Christmas Makes...

 Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day spent with family and/or friends!  As my blog post indicates, I have some Christmas makes to share so lets get started!

First up is a Christmas decor piece that I created using lots and lots of fun Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas products.  I was 100% inspired by the amazing Emma Williams.   If you have never seen her blog, check it out now.  She creates incredible works of mixed media art!   I had a lot of fun making this even though the mica flakes I used are alittle messy, lol!

This next piece is something I have wanted to make ever since I got Chilly and Freezy two years ago as a freebie from Simon Says Stamp.   I finally got the time last week after my son had his wisdom teeth out last week.  Again, I had a lot of fun creating this little scene with the snowmen watching Santa fly across the sky with his reindeer!  I cheated a little and used some patterned paper from Simple Stories that already had the snowy scene on it.  I just darkened up the top with some distress oxide ink in Uncharted Mariner and Black Soot.  Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge and Wednesday challenge. 

The Simon Says Stamp December card kit included a decoupage kit from Craft Consortium.  I put these cards together using that kit and Prima patterned paper that also came in the kit.   I gave the cards to my great nephew and great nieces with some "Christmas Cash".    I jazzed them up a bit by adding glossy accents and Rock Candy glitter to some of the snowy areas on the images.  I still have 5 more left and have plans to create some Christmas decor pieces with them. 

These cards were made with patterned paper, laser cuts and ephemera bits from the 49 and Market Evergreen Season collection.  I made these for my mom to give to the big grandkids.  I went with a postal theme and used the Pinkfresh Studio Post Edge dies to die cut the papers.   The sentiments are Memory Box Christmas labels.  So glad I had these products on hand to put together some cards quickly!

And finally a card made with a very old, but one of my most favorite stamp sets from Simon Says Stamp.  I gold embossed the sentiment and the floral sways on Spellbinders Mahagony cardstock.  I fussy cut the swags and die cut the sentiment with a Pinkfresh Studio elegant die.  The gold cardstock was also die cut with PFS die.  Everything was layered on a Mahagony cardstock base and then I finished with tiny gold pearls.

Thanks for making it to end!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Winter Wonderland Tag

 Hi friends!  Popping in to share a project that I made for one of my monthly Birch Press Design posts.  I have had this idea rolling around in my head for several months now and it pretty much turned out exactly has I had envisioned it would.  Let's have a look.

I started out by painting a #8 Tim Holtz thickboard tag with white paint.  Once it was dry I sanded off some of the paint (even though you don't really see it), applied some multi matte medium to the tag and adhered the patterned paper that came from the Memory Box Poinsettia Plaid 6x6 pad.  I roughed up the edges of the paper a bit and curled some of the corners, as well.  Then I added some Memory Box snowflake rubons to the tag.  

I die cut the Holly and Berries Contour Layers die from vellum and then added the "berries" using Nuvo drops in a matte gold.  As my blog title indicates, I was really going for a winter wonderland look so kept everything muted.  I had previously die cut the large circle from Memory Box cream woodgrain cardstock and had tucked into the envelop with the dies so I had that already to go.  I then die cut it further using the Wavy Hillside dies and adhered the layers to another die cut circle.  I used different heights of foam squares for the bottom and middle layers.  The top layer was adhered with glue.   I die cut the Littletown Village pieces from white cardstock and the patterned paper used for the tag base.  The houses were adhered together, glossy accents added to the roofs and then I dipped them in Rock Candy glitter.  

Before adding all the elements I applied some Icicle crackle paste to the tag and let it dry.  When the houses were dry I added them to the hillsides along with the trees.  The circle was adhered to the tag and then I added the vellum holly piece.  I trimmed the stem a little and removed one of the leaves that I tucked in behind at the top of the stem.  I finished off the tag by adding the little twine bow, the Memory Box white Christmas labels and some Snowfall grit paste.

I'm going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge to use die cuts.  Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wondeful day!

Birch Press Design...

 Hello everyone!  The Birch Press Design blog is still down so here I am with my first of two BPD blog posts.  I hope you enjoyed what I made.  Let's have a look.

