WWC330 - Heidi's Challenge: All About Occasions

Photographing glitter is a royal pain!  My eyes pick up all the  glittery areas and the nuances of colour but neither my camera(s) nor phone can manage the same.  Clearly we have a way to go in attempting to match the human eye.

Why am I so hung up on glitter, you ask.  Well this card is actually all about glitter.  After all, the sentiment says the snow is sparkling like a million suns and my attempt here is to show exactly that. 

With the bright sunshine today and angled slightly, the card does show some of the sparkle.  I decided to have the bird appear to be standing on a snowball using the puffy white snow pen and then covering it with a combination of Shimmery Crystal Effects and a dab of Dazzling Details.  After stamping the sled, sentiment and bird with the StudioLight images, I turned to the Stampin' Up! images for the branches and bunny (stamped, coloured and fussy-cut before adhering it with foam Dimensionals).  The rest is freehand watercolour for my sunrise, snowy fields and shadows.

I plopped the card into one of my plants where the sun hit it directly, hoping to get more of the shine.

But I think there is more shine without the direct rays hitting the card, don't you?  This is an oversized card with a finished size of 6 1/4 inches by 5 inches.  I wanted the additional room to show off the pretty snowflake patterned paper.

Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, December 13th, 2021.

I've also entered my card at the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #159 - Anything Goes

Try It On Tuesday - Winter Wonderland

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Sparkle Mode

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge (CHNC) - Anything Christmas

WWC 284 - Dawn's Challenge: All About Occasions

This week Dawn is hosting our awesome All About Occasions Challenge and so I've created a fun Christmas card for my stash.  Time is marching on and I need those cards!  What could be better than combining one of those popular Gnomes with a gingerbread man?

 I've  used some very old, retired Designer Paper along with this adorable Gnome.  I think the patterns work together beautifully, don't you?  And I took inspiration for the colours in the card from the patterned paper.  For my base I used the heavy Whisper White and then added a layer of Early Espresso.  After adding a different pattern to each side, I cut out a stitched oval from Whisper White and embossed that using a Falling Snow embossing folder.  Then  I added a stitched rectangle of  Cherry Cobbler and embossed that using the Subtle embossing folder.  

I attached the Gnome using Dimensionals after colouring him (and his sweet friend) with my alcohol ink Blends.   

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday,  August 17th.

 I've also linked my card to the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #126 - Anything Goes

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #76 -  Anything Christmas Goes

WWC279 - Helen's Challenge: All About Occasions

I'm so glad this challenge is All About Occasions!  I'm ready to begin building up my Christmas card stash and what a perfect way to begin, with those adorable little House Mouse designs.

I began with a base of Heavy Whisper White cardstock and then added a lovely die-cut matte of Garden Green.  I stamped the adorable Ellen Jareckie House Mouse image onto a piece of Mixed Media paper and then proceeded to colour it using my fabulous Derwent Watercolour Pencils.  Because I decided those little Christmas lights should be lit, I added a light wash of colour around each bulb.  You can just see it on the paper and  beside the bulb, but this is the way the colour would naturally spread.  After colouring the image, I took the next smaller die and cut out the image with it so that it would fit perfectly inside that green matte.

I added a layer of the Shimmery Crystal Effects to the Christmas Lights and some silver to the end of the pencil.  You can see that more easily with the slight angle of this photo.

For the inside, I inked up only the one Christmas bulb and stamped it in the upper left corner.  Then, after watercolouring, I added some Shimmery Crystal Effects to the bulb as well.  The sentiment is from an old, retired set which I've kept simply for the assortment of sentiments. 

I love the way the card turned out and hope you do, too.  Have fun checking out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and I hope you'll link your creation before the deadline on Monday, July 13th.

I've also added my card to the following challenges:

HMFMC #320 - Anything Goes with the option of stitching

Shopping Our Stash #424 - Hanukkah/Christmas in July

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #123 - Anything Goes

Fezziwigs Festive Frolics - Anything Festive Goes

WWC252 - Marsha's Special 3-Week "Anything Goes" Challenge

It's almost Christmas!  As a special gift to ourselves, we're taking a bit of time off and so have made this challenge a special 3-week challenge.  As a result, I've created a "twofer" for this challenge.  What's a twofer?  Well, you take a stamp set or dies and create complimentary projects.  Et voila!  A twofer.

