Warm Wishes

My card this evening is for Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge - Pretty Peacock, Pool Party and Very Vanilla.  I created a card that is also a gift card holder for a Starbucks GC.

I used mostly die cuts with only the sentiment stamped.  I did use Distress Oxide Vintage Photo to antique the edges.

My post is short today as this card is pretty self-explanatory.  Like everyone, I am very busy just before the holiday.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and get to spend some quality time with family and friends!

Products used:

• Stamps: MFT Merry Christmoose
• Dies: Penny Black What's in Your Cup?, Stamppin' Up! Tailor Made Tags
• Paper: Very Vanilla, Pretty Peacock, Pool Party, Basic White, Snowflake Splendor DSP
• Ink: Pretty Peacock, DO Vintage Photo
• Accessories: White Crinkle Ribbon, Rhinestones

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Zippy Zebra Scootin' By

Happy Friday!  I have a card today that I made almost two years ago and forgot to post!  I realized it when I was looking for cards that I had made with this stamp set - My Favorite things Zippy Zebras.  I found my photos in folder on my computer that indicated I had posted them; however I had not.  Better late than never!

This was a birthday card for a friend with an early January birthday.  I'm sure I was pressed for time and the zebras in this set make adorable cards and are simple to color.  Just a little bit of shading.  I added some flowers in a classic color palette - red, black, grey and white to make a fun birthday card.

 

I hope you've enjoyed my card today and It's given you some inspiration for the new year.  (I don't know about you but I'm ready to be done with Christmas cards and work on others!)

Products used:

All stamps My Favorite Things.  Sorry I don't have the names of all of them as I made this card awhile ago and I'm just too lazy to go find all the stamps now - LOL, but the Zebra is from Zippy Zebras

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A Milestone Challenge Card

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I was a bit out of pocket last week and didn't post much.  I was in Hawaii.  And after almost two years of not being able to visit the office, I went the week of torrential rain...of course.  Oh well - a good portion of my time was spent looking at the four walls of my office there anyway.  So does it really matter if I had nice or foul weather?  Probably not.

Now on to this week's card.

CAS Colours & Sketches is celebrating its 450th challenge this week!  WOW!  To celebrate they have prizes and are leaving the challenge open a bit longer than usual.  The challenge is to take any challenge from 2021 and make it seasonal.

I opted for two challenges - a color and a sketch - which is allowed.  After traveling all week this made creating go a bit faster this weekend since my colors AND layout were decided for me.  

 

I always enjoy non-traditional color Christmas cards.  The colors from challenge 431 worked perfectly because I could make my kitty gray and the stocking the berry and blue.  I changed the sketch slightly by putting the kitty and stocking on top of the sentiment panel instead of behind it.  I also added two panels of the Rich Razzleberry under the panel for a bit of color.  To give the background a bit of texture I used an embossing folder.  These are just a few ways to give interest to a CAS card while still keeping it clean and simple.

I hope you will join us for this week's challenge!  We love seeing all that you create!

Products used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up! Sweet Little Stockings
• Dies: Stampin' Up! Stockings Dies, Stitched So Sweetly Dies
• Markers: Stampin' Blends Rich Razzleberry Light & Dark, Balmy Blue Light & Dark, Smoky Slate Light & Dark; Copics N0 (for a very light Smoky Slate)
• Cardstock: Basic White, Rich Razzleberry
• Accessories: Stampin' Up! Tasteful Textures Embossing Folder; Christmas Trinket

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Tweet Songbirds

I have two cards for you today!  The hostesses at two different color challenges chose similar colors so I chose to make similar cards.  Actually there is only one color that overlaps but it was enough with the rest of the colors for me to think of them together.  I had two stamp sets that coordinate so decided to use those - My Favorite Things Songbirds.  I have the Winter and Spring versions.  I don't know if they have Summer and Fall but I really love these little birds.

My first card is for CAS Colours & Sketches.  Patricia's colors this week are So Saffron, Mint Macaron and Cherry Cobbler.  At first the cherry threw me off as it's pretty bright compared to the others but it makes for a lovely little red bird!

The second card is for Karen's colors at Splitcoaststampers - Blushing Bride, Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake.  The spring birds make adorable little "sparrows."

