random reflections

Just Add Ink

There is no end to the number of card challenges on the internet, and I've discovered a new one to me. The usual route to finding a new challenge is by reading blogs of other card makers. All of a sudden an interesting challenge site pops up. I usually scroll through a few of the challenges to see what I think, and then I add it to my list. I love the name of this one:  Just Add Ink! And this round that's one of three elements you can use: Stamps, Ink, and Paper. No die cuts (that's a hard one for me,) no embellishments (not so hard.) 

This card was created with one of the beautiful silhouette stamps in a Gina K kit I purchased this summer. Her kits are loaded with product and are an excellent value. The quality is top-notch, too. This is the only kit of hers I have at the moment, but her most recent one is on its way to me. Once it gets here, you'll be seeing lots of it!

I ink blended the background on a piece of white Bristol cardstock, using the Taylored Expression "Rectangle Mask." Then I stamped the silhouette from "Natural Silhouettes" in black ink. My new favorite for silhouettes and sentiments is Altenew's Obsidian pigment ink. It gives a great impression with the first stamping. 

The sentiment is also from "Natural Silhouettes," and I overlapped it a bit on the bottom of the ink blending. A narrow black cardstock frame on a Stamp Market Fuschia card base finished it up.

Two Cards---and some Challenges

I frequently see people post cards for multiple challenges, and marvel that they can combine so many different prompts. The most I've ever done is two, but today I have two cards---one for four challenges, and another for two.

I'll start with the fall-themed card that I created, then dismantled, after taking a photograph and realizing some things needed to be fixed! I'm entering it in the Color Throwdown Challenge, and The Card Concept. For both cards, the colors were the main inspiration, and for The Card Concept--also the theme of "Give Thanks." This card falls under the definition of CAS at The Card Concept.

The design began when I was looking through the clear envelopes where I store previously die cut/stamped/embossed pieces. I sort them by kind or by stamp set. I found this kraft background that had been embossed with a Time Holtz Alterations embossing folder. I thought it would make a good background for a fall card. Then I found the leaves that I had stamped and die cut a year ago when I was crafting with a friend. The leaves and the card base tick off three of the Color Throwdown Challenge. The narrow brown frame ticks off the fourth color, although kraft falls in the brown category as well. All the stamped images are from Papertrey Ink's "Forest Floor: Autumn."

 

The next card is another Christmas card, headed for four challenges: CAS on Friday--Christmas (no challenge image for this site,) CAS Mix-up -- Watercolor and Off the Edge, Christmas Kickstart--Festive Florals, and The Flower Challenge-Use a Sentiment. It's another card featuring a poinsettia.This one was one of last year's favorite purchases, and I've already used it this year a few times.

I started with a bright red card base using Gina K's "Cherry Kisses." Having almost ruined a card with splatters awhile ago, I splattered the card front with metallic gold paint before I did anything else. I gold embossed the beautiful poinsettia (Altenew's "Modern Poinsettia") and then watercolored it with Zig Clean Color Markers. 

It's easier to see the beautiful gold embossing here. I added a strip of gold metallic paper and a thin black border behind the poinsettia. The greeting is from Simon Says "Holiday Greetings: Mix 1" which is quickly becoming a favorite sentiment. I love the narrow gold border around the greeting. The final touch was to add some gold metallic dots to the center of the flower.

 

A Christmas Floral

I've been busy keeping myself distracted from the election news by creating Christmas cards, and I've put a serious dent in the number I need. I won't share some of them until they're in the mail, but I have one to share today for two challenges: the Christmas Kickstart Challenge where the challenge is Festive Florals, and The Flower Challenge where the prompt is Use A Sentiment.

Over the last couple of years, I've added some poinsettia stamps to my collection. This year's purchase was from Waffleflower ("Poinsettia"), and I've used it for several cards. This is one of my favorites, so far.

It's a bit of an odd angle to the photo, but I wanted the gold embossed sentiment to shine--although the poinsettia is clearly the star for these two challenges. I love the gold and red against the black background. The sentiment was gold embossed on black cardstock and die cut using Ellen Huston's "Essential Rectangles." Those dies also cut a narrow frame, so I die cut it again in gold and adhered the gold frame around the sentiment.

