A week ago I was playing around and I die cut this white tree from Penny Black. In the end I didn’t use it, but when using a teal piece of CS for something else the tree ended up on top of it and I realized that it looked perfect for a wintery card. I also liked the stark white on the teal. The idea stayed in my mind, but I didn’t have time to do anything more until yesterday afternoon. Once I saw the February Anything goes mood board I decided to go ahead with the card and use some tiny red hearts to liven it up. These came from another die that had fallout hearts. I added them as you see and put a small amount of glitter on them. I used 2 different reds so there are some tone differences. When gluing the tree I only did a few sections and lifted up some of the branches to give some dimension. The birds come from a Birds & Blossoms set by Theresa Momber (GKD) and these were stamped in white. I added some white glaze on top, but they looked patchy and the camera is merciless, so I used a few red glitter dots to cover up the patchy bits. The grounding for the tree was done by hand with a white pen. I didn’t add a sentiment yet, and may only do so for the inside when I decide to give it to someone. I like having a choice as to how to use the card as it would work for Valentine’s Day, a love you theme or even a sympathy card.

CASEing the designer is something I like to do and I really like the colours used in the inspiration photo so went with my version of those. I used a GKD stamp set called Birds and Blossoms 2 and chose the largest flower along with a smaller one and the leaves. The sentiment is from Joy Clair. I stamped the images using a Hero Arts black that doesn’t smudge if wet and then used some shimmery watercolour paints to colour them. Before that I masked off the large flower, added 2 smaller ones and the leaf sprig in 2 places. The leaf sprig was stamped in Bundled Sage Distress ink. When it was all dry I tapped some paint spatter over it. I added a few gems and then glued it to the angled background papers that I had already put on the card front. Papers from my stash, one is by StampinUp and the other from a 6×6 paper pad. The shimmer is very evident in R.L. but not on the photo unfortunately.

When in my local dollar store last week I found some cute stamp sets at $2 per set so I figured what the heck, I’ll get some. At this price, even if the quality isn’t that great, which it isn’t, I’ll still get some fun out of them. This set is called Pugs and kisses and I stamped the dog, hat and sentiment then fussy cut the hat and dog and used a small heart die (Hero Arts) to cut the sentiment. I used Prisma pencils and gamsol for colouring as well as some Sakura Glaze pens. Added the hat to the dog and some foam tape to the back ready for placement. Added foam to the back of the heart too. I remembered I had this cut and emboss die and decided to use it. Added a scrap of purple plaid to the back so it shows through the die cut part. After gluing to the card front, I added the pug and the heart. I’ve let the embossing folder be the embellishment for this card.

I have long wanted to try one of these special fold cards and here is my very first one. My aunt and Godmother is turning 90 and I decided that a twisted gate fold card would be just right for her. The sentiment inside is computer generated and is in Dutch. When I began this card it was purely for her, but the challenge notification for the Paper Players came in as I was saving the photograph and I realized that it would work for the challenge. I used the diagonal row bottom left to top right. The die cut is a dragonfly, flowers are StampinUp DSP and its a 90th birthday. The die used is from PaperRose, there is also a scalloped circle die cut from Sissix and I went around the edges with a glitter gold pen. The tiny stamps (shown on 2nd photo) are from a GKD Vertical Greetings set and the embellishments are from my stash. I followed a video by Stamp with Tami found here. The numbers are a white precut foam that I coloured with a gold glitter pen. The dragonfly was added to a type of washi tape that is glittered and I added tiny gems for the body, tail and eyes.

These slightly hidden pieces are a pale blue and I stamped the dragonflies in Metallic gold and added a few pearls for decoration. I still have to make the envelope for the card and it will be mailed tomorrow morning. I had fun making this card and intend to make more. They aren’t hard to do, although I had a challenge with the diagonal scoring. It was a bonus that the card fit the challenge Tic Tac Toe board.

This is my 2nd entry for the no layer challenge at AAA Cards. I kept thinking about it and decided another card was in order. The sentiment and hearts stamps are from GKD and the swirl is from The Cats Pajama’s.

I stamped the swirl with Versamark and heat embossed with a glittery deep reddish brown powder from Recollections. The glitter is very pretty in R.L. but photos never pick up the sparkle well. Once this was set and cool I stamped the sentiment with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and clear heat embossed that. Then using the same ink I stamped the hearts. Instead of heat embossing these I chose to use a clear Sakura Glaze pen. There is a lot of shine in this card and I deliberately kept the colour to just one.

This card uses a stamp set by Lisa Hetrick (GKD) which is one I used a lot when first purchased and thought it was time to start using it again. I started by stamping the large sentiment and then the small one. After that I stamped the larger flower, masked it and stamped the smaller one. Masked that and stamped the leaves and berry piece. I went over the red image with a sparkle red pen. After stamping the centers to the flowersI used a copper glitter pen to add more depth. Inks used are from Distress Oxides but the sentiment uses a Hero Arts black ink.

There are certain days, like Valentines Day and Halloween for example, that I simply can’t be bothered with, although I know for others they are really important. That said, I do make one or two cards for these occasions and this card is one of them. Stamps used are from Penny Black, the Die cut frame is by Recollections. I used Sakura Glaze pens to colour the hearts, Inktense pencils along with Ohuhu pens to colour the hedgehog. I also used the fallout hearts as embellishments. The image was stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed in Champagne from Recollections. Hubby came in when I was finishing this and said he thought it really cute. The pink CS makes it quite vibrant.

It has been a while since I last played in an AAA challenge and decided it was past time I did. I used a new stamp set from Joy Clare that has this large sentiment and with TomBow pens I inked the words in different colours, huffed on it and stamped. Had to do it several times to get a reasonable impression. Found the tiny bee stamp in a Penny Black set and the seed head is a freebie by Lavinia Stamps that I received in an order some time ago. I added a bit of sparkle to the bee and a few sparkle dots here and there. In general, I’m not that great at CAS cards and don’t do one layer ones very often either, but this worked better than I expected.

A Valentine or a love theme challenge is pretty easy but a colour challenge is, for me, always a bit more problematic. Matching as close as possible to the colours is quite difficult but I think I’ve managed it. The background die is an unbranded one and I used a failed dry embossing attempt for this. I figured some of the poor embossing would show without it being busy and I was right. I added it to a gray card front to meet one of the grays on the colour swatch. Then I took a silver leftover heart die cut and added a smaller one cut in the gingham on top and tucked it under one of the stripes. Using a Divinity Design cute stamp set I stamped and coloured the little pigs keeping as close as possible to the challenge colours. After die cutting this I glued another piece to the back to give it a bit of dimension and added it as you can see. I had stamped the sentiment from the same set and I went over this with a glitter pen before adding it to the layer. Using a small xoxo stamp from Joy Clair I stamped this in several places for added interest and to increase the Love aspect of the theme challenge. This could have been a really busy card but I managed to keep it fairly simple thankfully. Getting a one card to fit two challenges is a nice bonus.

This is my take on the sketch challenge at Paper Players. I used a tulip die I bought in the Netherlands when visiting my sister and it is by Craft Emotions. After die cutting I coloured it with Inktense pencils. Did the flowers first then went over them with a clear Sakura glaze pen so I could do the leaves without worrying that I might mess up the flowers. Added some StampinUp DSP to a gray card front and then added a scrap that was cut into some grass at the join of the 2 pattern pieces. Added the die on top of that leaving a few flower heads loose so they would look more natural. The sentiment is from a Spellbinders set I’ve gotten this year. Decided it didn’t need any embellishments, although I may change my mind before it gets used.