One of the DT’s here did a design where she cut up the stenciled piece and I liked it so much I decided to do the same to my card. I took a gray piece of CS and sponged through a KaiserCraft snowflake stencil using Distress Oxide ink in Hickory Smoke. At first I thought it was too dark but once dry it was much more subtle. I cut it up and glued to white card front. Then I took my LawnFawn ice mice stamps and dies and did three of the mice. Added them and then stamped the sentiment and die cut it. It took a while for me to settle on best placement of this piece but in the end I thought at the top looked best.

The colour challenge at JUGS and the October one at Double D gave me the chance to do another fall card today. Stamp set used for most of it came from Gina K Designs – Triple Play Holiday – that I purchased from stamp buddy Diana and first time inking since I got it. The raffia ribbon stamp was stamped first and I added the rest around it. This card kind of designed itself as I didn’t have a plan when I started. Added the sentiment above the ribbon. Then I stamped the pumpkins using some masking to get them to sit together and added the faces to them in black. Then I added the leaves at the top left corner and gave them a bit of sparkle using a copper pen. I was going to try spattering some black but knowing my technique isn’t very good decided against it and instead used some tiny stamps from a different set called Lettered and Lovely. I think I like the effect these small stamps give better than I would have the spattering. Mounted the panel onto some black and then onto the purple card front. Having just had tea (socially distant) with my neighbor who is still battling cancer and talking about my cards which she always enjoys, I’ve decided that this one is for her.

As I haven’t entered a Global Design challenge for a while and because I had been playing around with making some backgrounds with my new colours from Colorburst I decided to create something that combined both. To be honest I didn’t like my background results very much as I managed to use too much of the dark brown and everything was quite dark. Those that know me are aware that I don’t throw much away so I decided to use part of one piece that wasn’t as dark or as bad as the other. I had used some Dusty Concord Distress oxide on a large background stamp first which was clear heat embossed. It is somewhat evident on this piece but a lot got covered up. The card is a leftover piece of kraft that gave me a 4 1/4 square card. Using the Stitched leaves stamp set and dies from Gina K I stamped and cut the leaves as well as the word and shadow pieces all from same set. I used 2 sakura gelly roll starburst pens in gold and copper to add sparkle and some subtle colour on the leaves. Once positioned I added the twine bow and a few metallic gold dots on the background. I really wish the shine would show up on a photo as it is quite pretty in R.L.

What can be cosier than a small dog curled up on a mat? Stamps are from Hero Arts and from Gina K Designs and the images were coloured using Inktense pencils. Added a bit of sparkle to baubles and edges of the tree, but doesn’t show on the photo. A simple and quick card to make. It was made for the AAA challenge but then I noticed that Perfectly CAS is asking for DT entries and although I don’t have a hope of being picked I thought it would be fun to enter. I’m adding a few other examples to this post.

For this one I used my new MFT kit along with a Sissix folder. Even though I did some paper piecing and the background piece is a layer this is still CAS to me as it has lots of negative space.

Done on navy CS using left over pieces from another project. Heat embossed the sentiment in silver. The pieces are all sparkly white CS by LawnFawn. I think CAS can be done on coloured CS as well as white, although some may not agree with me.

A few days ago I pulled out my Sue Wilson Festive collection dies thinking I would want to use them soon. Didn’t really have an idea in my head at the time, but after seeing the sketch challenge at Just Add Ink I thought they would work for the challenge. In addition The Sisterhood is asking for lots of layers and this meets that challenge too. One of the DT examples is what inspired mine.

I added a silvery layer to the card front and then added the die cut oval which already had some texture and I added a bit more by dry embossing a few snowflakes. I popped this up on top of the silver panel. I spent some time die cutting all the elements for the poinsettias using a scrap piece of white sparkle, gold foil, silver foil and some green foil. After layering all the pieces I played around until I got them in position and then glued them on top. Added the leaves and smaller flowers around the sentiment. Die cut the sentiment from Essentials in the same sparkle cs. In retrospect I should have die cut one in a dark cs (maybe the green foil) to add behind the sparkle, but even so I’m happy with the end result. Not a card for mailing but I can hand deliver to my neighbor who I know will like it.

