Frosty Joy

Your eyes don't deceive you, it's a Christmas card today.  I hope to minimize the Christmas frazzle in 2017, and I've noticed I'm not the only stamper getting a head start.  I'll thank myself when the time comes.  Have you started yet?

Actually, I made this card right after Christmas 2016, and haven't made another one since, but I declare I will share a Christmas card post by the end of each month.  If I say it, I have to make good on it, right?

This one is a Bugaboo image I bought not last year, but the year before.  Now that I've colored it, I think it's just the cutest thing.  It's called Penguin Joy.

It's easy on the postage, just the way I like it when mailing time comes.

For a little something extra in the design I cut the image panel down a little bit and then cut the snowflake die along the edge.  Layered the panel onto designer paper, cut the snowflake die again and set into the first cut.  I rounded off the edges to complete the look of a snowy hillside.

I added Stickles for sparkle, and white gel pen accents.  Coloring was done with Copics.

And there you have my monthly Christmas card.  See you again soon, I hope.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Bugaboo digi Penguin Joy  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, white card base, Whimsy Stamps Winter Blues designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Frosted Lace and Baby Blue Stickles glitter glue, Memory Box Frosty Border die

Double D Black and White Challenge (The Celebration Continues)

Hello again, friends!  The first order of the day is to announce the winner of my Double D anniversary giveaway from Jan. 4.  Comments were numbered in order of appearance -- one comment per person, and Double D team members excluded -- then entered into random.org.  The winner is:

#23, Marsha  "What a cut image with all those heart flames. LOVE all your stitching."

Congratulations, Marsha!  If your email is correct on your Blogger profile, I'll contact you.  Otherwise, I hope you see this!

We continue to celebrate our one year blogaversary at Double D with today's Black and White Challenge.  Be sure to visit Double D to see the extra prizes being offered to challenge participants this fortnight.  Check out all the inspiration in our mood board:

Loving critters as I do, I focused on the black and white kitties and pulled out a favorite old Rubbernecker stamp.  They have some seriously cute and pretty stamps at Rubbernecker, but I don't see this one there any longer and don't remember the name.  "Howling Cats" maybe?  I stamped in Memento London Fog and colored with Prismacolor pencils which are blended out with odorless mineral spirits.

There is a teensy touch of color in the image as I couldn't reconcile the coloring without it, but my fellow team members have some perfectly pure black and white samples to share with you.  Just remember -- no big POPS of color for our Black and White Challenge.

Also remember -- we're still celebrating with extra prizes for participants, so I hope you can play along.  Card supplies and more details are listed below.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Rubbernecker cats (retired, name forgotten)  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White for image and flower, other white for card base (came with a pack of envelopes), black, Bo Bunny Double Dot Natural Necessities designer paper  Ink:  Memento London Fog  Coloring:  Prismacolor Pencils and odorless mineral spirits  Accessories:  Stickles Stardust glitter glue, black rhinestone  Dies:  Poppystamps Happy Birthday Melody (cut twice from Neenah 110 lb cardstock and once from black, then layered), Elizabeth Craft Bunch of Flowers 4, Die-namites Small Ivy ( cut just three leaves from the branch)

Winter Blooms

Oh, happy day, I was, at last, able to print one of my Power Poppy digis on watercolor paper!  All that beautiful open space makes the watercoloring so much easier.  I tried to use a free hand with this and not get too mired in the details, but I'm a detail kinda gal, so it took some discipline.  The longer I look at it, the more I want to touch it up, but, no... let it go...

The image I used is Dancing with Daffodils, truly one of my all-time Power Poppy favorites.  I enlarged it quite a bit and printed just a corner of it in a lightened outline.  It's watercolored with Stampin' Up! inks -- dropped from reinkers into a palette.  The background is a somewhat random mix of a few of the same colors used in the flowers -- yellow, amethyst, and crumb cake.  Finished up with splatters of crumb cake in varying degrees of dilution.

The stamped sentiment is from another Power Poppy set -- Dynamic Duos:  Foxglove and Ranunculus.  The images from that set are available in digi format, too, and I'm thinking I'll enjoy enlarging and watercoloring those later.  I wanted to keep it simple, but give the card a little something extra, so I stitched the watercolored panel onto a die cut mat, and adhered that to a pale green card base.

I should mention that my printer is a simple, inexpensive Epson XP-310.  Nothing fancy, but I don't need anything fancy as I don't print photos.  It's only for digis and recipes, etc.  It's only the second printer I've had in my whole life, and maybe they're all this way now, but I've been surprised to find that its ink is waterproof.  It can also be used with Copics and is undaunted by the odorless mineral spirits I use with Prismacolor pencils.  Oh, happy day, indeed!

Okay... to finish up here...  the daffodils and periwinkle will start popping out here in late winter, so this image is perfect for Power Poppy's Winter Blooms challenge:

More details below.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Dancing with Daffodils digi, Dynamic Duos:  Foxglove and Ranunculus clear stamp set  Paper:  140 lb hot press watercolor, Neenah white, pale green Bazzill  Ink:  Printer for image, PTI  chocolate brown for sentiment  Coloring:  Watercolored with Stampin' Up! inks  Dies:  Cheery Lynn Dutch Daisy Boutique Stacker A2 Frame

Snow!

It snowed here yesterday, a rare occurrence, so naturally I had to take pictures.  It's a small showing compared to many regions, but it was a big deal to us.  We got about 3".  Here's part of our side yard at 8:00 in the morning:

Rich, Wally, and LuLu:

Wally posing for next January's calendar page:

Wally catching a snowball:

Had to get my mug in there, too:

Wally was so excited he ran outside with my shoe and acted like a big puppy.  I love his squinty eyes:

We had a lot of fun getting our morning exercise in the snow.  Went for a walk and didn't even put the dogs on a leash.  They loved it!  I wouldn't mind if it stayed for a couple of days, but it can go away after that.  Happy new year!

