random reflections

Time Out: Joyful

A quick post to enter a card in the current Time Out Challenge: Joyful. I spent part of last weekend turning some of my tags for the 25 Tags of Christmas Challenge into cards. I ended up liking quite a few of them, including this one.

I die cut the Simon Says "Diamond Pattern" cover with Pure Poppy and added it to a white card base. I love the the design of this die and the texture it gives without overwhelming the tag itself. The tag itself was die cut with Papertrey's "Tag Sale #4" and the greens and sentiment were stamped and die cut with Papertrey's "Sending Joy,"

I needed some holiday cards for friends who don't celebrate Christmas so this one is perfect. I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Christmas.

 

 

Freshly Made Sketches

This week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is perfect for the season.

And a perfect excuse to use the new "Floral Fantasy: Christmas" stamp set. Despite the fact that I didn't make all of my Christmas cards this year, and I certainly didn't need any more Christmas stamps, there were three sets (by three different companies) that proved to be too great a temptation. "Floral Fantasy" was one of them. The nice thing about this set is there are many images that can be used throughout the year. But for these two cards (variations on a theme) I used a Christmas image--perfect for the sketch.

I silver embossed the tree onto Weathervane cardstock by PTI and die cut it with a Simon Says "Stitched Rectangle." Then I adhered it to a top-folded card made from the most elegant silver cardstock I've ever seen. I bought several sheets of gorgeous metallic cardstock at a lovely shop in the Third Ward District in Milwaukee when we were there in October. Finally I added a few rainstones (PTI).

 

Next up, a variation--same papers, slightly different design:

This time I silver embossed a sentiment from the same set onto a piece of vellum that I wrapped around the top layer.

I have a third variation of the card in a different color scheme, but I want to be sure the recipient has it in her hand before I post it. 

Five in Five: Gingerbread Houses

Tonight was the annual Holiday Open House at the George Eastman Museum. Matt, Betsy, and the three girls joined us, and although they are still reluctant to talk to Santa, we always seem to have a good time. Here's a picture of the three girls (didn't get a one where all three were looking at me, and no one was a bit blurry; I still haven't found quite the right camera for this event!). Although there is a good one of me with Skylar and Ella and a good one of Tracy with Skylar. Madelyn just moves too fast for the available light.

But the real subject of this post is Sandie's meme "Five in Five"---take as many photos as you can in five minutes and choose five faves. I took five minutes before the girls arrived to photograph some of the many gingerbread houses on display. They range from rudimentary to quite elaborate. Skylar and Grandpa enjoy the scavenger hunt that is always a part of this event. Here are five of my favorites this year.

This is one of the most elaborate; I took three photos of it from different viewpoints, and they all were lovely.

The church was lit up inside as were several other gingerbread houses this year.

Lots of detail in this one; I love the windows with the wreaths and window boxes, and the lovely pine trees in the yard.

Another really lovely gingerbread "house" that was also lit inside.

Not as elaborate, but sweet and lovely.

Thanks to Sandie for hosting another year of the 5 in 5 meme. It took a little sleuthing because I didn't tag all the posts, but I did participate every month this year---but rarely on the 5th of the month which I hope to be better about next year should we be lucky enough to have Sandie continue to host this meme in 2019,

 

 

Mostly White

The current challenge at AAA Cards is Mostly White. I love white on white, and needed another holiday card so was anxious to create one for this challenge.

I started by die cutting Memory Box's "Bianca Snowflake." It's so intricate that even with a metal shim, it took several trips through the die cutter to get a clean cut. It was totally worth it though. I coated it with Nuvo clear glitter, but couldn't get a good photo of the shimmer, try as I might. 

After embossing the sentiment from Papertrey's "Floral Fantasy: Christmas" in rose gold, I adhered some fun foam for a bit of dimension before putting it on the white card base. Here's a closer look.

