MY FAVORITES OF 2014

I began my blog on 6 January and I'm so glad I got up the nerve to do it.  Will be traveling home from London on the 6th next week so while I have a little time today here am posting my own favorites from the year.  Have had a wonderful time here with my son and family - went to see "Edward Scissorhands" at the Sadlers Wells theatre - fantastic choreography - beautifully done.  Spent some time in Canterbury with my DIL's mom and dad, went to school with DIL Sarah for 3 days - she is the deputy head of a Catholic primary school - worked with year 6 kids on helping them to write winter poems and then took them out in small groups and did watercolor backgrounds for their poems now that I am the watercolor expert:-) from all my great experience - NOT!  But they had fun just playing with the colors and splattering - also taught them how to cut snowflakes - the poems and the snowflakes ended up on a large bulletin board in the hall by their classroom.  Later today I am meeting up for a glass of wine with a stamping friend whom I met online and have been corresponding with for several years.  We have met before but it's always fun to catch up in person.

Below is the winter display from St. Joseph's School in Kingston, London.

And here are my favorites from my first year of blogging.

I haven't figured out how to align the pictures horizontally even after googling how to do it - still greek to me.  So it just has to be a very elongated post.

Also, I am at 999 followers on my Pinterest Boards - wish someone would help me get to 1000 by the end of the year!!!

Best wishes for a wonderful 2015 to everyone who stops by.  Hugs,  Betty

CHRISTMAS CARD FOR 3 CHALLENGES

I started out to design this card for Merry Monday's challenge (bird) and then realized I could also use it for Curtain Call (aqua and lime green) and Paper Players (fancy).

I adhered the silver dot vellum to white cardstock and die cut the tag.  Die cut the bird from silver paper and covered it with glossy accents to give it some shine.  The branch and sentiment are cut from glitter paper.  I colored the silk ribbon with a copic marker. 

Supplies: HA sentiment, MFT tag, MB bird & branch dies; May Arts silk ribbon; DCWV and SU glitter paper and Neenah metallic cs.

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  This may be my last post for the year as I leave for London next Sunday to spend Christmas with my family there.  May you have a peaceful Christmas and a blessed New Year.  Betty

 HERO ARTS SCRAMBLE #99

Today Natalie challenged us to use an "old" Hero Arts holiday or winter stamp.  Took me forever to think of something, much less make a card - which actually turned into a tag.

I recently bought a Tim Holtz die set of pine boughs and holly so cut those out in green. Stamped the tag background with woodgrain in distress ink and rubbed the edges with more ink.  Then I overstamped in white with a spatter background stamp to give the effect of snow.  Embossed the sentiment and ornament (fussy cut), added some gold floss and done - only it took me nearly 70 minutes to accomplish!!!!  And then I still had to photograph and upload - nearly didn't make it in 90 minutes!

Supplies: HA CL551, S5208, CH188; Heidi Swapp splatter stamp; Tim Holtz dies; DMC gold floss; Colorbox frost white and Ranger walnut stain inks

Thanks for visiting today and your kind comments.   Betty

NOVEMBER CCC

For Deb's November Card Challenge I made this card for Heather in Ireland.  The colors were taupe, brick red and dull gold which I used and the card sketch.  Only put "happy" on the card and didn't write inside in case Heather ever needed a quick card,  she could stamp a sentiment to go with "happy" and send it off.

I like to have these kinds of cards on hand just for that reason.

Supplies: MME pp and enamel dots; SU "sahara sand" cs; HA "Happy" die

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

GOLDEN BELLS

The challenge for this week at Merry Monday is Christmas bells and I'm just getting this card in under the wire.

I didn't think I had anything with bells in all my stash of stuff and then remembered some PTI bell die cuts a friend had given me ages ago - didn't like the paper so embossed them (they curled a bit, but I rather like that).  Also just embossed the tips of some pine boughs with white to add the effect of snow.  I didn't add a sentiment on the front 'cause I thought it was "busy" enough with the paper.

I am also entering this in Card Concept Challenge which is krafty Christmas.  I think I would put this in the "classy and elegant" department because of the gold bells.

Edited to add: Card Concept Challenge picked my card as a winner - woo hoo!!

