Two New...For Me...Merry Monday & 52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Thought I'd play along with a couple of new challenges.  I don't think I've played in either of these before.  The first is Merry Monday challenge where the theme is "Star(s)". The host this week is my friend Bonnie Klass.  Bonnie always makes awesome cards...so check out her blog!

Here's my take on this challenge:

Super simple CAS card.  I die cut the navy panel with a SSS stitched edge die.  The star is the Star of Wonder from Memory Box.  I cut the star in the navy panel, then cut it again in a silver glitter paper and inset it into the navy.  The sentiment is from PTI and is embossed in silver.  It's difficult to see on here, but I backed the navy paper with another piece of the silver glitter paper like I used for the star. Very sparkly card IRL.  Sorry the navy color looks so washed out...it's really a deep navy, but I'm taking the photo indoors .... rain, rain, and more rain...all day today!

This next card is for the 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown the theme challenge for February.

The snow border across the top of the card is from Memory Box.  I cut it from white card stock, then ran it through my Xyron and sprinkled it with glitter dust.  It's really sparkly!  The sentiment "peace" is a die from Papertrey Ink, and the "be still" is from the coordinating stamp set.  I stamped the "be still" in Versamark (twice) using my MISTI, and heat embossed it with silver pearl embossing powder.  The word peace was covered with Versamark (3 times) and heat embossed between each inking with silver pearl embossing powder.  I added three pearls and a scattering of pearly sequins. Super quick and easy card!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

LIM 212 - Wings....revisited

I'm back with another card for the Less is More challenge.  The theme this week is "wings".  This card is SUPER simple!

I used a white linen textured card base, and stamped the sentiment from Paper Smooches in Versamark, then heat embossed it in a bright yellow. (I'm thinking Spring here!)  Knowing that I needed some "winged" images....I searched my stash and found these adorable little bird dies from Impression Obsession.  I heat embossed a piece of card stock with a bright red (three times), then cut out my birds.  The birds are adhered to the card base with a little glue.

I'm not particularly crazy about either of these next two cards, but thought I'd share them anyway.  

For this card I used watercolor paper for the front panel.  The sentiment is from Sweet and Sassy and is stamped in black Versafine ink.  For the background, I stamped my distress ink pads on my craft mat (I think it was Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, and one of the purples)  I spritzed the ink and then dipped my card into the ink (face down) holding it there for a few seconds so that some of the water could soak into the watercolor paper.  The butterfly is punched with a Martha Stewart punch and adhered to the watercolor paper.  I added a butterfly "trail" with a black pen.  I also made a few splatters on the background with a paintbrush dipped in the ink on my craft mat.

This last card was done basically the same way as the card above, on this time I wet my watercolor paper thoroughly before smushing (is that a word?) it in the ink.  After drying it, I sprinkled the front with a bit of water drops and then dabbed them away with paper towels - leaving a splotchy look. The butterfly is punched with a MS punch.  The sentiment is from Simon Says.  I cut it once from purple, then three times from white card stock, then layered all the layers together to give it a raised look. Added a few sequins....done.  

I think my problem with water coloring (or distress inking) is that I generally make very clean cards, and my water color cards always look a little "messy" to me.  I'll keep practicing though...maybe it will help! LOL!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

LIM 212 - Wings

Another weeks has rolled around and it's time to play again at the Less is More challenge.  This week's challenge is to make a card with the theme "wings".

Here's my first card for this challenge:

The "winged" image I chose for this card is the SU enormous butterfly stamp!  I rarely use this image because it is so incredibly large, but I thought I would see what I could make with it today.  I stamped the image in Versamark on orange card stock.  I decided I wanted it to be all different colors, so I sprinkled some dark blue, light blue, bright yellow and some steel colored embossing powders on the different areas of the image, then heat embossed it all at the same time.  It's difficult to see on here, but I coated the entire butterfly with some clear Wink of Stella too, so it has a really nice sparkle to it. (Did you know that if your Wink of Stella becomes a little "dry" and looks like it's not working well anymore that you can remedy that?  Well, you can....just unscrew the brush portion for the "ink" end, remove the little black plug, then fill with water. Put the black plug back in, screw the brush portion back on, and shake well!  I just did it today and it works beautifully!)

This next card has nothing to do with the challenge, just thought I'd share.

