Christmas Card Club - Critters

Hi and welcome. This will be a scheduled post so will hope that it loads properly. Our bi-monthly Christmas Card Club Challenge theme of Feature a Critter (or Critters) was chosen by our sweet Miss Maureen (otherwise known as Scrappymoi of Scraps of Life by Scrappymoi). This card has been partially done for several weeks, as a nice Cardinal punch was spied on one of my Hobby Lobby trips.

- I know you are surprised that I would be attracted to a cardinal punch, but there it is. These critters were punched from a snippet of white c/s and colored with copics. Tiny jewel & pearls added for the eyes.

- Lightweight silver glitter strip (a snippet) was used for the border, and 2 strips of the dark green added for a little separation between the border & the background paper. (Green is the reverse of this check paper)

- Red country check from a 6x6 Christmas pack, embossed with a Couture Creations EF. I can't remember the name, and not much of it shows anyway...LOL

- Sizzix TH Thinlits Merry Christmas die for the sentiment - done with white snippets, colored with copics. Only 2 layers but still gave a bit of dimension.

- green rhinestones were colored with various dark green copics to better go with the green border strips, as was the sentiment die.

Easy card once I got round to the finishing up part of it.

My fellow Christmas Card Club members are listed on the sidebar, so please check out the wonderful cards they are sharing this week. Thanks Maureen for having an easy & fun challenge.

Big Hugs, and thanks for popping round. Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon. God Bless

3 Twenty Crafts Blog Hop

Hello, and we are on the final stretch of Year 2013. Over at 3 Twenty Crafts there is a year end Blog Hop going on to get ready to celebrate the coming 2014 with our DT members, and we hope you'll join in for a bit of year-end fun.

Here's my card using some of the 3 Twenty Crafts stamps that were released in November.

 

- The 3 Twenty Crafts sets used on this card were: Tags and Trimmings (ribbon swirls & top & bottom flourishes); Happy Harvest (glasses).

-Die cut with S/B Labels 2, edged with Delicata gold, then overlined with the Sakura Clear Star gel pen for more glitz.

- Paper Studio vanilla c/s from a postcard pack was stamped with the 3 Twenty Crafts elements in Versa Mark, then embossed with Silver Pearl EP;  die cut and colored in with copics. On this vanilla c/s, the colors looked much too flat so I used Spica pens to enhance the ribbons, flourishes - liked the effect much better..

- used the negative of the vanilla die cut as a cover over the card base. Lined the aperture with a patterned dark brown, popped up the die cut focal piece. Used the same paper to punch out the bottom border trims from MS & Recollection punches.

- Snippet of green glitter paper to die cut the year with Memory Box letter die. Tried using the dark brown, but the green seemed better to my eye.

So please join along with us over at Jo's Scrap Shack in the blog hop and have some fun.

Happy New Year, and thanks for joining me and visiting throughout the year. Your visits & comments make my day! Hugs.

Florals

Good morning, and welcome to Mayra of http://mayrasdesigns.blogspot.com/. Thanks for becoming a follower, and I would encourage ya'll to take a peek at Mayra's blog.
We had a lovely weekend, but I was really tired from ambling around at the stamp show. It was fun, but boy, was I tired once we got back home. I can remember when I could shop all day, go out that night and have fun. We won't say how long ago that was!!

Here's a card that has been pretty well finished and on the desk for several months, but I just never got round to doing the final touches. I was trying to do some shadow stamping, where you do the main image, stamp it again without reinking the stamp. This is a Stacy Stamp image that I've had for several years. I think I need to try the eraser cleaning technique on the surface of this stamp, as it doesn't give a clear crisp image, even when I use the stamp press. Recently I saw a video where the blogger showed how to prep the clear stamps by 'sanding' them so-to-speak, with a white pencil eraser block. I've tried that on some of the red rubber stamps I just bought, and I think I did get a sharper image.

Here's the card:

- Cardbase started life as a purchased, textured pack - 10 for $1.00, cream colored. I colored it with some leftover sprays that were on a craft mat, and it's a little blotchy in places. I had stamped the flowers from Stacy Wildflowers on white c/s,  then diecut with a S/Binder label die. Of course I sponged around the edges with Distress Inks. Handcut a faux mat using the outside of the image die using a green snippet that was just big enough for what I needed. This was all done some time back, and I don't remember what colors were used for anything. When I was ready to finish the card, found another green snippet, used an MS loopy punch. Left an edge at the bottom of the punched piece, which I halved and it was just wide enough to apply to each side of the card.

Of course when I adhered these 2 border pieces behind the focal piece, added the Elizabeth Craft diecut sentiment (another very tiny snippet), it looked presentable. However, when I took the photo, looked at a larger image, overlap on the punched pieces loomed like a sore thumb. So I just took a hole punch, punched out some small circles from the black snippet. Worked ok to hide the join at the top, but looked a bit odd to me (the Cheers covered it at the bottom). Decided to add the same look at each side of the image, and there you have it. Not one of my favorites of anything I've done, but hopefully, not a total wart.  I'll probably use this for somebody near & dear who won't be too critical!! LOL

I'm not hopping over the pond with these snippets, primarily just 'cause I haven't had time to pay reciprocal visits lately, so I'm bashful about joining in the fun when I can't play fair. I would encourage all of you to treat yourselves and fly 'cross the pond to see what those mischievious ladies at Pixie's Snippets Playground have been up to lately. I can guarantee you that you will be happy you looked in. I've snooped around - just not had time to type up comments; I know there's some really pretty cards to see.