 

My gorgeous daughter was a competitive figure-skater until she graduated from High School.  With that in mind and combining Stampin' Up!'s Free Skate bundle with one of the images from the Born to Shine stamp set, I set about creating this card and gift tag.

I began by sponging over my Silver Foil with Pacific Point ink.  Being foil, it did not saturate the paper, but after drying overnight and then rubbing the excess ink off with a soft cloth, I could see the soft blue colouring which reminded me of the ice on which my daughter skated.

I stamped the image of the dancer and added skates to her feet with my Journalling Pen.  Then I carefully fussy cut the adjusted image before colouring it using my Stampin' Blends.

For the holly garland, I used the die in the bundle, cutting it twice from Call Me Clover cardstock.  Then I proceeded to add a bit of Call Me Clover ink to the holly leaves using my Stampin' Blends, before crumpling it into a tight ball and then carefully pulling it into a long garland again.  I added the garland, one on top of the other, diagonally across the foil and then added berries with dots of Red Liquid Pearls.

I love the way my lovely skater appears to be doing some fancy ice work on her toe-picks, don't you?  I decided to have the skate from the bundle set diagonally across from my skater.  The detailing on the image is so beautiful.  For a person who was immersed in the sport for years and wound up cleaning and polishing skates thousands of times, it brings back some wonderful memories.

I love that the sentiments in this bundle lend themselves so perfectly to the card which I created.  The inside is simple but reflects the front.

For my tag I decided to use the fancy die version of the skate.  After cutting it out from a piece of Whisper White, I placed it over a matte of Lovely Lipstick.  This cherry red is repeated both in the tag and in the card.  I've also used the Call Me Clover for the holly image which I stamped, coloured and cut with the corresponding die.

I laced the skate using the retired Candy Lane Baker's twine.  I love the thin red foil running through the white cotton, don't you?  Finally, since I simply couldn't find a sentiment which appealed, I decided to write it myself using a Signo Pigment Ink white pen.  A perfect complement to the card, don't you agree?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges: 

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #109 - Anything Goes

Jingle Belles:  Taking Back Our 9th Christmas

The Card Concept #HOL19 - Favourite card  (I chose this one because it brings back memories of        my daughter skating in competitions.)

WWC251 - Dawn's "All About Occasions" Challenge

I bought a die set a while back which I keep meaning to use but haven't yet.  It seemed like the right time to pull it out and create a card.  The die is simple.  It shows the silhouette of a wolf singing the song of its ancestors as a sliver of moon shines above him.

For my base I used the Heavy Whisper White.  I wanted a night sky behind my silhouettes but didn't want too dark a blue and so pulled out my Pacific Point cardstock.  To give it more of an effect of the moon rising, I used my Aqua Painter and added Pacific Point to the upper portion of the piece.  To the lower portion, I used some chalk pastels I had lying around.  A paler blue helped to lighten the cardstock without really changing the colour.  I did the same with the moon.  By that I mean I used chalk pastels.  I wanted to have a huge moon but still give the impression of the majority being the dark side, slightly illuminated.  Then I adhered the strip of moon and I think it worked out quite well.

The silhouette of the moon on a rock was perfect but I wanted him to appear to be way up on a mountain.  Having the silhouettes of the upper portion of trees helps give that impression.  After that, a scattering of stars, thanks to some retired Glimmer paper and another die and the card was ready for its sentiment.  The simple line from the retired Nature Sings stamp set is perfect, don't you agree?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges: 

Cardz 4 Guyz:  Challenge #234 (Christmas Critters)

Simon Says Monday Challenge Blog:  Stars

Mod Squad Challenge Blog - Snowy or Starry Night

WWC250 - Helen's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I love the wonderful images which Bonnie Krebs draws for Art Impressions.  I own enough stamps sets with her images that choosing one for a card becomes increasingly difficult.  This set, however, the Woodland Holiday, reflects the season and allows me to use one of my favourite woodland animals, the fox.  Of course I haven't been delighted with the sight of a fox quite like this during my hikes, but one can hope, right?

