I do like my paint chips. They're free, come in a huge variety of colours and styles, have a nice finish... and did I mention they're free? ;) Paint chips can be a bit tricky to work with, but if you mess up -- oh well, it was free!
Every once in a while, I get out my bin of paint chips and see what happens. Here's one thing that happened:
A version of this card gets made every year -- it's my husb's favourite. (Eventually, we'll run out of people we haven't already sent it to, I suppose.) The only adornments are a really thin mat of platinum pearl paper (surprisingly difficult to see in the photo) and a rhinestone in the centre of the star.
I played some more, and this resulted:
I finally tried colouring my old office supply-type brads with embossing powder, and it works so well! (I emboss everything, yet had never tried this. Silly.) I thought the patterned paper was a perfect backdrop for the sparkly tree. Since I'm so proud of my brads, I'm going to enter this in the current (well, for another few hours) Do You Stack Up (DYSU) challenge to use them.
I'll be back tomorrow with a fun new challenge from Crafty Creations Challenges! (This week's "Just One" is still open till sometime in the wee hours this morning.) There may or may not be more paint chips involved. ☺
Supplies (polar bear) white cardstock, platinum pearl paper, navy paint chip, Westover Enterprises stamp, Colorbox frost white ink, Wow white embossing powder, Stampin' Up basic rhinestone; (Christmas tree) white and Recollections green linen-finish cardstock, Echo Park very merry Christmas music notes patterned paper, red paint chip, Prima Marketing stamp, Versamark, Ranger snowflake embossing tinsel & real red embossing powder, brass brads, iridescent cord
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And suddenly it's Friday again... not to mention November. No idea how that happened. ;)
Other than days of rain, we were unaffected by Hurricane Sandy, and I hope all is well with you, too, if you're reading this.
November for me means Christmas card-making kicks into high gear. I like to have most of them done by December, so I can focus on all the other Christmas tasks. So of course I went for a Christmas card today for Friends with Flair.
I decided to start the month by following the sketch for the Unity Kit of the Month sketch challenge. This cute little snowman is from the December 2010 kit, Just Be You. Since he's a fairly simple line drawing, I kept the colouring simple, too, but did add some interest with Stickles on his hatband and cheek, black enamel accents on his eyes and mouth, and glossy accents on his heart. Full disclosure: the sentiment is from a Jillibean Soup set, not a KOM, but I hope that doesn't disqualify the card. The sentiment is embossed in red to match his heart. I was going to use a snowflake-embossed panel behind him, but the patterned paper added needed colour.
And here's the promised bonus tag!
I am not a Tim Holtz-type tag-maker. My tags are to put on presents, not to frame and put on display. :D So by definition I keep them simple. I started by embossing the snowman in white, sponged and edged the tag in blue and added the rhinestones and ribbons.
Check out the Unity website for lots of inspiration -- probably some other Christmas projects, too! And just for a change, there's a weekend sale, too. Hope your weekend is dry and warm!
Supplies: (card) white & teal cardstock, DCWV patterned paper, Unity December 2010 Kit of the Month ( Just Be You) snowman, Unity/Jillibean soup Christmas Eve Chowder sentiment, Versamark & Memories black ink, Ranger rich red embossing powder, rock candy distress Stickles, Glossy Accents, black Enamel Accents, Spellbinders circle die, Marvy-Uchida corner-rounding punch, silver elastic cord, pop-dot tape (tag) white cardstock, Unity Snowbody Warms My Heart stamp, Colorbox frost white & Brilliance sky blue inks, Wow! white embossing powder, frosted lace Stickles, Stampin' Up basic rhinestones, $ store ribbon & iridescent cord, hole puncher
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I'm really glad it's Friday. My husb and I have a fun weekend planned, and it's been a tough week. And of course, Friday means Unity's Friends with Flair.
When I think of my Unity stamps, I first think of fun and cute images, yet they are often the ones I turn to when I need a more sombre card. This is sort of a pre-sympathy card, for a friend who's husband is very ill with cancer. It's a variation on a card design I've used before. I was going to put the sentiment higher, but it seemed to really work in this spot. With the white-embossed wildflowers and dry-embossed oval, I'm entering this in the current Do You Stack Up (DYSU#95) embossing challenge.
Unity has a great sale going on this weekend! You should also check out all the inspiring cards linked to the Friends with Flair hop! I hope you have a terrific weekend.
