Addicted to Stamps and More: Birthdays

Addicted to Stamps and More has a new BIRTHDAY challenge! It's probably good for me to take a break from thinking about making Christmas cards. ;) 

I love this giant rose and how easily it looks arty with the fill-in stamps. (Also, as I happen to be occasionally layered-stamps challenged, this set lets you get away with imprecision. :D) I stamped the outline in black before adding two peachy shades to the flower and two green shades to the leaves. I added a few artsy splatters - with another stamp! I coloured my sentiment strip with the lighter of the two greens before embossing the simple sentiment in white. (Easier to read in person than in photographs.) I'm adding this to the current The Flower Challenge: Add Leaves. 

Just because the holiday season is creeping up on us doesn't mean people don't have birthdays ;) - so why not make a birthday card and join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Concord & 9th Painted Rose & MFT Birthday Bears stamps, Versamark, MFT extreme black ink & Catherine Pooler bellini, polished, melon ice & garden party inks, Wow white embossing powder

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Happy Little Stampers: Stencils

A new month of challenges continues at Happy Little Stampers with the Stencil Challenge! As my love affair with stamping and stencil colouring continues, another card of this style:

This is a stamp and stencil combo from Canadian company Pigment Craft Co. (There are dies, too, I just didn't need them this time.) After stamping and embossing with a sparkly black powder, I used the stencils to colour the flowers and leaves. Even though my stencil placement was occasionally imperfect (user error!), I still love how easy it was to colour everything. The shape seemed to lend itself to an off-centre panel cut, matted on an orange panel to go with the deepest shade of ink. A simple sentiment was the only other thing I felt the card needed. 

Although I didn't have to "add" the leaves, I hope this counts for the current Flower Challenge. 

Lots of beautiful birthday card inspiration from my Happy Little Stampers teammates! I hope you will make a birthday card and join us. 

Supplies: Neenah white & Memory Box Sunny Orange cardstock, Pigment Ink Blooming Floral stamp and stencil, MFT Birthday Bears stamp, Versafine onyx black & squeezed lemonade, carved pumpkin, crackling campfire & mowed lawn distress ink, Ranger black sparkle embossing powder, Sugar Pea Designs card front element builder dies

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Snow Much Fun at Scrap 'n Stamp!

The first Friday of November means it's time for a new design team hop at Scrap 'n Stamp! We hope you have SNOW MUCH FUN checking out the projects we have created for your inspiration. We're mixing things up a bit this month, with a combination of blogs, Instagram posts and YouTube tutorial videos! Just remember to leave a comment on each stop along the way for your chance to win a $50 gift code for the Scrap 'n Stamp store. 

Onto my project: 

I'm using some new stamps from Taylored Expressions for my holiday card. I stamped all nine of the the little cuties before deciding on Santa, Mrs. Claus and Rudolph. Each is coloured with Copic markers. For the snowy background, I smooshed a panel of watercolour paper with mermaid lagoon distress oxide ink, and when dry (okay, I helped a bit with my heat gun), both sprayed and splattered the panel with Avery Elle white ink spray. More drying time! :D I die cut the three squares and the gold frames using a die from Concord & 9th's Turnabout kit. For the white panel, I dry embossed it using an assortment of mini snowflake dies from Tim Holtz. This was matted on a gold panel to complement the frames. I added more gold by foiling a Glimmer sentiment and cutting it in half - I didn't want longer sentiments to break the vertical flow. 

That's it from me, but you have lots more inspiration to come! Your next stop on the hop is Tara, and you can always start from the beginning at the Scrap 'n Stamp blog. Here's the full line-up:

Scrap ‘N Stamp

Kia 

Deborah

Chala

Lindsey

Tara

Susan

Jessica 

Oh, hey! There's a sale on, too! 

Happy hopping, and have a great weekend! 

Supplies: Neenah white and Sizzix opulent gold cardstock, Ranger watercolour paper, Taylored Expressions Little Christmas Critters stamps & dies, Versafine onyx black & mermaid lagoon distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Concord & 9th Everyday bouquet & Sizzix/Tim Holtz mini snowflake dies, Spellbinders Glimmer Mini Christmas Sentiment Strips foiling plates, Glimmer gold foil, Avery Elle white ink spray

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ABC Christmas Challenge: W and X

ABC Christmas Challenge is back with the November challenge - and that means we're almost out of alphabet! For this month, we have W for Whimsical and X for Xerox. 