Memory Box recently released two new fall themed 6x6 paper pads (Nutmeg Forest and Nutmeg Plaid) and I just had to use them for my card.  I used a plaid for the background and one of the gold foiled patterns for the scalloped circles (Poppystamps Scallop Pinpoint Rings).

For the acorns and oak leaves I used the new Oak Leaves Contour Layers die set.  I had a piece of cardstock that I had layered several different distress mica sprays on and used that for the acorns and leaves.  The hello sentiment is the brand new Hello Scripted die and I die cut that from kraft cardstock three times then layered together.  

I layered on the plaid background and the die cut circles on to a kraft cardstock base.  I arranged the acorns and leaves and then added the sentiment.  I love the rustic look of this design. 

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

more clean and simple mixed media...

 Hello!  I'm back and like the title of my post says I have more cards created in a clean and simple style that feature some mixed media!  Love combining things that don't seem like they belong together, lol.  Let's have a look at what I made.

This card is for Freshly Made Sketches and I just love how it turned out!   I used lots of distress mica sprays and I think the Fossilized Amber distress spritz for the leaves.  The whole thing started when I created the tag I used on this card.  I had alot of the sprays left over in my splatter box and so I decided to grab a piece of watercolor cardstock and soak up all the leftover sprays.  The end result was a brownish color.  Once it was dry I added some additional mica spray in Mulled Cider and Harvest Moon (I think, lol).   I let it dry and then die cut the leaves using a leaf die from A Jillian Vance Design and a set of leaf dies from Simon Says Stamp.   A piece of off white cardstock was die cut with a rectangle die and then I worked on the arrangment of the leaves.   When I had that done to my liking I took a picture so I could get the placement just right.  I glued down the leaves and then added the sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Cozy Autumn Hugs stamp set with strip of foam tape.  I finished with the little bow.  

This next card is for Color Throwdown and I will also be adding it to the Just Us Girls gallery as I added a little bit of stenciling.   Take a look.

The CTD colors this week are orange, cream and kraft.  I thought the newly released Birch Press Design Splendid Cosmos Contour Layers die would look pretty in those colors.  I die cut the main flower from off white cardstock (PTI's Rustic White) and then added orange ink (Pinkfresh Studio Apricot) to the center of the flower extending it out on the petals.  Got a little too much on that one bottom petal, but I think it looks fine.  I die cut the center pieces from kraft cardstock and then added a little bit of the residual orange ink on my brush to the pieces.   Everything was then glued together.  I originally had another ide for the card, but when I tried it I just didn't like it.  That happens sometimes, right?   So, I decided to sleep on it and in the morning pulled out a brick pattern stencil from MFT Stamps and added the partial brick pattern to a kraft cardstock panel using Picket Fence Studios Luxe Paper Glaze in gold.   Once dry I adhered the flower and then added the sentiment that I had hot foiled on cream cardstock in matte gold.   Again, clean and simple, but with a little touch of mixed media.  Try it sometime!

I was sad to learn of the passing of Color Throwdown team member, Barbara Anders.  She never failed to amaze me with her gorgeous cards!   Her talent will be greatly missed.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

hey pumpkin...

 Hello, again!  Here to share a card that I made for the current Paper Players challenge to create a clean and simple card with a tag on it.    I'm also going to post it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Halloween.  Let's have a look at what I made.