White is definitely the color here. We had the kind of stick-to-everything snow yesterday that coated every tree, bush and the lawn. It was really the perfect snow because it didn't effect the roads or travel at all. 

I'm also entering this into a new-to-me challenge: CAS on Friday where the challenge is to make a Christmas card. I'm always glad to find another CAS challenge to play with!

Happy Birthday, Greg & Color Throwdown Challenge

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday. Later this evening, we'll be celebrating with him at dinner. A week from today is my brother's birthday. Sadly, I won't see him on his birthday, but we'll definitely talk on the phone. When I saw the current Color Throwdown Challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for their birthday cards. Since their birthdays are so close together, I frequently make the same card for both of them. 

More frequently than not, my idea for a card at its inception doesn't correlate particularly well at its execution. This was an exception, and the cards turned out almost exactly the way I envisioned it. 

I'm guessing the majority of the cards for this challenge use these wonderful colors---silver, black, gray, and white---to create a holiday card, but I thought they were great colors for a masculine birthday card. All the design elements were stamped with Altenew's "Sohcahtoa" stamp set. The sentiment was embossed in silver from Papertrey Ink's ""Good Times."

I'm also linking this up with Seize the Birthday Challenge since any birthday card works, even if you don't use the "topping."

 

25 Days of Christmas Tags: Final Five

As it turns out there was a bonus day for Tracy McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags challenge, so here are the last five. 

Day 22 was inspired by Channin Pelletier who created a series of tags with poinsettias. I recently purchased a 12x12 piece of Alexandra Renke patterned paper, and fussy cut one of the beautiful poinsettias. The sentiment was gold embossed and I added some gold Stickles to the center of the flower. The gold is not showing up well in any of these photos.

Tag: Paper Source; Stamp: Papertrey Ink "Signature Christmas"

Day 23 was inspired by Lisa Henke.

Dies: Papertrey Ink "Tag Sale #4," Hero Arts " Happy Holly Days," Concord & 9th "Mistletoe Card Frame;" Stamps: Hero Arts "Happy Holly Days;" Zig watercolor pens; Nuvo glitter pen on bow

Day 24 was inspired Kim Heggins. As in the bow above, the holly leaves were covered with a Nuvo glitter pen which is lovely IRL, but didn't photograph well.

Dies: Papertrey Ink "Tag Sale #4" and "Sending Joy;" Stamps: "Sending Joy;" Kaiser rhinestones

Day 25 was inspired by the shaker ornament created by Jessica Frost-Ballas.

Die: Simon Says "Stitched Circles," My Favorite Things "Stylish Snowflakes;" Impression Obsession "Shake It: Shaker Card Pouches;" sequins

And last, the bonus tag, a riff on Day 22 inspired by Tracy McNeely's wine bottle tag.

Papertrey Ink "Wine Bottle Tag," Alexandra Renke patterned paper, Papertrey Ink " Stylish Sentiments: Holiday" embossed in gold, gold Stickles

When I began this challenge I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep up, but I really enjoyed it, and enjoyed using so many of my holiday stamps, some of which were purchased many years ago. I thought about half of them would be used for the family gift exchange, but on Thanksgiving we wisely decided to drop the gift exchange since no one needs anything. To replace the fun of the gift exchange (which inevitably caused a great deal of laughter) we're going to go back to playing games after dinner. Now many of these tags will be turned into Christmas cards, as I have more than I need for gifts!

 

 

Ella Turns Four!

Ella celebrated with her friends earlier in the month, but on Saturday she was officially four years old, and the family gathered to celebrate with dinner. She requested a confetti cake, no frosting which she helped make earlier in the day.

In keeping with the theme of her party with her friends, I used her invitation as inspiration for her card, and a gift card holder.

I had all the necessary supplies for a space related card, having made Caleb one last year for his birthday.

I die cut a piece of True Black cardstock with a Simon Says "Star Stream" die and layered it on a top-folding card made from Bright Buttercup. Then I die cut a variety of planets, stars, and a rocket ship from scraps of bright cardstock, arranging them among the stars. 