For my base I used the Heavy Whisper White.  Then I added a matte of Highland Heather and, of course, the stamped piece.  I kept it clean and simple by stamping the image and sentiment and adding watercolours.  The only embellishment is a bit of Shimmery Crystal Effects gloss over the holly berries and silver bell.  I love the results and hope you do, too.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges: 

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #108 - Anything Goes

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #61 - Anything Christmas Goes

WWC244 - Helen's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Since our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge this week is "All About Occasions", I decided to use one of the adorable House-Mouse Designs stamp sets.  Of course it's all about Christmas this time.

I chose a base of Heavy Whisper White and then added a piece of retired Christmas DSP.  Then I cut a smaller piece of Soft Suede, just large enough to frame the stamped and coloured image of my adorable House-Mice.

The image is stamped on a piece of Mixed Media paper using Versafine Onyx black ink.  I intended to watercolour my images and so I needed my ink to be waterproof.  I used watercolour pencils and layered the pigment.  I love the results.  Each Mouse has its own colour and the shading turned out very well.  For my background I took my AquaPainter and used Balmy Blue ink.  It's soft but makes a nice background colour which doesn't "fight" with my other colours.

Of course I had to add a few additional touches.  Those berries, for example, just cried out for some shine and I gave it to them with the Shimmery Crystal Effects.  And the gold halo on our "holly angel" looks authentic with the addition of some Vegas Gold, doesn't it?

Finally, for the sentiment, I wanted something very small which wouldn't cut across my images.  I found just what I wanted in the retired Christmas Magic set.  I inked half the sentiment and stamped it in black.  Then I took the second half and stamped it on a scrap of Whisper White using black ink as well.  I used the retired tiny tag punch to cut it out and then attached it below the already stamped word on the card.  a tiny ribbon of baker's twine, and we're good to go.

It was really a labour of love working with this fun image.  I hope you enjoy the card as much as I enjoyed creating it.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge - HMFMC #302 Anything Goes

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #58 - Anything Christmas Goes

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #105 - Anything Goes

Arty Divas Challenge #7 - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations Challenge #401 - Anything Goes

WWC240 - Kath's "All About Occasions" Challenge

I am finally going to use a stamp set which has retired, the Spirited Snowmen set.  I have no idea why I haven't used this fun set until now, but I plan to make up for the oversight.

I combined the lovey-dovey pair of snowpeople with two designs from my still-favourite Specialty Designer Paper from the Holiday Catalogue:  the Feels Like Frost paper.  What I love is that one side of the two-sided paper has a photographic image on it while the other side has a pattern in white on silver foil.  I decided that the foil with the random white dots was perfect as a background for the pretty "snowfall" image.  And, of course, the snowpeople look perfect against the colours as well.

After stamping the image using my black Memento ink, I fussy-cut it and then proceeded to colour it using my Stampin' Blends.  I used the Pretty Peacock, Basic Black, Highland Heather, Soft Suede, Purple Posy, Old Olive, and Poppy Parade.  You can't really tell, unfortunely, since the camera didn't catch it, but I added some of the Wink of Stella to both of the snowpeople.  The die-cut sentiment is from a fun set of dies with which I was gifted (lucky me, since it works perfectly for this card).

My base is the Heavy Whisper White while the matte is the Pretty Peacock.  I love how this card turned out, don't you?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #103 - Anything Goes

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #56 - Anything Christmas Goes

Cute N Crafty Challenge #32 - Anything Goes

Get Creative Challenges #84 - Anything Goes

Jingle Belles Challenge - Goodwill to Men (Peace)

Cute N' Crafty Christmas Challenge #18 - Anything Christmas

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog #66 - Anything Goes

WWC238 - Tristan's "All About Occasions" Challenge

I love our All About Occasions Challenges!  It's so much fun to decide on an Occasion and then to create a card for it.  I've chosen to make another Christmas card simply because I'm going to need them sooner than I'd like to admit.  Of course the fact that I was dying to use the gorgeous Nature's Beauty stamp set and more of that stunning Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper played a large role in my decision.