I need a card for a friend who's daughter just lost her battle with cancer, but didn't really want to make the typical "sympathy" card.  I die cut the flower from grey, then cut it again in white.  I dry embossed the white piece with a PTI embossing plate, then inset the grey flower into the white background.  The sentiment is from PTI Everyday Blessings.  I stamped in Versamark on vellum, then heat embossed with some platinum embossing powder. I wrapped the vellum around the white background after I adhered it to the grey piece.  Then I adhered both layers to the card base.

I've really been working on my heat embossing lately....and it is getting better.  I don't seem to be getting all the scattered embossing powder that I used to get every time I embossed!  

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

A New Challenge for Me....AAA Cards

I made a card yesterday that I discovered fit this challenge perfectly!  The AAA Cards challenge this week is 

Orange U Glad UR CAS"

Again, I was playing with my distress inks and this is what I came up with.

I used the SSS stitched border die to cut out the inked panel, then using my MISTI, I stamped the Winnie & Walter sentiment.  To ink the bottom of the panel, I masked off the top portion of the card stock, then blended my inks down and off the bottom of the card.  After stamping the sentiment, I added three orange sequins...and popped the panel over an orange card base using a piece of fun foam behind the panel.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

CASology - Monochrome Challenge & One Layer Simplicity

I've made a couple of cards for two different challenges.  This first card is for the CASology monochrome challenge this week.

I was playing with my distress inks and this is what I came up with...

I used three shades of distress ink - broken china, tumbled glass, and salty ocean - and blended them across the card base.  After drying the ink thoroughly with my heat tool, I used my MISTI and some Versamark ink to stamp the sentiment.  The sentiment is from SSS - Sending and Wishing. I used detail white embossing powder to heat emboss the sentiment, then because the MISTI is SO cool....I stamped it again in Versamark and heat embossed with white again!  How "cool" is that!  Then because the card still looked like it "needed" something, I added three hearts from the same stamp set, using the DI salty ocean.  It's difficult to see on the card, but I then took my Wink of Stella clear and brushed it all around the sentiment and over the hearts.  The card really has a lot of sparkle IRL.  I used a 3/8 inch corner rounder for the right hand corners.

I'm still not completely sure about my ink blending, but I guess with practice I'll get better...I know my heat embossing is getting better each time!

I think this card will also work for the One Layer Simplicity Challenge for this month which is to blend colors...and I definitely blended some colors on this card!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

Just One more - LIM 211 - and a Little knitting

I know I said that was all for me today...but I just had another idea spark in my brain, so I thought I'd share this card too.  This is for the Less is More challenge also.  I was going to enter this one into the CASology challenge too...but I'm too late!

The hearts used on this card are some NBUS (this discription is from Darnell and means never before used schtuff).  I've probably had these heart stamps for over a year and never inked them up!  I used my new MISTI (Most Incredible Stamping Tool Invented) to arrange the stamps on a circle I'd sketched on scrap paper, then just inked up the hearts and presto!....perfectly placed images!!  It's a little bit pricey...but what an incredible tool!  Using this tool, you can stamp repeatedly in the same place on the card until you get the image just right!  I am in LOVE with this new addition to my craft room!

I've also been keeping busy with other things during the evening hours.  I've been doing a LOT of knitting and crocheting.  I just finished this afghan the other evening.  It measures about 48 x 68 inches and is knitted with doubled thread throughout.  I used size 17 circular needles, so I was able to get this one finished in about 3 weeks...and that's just knitting in the evenings!  I love this pattern and I'm already working on another afghan! Who knows....maybe this will be Christmas gifts for each of my children if I can get enough of them knitted up by Christmas!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

LIM 211 - One layer - Love

This week's challenge at Less is More is to create a one layer card with a theme of "love".  Sounds easy....right?

I had a new Spellbinder die that I've been wanting to try, so this is my first card for this week.

This die set is two pieces...a solid heart and then the decorative lacy inside of the heart.  I used the outside shape of the heart to emboss the heart design onto my one layer card, then ran it through my Big Shot again to cut the inside decorative part of the heart.  I used some of the pale pink Copics to add a shadow border around the outside edge of the embossing.  On the inside of the card I used the same Copic colors to color in a heart shape to match the embossed heart on the card front.  Then I outlined the inside heart shape with a gold pen.  I think you can see a bit of the inside of the card through the openwork on the front of the card.

