Sunshine on a Serene Scene!

One of my husband's best friends has a birthday at the end of November, and he wanted me to make him a nice birthday card.  Masculine cards sometimes play havoc with my mojo.  To get started, I focused on the current Splitcoaststamper Alphabet Challenge.  I am several weeks behind, so I had a variety of letters to work with.  When I saw Letter S/ theme: sunshine, I thought of a scenic card that I made back in January at a card class, using a new Stampin' Up stamp: Waterfront.  Our hostess-designer was Luci Kirschenbaum, and I decided to CASE her card design, because I loved it and the stamp set so much.  It fits the alpha letter/ theme perfectly as a lovely scene with its sun.

For my new card, I made my watercolor scene panel just a bit smaller so more of the deep green mat would show around the edges and contrast with the navy patterned paper background.  I watercolor-stamped my scene with less "stamping off" so that I would have darker and richer color hues...not quite so pastel as the design sample.  My changes to the scene were to position my trees closer to the mountain base rather than in the green meadow, and I moved the sun a bit higher in the sky to suggest more daylight and sunshine as though it was earlier in the afternoon.  I also added more splatters all the way down to the bottom of the panel...I just love splatters!  I also made my sentiment into a double fishtail flag instead of a rectangle.  

For the inside design, I also followed Luci's plan with changes.  I centered my birthday verse instead using her left offset.  I did stay with the left offset for my mountain and trees, but not as far off the edge, so my mountain range is longer. I also raised the images about 3/4-inch so the tree trunks did not sit right at the paper ege.  When I was done fussing with it, I was pleased with the end results.  Take a peek below, inside and out, I think my husband's friend will like his card.  It may remind him of some lovely camping spots he was visited throughout the years, as he and his wife loved to camp as well!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide, Whisper White, Crumb Cake.  Patterned Paper--Delightful Daisy.  Stamps--Waterfront, Perennial Birthday (sentiment/ inside verse).  Ink--Night of Navy, Tranquil Tide, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzaz, Daffodil Yellow.  Water-base Marker: Black.  Size: 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inches.

Thinking You Much Better Real Soon!

One of my lady friends that I met at my September Girls' Get-Away has had a set back in her health.  I wanted to send her a card to let her know I've been saying some prayers and having positive thoughts to wish her much better real soon!  I had a few Splitcoaststamper challenges to get done in my on-going challenge catch-up goal, and with a few of those in mind, I set about to design and make a card for my friend.

I needed to use a shade of yellow called Xanthic in order to finish the Alphabet Challenge in Round 9, and with this in mind, I search for a dress on the Inspiration Challenge website with at least some yellow that could inspire me for the rest of my card.  I found the perfect floral dress. Now, I knew my card had to have flowers.  My layout idea and focal point were inspired by the Featured Stamper challenge, plus I had several old challenges to complete that required a stamped frame, plus an old technique.  I had some good ideas. . .my mojo getting juicy, so it was time to find some papers and get started.  Take a peek at my finished card below, I think she will enjoy the card, and I know I will enjoy crossing off some more completed challenges on my list!

Ingredients:  Papers:  SU cardstock--Basic Black, Gumball Green, Daffodil Yellow; SU Vellum; Patterned Paper--Basic Grey/ Origins.  Stamps:  SU--Serene Silhouettes (white flower stems), Lovely Wishes (frame flower); Our Daily Bread Designs--All Mother's (sentiment).  Inks: Memento--Tuxedo Black; SU White Craft Ink; Versamark.  Dies: Sizzix Labels Collection (frame).  Punches:  SU--Curvey Corner Trio (retired), Bitty Butterfly (retired).  SU Black Embossing Powder.  SU 2mm pearls.  SU Simply Clay:  Simply Pressed Clay, Buttons & Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Mold (2013-14 both retired).  Stash: Bitty flower brad.  Copic markers: coloring for clay + brad.  Chatterbox verse.  Size:  5-3/8 x 6-1/8 inches.

A Baby's Coming in the New Year?

My oldest son's girl friend asked me to make her a baby shower card for her son's first child and her first grandchild. . .a little baby girl!  She had some specifics for me to work with, in that she wanted lavender to be the predominate color, it to be very feminine, and to have a baby elephant for the focal image.  She also wanted the inside verse to contain the baby's name.  Other than those specifics, I could let my creative juices flow!

Of course, my first thought was to check out current challenges at Splitcoasterstampers and then older challenges that I missed to work on my personal "challenge catch-up" goal.  I wanted to finish more of the current Alphabet Challenges for Round 10, so decided to focus on Letter E for elephant/ theme: animals.  I also used some older challenges for layout and inspiration.  Here is my finished card and inside verse using the baby's name:

Ingredients:   Papers~  Cardstock: Recollections Essentials (Violet); SU Whisper White.  Patterns~ Recollections: Purple Ditsy Floral; K&Co.-Watercolor Bouquet-Purple.  Stamps~ Wild Rose Studio/ Bella (retired).  Ink~ Memento Tuxedo Black.  Dies:~Lifestyles Lacey Squares (retired); Sizzix/ SU: Layering Squares; Lifestyles Lacey Circles (retired); Spellbinders Classic Circles LG.  Punches~ SU: Curvy Corners (retired); Martha Stewart: Double Loops Edger; QuicKutz Scallop Photo Corners (retired).  Ribbon~ Offray 5/8" Sheer Violet.  Copic Marker coloring.  Chatterbox sentiment tag/ inside verse.  Card Size:  4-3/4 x 6-inches.

