Christmas Card Challenge - March - Manger

The theme for my blog's March's Christmas Card Challenge is Penny Black Manger Die.

I chose some different type of paper and color.  It is a Karen Foster design called Maroon Shimmer.  It is paired with a slighter darker card base in the same color from a Michaels collection.

I cut the label from champagne pearl card stock with one of the Stampin Up Apothecary Framelits. I adhered it to the designer paper then onto the card base.

I cut the Penny Black Manger die from the same card stock as the base.  It is held in place with a tiny purple brad in the star and in the bottom point.

The greeting was created with a banner from the Stampin Up Itty Bitty Banner thinlits topped with a SU Word Window punchie with color printed words. It is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Thank You Cards - Corner Rounded Squares

I prepared another set of Thank You cards Compassion House.

Here I paired some corner rounded square in warm tones with an ivory printed layer and an olive colored card.

The cross on the printed greeting layer helps me align my squares.


The next set of squares were paired with purple cards.  I produced one which creates a flower with the Thank You greeting

For the last one in this group I used black and white snowflake paper. I aligned 3 of them along the top of the card. 

I placed a Stampin Up Itty Bitty Banner greeting below mounted with 3D foam tape. 

Delivered those today.

Watercolor Flora Card

This card is for one of my card exchange buddies.

I started with a left over from making samples for my Art Card Stack Class which is coming up soon.
I decided to watercolor this card with the Stampin Up Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  I used a water brush to apply the color.  I used Garden Green, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Cherry Cobbler and Not Quite Navy. I used Not Quite Navy to add spatters to the element.  It was cut to 3 7/8 inches square.

I added a length of Spring Moss grosgrain ribbon on the left hand side of the card front and taped the ends to the inside.

I stamped the greeting in Cherry Cobbler with the Itty Bitty Banner Stamp set the die cut it with the Bitty Banner Framelit set.  I mounted it to the right of the ribbon with 3D foam tape.

I used a water brush to paint the color onto my card element.  I applied a bit of color to a clear stamp mount with the crayon then painted from there.  In my opinion, this is the best way of doing.  You can You can collect the color directly from the crayon onto the brush which works okay if you want a bit more intense color. Applying the color directly with the crayon to your paper puts too much color, makes it too dark and it has very fat end for coloring. 

I bought the crayons second hand and I see that I got some colors from the Rich Regals set and some from the Earth Elements set.  I am very happy with the color selection.  These will last me my life time. 

Banner & Squares

I started with a navy card. 
I added the greeting layer from this card club card.  I punched four large 1.5" squares from the decorative card stock.  I adhered them inside the printed square.  I cut a banner hole with one of the framelits from the Bitty Banner set just below the greeting.  I placed a scrap of decorative paper behind the greeting layer allowing it the show through the banner shape. 
I adhered the banner cut out over the junction of the four corners in the center of the printed square.

Santa - Card Challenges

I made this Christmas Card to satisfy a few card challenges.
I started by cutting the Sizzix Santa Head die once in white card stock, once in white felt and 1 in red card stock.  I cut the red hat and nose and glued them to the white card stock one.  Then I took the head band & pompom from the hat and the eyebrows & mustache from the face of the felt one and adhered them to the same white card stock head.  I placed a piece of navy card stock behind the eyes which coordinates with the navy greeting.  I adhered a piece of damask designer paper onto the citron card leaving a small border. I adhered the Santa Head paper pieced head on the right hand side of the wide card. I adhered the color printed greeting cut with the Stampin Up Bitty Banner Framelits with 3D foam tape on the bottom left hand side. I attached the white felt snowflake to the top left hand corner with a red star brad which coordinates with the red on the Santa hat.

Submitting this card to the following challenges:

Holly Jolly - Santa
Weekly Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut`s Christmas April Challenge - Anything Goes

Christmas Card Challenge - April - Green/Foliage

It's time again for my monthly Christmas Card Challenge.  The challenge for April is Green / Foliage.  Foliage could be pine trees, wreaths, evergreen branches, Christmas tree, poinsettias, holly, and much more.
My choice is  a green wreath on a window with a night sky behind on a deep red card. I pulled the Cuttlebug Holly Wreath die and folder combination from my die storage, which I have never used. I chose dill textured card stock. First, I cut the wreath with the sizzlet die then ran it through the embossing folder to add the textured design.  I cut the window from white card stock with the Memory Box Grand Madison Window die.  I spritzed a piece of navy card stock with white acrylic paint to create a night sky and adhered it behind the window.  The element was adhered to card front aligned along the top edge.  I then adhered the wreath centered on the window.  A bling Zot holds the red thread bow over the embossed one on the die.  I color printed the greeting onto white card stock and cut it with the Stampin Up Bitty Banners Framelits thin dies.  I adhered it  below the window.

Turquoise Snowflake

This is a card made with my own decorative card stock.  In among the various shades of green it had some turquoise spots so I chose that color for the accents.   I cut the decorative layer with the Memory Box Snowflake Collage die.  I chose to place a piece of deep turquoise behind one of the snowflakes in the upper right hand corner. I mounted the die cut to the card front. I added 2 tiny white brads in the center of the large snowflakes.  I added a Stampin Up banner in turquoise cut with the Bitty Banner Framelits.  The greeting is color printed in a coordinating green and punched with the SU Word Window.  This greeting is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Christmas Card - Madonna

I created this Christmas card for the same friend who wanted a variety of cards.  I found this image on Pixabay which hosted royalty free images.

