Old Fashioned Christmas

 Hello everyone!  I had a post ready to go for the new release from Simon Says Stamp and once, again, Blogger flagged it and unpublished it.  When I read the email it said that I was engaging in SPAMMING!  I had about 7 affiliate links in my post and that is all.  I tried removing those links and republishing, but it flagged me, AGAIN!  So... here I am writing a completely new post and hoping that it gets published.   So incredibly tired of Blogger!   Here are the cards I made:

SSS generously sent me a stamp set called Old Fashioned Christmas.  It features four images and several sentiments.  For this card I stamped the image of a decanter on watercolor cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then did very simple watercoloring to make it look like there was some type of alcohol in the decanter.  The bow was also stamped on watercolor cardstock (twice) with the Nocturne ink and then watercolored.  When the image was dry I trimmed out the full bow and then just the top portion of the bow (if that makes sense, lol) and layered them together with thin foam squares for a little dimension.  I die cut some Christmas foliage from watercolor cardstock and added a wash of color to the pieces.  Once everything was dry I adhered the pieces to my decanter and finished with the sentiment from the stamp set.

For the second card I stamped both of the drink images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored very simply with Copic markers.  I die cut the panel with a rectangle die and layered it on glitter cardstock with a light peach hue to it.  I added a bit of more sparkle to each drink by adding glossy accents and Rock Candy glitter to the ice cubes, cherry and orange slice.  

That's it for me.  If you want to check out the release, please click the link to Simon Says Stamp that is over on my side bar.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

birthdays...

 Hello, hello!  Well, we are actually saying "goodbye" to June!  Where is the time going, lol?!  I have been busying doing other things, but finally got a chance to make a card for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.   And since the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is anything goes I will post the card there, too.  Let's have a look.

I pulled out a Reverse Confetti stamp set that I don't think I had every used and colored it up in the CTD colors using my Copic markers.   After I was done I die cut the panel with a rectangle die and then tore off the bottom portion of the panel.  I wrapped a length of black twine around the panel and tied it in a bow.  Before adhering the panel to my cardstock base I stamped the sentiment from another Reverse Confetti stamp set and then adhered the panel with foam tape.  I added some Rock Candy stickles for a little bit of sparkle.

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

oh, happy day...

 Hello!  Popping in to share a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   Also going to add this to the Flower Challenge to use layers. Let's have a look!

The CTD colors are aqua, teal and olive.  I went with light values for my aqua and teal and did some simple Copic coloring.  The aqua flower is the one on the right and the teal is the one on the left.  The stamp set I used was the collaboration set by Memory Box and Simon Says Stamp for Stamptember 2023 called So Kind.    I tried to find cardstocks that were a fairly close match for the colors in the magnolia flowers.  I used the Memory Box Arched Capped Pinpoint dies for the elements from the FMS layout and then added the magnolias and sentiment on top.  Very simple, but I like how it turned out.

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

Simon Says Stamp Sweetheart Release!

 (See my Birch Press Design post here)

Hello everyone!  I'm popping in today to share three cards that I made with the Hello Animals stamp set from the new Simon Says Stamp Sweetheart release that is available right now on the Simon Says Stamp website.   

This stamp set is perfect for the little kiddos in your life or for anyone who likes cute animal images!  When I created this first card I had my great niece in mind.  She will turn two in February and she has several four legged "siblings".  I stamped the puppy dog image on watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then watercolored with my Jane Davenport watercolors.  I stamped the large happy birthday sentiment underneath with a fun red ink.  The little party hat was also watercolored and then trimmed out when it was dry.  I die cut the stamped panel, adhered it to a cardbase and then added the little party hat with foam squares.   I'm going to add this to the Paper Players challenge of celebrations. 

This card was inspired by a friend who loves orange and white kitties.  She recently lost her sweet kitty, Bonita, and even though I already sent her a card I think I will be sending her this one.  I stamped the kitty four times with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored very simply with Copic markers.  I die cut the panel and adhered it to a card base.  I stamped the sentiment on vellum with a cream colored embossing powder and then die cut it with a smaller rectangle die.  The vellum panel was attached using rolled up glue dot placed behind the letters. 