As always, thanks for visiting, and come again soon if you have time. In the meantime, have a Blessed day.

Floral

Hello again. I barely squeaked by with my commitment to post again today. Been a busy day. I had mentioned on a previous post that I had been experimenting with making a rose using a punch. Saw this on a Youtube, and it looked 'do-able'. I've tried to make these roses before, even took a class where we did just a bit of it. Mine always look 'wonkered' or clumsy.  I had the punch that the lady was using to make this rose, so I punched out the required amount of pieces, watched the video about 6 times...and set off to try my hand. Here's the result of my first effort. Not totally thrilled with it, but I think I can do a better one if I try again. It's better than I've achieved before - fer sure.

 Here's the link to the particular youtube I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBkwb8WvK08

I punched with a red lightweight Bazzill, then used some pan pastels to daub on some shading at the petal edges. Put the rose together, tried to shape it. Then I spritzed some Dylusion spray on it, then a bit of Gold spray.  (which obliterated my shading). This was made with the medium size of the punch shape shown in yellow.

The yellow shapes are from a smaller size, and I hope the smaller rose will be more usable on a card. I really like to see these flowers on cards, but I've never succeeded in doing any that I felt I wanted to put on a card. And of course, it will have to be one that is hand delivered! These dimensional embellishments are too costly to mail.

I know this is probably old hat to a lot of you.  I was excited to even get one done that I didn't throw in the trash!! Come again when you have time; as always I love to read the comments, and hear what you think! Sleep well, and hope to see you tomorrow. Hugs

All Occasion, Penny Black and More

Hi There from the beautiful South Carolina Upstate region, where we have yet another gorgeous day. Yesterday it got up to 81 in our area, but I hear rumors that another cold front could move through. Oh well, Spring is definitely making headway. I'm ready for it.

I selected my card today to fit the theme of the Penny Black and More Challenge  Blossoms and Bows. I remembered I had this cute Penny Black slapstick stamp - uninked - and hunted it out. It was a joy to color, so you will very likely see it done as another card.



- image is Penny Black slapstick - Dreaming Bunny; colored with copics on a snippet of Xpress paper. (used YG colors along with a touch of E family colors on the bunny. YR (an orange-y family) on the terracotta pot. Of course reds & greens on the flowers & foliage)

- S/Binders Opulent Ovals diecut

- Papers: My Mind's Eye - Tis the Season 6x6 (I used the opposite side of the Christmas motif, which was the green rectangle; The Paper Studio (red striped paper) The Linen Door - 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 pack; punched trim is also H/Lobby loose paper from Paper Studio, punched with a Tonic Dotty Border punch.

- green bow was a snippet of ribbon sent as a Thank you from a vendor when I got an order. The ribbon was just long enough to do a little bow.

I think I'll enter this little Bunny at the Penny Black and More Allsorts Blossoms and Bows, as well as jump over to see what those Foxy Playground ladies are up to. Ya'll have a fun afternoon, now heah? Come again when you have time to visit. Hugs

Operation Write Home

I'm using one of my favorite Penny Black floral images, Aspire, on this card. I had been experimenting with some pens on a leftover heat embossed image (so I hope this qualifies as a SNIPPET!) The image was handy when I brought home a few Marvy Le Pens, which have a very fine tip, more like writing pens. I decided to see how these pens colored over embossing. I think it worked quite well, and will use them again. So...I diecut the image with Spellbinder Label Four, die #4, used Distress Ink Antique linen to sponge while still in the die. Didn't like that look with my image colors, so sponged back over the Antique Linen with a Sage green, using a very light touch. Liked that look better. I also used the Out-of-the-Box technique when diecutting the floral image, so I didn't lose the tops of the stems. Used Label Four, #6 size to cut the medium purple mat from design paper. I used an MS punch on some dark green - another SNIPPET that was just handy in the scrap pile to cut the loopy background. I had some cream colored lace that I airbrushed with the Copic airbrush system, using V04 and then some BV colors to get the lace as dark as I wanted. As you can probably see in the picture, I had cut the lace, but it seemed to shrink a bit in the airbrushing. I had measured before cutting, and it was a perfect length. Called lesson learned, to remember next time. Adhered that to the loopy border, popped the image up. The cardbase is a sort of lime green textured Bazzill.  I have a new McGill punch set (Silhouettes & shadows) that I used to make the small purple shapes. Colored some Prima paper flowers with copics, added a pearl to the center. Used a small circle punch to cut the Happy Birthday Sentiment, which is stamped with Distress Ink, Concord & edged with the same color. I think this is going in the Operation Write Home bundle, and I'm hoping the playground swings will be free so I can play over at Pixie's. http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/2012/06/pixies-crafty-snippets-challenge-24.html