Both are colored using a combination of Stampin' Blends and Copic markers to match the colors.  I used Prismacolor pencils over the maker to blend out and add a little detail.

Sorry, I don't have the marker and pencil colors written down.  With the markers I try to match the lightest of the Stampin Blends with a Copic and then use a lighter Copic marker in the same number range as my lightest marker.  I find Stampin" Up! doesn't make a light enough "light" marker for a great blend.  If there is no Stampin Blend in the color I match my Copic to a cardstock piece.  As for the pencils - I just choose the color by eye.  I love using pencils because they are "what you see is what you get" when you look at the lead color! 

Products used:

• Stamps: MFT Winter Songbirds, Spring Songbirds
• Dies: Cottage Cutz Stitched Circles, Scalloped Stitched Circles, Stampin' Up! Penned Flowers Dies
• Paper: Basic White, SU Birthday Bouquet, Bird Ballad

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Sweet Sugarplums

I had the pleasure of being the hostess for Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge for the week of November 29.  The fun thing about being the hostess - using colors you love.  The no-so-fun thing - using colors you love!  Sometimes it's just easier when someone else makes the choices for you; then you really have to think outside the box.  And sometimes when it's your choice there are too many options!

 

Fresh Freesia, Just Jade, Misty Moonlight, Soft Sea Foam

This week was one of those weeks.  I had lots of ideas. But I narrowed it down to this Stamping Bella Oddball.  I just LOVE those Oddballs.  I did not love them when they first came out, but the more I see them the more I love them.

For this little fairy I did several quick flat colorings to decide hair color vs dress etc.  I asked my husband what he thought and he asked if she was supposed to be scary.  When I said "no", he said "definitely the one with the green hair."  Apparently Misty Moonlight hair is scary!

I colored her first with Stampin' Blends and Copic to color match.  Both greens are used to color her hair.  After I was pleased with the marker base layer, I added the Prismacolor pencils to enhance the details.  Finally I added Wink of Stella to her wand and skirt along with sequins for more sparkle.  A fairy needs sparkle after all!

Products used:

• Stamps: Stamping Bella Oddball Sugar Plum Fairy
• Dies: MFT Scalloped Stitched Rectangles, MFT Snowflakes
• Paper: Stampin’ Up! Penguin Playmates, Misty Moonlight, Glitter paper
• Markers: Stampin’ Blends Just Jade Light & Dark, Soft Sea Foam Light & Dark, Fresh Freesia Light & Dark; Copics V000, V01, BG0000, B91, B93, B95, B97, E50, E51, E11, N0, N1
• Pencils: Prismacolors 938, 934, 995, 901, 1079, 1024, 908, 120, 1020
• Accessories: Pretty Pink Posh Lavender Moon, Wink of Stella
  

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Sweetest Season

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone is having a delicious day!  I had a "sweet" card for you on Tuesday and today I have an even "sweeter" one.

I'm the board designer at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge this week and I hope I have a fun board for you.  I love all things gingerbread so I created a board that would be perfect for that theme, but also fun if you wanted to do something else.

My card fits a couple of the lines but I officially chose the right column down - gingerbread, embossing and plaid. (See also - gingerbread, holiday, sparkle)

I have a TON of gingerbread themed stamps.  So I used a set that I've had awhile but never used. I was going to color with it Copics but eventually decided to heat emboss the image in white on kraft cardstock and do minimal coloring with Prismacolor pencils.

I used plaid paper in the upper corner and some ribbon.  Not one to tie bows, I opted to scrunch up the middle of the ribbon and add a button instead.  The bottom corner looked a bit bare so I dangled a gingerbread man and holly embellishment from the corner of the house.  While I didn't give my stamped gingerbread boy gumdrop buttons I did give him rhinestone buttons!

I hope that you'll find time to join us  this week and that you have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Products used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up! Yummy Christmas
• Dies: Stampin' Up! Cuckoo Clock, Stitched Triangles, Stitched with Whimsy
  
• Pencils: Prismacolors - 938, 1082, 916, 923, 1005
• Accessories: Stampin' Up! White Frayed Ribbon, Gingerbread Trinkets and Red Rhinestones, unknown button
• Paper: Stampin' Up! Gingerbread & Peppermint, Kraft
  

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Sweet Season

This week's card came together at the last minute.  I looked at the sketch and thought I might just use a strip of patterned paper with a sentiment but then came across this stamp set as I was looking for a set for another challenge.  I love gingerbread as a Christmas theme and I have even done a whole tree in nothing but gingerbread ornaments.  And while this isn't exactly gingerbread, it fits the whole candy / cookie / sweet Christmas theme.