Halloween isn’t my thing and I only make one or two cards each year. This is my first one so far and is intended for our little neighbor down the street. As I don’t do the trick or treat part anymore, this goes to her with some money inside so she can buy whatever treats she wants. I like doing fun folds and this is a double Z fold. The ghosts were fussy cut and I went over them with a white gel pen, but they still look a bit grayer than I wanted. Card stock all from Gina K but the pp is from other sources. Stamp set is from GKD called Feeling Wicked, and I randomly stamped some of the images and the word onto scrap CS and cut it to the size I needed.

I had seen a lovely CAS card on a blog (I think Ellen Hutson) and I liked it so decided to create a version of my own. Using a shooting star stencil from Hero Arts, I picked out a few of the stars using a Sakura glitter pen. With some scrap strips of CS I added them as shown and stamped the greeting (Kaiser Mix & Match set) underneath. On a separate piece of CS I stamped the village image from Great Impressions using archival ink. I then coloured this using InkTense pencils and a bit of water. The image was a bit too big for my strips so I cut it into a curved shape and removed one of the houses. Second version shown below. I then popped this up onto the strips. I did add a bit of glitter to the village houses and falling snow.

Did this one much the same as the first but used different glitter pens for the stars and did a much better job of adding the strips. I like both cards.

After concentrating on Christmas for most of this week, I needed a change in pace. The reminder to play in the Card Concept challenge was in my mailbox and that inspired me to do this card. Several things in the photo inspired my ideas, the books, flowers and the globe and I ended up with this layered card. I’ve had the world die by Sissix for a long time and don’t use it much, so decided that should be part of my design. As I don’t have any book stamps I went to the internet and found some free stock photography which I printed and then cut out the elements I required. I cut the stack down to 3 books as the original was a bit too big. Card front is Peach Bellini from GKD and the vase and flowers are from one of her stamp sets called Vogue Vases. I fussy cut these images out after colouring them with pencils. PP is a scrap piece left over and used to ground the books and vase. I cut part of the world off as it was also too big for this design. Added all of this to the black background and then added the sentiment strips from an Tim Holtz Idea-ology pad. I wanted something to reflect knowledge and the world and these worked the best. Finished it off with some iridescent bubbles from Studio Katia. A nice bonus is I actually like the finished card.

Using my Hero Arts Christmas kit from last year, and an idea from a card I made at that time, I created several of these for family and a couple of special friends we don’t see often due to distance. After die cutting the house panel and folding back the door so it is easier to see behind, I hand coloured everything. Using one of the set stamps I added the welcome mat at the bottom. With other dies from the set I cut the door wreath and the side plants. I added some Stickles sparkle to all the die cuts, and I also added a bead for the door handle.

After getting my hubby to resize and print the selfie photo we did for a particular project gift for my sister earlier this year, I added some gold metallic paper to show through the windows and lanterns and then adhered it to the back of the die cut.

I adhered this panel on to a tent fold card and added a Christmas sentiment inside along with some poinsettia stamped images. These have basically taken me all week to complete so it isn’t a card I will mass produce for everyone. Had fun with it though and am pleased with end results.

My new Peek-a-Boo set from Hero Arts arrived the other day and I was dying to try them out. Figured the challenge at DRU was a good choice for incentive to play. I did check out a few ideas on Pinterest and with Jen McGuire before starting. I decided to create a small scene under my flap and have the sentiment on the front section.

First I stamped the leaves, using a rubber cube stamp by Stampendous in versamark, heat setting it in gold onto the sandy beach CS. Then I die cut the peek-a-boo portion and using some pencil marks and the opening as a guide I figured out where to stamp the scene onto the white card front. After lightly sponging some tumbled glass ink to create the background I then took some tiny stamps from a GKD set called Holiday Frame and stamped the snowflakes at the top in white then heat embossed in white too. I stamped the snowman with amalgam ink and coloured with Inktense pencils and stamped the tree with evergreen bough. Added a tiny hand drawn gold star to top of tree and added some glitter to the snowflakes to make them more visible. Can’t make them show up properly on the photo unfortunately. I also added sparkle to the snowman and the tree. Using a tip from JM I added a tiny circle with the word lift hand written on it.

The front flap was a bit bland looking so after I heat embossed the sentiment I added some extra snowflakes in gold at the bottom and some bling around the rest. I’m not totally happy with the result, but it isn’t bad enough to have to do again. For a first try it isn’t terrible and we learn from our mistakes right.