A "flocked" tree!

Years ago, when my hubby first started working at the nursery where he has worked for almost 40 years now, they would do flocked pine trees for Christmas.  They came in white flock...and...are you sitting down?...pink flock and blue flock.  They even set them up with rotating strobe lights.  If you remember those days, then you're as old as me!

But I have to admit that the white ones were okay.

Now, I wasn't thinking of them when I designed this card...I just thought of them now, when I was getting ready to do this post. 

I like using white on a color, and I thought I'd try a white diecut on a color this time.  And this is for the Bling Girls...

This was fun to make.  This is the 3rd or 4th time to use this die, and this time I wanted to see if embossing the tree in the green paper helped for placement.  It does.  But the embossing needs to be done very lightly or the paper creases.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Ivory, Green

Designer Paper: Making Memories Twinkle

Die: Impression Obsession Merry Tree

Accessories: Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Star Punch, Iridescent Embossing powder.

Another Bling Girls Project

It's Monday again!  I just can't believe how fast Mondays come around...and Fridays...and...  I think it's a sign of "advanced maturation"!  LOL!

 

Here's my next project for A Scrap N Place.  I just love the colors...red and vanilla always win in my mind.  I used only a portion of my Impression Obsession Merry Tree die, did some distressing on the edges of the layers, layered some ribbons, added some punched branches...but not too many...and some rhinestones. 

 

Supplies:

Cardstock: Red, vanilla, artichoke green

Designer paper: Making Memories Twinkle

Ribbons from May Arts

Die from Impression Obsession

Punch for the branches from Martha Stewart

Dimensionals

Bling Girls...first project

Just a bit of exciting news...I've been asked to be a guest designer with the Bling Girls of A Scrap N Place in Loveland.  Such a neat store.  They have DIES.  Oh, my, do they have dies!  Not a good place for me to go, for sure. ;)  They also have a wonderful selection of designer paper, some ribbons and trims, some nifty accessories...and BLING.  Of course, if you're Bling Girls, you have to have bling!

Well, Terri gave me a kit of papers, ribbons and trims, and bling...as well as a die...for my projects this month.  The die is the Impression Obsession Merry Tree. It was fun to work with but a bit of a challenge to glue down.

The first project I'm going to share with you is this one:

 

I kept to my preferred style, which is clean and simple, using bling and a ribbon to step it up a notch.  The star is punched, coated with versamark, and embossed.  And no stamping!  It's a fun card!

 

Supplies:

Designer paper: Basic Grey Jovial Crushed Velvet

Cardstock: White and Artichoke Green, Yellow-Gold for star

Ribbon: May Arts

Accessories: Rhinestones, Versamark, Iridescent Embossing Powder, Dimensionals



Clean and Simple Challenge 72

The third week's challenge was a sketch challenge based on one of my own cards. Here is the sketch.

Here s the card that I made that week:
Click here for details.

CAS Challenge cards...week 1

These are the cards I posted for my first week on the CAS design team on SCS. The challenge was to make a card with the greeting/saying/verse as the focal point.
Click here for a list of supplies.
Click here for a list of supplies.

Waltzingmouse Blog Hop...Happy Birthday!

I made this card for the CAS67 Shabby Chic and Clean and Simple challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. I think that it is almost an oxymoron to put these two together but I made an attempt and this is the result.

I didn't use any image stamps at all, just a word stamp...and it is from the Waltzingmouse Earth Angel set.
The paper is assorted designer paper from my stash.

...did I really use a die cut?...

Yes, I guess you could say that...but technically it is an embosslit. So can I say that I really didn't give in to die cuts? I made this for CAS65 on SCS.

I ran the popped up panel thru the BigShot with a texture plate. The texture plate and embosslit are from SU! as is the punch for the greeting. The leaves are a Martha Stewart punch. I sponged the embosslit flowers with apricot ink to give them some dimension.
Paper: SU! vanilla, apricot, wasabi, celery
Stamps: SU! small script
Accessories: Lots of Dimensionals!

Waiting.....for.....Spring.....

I'm ready! Too much snow this winter. We've had snow on the ground since last fall and that NEVER happens around here. Never say "never"!

So, in anticipation of spring coming (sometime) I have a couple of cards to share with you.

The first one turns out to be a Mother's Day card. (No, my mom doesn't read my blog or check SCS. She is somewhat computer-challenged.) The sketch was a challenge for me. I had to spend a bit of time getting what I wanted. The tulip is PTI's Wishing You set and the greeting is an old SU set called Wonderful Wishes. The kraft paper is dotted with SU's new Dot, Dot, Dot then punched with a Martha border punch. I love the twill tape! It is on a roll in the sewing department at WalMart. I'm going to have to stock up!


