Plant Trio by Gina K - Patterned Paper December Challenge

I have a friend who is coming up on one of those “milestone” birthdays.  I don’t like to overemphazise such things, BUT, as I was going through my stamps, I saw this Plant Trio set with a saying that I thought was very appropriate for the occasion.

I am also announcing Crafty Hazelnut’s December Patterned Paper challenge!  Anything Goes so long as you use some patterned paper from your stash on your project!  

I colored this image with my Derwent Coloursoft Pencils.  I initially planned on using a marker to highlight the word, “long,” however, I sortof unevenly inked up that sentiment, so it was already bolder.  It works!  I also used some coordinating paper on the inside of the card.

Supplies: Gina K Plant Trio stamp duo, Versafine Olympia Green ink, Happy Birthday from Anita’s Stamps, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Derwent Coloursoft Pencils, LoveNicole Aquarelle 6x6 Patterned Paper pad, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangle dies.

Thanks for stopping by!

Romance at the Holidays Handmade Card - Couple Under the Light Post

Today, I am stretching my stash by using a non-Christmas stamp to make a special & romantic holiday card.  

I stamped the Couple Under the Light Post stamp on some snowy patterned paper.  I decorated the lamp post with a little bow, and then added glossy accents to the lamp and stuck a heart rhinestone right inside.  Let me show you the red frame so you can see how I made it.

I embossed the red cardstock, then added silver ink directly to the paper.  I like to do this to resemble a fancy picture frame.  

The “Be Merry” sentiment was white heat embossed.  This comes from the Sentiment Set 1.  I just thought this worked perfectly to give to someone very special this Christmas!

I really think I have found my go-to set for romantic cards!  I can see myself changing up the background to use this scene stamp for a lovely engagement card in any season.  I just love the possibilities here!

Other supplies: Theresa Collins Christmas Home 6x6 paper pad, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Gina K Designs red cardstock, Brilliance Platinum Planet ink, Recollections Detail White Embossing powder, Elizabeth Crafts Embossing Folder

As always, I truly appreciate your comments and your visit today.  Happy Stamping!

Silver & White Handmade Christmas card

This is my final week guest designing for SplitCoastStampers Color Challenge. I have had an amazing time and am very thankful for the opportunity.

This last week of November is a different color combo, you can choose from either Gold and White OR Silver and White.  I really thought I would want to use gold, but as I went along, I changed over to silver.  The optional theme is sparkle, and as you can see, I did add it!

This card has sparkle and shine, so it was hard to photograph. The chevron layer is acetate printed with silver dots.  In some of the photos it looks black, but it is silver AND it is layered over white lumiere paper for extra subtle sparkle.

 I heat embossed my trees in silver, die cut out a portion of the image and added the glitter ribbon and brad at the bottom.



Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Silhouette Pines, Versamark Ink, Recollections Silver detail embossing powder, WeRMemoryKeepers Acetate 6x6 pad, American Crafts Glitter ribbon, brad is My Mind’s Eye, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangle dies.

I would also like to enter ScrappyMo’s Rudolph Days challenge and the DiesRUs Snow Challenge.

Clean & Simple Emoji Handmade Card

Hello and I hope all my American stamping friends had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.  As I was addressing Thanksgiving cards to send out to family earlier this week, I stamped the message, “Smiles Across the Miles” on the outside of the envelopes.  I had a thought for using that message on a card.

I have this small set of emoji dies from Spellbinders and I thought it would be cute to pair the sentiment with these!  I also added the bridge from a Mama Elephant set just so the card wouldn’t be too plain.  I will be sending this off to a tween boy.  It is always such a relief to have the cards finished for this age of boys!  You never know what they will like, but I am sure this will work.

(A quick photo of the inside.)

Supplies: Gina K Designs Happy Mail Stamp Set, Mama Elephant Sightseeing stamp set, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Spellbinders Emoji set, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles dies.

I got to use up a bunch of scraps of yellow and black cardstock with these tiny dies, so I would love to enter Pixie’s Crafty Workshop’s Snippets Playground challenge.

Stamptangle Stars & a fun Color Combo

Hello!  I am on my third week guest-designing for the Color Challenge at SplitCoastStampers!  This week, there are 4 colors.  Hot Pink, Green, Kraft and the addition of Gold!  The dessert is to color something, but I skipped that this week.

I heat embossed my stars with gold powder and trimmed them out.  I added some Nuvo glitter drops to the centers. Then I used an embossing folder on a scrap of lumiere paper for the background.  The shimmer is really pretty in real life.  Of course, I spent a lot of time moving the stars around, but eventually decided on an arrangment and glued everything down.

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber stamps Stamptangle Stars, large and small, Versamark Ink, Recollections Detail Gold embossing powder, Sizzix Swirl Embossing folder, Kraft and Lumiere papers from my stash, Gina K Passionate Pink and Christmas Pine cardstocks, Nuvo Crystal drops in Ruby Slippers, Emerald City and Golden Sunset.

Thanks for your kind visit today.  Please leave a comment so I can return the favor!

Snowy Snowman Scene

Hello! I have another snowman card to share today. I’m not sure why, but I am really in the mood for using them on cards.  This is a set that I have played with before, but never used on a card.

I colored him with pencils with a touch of white gel pen for detail.  I again added white flocking to the hat!  For the background, I used a paint spatter stamp from Just for Fun and some Distress Oxide ink.  Then I sponged regular distress ink around too.  

This set has nice sayings for the inside and out, so I will share the inside too.

