*Less Is More #399*

I found some time to playing along with the current Less is More challenge... the theme for #399 is Celebrations.

The first thought I had was "birthday"... I'm sure you could interpret it many different ways (Christmas, graduation, anniversary), but I went with the birthday idea.  As this is another Clean and Simple challenge blog, I went with some small pops of colour on a very clean card.

It took a lot to step away from this card... I feel like it needs something more. 

Items Used:
Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green, Only Orange
Ink:  VersaFine Claire Nocturne
Die:  Stampin' Up! Celebrate You, Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banner
Stamps:  MFT All Smiles
Tools:  Big Shot, Perfect Layers, Scor-Pal
Embellishments:  Wink of Stella clear

*AAA Birthday Game #2*

Once again, very excited to have had some time on my days off to play along with the AAA Birthday Card Challenge blog....  this month, their challenge is to use water colours in your creation.

Now, I will admit, I haven't done a lot with either my water colour markers or my Ken Oliver Colour Bursts, so I was a little unsure of what I wanted to do.  I was cruising Pinterest and found a post with a colour combination I liked so I decided to play a little bit... and this is what I ended up with

And you know what?  I like it!

I used a bright blue and bright green colour of my Zig Water Colour markers on a piece of water colour paper.  I started by scribbling the colours on the paper and then moving it around with water.  I then added more colour while the paper was still wet and added more water to get the colours to move a little more.  I know I need to keep playing with this as it's pretty amateur but I am pleased with it.

Instead of hitting it with my heat tool to force it to dry more quickly, I let it sit for a half hour to dry on its own.  I put the panel in my Misti and inked up the stamps by Lawn Fawn with Black VersaFine Claire ink (my new favourite!).  I used the Misti because I knew I wanted a very crisp black on top of the water colour so I was able to restamp the images several times to get the darkness I wanted on the textured water colour paper.  To finish off the card, I used my Perfect Layers Tool to create a 1/16" blue border around the water colour panel and then put it all on to a white card.  And, true to me, I added a little sparkle to the centres of the balloons with my Wink of Stella clean pen.

Thanks for popping by for a visit!!

*Happy*

I can't believe we're at the end of March already....  I don't know where the weeks go.  The older I get, the faster it all seems to go by!

I really like how this card turned out.... I used one the stamps from the Avery Elle Happy Happy Happy stamp set with a few colours of Catherine Pooler inks.  I stamped it on a diagonal on the front of a white panel.  I found it super easy to line it up and managed to do it without my stamp positioning tool.  I added a blue layer with (you guessed it) my Perfect Layers Tool before putting it on a white card.  I coloured a piece of white cardstock with Catherine Pooler inks and my Life Changing Blender brushes and cut out a flower from an MFT set.  I added some Wink of Stella on top for some shimmer and added it to the card front, adding a clear gem to the flower centre.

*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

*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.

*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.

*Another New Die*

This is another almost card front sized die that I got recently.  I have no idea who makes it.  I cut it out of white and then layered it on to a same sized piece that I sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Inks to create the background.  I layered it all on to a white cardfront with foam tape to create dimension.  And to finish it off, I painted the words with my Wink of Stella clear glitter pen.

*Thank You Card Series*

As I said in an earlier post, I needed to make some thank you cards.  I wanted to send some cards to a few people who truly made a difference during the last several months while I battled colon cancer.  Just a little something to let them know how much their kindness and effort meant to me.

This was another of the thank you cards I made... I used a very old Inkadinkadoo stamp set with some Catherine Pooler ink to create the swirls.  I added the Thank You stamped with CP inks (Concord & 9th stamp set) and then again with VersaMark so I could emboss it with Stampin' Up! Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  And then I set the card panel aside cuz I wasn't sure I liked it.

I decided to keep trying to play with it....  I used some Catherine Pooler ink and sponged the edges of a white panel and attached my stamped panel to it.  I used my Perfect Layers Tool to create the border and put it all on a white card.

And it still didn't feel right.  So Bonnie suggested some Stickles on the dots.... which I did.... and it still didn't feel right.  So Bonnie suggested flicking my Wink of Stella pen on it... which I did...and it still didn't feel right.... so then I flicked on some of the silver Wink of Stella and finally it felt OK.

*Another Thank You*

Not quite done with the thank you cards....  just a few more to go....

I played with my Copics and my Silhouette again for this card.  While the Silhouette was frantically working to cut out the thanks on black cardstock (again, three layers), I was busy stamping and colouring these flowers by AlteNew.  I was originally going to make this a one layer card, but as I started to colour with my Copics, I knew I couldn't.  So, after colour the panel (and stamping the leaves with the Eucalyptus ink by Catherine Pooler) I cut 1/4" off the top and one side of the cardstock to create a panel.  I then attached it to a white side folding card with foam tape.  I added the cut out thanks and added some Wink of Stella to the centres of the flowers and to the thanks.