I stamped the strip longer than the length of the card and trimmed it to fit.  I used the red around the edges to make it stand out a bit and heat embossed the sentiment in white.  Finally I added a few red rhinestones for some sparkle.

I hope you join us this week!

Products used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up! Candy Cane Christmas
• Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Basic White, Real Red
• Ink: Real Red, Cucumber Crush
• Accessories: Red Rhinestones
  

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In Symmetry Flowers

The challenge this week at CAS Colours & Sketches is a color challenge.  I had thought to make a non-traditional color Christmas card but many of my Christmas stamps are put away and I was too lazy to get them out just yet.  I have a couple out that I've used already and wanted to use something different.  This card was super easy to create.

The colors are perfect for a floral.  This modern floral set is one of my favorites from the current Stampin' Up! catalog and a real sleeper in my opinion.  I wish there were dies for it but the images wouldn't be hard to fussy cut or to use with a Scan 'n Cut.  However, to keep this card simple I chose to leave it at one layer and add interest (and my silver metallic) with the silver washi tape and rhinestones.

 I hope you will find time to join us this week!

Products used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up! In Symmetry
• Ink: Polished Pink, Mossy Meadow
• Accessories: Washi tape, rhinestones

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Be Cool, Be Chill & Be Merry

Team O has another challenge for you at Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  I chose the right column down - gift, non-traditional holiday colors, patterned paper.

This card is a bit of a departure for me.  I don't use patterned paper much, other than stripes or dots.  Which you would never believe if you saw the amount of patterned paper I have in my craft area!  I guess that's why I have so much.  But I do intend to use it.

I had originally picked out a different penguin paper to use with a larger pattern.  It didn't contrast as much with my cut out penguin and presents so I opted for this one.  I used the new penguin builder punch from Stampin' Up! along with some die cuts from Cottage Cutz.

I hope you'll find time to join us this week.

Products used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up! Penguin Place
• Punch: Stampin' Up! Penguin Builder
• Dies: Cottage Cutz Jolly Penguin, Stitched Circle, Scalloped Circles
• Paper: Poppy Parade, Basic White, Polkadoodles Winter Wonderland

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More Joy!

It seems every holiday card I make this year has the sentiment "joy".  I suppose that's okay because all-in-all I think that it is an incredibly nice sentiment!

My card today is  an A7 (5 x7 inch) card because after I colored my floral spray I realized that it would be kind of big on an A2 card and ruin the sketch.  But it's all good because all I had to do was make a larger card!

I colored the image with Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils and used a blender pen.  Then I went back over the image with the pencils -pretty simple and straightforward.

I hope you will join us this week - we have a fun sketch!

Products used:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up! Words of Cheer
• Dies: Stampin' Up! Christmas Cheer, TSOL Joy
• Paper: Stampin' Up! Plaid Tidings DSP, Gold Foil
  
• Pencils: Stampin' Up! Watercolor Pencils

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Oh Joy!

I love the colors today at CAS Colours & Sketches.  Joanne chose perfect colors for a Christmas card.

 

 

I admit I CASE’d this from the Spellbinders website.  I saw this card (slightly different colors) when this die first came out in 2019 and thought “WOW”!  I also thought it would go faster than it did.  My bad.

The card wasn’t hard just time consuming.  The berries die only cuts 10 at a time and there are over twenty berries.  Similarly, there is only one flower die, so that was several passes through the die cutter for those (and the leaves and the pine needles.)  Not a huge deal but if you're considering making multiples of this card know there’s a lot of die cutting!

Products used:

• Dies: Spellbinders Joy (2019)
• Cardstock: Stampin’ Up! Basic White, Pear Pizzazz, Shaded Spruce, TSOL Red Foil
• Accessories: SU Subtle Embossing Folder

 

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Eden’s Garden

The colors this week at Splitcoaststampers are Evening Evergreen, Soft Succulent and Crumb Cake.  The palette makes for a beautiful foliage themed card.  And coordinates perfectly with the soon to released (11/2/21) Eden's Garden suite.