Supplies: PTI "Bells" die and pp; Ranger Liquid Platinum and HA white embossing powder; CheeryLynn pine dies

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

PEACE WITH STARS

Made another card today for the Fusion challenge with a little variation from the first one I made.  This one also follows the sketch somewhat.

I first stamped and embossed the circle wreath and sentiment in silver and then added a single layer of the die cut wreath.  Added the silver stars and shiny red floss and done.  It used to annoy me that the floss frayed so much, but this time I just let it go.

Supplies:  HA silver embossing powder and CG620; MFT wreath die; DMC shiny floss; Teresa Collins silver stars; Essentials by Ellen brushstroke "peace"

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

PEACE

Fusion has a new challenge this week which is so inspiring for a Christmas card.  So designed my card today around the photo.  Also entering this in a2z Scrapbooking's "anything goes" challenge.

 Stamped the circle wreath and embossed it first, then cut out the center circle and added two layers of the silver wreath.  Stamped and embossed the sentiment, then made the shaker part before mounting all on the card base.  Added the shiny floss bow and done.

Supplies: HA CG620 and Essentials by Ellen stamps; MFT wreath die; HA silver embossing powder; DMC shiny floss; Neenah metallic cs

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

JOY SHAKER CARD

I started this card with the colors (blues) from Fusion's challenge in mind - only by the time I finished the deadline had passed.  Oh well, another card for my stash. I saw this card on Pinterest the other day and CASE'd it - the shaker and joy part anyway.

I sprayed the background with silver spray and then put the rest of it together.  Put aqua sequins and glitter in the shaker.

Supplies: HA silver spray; Essentials by Ellen "Brushstrokes" die & sentiment; Neenah metallic cs

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

JOY

Today I made a matching card and tag with a couple of challenges in mind.

Virginia's View challenge is metallic and CAS-ology is festive on a tag.  At a2z Scrapbooking blog the challenge is "anything goes" using Hero Arts.  I used the same stamp, papers, ink, die, and embellishments for both.  Even though the background card is the same on both the lighting makes them look different - both are a pearlized card.

Supplies: Hero Arts CG620 stamp; Essentials by Ellen "joy" and MFT stitched tag and rectangle dies; Neenah metallic cs; DMC gold floss; champagne pearls from Michaels; Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

TREE-MENDOUS TREES II

Another card for Moxie Fab World's tree challenge - basically using the same technique as I did in my previously posted card.

This time though I cut two layers together for the card front.  Then sandwiched the polka dot vellum between the two layers, added the glitter tree and sequins.

Thanks for stopping by and always enjoy reading your much appreciated comments.  Betty

TREE-MENDOUS TREES

Over at Moxie Fab World there is a challenge to use trees.  I had seen Cat's card and wanted to create something similar - I figured she did partial die cutting but that's all I figured out.  So just did my own thing. 

I placed the circle die and tree die together on the cardstock and die cut.  After snipping the bits where the dies had overlapped, I embossed the piece. Next I attached the patterned paper to the back, inlaid the glittery tree, and popped it all up on a card front.  Added the sequins,  rhinestone centers and some dots of glitter pen in the centers of the dots and done.

Supplies: CB embossing folder; SU glitter paper; IO "Fancy Trees" die; sequins and stuff from my stash

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

ANOTHER WREATH

Merry Monday, Festive Friday and Time Out challenges all have a similar rustic theme this week, plus I used the sketch from Freshly Made to design my card.

I stamped and gold embossed the circle wreath and the sentiment before adding the die cut wreath (2 layers).

Supplies: HA CG620 and HACL619 stamps; MFT wreath die; MME enamel dot

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

A WREATH FOR A FEW CHALLENGES

Merry Monday, Festive Friday and Time Out challenges all have a similar rustic theme this week, plus I used the sketch from Freshly Made to design my card.  I die cut two wreaths from gold card and distressed with a little ink - all the other edges were distressed also.  Glued 4 layers of cs together for the sentiment to give a little more texture.

Supplies: HA "Merry" and MFT wreath dies; MME enamel dots; Neenah gold metallic and SU sahara sand cs; Ranger walnut stain distress ink

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

HERO ARTS SCRAMBLE

Today Lin challenged us to make a wreath card in 90 minutes.  Everyone's cards will be posted here.

