Give Thanks

Although it looks gray here (probably because of the gray skies today) this card is on Crumb Cake cardstock from SU. I pulled out a folder of pre-stamped images from last year and used the indian corn as my starting point. After coloring it with markers and cutting it out, I turned to Anna Wight's "Give Thanks" set for the sentiment.

A striped dsp border, a Martha Stewart border punch, some rafia from my stash and embroidery floss inside (above the striped paper) and on top all added to the Fall look. Three dot sparklers from Stampendous provide a little bling that is also postage friendly.

Among my reasons to be thankful are all my stamps and supplies that not only bring me great pleasure as I create with them, but also bring blessing to those who receive them. It seems letter writing has become a lost art in this day of texting and emailing! However, that's what makes getting a card so much more special.

If I had to name the one thing for which I am most thankful, it would have to be the greatest blessing the Lord has ever given me--salvation in Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge

This stamp and die set is sooooo versatile--I just love using it!

Whether you do the poinsettia in white, pink or red, it looks great every time. On this card, I opted for the white with a gold glitter center. The die cuts out all the little openings on the sides, which makes this a 5-minute card (yes, really!) I used the stamp for the background also.

The sheer ribbon behind the image adds a litter shimmer without being too much. The poinsettia was mounted with a dimensional, and stickers were added at the corners to look like brads.

For a look at some of the other cards in the ODBD challenge, click HERE.

SHINY BERRIES

Using the SU "Sketch It" set, I first stamped the wreath in green, added the scriggles in a darker green, and stamped the red berries around. With black ink, I stamped the greeting. Using a hole punch, I punched out all the berries using the red ink as a guide and set it aside while I stamped some swirls from "Fresh Fillers" on the red card with Versamark.

Then came the fun part--making the berries shine. All I did was punch a large circle of red foil and tape it on the back of the wreath so that the shiny paper would show through. After adding the red metallic bow, I attached it to the card with dimensionals.

This was a quickie card, for sure!

(Click on photo for a closer look.)

OLW--Five Colors

Here's a card that actually looks worse IRL! That's quite appropriate in this case since the subtitle for this week is "Colour Me Bad."

This started out fine until I ran some gray "shadow" lines under the tree. It didn't look right, so I kept adding more, and more...and more...until I had quite a mess. Let me warn you: glitter doesn't cover up large blotchy areas like this one. White snow might have worked better; but I couldn't find it in my stash before the glue dried, so I reached for a jar of chunky glitter. Maybe it will improve when it all dries (HA!)

This one's headed for the trash once I link it to the One Layer Wed. challenge on Simplicity--I should at least get "credit" for using 5 colors and colouring it bad!

Second Snowfall

I like this better--consider it tweaked! (See post below.)

Snowfall Instead of Fall Leaves

This is my first attempt at CASEing a beautiful Fall card done by Julie Marshall, posted on Oct. 15th, here, but it still needs some tweaking. I think I'd like mine better with a few less snowflakes next time.

I started with stamping a portion of French Script on the lower left of the white piece, then spritzing some blue ink diagonally across with a blow pen. Next, I gently pressed a light tan ink pad on the right side. Using various shades of blue inks, I stamped snowflakes of assorted sizes. The white ribbon was tied around the first layer only, the white panel was attached to the very vanilla panel with ds tape, and both were mounted on the blue cardstock with dimensionals.

The sleigh bell was punched out of blue foil paper with a Martha Stewart punch I just bought yesterday and added over the white ribbon with a dimensional. For the final touch, I added some Ice Stickles to the center of each snowflake.

In a way, it's certainly appropriate to swap out leaves for snowflakes since no two are alike and they both fall from the sky! (Unfortunately, they also both have to be removed from yards and driveways.)

Autumn Corn Stalks

One of the things I like about this time of year is that, once the field corn has been harvested, the fields are cleared and you can enjoy the wide open spaces again. What was once vibrant green has turned brown and been chopped up for silage for the local dairy farms. That's the look I tried to capture here.

