Christmas Crafts All Year Round - Blue Christmas challenge

 The challenge this month at Christmas Crafts All Year Round is to take inspiration from the song Blue Christmas.   My card was inspired by the lines "decorations of red on a green Christmas tree".  I also added a little bit of light blue ink to an embossed snowflake background just to include a little bit of a blue Christmas.

The Christmas tree was stamped and heat embossed with green glitter embossing powder and then lightly inked in green, with red sequin ornaments and a white and gold glitter star on top.  Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #100

 The new challenge at Christmas Kickstart is to use dots/spots/circles on your project.

I used Gina K's wreath builder system to create the wreath on my card, then made a frame out of two nesting circle dies and gold cardstock.  To continue the "round" theme, I embossed the card front with a dotted swiss embossing folder.  The sentiment stamp is from Catherine Pooler.

It's been a little while since I used the wreath builder set, but it really does make round designs much easier.  I may add some tiny gold beads to the poinsettia centers, but for now I'm leaving it simple.

Five months from now, we'll be sending out our Christmas cards, so it's time to get creating!

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - technique challenge

 I'm joining in the June technique challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  The technique is to create a pinwheel tower card.  This is a card fold I hadn't seen before, but I found this tutorial by Lynn Dunn.  You can see her tutorial and video here.

Photos of my card are below.  The first is a top down photo so you can see how the card stands up.  (It folds flat for mailing.)  Each side is pictured below.  Two sides have poinsettias and greenery, one has a sentiment and one has a sentiment with white space for signing below it.

This was a fun card to make.  Now I want to try a Halloween themed pinwheel fold!

July 1st Mix It Up Challenge

 Time for a new challenge at Mix It Up Challenge blog!  This challenge is all about mixed media:  paints, inks, pastes, sprays, collage, etc.  

I started playing with a few things and ended up with two cards for this challenge.  One using a stencil, stamp, inks, and glossy paste and the other using texture paste, a stencil and watercolors.

For the card on the left, I used Distress Oxide inks and a layering stencil from The Stamp Market. After stenciling the leaves, I stamped over the top with a mesh background stamp.  After letting that dry for a few minutes, I replaced the stencil over the image and spread Ranger Transparent Glossy Texture Paste over the stencil.  The ink still bled a tiny bit, but it was okay for this image.  It doesn't show up well in the photo, but the texture paste adds a little clear shine to the leaves.

i used an Altenew floral stencil and Gina K texture paste for the card on the right.  Once the texture paste dried (it dries white), I used watercolors to paint the flowers and leaves.    I also added some bronze and pewter mist splatters.  For now, I'm leaving the sentiment off this card because I'm not sure how I'll use it.  It could be used for several different occasions.

You have until August 15th to add your mixed media projects to the Mix It Up Challenge Blog.  I hope you get a chance to play along, as we'd love to see your work!

Jingle Belles Festive Frames challenge

 The new challenge at Jingle Belles is to create a project with at least one frame. I combined a decorative rectangle die with a plain rectangle die to create the frame out of white shimmer cardstock.

The floral elements are Gina K stamps and the sentiment is from Tim Holtz.  The sentiment was stamped in dark sage ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I added a tiny bit of gold glitter pen to the poinsettia centers.  We're almost halfway to Christmas, so no better time to get some Christmas cards finished!

Mix It Up Challenge Blog - May challenge

 It's time for the May Challenge at Mix It Up Challenge Blog.  This time we'd like to see paper piecing on your projects.  This is a great way to use your stamps without coloring or inking with stencils.  Here's my card for the challenge:

I used an older stamp set from Gina K Designs, called Fabulous Frame.  I stamped the full background image, which includes the full rectangle, horizontal rectangle piece and oval center, on teal dotted patterned paper.  Then I stamped again on solid teal cardstock and cut out the outer horizontal rectangle and outer oval piece.  I stamped again on teal striped paper to get the horizontal rectangle strip and on white cardstock to get the center oval.  The floral image was a separate stamp.  I stamped it on solid teal cardstock, teal patterned paper and yellow swirl patterned paper, then fussy cut the various parts of the image to get the pieced flower.  I added a little touch of color to the flower with colored pencils and a used a bit of white colored pencil on the leaves to make some highlights.  The floral image was adhered to the center oval with thin foam adhesive.

We'd love to see your paper piece projects this month.  Please join us at Mix It Up Challenge Blog!  

CAS on Friday - Challenge #306

 CAS on Friday's current challenge is to create an Easter themed project.  I used a stamp set from Simon Says Stamp for this clean and simple card.

All I did was lightly color the gray and brown bunnies and then diecut with pinked rectangle dies.  I'll probably include a box of Peeps with this card for a little Easter gift.