Merry Mooseday!

I make a lot of Christmas critter cards. But you know, I've never made a moose card. Then along comes Merry Monday, with their challenge to make exactly that. 

I opined that moose don't really have anything to do with Christmas, but then my husband pointed out that neither do penguins, really, and they don't even live in the same hemisphere as Santa does. There is a certain logic to that, I suppose. And I do have festive moose stamps, so might as well use one! 

It's Riley, the snow angel moose. I stamped him once and embossed with snowflake embossing tinsel, and then once with brown so I could cut him out. The background is a little more subtle than I'd like, but live and learn. My watercolouring is also a lot less capable than I'd like, but I'm using my cold as an excuse for that. ;) Here's a close-up of that less-than ideal colouring so you can see the shadows I tried to create for the snow angel...

I used the current Crooked Stamper sketch for the design of my card. I'm sure Leslie won't mind that I shifted the sentiment over to the left. Among other tweaks. ;) 

I do have other moose stamps... 

Supplies: Bazzill marshmallow cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Studio Calico Magical Paper pad, Riley & Co. Riley Snow Angel & Essentials by Ellen Tis the Season stamps,Colorbox frost white, Memento Luxe espresso truffle & Versafine onyx black inks,  Wow clear embossing powder, Ranger snowflake embossing tinsel, Spellbinders circle & Lil' Inkers flag tag dies, watercolour pencils, Stampin' Up silver tinsel ribbon, pop-dot tape

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Under the Weather but In the Pink

Happy Thanksgiving! It was a beautiful warm day here today. I can't enjoy it quite as much as I'd like, as I'm doing battle with a cold that doesn't want to go away. I did manage to make a card for Jingle Belles' Pink Christmas challenge, in recognition that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

When I see this style of bottle-brush tree, I automatically picture a retro neon pink one, often with fake snow on the bristles. So it was an easy decision to use this stamp set. the tree is embossed with holographic embossing powder for extra sparkle. I kept the sky sponging light so the tree would really pop. I coloured the base with a silver marker to match the embossed star at the top. The edges of the panel were swiped on a silver ink pad to add a bit of contrast against the white card base. I'm also popping this card in at the current Clean and Simple Christmas challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts Hero Arts Family and Friends stamps, Versafine onyx black, Colorbox orchid & silver, Versamark & tumbled glass, spun sugar & milled lavender distress inks, holographic, clear & silver embossing powders, Darice sequins, Spica silver marker, pop-dot tape

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The Hop to Stop

The talented Becca Cruger (aka the Damsel of Distressed) has organized a fantastic blog hop to draw attention to Domestic Violence Awareness Month in the United States. (A little Googling reminded me that in much of Canada, Domestic Violence Prevention Month is in November. Awareness and prevention are important all year round, of course.)

To participate, you need to create something with the colour purple predominating. I wanted to participate, and needed some sympathy cards (unfortunately). So I combined the two. 

I even used some new supplies for this card. When crafting with friends recently, Ardyth no longer wanted her Altenew Vintage Flowers set... so I nabbed it! I had been planning on buying and trying one of their flower layering sets, so this was perfect, thank you Ardyth! They take a little practice. But wow, when you get the layers more or less lined up, a gorgeous rose is the result! I'll mention yet again the lack of purple patterned paper in my world, so I made my own with a background stamp. The sentiment stamp is a recent purchase... it has taken me approximately forever to find a classy sympathy sentiment on a single line. I think this is it. 
I was happy enough with the card above to make a variation on the theme: 

Same stamps, mostly the same inks (I didn't go quite as dark for the shadow layer), darker mat. This time I used an off-white card stock, but through my amazing photography skillz, you'd never know it. 
Just Us Girls happens to be highlighting the word SYMPATHY this week, so I will link up there, too. And to Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Anything Goes challenge, as well. 
I hope you'll visit The Hop to Stop to show your support and admire all the beautiful projects! 

Supplies: (1st card) white & mauve cardstock, Altenew Vintage Flowers, Impression Obsession roses & Hero Arts With Deepest Sympathy stamps, Memento lulu lavender, Stampin' Up lavender lace & Papertrey Ink royal velvet inks, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape; (2nd card) Stampin' Up naturals white & purple cardstock, Vintage Flowers & Deepest Sympathy stamps, Memento grape jelly ink in place of royal velvet ink

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October

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Canada, the United States and many other countries. So how else did you think the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers would commemorate this? 