I die cut another piece of black cardstock and then added the sentiment piece to that. That was all added to a Pure Poppy card base. The poinsettia was also gold embossed and colored with Copic markers. It's attached to the card with foam adhesive which gives it a bit of dimension. The sentiment is from Simon Says "Holiday Greetings: Mix 1" which I've been pulling out for multiple cards. 

We're enjoying a streak of unusually warm and sunny weather for Rochester in November. It's been near 70° the last two days, and more of the same is forecast for the next four days! It's much appreciated. Yesterday I went for a long walk through Highland Park. Today I met a friend for another walk in Genesee Valley Park and a picnic lunch in the park afterwards---socially distanced for lunch, masks for the walk. COVID has raised its ugly head here again after months of one of the lowest rates in the country. Halloween parties and indoor gatherings seem to be the culprit. Aside from close family, we keep to outside venues if we want to see friends. It's one of the reasons I'm so happy to see this warm weather. 

 

 

Halloween Recap

Halloween festivities were, of course, somewhat altered this year during the pandemic. We spent parts of two Saturdays with our granddaughters preparing for Halloween and checking in on them before they headed off to a family party at Betsy's dad's. We were invited, but decided to pass this year. We were, however, delighted to see the girls in costume and spend some time with them in the morning. 

As usual, we made cookies. This was the first year that Maddy (age 4) joined Skylar (9) and Ella (almost 6). She took to rolling out dough and cutting out cookies just like her older two sisters. They all enjoy the mixing process, but they could pretty much manage the rolling out, cutting out, and placing on the cookie trays without me. Maddy's attention was the first to wane, and ultimately it was just Skylar and me at the end. She was just fine with that!

They all returned for decorating which is Grandpa's specialty.

Matt and Betsy joined us for pizza after the cookie making party, but by then I'd put away the phone for photos!

Saturday we headed to their house to check out the girls' costumes.

Bat Girl

The Witch

The Rainbow Unicorn

Matt and Skylar had the dining room table covered with pumpkins that they were carving. It's Matt's specialty, and Skylar carved one of her own this year. 

Betsy was carving sweet peppers as holders for carrot and celery sticks for the party at her dad's. She had plans for banana ghosts and some kind of Halloween hot dog as well. I think she was right that the girls wouldn't miss trick or treating in the least. They were as happy as could be.

Late in the afternoon, I got out for a walk after several days of being housebound by cold rain. Walking by Highland Park, I was surprised to see so much color remaining.

Finally, I have one last Halloween card to share. This one went off to Hannah in Wisconsin. They were also celebrating with their "bubble" family, combining a birthday for their friend with a costume party. 

This is probably my favorite of this year's Halloween cards. For one, it's been a favorite stamp set since it was issued many years ago---the "Friendship Jar Fillers: Autumn" by Papertrey Ink. I don't think I've ever turned one of the jars into a shaker before. Love the color combination. I found just two sheets of Simon Says "Royal Velvet" cardstock, and I used every bit of both sheets before the Halloween cards were finished. 

The star-studded cover plate, also from Papertrey Ink, is no longer available, and I have no idea what it's called. I wasn't as careful in the "old" days to label all my products. The sentiment is from Corner Adorner: August, also Papertrey.

Tomorrow is Election Day here. It's doubtful that we'll have a firm answer for the winner. My prayer is that there will be no violence during or afterwards. It's so strange to say that; it's never even been a consideration in all the elections I've participated in. Whatever the outcome, we need to find a way to heal the terrible divisions in this country. It won't be an easy task.

Color Hues #5

It's time for the fifth Color Hues Challenge, and the colors this week are:

This was a fun card to create. I knew what I wanted to do from the outset, and it turned out pretty much as I hoped.

I started by dry embossing pieces of Harvest Gold and Classic Kraft cardstock with the Taylored Expression's embossing folder, "Dotted Lattice." Then I die cut the "Arboscello Tree" by Memory Box from Bristol paper and ink blended it with the coordinating inks from Papertrey Ink.

After piecing the two embossed panels together and adhering the tree in the center, I added the sentiment from The Greetery's "Sentiment Suite: Thanks." I added dimensional tape to both the banner ("Sentiment Suite) and the embossed panel. The cream card base is 5X7. I don't often make that size card, but the die cut tree determined the final size of the card.

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by our wonderful Guest Designer, JoAnn, and my awesome Design Team members.