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.

Before it was trendy I did a few slimline cards because they fit into a regular business envelope. This, however, is my first since they became the latest trend. Starting with a piece of LawnFawn Pixie dust cs, I die cut the snowflake using the die twice. On another scrap piece of cs, I ink sponged with distress oxides in Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord blending each of the colours from light to dark. I adhered the 2 together and then added a black piece underneath to get the border. Mounted this onto the white card front. Using a sentiment stamp from a GKD set called Holiday Frame I stamped it with both the seedless preserves and dusty concord and then mounted this piece onto another scrap of black. After adding this to the bottom of the card I added gems in similar colours to the inks. This turned out much better than I thought and I’m quite pleased.

This star wreath – unbranded die cut – was left over from another project so I decided to make an additional wreath card for the Double D challenge. PP from a Recollections pad and before I glued it to card front I added the ribbon. Then after adding the wreath I used some glitter on the bigger stars and a Sakura glitter pen on the smaller ones. As well I used the pen on the tiny stars in the middle of the background panel. The sentiment came from a GKD set called Deck the Halls and I stamped it onto a tiny die cut tag. I also added a couple of gold stars then I tied it to the ribbon using some embroidery thread. Kept this very simple and wish the glitter showed up on photo.

Using a Penny Black wreath stamp I first stamped the image in versamark and then heat embossed in silver. using a berry sprigs die set from Dee’s Distinctively I cut the red sprigs and played with placement until I like the look. Glued them in place but left parts loose for dimension. Didn’t like the square orientation so I cut the wreath using a Sissix set and added some foam to the back. Searched through my pp and found the black plaid piece for background. Popped the wreath on top and added the bow, but it needed some bling so I added the small gems here and there in different colours. The sentiment is from a CTMH set that I’ve used almost every year since I purchased it as I like the font. Heat embossed in white on a black scrap piece that I rounded the corners of. Popped up along the bottom. My hubby loved this effort and my photo doesn’t really do it justice as it looks nicer in reality than here.

I kept this card simple as the original idea I had wouldn’t work properly. The die is an unbranded star wreath and I cut 3 but only used 2 in the end. The sentiment is from a GKD set called Sweet Thing and after stamping it I went over it with a Sakura glitter pen. Once I had the die cuts placed and glued I added some Hero Arts Glow in the Dark paint to the lilac stars. They shine here but I can’t photograph the glow in the dark part. My original idea was to use this card in 2 challenges but as that didn’t work it is solely for the JUG challenge this week.

Autumn – Sweet Stamping Challenge http://cutitupchallenges.blogspot.com/ – Happy Fall, Y’all + at least 3 Layers 

I had been wanting to use these skeleton leaves that a generous friend gave to me a year ago and never got around to doing much with. After seeing some lovely fall cards from stampinbuddies and on Pinterest I decided to make this one. Using Sweet Mango CS and Gathered Twigs Distress ink, I first cut and scored the card base and the Z fold strip. Then I stamped the leaves as shown and added the sentiment from same set randomly. The horse stamp is an old wooden block stamp and after stamping with versamark and heat embossing clear I fussy cut him out. I adhered him to the fold strip and added a small die cut piece of grass along the bottom. The fence is a purchased die cut and I glued that on top of the rest. Before gluing the Z fold added the 2 white strips so I would have somewhere to personalize the card. I also stamped the word grateful on the front. Using a tree stamp from the GKD Wetlands set I added the trees and heat embossed those with a shimmery gold powder. The random dots were bits left from hole punching some cs and I picked out the colours that seemed to work best for this card.

When the sketch challenge arrived in my inbox from MFT I decided to participate. Without any clear picture in my head except the sketch I began by cutting the pp into the oval shape. Then I had to think because as yet, I don’t have many stamp sets from MFT. I went through my stamp lists to see what I could use and pulled out this retired set called Sushi Date for which I also have matching dies. I’ve had it for a while and have enjoyed using it. Initially I was drawn to the sentiment because it kind of expressed my feeling about making the card. That is how it got created, I just rolled along. I backed the white panel with some blue that is a close match to the blue in the pp and added it to the card front. Then I stamped the sentiment in Blueprint sketch, cut it into two pieces and adhered them to another of the blue paper pieces. I decided to place it underneath the oval. I stamped and die cut the bamboo and played around with placement before gluing. At first I thought I would keep to only the one image, but then decided to stamp the critter image. Coloured that with pencils added a bit of Nuvo Crystal glaze to the eyes and ears and called it finished.

One of my friends was complaining about not being able to find good pet sympathy cards and suggested to me that I make a bunch and sell them to stores. Its a flattering suggestion, but not one I’m about to actually do, as I’m not wishing to making my hobby into a business. That said, I thought it would be nice to make her a few she can keep on hand for a future occasion she may require one. She is a huge dog lover and has two of her own. One hopes not to need sympathy cards, but the reality is that we all need them sometimes.

I used a small SSS stamp set to make these along with two Crazy Dog images from Tim Holtz. The middle card has a space left for the pet’s name to be written in and is my take on something seen on Pinterest. I added a sticky note so she knows to add the pet name. PP is from a Recollections collection I’ve had a long time. They all have a sentiment inside with a bit of decoration too. These are the first cards I’ve made for almost a month. Had fun doing them.

When my new Hero Arts kit arrived the other day I was pretty excited as they have had issues with getting orders fulfilled due to Covid-19. Anyway I decided to have a go at playing with it and this is what I came up with. I confess it isn’t my design as I basically CASEd a design from their blog. You can find it here. My version isn’t an exact copy but it is a close one. I had fun following along with the video to get something similar and am happy with how it turned out. I coloured with a combination of pencils, copics and Spectrum noir markers, but my blending leaves a lot to be desired. It took several tries for me to get the cutting and embossing right based on the instructions but I managed it in the end. As it fits the challenge I decided to enter it although when I first started the card I wasn’t really doing it with a challenge in mind.

Using one of my new MFT Floral background stamps I stamped the image in white pigment ink onto the blue cs and then clear embossed it. I already had the 2 frame die cuts on my desk as they were left from another project and I intertwined them and then laid them on the card to see how it looked. I liked it, so decided to proceed with using these but making part of the stamped image stand out more. I initially coloured in the center parts with a white pencil but it wasn’t quite white enough so went over the top with some white water colour. This I liked. I added some gold water colour to the flower centers and used a pencil on the stems. Didn’t want a lot of colour but it definitely needed the hint. From a Divinity Designs stamp set I chose the sentiment and stamped it with Blueprint Sketch Distress oxide to which I added clear heat embossing. Cut it to the size and popped it up at the bottom. Getting the negative and positive look gave me a background paper and a solid image in the frames and I love the result.