I tried to take a photo with the card closed so you could see the pale pink on the inside of the card.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is stamped in black.

That's all for me today!  Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

LIM is FOUR!

It's hard to believe that the Less is More challenge is 4 years old!  I remember when Chrissie and Mandi first started this challenge!  I played faithfully for the first couple of years, but then my life was turned upside down so I haven't played in a long time!  The challenge this week is to use the colors pink and grey.  Pink I LOVE...but grey is always difficult for me.  Here's to everyone at LIM ... wishing you all much happiness and many more years of CAS fun!

Here's a couple of cards I made just for this challenge:

This first card is my favorite.  I used the Simon Says stitched rectangle for the background.  I made a stencil with my Cameo for the design on the background, and then cut a circle mask to place on the card before adding the inking on the stencil. The flower is the Gerber daisy from Uniko Studios.  I stamped the image in dark grey, cut it out and colored it with Copics.  The tag was cut from the same card stock as the card base, and the sentiment was heat embossed with pink embossing powder.  The sentiment is from HA.

I didn't like this card quite as much as I did the first card.  For this card, I stamped a piece of the grey card stock (from the piece left over from the first card) with dark grey ink using an Impression Obsession background stamp.  The sentiment is from PTI, and the butterfly is from Memory Box. I traced the outer edge of the butterfly die onto some vellum and then cut it out to place behind the butterfly that was cut from pink glittery paper.   The sentiment is heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I added a butterfly "trail" with a white Uniball Signo pen.  The pink layer is popped up with foam tape over the card base and the grey strip.

That's all for me today!  Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

Muse Challenge #103

It's been so long since I've really participated in a challenge, but I'm feeling more like playing along after taking the latest online card class.  This first card is to play along with the Muse Challenge this week.

The techniques used to make this card were things I learned in the recent card class.  Once someone shows you how to do it...why...it's super simple!  Instead of making a round card, I made a large hexagon card.  I used the direct to paper inking technique for the yellow.  The white layers are popped up on the yellow background with foam tape, then I popped the top hexagon with more foam tape.  The sentiment is from Simon Says.  Hearts were punched with a MS punch then layered and topped with a touch of Wink of Stella and some glossy accents.  The three border stamps I used are some old one from my stash and I'm not completely sure who makes them.

I also have several more cards I've made this week....fair warning...LONG post!

This next card was made using more techniques I learned in the online card class also.  Sentiment (congrats) is from Walter & Winnie and I'm not sure about the "you rock" stamp.  Inking was sponged on in several shades of distress ink.

My very first shaker card!  Not too sure I like the glittery "shaker" stuff inside.  There seems to be a LOT of static and the glitter just sticks to the acrylic front.  The balloon was a die cut from Simon Says and the string and bow are from a MFT stamp set.  I used the Simon Says stitched rectangle set to cut the frame for the window.  The birthday sentiment is also a SS stamp.

 I had lots of paper scraps on my desk, so that's how this card came about.  I used the negative shapes from the previous card and stamped the white piece with a SU image.  The sentiment is from Avery Elle and was stamped in versamark and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

This next card is another card I made based on a tutorial from the online class.  I struggled with it a bit, but finally got it finished.  I should have used a different type of glue....lesson learned for next time.  The pieces that make up the heart are from about 5 or 6 different dies.

This last card is just something I was playing with today.  The stamps are from PTI.  I stamped each candle in a different color then added the flame with the butter bar ink.  Then...this is where I began experimenting....I drew light pencil lines on my card base (8.5 x 11) to show where I would cut for the two cards...then stamped the candles on the top card and the bottom card.  I designed the word "celebrate" in my Silhouette program to align with the two cards on the piece of card stock. After I finished stamping, I put the stamped card stock through the printer and printed "celebrate" on top of my stamped candles.  I still need to tweak it a bit to get everything centered correctly.  I did play with another piece and discovered that I could print out the word first....then stamp the candles and they still look like they're behind the word....go me!!

If you've lasted through this photo-heavy post...THANK YOU!  I hope that I can get around to seeing some of your blogs soon!  I miss seeing all your creativity!!

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by for a visit!  Hope you'll come back soon!  Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...