This last card is just like the first card except that I colored the bunny image using Copic markers.  I stamped the glasses and the bow and colored them with Copics.  I cut out the center of the glasses so you can see her eyes.  I added some Crystal Lacquer to the glasses and bow.  I really love how this card turned out!  The glasses just crack me up!  I'm adding this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of cute critters.

Make sure you head over to the Simon Says Stamp store to check out the entire release.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Happy and Joyful Release!

 Hello there!  Did you see that there is a new release available from Simon Says Stamp?!  The Happy and Joyful release is amazing (aren't they all?) and Simon was so kind to send me the GORGEOUS Celebrate Rose Corner stamp set.   You can also get the matching die or both as a bundle.  This set has a large floral image and many, many wonderful sentiments. (Compensated affiliate links used when possible.  Using my links allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support.  All links listed at the bottom on this post.) Take a look at what I created:

For this first card I stamped the floral image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored with Copic markers.  Once I was done I decided that I was going to try my hand at making an edge to edge shaker.  I have been saving packaging material for several months now in order to give it a try.  There was a little bit of a learning curve for me, but I love the look!  Once I got things worked out I filled my shaker pouch with the pretty SSS shaker mix called Mini Hearts Party.    I was so intent on making my edge to edge shaker that I forgot about a sentiment!  I ended up combing two sentiments from the set together and embossing them in black on vellum.  I trimmed the sentiment down and wrapped it round the front.   I wasn't sure about it at first, but I think it turned out okay. 

The second card looks a lot like the first card just without the shaker element, lol!  I guess I was in a mood to color with shades of pinky reds!  For this one I pulled out my Jane Davenport Brights watercolors and did simple watercoloring after heat embossing the image in white on watercolor paper. Once I was done and the image was dry I die cut it with a A2 rectangle die.  The sentiment was embossed in white on vellum, trimmed down and adhered with rolled up glue dots.  I finished with some sparkly gems.

Make sure you check out the new release.  Below is an affiliate list of many of the supplies I used:

Happy and Joyful Release

Fabriano Artistico Watercolor Cardstock 5x7

Celebrate Rose Corner stamp set

Celebrate Rose Corner die 

Celebrate Rose Corner stamp and die set

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Hero Arts White Embossing Powder

Platinum 6 

Mini Hearts Party Sequin Mix

Jane Davenport Brights Watercolor set

 Zots Glue Dot

WOW Ebony Embossing Powder

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Spellbinders April Club Kits... take 2

 Hello!  I'm back with the card I made using the Spellbinder April stamp and die kit.  This kit is all about celebrations and presents!  And it coordinates with the small die kit.   Take a look at what I made:

Isn't that large presents image fun?  So many things that you can do with it.  I decided to color it with Copic markers.  I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored with Copics in shades of purple/violet and a sage green.   When I am coloring with Copics I have finally learned to leave the stamp in my stamping tool so that I can place the cardstock back in and restamp the image.  After I did that I die cut it with the matching die.  The little bows were colored with the sage green combo and die cut, as well.  So that the white outline of the bows wasn't so harsh I went around the edges with a gray Copic marker.   The sage green and purple combo came from Color Throwdown.  But as I got into putting the card together I completely forgot that they wanted cream and not white in the mix!  Oops!  Oh well... I will still be sharing this at Freshly Made Sketches as that is where the layout came from.   I used the embossing folder from the March Spellbinders embossing folder kit to emboss the small panel.  I then adhered a thin strip of purple cardstock.  I would have gone with sage green, but I have absolutely no sage green cardstock in my extensive collection of cardstock!   I adhered that piece to a white cardstock panel I die cut with an essentials rectangle die and then attached the panel to a light gray cardstock base.   The sentiment was stamped on vellum and heat embossed in black.  I adhered the presents image, the sentiment and then added a few green gems.  Think I will add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, too. 

(Compensated affiliate links used where possible.  Using my links allows me to earn a small commission.  Thank you for your support.)

Supplies Used:

Spellbinders Platinum 6

Spellbinders Essentials Rectangles dies

Spellbinders April Stamp and die kit

Spellbinders Embossing folder kit

Spellbinders Essentials Color Mix gems - green

Spellbinders Silver Fox cardstock

Bearly Art Glue

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

hang in there...

