Merry Mondays #100 -- Christmas Cheer

Whew...it was a busy week, but I am catching up.  Last chance to get my Merry Monday's challenge posted.  And, of course, I had camera issues today.  The sun is shining, but my camera didn't want to cooperate. 

This week's challenge was fun.  I do love the colors Lesley chose.  I knew exactly what stamp and papers I was going to use for this challenge...so that was half the battle done.  My challenge was to find the time to put the card together.  Here is this week's inspiration.

This challenge was so much fun.  I love these colors together.  I used Gina K's "Pure White" card stock, Stampin' Up's "Lucky Limeade" card stock and the pink card stock and designer paper came from Recollections "Christmas" paper pack (thank you, Marcia!).  And some other designer paper from Bella Press "Watermelon Coordinates" paper sampler, which I have had for years.  The stamps I used were DeNami Designs "Christmas Cheer", which I stamped with Memento's "Tuxedo Black" ink and colored the backs of the rectangles with Copics #G82 and RV25.  I then paper pieced the trees and the stars.  I used glossy accents on the stars and "Stardust" stickles on the trees.  I used SU's embossing folders "Pretty Print" and "Decorative Dots" and stamped Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas" in SU's "Lucky Limeade" ink.  So much fun!!!

Thank you for stopping by and check out Merry Monday's challenge for some other beautiful cards!  You'll be glad you did.

In the Woods -- Dynamic Duos Challenge #94

This week's Dynamic Duos Challenge is using More Mustard and Basic Black with an option of dry embossing.

I decided to dig through my stamps this week and pull one I haven't used in awhile and found just the right one for this challenge.

I started out using SU's "Basic Black", "More Mustard" and "Whisper White" card stock.  I dry embossed the "More Mustard" card stock with Tim Holtz "Woodgrain" embossing folder and adhered it to the "Basic Black" card stock.  I inked up the "Birch Tree" from "The Woods" stamp set by Stacy Stamps with "Tuxedo Black" in by Memento and stamped the birch tree three times and off stamped three times.  I sponged "More Mustard" for my background, cut another piece of "Basic Black" card stock and adhered the birch trees to it.  I added a piece of black ribbon and then attached the birch trees to the front of the card and finished the card off with two large black brads and die cut out PTI's "Peace" from "Wonderful Words: Holiday" die set.  I added the word peace as an afterthought.  As I was looking at the card, the trees were reminding me of how much peace I find when walking in the woods and thought it would be a great addition to the card.

Thank you for stopping by and please check out Dynamic Duos for other beautiful cards using More Mustard and Basic Black.

Merry Mondays #99 -- Peace

It's time for another Merry Monday Challenge card.  My Christmas card stash is growing by the week.  It will be so nice not to have to panic come December with having to make 90 cards to get in the mail by Dec. 15 in addition to all the baking, gift-wrapping and other tasks that come with Christmas.    Here is our inspiration picture for this week.  We are to use Brown, Green and Gold in our card with either white or cream.  It took a little while for my creative juices to get going, but here's what I came up with.

I used SU's "Chocolate Chip" and "Always Artichoke" card stock for my base colors and used Gina K's "Pure Ivory" cardstock.  I wanted to have a faint background so I used a music background stamp from Anna Griffin All Night Media #580K21 and stamped it in SU's "Sahara Sand" and off stamped it once and then on the ivory card stock.  I had to do this twice as the background stamp was big enough to cover the whole card.  I then used die cuts to finish my card.  I cut out one of the reindeer from Tim Holtz Alterations "Reindeer Flight" in SU's "Chocolate Chip card stock and put a piece of gold cording around his neck and placed him on the card.  I then cut out three Tim Holtz Alterations "Pine Tree", two in SU's "Always Artichoke" and one in "Chocolate Chip" card stock.  I stacked the three together to give it some depth and cut the trunk off one of the "Always Artichoke" tree which is stacked on top to give my tree the brown trunk and adhered it to my card.  I then used "Peace" from PaperTrey Ink's "Wonderful Words: Holiday Die Collection", which I cut out and embossed with SU's "Gold Embossing powder" and then I went over it with Stickles "Gold Glitter" to make it pop more.  I did struggle with "Peace" quite a bit last night.  At first I used VersaMark and embossing powder on a portion of the card stock and then ran it through the cuttlebug, but couldn't get the card stock out of the "Peace" die cut without ruining it.  After trying this about 4 or 5 times, I then just put white card stock through and then tried to embossed it after I cut it out that took three tries as it was hard to heat emboss it as I had to somehow hold it without touching it or I would loose some embossing powder.  Had I figured out to use the gold stickles right from the start, I wouldn't have tried to burn my fingers and wasted so much gold embossing powder and card stock.  It was frustrating, but comical at the same time. I would have saved myself a good 1-1/2 hours if I just decided to cover "Peace" with the gold stickles from the very start.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the other Merry Monday challenge cards.  They are gorgeous.

