi-gloss on the crow's beak.  I painted it with clear top coat nail polish to make it look more beak-ish.  A person can add more coats after the first is dry to achieve different levels of gloss without it turning too glossy.  Just a fun thing for small parts.  Try different colors or maybe glitter or chrome polish.  I've got a few bottles left over from the old days.  I'm more of a file and buff kinda gal with all the gardening and dog cuddling I do.

I can't wait to see what you all share in the Double D gallery!  The team has a fabulous variety of inspiration for you, so be sure to head over and visit.  Thank you so much!

Dies:  Cottage Cutz Spooky Ghost & Crow, Memory Box Oval Master Frame and Boo Posh Script, Cheery Lynn Spider Net  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, glitter cardstock for frame, woodgrain white for card base, SU Tangerine Tango and Going Gray  Ink:  Various mostly SU for coloring except Distress Black Soot for crow  Other:  Stickles Orange Peel glitter glue, clear top coat nail polish for crow's beak