I had just bought the wreath die so naturally that was a given to use.  Stamped the background for the wreath in versamark and embossed.  Cut two wreaths and layered them, added the bow and sentiment, rounded the corners and it was done.  I think it would be an easy card to reproduce and fun to do with different colored bows.

Supplies: HA CL619 and CG620; MFT wreath and bow die; MME enamel dot; Neenah metallic cs; Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder

Thanks for stopping and always love your kind comments.  Betty

SNOWFLAKE BURST

Merry Monday's challenge this week is snowflakes, neutral colors and dry embossing and Virginia's View new challenge is "metallic" - so made this card to fit both.

The center snowflake is 4 layers of card with a gold gemstone in the center.

Supplies: HA DC116 (sentiment); HA silver shimmer spray; Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder; MB snowflake burst die; IO snowflake die; SU glitter paper; HA gold metallic gem

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

SUSPENDED SNOWFLAKE
Merry Monday's challenge this week is snowflakes, neutral colors and dry embossing and Virginia's View new challenge is "metallic" - so made this card to fit both.  Awhile back Jennifer McGuire had a tutorial which showed how she suspended a diecut in an opening.  Quite easy to do and very effective. 

First I cut the openings, then embossed and finally lightly sprayed with some silver shimmer spray.  Cut two snowflakes and after putting the gold thread in place, sandwiched the snowflakes.  Jennifer explains the whole process much better in her video.

Supplies: Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder; SB circle die: Essentials by Ellen "peace" die; HA clear smooth gemstone; DMC gold floss; Neenah metallic cs; IO snowflake die; HA silver shimmer spray

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

SNOWFLAKES

This is one of those cards that started entirely differently in my head - and then the inlaid snowflake was a bit off and had to fix that (couldn't just write it off as another piece of paper!) - but rather like the end result.  Actually, I had wanted to follow the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and got that turned around too - a whole lot of creative license here!!

Anyway, inlaid the large snowflake and covered up the boo-boo with vellum and glitter snowflakes, added another on the bottom to balance and gave each a nice shiny silver gem and called it a day.  This is also for the Merry Monday challenge which is snowflakes and neutral colors.  I didn't add a sentiment 'cause I thought it would make it too busy for my taste.

Supplies: HA Snowflake D1064; Impression Obsession small snowflake; Neenah metallic cs; SU glitter cs; Teresa Collins "Tinsel & Company" pp; HA silver gemstone; PTI vellum

Thanks for stopping and your kind comments.  Betty

PEACE

Had some background papers that I had made using the "cling wrap method" by Loll and distress inks sitting on my desk...so stamped the holly leaves in Versamark and silver embossed, die cut the sentiment 3 times and put it all together with some silver metallic paper and a white card base.

Entering this in Addicted to Stamps holiday challenge (thanks Barb for the suggestion).

Supplies: HA CL795 "Holly Jolly"; HA silver embossing powder; HA silver gemstones; Neenah metallic cs; Peace Brushstroke die - Essentials by Ellen

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

3 TREES TAGS

Today the scramble on the Hero Arts discussion group was to create a triptych (a work of art, usually a panel painting, that is divided into three sections) in less than 90 minutes.  Well, I was totally befuddled and after one attempt at stamping and cutting it apart I gave up on that.  So went to 3 tags with 3 trees and 3 different sentiments - at least I fulfilled the "3" part of the challenge.

And now I have 3 Christmas tags to boot!!  I think the tree stamps are from a very old Archiver's HA exclusive and with the tag shape it does rather look like a triptych:-D.  Love doing these scrambles because it really does challenge my creativity!!

Supplies: MFT tag die; HA CL797; PTI ink "deep avocado"

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.   Betty

FUSION CHALLENGE

Fusion has a wonderful inspiration photo this week - loved the colors - but... it turned out to be one of those cards that spent hours in my head and about 5 minutes to put together.  I also couldn't find a peachy/orangey color in my inks that I liked for the roses - so finally watercolored a piece of paper so it was the peach color, stamped the flower in a soft pink and then stamped the orange inside the flower - did the same for the leaves.

There were so many things from which to choose for a focus, but knew the roses were first.  Then went with the slant of the staircase and the black and white to keep my card pretty clean and simple.  I tried the sentiment many ways before putting it down curvy and I'm happy with it.

