Fun Birthday Card for a kid!

Hello and I hope you are enjoying the last couple days of the year!  We have been hit with several illnesses during the holidays, so we are taking it easy. I am hoping everyone will be set to go back to work and school in the New Year.

Here is a card that I made for a little boy last month. 

I colored the image a while ago with alcohol markers and then added glitter all over with my wink of stella pen.  

Knowing a card is for a child allowed me to use some fun embellishments like these glitter foam stars and the glittery enamel dots. This card did go over well - he thought it was really fun.  

Supplies:  Art Impressions Deep Breath Birthday stamp set, Memento black inks, Specturm Noir markers, Wink of Stella glitter pen, My Mind's Eye Hootenanny 6x6 paper pad, Avery Elle Wonky rectangles dies, embellishments from my stash

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Let's Send More Cards! (Pre-January 2017 Obscure Holiday Planning)

I am posting something different today.  I know I love making cards, but I don't always get them actually sent out.  I thought I would think of fun new occasions to send friends a family a little happy mail!

Cards don't need to just be about birthdays (although updating my birthday calendar is definitely going to be on my resolution list! Actually, finding it would be great.)

Here are some occasions in the next month that are appropriate for cardmaking and sending a card to a friend or family member:

January - Hot Tea Month

January 5 - National Bird day

(I have these birds already colored in my sketchbook, I wonder if I should get them made into cards soon?)

January 8 - Bubble Bath day

January 10 - Houseplant Appreciation day

January 14 - Dress up your pet day

January 20 - Penguin Awareness day

January 23 - National Pie day AND National Handwriting Day

OR find more obscure holidays here.

I hope this inspires you to send an extra card to two this next month!  Which of your facebook friends would be the most surprised to get snailmail rather than a PM.

Let me know in the comments what you might send. Links to your card are welcome, too!

Butterfly and Flowers Card

Edited to add: 12/28/16. I was so pleased that my card was chosen as a Top 3 pick at the ModSquad Challenge blog this week! Thank you!

Recently, I took some time to clean up my craft area, and I decided to make a little pile of the half-done cards so I could complete them. This project is from that pile.

Although it is nearly Christmas, we have now passed the Winter Solstice, so each day is getting a little longer and you can think of Spring!

The butterfly was made from a piece of glossy cardstock done with the mother of pearl technique.  I had also stamped it onto the kraft cardstock before embossing that part, so you can see the antennae.

Supplies: Butterfly stamp is an unknown one, Sentiment is Just for Fun, Archival Ink, Cuttlebug embossing folder, K&Co Susan Winget paper pad

I would love to participate in the ModSquad A Little Bit of Spring challenge and Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes!

I do not think I will be blogging again until after Christmas, so I want to thank you for reading my blog and wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season!  See you again soon!

Jolly Christmas Tree - Mixed Media Wall Hanging

Although I tend to make cards that are CAS or Traditional, I always say that I am willing to try anything and today's post features this!

I think this is a little bit of a kitchen sink project -  I had an idea and I just threw everything into it.  The base is corrugated cardstock from a piece of packaging. I spread whipped spackle and glitter onto it for the base.  

My tree is part of a trio of trees that I colored with alcohol markers and trimmed out just one.  I added a generous amount of stickles to the tree and the tag.

I then just went to town adding embellishments. The one that is a little special is that little gift.  It is a self adhesive epoxy shape that I stuck to some plaid patterned paper and then added a bow.  That was really fun.

Supplies:  Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Stamptangle Trees, Memento ink, Spectrum Noir markers, Stickles Glitter Glue, Tag is from a Pebbles 6x6 paper pad called Home for Christmas, KI Playlist Icicles sticker charms (the hearts), Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio epoxy squares, American Crafts Glitter ribbon and bakers twine, gems etc from my stash, Faber Castell whipped spackle.

I would love to play along with the following challenges!

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Make It Sparkle!
Merry Monday - Holiday Cheer!

Tuesday Throwdown Anything Goes!
Stamps and Stencil Mixed Media Christmas Wishes

THANK YOU for visiting! 

We Three Kings Christmas card - CAS with distress inks

Edited to add (12/20/16) I was so pleased to see my card was listed as a favorite this week at Freshly Made Sketches. Thank you so much for the honor!

Thanks for stopping by today to visit and take a look at this clean and simple Christmas card.

The background was made by sponging distress inks over cardstock. The colors are Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Dusty Concord and Black Soot.  I went an extra step and lightly misted the piece with water.  I used my regular spray bottle, but held it very high above the paper so only the very fine mist hits the paper.  I love the soft look!

