random reflections

Snowflakes

Despite the fact that we've had more rain than snow in the last week, I chose snowflakes for three birthday cards I needed to make and get in the mail this month. The first two are variations on a theme. 

Both the cards and the snowflake dies were cut from Papertrey Ink's Fresh Snow Linen cardstock which has a beautiful, if subtle, texture, and both feature the same sentiment from an old favorite Papertrey set, Winter Hills.

Both the smaller snowflake (Simon Says' Lea) and the larger snowflake (Simon Says' Marie) were die cut three times and stacked for some dimension. The sentiment was embossed in silver on a Pink Fresh Studio Basic Label Frame die cut. The embossing is better seen in close-up:

I'm entering the second of these cards in the CAS on Friday challenge: "Winter."

The second design was created with the help of my daughter who received a Cricut Maker for Christmas. For someone who showed very little interest in crafting at a younger age, she's become quite the maker herself. First she took on woodworking, and has a wonderful woodworking shop in her basement. She built her desk for her church office, and has rescued and refinished a number of pieces of furniture. Then she took up quilting, and has created some gorgeous quilts for her children as well as for charity. And then, first with a Cameo, and now the Cricut Maker, is creating all kinds of wonderful projects for her church as well as for her family. While we were there, she was playing around with some woodgrain paper and die cut a beautiful snowflake. I remarked that it would make a beautiful card if it were smaller, and soon I had this snowflake in my hand.

I layered it on a piece of kraft cardstock cut with a Stitched Square die by Simon Says, and backed that with some fun foam for dimension. I didn't want to obscure any more of the snowflake than necessary with a sentiment so embossed the sentiment from The Greetery, Sentiment Suite: Birthday on a banner with the coordinating die. You can see the texture in the woodgrain paper here as well.

This is the perfect entry for the Seize the Birthday Challenge on now: Layer It!

 

 

The Card Concept: Time To Celebrate

It's amazing how quickly the days fly by the first week we're home trying to get unpacked, "undecorated," and to get back into some semblance of normal routines. I can check off "unpacked," but not quite yet the other two. I do expect by the end of the weekend that we'll have put away all the Christmas decorations. I have to admit, however, that I will miss them--particularly the tree and the lighted greens on the mantle. 

All of a sudden, I realized after days of posting nearly every day, it's been several since I got a blog post written. I do have a card for The Card Concept challenge: Time To Celebrate. I was inspired by the metallic colors in the photo as well as some of the neutral colors. 

Since I needed a masculine card I decided to emboss and stamp the design, from Papertrey Ink's Sending You Comfort, on kraft card stock. I stamped it in navy blue, and then embossed the leaves with bronze embossing powder. The sentiment from Papertrey's Penned Elegance is also stamped in navy. Once again, I'd categorize this as a Clean and Simple card--lots of empty space, one layer, and easy to recreate.

It's impossible to see in the photo above, but I trimmed off a bit of the front of the card, and layered some navy blue cardstock on the inside edge. 

This photo also shows the beautiful shine of the copper embossing powder. 

There's been only a bit a crafting done as I'm working on the assignments for Sandy Allnock's Colored Pencil Jumpstart class that Tracy gifted me for Christmas. I'm learning a lot, but it's not going quickly!

Merry Christmas and Many Cards

The truth is I've been enjoying the holiday too much to blog. I've spent a lot of time in my craft room and the Christmas cards have all been sent, and most have arrived. I thought I'd do a mass blog post to share some of my favorites and to enter them in a few challenges. First off a new to me challenge called Day of the Month. This month's challenge is Poinsettia.

Although I posted a couple of cards earlier featuring the Altenew "Modern Poinsettia," this one is my favorite and I'll be entering it in the Poinsettia challenge as well as The Christmas Kickstart Challenge.

I found both of these challenges through Michele Ferguson's blog. I've been following her for awhile now, and was lucky enough to have coffee with her when she was in Rochester recently. 

Here's another variation:

The Altenew "Modern Poinsettia" turned out to be one of my favorite new stamps this year. One of my favorite new dies was My Favorite Things "Joyful Wreath." I made several variations of this card:

I had a chance to craft with two friends in November, and borrowed a couple of stamps from one of them. It's an older (now retired) set from Waltzing Mouse, but I don't recall the actual name of the stamp set. There were several images, but I chose two--a bird and a reindeer.

Snowflakes were also a theme this year:

I'm entering this one in the CAS on Friday challenge: Christmas.

Finally a group of cards made with Ink to Paper's "Modern Gift Tag" set. It seemed like I waited forever to get this set of dies, but luckily, I was able to borrow a friend's set while I waited or most of these cards wouldn't have made it to the post office in time.

