A No Ink Vintage Christmas Card

Hope you are enjoying your Easter weekend! 
Two cardmaking challenges I pay attention to have challenges that I decided would combine perfectly — Jingle Belles is looking for old-fashioned/vintage-style Christmas cards, while Shopping Our Stash is asking for cards that don't use ink. If I'm looking to make either type of card, my thoughts quickly turn to my Graphic 45 papers. So here it is: 

More fussy cutting than I am generally comfortable with, although I have to admit, the two tags were pretty easy. :D None of the papers in this Dickens (yay!) collection seemed subtle enough to let the rest of the images shine, so I found another vintage-y paper for the background panel. So really, apart from the scissor-work, an easy card. 

Supplies: Craft Smith red card base, Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol & Basic Grey Aspen Frost patterned paper, small hole-punch, gold twine, foam tape

Pinkless at Muse: ChristmasVisions

It's the Easter long weekend... and I've been making Christmas cards. Then again, there's still snow in my backyard and the temp today barely cracked the freezing point. So why not? Chriss is the current muse at Muse: ChristmasVisions, and as a still-newbie team member, I'm trying to play along each challenge. Here is Chriss's card: 

I focussed on Chriss's all-over background, gold embossing, and large central sentiment. Here's my version: 

I am willing to make one pink Christmas card a year, for Jingle Belles, so chose to _not_ be inspired by the background panel colour. Also, sometimes you just want to take a shortcut, and so I used patterned paper that happened to have gold-coloured deer jumping all over it. Our fearless leader Ardyth will not be impressed that the background music does not seem to include Joy to the World, but I can at least reassure her that the music in the embossed JOY sentiment is actually the correct carol. ;) The delicacy of the JOY die cut (layered and offset on white) meant it was getting a little lost on the patterned paper, so I added a strip of vellum to temper the background a bit. To match the sentiment, I added gold embossing to a white cardstock panel for a mat.

Having mentioned Jingle Belles, their current challenge is a vintage one, and I'm hoping this has an old-fashioned enough feel to qualify. I do have another idea in mind that will be unquestionably old-fashioned! ;) 
With a long weekend, and a couple of days left to play, why not be inspired and add a Christmas card to your stash! 

Supplies: white cardstock, vellum, Basic Grey patterned paper, Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words:Joy stamps and die, Versamark, pirate's gold embossing powder, Teresa Collins Noel patterned paper

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Happy Bird-day at Seize the Birthday!

Happy Thursday! And for many, the last day before a long weekend. Thursday also means it's time for a new Seize the Birthday challenge to begin! Our latest *topping* theme is BIRDS — always optional, but a great way to add a spring birthday card to your stash. 

I almost went the Bird Crazy route for a humorous card, but it didn't feel like a colouring day, so I went with a colour layering bird instead. Not that I find lining up the various layers any less challenging than colouring would have been. I even added an extra bit of shading by adding two colours of purple (the old "rock and roll" technique) to the base layer to darken his belly a bit. The die cut branch was made a few weeks ago, when I was experimenting with different tissue paper techniques. I randomly stamped my base layer with a couple of leafy stamps, then splattered a bit of ink around to soften the look a bit more. And you have to love when you can find a card base that matches so well when you haven't planned ahead. ;) Although I'm stretching the definition a little bit, I've looked at the design team's cards for the current Addicted to CAS challenge, Birds, and hope this card is acceptable there. I know I meet the requirements for the current Anything Goes Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 
There are many different bird cards flying around on the Seize the Birthday blog, by the regular team and our current surprise party guest Kim. I hope you'll dig into your stash of bird-themed supplies and come and join us! (And if birds aren't your thing, we love to see all birthday cards.) 

Supplies: white & Hero Arts celadon layering cardstock, tissue paper, Hero Arts Color Layering Bird stamps and die, Gina K Tropical Flowers & Clearly Besotted Message Me stamp, Altenew soft lilac, lavender fields, Persian blue & sapphire, Memento new sprout & bamboo leaves, & iced spruce & bundled sage distress inks, Ranger snowflake embossing tinsel, Hero Arts spring branch & MFT blueprints 24 stitched rectangle dies

Need Coffee?

Happy Saturday! Did you start your morning with... caffeine? 

That's right, the new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is N is for Need Coffee. Kind of funny, actually, since close to half of the sisters seem to prefer tea as their hot beverage of choice. (It fills in time till cocktail hour, after all...) 😉 Here is my caffeinated creation:

I was thrilled with how perfectly that heart stamp fit on the die cut coffee mug. I found some patterned paper that seemed already coffee-stained in the corners, then went a little overboard perhaps in adding two sizes of coffee cup rings. The sentiment stresses the importance of that jolt of java. 
The sisters, as well as this week's guest designer Sharon, have an assortment of coffee creations to inspire you. Don't get the caffeine jitters, come and join us!