I added a tiny star sequin to the stamped image for just the right CAS touch.

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps 3 Wise Men on Camels, Sentiments 3 Unmounted Sheet, Archival Jet Black ink, Neenah solar white cardstock, black cardstock and sequin from my stash, Distress Ink colors: Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Dusty Concord and Black Soot.

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches #267

Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes!

I am glad you visited today!  Come back anytime :)

Holiday Joy & Coffee - handstamped card

It is really cold and windy day and the perfect kind of day to make a second pot of coffee to warm up.  I am playing along with the Winter Coffee Lovers Bloghop -- so much fun!

(Click images to enlarge.)

This card uses quite a bit of stamping.  The background is a stamp set called Ribbons and Rick-Rack that I heat embossed on watercolor paper.  I colored with water-based markers and blended it out with water.  

The other images are from a set called Coffee. The mug was stamped on patterned paper and the beans were stamped on watercolor cardstock and colored with the same waterbased markers, but I did not add any water to those.  

This is only the first or second time I used my Joy diecut! I love the font but was having trouble gettingit to fit on other cards since the font was so large.  I do love it, though!

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Ribbons and Ric Rack stamp set, Coffee Unmounted Sheet, Versamark ink and white embossing powder, Versafine Onyx Black, Tombow waterbased markers, Impression Obsession Joy die, MFT DieNamics pierced square dies.

Thanks so much for coming by my blog!  Have a cup of coffee and stay awhile! Please leave a comment so I know you were here!  

Hand Made Christmas Gift Tags

Yesterday I was organzing some of my craft supplies.  I wanted to keep some of my stamps in this decorative cardboard box that "I didn't use."   Well, when I found it and opened it up, I found about 25 finished Christmas cards! (You might have seen the other day, I thought I was 10 cards short!) That was a happy surprise...and a relief!  

I can't say I am finished sharing Christmas cards (I have a couple finished that I did not share yet), but it is now okay to move on to other things.

Like some Christmas gift tags!

I printed out a sheet of the Power Poppy wreaths with the gift tag sentiments and colored them up.  I used bits from my scrap box and a bunch of dies to complete them. My favorite is the bit of shiny red packaging (it came from a pair of computer headphones my son needed). 

The only wreath I had not shared yet is this wooden frame, so I did try to take a couple photos of just that one. (I apologize for the photo quality, I am short on time.)

I would love the enter the Power Poppy Power and Spark Sweet Treats for You challenge and the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge Gift It!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamped Penguin Christmas card

Another day, another Christmas card.
Except today is apparently National Christmas Card day. Who knew!?

(Remember that post about traveling with my coloring supplies?  Well, I actually did color some of those images and this is one I did with colored pencils.  It was on sketch paper, so what I did was glue it down over top of cardstock before die cutting.  It worked out great.)

The star is the same star I stamped with watercolor crayons the other day, but on red shrink plastic.  The snowflakes are foam glitter shapes meant for kids.  I love them! (Oh, wait!  Shrink plastic is meant for kids too! Lol)

Supplies:  Art Impressions Snow Much Fun stamp set, Archival ink, Derwent Coloursoft pencils, Just For Fun Rubber Stamps Stamptangle Star, small, StazOn ink, red shrink plastic, Elle's Studuo Christmas sentiments, Spellbinders Labels 18, Pebbles Home for Christmas 6x6 paper pad, Recollections craftfoam snowflakes, adhesive gems from my stash.

 I would love to participate in this challenge:

Mojo Monday Sketch 477
National Christmas Card Day @ SimonSaysStamp

Thank you for visiting!

Quick and Easy Candy Cane Card with digi stamp

ETA (12/12/16) I was very excited this morning to see that my card was chosen as the weekly winner this week for Merry Monday's Candy Cane challenge! Thank you so much!

I have to admit that I thought I would be all done with my Christmas crafting by now.  I participate in more than one Christmas card making challenge throughout the year so that I don't have to rush around in December. HOWEVER, when I counted my cards, I was short about 10 (note to self: count the cards earlier!) so I will be sharing more Christmas cards. I hope you aren't sick of them.

This was a digi stamp that was easy to color once I decided what should be white and what should be colored in the candy canes.

I added Wink of Stella to the ribbon.  Easy peasy was my plan for the rest of the card.  I did hand stamp the sentiment on the inside, but it didn't merit taking a photo.

Supplies: Power Poppy Candy Cane digi, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, American Crafts Let it Snow 6x6 paper pad, Spellbinders Labels Four dies, gems from my stash

I would love to participate in the following challenge:

Cards in Envy - Wouldn't that be Sweet

Merry Monday - Candy Canes

Thanks for coming by!  I appreciate your visit so much!