Supplies: white & pale green cardstock, My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose Hattie patterned paper, Unity & {ippity} stamps, Colorbox frost white & iced spruced distress inks, white embossing powder, Spellbinders scalloped oval die
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A week till Halloween! It's only fitting, then, that this week at Crafty Creations Challenges our theme is Halloween spooks. Monsters, spiders, haunted houses... you get the idea, I'm sure. I think this is the last Halloween card I need to make this year, so I decided to go all out:
All the stamps I used are from the bins at Michaels! I like the not-too-scary look of these spooks. It's hard to tell from the photo, but they are stamped on a very pale green, with a strip of the same cardstock on the edge of the inside of the card. The bats and spiderwebs are stamped on the white card base, then sponged with two shades of purple. Everything's heat-embossed, of course.
Also since I think this is my last Halloween card for the season, I'm linking this to a couple of Halloween challenges, at Tuesday Throwdown and My Grafico.
Our generous sponsor this week is Whiff of Joy! And remember, we are happy to see any crafted creation, not just cards. So let's see your Halloween spooks!
Supplies: white & pale green cardstock, Karen Foster goblin mist patterned paper, Craft Zone (Michaels) stamps, Brilliance graphite black & milled lavender, dusty concord & iced spruce distress inks, Spellbinders circle die, clear embossing powder
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I think this may be the most cards I have ever made in a week. :D But yes, I'm back, with two more cards to complete ALL the current Unity World Card Making Day challenges.
This is for Unity's current kit of the month sketch challenge. I had a brilliant design in mind, till I realized I was thinking of a Unity/Jillibean Soup set, not a kit of the month. (I think that card may still show up in a future Friends with Flair post!) So I thought some more, and decided to use the September 2011 kit. I thought the kraft cardstock had a nice envelope/packaging look to it, and randomly stamped the postmark and cancellation in red and green to match the three "stamps".
And finally, this card for Unity's monthly challenge. This month, it's all about pumpkins. And I just happened to have one on this Halloween stamp, from the same kit (what a surprise) as the Christmas stamp above. I added the postmark and cancellation from the same kit, then some images from Fright Night. Why yes, I do quite like that spooky tree! And no, of course that little BOO banner isn't covering a mistake, whatever made you think that? It's, um, balancing the twine in the opposite corner. Hard to believe from the photo, but the tree, BOO and mat are actually dark purple. The postmark is black.
Since it's Friday, I'm linking up to Friends with Flair! And my Halloween card is going into the current Simon Says Stamp inspiration challenge.
Phew! :D Have a great weekend.
Suppies: (joy stamp) white & Stampin' Up kraft & real red cardstock, Unity September 2011 Kit of the Month (All Seasons) stamps, Colorbox evergreen & frost white & Stampin' Up real red & garden green inks, clear & Wow opaque white embossing powders, Twinery maraschino twine; (BOO) purple & Stampin' Up naturals ivory cardstock, Unity September 2011 Kit of the Month (All Seasons) and Fright Night stamps, Versamark & Memento tuxedo black, elderberry & tangelo inks, clear embossing powder, Twinery mandarin twine
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Yes! I have all eight Unity World Card Making Day challenges completed!
Challenge #1: Shaped Cards was a bit of a stretch for me, just because I don't generally make a lot of shaped cards. But eventually I came up with this casket-shaped Halloween card (that won out over a headstone shape). The base is grey cardstock with sponged edges, with several images from the Unity/Echo Park set Fright Night. While I could have stamped and cut out the bats, I went with a punch instead. :D The spooky silhouette tree is inspired both by the current Simon Says Stamp challenge (the bottom right picture) and my friend Jen's awesome Halloween card.
I saved what is for me the easiest challenge for last:
Challenge #3: Embossing is a no-brainer for me. In fact, I think Unity had me in mind when they said challenges couldn't be combined, since just about every card I make has embossing! This one has clear and white embossing, as well as some colouring. Of course there's also stickles on his hat, liquid pearls on his nose and glossy accents on his patchwork heart.
But wait, there's more! I'm going to try to meet the extra hurdle of completing Unity's two regular challenges. You'll just have to check back before Sunday to see if I manage this extra feat. :D
Supplies: (Halloween) grey, yellow, orange, purple & black cardstock, vellum, Unity/Echo Park fright night stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento grey flannel inks, clear embossing powder, Spellbinders circle dies, pop-dot tape; (joy) white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, DCWV patterned paper, Unity November 2011 Kit of the Month (take your time) & oh! joy! stamps, Versafine onyx black, Colorbox frost white, Versamark & Stampin' Up real red inks, Prismacolour pencils, Spellbinders circle & scalloped circle dies, frosted lace Stickles, real red Liquid Pearls, glossy accents
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