By making boob cards, of course. ( . Y . )  Approximately forever, I've had this card by May Sukyong Park pinned, thinking it would make a fun valentine. I made a couple (haha) of additions, and had my card. 

I used patterned paper for the matching bra and panties, rather than masking and stamping, as May did. A couple of small stamps were enough to add a sentiment. While this would certainly make a fun valentine, I think I'll surprise someone with it one day soon, just for fun. 
Now it's your turn! It's great if your card has a breast cancer awareness theme, but as you can tell by mine, that is optional — as is snark! Be sure to head over to the challenge blog to see what my snarky sisters have on display (haha again), as well as our latest Queen of Snark and guest designer, Emily! 

Supplies: white card stock, Recollections patterned paper, Unity Bevy of Butterflies & Paper Smooches Wicked Nauticool stamps, Memento tuxedo black & lady bug inks, Spellbinders circle dies

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Last Minute and First Minute!

With hours to spare, I have my card for the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! And only one day in, I used the October sketch from the Crooked Stamper Sketch Challenge! 

    

It's rare for me, but I am using a stamp set that I just bought last week! (Usually, I have to just *look* at something new for a while...) 

I needed another cat set, obviously. :D But this one is drawn by my Naughty or Nice teammate, Danielle Lounds! (Our latest NoN challenge started yesterday...) That there was a coffee sentiment right in the set was an extra added bonus. Another thing I like... the facial expressions are separate and interchangeable. I had to decide between this one and a closed-eyes one, but the closed-eyes expression looked a little too happy for not enough coffee. ;) The colours and patterned paper reflect the fall theme. I messed a bit with Leslie's sketch, but I think you can still see it. I was going to use washi tape to ground the cat, but of course had nothing that matched. So I flipped over a scrap of the leaf paper and cut it with a border die just for fun. 
I'll wrap this up now and post to the blog hop before it's too late! P.S. Tomorrow starts a new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge — you'll have to see it to believe it...

Supplies: Cougar cream & Stampin' Up more mustard (?) textured cardstock, Stampin' Up patterned paper, Taylored Expressions If Cats Could Talk stamps & die, Memento Luxe espresso truffle ink, Zing clear embossing powder, Paper Smooches borders 1 & Spellbinders ribbon trio dies, distress markers, Hemptique twine, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch 

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Feeling Witchy

Not quite sure how it happened, but look, it's October! That means it's time for a new Naughty or Nice challenge:

That's right, the Naughty or Nice troublemakers are Feeling Witchy. This is a perfect time to create something for Halloween, or if that's not your thing, perhaps a *naughty* card for a friend. We all feel a little witchy some days, don't we? ;) 

I chose to go the Halloween route.

This is one of those cards that I added various elements to until I liked it. I started with the witch and the sentiment. She is coloured with distress markers and inks, and I used some of the purple to sponge the edges of the sentiment, as well. Next up, I picked the patterned paper background. Then I added the die cut tree. For a little more interest, the cat and bats came next — I knew I wanted a black cat, so I covered the wood veneer in Versamark followed by two coats of black embossing powder. As I played with the layout, the tree and bats (cut from black cardstock) were more or less disappearing against the black and grey paper. I spritzed the bats with some white perfect pearls mist... and disaster! After my test spray was perfectly misty, it splotched when I sprayed the bats! I grabbed a paintbrush and spread the splotches around to get shimmery grey bats. The tree is sprayed with two grey mists for a little contrast as well. Here's a close-up:

For more witchy inspiration, be sure to check out the Naughty or Nice challenge page... there may even be a little surprise waiting over there! Don't worry, we're into treats not tricks, most of the time. ;) You have until the 25th of the month to join us! 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up smoky slate & basic black cardstock, Hero Arts watercolour paper, Pebbles Thirty-One patterned paper, Paper Smooches Halloweenies & Stampin' Up Tee-Hee-Hee stamps, Versafine onyx black, dusty concord & iced spruce distress & Versamark inks, distress markers, clear & black embossing powders, Paper Smooches Halloweenies & QuicKutz House & Tree dies, Martha Stewart bat punch, Mr Huey's pinstripe & Tattered Angels graphite mists, homemade confetti Perfect Pearls mist, pop-dot tape

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