It's a Double D Anniversary Celebration!

Edited to add:  A winner of my giveaway will be chosen by random.org on Tuesday night, 1/17, at 8 pm pacific time, and announced on my blog 1/18.  Thank you, all!

Hello, and happy New Year!  I hadn't planned on it, but I took a little blog break over the Christmas holiday.  I'm back in time to celebrate Double D's first year anniversary, though, and I tell you, the Double D team is celebrating in style!  Over on the Double D Challenge Blog there will be not one, not two, but three randomly selected prize winners.  Many of the Double D teamies are handing out prizes, as well (myself included).  So, let's get started, shall we?

Our challenge today is based on our anniversary theme, but we want you to know you can make anything your heart desires as long as you take your inspiration from our pretty theme board.  As an example, I went with peach and creamy colors and a cake, which is clearly a birthday cake.  Here's my card:

And here's our inspiration board:

Using three Tombow markers, I watercolored a whimsical Penny Black birthday cake and paired it with a Stampin' Up! sentiment that's been around a long time.  Backed it with some pretty designer paper and finished off with a die cut flower and foliage.  I added Platinum Stickles to the cake, as well as a few sprinkles of Stickles and Nuvo Crystal Drops around it.  Stardust Stickles sparkle up the candle flame hearts.   There is a full supply list at the end of this post.

Now... about the prize I'm sharing...  Just leave a comment here on this post and random.org will select a winner from among them at the end of our challenge.  I will ship internationally, too.  Take a look:

Yes, two dies and a Power Poppy stamp set will go to one random commenter.

Be sure to visit the Double D Challenge Blog to join our celebration and get the scoop on the doin's.  You'll see more prizes and samples, and I sure hope you can play along.  Don't forget to pop around to all the team blogs.  Leave some love and your love might make you lucky.  Lucky in love?  Hmmmm...  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Touch of Whimsy (cake), Stampin' Up! Send a Celebration (sentiment, retired)  Paper:  140 lb Arches hot press watercolor, SU! Very Vanilla, Bazzill light suede, Bo Bunny The Avenues Collection designer paper  Ink:  PTI Dark Chocolate (image outline), SU! Cameo Coral (sentiment), Tombow markers for watercoloring  Accessories:  Platinum and Stardust Stickles glitter, Neptune Nuvo Crystal Drops  Dies:  MFT Die-Namics Wonky Stitched Squares, Sue Wilson String Flowers, Die-namites Small Ivy and Ivy Corner

Silver and Gold for Double D Challenge

Hello, again!  Welcome to Double D's final challenge for 2016!  We'll surely be right back in 2017, 'cause this has been just too much fun, but for now, let's wrap up the year with Silver and Gold.

This challenge doesn't necessarily call for a Christmas card, but that's what I made, seeing as how I was hurrying and scurrying to get them in the mail.  I've got silver embossed snowflakes and gold die cut snowflakes and "noel".  Another super easy card.

Our inspiration board is so pretty and can give you lots of ideas:

Come visit us at Double D to see awesome team samples and the winners of our previous challenge.  There's a prize you'll want to check out, as well.  Hope you can play along!  See you again soon!

Stamps:  SU! Serene Snowflakes  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white  Ink:  Versamark  Accessories:  Silver embossing powder, Spellbinders Create-A-Flake Five, SU! Wonderful Wreaths Framelits die

Christmas Stars

Moving right along...  Today's two cards are some of the simplest I made this year and, yet, some of my favorites.  I would have made more, but you know how I am about multiples.

I used Sizzix Primitive Stars dies and a balloon string die to hang them.  The sentiment is old, from Hero Arts.  The card base is that Neenah 110 lb cover card stock I love so much.  These stars have Stickles Stardust glitter on all the white dots.

The second version has more colors, on kraft with a white-embossed sentiment.  No glitter on this one.  I don't know which one I like better.

Very simple and quick!  Happy holidays!

Stenciled Poinsettias

Happy countdown-till-Christmas week!  I hope things are coming together for you.  This week I'll share the last of the Christmas cards.  For the most part I had to set the coloring aside as I'd given myself barely a month to make almost 50 cards.  What was I thinking?

I was hurrying along when I made this card.  Yes, more pink, but just grabbing the closest ink pad, I guess.  We'll imagine these flowers are poinsettias, somewhat stylized, perhaps, but you can see the resemblance.

After I die cut the Stitched Poinsettia Trio from my last card I was left with a negative that looked like it would make a good stencil, so I tried it out.  Sponged pink through the stencil and then defined the petal edges with a mulberry Prismacolor pencil, blended with Gamsol (odorless mineral spirits).  Took a quick shot of my paraphernalia below:

All those cute little snowflakes are from Power Poppy's Action Santa set.  They were stamped in SU!'s Cool Caribbean.  I cut away part of the lower edge and added a die cut sentiment, backed with a scrap of designer paper.  Finished off with silver sequins and silver cord.

I had CAS(E) This Sketch #202 in mind when I made this.  The design team had lots of variations, so I'm hoping I'm close enough to the design .  Here's the sketch:

Also joining the fun at CAS Mix Up -- Stamping + Sponging + Your Choice.  I have stamped snowflakes, sponged flowers, and my extra choice is the pencil coloring on the flower edges.

I'll be back tomorrow.  Supplies are listed below.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Action Santa (snowflakes)  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses designer paper  Ink:  SU! Pink Pirouette and Cool Caribbean  Coloring:  Mulberry Prismacolor pencil and Gamsol  Accessories:  Silver cord, silver sequins, Impression Obsession Holiday Bottom Word Edgers