I used colored pencils for this card, with added sparkle on the corn, tassels and weeds below. Spica pens provide the fine glitter--I highly recommend them! (If you click to enlarge and then click a second time, you can see the effect.)

Vellum Snowflake

This card using vellum was inspired by a Nov. 2nd post on Cat's Creations (here) and I just had to try it! Instead of a snowman, I white embossed a snowflake from a SU set.

The vellum is folded over a piece of Very Vanilla cs and secured on the back with double stick tape. After placing a clear gem in the center, I added a glue dot behind it for extra hold. I then added a strip of white cs that was punched with a Martha Steward lace edge. I attached the green cs and sheer ribbon to the Very Vanilla card base and mounted the snowflake piece with dimensionals.

What appealed to me about Cat's card was that the vellum covered a separate piece attached over the card front, making it easier to hide the tape and glue dot.

Simple Saturday #19

My Next Stamping Tower

If I lived here in this castle, one of those towers would be just perfect for stamping! It is located in Karlstejn, about a 45-min. ride from Prague, CZ.

After the long uphill walk (that's Owen in the foreground, leading the way) we took the tour of the inside. The rooms were huge with very high ceilings. I was imagining how many stampers the rooms could accommodate! The valley views would be very inspirational, too!

It would need Ott lamps for good lighting, though; especially on gray days like this one. Then I'd add large tables on warm carpets, wall tapestries for sound absorption, and huge wooden cabinets for supplies. Oh, and lots of electrical outlets for heat guns, a coffee station and my computer--all the comforts of home with a little castle splendor thrown in!

(Click on photo twice for a closer view. For more photos of our trip, use the Fox Mtn. link at sidebar for our family blog.)

Pine Tree Christmas

This card was fun putting together. It all started with the pine tree dsp left over from last year. Since I wanted to emphasize the pine tree theme, I ran a piece of metallic brown cs through the Cuttlebug with a Fiskars wood grain embossing plate and cut it long and narrow to simulate a tree trunk. After tying some green embroidery floss around it, I taped it to the left side of the card.

For the greeting, I stamped the sentiment on white and ran it through the CB with a Nestabilities oval die. Then I sponged some green ink on the edges before removing it from the die, leaving a white border. Using two of my peg stamps, I added the pine and pine cones to the bottom center, then popped it up with dimensionals.

I love how the peacefulness of this design reflects the sentiment.

Christmas Lace

Here's another easy Christmas card which is also postage friendly.

After stamping the Bible verse on Very Vanilla cs, I ran it through my Cuttlebug with a Nestabilities oval. After taping the dark green dsp onto the Sage Shadow cs base, I added the lace and secured the oval over it with double-stick tape.

For the flower, I used one from a Hero Arts flower packet and added a red center with one of the shapes from the SU Boho Blossoms punch. A Stampendous dot sticker adds some glimmer.

This card is destined for one of my friends whose house is Victorian and reflects her style. I hope she enjoys it!

FROM MY FILE--Sunflower

Here's another card from my Pre-Stamped Images file that I stamped years ago!

The petals were done with SU markers, the center with chalks. The leaves and stem were colored in with markers also. The seeds on the border were enhanced with a black Gelly Roll pen. For a final touch, I used Inkessentials "Glossy Accents" for the dew drops.

The image is mounted at an angle with dimensionals over a yellow sun dsp on kraft cs. The raffia adds a hint of Autumn to the card.

Kinkade Scene

This could be a Christmas Eve scene, done beautifully by the artist. All I added was the "light" from the windows--talk about easy!

After taping the image to the back of the overlay, I stamped the sentiment above and mounted it onto the card with SU dimensionals. Done!

Takin' Care of My Peeps

We're off to visit our daughter and family in Prague again! This time, through the "miracle" of blogland, I've already scheduled some posts of cards every 2 or 3 days for you to enjoy while I'm away. Please leave your comments--I can access my emails and blog posts from my daughter's flat and look forward to your remarks.

