*2019 Christmas Cards #3 & #4*

I'm playing along with the ABC Christmas challenge again this month....  and I left it kind of late in the month to be able to do this in two different posts.

First, is my C is for Candy card... I used the Candy Cane Season stamp set and punch from Stampin' Up as well as inks from Catherine Pooler to create this card following the challenge at the AAA Cards blog.

My second card is D for Decoration...  I used a die from my stash and cut it out of both a white shimmer paper as well as a dark blue shimmer paper and did an inlay with the pieces.  I also added the bow die from My Favorite Things Filled With Joy set cut out of silver shimmer paper.  I added put it all on a dark blue shimmer layer before adding it to a white card base.  I was going to add a sentiment but I decided to embrace the white space instead.

*Sunshine and Rainbows*

I wanted to play with some old Stampin' Up! patterned paper and ink to see what I could do to change it up a little.  So I used my Catherine Pooler inks in Lime Rickey, Fiesta Blue and Tiki Torch with my Picket Fence Studios blending brushes to create the strip along the side of the card.  I then added the Hello Bluebird sentiment stamped in the Fiesta Blue ink.

I dunno... feels like it needs something...

*Until My Cheeks Hurt*

I am back on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today with another clean and simple card...  I was dreaming of spring with this card after many many days in a row of cold temperatures in Calgary.  I created this card on the first day that the temperature got close to freezing... amazing how good that felt!  Our temperatures have been up and down again since then.

For this card, I used stamps from My Favorite Things and Lawn Fawn as well as paper from My Favorite Things.  I coloured the flowers with Tombow Markers.  Of course I used my Perfect Layers tool again to create that little orange border around the top panel

I also added a little shimmer to the flowers with my Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen.

*How Old?!*

A quick black and white card with a little pop of purple and pink for you today... I stamped the Gerda Steiner unicorn and sentiment on some white cardstock and coloured his mane and horn in pink and purple Copis.  I used my perfect layers tools to create black and white layers before adhering it all to a white card front.

*Wish*

Just a quick and easy card for you guys today...  I started with the Stampin' Up! patterned paper and used my Perfect Layers Tool to get a 1/8" green layer behind it.  I then used the Perfect Layers again to get a 5/8" black mat behind that and then layered it all on to a white card (I really like a crisp clean white card base!).  I stamped the Impression Obsession word in black ink on white cardstock and cut it and the purple layer with MFT stitched rectangle dies and layered them on to the front of the card.

I fought the urge to embellish the card...  I decided it was busy enough already!

*Sending Sunshine*

Another Concord & 9th Turnabout for you... these images from from the Hello Sunshine set.  I did turns 1 and 3 in orange ink and turns 2 and 4 in yellow ink.  I then stamped the sentiment (from the same stamp set) in a red ink across the centre.  I used my corner rounder to trim two corners of the the front square and then layered it on a red cardstock and used my Perfect Layers tools to get that 1/8" border and then trimmed the two corners again with the corner rounder.  I added it all to a 4.25" square card and once again trimmed the corners of the card.

*It's Your Day*

I decided to not totally give up on all of my Concord & 9th Turnabout Stamps... and finally got this one lined up the way I wanted.

Once again I played with some Catherine Pooler inks and created this small square for the front of my card.  I knew I didn't want a square card so I played around with a few ideas.  I used my Perfect Layers tool to create a black mat for my front panel and then added some gold and silver speckled black ribbon from Stampin' Up behind the focal image and then layered it on to a card.  I added the sentiment, stamped in Midnight Catherine Pooler ink

*Scrap 'n Stamp Blog Hop*

Welcome to the Scrap 'n Stamp "Some Like It Hot" Blog Hop!  If you are following along the hop, you should have come here from Dawn's blog

This Blog Hop is coffee, tea or hot chocolate themed.  I was so thrilled to see this great Lawn Fawn stamp set and bought it as soon as I saw it.  And since I don't drink coffee, I decided to make mine a hot chocolate card.  All I could think while I was making this card on a very cold and snowy day, was that I really wanted a hot chocolate!

I stamped the green mug first... then stamped it again on a full sticky Post-It note and cut it out to create a mask so that I could stamp the smaller cup so that it looked like it was behind it.  I added the interior stamp of the marshmallows that also gave the line to show the inside rim of the cup.  I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the cups and marshmallows.  I coloured both cups and the hot chocolate with Copics (E30, E33, YG17, YG23, BOO, B02 and C1) and then added the steam in a light grey ink and the sentiment in a chocolate coloured ink.  I added a blue layer behind my white layer and then put it all on to a white card.

I added some shading to the marshmallows with a light grey Copic and then used a Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen to create a little sparkle on the marshmallows.

I hope you will follow along with the rest of the blog hop to see what the other members of this fabulous design team have come up with!  Your next stop is KIA!!  I look forward to seeing what you come up with for our theme!!

Of course, there are prizes to be won!  We will be giving away a total of 9 prizes!  There will be one prize from each of the designer blogs listed below as well as one prize of a $50 gift certificate chosen randomly from all of the people who comment!  Be sure to visit all the links below and leave your comments for your chance to win!

Tara
Dawn
Nancy E  *you are here<-- are="" here="" span="" you="">
Kia
Chala
Laurie
Susan
Nancy F
Deb

*You Are My Happy*

I wanted to play with the technique is used in this card, something I saw Jennifer McGuire do with inks, Perfect Pearls and and embossing folder.  I played with this technique in the spring but simply did rectangles in the centre of my card but I wanted to play with something different.