Supplies: PTI "Rosie Posie"; MME "Charmed" pp; SU "Dusty Durango & Tangerine Tango", PTI "Sweet Blush", Ranger "Shabby Shutters" & "Peeled Paint" inks: Essentials by Ellen "Celebrate" die

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

GOLDEN MUMS

While watching the World Series tonight (had to be doing something tho since my Royals weren't doing so well), I created a card for two challenges - Paper Players #218 and CAS(E) This Sketch #96.
It's clean and simple using gold for Paper Players and then followed this sketch.

Supplies: PTI "Mum's the Word"; Technique Tuesday sentiment; Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder; Neenah metallic gold and astroparche cs

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

ONE STAMP - THREE CARDS

Today on Merry Monday, the challenge is to use non-traditional colors on a Christmas card.  So challenged myself to make three with the same stamp and in three different layouts.   For all three, I used a new holiday stamp from Hero Arts.

I did this card in green and grey - first white embossed the poinsettia and then sponged with distress ink.

I had the watercolored background in my stash so started with that piece for a color scheme of pink and turquoise.  Same technique with distress inks for the flower, but used copics on the leaves.  Also colored the pearls in the center with copics to coordinate. 

The pink and copper card was embossed with the solid stamp from the set.  I did two and cut out the center of one for a layered look.  Made my own little copper "berries" by dropping globs of Glossy Accents on my craft mat and then sprinkling with the copper glitter and let dry before adding to the center of the flower.  Just did the copper glittered leaves by putting tape on a piece of card and adding the glitter - then free hand cut.  Pretty messy - don't think I'll do this very often - maybe never again - wish I had had some copper stickles (is there such a thing??).  I had bought the pink embossing powder earlier in the summer - can't say I like it very much - doesn't compare to the "shinyness" of Hero Arts. 

I'll probably send some of the many Christmas cards I've been making lately to Jennifer McGuire's Caring Hearts Drive - it's a wonderful cause and there are even prizes.

Supplies: all three used HA CL796 "Peace Poinsettias"
Card 1: Teresa Collins "Tinsel & Co." pp; HA white embossing powder; MME enamel dots; HA 658286 - Medallion embossing folder; Ranger distress ink - shabby shutters; Ink - Memento London Fog
Card 2: Ranger distress ink - tumbled glass, spun sugar, picked raspberry; Ranger embossing powder - spun sugar; HA white embossing powder; Copics - BG72, BG75
Card 3: Ranger spun sugar embossing powder; MS copper glitter; PTI "Holiday Flourishes pp; SU "Sahara Sand" card base

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments are so appreciated.  Betty

ONE DIE - THREE CARDS

Teresa Collins' Christmas paper was the start for these cards today.  As I leafed through the pad I found the gold and silver star page and decided to use it for the background.  The first tree was cut from silver metallic card and gold embossed along the edges.  The sentiment is three layers of card in the metallic gold.

I'm going to add this to PTI's Make it Monday challenge (use gold embossing on edges) and also Merry Monday's current challenge of "Silent Night".

The next card uses the same elements, except I cut the extra parts of the die twice and added the top and bottom of the tree in gold to a silver base.

The negative parts of the silver were added to a gold base and dry embossed for the third card.  The sentiment is 3 layers of card and I added some glitter pen to it (sorry it didn't photograph very well).
It was fun trying to get 3 different cards with basically the same supplies.

ETA:I am entering the cards in Moxie Fab's Tree-mendous Trees Challenge.

Supplies: PTI "Merry & Bright", Memory Box "Peace" and HA "Merry";  Neenah  metallic paper; Ranger liquid gold embossing powder; Teresa Collins' "Tinsel & Company" 6x6 pad

Thanks for visiting today and your comments are very much appreciated.  Betty

FALLING LEAVES

Die cut some leaves from the same piece of watercolored rice paper I used for the butterfly in my previous post - tipped them in gold and then designed the card.  The center panel is another piece of rice paper that I had watercolored with distress inks.

I am entering this in the Simon Says Stamp color coordinates challenge - my colors are much softer than the challenge colors tho - just find it hard to do those bright colors!!