Be sure to scroll down for any cards you may have missed. Now that I'm back on track, I've been posting every 2 or 3 days. And, of course, you can click on them for a closer look at the details.

November should be a fun month for stamping--lots of Fall colors and images, Thanksgiving cards, and more Christmas card designs to try!

FROM MY FILE--Cardinal

Talk about easy! This one was so simple, it hardly took any time at all.

Using Sage Shadow as the card base, all I had to do was color in the image with markers, add a touch of black Stickles for the eye and mount it on a scrap of dark green cardstock.

For a little glimmer, I added a bow of red metallic twine.

After adding the greeting, it was done!

OLW--Birds and Trees

Some of the details on this card did not photograph well, unfortunately. For instance, the border I did with my ScorePal stands out better IRL. So does the Spica pen enhancement on the owl's eyes and the pine cones. So what looks like kind of a dull card, actually has some sparkle to it. (If you click twice to enlarge, the sparkle shows up better.)

It was fun getting out my peg stamps for this one. I started with the pine needles, added my own "branches" with SU markers, then stamped the pine cones. The owl is from Hero Arts.

Thanks, Jennifer, for another great challenge!

FROM MY FILE--Squares of Holly

After coloring in the image with markers, I used various scraps to put this card together.

Starting with a Crumb Cake card base (formerly Kraft) I added a piece of red cardstock that I ran through the Cuttlebug for some texture and taped it on the left side. Then I taped a piece of Christmas ribbon to the textured black cardstock and taped that on the right. After securing the square with dimensionals, I found a metal ornament in my stash that was just perfect for the center of the squares. I tied some red metallic twine through the hole on top and used a glue dot to adhere it to the card for a nice postage-friendly embellishment.

Next, I stamped "Merry Christmas" on white cs, taping it to a red oval scallop and placing it as shown with dimensionals.

Using pre-stamped images from years ago is getting to be fun!

OLW--Non-traditional Christmas Colors

First of all, recognition is in order for Susan Raihala of Simplicity. Not only did Susan start our weekly challenges, but she has done a wonderful job of managing it and visiting all our blogs to comment on our entries. Kudos, Susan, for a job well done and appreciated!

The real challenge, however, is in knowing when to withdraw from something even when it is going well. I had to learn this myself several years ago, and I know the agonizing that one goes through when making this kind of decision. After all, there's a time to move on in order to pursue other things in life.

One Layer Wednesday will continue for a time with Jennifer Styles partnering with Susan to keep the challenges going. Jennifer's challenge for this week is to create a winter holiday card without using Cream, White, Red or Green cardstock for the base. I can't think of anything more non-traditional than Soft Suede, which is how I came up with the start of this card. After embossing the poinsettia in gold, I colored in the flower with a peach chalk, with black chalk toward the middle. I then added black sparkle glitter in the center. The sentiment is done with black embossing powder which also helps to make it a little more readable against the dark cardstock.

Thank you Jennifer for volunteering to help keep One Layer Wednesday going!

From My File

I have a file marked "Pre-stamped Images" where I keep them for future use. These are stamps that were either borrowed or used when a bunch of us get together to share sets around the table for just this purpose.

These birds were from several years ago, and I forgot I had them until today when I opened up the folder. I used this set originally for a beautiful card and matching bookmark for someone special. That card also featured a single bird inside that I cut out from the right side of a duplicate copy.

The chickadees are watercolored with dark and light grays, the leaves with a grayish green. I used markers for the berries and branch. The hardest part was the layering which required precise cutting and mounting. I used a combination of green embroidery floss and gold metallic twine for the bow.

Getting together with other stampers to share stamps is a great way to expand your supplies with only having to spend some ink, cardstock and time. Each of us brings white cardstock, some inks and several of our sets to share. We spread the stamps around the table, stamp 5 or 6 copies of images we don't have and save them for future use. It's also useful for sentiments to put inside future cards.

Hero Arts and SU are sure not to like this idea! (...sorry...)