Supplies:  Inky Antics Decorating Snowman clear set, Versafine Black ink, Derwent Coloursoft Pencils, Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Spatter Background stamp, Distress Oxide Salty Ocean ink, Distress Tumbled Glass ink, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles dies, Stickles Glitter Glue, cardstock from my stash.

I would love to enter these challenges:

Merry Monday Outdoor Activities (Decorating!)

Dies R Us Challenge - Snow
ModSquad challenge - Merry and Bright
SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge blog - It’s a Stitch Up!

As always, I want to thank you for visiting my blog today.  And a special double thanks for those of you who subscribe and leave comments!  It is a real pleasure to have you here!

Chickadee Card (and a story about a much bigger bird)

In addition to stamping, I like to watch birds. 

 The other day, as I was sitting by my the window working on some cards, I saw five raptors circling quite low.  I knew they were mostly vultures, but suddenly, another bird caught my eye.  It was a Bald Eagle, so I rushed outside to take a better look.  It did circle around a few times so we could get a good look, even without binoculars.  What luck!  

So naturally, with these two interests, I like to have some bird stamps in my collection, and I use them quite a bit!

Let me explain how I did the background.  First, I stenciled three colors of Distress Inks onto regular white cardstock.  With the stencil still in place, I then spread flexible modeling paste over top of the inking.  After that, I removed the stencil.  As it dries, it gives the look that I colored the pastes, but this method is SO much simpler! 

Supplies:  Just for Fun Rubber stamps Stamptangle Chickadee stamp, Happy Birthday sentiment, Gina K Designs Dark Chocolate ink, Spellbinders Labels 18 die, Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage and Tea Dye, Heidi Swapp Stencil, Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste, cardstocks from my stash.

I thank you for visiting today, and double thanks if you leave a comment!  I hope you have time for stamping today!

Color Challenge Christmas Cards

Hello everyone! I am back for my second Tuesday guest designing for SplitCoastStampers Color Challenge.   This week, Mary is the host and she chose Real Red, Cucumber Crush and Marina Mist. (Translation is Red, Green and Blue).  I hope I was able to get a close match for the Cucumber Crush - I really dug through my papers!  The optional theme is Christmas and I did go with it for both of my cards!

My first card is SUPER clean and simple.  I was inspired by a design on Pinterest, but I changed it up to make it my own.  It felt good to use the tiny star die in my set!

My second card is my favorite because I do adore this country Snowman stamp.  The birds were perfect because I could use them to include the blue.  I colored this with alcohol markers.

Supplies: October Afternoon Boughs and Berries Stamp set, Deep Red Stamps Snowman with Birds, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Memento Black ink, Spectrum Noir and Copic markers, Gina Marie X stitched rectangle dies, DieNamics Pierced Square dies, Darice star dies, American Crafts Let it Snow patterned paper, Sizzix embossing folder.

I know everyone is busy so I really appreciate your visit today!

Snowmen!!!!!!

I have been wanting a new snowman stamp, and I recently found the cutest set!  I stamped out a bunch of these and colored them this weekend. Then I paired them up to make a card and a tag.  Oh what fun!

These are the cheaper acrylic stamp material and I always get great results with these using my Versafine ink.  Because I used that ink, I used my Prismacolor pencils and the pencil blender for coloring.

I did add some close up photos here because I hope you can see that I added some FLOCKING to the mittens and hat.  I know flocking has been out of style for ages, but I really think the white in my stash is well-used with Christmas cards. (I just need to be patient as the glue dries!)

Supplies: Art Impressions Warm Wishes Stamp and die set, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Prismacolor pencils, EK Success flocking, Heidi Swap Marquee Love and Pebbles Home for Christmas patterned papers, Stickles glitter glue, Sixxiz Tim Holtz Tag die, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles dies

I would love to play along with Art Impressions Tag It Challenge, Cute Card Thursday Sparkles Challenge and SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge blog Snow White challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Challenge - Fall Cards!

I was really happy to be asked to be a Guest Designer for the SplitCoastStampers Color challenge for November.  There is a new challenge every Tuesday.  The colors today are “crushed curry, cajun craze, cherry cobbler“ which are Stampin Up colors, but I used the closest I had in my stash to go with Burnt Orange, Yellow and Red.  The “dessert” for the challenge - an optional theme - is “gratitude.”  

For my first card, I stamped a pretty leaf and cut it out and then layered it with colored cardstocks.

The inside is where I added the gratitude twist.  I haven’t used these stamps for a long time.  I do like this sentiment with an image built in!

For the second card, I got out my Distress Inks and did a lot of generation stamping.  

Supplies:  Card One - Inkakinkado Harvest Expressions and Mindscape Fall stamp sets, Technique Tuesday Little Sentiments Stamp set, Versafine Onyx Black, Crimsom Red, Satin Red, Cardstock from stash, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles, Darice Woodgrain Embossing Folder; Card Two - Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Flora and Fauna Sheet, Distress Ink Dried Marigold, Faded Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Inkakinkado Harvest Expressions, Versafine black ink, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles, Spellbinders Foliage dies.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I would love to enter these projects in SimonSaysStamp’s Monday Challenge “Thanks/Thanksgiving.”

Just for Fun’s November Challenge!

I hope to see you enter a project over at Just for Fun Rubber Stamp’s November challenge.  You do not need to use JFF stamps to enter, and there will be a random prize draw!  

The theme is Thanksgiving with sub themes of Travel and Family!  You can interpret that whichever way you want!

Here is my card using Cluster of Stalks background stamp and the cute Pumpkin Patch stamp!  I used copper embossing powder with the background stamp to add warmth and colored the pumpkins with alcohol markers.

Hope you have a great day!