Happy New Year

 

I was blessed earlier this month to receive for my birthday a Tim Holtz Sizzix die set called candle light. (Thanks, Sis!) It has dies for a lantern and two candles.While it will make great Christmas cards in the future (no time this year!), I wanted to try a New Year's greeting with it. I was going for an icy blue feel, but warmed by the candles. 

The background is made with a 3D embossing folder that has Fa La La running down the middle. Here's what that normally looks like:

There's some gluing and layering to get the candles and lantern together, but it is not difficult as there are alignment guides embossed into the cardstock when they are die cut. I used yellow vellum for the halos of light.

Had so much fun I made two more in a lighter colour way.

I look forward to playing with this some more. I think some faux patina on the lantern would be fun to try. Turns out this is a much sought after die set (now discontinued) so I am very pleased to own it. Happy New Year to you and yours! I am entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge which is "Party Time" and my New Year's Eve party is a little quieter than most - just the way I like it!

And I was one of three featured designers in the Simon Says Stamp Blog for this challenge!

http://www.simonsaysstamp.com

Under the Influence

We recently became grandparents to a sweet little West Highland Terrier puppy named Kit-Kat. He is all kinds of adorable and has influenced some of my crafting this season.

His only dog friend is an older Dachshund named Olive who is not really amused by his puppyness. LOL! So I thought this card was appropriate.

This was around the time I made a Christmas stocking for Kit-Kat from the perfect fabric:

For Christmas his Mommy got a gift card so I had to wrap it right!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Kit-Kat and me!

Sweet Stitching Birthday Blooms

 

Over the past year my sister and I have been subscribed to Let's Stamp Together, a kit service put out by Scrapbook & Cards Today. There is a kit every second month and they have been great. They include stamps, stencils and dies. This month was a flower and leaf stamp set with matching dies from Spellbinders that feature piercings to allow stitching enhancement.

I sent this card to my sister for her birthday, hoping to inspire her to use this kit. I used some blue metallic thread for the stitching. The My Favorite Things Happy Birthday Background is stamped in white pigment ink on black cardstock. The Sweet Birthday Wishes script sentiment is part of the kit.

I used a Jennifer McGuire technique of tracing with a ball point stylus around the die and then going over that with a Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen to create a tight frame around the bouquet. Subtle but effective. I am entering this in the Anything Goes category over at Seize the Birthday.

World Cardmaking Day Challenge #3

 

The third World Cardmaking Day Challenge from Scrapbook & Cards Today was to use one stamp for the background and the focal image of a card. I chose this coffee pot from Waltzingmouse Stamps as I needed a masculine birthday card for a coffee lover. 

World Cardmaking Day Challenge #5

 

This was one of five challenges issued by Scrapbook & Cards Today. The challange was to weave something with paper strips to create a card.

I used offcuts of special alcohol ink backgrounds and metallic cardstock that I had saved from other projects.

I added some diecut butterflies and a few sequins.

World Cardmaking Day Challenge #1

 

So this card is doing duble duty as I made it with Pinkfresh Studio products and used their Geo Block stencil with various Distress Oxide inks.

I gold heat embossed the main floral image and used the matching stencil to colour.

The sentiment is hot foiled using the reverse or waste part. I love getting two sentiments from one piece of foil! I mounted it on a piece of vellum and added a few pearls.

World Card Making Day Challenge #2

 

Mindy challenged Scrapbook & Cards Today fans with a colour challenge for World Cardmaking Day.

I relied on my coloured pencils to help me make a card in this scheme.

The hydrangea is a Colorado Stamp Company image that I stamped in brown on a pretty mottled yellow background. After colouring with the pencils and blending with Gamsol, I stamped again and heat embossed with a metallic brown embossing powder.

World Card Making Day Challenge #4

Hello , Blogland, long time, no see. Here is a card I made for World Card Making Day, courtesy of inspiration from Victoria Calvin, who challenged Scrapbook & Cards Today fans to make a layered card. This was Challenge #2 of five issued last Saturday. I am working my way through the challenges in an out-of-order fashion.

The dies I used are Spellbinders borders and motif and a Spellbinders Glimmer Foil Plate for the sentiment. The background is a piece of Tim Holtz paper.

Hope you can see the reflecting of the foil above. It's quite pretty in real life.