Papertrey Ink's "Folded Pocket Tag" die arrived just a week or so ago, and worked perfectly for tucking in a gift card to Barnes & Noble. "You're a Star" is a Simon Says die, and the ribbon is from Paper Source. Ella and I have a lunch date with a trip to Barnes & Noble to follow, so the celebration isn't quite over.

I'm linking this up with the Seize the Birthday challenge: Tags.

Papertrey Ink November 2018 Blog Hop

This month's inspiration photo for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop left lots of room for interpretation.

When I started thinking about a card for the hop, I laid out several stamp sets as possibilities. I ended up stamping and die cutting images from "Sending Joy" and "Forest Floor Winter" without any clear design in mind. Once I had a pile of images I started playing around with some arrangements. Looking at the photo, I also pulled out some of the Pure Poppy "Bitty Big" striped paper. At some point I looked at the packages, and remembered I'd just purchased a die for a stitched bow from My Favorite Things. I die cut it from Pure Poppy felt, and liked it so much I went with the idea of creating a kind package on the card. This process is really different for me, but I ended up with a card I like, and one very different from anything I'd thought of in the beginning. It's also a departure from my usual CAS designs.

I decided to center the "package" in the open frame from the "Bold Borders: Yuletide" die which was cut from white and layered on a white card base. The "Bitty Big" papers fit in the middle space, and then it was just a case of arranging the rest of the elements. I had planned to use the JOY from "Sending Joy," but it was too large. I ended up die cutting this smaller joy from Pinefeather to balance the green from the branches. The die is from an older W plus 9 set, "Hand Lettered Holiday." I added the blue berries to incorporate that color from the inspiration photo.

Using some Stabilo pens I added some dimension to the pine boughs and the berries. It's hard to see here, but the red berries have a coating of Nuvo shimmer on them. I'm curious to see how others have used this inspiration piece. You can check it out right here, as well.

Headin' Home

I've always loved the images of little red cars (or trucks) with a Christmas tree on top. Last year, I acquired two different versions of the little car with a tree. When I saw the AAA Cards Challenge "On the Move," I knew I wanted to play along. Then The Card Concept showed up with a great photo challenge with a pillow with, you guessed it, a little red car with a Christmas tree on top. Then I saw the CAS(e) This Sketch this week, and I thought I could turn the sketch on its side, and come up with a CAS card for all three challenges.

So here it is---a card for three challenges, so unusual for me.

Simon Says "Fog" cardbase, PTI True Black and Weathervane, and a strip of bright yellow from the scrap bin. The stamps are from a tiny Hero Arts set by Kelly Purkey, and the card was bumped out with dimensional tape on a Simon Says "Stitched Circle" die cut. The little car was colored with Copic markers.

Pretty quick and easy, but fun!

CAS Watercolour Challenge

The CAS Watercolour Challenge has been on my to-do list since the day they posted it. It took me until the very last day of the challenge to get the card made.

I wanted the Essentials by Ellen "Mondo Holly" from the moment I saw it, but waited until there was a sale. I knew it was just waiting to be watercolored. 

I got out my Daniel Smith watercolors for this since I wanted to mix the right greens and reds. They are lovely watercolors, and I should keep them on my desk! 

Fussy cutting the holly on watercolor paper took awhile, but it's such a large image, that seemed like the best alternative. Once that was done, I looked around for a base, and found the Papertrey Ink "Scallop Stackers-Small" which I had never used before. I layered it onto a Pure Poppy top-folded card, after stamping the sentiment which is from the same stamp set.

Last, I added some Nuvo shimmer to the berries, and a few Rainstones from Papertrey Ink. I think this might be the first Christmas card I've completed, although I have multiple in the works. I don't need nearly as many this year, as we had photo cards printed for family and friends who know our family. They came yesterday, and I am really pleased with them.