Stitched Blooms Happy Birthday

 

Here's a card for a birthday that uses Spellbinders dies and a stencil (from the Let's Stamp Together subscription package) and a little stitching. Banner die also Spellbinders.

I used some Pearlescent stencil paste through the stencil to get a background with a bit of texture. Envelope embellished with a stencilled die cut.

I am entering this in Seize the Birthday #254 (Anything Goes).

Happy New Year Fireworks

 

Scrap 'n Stamp Challenge Facebook page lists a prompt for each day of the month. The prompt for January 2 is black. I knew right away what I wanted to do as I needed to make a Happy New Year's card to send off in the mail.

I created this 5 inch square card by stencilling a Pretty Pink Posh Fireworks stencil with DecoFoil Transfer Gel Duo on black cardstock. It took an hour to dry. Then I laid Gina K Designs Thermoweb Fancy Foils in Sparkling Silver on top of the tacky surface and ran it through my die cutting machine. I peeled away the plastic top layer and the shimmery foiled fireworks were adhered.

Foil is notoriously difficult to photograph and depending on how the light hits this, it can look all black and silver or a myriad of colours. I finished it with a stamped and die cut HAPPY from Taylored Expressions and New Year is an old Waltzingmouse stamp. If you want to play in the challenge details are below and you can post anywhere using #SNSCHALLENGE:

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.