Stamptangle Stars - Stamping with Watercolor crayons

Hello!  Today I am sharing a couple cards for Just for Fun using a technique where you stamp with a watercolor crayon instead of ink.  It is loads of fun and also easy to do!

(I added just a little splatter ot this card.  This stamping is on mixed media paper.)

My watercolor crayons are from Prima and they call them Watersoluble Oil Pastels.  There are plenty of other brands that have a similar product, including gelatos.  (Note that the distress crayons are not supposed to work for this technique.)

First, I colored all over my stamp with the lightest color crayon, and then added the darker two colors randomly.  I then spritzed two or three sprays of water right onto the stamp.

I went ahead and stamped this three times, without reinking or spraying more water on the stamp.  You can see that your look will vary a little based on how much crayon you apply to the stamp and how wet it is.  There is no wrong or right for these amounts - experiment and see what you like.

(This is regular cardstock.)

The great thing about this watercolor technique is that it works well on all the papers I have tried.  Regular cardstock and watercolor paper both work great.  My favorite results are on a Mixed Media paper -- they just seemed a little more vibrant. 

(Here, I used very little splatter.  This is on mixed media paper.)

The stamps I used in these projects are the Stamptangle Star - Large, Stamptangle Star - Small, Have a Wonderful Christmas Sentiment and "Holiday Magic" is from the Sentiments 3 Unmounted Sheet.  Remember, you can choose from wood mount, cling mount or unmounted stamps when you shop at Just for Fun!

Here is a second card style I made with a star from the tutorial.

Don't forget to link your Christmas and Winter projects to the Just for Fun December Challenge!  You do not need to use JFF stamps for these, but if you do, you get an extra entry for the gift certificate drawing!

Thank you for stopping by today!  Hope to see you again soon!

I would love to participate in The Inkspirational Challenge - CAS With Sparkle.

Beautiful Christmas Wreath Cards with digi stamps

(ETA: I was so flattered to see my card featured at the Power Poppy blog's Holiday on Parade post! Thank you so much!)

Hello and I hope your week is off to a good start.  The forecast called for snow last night, but I woke up this morning to just a little rain, so I think that is a blessing for a Monday morning.  I am not nearly ready for Christmas, but there is still a lot of time.

I don't know if you saw my last post, but you may have seen a hint in one of the photos that I had colored up more images, too!  Well, I am sharing two more cards today.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

I colored both digi images with alcohol markers.  My marker collection is growing, but I still have a limited range of colors. I like these small images because just one lighter and one darker color is quite enough to get some pretty shading.  

Again, my paper pad is one of my oldest and most favorite Christmas ones!  I only have a few sheets left.  I have other Christmas paper pads, but none seem as versatile as this one.  I think what I like about this one is that it has so many tiny prints that go with everything.

With CAS cards, I did want to pop up the focal images to create more dimension.

Supplies: Power Poppy Felt Boxwood and Cranberry, Succulents and Baubles Digi stamps, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, My Mind's Eye Christmas Wish 6x6 Paper pad, Sakura Stardust Gel pen, Spellbinders circle dies, MFT Die Namics pierced square dies,  embellishments from my stash.

I added some glittler pen to the highlights in the ornaments.  I do really love how Marcella added that detail so it is easy to color.

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes!
ModSquad Challenge Blog - Holiday Dimension

Thanks for coming by! I really need to start writing out and addressing some of these Christmas cards and getting them out the door!  How about you?

Masculine & Feminine Christmas Wreath with Digi Stamps

Hello! Today I have two cards to share, one is a more masculine version, and the second is feminine colors.  Both were made with the same Digi Stamp I got from Power Poppy.  I have only used Digi Stamps a handful of times, but these were so pretty, I couldn't pass them up.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

I used traditional christmas colors, plaid papers and some old wood veneer embellishments to add to the masculine feel.  I did use plain version of the digi stamp and added my own sentiment with a stamp.

For both cards I used my alcohol markers to color it in.  I colored the images one day and then put them together into cards the next.  The paper pad is one of my favorites and it is almost gone!  

The next card, I wanted to use pinker colors and a more teal color for the leaves. I really like the way it turned out.  For both cards, I did pop up the focal image with foam tape to give the cards more dimension.

I added some glitter gel pen to this one.  It is pretty!

Supplies: Power Poppy Felt Leaves and Fruits Digi stamp, Kaisercraft Christmas Sentiments stamp set, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, My Mind's Eye Christmas Wish 6x6 Paper pad, Sakura Stardust Gel pen, embellishments from my stash.