Supplies: Cheery Lynn leaf and Essentials by Ellen Zipper Panel dies (sentiment only); Distress inks - wild honey, seedless preserves, ripe persimmon and shabby shutters; Neenah metallic and HA cardstock; Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder

Thanks for visiting and always enjoy your comments!  Betty

AUTUMN BUTTERFLY

On PTI's Make it Monday this week, Danielle Flanders used a technique of just having the edges of a die cut tipped with gold.  Have seen many gorgeous cards with leaves tipped in gold, but decided I would do an autumnal butterfly.  My friend Cindy had sent me some rice paper which she said was fantastic for watercoloring and I had made some sheets with various distress inks.  It really works beautifully and dries very flat no matter how wet it is.  Then didn't know what to do with the papers - so die cut a large butterfly and designed from there. 

Die cut another butterfly from some gold polka dot vellum and a sentiment from gold card.  The background was dry embossed with another die.  Added some gold thread behind the butterfly and a few sequins and done.  Wish I could have photographed the gold on the edges better.

Supplies: PTI "Life is Beautiful" butterfly, Essentials by Ellen "Zipper Panel" and MFT stitched rectangle dies; WRMK vellum and Neenah metallic gold and astroparche cardstock;  DMC gold thread; Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder; Distress inks - wild honey, seedless preserves and ripe persimmon

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

PEACE

The theme for this week's Merry Monday challenge is "silent night" - so thought "peace" would be an appropriate sentiment for this card done in shades of blue with some silver and glitter.

I made the background by inking a lace doily stamp with distress ink, spraying it liberally with water and then stamping it onto watercolor paper.  The tree was die cut from glitter paper and embossed.  I made the snow just by tearing a piece of cardstock and used a silver glitter pen to outline the snow.  This was a very quick card to make once the background was made - I actually stamped a large sheet so I could make more cards like it.

Supplies: HA S3519 and CL796; Distress ink - tumbled glass; DCWV glitter paper

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

OCTOBER CCC

Every month Deb Nolan hosts a card chain challenge - sign up on her blog and send a card to the person above you on the list - very fun and you meet lovely stampers from all over the world.  There's also a prize randomly drawn every month.   Actually, I started my Flickr page because of this challenge in 2009 so I'd have a place to post the cards I made.  This month I'm sending a card to Deb - I used the colors from the challenge - gold, persimmon and deep iris.  I did the watercolor background with PTI's "Harvest Berries" with distress inks and lots of water.  Made another purple leaf, die cut and added on top with some gold sequins for berries.

No sentiment on this one - Deb can add whatever she likes if she wants to send it on.  Try this challenge - you'll like it!!  Am also entering this in TIMEOUT challenge which features Heather Telford and her lovely watercoloring.

Supplies:
Stamp: PTI Harvest Berries
Inks: Ranger distress - Ripe Persimmon, Wild Honey, Seedless Preserves
Paper: SU "Very Vanilla"

PINK AUTUMN LEAVES

Today as I was looking at Gayatri's blog, I found a challenge to use pink, peach and gold.  As I was still in the autumn leaf mode and the technique using reinkers & baby wipe for the ink pad mode, I created this card.

Entering this in Gayatri's challenge at Winnie & Walter blog.

Supplies: HA E2252 stamp; HA CH187 gold metallic decor; HA vellum (very old); Essentials by Ellen sentiment from Zipper Panel die; Neenah metallic cardstock; PTI melon berry and sweet blush inks

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

AUTUMN LEAVES

Today in the Hero Arts Flickr Discussion Group 90 minute challenge, we were to make a seasonal card for either autumn or spring.  Since HA's leaf stamp was still on my desk, I used it again but stamped it with a technique Julie Ebersole did the other day on The Classroom blog.  Basically, you just use drops of reinkers on a baby wipe as your ink pad.  After I stamped the leaves, I overstamped with the script and then spritzed the whole thing with pearlized water.  Since I hadn't used watercolor paper to begin with (duh!!) it really buckled - dried it with my heat gun and then ironed it on the back to flatten - worked fine.  Think I'll do some more of these this afternoon, now that I have the mess on my desk!!

After doing all that on the card, I used vellum for the sentiment - it would have been just my luck to ruin it by just stamping it on.  Also am entering this in TIMEOUT challenge for making a card inspired by Heather Telford using autumn leaves.

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps, E2252, S1832; Distress reinkers - Old Paper, Antique Linen, Milled Lavender, Peeled Paint; SU reinker - Really Rust

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty