Elizabeth (KKC09)

 

This week’s Ka-pow Kreative Challenge is a colour challenge featuring colours I never use. It was particularly difficult for me to include the regal rose, so at first I added it sparingly with my marker to the Elizabeth stamp. That was just a bit too subtle, so I coloured my whisper white ribbon with a regal rose marker and actually loved the shade that I was able to obtain. I put an antique brad on it and it all came together for me.

 

This week’s colours are Regal Rose, Cajun Craze, River Rock, and Soft Suede. I used a versamark pen on my image to slightly darken the leaves and spritzed some soft suede over the sentiment to fit the overall tone. You can see that I used the Harlequin Big Shot Texturz plate on the soft suede cardstock to give the card a bit of dimension. Check out the challenge and consider giving it a try!

A Little Birdie Told Me (KKC08)

 

Well, this is just a bit late – somehow I did not realize that we were back to our Artistic Avenger challenges. Now that Christmas is over, it’s time to make some thank you cards and maybe a few New Year’s Day greetings. This card is for Carrie’s  Ka-Pow Kreative Challenge. It would be great to see what you might come up with, so come on, check out the challenge!

 

 

 

 

How did I do it: I made little 1 inch tiles using Baja Breeze on Whisper White. Each tile has a little punch of Silver Glimmer and a tiny Cherry Cobbler dot on top of that, each tile adhered with a glue dot, to give it a bit of height.

The sentiment comes from the Thank You Kindly set and is embossed Cherry Cobbler on vellum on top of some Cherry Cobbler cardstock. It’s adorned with a little Cherry Cobble baker’s twine that the cute little bird from Language of Friendship has picked up with her beak.

 

8 More Out The Door

 

I just love the glittery paper. Using my big shot and the new stocking punch, I created a clean simple card. The glittery paper is a bit tricky to get a clean cut using the big shot thinner dies, so I had to use my scissors to get the word “Joy” completely separated. Now I’ll head across the border and mail the last of my U.S. cards and then it’s gingerbread house-making all day at my son’s school. Can’t wait for the two-week break!

For My Family

This set of cards took a little longer to complete. I stamped and embossed the flowers on Sunday and then took them with me to a friend’s open house so that I could fussy cut around the edges–it was a casual party, I multi-tasked. Then I watercoloured them on Monday with Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler. I let them dry and then watercoloured some more with my twinkling H20s.

As you can see, I then adhered them to de-bossed Garden Green and added a sentiment. Because the twinkling H20s made the Cherry lighter, I used Pretty in Pink for my label and of course, stuck some of those cute little pearls on.

I used the new pewter embossing powder for the flowers–I like the look of it and would love some pewter paper to go with it. A couple more details: I did fussy cut some of my flowers completely, but thought they actually looked better with the bit of Very Vanilla showing. I also added twinkle to the Pretty in Pink–none of which shows up in the photo, but it is all very shimmery.

I also finished my Christmas letter this week, so everything is going in the mail!

Peaceful

Today I’m sending off another batch of cards in the mail. For these cards, I used my Northern Flurry embossing folder and highlighted the image by dusting it with pastels.I did that with my Halloween embossed cards and really liked the look.

The birds were leftovers from last year when I used the movers and shapers big shot die (Holiday Windows). You can’t really see it here, but I smudged some shimmery paint along the edges of the bird–it looks better in person–and used a little pearl for its eye. The sentiment is from SU!’s Christmas Lodge set.

Bright Lime Green Christmas

Here’s another card that I just made (times 8). I used some great rub-ons again, added some cute little pearls and obviously embossed paper (neither are SU! products, oh well).

A few hints about rub-ons: use a proper bone folder to rub the images on, not that cheap popsicle stick that comes in the package! Place your image very lightly on a page and adjust it as needed so it comes out relatively straight on your page (I eyeball it). As soon as you put any pressure down, the image will begin to stick and then you will have to commit to that placement (don’t worry, work a crooked image into your overall design). After you have rubbed it thoroughly with your bone folder, very carefully and slowly lift up the carrier paper–watch closely as you do it and rub a bit more on any bits that are not adhering. Voila! It’s done. Now don’t let any part of your hand touch it, because sometimes an image will stick to your hand and come up off the paper. Rub-ons can be a bit finicky to work with, but they are so crisp looking, that it is worth the effort.

Almost 100 cards . . .

 

Every year, I make about 100 Christmas cards, usually about 12 at a time of one design, then I go on to another design. That’s a lot of cards, and I never feel like doing them early–I like to sit by the fire, drink cocoa, listen to Christmas songs and make my cards. I include a little note in each one and I find it very relaxing . . . though some cards barely get out the door before the 25th.

This year, I am using some finds from the Stampin’ Up! Clearance Rack. Let’s face it, only my SU! friends know what’s this year’s or so very last year! The bargains are tremendous!

This card is from a kit, but I added rub-ons and some of this year’s Dazzling Details glitter in cheery Cherry Cobbler. Love it! Inside, I used the photo frame part of the kit and more rub-ons.