My favorite of the bunch is this wreath which combines the MFT's wreath with the die cuts from Modern Tag. I'm entering this is The Flower Challenge where the challenge is to Use a Die.

We celebrated Christmas with Matt, Betsy, the girls, and Betsy's family last night. On Christmas night, they'll be back for the early part of the Walker family Christmas. We'll have dinner too late for the little girls, but there will still be seventeen of us gathered around two tables. Best wishes for a wonderful holiday! 

 

Addicted to CAS: Blessed/Blessing

I've got a couple of cards for the Addicted to CAS challenge: Blessed/Blessing.

I'm truly down to the wire getting this challenge posted although I made the cards days ago. There are two cards with very subtle differences in color and in embellishment.

The sentiment and the die cut letters are from Ink to Paper's "Season of Joy" set. The gorgeous snowflake is one from My Favorite Things set of dies, "Stylish Snowflakes," cut from some very glittery paper I picked up in Milwaukee awhile ago.

The second version is nearly the same, but a slightly different color of blue cardstock and a larger embellishment as well as blue metallic die cut letters.

I'm also linking this up with Simon Says Work It Wednesday where the challenge is "Ho, Ho, Holidays."

 

 

JOY

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S. I hope it is a joyful holiday for you and your family! I have a joy-filled card to share today for the Addicted to CAS Challenge which is appropriately: 

As soon as I saw the challenge I knew just what stamp set would be perfect: "Season of Joy" by Ink to Paper.

I love this beautiful shade of red cardstock which I picked up at the Gina K shop in Wisconsin when we were visiting Sarah in October.  Everything on this card came from the same set with accompanying dies. The sentiment was embossed in gold, and the letters for JOY were die cut from gold paper that is backed with adhesive. 

The wreath was stamped with three shades of Pinkfresh Studio inks with details added from Polychromos colored pencils. The final touch was to add some tiny red pearls from A Muse that have been in my stash for years. I loved them so much I bought multiple packages when it appeared they would be discontinued. I still have plenty, even though I use them frequently.

We'll be off later this afternoon to Tracy's sister's for the holiday meal. I'm the pie lady, and have three offerings: pumpkin, apple caramel crunch, and a red pear galette. The last two are new recipes, and let's hope they meet with approval.

Cards for Challenges

I have two cards to share today for four challenges. The first is a birthday card I gave to a friend last week. It's being linked to Addicted to CAS where the challenge is "Birthday."

My friend's birthday isn't until next week, but because of the holiday, we celebrated at lunch last Friday. I chose a stamp from Pretty Pink Posh I haven't used often, "Autumn Wreath."

Because I embossed the wreath in gold before coloring it, I used my Tomboy markers to color the image. I hadn't used those in the longest time, and I was quite pleased with the amount of shading I could get. I'm so used to Copics, but have read repeatedly that embossing powder can ruin the tips of the markers. They're too expensive to take a chance. 

After coloring it, I stuck it in my MISTI to emboss the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Birthday Basics," and then die cut the panel with Simon Says "Stitched Rectangles."

Lastly, I adhered the panel to a card made from Papertrey Ink's Canyon Clay cardstock.

The next card is a Christmas card for three challenges. First is AAA Cards which calls for "One Image and Optional Shimmer." I have both.

The second challenge for this card is at CAS on Friday where the challenge is to use a frame.

And finally, the brand new challenge at Time Out: Celebrations, with an optional twist of making a one layer card. I'm not sure if the addition of the frame kills the one layer requirement, but it definitely fits the Celebration theme.

 

My card features the beautiful "Modern Poinsettia" from Altenew. I previously colored it with colored pencils, but this time created two cards using Copic markers. 

As before these were images I had stamped at Altenew's Meet and Greet in Syracuse in August. This time they were stamped on panels so I didn't have to worry about the Copics bleeding through to the back. After coloring the images I masked the poinsettia and splattered some metallic gold paint on the panel. It still needed something, and I remembered the Altenew "Fine Frames Cover Die." 

I die cut the frames from gold metallic paper which has an adhesive back which turned out to be pretty easy to get on the card. You can see the shimmer a bit better in this photo.

I've been busy tackling the Christmas cards, but still have a ways to go! 

CASology Appreciate: Take Two

I have another entry to the CASology challenge: Appreciate.

When I set out to create this card, I really didn't have anything in mind. I started with a Paper Source A4 card and set out to emboss the Rectangle Peek-a-Boo Window die by My Favorite Things. I wasn't paying good attention and ended up die cutting the window instead of embossing it.