The image of Mary and baby Jesus was soft and lovely.  I printed it on the card front with a taupe border.  I added a Crumb Cake greeting from the Stampin Up Come to Bethlehem stamp set cut with the Bitty Banner Framelits.  It is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

It's a lovely card.

Ready2Go Card Kits - Festive Flurry Snowflake

I started with the Stampin Up Festive Flurry Ornament Kit.  I chose 4 of the 6 elements in the kit to make a set of card kits.  I printed a narrow border in the same color on the Soft Sky card front in order to ground the snowflake.  I adhered the largest Crumb Cake snowflake then the super sparkly glitter snowflake then the smallest Soft Sky snowflake which is mounted with 3D foam tape.  I cut the Crumb Cake circles that came with kit in half and it was mounted in the center of the card aligned with the bottom edge.  I printed greetings in Crumb Cake and cut them with the largest of the Bitty Banner Framelits and adhered it over the half circle. The greeting is from the Come to Bethlehem stamp set.

Triple Stars

I selected the Stampin Up Well Worn DSP and a Cajun Craze card.  I followed this tutorial for the sunburst. I cut a piece of DSP to 4.5x6 inches which I cut into 4 pieces of 4.5x1.5 inches which were cut in half on the diagonal.  I cut 2 from Not Quite Navy card stock as well.  I marked the center of the card about 1 inch from the bottom edge. I placed the points on the mark and played around with their placement. Once I was happy, I glued them down.  I trimmed all the DSP pieces to the edge of the card. I cut a narrow strip of NQN card stock and adhered it just below the horizontal edge of the DSP across the card.  I cut 3 stars with the Sizzix Stars#2 die; large in Early Espresso, medium River Rock, smallest Cajun Craze. I trimmed the largest star to the edge of the card.  The greeting is from the Itty Bitty Banners Stamp Set which was stamped NQN on River Rock and cut with the Itty Banner framelits.  It was adhered on the right of the star accent.

Submitting to the following challenges:

TGIF Challenges - TGIFC16 - Sunburst Sketch

SU ColorQ - cQc 303

Card Club - Feb - Scallop Oval

Here are the cards for Card Club for February 2015.  We will have a good time tonight card making and visiting.

I started with the designer paper from Glitz Design - Sparrow Daisy. It had lots of colors and a solid color on the back which would work well with the layout I had in mind. I cut the DSP with the Sizzix Frame Oval Scallop red die then I turned the scallop frame over to show the orange then I placed the oval back inside and taped them together on the back.  I selected a card based on a color in the oval then I added a white embossed layer with the Cuttlebug A2 Rebecca folder.  Onto the white layer I glued the oval frame. I color printed the greetings and punched them with the Stampin Up Word Window punch.  I layered it onto a black banner cut with one of the SU Bitty Banner Framelits which was adhered with 3D foam tape.  To balance the layout I added a black flower punchie with a white flower sequin held in place with a tiny black brad.

I made kits which had yellow, blue, teal or purple cards.

HPC - Butterfly Trio

I made this card for the Home Page Card Challenge.  We were asked to use one of our new crafting supplies.  The butterfly is a new thin die for me. It's the Sizzix Winged Beauties thin dies.  I used the 2nd in size.  I had hoped to make the card landscape but 3 across does not fit so I switched the orientation to portrait.  I cut the butterflies from sparkly decorative paper. I applied adhesive just to the centre of the die. I layered them onto a banner of white and added thin borders of black card stock on either side.  I offset this accent to the left a bit.  I stamped some small flowers on the right hand side with black Onyx Versafine.  I added a black die cut banner from the Stampin Up Itty Bitty Banners.

Card Club - November - Christmas Penguin

We made Christmas cards tonight.
I selected my colors based on the central image of the penguin.  The card is black and I cut the red layer to leave just a small border and glued it to the card front. I cut the white layer with the Spellbinder Nestabilities Labels 22. The yellow oval was cut with SB Nestabilities Ovals. These were added to the top half of the card.  The penguin is a sticker and was set in the center of the oval.  The greeting was cut with the Stampin Up Bitty Banners Framelits.  I cut another banner of the same size from card stock matching the card to create the shadow. The shadow banner is cut crosswise then glued offset to either end.  The banner was there added to the card front with 3D foam tape.  I added the dots around the oval with a black marker to create a frame.  The alternative was a red card with a black background layer.

Baby Announcement Cards

I made these baby announcement cards for a friend's daughter who is expecting a baby and the shower is today!

I went with non traditional colors of yellow and green.  I used Stampin Up digitals: Letter It Stamp Set and Ice Cream Parlor Ribbon and Buttons.  The colors are Daffodil Delight and Old Olive. The letters were given a shadow to add dimension. I designed the main element and color printed. I added it to a layer of yellow.  I used Bazzil Mexican Poppy because I did not have Daffodil Delight card stock.  This was then layerd onto a white card.
The banner was color printed and cut with the Bitty Banners Framelit set.  It was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

The insert was customized with these colors.

These clear boxes are working out so well to present a set of cards in a professional and elegant way.