Snowflake Bokeh, Baby!

The second Waltzingmouse Pajama Party Challenge is "Snow is Falling" and I had this concept, but my execution may not be ideal.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could bottle up winter snow and send it south to those who have to gather around the light-strung cactus to sing Noel?

In the process of making this card, I had some challenges. The navy cardstock I chose was actually very porous and seemed to suck up the white pigment ink that is usually crisp and clear for me. Then I accidentally smudged some of the ink. What's a girl to do? I deliberately smudged more of the flakes and called it Bokeh!

A glitter pen, glitter marker, silver marker and finally glue and loose glitter were employed in an attempt to get some shine on this card. It is actually pretty in real life - but the camera does not pick up the shine.

WMS Pajama Party - Texture

It's the Waltzingmouse Pajama Party, and this is the first of four challenges that are live right now. Maybe you can play along, too?

This challenge was to emboss with something other than embossing folders. Can you guess what I used?

Nice high relief on this.

I actually broke the C plate on my Cuttlebug trying this, so I don't advise it... or at least I caution you...

When the voices in your head start saying "More power, Scotty!" just ignore them and forego that one extra shim! Here's what I used:

Closeup of a little subtle halo embossing here.

I have two more cards to share for a few of the other challenges. Thanks for looking!

Welcome Little One

Here's a baby girl card for the latest Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenge - Anything Goes!

  It was fun playing with a pastel palette for a change. 

I used my Spellbinders dies to get some layering action happening. The Word Window punch came in handy, too.

I backed a clear button with some coordinating paper, and coloured some hemp twine with a pink Copic marker.

I ran a vellum envelope through my Cuttlebug with a Spellbinders embossing folder and it provided a nice frame for the card. I wasn't sure it would work, but it did!

Happy World Cardmaking Day

Today was World Cardmaking Day. A totally fictitious holiday that - for once - was NOT created by a greeting card company. Hallmark does not make any money off of this day. As a cardmaker, I can feel good about that!

I made this card for my local stamp store. It features a Quietfire Design rubber stamp (possibly the first one of those I ever bought, it is so old) and both Spellbinders and Anna Griffin embossing folders. Hope you enjoyed - and celebrated - today!

8.5 X 5.5 inches

Peachy Keen Christmas

I am beginning to panic. Over the past two years I have managed to make quite a few Christmas cards well in advance, but not so this year. The Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenge this fortnight is to make something for Christmas. I went over to the Festive Friday blog and was very inspired by their current photo:

So here is my card for each of these challenges:

The center is silver, not black. The ornament was stamped and embossed with silver tinsel glitter embossing powder.

The center is silver printable foil paper. I stamped with white Staz-On.

Sentiment is silver embossed, not black as it appears here.

WMS PJ Party

The Waltzingmouse Stamps Pajama Party has rolled around again after a summer hiatus. There are some fun challenges posted here.

First up is the Doodle Do Challenge, to do some freehand doodling on a stamped image. This was a tough challenge because Claire's stamps are so detailed already that they need no embellishment! I added some dotted swirls in blue and polka dots in white to this fellow's costume.

Old Pajamas is the third challenge (I am skipping the cute Halloween challenge) to use an oldie but goodie stamp set. One of the first sets of stamps I bought from Waltzingmouse Stamps is a sheet of sentiments - Fancy Phrases - including this Belated Birthday Wishes stamp. I used it on a box card file from SVG Cuts. This card folds flat for mailing!

When cutting files like this I prefer to do two at a time so I used another WMS stamp for the sentiment below:

There is also a Bedtime Story Sketch, but I have not had a chance to make a card for that and I think time is running out. If you have time, you should give it a whirl, then post your creation on the WMS blog. There are already lots of neat interpretations of this sketch to take a look at. Have fun!

                                                   

Peace and Plenty

The latest Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenge (there are still two days to play!) is a sketch challenge. I actually made this quick little card a week ago but have not had a chance to upload it until now. Here is the sketch:

I used a pumpkin orange 4.25 x 5.5 inch base to mount the sentiment and popped-up fall foliage from the Peace and Plenty set. The sentiment is accented by a nifty thin border from the My Kind of Guy set, stamped with Creole Spice Kaleidocolor rainbow dye ink pad. Coloured the leaves with Copic markers. Thanks for looking!