One of our dearest friends was a highly decorated veteran for the USA and when he died some years ago we were devastated. His wife was almost destroyed by his loss and yet somehow she managed to get herself back together and have a life without him. This card is for her as we found her truly inspiring in how she pulled herself out of the deep mire of grief.

I chose the poppies for both her, as she loves them; and also because we have just celebrated Remembrance Day here in Canada. Thought they were appropriate somehow. Stamp set is from Gina K. Designs and was a gift from a stamping buddy. I stamped in Iced Spruce Distress Oxide and then heat embossed clear. Did the same thing with the sentiment. Coloured with Prisma Colour pencils and blended with Gamsol Added the sequins and it was complete.

It wasn’t my intention to make any cards this weekend but an email arrived from a friend who is having a hard time, a new challenge showed up and I have a new die to play with so here it is.

The die is my win from a recent challenge and is by Stamplorations. I wanted to try it out and I thought paper piecing would work for the challenge and make a nice card to send my friend. I can’t believe I decided to paper piece such an intricate die but all things considered it turned out quite well. I ended the design by spraying with Perfect Pearls shimmer as it had a bit of stickiness on top of the card front and I thought this would work to help with that. I was a bit heavy handed in my spraying but the shimmer is pretty never-the-less. I added a sentiment heat embossed on vellum in white to finish it.

Finally managed to finish my two snowflake cards and upload them. I played with the stencils last weekend and then didn’t have time to create the cards.

Firstly thank you Bonnie for sending me the stencils. They are great and easy to use. I decided to go totally non traditional with both. The purple one was clear heat embossed and then I sponged on the colour. Added the gems which took most of this afternoon because they are so tiny and stick to everything then get lost. I added very small sentiment strips in each corner which come from an Idea-ology Tim Holtz collection. On the second which is equally non traditional I used the yellow on the outside edges and some lilac in the center which turned gray for some reason. I added a bit of sparkle to the center and then the same type of sentiment strip to the middle. The photos don’t really do them justice as they show better in RL.

This creation was made to fit 2 challenges and fortunately it worked out. It works for the Global Design sketch and for Double D this week.

Using a kraft card base I added a silver heat embossed white panel. Stripes were done using a background stamp from Gina K. I found the piece of neutral mulberry paper and added a small piece of paper ribbon, that looks a bit like bark, to one side, then added it to white piece. Using the stamp set called Stitched Leaves also by Gina K I stamped 3 of the leaves onto a scrap piece using different distress oxide inks to get the soft fall colours. I die cut these and than popped them up on top of the paper ribbon and I added a few tiny black shapes left from another die. I found a sage coloured thread and tied a bow then added that. Stamped the sentiment and cut it out and then sponged the edges to match the sage thread. I’m quite happy with this one.

For this card I used the positives of the die cuts from yesterday. I decided to use the 2 reds on one card.

I added some white pearls and coloured some tiny ones red for added interest. Added the sentiment and it was done. Hardest part was the gluing. The florish ends go all over the place and positioning it properly was a challenge.

This is my second card for the challenge and a much more successful attempt.

Using the Deck the Halls set from Gina K I first stamped the cord for the lights and ornament. Then I positioned and stamped the little holder for the rest, after which I stamped the 2 lights and the ornament. I added the tiny sentiment at the top and a few lilac sequins to finish. I also added a small amount of glitter with a gelly roll pen from Sakura. I may do a few more of these as I quite like the effect and it is a simple card to repeat.

I managed to make two cards for this challenge. Didn’t really like the first result although it isn’t something to throw away. For the first one I used the All Star set by Beth Silaika.

I borrowed one stamp from a Simon Says set for the curvy lines and then stamped the stars in the challenge colours, or as close as I could get to those colours. I ended up stamping two of them a second time and fussy cutting as the original stamping wasn’t very good. Added a few gold dots and lines to those and then glued on top of the less satisfactory ones. Added some thin strips down the side of the white panel and then added the sentiment. CAS isn’t always a successful choice for me but I tried.

Earlier today I couldn’t think of a design for a red and white card, but after an afternoon appointment I guess my mind was working in the background as I remembered this die (the first one I ever bought) and decided to use it.

I cut a test piece out of some red paper and then completely messed up the gluing part so I had to cut another one. I found this darker red piece of card stock thinking cs would be easier to glue than paper. It was but I still had glue where I didn’t want it and tried to remove it with a soft eraser. It kind of worked but I wasn’t happy with it so I ended up covering the the space with a perlen pen. That worked but I couldn’t get really smooth lines. Added a few pearls here and there and then the sentiment. Sentiment from a Simon Says set. Did it in both red and white. I can’t say I’m totally happy with this card but it isn’t a complete disaster so I’m keeping it.

So I did finish a couple of Christmas designs today, not for any challenge but just using up some additional scraps.

Yesterday I messed up a card base and I could only rescue this small square. I also had all these small strips of glitter paper and a bit of gold that, to me, were just too pretty to throw away. I had the bright idea of weaving them together randomly. I attached the result to a bit of left over pp and cut the excess off the edges. Then I attached that to the card front. Using another scrap piece I stamped the sentiment (KaiserKraft set) and added the snowflakes (doubled 2) at the side. Added a bling center and then adhered to the card front center. It worked better than I expected and I used up most of my odd bits too. I did another one as well but much smaller weave and a quite different look.

It was fun to create something that has nothing to do with Christmas today. Inspiration from Just Add Ink and this is my take on the challenge.

Using a warm cocoa card base I added a textured panel. The texture is due to the mulberry paper and I’ve always loved the Japanese papers. Then I stamped the daisies from the GKD Daisy Delight set on a scrap piece and using shimmery watercolours I painted the flowers and then fussy cut the entire piece out. I deliberately used a thin non watercolour card stock knowing it would dry curled; as I wanted it to curl somewhat. I did use some foam tape in strategic places to keep the dimension. Added a small yellow bow and the sentiment piece to finish the card. The flowers are so pretty when the light hits them as they are a combination of yellow and gold but the photo doesn’t pick up the shimmer unfortunately.