Supplies: Neenah desert storm & Stampin' Up real red & early espresso cardstock, American Crafts Amy Tangerine Sketchbook patterned paper, Ink Road Stamps The Struggle Is Real & Modern Love & STAMPlorations Holiday Artsy stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & gathered twigs distress inks, Ranger clear & Hero Arts white embossing powders, MFT Hot Cocoa Cups dies, foam tape

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

I make, at the most, one St. Patrick's Day card a year... that's if it works out that we have dinner with friends as we often do. So here is this year's goofy edition: 

You'll find the punchline at the end of the post...

I pinned this card last year after Emily entered it into a Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge, because I loved the sentiment! Instead of turning a crazy bird into a chicken, I used this bird from my oldest Paper Smooches set, mostly as it was a good size match to the shamrock. The hat comes from another PS set. I used Twinkling H2Os and plastic wrap to make my marbled green squares. I printed the beginning of the riddle on some patterned paper for a little extra interest. 
I'm entering this in Shopping Our Stash's current Put a Bird On It challenge. 
Watch out for that green beer today! 

*...and the answer is: The CLUCK of the Irish!

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore watercolour paper, Authentique Be(you)tiful patterned paper, Paper Smooches Birthday Buddies, A Magical Spring & Lawn Fawn My Lucky Charm stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Copic markers, Zig watercolour markers, Twinkling H2Os, MFT square stitched & blueprints 24 dies, foam tape

Shopping Birds

The current Shopping Our Stash challenge is Put a Bird on It. So I did. 

I have never used this bird stamp for anything but sympathy cards, and here I am using it again for another one. I have never actually paired it with the sentiment that comes with it, but since this is for family, it seemed just right. This is also likely the least CAS sympathy card I've made. I was pretty excited when I found not just one, but TWO patterned papers that actually coordinated with the distress inks I had sponged on the bird panel. I added a strip of woodgrain embossed cardstock to bring out the white-embossed bird. 

Supplies: Bazzill marshmallow cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Basic Grey Plumeria patterned paper, Unity/Webster's Pages Love Itty Bitty stamps, Versamark & tumbled glass, stormy sky, antique linen, iced spruce, bundled sage & chipped sapphire distress inks, Ranger clear & Hero Arts white embossing powders, Papertrey Ink woodgrain impression plate, Spellbinders oval die

The Trouble with Teal

Thursday means it's time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday! Our (always optional) topping is a colour combination of teal and white.

Teal and I do not play well together. What is teal? There can be teal blue or teal green, or it can also be a duck. (Hmm, is the colour named after the bird, or the bird the colour?) And while I do have a couple of ink pads with teal in the name, I decided instead to haul out a bunch of patterned paper to see what inspired me. And it worked: 

Keeping to just the teal and white, I stamped and embossed each of the little words and phrases in the speech bubbles. I decided to keep it super clean and simple, but did manage to find some matching hemp cord to keep it from downright PAB*, I hope.

As always, we welcome all birthday cards at Seize the Birthday! Come see how everyone interpreted our newest toppings, including our current surprise party guest, Kim! 

(*PAB = Plain and Boring, my patented phrase for when I get a little too CAS...)

Supplies: white cardstock, Studio Calico Darling Dear patterned paper, Paper Issues/Snarky Stamps Ahhh Birthday, Versamark ink, Wow superfine white embossing powder, Hemptique cord

A Reminder to Drink Up...

... because that's the name of the March Naughty or Nice Challenge, DRINK UP! What did you think I meant? 

This is a fun prompt with lots of possibilities, both alcoholic and teetotal. Somehow I ended up making a wine-themed card again...

Note size of glass vs size of bottle. :D I managed to match red ink, red glitter paper AND red glitter embossing powder. There is absolutely no way the sentiment oval is covering a direct-to-card stamping mistake. ;) 
Tea, coffee, water, wine... the choices are practically infinite, so why now get crafty and join us! You have until March 25th to link up. 

Supplies: white, black & Stampin' Up real red glimmer cardstock, So Suzy Stamps Cheers & Size Matters, Paper Smooches Free Spirits & Papertrey Ink Uncorked stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up real red ink, Ranger red glitter embossing powder,Papertrey Ink Uncorked die, Stampin' Up scalloped oval punch

When It Snows...