*A Valentine*

I can't tell you the last time I made a Valentine.  Over the Christmas holidays I won a prize from Scrap n Stamp and I was excited to see it was hearts since I have *nothing* with hearts.  I was inspired by a card that my friend Bonnie made and decided to try it myself.

The heart die and little heart stamp are by Lawn Fawn.  I cut them out of white cardstock and stamped the little heart on them and then dragged a grey ink pad along the edges.  I used some Ken Oliver Color Burst powder with a water pen to create the scribble background and once it was dry I covered it with some clear Wink of Stella.  I used pop dots to attach the hearts to the card, added a Catherine Pooler sentiment and used my Perfect Layers tools to create the black matte.

It's funny... when I had just the scribble background, I didn't like it at all.  I placed the hearts and still didn't like it.  I took the hearts off and added the black matte and the Wink of Stella and suddenly I liked it!

*2017 Christmas Cards #35*

More of those beautiful Snowflake Splendour snowflakes from My Favourite things...  added a greeting stamped in black and it was too stark, so I covered it with silver Wink of Stella to try to dull it down again.

*2017 Christmas Cards #34*

I got this stamp set from Close To My Heart ... it was the stamp of the month when I placed an order and I honestly didn't even know I'd be getting it.  I stamped it in Catherine Pooler ink and cut it out (I wish I could have packed my Brother Scan n Cut to take to my sisters!).  I put it on top of a dry embossed layer and on to a light blue card.  I added some silver Stickles to the base and went over the snowglobe with my Wink of Stella pen.  Sadly, that made the ink run just a little bit.

*2017 Christmas Cards #30*

I loved THIS card on Pinterest and had to try it for myself... so quick and simply with Stampin' Up! trees, Catherine Pooler inks and the sentiment from My Favorite Things.  I added Wink of Stella over top of the words.

*2017 Christmas Cards #22*

I saw a card like this on Justine Hovey's blog and loved it... but I don't own any of the stuff to doing foiling so I got a little creative.

I inked up the background stripes with Rockin' Red Catherine Pooler ink in my MISTI and then inked it up again with Versamark ink and embossed it in clear.  I did the same with the words by My Favorite Things.  I then used the My Favorite Things stitched circles to cut out the sentiment as well as a black layer and layered everything on to a white card.  I added a white Impression Obsession snowflake and coloured over it with a clear Wink of Stella pen.

*2017 Christmas Cards #16*

I had some fun playing with the Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval set.

I started out drawing a circle in the centre of the card with a pencil and I stamped the three different images in Catherine Pooler Ink (Grass Skirt, Lime Rickey and Rockin' Red)  around the circle.  I stamped the sentiment and used the My Favorite Things stitched circle to cut it out and added pop dots on the back to adhere it to the front panel.  I used my Perfect Layers Tool to create a perfect 1/16th" border in red and layered it all on to a white card.

You can't see it in the photo but I added some Wink of Stella in clear on the sentiment for just a little sparkle.

*2017 Christmas Cards #3*

I fell in love with this card when I created it....

I started with a strip of white cardstock that was 5 1/2" X 2" and I sponged on three different shades of blue ink (Catherine Pooler).  Once it was dry, I stamped some Impression Obsession snowflakes on the panel with VersaMark ink.  Once again, I let it dry and then stamped the two pieces of the sentiment (Simon Says Stamp) in black VersaFine ink.  I then added a white My Favorite Things snowflake die cut with a little touch of silver Stickles in the centre.

I had originally thought I'd use the panel on the card but with the other orientation of the card so I left a little white border along the edge....  when I started designing I didn't like it... so I turned the card and added some silver Wink of Stella along that white edge to make it silver and sparkly

At first I worried that there was too much white space... but the more I look at it, the more I like it.

*Second in a Style*

Very similar (almost the same) to the last card I posted...  different stamps, different colours, but same card...

*One Layer Celebrate*

Another very quick and easy card.... one little layer and that's it!  I stamped the flower (AlteNew Henneh Elements) with VersaFine and coloured with shades of pink Tombow markers.  I added the sentiment, stamped in VersaFine as well.  I added some Wink of Stella in clear on the flower to make it sparkle a little

*2016 Christmas Cards #31*

I don't remember buying this snowflake and swirl embossing folder... but I am so happy I found it in my stash when I went to play the other!

I had an idea of a card from Pinterest that I wanted to play with so I cut the "merry" out of silver glitter paper.  I then started to figure out how the card would go together and realized that I, the Queen of Snowflakes, did not have a snowflake that was going to work for the design.

I knew I wanted to do silver, white and red so I pulled out a few things, put them back... pulled out a few things again and came up with this card.  I added some clear Wink of Stella pen to the embossed image and a thin line of silver glitter gel pen around the end of the embossed layer.

And you know what?  I really like it!