Wednesday, November 30, 2016

let it snow on this sympathy card

Yes. I need another sympathy card. A friend lost her father on Thanksgiving. Now that sucks.

I had this card made but felt it was unfinished. It had just the stamping on it. So I decided to give it a wintery touch and now I'm happy with it. It's off on its way...


I used gray cardstock and Altenew Winter Cardinal with various red inks. The sentiment is Papertrey Botanical Silhouettes. I used Simon Says Stamp Snow stencil and embossing paste (tried to avoid the sentiment area) and then added a sheer black ribbon up top.

Thanks for visiting today. I am hooking up at Seven Hills Crafts because I've got "Let it Snow" going through my head now that we've got minus temps here in Germany. And at Creative with Stamps who want to see a bird! And at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where it's Anything Goes.





Tuesday, November 29, 2016

spotlight on background stamping

Check out my tutorial over at STAMPlorations to find out how I created the background for this card using one little stamp.


I'm hooking this card up at Cherrylana No. 26 where it's all about stamping backgrounds!
Gotta love it.

STAMPlorations inspiration #108

Welcome to the blog. In a post-turkey-day stupor? I've got a fun Christmas card for you today, totally inspired by this photo found over at Inspired by All the Little Things.

Chalkboard. Wood. Christmas. What's not to love? I pulled out this ARTplorations stencil and made a card.


Used a white gel pen to trace the stencil.  Used the other tree in the stencil to trace a few circles like ornaments hanging from the frame like in the inspiration photo. Drew in the white stripes and colored the area between with red colored pencil. Smeared some white pigment ink with my finger for the chalkboard look. Added washi along the bottom and a freehand-cut frame from woodgrain PP. A heat embossed sentiment from Oh Christmas Tree finished it off.

I'm also hooking up at AAA Cards where it's about circles. Those ornaments up top started off life as circles!


And Basteltraum #47 where it's all about Christmas!

Hope you enjoyed this easy card. If you haven't already, check out the 35% off sale going on at STAMPlorations through Nov 30th!

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

sympathy cards

When I return from a visit to Michigan, my mojo always suffers from a bad case of jet lag. Checked out some challenges to get me creating cuz unfortunately, I needed a few sympathy cards.

Went to CASe this Sketch and saw this.
And the code word at Addicted to CAS is

So it was pretty easy to come up with this card thanks to Winnie and Walter Big, Bold and Comfort and its die.

Then I checked out CAS Mix Up and CASology.



Out came the watercolors in soft shades of gray to make more ombre backgrounds and these cards were born. They are going to DH's cousins who lost their mom.




I masked off areas on the fronts with painters tape before heat embossing and watercoloring (and even splattering on the last card). The first card's image is from Clearly Wordsworth Poetry of the Earth. The second uses Altenew Freeform Greenery. Sentiments are from KartenKunst.


Notice the yellow in the last card? That was in a nod to the November Altenew challenge which celebrates Summer in the Winter - like my Schneewittchen rose that blooms into December in my yard. Sympathy cards in Germany tend to stick to black and white, but Tante Hilde was a bubbly gal so I think a spot of yellow is allowed amidst the gray.

Thanks for coming by today. Have a great Thanksgiving if you're celebrating. Eat some turkey and sweet potatoes (and stuffing and beans and cranberry relish and pumpkin pie and cornbread muffins....) for me too, will ya?


Tuesday, November 22, 2016

STAMPlorations inspiration #107

Welcome to the blog. I had some fun putting together today's Inspiration Post card with lots of bits and pieces. It's actually a mixed media card too - as a reminder for the current "Thanksgiving" Mixed Media Card Challenge which is open until Nov 25th.

Let me show you what I did.


It all started with the bit of a stamped pumpkin from Oh So Grateful left over from this card. I Copic colored it (TECHNIQUE) and pulled out some old Basic Grey Indian Summer PP. I created a tag with it using CUTplorations ATC Tag Builder.

In a nod to the optional element of "table" at MMCC I added a strip of paper hessian (TEXTURE) like a placemat cuz I think the scallopy edge looks like a tablecloth! Added some die cut leaves from my snippets and a Reverse Confetti sentiment stacked on fun foam (DIMENSION). Some raffia at the top of the tag adds even more TEXTURE.


Then I remembered that MMCC is a CARD challenge... so popped the tag onto a kraft cardbase and called it good ;)

There's more inspiration over at STAMPlorations. And join us at the MMCC with your mixed media Thanksgiving card here.


Wednesday, November 16, 2016

giving thanks blog hop


There's a humongo-jumbo blog hop happening today with an absolutely wonderful theme - GIVING THANKS. Something I try to remember to do every day, but what better time of year to have a special event than as Thanksgiving approaches in the US!