There was just the barest dusting of snow this morning, but still, seemed excuse enough to make a Christmas card! It's Kimberly's turn to be the muse at Muse: ChristmasVisions, and she has offered this sweet card: 

I took inspiration from just about everything about this card: the reindeer, the combo die cut and small banner sentiment, the embossed background, the striped paper. I meant to use the same colours, as well, but in the end, the blue didn't make the final cut. 

If reindeer are needed, this is generally my go-to set — I love them in their Christmas sweaters! I would have coloured this guy in Copics, but my handful only includes one (dark) brown. So he's watercoloured instead. The background panel is stencilled with embossing paste and glitter. I cut the "be jolly" three times in red so it would have a bit of extra dimension. Amazingly, I had a "be jolly, by golly" stamp in practically the same font, so masked off the first half and embossed the second part in white. 
Why not come and play along with us? You'll be happy come December when you see the Christmas cards you've made ahead of time! ;) 

Supplies: white, black & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Teresa Collins Santa's List patterned paper, Ranger watercolour paper, Hero Arts Christmas Reindeer & Unity/Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder stamps, Versamark & Versafine onyx black ink, Ranger clear & Hero Arts white embossing powders, Zig watercolour markers, CUTplorations Be Jolly die, Simon Says Stamp falling snow stencil, Dreamweavers glossy white embossing paste, Stampin' Up dazzling diamonds glitter, foam tape 

Zig and Zag with the Sisters

Edna and the sisters are back with a fun new challenge: Z is for Zigzag! Works whether you pronounce the letter as 'zed' or 'zee', and that's just in English. :D A few years ago chevrons were a big trend for a while, although some purists even then insisted that technically the design element was really zigzags. 

I played around with a bunch of ideas, and then the other morning noticed a roll of washi tape my brother gave me a couple of years ago, and the card evolved around that: 

Picking up on one of the colours in the washi, I coloured up this crazy bird. I added a little more zigzag interest under the right side of the panel and a little brushstroke stamp for my bird to stand on. I tried to pick a good sentiment for his expression.
The sisters zigzagged in all different directions with their creations for this challenge, as did our current Queen and guest designer, CG! I bet you have something zigzaggy in your supplies, so why not come and play along? 

Supplies: white, black & Stampin' Up smoky slate cardstock, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy stamps & dies, Technique Tuesday You're Not Normal & Stamplorations Holiday Artsy stamps, Versafine onyx black, MFT black licorice & Versacolor sky grey inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Copic & Spectrum Noir markers, Winnie & Walter Katharine dies, Scotch washi tape, foam tape

Dress Shopping

Shopping Our Stash began a new challenge on Tuesday to recognize National Dress Day. Then yesterday, Simon Says Stamp introduced a new Wednesday challenge, Girl Power. Seemed like a perfect combination for a card!

This Unity stamp set has been in my stash for ages, and it was the first thing I thought of when SOS posted their theme on Tuesday. I've always stamped the dress on patterned paper before, but looking at it today I realized it would be nice to let the patterns of the stamp shine a little more - particularly the music just below the waist and on the ruffled hem. So is this reverse paper piecing? After trying several papers, I liked the contrast of the yellow with the deep blue. And look, I had blue glitter to match (!) that I burnished in a strip on some double-sided tape. The sentiment is my nod to girl power. ;) I masked and double stamped it so I could emboss just the "classy and fabulous" with sparkly embossing powder. At the end, I played around with sequins, gems and the like, but was obviously in a clean and simple mood today. Or maybe that's clean and classy. 

   

Supplies: white cardstock, American Crafts Hip Hip Hooray patterned paper, Unity Undeniably You stamps, Versafine onyx black & Altenew sapphire ink, Ranger clear & Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powders, Recollections blue glitter, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, fun foam

Sunday Sunshine

Double sunshine today... it's bright and clear outside, and inside I have a bright, spring-like card... 

I used the current challenge from Freshly Made Sketches to design my clean and simple daffodil thank you card. One of the ways I kept it simple is no masking! Most of the places where the leaves overlapped I hid with the sentiment banner. Because the two stems are all one colour, it's not really a problem where they cross, and the darker colour of the stem also works to look like it's in front of the leaf. If that makes any sense. :D I used a die to add perforations to the left side of the main panel mostly on a whim, but love how I can pick up the darkest yellow of the gingham paper through them. 