Dynamic Duos #93 -- Wonderful Mother

 It's time again for Dynamic Duos Weekly challenge.  This week's challenge is to use Blushing Bride and Sahara Sand.

I have only used Sahara Sand once and didn't really like the color so I wasn't so sure I was going to play along this week.   But I pull the two stamp pads out and left them on my vanity table as I do every week to help me come up with ideas for a card as I am getting ready for work every morning.  I had a few ideas floating around in my head, but it wasn't until this morning that I knew what I was going to do.  I have to give credit to PTI's Make It Monday #154--Color and Texture Tips for One Layered Cards.  I didn't have a chance to play along with them last week, so I thought I would do so this week with the Dynamic Duos challenge.

I used PTI's "Coverplate Harlequin Die" on a white piece of card stock and put the coverplate on another piece of white card stock and sponged over the coverplate with SU's "Blushing Bride" ink for my background effect.  With the "Harlequin Coverplate" still attached to the white card stock that I sponged, I inked up SU's "French Script" with "Sahara Sand" ink and off stamped it once and stamped over the coverplate making sure to press hard enough that the "French Script" came through onto the white card stock.  I stamped the flowering tree from SU's "Thoughts and Prayers" stamp set in "Sahara Sand" and did the same with the "Wonderful Mother" stamp from SU's "Well Scripted" stamp set.  I finished the card off by added "Stardust" stickles as my texture.  I just love the way this card turned out. 

The second card I am showing you was really my first attempt of this card.  I punched out the small flowers with an EK Success punch and added the pearls.  I like it, but after attaching the flowers, I thought it would look better without the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by and please jump over to Dynamic Duos to check out the cards others submitted for this weeks challenge.   There are some really cool cards posted. 

Festive Friday #26 - Dasher

It's another Christmas Challenge.  Here's the inspiration picture...

All the card stock I used is from Stampin' Up ("Chocolate Chip", "Whisper White", "Cherry Cobbler" and "Glorious Green").  I stamped the Hero Arts' "Snowflake & Flourishes" background stamp on the white card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed it with Stampendous "Shabby White Embossing Enamel".  I did the same with SU's "Dasher" stamp.  I cut out "Dasher" with Spellbinder's "Small Scalloped Circles" and cut out a larger circle from the "Cherry Cobbler" card stock and stamped a snowflake flurry stamp from Inkadinkado (#60-00018) with VersaMark and embossed it with the "Shabby White Embossing Enamel" and did the same for the larger label.  I cut the ends of the "Merry Christmas" label and the "Cherry Cobbler" label with the "Small Scalloped Circles", too.  The "Merry Christmas" stamp is from SU's "More Merry Messages".  I stamped SU's Ivy stamp (from "Season's Sketches") on both "Cherry Cobbler" and "Glorious Green" card stock and fussy cut them out and attached them to the finished card.  Both "Dasher" and the "Merry Christmas" label are pop dotted.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the other cards at Festive Friday Challenge blog. 

Merry Monday Challenge #98 - Country charm with stitches and buttons

It's another Merry Monday Challenge for the week....

When I first saw the challenge, I have to stay I was stumped and thinking to myself, I don't think I can enter a card this week.  I don't have a sewing machine and I don't have a lot of buttons, let alone "Christmas" colored ones.  The country part of the challenge, was simple.  But as I looked at the design team's samples and read the fine print that "faux" would be okay, I knew I could do it!

As ideas came floating into my head, the top idea was a country quilt look  So here's my country quilt card.  I started with a white card stock cut as a 5x5 card.  I then used different sheets of designer paper from Echo Park's "Very Merry Christmas" 6x6 paper pack to make the border.  I used my paper piercer to make my holes so I could handstitch with DMC floss #3364.  I also used different sheets of Echo Park's "Very Mery Christmas" to

cut out PTI's "Polka Dot Parade #9" die cut tree which I  stitched together with the same DMC floss.  I cut out my "faux" bottons from Stampin' Up's "More Merry Messages" and stitch the DMC floss in the middle of the snowflake. 

Don't forget to check out the beautiful cards posted on MM challenge for more of the Country Charm with stitches and buttons.

Thank you, again, MM design team, for challenging me once again.  Thanks for stopping by!

Dynamic Duos Challenge #92 - Feeling Sentimental

I'm participating in DD Challenge #92.  I took a few days to think about how I wanted to use these two colors together and thought using the watercolor effect would be perfect.