The photographic images used on this Designer Paper are simply breathtaking, aren't they?  When I saw this piece, I knew it would be perfect for the darling little bunny image in the Nature's Beauty set.  What I particularly love about the paper is that there is enough white and "empty" space near the bottom to allow for an image to be stamped and coloured, integrating it into the paper as if it had been printed there.  In fact, as well as the bunny, I stamped the little bare twigs of the bushes in the lower right corner.  And they, too, look as if they were part of the paper design, don't they?

I used my coloured pencils and Gamsol to colour the bunny and also to add the same blue to the base of the bunny and twigs so that the shadows appeared to be natural.  Continuing with the simple design, I decided to heat emboss my sentiment using the gorgeous Copper Embossing Powder.  I finished the card by mounting the design onto a copper foil matte and then onto the base of Heavy Whisper White cardstock.

A simple design, but I absolutely love it and hope you do, too.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #102 - Anything Goes

Crafty Animals Challenge #30 - Anything Goes

CHNC Challenge #454 - Anything Christmas Goes

Crafty Creations Challenges #398 - Anything Goes

WWC234 - Dawn's "All About Occasions" Challenge

I love our "All About Occasions" challenges.  This week Dawn is our host and I've decided to create a Christmas card since I don't want to get into a frantic state when it's time to write my cards, only to discover I haven't enough for everyone on my list.  (Isn't this year just speeding along?)

I fell in love with the sweet images from the Wildly Happy stamp set.  And while I love all the animal images, the fox is closest to my heart.  And so I began by stamping the foxes onto a piece of Heavy Whisper White cardstock, using my Memento ink.  While I was colouring the images with my Stampin' Blends, I was also considering what I would do with them.  Would I cut them out?  Would I create a dark background and add some falling snow?  I don't always have a definite plan in mind but go where my thoughts lead me.

Well, once the images were coloured to my satisfaction, I decided to colour the complete background black, carefully skirting the images without taking away any details.  I had a piece of the wonderful, retired Wood Textures DSP on my table and that inspired me to use it as my background.  As you can see, it's the pile of firewood.  I carefully cut out several of the pieces of firewood, leaving a "cave" or den for my little fox family.  As it happened, the black background I had given them worked out beautifully.  I also took some of the Designer Paper scraps and created a second layer of them, making the foxes appear further inside.

Then I cut two pieces of Shimmery White cardstock to make it appear like snowdrifts at the bottom of the wood piles.  I used the Puffy Snow to outline the drifts and also to "cap" a lot of the pieces of firewood.  After using my heat tool to dry and puff up the snow, I added a shadow of Seaside Spray along the snowdrift using my AquaPainter.  Then I stamped a retired sentiment, Silent Night, onto a piece of Whisper White using Seaside Spray ink and added that to the upper right logs.

I used a base of Heavy Whisper White for this card and absolutely love the results, don't you?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've entered my card into the following challenges:

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #54 - Anything Christmas Goes

Crimbo Crackers Challenge #190 - Anything Christmas Goes

WWC197 - Kath's Masculine "Anything Goes" Challenge

With Christmas getting closer and closer, I decided that I'd make a Christmas themed masculine card for our challenge this week.  Of course the fact that I found this awesome stamp with the two horses wearing Santa caps made it an easy decision.

Isn't that a lovely image?  The stamp is from Impression Obsession with the image by Melissa Gordon.  After using my watercolour pencils on the images, I used an oval die to cut it out.  I wanted to give the card a real masculine flair and so mounted the oval on a piece of the wonderful Wood Textures Designer Series Paper.  With a base of the Heavy Whisper White, I chose Real Red as a matte to bring out the colour of those Santa hats.

I tried stamping a sentiment on a banner but it just didn't look right and decided to cut out the "Noel" from the retired Christmas Stockings Thinlits dies using some of the Red Glimmer paper.  Cutting them apart allowed me to use them vertically and I think it works beautifully, don't you?