An Angelic Heavenly Host Comes to Visit!

I wanted to finished the third and final Pre-Virtual Stamp Night Mini, which required a Christmas card made with the traditional colors of red and green, because these are the colors that Dr. Seuss' Grinch dislikes intensely.  I also wanted to play my personal "catch-up challenges" some more as well!  So, I went in search of what else I could put on my card beside red and green that would meet other challenges.  I found that winged things worked, and if it was a winged angel, formally called a heavenly host, my card would fulfill even more.

Last year while attempting to make my Christmas cards, I printed a darling pre-colored vintage digital image of a sweet little angel and two wee birds singing together, but it did not get used.  I was stoked...my winged creatures from my pre-made stash works for the VSN with no time against me!  I had three glittery frames in white, green, and red that I also made for last Christmas and did not get used when my Christmas crafting was cut short with my hand strain issues.  I found if I framed my image, another challenge could be met, and on it went.  I found some inspiration from the current Inspiration challenge, which is what prompted me to use the angel image.   Now, my mojo was really simmering!

An older Featured Stamper and Sketch challenge both helped with decisions regarding the layout.  Now that I had a basic layout idea in mind, it was time to gather all my materials and tools that I might possibly need.  My first step was to find the perfect paper that would work with one of my pre-made glittery frames, plus embellishments, ribbon, dies, punches, etc.  I find I always gather more than I end up using, but at least it is at my fingertips if I do need it as time is of essence in the Virtual Stamp Night challenges.

I set my timer for one hour, and let the fun begin!  I started to get nervous when I had used 40 minutes to cut my paper layers, complete the ink distressing, adhere the layers, add my ribbon band, cut my die-cuts, punch snowflakes, make my bow, and prepare my framed image and pop it up.  I still needed to make a computer sentiment layer to fit my red tag die-cut.  Fortunately, I had another sentiment saved in my computer that fit a one-inch circle punch.  I copy/ pasted it, changed the words and ink color, and it was good to go!  Thank heavens my printer did not give me fits as it can do from time to time!  

That was a close one...I used 55 minutes!  I used my extra five minutes to add some Wink of Stella glimmer to my pre-colored image angel and birds, which does not show up too well in the picture.  Take a peek at my finished card. . .I think I'm pretty happy with it.

I didn't like how much time it took to make the sentiment tag using the computer; it cut the deadline time too close for comfort.  Since I do like to use sentiment tags, I've decided to make a bunch in different colors and sentiments and pre-punched them for my stash.  They just might come in handy for the VSN main event in December.  If not, I am sure they will get used eventually.  

In addition, I plan to download, size, and print more pre-colored Christmas images that might come in handy, plus die-cut some additional frame styles using different types of paper and colors.  I punched more bitty snowflake in more colors.  I had white ones pre-punched, as well as silver, lime green and aqua, but no Emerald Green or Red...can you believe that!  Not sure why I had lime-green. . .that was interesting!

Ingredients:  Papers~  Stampin' Up cs--Chocolate Chip (retired); Recollections Glitter Paper--Cherry, Evergreen, Snow;  Stripe--Recollections Signature Sugar Plums Pad.  SU Ink: Soft Suede (edge ink distressing).  Dies~ Spellbinders: Triple Floral Squares (frame), Delightful Circles (tag back).  Punches~ EK--1-inch Circle; Recollections--5/8" Snowflake.  Ribbon Stash:  5/8" Emerald Sheer.  Pre-made Stash: Angel & Birds pre-colored digital image (3 in.), Green Glitter Frame.  Wink of Stella--Clear & Gold.  Stash: Acrylic Sheet (stablizing framed image).  Chatterbox verse/ sentiment.  Size 4-3/4 x 6 inches.

Thank You for the Delightful Gift!

I received a fairly unique gift quite unexpectedly...a cedar, chainsaw-made Christmas tree.  We had a family gathering a few weeks ago to celebrate two birthdays, and my son-in-law's mother was in attendance.  She is a collector of chainsaw wood art, and she brought a gift for me and my two daughters plus my daughter-in-law.  They were "carved" Christmas trees using a chainsaw to cut and form them from cedar logs.  The tree's branches were painted green with a bit of white snow gracing their tips and the trunks were the natural bark from the small cedar logs from which they was cut.  She had decorated each with miniature Christmas lights that could be all white or multi-colored by changing the remote settings.  What delightful gifts!