Shery R. at STAMPlorations organized this with members of the DT as well as lovely guest designers from challenges you are probably thankful for! I won't keep you long so that you can hop along and check out all the beautiful creations. You've probably arrived from the STAMPlorations blog - if not you can start the hop here.

Here's my contribution.


An image with a coordinating die... had to put my big girl panties on and get out the Copics. I tried to channel my Debra J. but it ain't working! Anyhoo.

After I'd colored the basket from Many Blessings and die cut it with Blessings Word, I die cut multiple "Blessings" from textured white CS and adhered them randomly to my white cardbase which I'd lined with a strip of washi. These products are part of the Many Blessings Bundle available here. If you want to see the stencil from the bundle in action, check out this card.

Then I heat embossed the word "many" onto a black snippet and adhered it and the basket with foam adhesive.


I like the deep harvest colors combined with all that white. What do you think?

Don't want to keep you, but two things you'll want to know. There are tons of prizes for commenting and/or hooking up a "Giving Thanks" card. You have until Nov 30. And... Shery's offering 35% off store items from today until the end of the month with the code BIGTHANKS. Check it out here.

Now hope on. The lovely Anita in France is your next stop. She's got an autumn beauty for you...


Tuesday, November 15, 2016

STAMPlorations inspiration #106

Another STAMPlorations inspiration post and another card for you today. How's your Christmas card creation coming along? I've a pretty simple design for you. I revisited the iconic images in Gone Postal, choosing the two Christmas images.


Since the images are intended to be used in the postage stamp, they are too small to carry a card when stamped alone. So I decided to give each of theme a little frame to play in :)


I heat embossed the images and the sentiment from Sentiment Builders: Christmas and New Year with white. I colored a tiny portion of each image with green to add a little more color. Added a few snowflakes with white pigment ink too.

Then I die cut a frame using the two smallest dies from Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle. Cut the frame in half and glued it onto my nearly-one-layer card.

Hope you likey! There's more inspiration over on the blog. Be sure to comment too and you might win a GC.

Friday, November 11, 2016

CUTplorations november release hop

Thanks for stopping by. Two new dies in the spotlight today over at STAMPlorations. Wanna see what I made? I used the border dies to make a chimney for Santa to land on. And then I used the ATC die to make a tag and used one of the border dies to make some holes along the sides. Ran some baker's twine through them for a fun touch.

Keeping this real quick, but be sure to leave comments for a shot at some prizes. Deets are here. 





Wednesday, November 9, 2016

guest designing at where creativity meets C9

So excited to be coming to you today as the winner of the first challenge over at Where Creativity Meets C9 - Concord and 9th's challenge blog. What a cool stamp company it is with some unique and very hip designs. My prize for winning the challenge was the chance to guest design for the November challenge. Ready for this month's theme? You're gonna love it.

SPARKLE AND SHINE

Got your sunglasses ready? Meet my card.


I used Concord and 9th's Map Love and heat embossed and fussy cut the word "love" for a little shine. Know what? I actually bought that set just because of that word/font!


The PP is from the Modern Edition Paper Route pack. I tore a panel, tore a slightly larger black panel and adhered them both askew on my cardbase.

Then I die cut a circle of gold glitter CS and some hearts. One from the PP and about 20 from tissue paper. I stitched down the center of the hearts to keep them together and also allow them to fluff up for a bit of interest. TIP: This technique works great with any symmetric dies you have! (I've done it with a Christmas tree on this tag.)


I bent "love" a little before adhering it to the heart so that it would pull the PP layer up. Like how it allows you to see the B/W stripes on the reverse then too.

To add a little more sparkle and shine I scattered some sequins and added a strip of glitter washi up top too.

I'd like to thank Jessica for having me at Where Creativity Meets C9 this month. Have I inspired you? What sparkly ideas do you have for this month's theme? I look forward to your creations over in the gallery. Have a great day!

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

another spotlight on the journey from inspiration to card

I'm over at the STAMPlorations blog today with this card. Go take a look to see where my inspiration came from!


STAMPlorations inspiration #105

Welcome to another STAMPlorations inspiration Tuesday. Election day for us USers. Hope we're all still friends tomorrow. Enough on that. I've got a one-layer Christmas card for you today, made with a great little set Framed Christmas: Peace, Love, Joy!



Stamped, colored with Polychromo reds and greens and voila! Just followed the shading on the stamp to do my shading. Still working on that whole getting-the-shading-right-while-coloring concept!