The elements of this card got started when I was making the card with the big pumpkin on it.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to use the big pumpkin die set or this Simon Says Stamp die set called Stack o' Pumpkins with the CTD colors.    I die cut the Stack o' Pumpkins from the orange cardstock, as well as the aqua cardstock I used for the other card, but as I played around with the die cuts I just didn't like what I was coming up with.  So, I set Stack o' Pumpkins die cuts to the side and made the other card.  Then I saw the challenge at the Paper Players I thought I could use the other pumpkins on a tag.   While this card is pretty clean and simple I went in a mixed media direction with it.  For the tag I sprayed some white cardstock with Fossilized Amber distress spritz, let it dry and then spritzed on some Fallen Acorn distress mica spray.  I die cut the tag and then used what was left over to back the open ares of the jack o' lantern pumpkins.  I added a bit of distress oxide ink in Gathered Twigs to the tops of each pumpkin.  I didn't want to waste the aqua colored die cut pumpkins so I glued them behind the orange ones.  I stacked all the pumpkins on the tag starting with the bottom one.  I used thin foam squares on that one and then glue for the other two.   I recently purchased a package of Penny Black Beautiful Branches stick and shine so I used one of the branches along with bronze Deco Foil in the upper left corner of a white cardstock rectangle.  I added the tag and then finished off the card with the twine bow and the sentiment.   I didn't have twine in the brown color I wanted so I used some cream colored twine and spritzed it with Gathered Twigs distress stain and Fallen Acorn distress mica spray.  I really like how it turned out.

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

sweet wishes release...

 Hello, hello!  Did you see?  Simon Says Stamp has a brand new release called Sweet Wishes.  You can find the complete collection of products right here.  Simon Says Stamp generously sent me the beautiful Sketched Leaves stamp set and I created two projects with the set.   I went full on autumn colors mode for both projects.  Let's have a look at the first one.

For the card I started off by stamping the maple leaf on watercolor paper with VersaMark watermark ink, applying gold embossing powder and then heat setting it.  I then used my Tonic Studio Aqua Flow pens in autumn shades of red, yellow and brown for the background.  Once the piece was dry, I die cut it with a rectangle die and then sprayed it with distress mica sprays in Harvest Moon, Mulled Cider and Fallen Acorn.  I roughed up the edges for a more rustic look.  I embossed the sentiment in gold on vellum, trimmed it down and tore one edge.  I wrapped the other edge around the back of my panel, secured it with glue dots and tied the bow.  The panel was then adhered to an off-white cardstock base.  Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add texture.  

I really had alot of fun creating my next project.  Let's have a look at it. 

When I first saw the stamp set I knew that I wanted to create a decor type piece with it.  I went with a tag design using a Stampers Anonymous #8 thick board tag with a distress #8 heavy stock tag on top.  For this piece I used distress oxide inks in Carved Pumpkin, Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage and Gathered Twigs.  I blended on the inks to my liking and then splattered the tag with water.  I let the tag dry for a bit and then stamped on the three leaves using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink.  I finished the tag with lots of splatters foundry wax in the color Gilded.  I heat set the splatters to give them shine and make them permanent.  The edges of the tag were also roughed up for a more rustic look.   You don't see it in the photo, but I used some Tim Holtz washi tape to cover the sides of the thickboard tag for a more finished look.  Then I adhered the inkblended tag using Multi Matte Medium and let it dry.  

For the leaves I used the same oxide inks on a piece of cream colored heavy stock cardstock.   Once I had the inkblending done I stamped each leaf using the Acorn ink and then trimmed out each leaf.  There are matching dies that you can find right here, but I don't have them (yet!).  Since the leaves are fairly large, trimming them out was pretty quick and easy!   I also splattered the leaves with lots of the Gilded foundry wax.  The edges were roughed up and then I glued each leaf on top of the image stamped on the tag by adding glue down the center of each one.   To finish I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink, applied gold embossing powder and heat set.  The sentiment was then die cut with a cute little fancy shaped tag from Simon Says Stamp.  The edges roughed up and it was adhered to the tag.  I also added a little bit of inking to the edges of the leaves before gluing them on.  Some Memory Box fairy drops in autumn shades were added, along with the ribbon bow.  I custom colored the ribbon using the mica sprays in Harvest Moon and Mulled Cider.  I really love how this tag turned out!

The challenge at Just Us Girls is to create a project based on the word leaves.  My tag fits the challenge perfectly so I will be posting it there.   Love it when things work out like that!

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

Birch Press Design

 Hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I created.