So of course I used the new products!  The main image is stamped in the Soft Succulent and fussy cut out.  Although there are dies with this set they do not cut out the images.  They are foliage, a wreath and the edge die I used here.

I used Crumb Cake on the lower foliage and my sentiment is stamped in Evening Evergreen - a nice substitute for black!

I did use one retired product on this card - the gold hoop.  I'm not sure why but I love these.  They're kind of an odd embellishment but I really think they can add a lot to a design.

Products used:

• Stamps: Eden’s Garden
• Dies: Eden Dies
• Cardstock and Paper: Basic White, Evening Evergreen, Ever Eden DSP
• Ink: Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen, Crumb Cake
• Accessories: Gold Hoops, Gold Metallic Gems

 

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Final Frightful Friday

It's my last Halloween post for 2021 and I thought I'd revisit three of my favorite previous Halloween cards.

The first was made back in 2017 for a color challenge at Splitcoaststampers - orange, green and purple.  Kind of classic Halloween colors, don't you think?  I used a cute MFT Birdie Brown image. This was one of my earlier cards using Copic markers.  In some ways I like it better than how I'm coloring now.  I took more time back then.  I really need to slow down my coloring and be more deliberate with it again.

 My second card is for a Tic Tac Toe Challenge from last year.  I dug out my Cookie Cutter Halloween stamp set and punch.

This is one of those stamp sets I purchased and didn't use for years - basically until I started to really look into cards being made with it.  I'm so happy I did not get rid of it.  I still haven't used it much for Christmas (I have that stamp set too); maybe this year!

Finally, I have a card from 2018 made using all die cuts from Cottage Cutz.  These adorable little ghosts went together quickly.  The background is a wash of grey with bats stenciled in.

 

I hope you have enjoyed looking back on some of my favorite cards.  If you would like more information on each of the cards please click on the photos.  It will take you to the original post with all the products used and marker colors.

Happy Halloween!

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Tips for Coloring a Complex Image

Hi everyone!  Team O has another challenge for you at Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog this week.  If you haven't tried this challenge you really should.  You get to pick which items to use and you can create a card in any style.  A lot of fun!

 

This week I officially went with the right hand column - Any Shape Die / Snow / Tree, but may card also fits the middle row - Critter / Green or Blue / Snow.  Which one do you think it fits best?

This image was a bit tricky to color in that it’s pretty complex with so many pets and browns  and greys.  I used a variety of Copic markers but I needed to keep track of them and make sure I was coloring the critters with a good mix of the neutrals.

To do this I made a quick stamp and a rough coloring of the image.  This is one of those steps that probably takes me an extra 15 -20 minutes but can save me lots of heartache and time to avoid I coloring something and then deciding it just isn't working.

And since I list all my colors on this photo I also save time by not having to list them down below!  LOL!

I hope you've like my card today and will join us in this fun challenge this week!

Products used:

• Stamps/dies: MFT Paw La La La La
• Die: The Stamps of Life "Joy"

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Blessings of Home Sneak Peek

Happy Tuesday! I love the sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches this week.  I always love the sketch when it has "any shape" in the description!  So many possibilities!

 

I made this card for my mother-in-law using a sneak peek from Stampin' Up!'s 2022 Spring Mini catalog.  I got this set to use while attending  On-Stage at Home.  Although I have WAY too many floral stamps I really love this one.  The flowers just speak to me and I'm itching to color them all!

The sentiment seemed to fit my mother-in-law - she is the sweetest person you could ever meet.  I plan to give this to her along with some Anna Griffin dies.  They are just her style (as is this card).

I hope you will join us this week in the sketch challenge!

Products used: All Stampin’ Up! Unless otherwise noted

• Stamps: Blessings of Home
• Dies: Flowers of Home, Rectangle Stitched
• Card stock: Basic White, Powder Pink
• Markers (Stampin’ Blends with darker Copics to coordinate noted after): Old Olive Light & Dark, Mossy Meadow Light & Dark; Soft Succulent Light & Dark, Evening Evergreen Light; Daffodil Delight Light & Dark, Mango Melody Light; Pink Pirouette Light & Dark, RV34; Highland Heather Light & Dark, V17
• Accessories: Subtle 3D embossing folder, Opal Rounds, Label Punch

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