This is also one more card for the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes challenge! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Recollections gingham patterned paper, Sunny Studio Stamps Daffodil Dreams & (?) thank you stamps, Versamark, Memento dandelion, cantaloupe, pear tart & bamboo leaves inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Winnie & Walter Katharine dies, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, foam tape

Muse Inspiration

I was intrigued by the card created by this week's guest at Muse, Bunny Vance. Here's what she created: 

More than anything, I was struck by the drama of the black background. I was also inspired by the floral theme. Here is where Bunny's inspiration took me: 

Not a solid black background, but when I came across this piece of patterned paper, I thought it would be fun to incorporate the A.A. Milne quotation as the sentiment for the card. The cluster of flowers still really pops against the dark background. 

Because I can, I'm also adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Wednesday challenge. ;) 

Supplies: white cardstock, Glitz Designs Finnley patterned paper, Altenew Vintage Flowers stamps & dies, Altenew rouge, crimson, velvet, frayed leaf, forest glades & evergreen inks

Paper Players Encore

I used this Paper Players sketch for a card yesterday, and I liked it so much, I am using it again, this time for a thank you card! 

Apologies for the imperfect picture — I decided to make a set of thank you cards for a friend, and delivered them right after photographing before checking them. Part of it is all the shiny silver embossing! I actually watercoloured this panel a long time ago, I think for a Daily Marker monthly colouring challenge. After hauling it out, I added the sentiment, found pink cardstock that matched perfectly, then mounted it on a grey card base. Oh, and added the twine, too. 

I'm also linking this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes challenge.

Supplies: Stampin' Up pink pirouette & smoky slate cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Neat & Tangled Gardenia Blooms Journalling Card & (?) thank you stamps, Versamark ink, silver embossing powder, Zig watercolour markers, Divine Twine, foam tape 

Birthday Anything Goes!

It's ANYTHING GOES time at Seize the Birthday! That's right, make any birthday card you please, and link it up with us. 

With no parameters to follow, I thought about what stamps haven't seen ink lately, and decided to break out the Tim Holtz blueprints. Love the style of them; rarely seem to use them. 

This stamp is from a STAMPtember collaboration with Simon Says Stamp, and includes the sentiment. I almost always seem to end up masking it off, but decided to use the entire stamp this time. I stamped first on white cardstock, coloured the gift with Copics, glittered up the ribbon thanks to a Versamarker and sparkle embossing powder, and then cut it out. Next stamping was onto the patterned paper; thanks to my MISTI, I could double-stamp the sentiment, this time using Versafine so I could emboss just the sentiment. Then to decide where to go next! The current sketch from The Paper Players helped a lot with that. While my mat and card base are looking black in the photo, it's actually a dark grey for a slightly softer but classy look. Also hard to see in the photograph: the scoring across the middle of the mauve mat and the grey card base. A close-up shows it off a bit better: 

I'm adding this card to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes challenge. 
I'm sure your card stash could use an extra birthday card or two, so why not join us?

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Supplies: white, mauve & Papertrey Ink Smoky Slate cardstock, Glitz Design Finnley patterned paper, Tim Holtz/Stamplorations/Simon Says Stamp Stamptember stamp, Versafine onyx black & MFT black licorice ink, Ranger clear & Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powders, Copic markers, Versamarker, foam tape

Drink Up

February is over! As I'm writing this, March is forecast to come in like a 🐑, which only makes me worry that April will be a setback. 

But you're not here to chat about the weather (Canadian obsession that it is), you're here to check out the March Naughty or Nice Challenge! 

This month we are encouraging you to DRINK UP! Create some type of beverage-inspired project. 

Coffee-themed (also perhaps coffee-fuelled?) crafting continues to be a strong trend, it seems. Somehow I managed to wander off in a different direction... 

My card was totally about using this fun sentiment! I knew I wanted multiple wine glasses to go with it, and first tried just rainbow stamping a whole bunch. But they looked too... regimented. By attempt three, I got this: distress ink, a mist of water, and then stamped. In retrospect, I wish I'd used my much-whiter Ranger watercolour paper, but as I said, this was trial three and I wasn't ready to recycle the good stuff if it didn't come out to my liking. I'm hoping the sentiment band is a bit reminiscent of caution tape! It's not showing in the photo, but that's a strip of black glitter paper down the right side of the card. 
It's your turn! Be inspired by your beverage of choice, and add your creation to the Naughty or Nice link-up by March 25th. Cheers! 

Supplies: yellow cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, American crafts black glitter cardstock, Papertrey Ink Text Style: Uncorked & The Ink Road The Struggle is Real stamps, Versafine onyx black & barn door, carved pumpkin, squeezed lemonade, twisted citron, blueprint sketch, shaded lilac & wilted violet distress inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Tattered Angels Santa Baby & Art Anthology Colourations Timeless spray mists