Hope you will head over to the Birch Press Design blog to see the full project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello, hello!  Hope your September is going well.  I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I created.

Hope you will head over to the Birch Press blog to see what I created.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello!  It is that time of the month... time for my second Birch Press Design blog post!  Here is a little peek of what I created.  You can head over to the Birch Press Design blog to see the full project. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

bird's nest...

 Hello!   Wishing everyone a very happy Easter!  I'm popping in to share a card that I made using the current Freshly Made Sketches layout.  And since the challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is anything goes I will also be posting the card there.  Take a look at what I made.

Lately I have been trying to make a point of using products that I purchase as soon after I receive them as I can instead of getting and then putting them away.   This card uses one of my my recent purchases, PaperTrey Ink's Into the Blooms:  Nest die set.  In February I was the lucky winner of a $100 gift certificate for commenting on their release day blog post!  I had been eyeing the Into the Blooms: Nest die set and so picked it up along with a few other new items.   When I saw the layout for Freshly Made Sketches I thought a bird's nest would be perfect.  I started by using my Crooked Broom distress mica spray and some old Tsukeniko walnut stain spray on distress heavy stock.  I sprayed the heavy stock with water first and then added the other sprays letting them mix.  Because I wanted to get working on the card I used by heat tool to dry the piece of heavy stock.  Then I die cut out the pieces of the nest.  I had lots of pieces of heavy stock that I had sprayed with a combo of other mica sprays and so I used those for the leaves, eggs and flower.  Once I had everything die cut and assembled I dug through my large supply of 6x6 paper pads and came across this very old Basic Grey Serenade pad.  The colors in the pad were perfect for my little nest.  I die cut two different pieces and layered them on my kraft cardstock base.  I layered on the nest and then finished with a Memory Box pre-foiled sentiment tab.  

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

mixed media tag...

 Hello and happy March!  Can you believe it is already March?  Where is the time going?!  Spring isn't quite here, yet, but I'm definitely in a spring-like mood!   With that in mind, I decided to play along with the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge of fur or feathers.  And I will add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  The amazing Emma William, who is on SSS Monday challenge design team, created a beautiful tag featuring a bird.  Her tag is a bit more moodier than mine, but I was 100% inspired by her tag.  Take a look at what I made.

I started off my tag by spritzing a #8 distress heavy stock tag with a combination of Speckled Egg, Salvaged Patina and Antique Linen distress spray stains and Frozen Fog distress mica spray.  I dried the tag in between the layers of color.  Once the tag was dry I uses a Simon Says Stamp pine bough stencil and some grit paste to add more texture to the background.  I also added some crackle paste.  Once both pastes were dry I scribbled some distress crayons in ground espresso and crushed olive onto an acrylic block, spritzed on some water, mixed the colors and then dabbed them onto the pastes with my finger.  I then adhered my tag to a #8 Etcetera thickboard tag.  Once that was dry I rubbed more of the ground espresso/crushed olive mix around the edge of the tag.   

For the bird I used my favorite Backyard Wren die set from Memory Box.  The twiggy wreath, feathers blossom stem and budding stems are from the Greetery.   For the wreath I sprized heavy stock with walnut stain and Crooked Broomstick distress mica spray.  I spritzed on water to move the colors around.  Once the panels were dry I die cut them with the wreath die and two dies that cut twiggy branches for layering on the wreath.  There is a wreath stamp that coordinates with the wreath base and I used that to stamp on some Scorched Timber distress ink.  Once that was dry I adhered on the branches.  The other pieces were inked with distress oxide inks in Speckled Egg, Pumice Store, Vintage Photo, Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage.   I assembled everything, let them dry and then adhered them to the tag as you see.  I finished off the tag with some chunky twine and a small key that I tried to grunge up with some grit paste and ground espresso distress crayon.  A small pin was used to attach the key to the twine.    I'm super pleased with how my tag turned out.

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello!  I popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I created. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Happy Friday!  I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek at what I made.

I hope you will head over to the blog to see the full card.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!.