 A quick post of a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches and the Altenew monthly challenge for March.  I already posted this card to the Altenew challenge through Instagram and would have posted it to Freshly Made Sketches that way, too, but for some reason I am not able to when I use Instagram.  Anyway, the card is pretty simple and straightforward.

For a few months over a year ago I was getting the Altenew Paint-a-Flower monthly subscription.  When I realized that I was not getting the opportunity to actual make anything with the stamp sets I was getting I decided to cancel.   One of the sets that I did get was PAF Chamomile.  Fun fact about me:  I absolutely cannot stand Chamomile tea.  In fact I do not like most herbal teas.   I stamped the image with Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic markers.  I added a little bit of grounding with a gray Copic and then stamped the sentiment with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  I trimmed the panel and some dark gray cardstock for a mat per the FMS layout.  The layers were adhered together and then I attached the panel to my card front with foam tape.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Umbrellas and a Sunflower...

 Hello!  Hope you are having a good week!  So far so good in my corner of the world.  Today I popping in to share two cards that I created with new stamps from the Spellbinders Cardmaker Stamp Collection.  First up is a card I made using a really cute stamp set called Cute Boots.    The main image in the set features a little girl out for a walk in the rain.  I was going to use that stamp for my card but decided to go a little bit outside my comfort zone and create a card using one of the other images... a closed up umbrella.  After trying out different ways to use the umbrella I finally hit on the design of my card.  Then I decided to color the umbrella in rainbow order:   red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.  In order to make the layout look right I had two extra umbrellas that got colored in red and orange.  I stamped the umbrellas in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored them with Copic markers using one color for each umbrella.   I added in rain in the background using an image from the set and a very light gray ink.  The sentiment was then stamped in VersaFine Clair Nocturne.  I die cut the panel with a Spellbinders Essential Rectangle die, adhered it to my light gray cardstock base (Silver Fox from Spellbinders) and then added clear sequins.  I'm going to add this card to the Day of the Month Card Club challenge of find a rainbow day.

So there you have it... umbrellas falling from the sky like confetti, lol!

The second card features the Hello Sunflower stamp set from the same collection.  I also went outside my comfort zone with this card and created a bold and graphic design using the colors from Color Throwdown.  I used a patterned paper that had a yellow ombre look to it and die cut my panel using a die from the Essentials Rectangle die set.  I stamped the large sunflower on the panel using Catherine Pooler Orange Twist ink.  I then stamped the sentiment using VersaFine Clair Acorn ink.   I die cut red cardstock with the largest die from the Essential Rectangle set and then adhered the smaller one to that.  I added a few brown sequins to the center of the flower to finish things off.   

Before you go I wanted to let you know that Spellbinders is having a huge spring warehouse sale.  Just click on the banner below or the link in my sidebar to head to the sale.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

wishing you

 Hey there!  Hope you had a great week.  We are having  AWESOME weather here in the Pacific Northwest!  Sunny and warm temps!  Absolutely love it!   Of course, the lovely weather is scheduled to be gone in the next week... replaced by rain!  But I will take this beautiful weather while I can.  Even though the weather is lovely I really can't go anywhere because... child has school at home.   So I spent part of my day making a card for Color Throwdown, Freshly Made Sketches, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge and the April  Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge.   That challenge is mom, dads and grads.  I have a niece who is graduating in June and going to Texas A&M Corpus Christi on a full golf scholarship in the fall (so very proud of her!), but I don't have any RC stamps that fit the grad or dad theme so I went with mom.  I used the pretty Tulips stamp set from RC and colored it with Copic markers in the CTD colors.  The layout based on the FMS sketch, of course.   The SSS Wednesday challenge is clean and simple and while this isn't super simple it is still pretty clean and simple with all the white on white.  All the dies except for the circle die are from Reverse Confetti.   Sketches like the FMS one are a bit tough for me, but I think I pulled this one off! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

birthday tulips...