So I started by cutting a MFT heart out of printer paper and using the piece of paper without the heart as a mask.  I used a Picket Fence Studios Life Changing Blender Brush and a few shades of pinks and purples from Catherine Pooler to create a heart on a white card panel.  While the ink was still a little damp and blend-able (and before I removed my stencil), I brushed on some of the white Perfect Pearls with a soft brush and then burnished it all on with a soft cloth.  Once it was all dry, I sent the panel through my Big Shot with an embossing folder.

At this point, I left my card to sit for a while cuz I just didn't know what I wanted to do.  Literally, a few days later, I put the card back in front of me and added a black pen line around the heart to make it stand out more.  I layered the panel to the front of a card and stamped my sentiment from MFT on a piece of white cardstock with black VersaFine ink and trimmed it up to create the banner and I attached it to the front of my card with some Lawn Fawn glue.

While this card took my days to complete, it was really a quick and easy card....  it just took time for my brain to figure out what I wanted to do!

*Sending Smiles*

I keep trying to get these Turnabout stamps from Concord & 9th to work and I just keep messing them up.  I bought the alignment jig as well as the pieces of acetate with the images  printed on them to help line things up and still, every time I play, things aren't perfect.  Thankfully with this card it isn't glaringly obvious since I put the big gem in the centre of the flower.

This is a 4.25" square card, all the inks are Catherine Pooler.

*Weenie Birthday*

I love dogs....  and finally have a doggie set to play with!  I saw this Gerda Steiner set with the weenie dogs and I just had to have it.  Isn't he just the cutest?

I stamped him, the balloon and the sentiment (all from the same set) with Memento ink and coloured in the elements with my Copics.  I am so thankful to Jenn Shurkus for her colour combination suggestions and for the idea that two colour shading can be just fine on a card (as I suck at three colour shading).  I used E30, E33, YG17, YG23 and R32.  I added a green layer behind that front panel and some Wink of Stella to the balloon.

*Happy Wishes*

You know... I hate it when you have a card idea in your head and no matter what you try, you can't get it quite how it looked in your head. 

That's what was going on with this card.  I started with the dotted zig zag stamp in Grape Crush Catherine Pooler ink and the circle "wishes" stamp... I couldn't get it cut out just right or stamped just right so I did the best I could.  Originally this was going to be a tall card with the zig zag along the left side of the card... but I just couldn't make the elements work together how I saw it in my head.

So instead of tossing the card and the whole idea, I played some more until I came up with this card.  I was at the crop and had a limited selection of cardstock colours so I had to create my own coloured paper for the layer behind the front panel with some Catherine Pooler ink and the Picket Fence blending brushes (my tip for these brushes is a light hand and build up the colour slowly).

*A Little Hello*

A very quick and easy card today.... I took a white panel and cut off some at the bottom.  I attached a piece of patterned paper from MFT to the back of one piece and added a piece of white at the bottom, leaving the patterned paper revealed by an inch.  I then trimmed the front panel to 4" X 5.25" and I attached it to the front of a white card.  I stamped the MFT greeting along the top and bottom of the patterned paper insert.

You could make a great set of cards to give away as a gift using this technique... different colours or patterns of paper and a different sentiment on each.

*You Are So Awesome*

I was at another day-long crop on February 2nd and while I didn't make a lot of cards, I was happy to have some creating time with some good friends.  I don't know how 10 hours at a crop can fly by so darn fast!

I started this as a one layer card and then realized, half-way through colouring the Concord & 9th banner, that I would have to add some layers as I was using Copics (and I'd hate to have the ink showing through on the inside of the card).  So I trimmed the front panel down, added a layer of green paper and put it all on to a white card.  I added some pearls to the bottoms of each of the pieces of the banner and finished the card off with a sentiment from Lawn Fawn.

*Mandala Maker*

I had some fun with my GinaK Mandala Maker and some Catherine Pooler inks... I added a sentiment by Hello Bluebird to finish it off.

After the card was done, someone was looking at it and said "it makes me think of hedgehogs"... and while I didn't see that while creating the card, I totally see it now (and can't unsee it LOL!).

*First Design Team Post!*

Check out my post on the Scrap 'n Stamp blog today to see how I created this great valentine with alcohol inks and my ScorPal!

*Birthday Balloon*

Happy Sunday everyone... it is cold and snowy here in Calgary but I still managed to get out for a 20 minute walk.  When I went out this morning it was almost -40C (which is -40F) so you can believe I was dressed in layers, the only skin showing was around my eyes and I moved fast!  Today was my 892nd walk in a row...  I have walked every single day, some days fast, some days slow, some days a long distance, many days not.... but every single day since August 25, 2016.  Cool, eh?

I spent yesterday at a crop with three good friends... it was a truly perfect way to spend a cold cold day.

This card uses dies from My Favorite Things and Simon Says Stamp as well as paper and a stamp from My Favorite Things.  I added some sparkle to the word Happy with my Wink of Stella clear glitter pen.  It was pretty quick and easy to throw together.

*Playing Around*

How on earth is it February already??!!  I hate that time seems to fly by so fast, but so happy to know that soon I won't be going home from work in the dark... and maybe even my early morning walks will soon be out of the darkness!  I always enjoy seeing the sunrise on my walk!

I was playing around with an idea that showcases my clean and simple style but challenging myself to use some images that aren't something I'd normally gravitate towards.  This Catherine Pooler mug from one of the Foundation Box stamp sets had never seen ink before... and I wanted to add some interest so after I inked the stamp I used a clean snowflake stamp to remove some ink to create a design on the mugs.  This is a true one layer card... just the folded card.  The sentiment is by Hero Arts.  I used a Tombow marker as a water colour to colour the hot chocolate in the mugs and added some little marshmallows with a white gel pen