Birch Press Design Wednesday

 Hello!  I'm up on the Birch Press Design blog today.   Here is a little look at what I created:

I hope you will head over to the Birch Press Design blog to check out what I made.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day. 

Birch Press Design on a Tuesday

 Hi everyone!  Can't believe that August is almost over!  Fall is right around the corner and today I'm on the Birch Press Design blog sharing a fall inspired card using items from the new release.  Here is a little look at what I made.

I hope you will swing by the Birch Press Design blog to see the full project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Happy Friday everyone!  I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.   Here is a little peek.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Guest Blog Post on Spellbinders Blog

 Hi everyone!  I just wanted to pop in to let you know that I have a guest post up on the Spellbinders blog today.  I'm sharing a little peek of what I made for this blog post.  Please make sure you head over to the Spellbinders blog to see all of the projects that I made with the new Christmas Flea Market Finds collection from Cathe Holden.  You can find the collection here.  It is absolutely amazing!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Affiliate links:

Christmas Flea Market Finds Collection

Christmas Velvet 6x9 paper pad

Home for the Holidays 6x9 paper pad

Vintage Handcrafted Hexagon Bowl dies

Vintage Handcrafted Square Base and Sides dies

Compliments of the Season stamp set

Handmade Holiday Stamp set

Jingle Bells Miscellany die cuts

Christmas Pines Miscellany die cut

give thanks this season...

 Hello!  Fall is on the way and I can wait for pumpkin season!  Well... if I'm honest it is pumpkin season all year round for me.  I love pumpkins!  With that in mind I have created a little pumpkin mixed media piece using a new die set from Becca Feeken's Seasonal Label Motif's collection at Spellbinders.   Today's project uses the Fall Labels Motif die set. (A list of affiliate linked supplies is at the end of this blog post.  Using my links allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support.)  Let's take a look:

Did I go a little overboard with this project?  Maybe, but I love how it turned out!  I'm sorry that I don't have lots of photos sharing how I created the everything, but I'm still figuring out this whole mixed media thing and so don't really think to stop and take photos.  I started by adding distress oxide inks in lots of fall colors like Rusty Hinge, Fossilized Amber, Mustard Seed, Crackling Campfire, Carved Pumpkin and Rustic Wilderness to pieces of watercolor paper.  I applied the colors to my Waffle Flower media mat, added water and then smooshed the paper into the colors.  I dried the paper between each smooshing to get a variation in the colors.  Once I had each piece to my liking (I did one in oranges, yellows and the third one in greens, reds, oranges and yellows.) I let them dry fully.  I then die cut out all the little pumpkins, stems, leaves, etc.  

The ornamental piece was die cut from several layers of cardstock finishing with a silver metallic cardstock using two of the dies from the Fall Labels Motif set to create the look I was going for.  I tried to tarnish up the silver to give it a more muted look.  I used Vintage Photo distress ink som and som Gilded Foundry wax.  With all my pieces cut I added some Vintage Photo to the leaves, stems, pumpkins and wheat before applying glue and adding Rock Candy Glitter.  

I used two Ideaology vignette boxes to place my little autumn scene on.  The larger box was covered with distress collage medium and then I applied some fall patterned paper (from Echo Park) to the front, sides and top.  The smaller box was painted with brown, red and orange acrylic paint wiping off some of the paint as I went.  I also applied the same paints to the larger box after I added Ranger crackle texture paste.  Once that was all dry I adhered the boxes together using hot glue and got to work creating my little scene.   While I do love how things turned out I think I would have arranged the leaves a little differently.  I finished with the sentiment that I had hot foiled last year.  I distressed it with Vintage Photo ink and then glued it to the front.  

Affiliate linked supply list:

Spellbinders Platinum 6

Spellbinder Glimmer hot foil system

Fall Labels Motif die set

Seasonal Labels Motif collection

Ideaology Vignette boxes

Distress Collage Medium

Bearly Arts Glue

Wagner heat tool

Vintage Photo distress ink

Rock Candy Distress Glitter

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!