The November Monthly Mix Challenge hosted by Arjita is to create a card that is Red and White and includes a tag! The challenge at the ModSquad Challenge hosted by Judy is “So Grateful” and you must use the word GRATEFUL.
My card uses the negative GKD FoilMates Swirls & Flourishes foiled panel adhered to a white cardstock layer. The tag was created using Gina’s ThermoWeb Decorative Tag Set and was stamped with a flower and sentiment from GKD’s A Happy Hello which includes GRATEFUL in the sentiment. A few of Gina’s sequins and it really needed some green leaves to complete this look.
I do like when challenges help motivate me to get hopping on seasonal cards. My card for today will be entered into the DRU Challenge #156 – Give Thanks and the Double D Challenges of Pine Trees and/or Pine Cones Challenge.
My pine branches and cones are from GKD’s Seasonal Sentiments stamp set and dies. The sentiment stamped in brown is also a Gina K Designs Thermo-Web Stamp n Foil set called Thankful Leaves. The copper foil embossed layer is from Michael’s Recollections and Sizzix Embossing Folder. The other metal dies used were my go to Waffle Flower A2 Layering dies. A few GKD sequins added just because!
Playing along with the November Anything Halloween challenge from Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge today. I decided to work off the mood board for some inspiration using the purple witch hat.
For my card, my witch hat is an oldie but goodie from Outlines Rubber Stamp Company using Daniel Smith extra fine water color samples which was included in a My Monthly Hero set I colored the hat. Added some marker coloring in a darker purple and gold as well as some gem stones. Trying to remember if the Outlines stamps were made for gems as embellishments or pearl pen or nuvo drops for those area. After mixing the paint with perfect pearls I painted my background and die cut with Waffle Flower A2 nesting dies. I cut out two thin frames and made them a little wonky on my card because my image was off center. So it’s wonky all around to cover that up. I found my spider netting for a bow with a spider center and punched some bats with Martha Stewart punch.
Fun project definitely to be hand delivered or at least in a padded envelope.
I have been busy with a few challenges with Splitcoast Stampers that were focused on pine trees and pine cones. I submitted these to the Double D Challenge from the posts at SCS. I thought I would share these here.
I linked those photos to my gallery at SCS. The Peace card was created for a Faith challenge and I shared a quite a bit about the photo at that link. The Thanksgiving card was created with all Stamps of Life products. The paper is Gina K and SU along with the inks used on the pinecone.
Following are a few other photos that I made recently. We had a birthday, I worked on a Christmas card, and a card with dogs for a young man.
Birthday card
This card is my husband’s birthday card. He really liked it as it is all about guitars. These are acoustic and are not usually colored, but I needed the spread of color and it worked. All were fussy cut.
Christmas Ornaments
I have new product that I wanted to play with. This is a Spellbinders die and stamp set. I followed an idea on the Spellbinders blog using supplies that I had on hand. I didn’t have silver foil paper, so I made my own. I took a small piece of gray cardstock, swiped Versamark ink, then silver embossing powder. I used two layers of the ink and embossing powder to make it thick and look more silvery. It is not as shiny as foil, but for giving this idea try, I think it works. Since then, I purchased silver foil. I will try this card again soon. I pulled the colored paper for the ornaments from my large stash of scraps.
Doggy card frontDoggy card inside
This doggy card went to a 7 year old boy who had a surgery then got an infection which went septic. His aunt requested a card and he loves dogs, so I got busy with my doggy stamps and dies. The outside part is from a Stephanie Bernard/Sizzix set. It is retired but Stephanie is selling the Sizzix product still remaining in her warehouse on Amazon and the price was right, so I picked it up. I think every piece of this card came from my large scrap pile. That makes me happy to find uses for the pieces in that never ending pile.
Thanks for reading this long post. These were not made in the same day, but over one to two weeks.
Two really awesome challenges for this “out of my box” card. The As You See It Challenge #238 entitled Aura uses the dreamy SU colors of Petal Pink, Flirty Flamingo, Basic Gray and Black.
The Just Us Girls Challenge #561 is Word Week and that word is “Triangle”.
So for the combined triangle color challenge I came up with my card using some unknown stitched triangle dies that I ink blended with Worn Lipstick and Dusty Rose (Flirty Flamingo), my second larger triangle is weatered wood and london fog for basic gray. Looks a little dark in the photo. I definitely need to invest in a real gray not that green gray color. The focal layer is backed with some basic black and all mounted on the closest thing I could find to Petal Pink. This 110 lb. cardstock is from my local Michael’s pink pack. Sentiment and die are from Sugar Pea’s Stamp of Approval stamp set.
Different for me but I do believe it may grow on me.
The stamp set I used is lights4Christmas from The Stamps of Life, dated September 2013. I’m sure I have inked it up, but can’t remember when. The Falliday Fest Challenges at Splicoast Stampers had a challenge to make a Christmas Card with light. I found a similar idea on the gallery at TSOL, so I tweaked it a bit and followed the idea. This twine has been in my stash for several years and it matched the blue cardstock. Gluing it down was the hardest part of this card as it kept wanting to come up. I used SU cardstock for the cardbase and lawn fawn inks for the lights. The embossing folder is a Darice one. There is a lot of sparkle on the lights. Thanks for looking!
Why oh why are color challenges so difficult for me? I love color but maybe I feel that I need to go overboard on the colors. So for this color challenge:
I attempted to keep myself in check over these gorgeous colors. Using the Gina K/Simon Says Stamp Stamptember collaboration set Snowflake Cascade, I silver heat embossed it on my blue raspberry (Misty Moonlight) and stamped my sentiment on dusty rose (magenta madness) and then for good measure silver heat embossed some snowflakes from the same set and die cut them.
I’m still not quite sold on it but to my eyes it looks better when I put everything on the white card base.
Love when challenges help me to create my seasonal cards. The challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters is Golden Day of Fall challenging us to use gold on your project. It definitely has been a fall day at our home today with the wind blowing leaves all over and at times almost blowing me around too which is no small feat! So of course I am behind with my Thanksgiving/Fall cards and have wanted to play with the Impression Obsession Fall Leaf Background die that I purchased awhile ago and this was the perfect challenge for that to happen. I cut the background out of some cherished GKD gold cardstock and layered it on a background I created and put aside. The card looked too blah so after locating another Impression Obsession frame die added that to the front. The little bump on the upper left corner was me trying to slip some twine underneath the frame for my hanging leaf embellishment. No stamping required on this card today.
My project of valentine cards for the Making Cards for Troops group is completed. Normally I design, prep the cards and my girlfriends gather at my home to color, sponge and assemble but that didn’t happen. Coronavirus numbers are increasing in our county. We all have our bubble that we are comfortable in but some friends’ bubbles are a little bigger than others. Will is scheduled for knee replacement surgery the middle of this month and I didn’t feel comfortable having 6 friends although masked and six feet apart at tables in our home. Finished 92 cards and can I tell you that I really love every one of them. Five of each design with the exception of one group that has four and three individual designs. My Halloween cards suffered but am on track to start some Thanksgiving cards before beginning Christmas.