I needed a thank you card desperately and immediately.  I scoured some of the Splitcoaststamper challenges to find some ideas.  I used the Inspiration Challenge for an autumn color inspiration and found a Featured Stamper Challenge with a pretty autumn leaf card.  My mind was made up to do an autumn leaf card of my own.  I found some other challenges that would fit as well, and if I added green, I could finish Color Letter Z in the Round 9 Alphabet challenge.  

At this point, I remember a card by Liz Thayer that also had a leaf design, so I "borrowed" elements from her card to add to my card as well.  This is my finished card, a bit of a modified Liz design than from the Featured Stamper with two more added layers.  I finished the card off with an interior design to fit the outside and added a Chatterbox verse printed by my computer.

Take a peek below at the finished card inside and out.  I think my friend will enjoy her thank you card and also know just how appreciative I am of her lovely gift!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up Papers:  Cardstocks--Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss, Gold Foil, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, So Saffron;  Patterned--Color Me Autumn (2014 Holiday), Typeset (2014-5 Annual).  Stamps: Holiday Cheer, Project Life (sentiment/ 2014 Holiday).  Dies:  Autumn Accents BigZ.  SU Embossing Folder: Hardwood.  SU Other:  Gold Basic Metal buttons; Washi Tape (names unknown); Dazzling Diamonds Gold Glitz.  Ink: Soft Suede ink distressing.  Size: 4-3/4x6-inches.

Circa 1860's Vintage Christmas Tree!

I'm working on the Splitcoaststampers' Virtual Stamp Night Mini Challenge #2, whose theme is "Little Women."  The requirement is to make a vintage card in keeping with what their era of Christmas might look like.  I also went to several other SCS challenges for the layout and embellishment inspiration.

I started by looking through my stash of patterned papers for something with a vintage flair.  I found two perfect pieces that I was pretty excited about.  I checked my layout inspirations and with the paper in hand, my mojo began to simmer.  I jotted down a quick sketch of changes and additions I might want to add to the layout, so that I could gather all my tools and materials before I started the timer to begin making my actual card.

I opened up my stash of Christmas embellishments and re-acquainted myself with what I had, looking for something that would work with my chosen papers.  Right off, I spotted the lovely dimensional tree that I ended up using, but it certainly needed some background framing, which led me to the lovely, vintage-looking oval frame.  Of course, vintage means lace, pearls, ribbon, etc. to me, so I searched through my stash of these types of items for ones that might go well with my papers and my layout ideas.  I had to "build" my own lace panel as what I had was either too large or too small.  I cut out and cut down the center of the wider piece and added new edge lace to make it the perfect width.  I was really pleased with how it turned out.  All in all,  I am pretty happy with how my card evolved so quickly and how well it turned out.  Take a peek below:

Ingredients:  Papers: Stampin' Up cardstock--Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler; American Crafts/ The Color of Memories--Vintage Christmas #320369/ Musical Score #341340.  Die: Cottage Cuts--Oval Doily.  Punch: EK--Scalloped Scallops border; Stampin' Up--Curvy Corners (retired).  Dimensional Chipboard:  K&Company/ EB Versions of Christmas Grand Adhesives--Christmas tree; Recollections Chipboard Accents--Christmas sentiment.  Lion Bonbons Jingle Bells (Christmas colors plain/ metallic).  Recollections--mini pearls.  Stash: Two laces/ modified; Fun Foam (pop up layering).  Size: 4-3/4x6 inches.

(This card became my daughter, Michele's Christmas card).

Three Trees & Two Colors in a Christmas Forest!

I thought I might dabble in the Virtual Stamp Night Challenge on Splitcoasterstampers.  They started a pre-mini challenge in early November. . .the actual event takes place December 2 & December 3.  The first pre-challenge was all about trees, even scraggly ones like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree!

I decided to use my Sizzix tree dies that I bought last year and did not get to use due to some hand issues that cut my crafting time down to zip!  I checked out the Christmas Central website for the Inspiration challenge to see if it could give some ideas of what to do with a tree or trees.  I spotted some pretty black and white items, which got my creative mojo going, and I decided a night scene with snowy forest trees would be really pretty.

I had to be clever about this as the Virtual Stamp Night requires you to spend only one hour putting your card together.  Your planning, designing, gather papers, and tools don't count against you, plus you may have pre-fold card bases available, and even some mat layers stashed.  It took me 35 minutes to die-cut and assemble my card parts.  I used a timer, and was able to pause and "punch out" when  my brain went into a re-designing mode with changes to my original thoughts, which required more tool gathering time.  I "punched" back in and went to work with more die-cutting and assembling.  I am pretty happy with the end result; take a peek below:

Ingredients:  Paper:  Stampin' Up--Whisper White (cardbase); Recollections Signature Glitter Paper/ white; Core'dinations--Black Tie; DCWV--Silver Stag Star dsp.  Dies:  Spellbinders--Tear Drop Circles; My Favorite Things--Stitched Circle STAX, Stitched Snow Drifts; Sizzix TH-Alternations--Woodlands; Cottage Cutz Expressions--Merry Christmas.  Stampin' Up: Metallic Stars (retired).  Size: 4-3/4 x 6 inches.