In the end, I like it a lot better so for once, the error was in my favor. The note is for a male friend so I put a layer of Simon Says Fog cardstock behind the window. I had already colored the sprig of leaves from Altenew's Weekend Doodles in shades of gray so tucked them into the corner of the window. The sentiment is from Simon Says "Tiny Words" embossed in white on black cardstock. When I bought that set of sentiments, I embossed all of them at once on black cardstock and trimmed them out. They're in a box along with sentiments from two other sets. It's easy to look through them and find an appropriate sentiment for a card.

It's my favorite style---CAS---and a design I will surely use again.

 

A One Layer Card

Truthfully, it's rare that I make a one layer card. In August, a friend and I attended a "Meet and Greet" hosted by the Altenew Stamp Company. They're based in Syracuse, NY so it was an easy trip to make from Rochester. Quite a few of the participants had drive a long ways. I didn't get any great photos of the event where we got to play with the September release ahead of time, and had a chance to meet quite a few of Altenew's design team as well as Jennifer McGuire who happened to be visiting.

I stamped quite a few panels that afternoon, and several cards and brought most of them home to color. Here's a card I posted earlier that was created at the same event. In this case I stamped on a panel and added it to a card later. I particularly liked one of their new Christmas stamps called "Modern Poinsettia" and stamped it numerous times. (I've since purchased the stamp, so you'll be seeing more of it.) One of those was on plain white card. I'm not sure what kind of card it is, or if it's Copic friendly. I also knew that if I colored it with Copics, it would bleed through to the back of the card front, so I pulled out my Polychromos pencils to work on it. I'm asking Santa for an online class using colored pencils for Christmas as I need a lot of practice with them. Nonetheless, I'm happy enough with this card to enter it in two challenges. First Less is More where the challenge is a one layer card with winter flora.

CAS on Friday's challenge is also for a one layer card:

The card itself is very simple: one stamped image and the sentiment, both from Altenew's "Modern Poinsettia.

I used three variations of pink and red pencils with some green for the centers and highlights as well as some purple highlights.

I did add a tiny dot of white gel pen to each of the berries as well as outlining the berries in a fine line pen. 

If you follow me on a regular basis, you'll be wondering why I'm all of a sudden posting so frequently. I had rather invasive oral surgery last Friday, and was told to "lay low" for a few days since it involved general anethesia. Now I'm feeling much better and have had more time since I'm not yet back to my usual volunteering or social schedule. I've been making some Christmas cards and have quite a few birthdays later this month. In addition, I just figured out that I've done nine photo walks that I never posted, and have some travel photos to share from our road trip in Washington and Oregon. The blog is likely to be busy for a few weeks!

AAA Cards & Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

When I saw the challenge at AAA Cards for Maximum White Space, I had an idea for a Christmas card.

Now, white space does not have to be white, and in this case it's navy blue. Photographing the card turned out to be a monumental challenge. It's so dark and dreary here that finding the right light was nearly impossible. 

I trimmed a piece of navy cardstock to 5 X 3 3/4 and embossed the star in Rose Gold from a set called "Totally Happy." Somehow (like the light) I can't figure out who the manufactures the set. The sentiment is from an older Simon Says Christmas set, "Ornaments."

I popped the panel up with a piece of fun foam before adding it to a navy card. Maximum white space equals Clean and Simple, for sure. Also quick--except for trying to get a photograph! 

I'm adding this to the huge gallery of cards at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

 

Time Out Challenge

I have a "just because" card for the current Time Out Challenge:

I made this card for my granddaughter so she would receive a cards when I sent a congratulatory card to her brother upon passing a karate test.

The white panel was embossed with Papertrey Ink's "Simple Strips" Impression plate. I cut it down so there would be a border of the Hawaiian Shores card on each side, and then die cut three small circles with a Spellbinders circle die. The little owls from Clearly Besotted's "You're a Hoot," were a prize I won on a blog contest quite awhile ago. I colored them with Copics and die cut them out to peek through the circles. 

The sentiment from Reverse Confetti's "So Many Sentiments" was embossed in white on black cardstock and trimmed down. Both it and the white panel were attached with dimensional tape. 

It's very, very windy here, but so far no power outages. Halloween was almost a wash-out. We got just a few trick or treaters in the brief span when there was no rain, and a few die-hards after it starting raining again. Sarah said the other day that her memories of Halloween growing up were that they were cold and snowy! I do remember a couple where we had snow, but more of them were simply cold. Last night, however, it was in the 60's.