All stamps, inks and card stock are from Stampin' Up.  I started with using "Midnight Muse" ink and adding water to it and painting a small piece of white card stock on an angle for a different look.  After it dried, I stamped the phone booth from "Feeling Sentimental" in  "Rose Red" ink over the blue water colored background.  I took another white piece of card stock and splattered both "Midnight Muse" and "Rose Red" inks (watered down).  I attached the splattered card stock to a piece of "Midnight Muse" card stock.  I took the piece of paper that has the phone booth stamped on it and attached it to  "Midnight Muse" and then attached it to the white splattered card stock.  I took a piece of  "Rose Red" card stock and punch out the "Scallop Trim Boarder" on both sides and put a piece of  "Midnight Muse" and another piece of "Rose Red" over the" Midnight Muse" card stock.  I then used a scrap piece of white card stock from my stash and splattered it with "MIdnight Muse" and "Rose Red" watered down inks.  I stamped a  "Happy Birthday" in "Midnight Muse" and attached it to a small piece of "Midnight Muse" and "Rose Red" card stock.

Thank you for stopping by and if you have a chance, check out the other cards submitted for DD challenge this week.

Make It Monday #153 - Watercolor background

I had to  make a few birthday cards this weekend for my sister, so I decided to use Dawn McVey's watercolor technique she showed on PTI's Capture the Moment for this week's challenge.

I stamped "Happy Birthday" (PTI's "Keep It Simple: Birthday" set) in Versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder and water colored with SU's "Bermuda Bay" ink.  I then used PTI's "Embroidered Blooms" and stamped the leaves in SU's Pear Pizzazz and then stamped the flowers in SU's "Real Red" and "Strawberry Slush".  I finished off the card with green twine and a red button
 I attached it to a white card base and then onto a blue/green piece of card stock from a local scrapbook store.  I really loved how this card came together.  The water color background was perfect for these colors. 

I loved how this card turned out, so I thought I would make another one.  On this card, I water colored with SU's "Coastal Cabana" ink and stamped "Happiest Wishes on you Birthday" from SU's "Happiest Birthday Wishes" in Versamark and embossed it with Pearl White embossing powder.  I used PTI's "Daydreamer" stamp set to stamp the poppies in SU's "Calypso Coral" and Pear Pizzazz" inks.  I cut out the card from Spellbinders "Labels #8" and placed it on white card stock (also using Spellbinders "Labels #8" die cut) and mounted it on a green/blue piece of card stock bought at a local scrapbook store.  I finished the card off with white ribbon by SU.    I liked how this one turned out too.  I just may do a few more of these this week. 

Thank you Dawn for highlighting this technique this week.  I really enjoyed it.  Don't forget to stop by Captured by the Moment and check out the great cards others have posted this week.   Thanks for stopping by!

Dynamic Duos Challenge #91 - Daydreamer

It's triple threat week over at Dynamic Duos.  We get to use 3 colors instead of just 2 this week.

I decided to use these colors to make a birthday card I need for the end of the week.  I used Stampin' Up's card stock "Wild Wasabi", "Melon Mambo" and "Tangerine Tango" along with Gina K's white card stock.  I also used SU's "Wild Wasabi", "Melon Mambo" and "Tangerine Tango" inks and PTI's "Daydreamer" and "Keep it Simple: Birthday" stamp sets to make this card.  Other than starting this card over a few different times, because I didn't like how it was turning out, it didn't take too long to do.  I had fussy cut out 3 of each flower last night on typing paper, because I knew I wanted to mask the flowers on my card today.  I finished the card off with Ranger's "Diamond" stickles and orange bakers twine.   Thank you for stopping by and be sure to check out the other great cards over at Dynamic Duos this week.

Merry Monday's Challenge #97 -- Aqua, White & Sliver Christmas

What an honor it is to be a guest designer for Merry Monday's Challenge #97.  This week's challenge is to use Aqua, Silver and White in your card.

After mulling over "so is aqua more blue or more green" and asking for a few opinions and researching online...I concluded it's more blue than green.  So off to my local scrapbooking store to search for aqua paper and coordinating designer paper, too.  Well, I did find aqua card stock, but not any coordinating designer paper.  I have never left that store feeling defeated.  It's my happy place to go, besides stamp stores!

So I came home and went through my designer paper stash again and came across a white and silver dp by TPC Studio called "Winter White's A Little Snow" and a Copics marker #BG01 (Aqua blue) and colored over the dp paper and low and behold, I have my coordinating dp!  Happy again.  So here's my card.

I started out with the aqua cs and then used the Copics (BG01) colored Winter White's A Little Snow dp paper and then mounted a matte silver.  I stamped the fir tree from SU's "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set in Versa Mark and embossed it with a silver-white glitter embossing powder that I mixed together a few years back on Gina K white cs and mounted it on a piece of aqua cs and mounted it to the card.  I die cut out the Merry (Penny Black's "Love & Joy" die cuts) in Aqua cs to finish off the card.

I hope you get a chance to play along with MM's Challenge this week and check the rest of the Design Team's cards for inspiration.   They are all very beautiful!   Thanks again MM design team choosing me as a guest designer this week!

Thank you for stopping by.