 Hello!  Hope you have a good week so far.  I'm popping in with a card for a few challenges:  The Paper Players, Color Throwdown and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  I have been trying to make a card using this tulip image from Simon Says Stamp for about two weeks!  I started out trying to make it for the Inspired By challenge, but only got as far as coloring two tulip images using Copic markers.  The two colored images sat on my desk until earlier this week when I finally sat down and colored a third image and made the card using the Color Throwdown colors.   I had already colored one tulip image in pink and the other in yellow.  I decided to color the third in yellow, as well.  The background piece was cut from kraft cardstock using a Spellbinders essential rectangle die and then embossed using one of my favorite embossing folders called swiss dot.  I reversed the embossing so that the actual raised embossing is on the backside of the rectangle.  I arranged my tulips in a bouquet of sorts and adhere it to the panel.  I then trimmed down some striped vellum that I have, centered the sentiment on the strip and heat embossed it using cream colored embossing powder from Simon Says Stamp.  The strip was wrapped around the panel and secured in the back.  I then adhered the panel to an off white cardstsock base.  I thought the card needed a little more pink so I added sequins in two shades of pink.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

He is Risen...

 Hello!  Still trying to make some Easter cards and here is another one I got done.  This is for the Revese Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge, as well as the Card Concept and a new to me challenge called Day of the Month Card Club.  I found this challenge through my good friend, Greta!  Both the Card Concept and Day of the Month Card Club challenges feature butterflies.  I pulled out the RC Stained Glass Butterfly stamp and die set and did some Copic coloring using colors from the Card Concept inspiration photo.   The buttefly and the leaves were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink before coloring.  I used the mid sized RC Lacy Scallop rectangle die to cut white cardstock that I stamped with the sentiment from the RC Easter Blessings stamp set.  I then arranged the butterfly and leaves on the panel.  I die cut some purple cardstock with the largest Lacy Scallop rectangle die and adhered that to a white cardstock base.   The sentiment panel was then adhered to that.  I thought about adding some sequins, but obviously didn't in the end.  My card would fall into the clean and layered category at the Card Concept. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

floral cards...

 Hello!  Hope your week is going well.  We had some really nice weather the other day, but as is the case in the Pacific Northwest this was fleeting and our typical late winter/early spring weather returned... rain!  Oh well.  I have a couple of cards to share today.  First up is a card for this week's Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.   My card started out one way, but ended up as you see it now.    Originally I used my Glimmer to create the three panels that appear in the FMS layout, but they didn't foil completely and were a little off so I decided to scrap that idea.  I was going to use an old Simon Says Stamp set that contains images of daffodils with that card so I continued on with that part of the card idea, but switched the panels to crosses from another old Simon Says Stamp Easter set.   I stamped the daffodils in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored them very simply with Copic markers.  I added some depth with Polychromos pencils.   I ink blended a panel with distress oxide ink in Squeezed Lemonade and Lucky Clover.  Funny aside... I could have sworn I had Mowed Lawn distress oxide ink, but I do not!   I die cut the crosses, adhered them to the panel and then added the daffodils.  I die cut the word Easter (it is part of the same set that the cross came from) from vellum four times and adhered them together.  I was going to leave it that way, but didn't like it so I added the glittered die cut to the top.  I still wasn't happy with the card so I decided to stamp some leaves, color them with a green Copic marker and then add them to the daffodils.  Still not sure about it... let me know what you think.

The second card is for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use florals.  I guess my first card works for that, as well.  I created this card using more products from my Spellbinders Whimsical Forest card kit.  One of the dies from the kit is the fun frame that you see.  I die cut it from gold cardstock, as well as additional cardstock and adhered them together.   I die cut some white cardstock, as well as patterned paper from the kit with the Spellbinders essentials rectangle dies.  I embossed the white layer and then layered them on a card base from the kit.  I then adhered the frame and all of the floral pieces that came from one of the ephemera packs from the kit.   The hello was created by die cutting the shadow image from white cardstock and then stamping the corresponding word hello in dark blue ink.  The sentiment was then adhered to the front of the card as you see.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

happy hellos...