I hope you'll check out the awesome creations by the other Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also entered this creation in the following challenges:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge #20 - Anything Goes with a Critter

Cardz 4 Guys Challenge #208 - Christmas Critters

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #41 - Anything Christmas Goes

WWC189 - Heidi's "All About Holidays" Challenge

When I created my card for this challenge I had no idea that the scene could be taken from real life.  That's right.  I have inches of snow on the ground, loaded on the branches of my blue Spruce and burying my poor hanging basket of flowers.  Winter has arrived and we've barely tiptoed into Autumn.

Just for the record, this is my actual view outside my window today.

You can see it didn't take much to be inspired to create Christmas cards today, right?  I only wish I had some cardinals visiting the suet packs hanging in the tree in real life.

I love the stamp I used.  It's one of the Vintage Collection by Heartfelt Creations, Cardinal Bird Feeder stamp set.  The detail and quality of the image made it a joy to colour.  I used my Watercolour Pencils for this as well as my Aqua Painter.  I appear to be addicted to those Watercolour Pencils lately.  But they allow so much lovely layering and let me add details which are more difficult to add with dye-based or alcohol-based markers.

After checking out some images of Cardinals on the internet, I realized that there is a strong hint of orange and gold to their feathers, especially those on their breasts.  I think I've managed to blend the pencils well enough to give that illusion.  I especially loved the added variety I had with my pencils, using the special set Stampin' Up! added for a short time in August.

You'll notice that we have our awesome Guest Designer, Sheri Lee, with us this week.  Expect to see her wonderful cards for the next two weeks while Charlotte Ehrukainen is away on health leave.

I hope you'll be joining us by linking up your awesome creations before Monday, October 1st at 5 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.  To see the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists, check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also linked my card up to the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs:  Get Ready for Christmas September edition

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - #409 All Creatures Great and Small

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says Anything Goes

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up -  Challenge #45 Have a Tweet Christmas

The Merry Christmas Challenge - Sept 15 to Oct 14 Challenge

WWC180 - Marsha's "All About Holidays" Challenge

Woo Hoo!  We have a brand new challenge today!  Marsha is hosting the new "All About Holidays" Challenge this week.  I'm excited because it means I could make a card for any special holiday.  How perfect when Easter and Thanksgiving roll around!

You can see a few of the choices of holidays on the banners shown in the challenge icon.  I've decided that I may as well keep adding to my Christmas stash.  I don't want to be scrambling to make my cards when it's time to write them, after all.

I chose a clean and simple design with my card base in the Heavy Whisper White.  On a regular weight Whisper White I used a circle mask to sponge Bermuda Bay topped with a light coat of Pacific Point.  Then I removed the mask and let my circle dry.  At that point I used my Memento ink to stamp the trees, the reindeer, and the sentiment from the wonderful (and still current) Nature Sings stamp set.

I added a bit of Soft Suede to the reindeer and a bit of Mossy Meadow to the trees, using my Stampin' Markers.  I attached the piece to my base using the Foam Adhesive Strips and then added five sequins.  Simple but I love the results, don't you?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.   And then I invite you to link up your Holiday creation to our challenge.

I'm also entering my card in the Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #32 - Anything Christmas

as well as in the Crafty Gals Corner Challenge 170 - Christmas in July

WWC176 - Kath's "All About Christmas" Challenge

It's Kath's turn to host a challenge this week and this time it's "All About Christmas".  I love this challenge and have a nice little stash of Christmas cards building up, waiting to be filled out and sent at the end of the year.  Such a "painless" way to do it!

I had the worst time with this card!  Oh, making it was fun and no trouble at all, but getting a decent photograph was such a pain that I almost decided to make a different card.  Why, you ask.  Well, I'll bet you think this is a blue and white card, right?  You would be wrong.  This card is definitely blue.  In fact I've used one of my favourites, the Pacific Point cardstock.  Everything else is silver.  The background to the die-cut oval piece, the scalloped edge around the embossed piece, and the heat-embossed sentiment:  all are silver.  Try as I might, they all photographed white. 

In person this card looks elegant and absolutely gorgeous.

I've used the Sparkle embossing folder.  I've also used the Hometown Greetings Edgelits.  And that sentiment?  That's from the Nature Sings stamp set.  Don't they all work well together?

I hope you'll check out the awesome samples by the other Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I'm also entering this card into the CHNC Challenge #391 - Christmas Anything Goes