I think whimsical is one of those things that... you know it when you see it. I didn't want my card to be too overly cute, so went for what I think is a whimsical image: 

I love this Charlie Brown-style tree, and it was great to have a reason to pull out this little set. I stamped the tree and sentiment in brown ink and embossed both. Heat embossing's an addiction, what can I say? :D The little tree is also very easy to colour. For the ornament, I added a drop of liquid stardust to a bit of red watercolour so it would sparkle. Sadly, it was a bleak grey day when I was photographing, so you can't really tell. I matted the watercolour panel on some brushed gold cardstock then onto a green card base. The Nuvo drops are green too, but this light... ;)

Next up is X for Xerox. We're looking for copies - whether it's of a particular stamp or die, or the card itself. Even though now would be a really good time to be making multiples of a card, I went with tripling my stamped image: 

I'm thinking this may have turned out more whimsical than my first card. :D I die cut my stitched circle three times (good old solid dies) then stamped and embossed my Christmas sweaters and coloured them with Copics - normally I would likely have mixed the colours up a bit, but I wanted to keep them exact copies. I also don't usually fussy cut my sentiments (way too much room for disaster with my scissor skills) but they just looked *right* for this card. I like that the patterned paper has a little distressing to add a bit of extra interest. And of course, many ugly Christmas sweaters have bling, so I added a gem to the centre of each snowflake. 

If you head over to the ABC blog, there's an announcement: I'm stepping down from the team after next month's post. It's been such a fun and rewarding team to be on, but I need to trim my team responsibilities a little bit. But that means an opportunity has appeared! This month and/or next, join the challenge and add DT after your name to be considered for a spot on the team! (Exactly the way I was able to join the team three years ago!) It really is a great way to build up your holiday card stash each year. While you're there, you'll see my teammates' beautiful cards and the current prize being offered. Even if you aren't interested in a team spot, I hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: (small stuff) Hero Arts green & Sizzix gold cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Unity Christmas Small Stuff stamps, Memento Luxe espresso truffle ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Lawn Fawn liquid stardust, regency green Nuvo vintage drops; (ugly sweater) Neenah white cardstock, Basic Green Evergreen patterned paper, Paper Smooches Tis the Season stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear embossing powder, Copic markers, MFT blueprints 24 & Sugar Pea Designs cardfront element builder frame dies, Hero Arts gems

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Happy Little Stampers CAS: Loveable Pets

The November round of challenges at Happy Little Stampers has begun! I'm here with this month's edition of the CAS Challenge - Loveable Pets. Just to defy expectations... I made a dog card. ;) 

Wouldn't this little cutie be a fun surprise on Christmas morning? A bit of Copic colouring, some heat embossing, and a sparkly gold frame made this an easy card to put together. 

Loveable pets abound on the HLS blog - I do believe their might even be a cat represented! I hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Sizzix gold cardstock, Sunny Studio Santa's Helpers stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento Luxe love letter ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Ellen Hutson 4-bar rectangle die, Spectrum Noir clear shimmer marker

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Color Hues: Brown and Orange

Welcome to November and a new Color Hues challenge! My teammate Sheri has picked the autumnal duo of BROWN and ORANGE for our colour pairing this time around. Seasonally, I like summer; colour-wise, I like cool colours more than warm ones, but that's okay! I can still make a warm-toned, fall card: 

To keep with the warm colour pairing, I used a panel of cream cardstock for stencilling my orange and brown maple leaves. The sentiment is stamped in brown and embossed, then the die cut panel adhered to a brown card base. And for me, using these two colours was just that easy! 

Beautiful cards by my teammates as well as our current guest designer, Äsa! You will see more than just autumn leaves, so be sure to visit the Color Hues blog to see all the ways these hues can be used. 

Supplies: Neenah natural white & Papertrey Ink smoky shadow cardstock, Taylored Expressions Bursting Blooms sentiment stamp, Versamark & Catherine Pooler tiki torch, orange twist, tutti frutti, mandarin spice & icing on the cake ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, ARTplorations falling leaves stencil, MFT diagonal stitched rectangle die

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