 Hey there!  Well... we survived our yearly two days of snow here in the Pacific Northwest!   The snow is pretty, but I really don't like driving it in.  Since I didn't go anywhere except the store because of the snow I had some time to spend making a couple of cards.  Both feature the word hello.  First up is a card for the Inspired By challenge.   It is a lovely inspiration photo of a pink pitcher full of what look to me like tiny purple flowers and greenery.  It was so pretty I just had to play along.   I thought I had an image in my stash that was similar, but I don't so I used some images from the Reverse Confetti Tall Blooms to create my little bundle of flowers.  I stamped the images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored simply with Copic markers.   I then die cut all the images with the matching die.  I die cut the Reverse Confetti cover panel from pink cardstock and then several times from thin white cardstock.  Everything was adhered together and then attached to a white cardstock card base.  I arranged my floral images on the panel and then added the sentiment from the Tall Blooms set that I stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne in and die cut using a banner die from Reverse Confetti.  I finished off the card with some little pearls from Trinity Stamps.   I will also add this to the Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge for February. 

The second card was made just for fun and I used the sweet little stamp set called Happy Mail from Honey Bee Stamps.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper and did simple watercoloring with the Altenew 12 pan watercolor set.  Once everything was dry I die cut it with the matching die.  Before I watercolored the envelope that the flowers are coming out of I had colored a patch of the cardstock to determine if I liked the color I had mixed up.  I used that little patch to die cut the tag from and stamp the hello sentiment from Happy Mail on it.  The tag was a little freebie from Trinity Stamps!  I embossed the kraft panel with a swiss dot embossing folder and then adhered the envelope image to the panel.  I finished off the card with some little jewels that I had also purchased from Trinity Stamps.   I'm really loving the pearls and jewels I bought from them and can't wait to buy more!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

pinwheels and flowers...

 Hey there!  Popping in to post a couple of cards that I made today.   I seem to be in a clean and simple state of mind right now so both cards are pretty simple.  First up is a card for the current Color Throwdown challenge.  I love pink, blue and gray together so couldn't pass up this week's challenge.  I finally made something with my Pinwheel Party stencils, dies and coordinating stamp set from the Greetery.  I used Spun Sugar and Faded Jeans distress oxide inks for the pinwheels.   The sentiment was stamped using VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink and the panel die cut with a rectangle die.  I adhered the panel to a white cardstock base and then added the pinwheels.  I finished things off with sequins in white and blue to the centers of the pinwheels and a few pink sequins on the panel.  Super clean and simple!  I will also add this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

The second card is for the MFT sketch challenge.  I have played along with an MFT sketch challenge in ages.  I almost combined it with the MFT color challenge, but decided to just do the sketch.  I stamped one of the images from the Magnolia Blossoms stamp set on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored very simply with Copic markers.   Once the image was colored I die cut it with the largest stitched mini scalloped oval die (no longer available).   The sentiment is from the MFT Flowers in Bloom stamp set.  I adhered the oval to a panel of light gray cardstock and then to a white cardstock panel.   Again, very clean and simple. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

hearts and leaves...

 Hello!  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.  I'm popping in with two more cards to share.  First up is a card for the current Inspired By challenge.    The inspiration photo is all about hearts and so I went with hearts, as well.  I fiddled around with a background for the hearts I die cut from a gingham type patterned paper, a woodgrain patterned paper and some silver metallic cardstock.    I finally decided to try doing to dry brushing with acrylic paint.  It took me a couple of tries to get the look I was going for.  I used some off white textured cardstock so that the background has a sort of woodgrain look to it.  Once I had that piece finished I die cut it with a small rectangle die from Spellbinders.   The hearts were die cut with Stitched Dot hearts from A Jillian Vance Design.  I die cut additional woodgrain patterned paper with the largest Spellbinders rectangle die and layered that on a cardstock base made from the same cardstock that I used for my dry brushed background piece.  The hearts were arranged on the smaller rectangle along with a sentiment from A Jillian Vance Design that I heat embossed in white on vellum die cut with an AJVD banner die.   

The second card is for the last challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch.  I took some license with the sketch, but hopefully you can see the over all idea of the sketch in my card.   I have the Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together stamp set and there is a long image in the set that I have never been able to use because I didn't have a stamp positioning tool big enough to use it.  Now I do... yay!  I stamped the image using Memento Bamboo Leaves ink and then colored the leaves with four shades of green Copic Markers.  The sentiments were also stamped with Bamboo Leaves, trimmed out and adhered to the panel once it was die cut with a Spellbinders rectangle die.   As a finishing touch I stamped the little heart, added some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew to the heart and a few sequins in green and gold.   

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!