I've been wanting to make some of those really cute trees that are made of patterned paper and cut out. But I don't have the stamps and can't afford them right now. So I made do for this card by using SU's Sheltering Tree on some dotted-watercolor-wash type designer paper I had in my stash. The check paper at the bottom is from Creative Memories. I think it sets the card off well, don't you?


Have a wonderful week anticipating the coming of Spring!

Playing Post-vacation Catch-up

Here I am, sitting here at the computer, with my chai tea, reading the blogs I have been following, and enjoying the gloomy, misty day. It's fall! I like fall. Fall is when we take a vacation. Now you have to understand that vacation is a broad term for us--it may mean a missions trip, a camping trip, or a trip to Grand Junction to get apples. It might even mean taking time off to do a project around home. But this time we ventured out to Yellowstone and the Tetons. It was cold at night (we were prepared with a heater for our tent) but the days were gorgeous, until the last day there. It was cloudy, rainy, blustery...but the "moods" of the Grand Teton on that day were spectacular!

Anyway, I have several challenges to get caught up on, and I did two yesterday.

This card is totally different from anything I have ever made...but I sure do like it! I started by planning for the CAS31 "pop it up" challenge using dimensionals. The pumpkin inchies are popped up. But it also fits CAS 30 because I took those images off of a card I made years ago in a workshop and this works as a "remake". Then there have been two challenges for "bling" or "sparkle" that fit the use of heat and stick powder with glitter (CAS21 and CAS27). I used a 1 inch punch for the inchies and a MS border punch so that fits CAS07 to use punches. Have I missed any?
The paper is SU Kraft, black and mustard DP. The orange dot is CM. I used Black hemp for the cord.

This card is for this week's CAS33 sketch layout. Again, I used an image from an old workshop card that was done with the technique where you put drops of reinker on a baby wipe and use that for a "stamp pad". The pear was done with green galore, tempting turquoise, and yoyo yellow inks. I just cut the image out to make this card.

The card is crushed curry, and I used turquoise and white cs and a turquoise dp that matched. There are two layers of dimensionals...under the box and under the pear. The picture doesn't do the sentiment justice...it is really much clearer IRL.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday to You...!

This week, for CAS22 at Splitcoast, we were to make birthday cards. Who doesn't need birthday cards? Well, I made several and I wanted to share what I made.

This punny card is the first one I made. The colors were a color challenge a while ago that I wanted to try sometime. The layout is one I go back to often, because it works well. Cardstock colors are Basic Gray, Going Gray, Yoyo Yellow,and white. The inside of the card has a white panel...and the greeting, "from some of your closest friends". The fishies in the can are watercolored.

This card was inspired by a Life is Good tee I saw at Jax Mercantile...one of my favorite stores. I would buy the whole Life is Good corner if I could! The colors are only Rose Red and So Saffron. The TAC greeting is heat embossed.

This one says, "an-udder birthday?" and is done with an older SU! set called Birthday Banter (the same one that the fishies above come from). The colors are Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red.

This last one is also an old set from SU called Sketch a Party. The cake trim, candle and the greeting are all accented with Gelly Roll glitter pens. Colors are Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, and Creamy Caramel.


If you want more details you can check out my gallery for today at Splitcoast. Have a wonderful weekend, even if it is hot!

Being Krafty

Recently I made more cards with Kraft cardstock than I ever have before. I thought I would share some of those with you.
This first card is for this week's CAS18 challenge : a color challenge...to use Kraft, Corals/Pinks, and one other color. I added black for this one. See my gallery for details.

This is also for the CAS18 challenge. White is my additional color here. I have wanted to make this card for a long time and now I had a reason to do it! Details in my gallery.

This Tangerine and Kraft card was for the CAS17 challenge on SCS, which was an inspiration challenge, using beach towels and totes from Land's End. I chose a tan bag with orange handles that had butterfly fabric for the top closure. You can see it here. The details are at this link.
Hope you enjoy these!

Redo-ing those old cards that don't quite make it...

The CAS challenge at SCS this week is to re-make an old card. Well, I have a bunch of cards that are downright ug-ly. Well, at least now I think so. Then there are some in my gallery that have pictures that don't and never did do the cards justice. I'm not going to delete them, but I think I will try to improve many of them. Here are a few:


This was an old (2005) Christmas card. See how it looks now:

Stampset: Christmas Cardinals
Paper: 110# White, Real Red, Summer Sun
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Watercolor pencils with aquapainter, SU! paper piercing set


I liked this spring card then, but it is better now:

Stampset: Spring Garden, Itty Bitty BG
Paper: Cameo Coral, Mellow Moss, White
Ink: Cameo Coral, Mellow Moss
Other: sponged some Moss on the edges of the images, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Oh, why do we even admit to making those old cards!?