Check out the rest of the DT's creations in this post and don't forget to leave a comment for a chance at a GC! Thanks for coming by today.

I'm going over to Kathy R.' Daily Marker Challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More.



p.s. Have you checked out this month's CUTplorations inspiration photo? Quite fun if I do say so myself ;)


Monday, November 7, 2016

happy 90th to my daddy!

Stopping by to share with you the card I created for my Dad's 90th. Actually, as you read this I am on my way to MI to celebrate with him :)

It was a labor of love. I had the brilliant idea to use ink smooshing with acetate to create a watercolor version of this.

This is the view from my folks' house. Those cedar trees are ancient and such a part of our family's history at this property :)


I masked horizon and lawn and smooshed Distress Inks for the grass (including dandelions ;) and lake. Again and again.

Then I stamped the trees from Stampendous Winter Trees and heat embossed them with clear to protect the ink from the rest of the ink smooshing process.

When I was satisfied, I used an iron and packing paper to remove the embossing and added a sentiment from SSS Handwritten Borders. A little PP to add a punch and voila!

Thanks for visiting.

Since I was definitely thinking of my Dad when I created this, I'm hooking up at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. where it's Thinking about You. And to Simon's Work it Wednesday for October since I've used SSS product.

I'm also joining in at Seize the Birthday with this birthday card. No stencil topping though.


And at Kathy R's Daily Marker Challenge. I colored all this. Albeit, with a piece of acetate ;)


And lastly, I'm hooking up at Craft Stamper, Take it Make it for November where it's Anything Goes with stamps.



Saturday, November 5, 2016

CUTplorations November

November's here! Halloween over. Election Day upon us. And we're heading toward Thanksgiving and Christmas. Wow! I think this month's CUTplorations inspiration photo captures the weather mood of November perfectly. Still pretty in some ways. But often wet. Here in Germany at least.

image source: Smashing Magazine

OK - what do you see? Playful? Grim? Autumnal colors? Rain? Cartoon images? Even the numbers along the bottom or the faint leaf veins in the gray BG? SOOOOO much to work with. I was overtaken by the colors which reminded me of an old Basic Grey PP - Indian Summer - which I bought cuz I loved the colors.

I started with a panel of PP. Heat embossed leaves from Trendy Leaves onto it in white. Then I took Seedless Preserves, Spiced Marmelade and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and applied them around the leaves where those colors were prevalent in the PP design.


A stamped sentiment from Vignette: Chevron and Arrows and a die cut Birthday Word finished off my card.

I hope you'll join us this month - our only requirement is that you use a die cut and one STAMPlorations store product on your project. (There's always a free digi here.) You can read the challenge guidelines here and find the gallery to link your project here.

I'm linking up at The Artistic Stamper where November's challenge is Autumnal. Cuz it is!

Friday, November 4, 2016

holiday TAGplorations fun


I'm joining in the fun over at STAMPlorations. We're all about making Christmas tags today. Take a look at the plethora of great ideas the DT and guest designers have come up with. Maybe you'll find a design you'd like to use on your Christmas tags this year!

For my tag I've gone the chalkboard route and also used a die cutting technique I've used here and here. It's quite fun when you have a symmetric shape like this Trendy Christmas Trees tree.


It's simple. You just fold up some tissue or crepe paper to get lots of layers. Then you die cut it once or twice. I think I have 20-30 layers. Then you stitch down the middle to keep them all together. The most tedious part is separating all the layers that have been pressed together so nicely by the die cutting machine ;)

I cut my tag shape using ATC Tag Builder from CUTplorations fun. Just love that playful feel to it. Keeping with the feel, I heat embossed a sentiment and star from Trendy Christmas Trees and added some faux stitching with a white gel pen.

A gingham PP hole reinforcer, some baker's twine and some chalkboard "smear" completed my design. Do have a look at the tags being shared on the STAMPlorations blog. And check out the prizes that are up for grabs too, both for commenting and linking up a tag! You have through Nov. 25th. Thanks for visiting.

I'm going over to the Holiday challenge at A Blog Named Hero with this tag. And at the Black + One other Color challenge at Inkspirational.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

doggie sympathy

A quick post to share a quick design which I unfortunately needed twice last week. Two families lost their golden retrievers (as did Shona C.) in one week. Our Ellie is only 3, but it sure makes me dread THE day...

Decided to use a stamp from Artemio and give it a cloud/halo effect by lightly Distress Inking around the embossed silhouette image. The sentiment is Technique Tuesday.

One was a girl.



The other a boy.


Thanks for looking. I'm sharing these cards at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's about Thinking of You. And at Stempelkueche where it's about Saying Goodbye.


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