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Merry Monday #224 Masculine (First card)

Double D Challenges - Traditional Christmas colors (First card)

ModSquad Challenge - Holiday Dimension

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes!

Thanks so much for your kind encouragement by visiting my blog!  I hope you will have time to drop a note here in the comments so I know you stopped by!  Have a great day!

Nutcracker Card - Just for Fun December Challenge Announcement

Just popping in to share a quick card to announce the December Just for Fun Rubber stamps challenge theme!  

Christmas and/or Winter!

I sure hope you will mosey on over to the JFF Blog to see the entire Design Team's inspiration cards for the month.  You will want to link up your creation too so that you will be in the running for the random draw for a gift certificate!

Here is my card for the month - I used the Stamptangle Nutcracker from JFF's latest release. He is such a classic Christmas image, but modernized with the zentangle look.  AND - fun to color with my alcohol markers and then add accents with my white gel pen.

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Stamptangle Nutcracker, Sentiment from Sentiments 3 Unmounted Sheet, Memento black ink, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, Signo white gel pen, Crate Paper Peppermint 6x6 paper pad, snowflake sequins and cardstock from my stash, EK Success snowflake border punch

Thanks for stopping in today!!

Seriously Clean and Simple Stocking Card

I am glad that I am feeling "ready" with Christmas cards this month (thanks to so many Christmas challenges), because as Thanksgiving is over, I haven't even begun to take down fall decor, let alone get out the Christmas stuff!

But I am still having fun doing some Christmas cardmaking.  Here is a really really clean and simple card I made for some challenges.  

Sometimes it is fun to just use a really small image. I used colored pencils on this tiny dollar bin stocking.  I layered up some die cuts to create a fun little focal point.  

Supplies: Stamp is unknown but is a dollar bin acrylic stamp, Elle Studio Cheers sentiment stamp set, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Derwent Coloursoft colored pencils, Darice embossing folder, Cheery Lynn designs Inverted Scalloped circle die, Spellbinders circle dies, Avery Elle Wonky Stitches for the sentiment banner, Distress ink Twisted Citron, Queen and Co Goosebumps gems.

I would LOVE to participate in the following challenges:

Power Poppy Think Pink

November Rudolph Days

A Blog Named Hero Holiday Challenge

Thanks for stopping by! Are you feeling ready for the holidays?

Flowers stamped with paint

Hello!  Just poppin in to share a clean and simple card.  

These flowers are stamped with paint.  I just took my Koi pan watercolors and used a damp brush to pick up a lot of color. I painted it on the rubber stamp and blended between colors.  The trick is not to use too much water.  I even stamped directly on regular cardstock and I was surprised how well that worked!  (I have another card where I used the same technique here, just stamping on watercolor paper instead of regular.)

Supplies: Stamp is unknown, Koi Pan watercolors, Gina K Happy Birthday Circles sentiment, Gina K Wild Wisteria Ink, Darice basketweave embossing folder, Spellbinders circle die.

Thank you for being here!  Have a great day!

Prepping to travel with stamping/coloring supplies

Hello and thank you for coming by my blog. I have something different to share today.  

I am going to be in the car quite a bit this week for the holiday- going to and fro.  Plus, there may be some downtime between holiday gatherings, so I though I would stamp some images to color on the go.  In all the years I have been stamping, I have never done this before! 

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

I got these paper pads for Christmas last year and have not used them much.  I have always liked Bristol paper for stamping and I know they are good for coloring that involves just a little water.  The sketch pad is light weight paper we wouldn't usually use for stamping, but I recently discovered how fun it is to use colored pencils on that paper (it is slightly textured.)

(This is the Bristol pad.)

(The sketch has a spiral and is easier to flip through.)

I stamped a variety of images with archival ink - I know it will work with pencils and watercolor.  Some pages I just stamped one image, but I try to stamp two per page.  I usually do that when coloring so I can use one image for practice and color choices.

My Global Art Materials pencil case holds up to 120 pencils (3 per slot, mine is not full, I will say that the thicker pencils are harder to fit 3 in a slot).  It holds all my pencils (all are by Derwent) - regular Coloursoft, watercolor, Inktense and a few Metallic watercolors. (I hope to get a gift card for Christmas so I can choose a few more colors of the Inktense and Coloursofts, since you can buy individual colors.)

I also am bringing along a few gel pens (white, black, glitter and gold), my waterbrushes (can't find the cap for one!) and my nifty pencil sharpener.  That is a small and neat pile that will fit in my purse or a small tote.

Do you ever travel with your stamping and coloring supplies? I would love to hear what you bring and how you do it!

Thanks again for stopping in!