2018 FAVES

In 2014 when I began my blog adventure, my first post was my favorite cards from 2013.  So today I am writing my 554th post with my 2018 faves.  Link on the captions to go to the original posts. 

Happy Birthday

Butterfly

Bicycle

Wonderful Day

Blue Sakura

Happy Everything

Blue Iris

Lovely

Joy

Red Bird

The bicycle card was a winner on Inspired by All the Little Things challenge and the blue iris was for my Casology guest designer spot.

As always, thanks for visiting today and all the other days of the year - have a wonderful 2019.

SNOWFLAKES

The theme this month at A Blog Named Hero is "winter" and what could be more wintery that lots of snowflakes!  Especially here in Nebraska!!!

I made my own background with individual stamps, but this one would be much easier as it's a wonderful snowflake background stamp.  My background was stamped in Versamark and clear embossed.  Then I die cut the large snowflake (sorry it's discontinued) and made my card into a shaker using some iridescent sequins.  There is silver foil paper behind the die cut so the whole card is quite shiny.  I didn't add a sentiment as I thought it would distract from the design.

Be sure to enter a winter card in our challenge this month - there's a prize for two winners - $50 and $25 prizes are up for grabs!

I am entering my card in the A2Z December challenge - Winter Wonderland.

Thanks for visiting today and keep warm!

HOLLY DAYS

One more Christmas card and I hope I'm done!  Also needed a card for my A Blog Named Hero post today.

 

 

I used an older Hero Arts holly set for my card, but this one would also work well.  I stamped the holly with black ink and colored with alcohol markers - fussy cut it.  Then used the same stamp to make a background using Versamark ink and clear heat embossing.  The sentiment was done the same way so it's all a shiny background.  Cut down the panel to 5x3.75", backed with fun foam and added to a soft grey base.  Adhered the holly and a few red enamel dots for berries and done!

A new challenge begins tomorrow at A Blog Named Hero - be sure to check it out!!

I am entering my card in the Happy Little Stampers December CAS challenge - emboss.

Thanks for stopping by today and happy holly days!

ORIGAMI POCKETS

Do you have a stash of patterned paper?  Here is an idea for using some of it.  I like to give a little gift to some of my friends and this is it for this year!

I used 6x6" squares of double sided Christmas papers and folded them into these little origami pockets, stamped the sentiment and tucked a chocolate in the pocket - done!  Once you get the hang of the fold it's super easy to make a bunch in no time flat!  Here's how to do it!   I used my MISTI for stamping the sentiment.  

I am entering this in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - "Wrap It Up".

Thanks for stopping by and hope you might like to make some of these for your friends.

NOVEMBER CARD CHAIN CHALLENGE

One of the themes from which to choose at the Card Chain Challenge for November was deer - so made another scene with my woodland trees embossing folder.

I am sending my card to Hilary in England - also included some snowflakes with my card as she told me it seldom snows where she lives.  My card is also very glitterry as I spritzed it with some shimmer spray.  Hope she likes it!

Thanks for stopping by today and hope your day is wonderful. 

ECLIPSE CARD WITH MICHELLE

I was so pleased when Michelle Lupton asked me to join her Christmas card challenge again this year. 

I challenged her to do an eclipse card.  For my card I stamped a Christmas bouquet from the PTI Spruce and Sprigs stamps set.  I die cut my sentiment and popped it up with black foam.  Added some clear crystal drops to some of the berries, matted it in black and mounted it on a pale gray card base.

You can see Michelle's wonderful card here. Thanks Michelle for having me join you in this fun challenge.

Thanks for stopping by - love to read your kind comments - hope you have a fantastic day.

LEAVES OF GRATITUDE

The theme for this month's challenge at A Blog Named Hero is "grateful".   Our Thanksgiving Day was just last week (and I am so thankful I was able to spend it with my daughter and family) so I made a card with the colors of fall (my favorite season).

The technique I used for my card is sometimes called Joseph's coat and I did use many colors for my leaves - Hero Arts inks Butter Bar, Dark Quartz, Field Greens and distress inks Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, and Gathering Twigs.  When I had finished sponging all these colors (except Gathering Twigs) on my piece of white cardstock, I let it dry overnight - really important to have your piece completely dry.  Before stamping the leaves with Versamark, I rubbed the panel with my embossing powder pad.  The leaf stamp I used is an older Hero Arts block maple leaf, but this one or this one from their current collection would work equally as well.  The leaves were then embossed with clear embossing powder.  Finally I sponged the Gathering Twigs distress ink over the whole piece and used my microfiber cloth to rub away any excess ink.  I cut the panel down to 5"x3.75" and used fun foam to layer it on my card base.  The sentiment was cut from some copper metallic cardstock that was in a My Monthly Hero Kit awhile back.  Added some "dew drops" with glossy accents and done.

Here's a closeup of how pretty the copper looks against the fall colors.

 
There are prizes to be won for this month's challenge - a $50 and $25 gift card to Hero Arts - so enter your card(s) here to have a chance at winning!!

I am also entering my card in the a2z Scrapbooking challenge for this month which is "give thanks".

Thanks for visiting today and always love to read your kind comments. 

 

NOEL

The challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to use a big bold sentiment.  And as it so happens, I had been working on several cards with just that kind of sentiment.

The Christmas bouquet was created with PTI's Spruce and Sprigs stamps which is one of my favorite sets of theirs.  The sentiment uses Altenew's Bold Caps which were popped up with some fun foam.  The card base is PTI's soft stone and I added a few red Nuvo drops to give some dimension to the berries.

I am also entering my card in Addicted to Stamps... for their challenge using a holiday theme.

Glad you stopped by today and hope you like my card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Thought I'd better get going on a few more Christmas cards this week and maybe do one with more of a masculine feel. 

I started my card by stamping one of the layers of the tree from the Color Layering Christmas set across the bottom of white watercolor paper using Forever Green ink.  Next I took my olive green Zig watercolor pen and a little water and "filled in the blanks".  The water also drew out some of the stamped ink.  I then die cut this with a stitched frame.  To put the card together I cut a dark gray mat, put some foam tape on the frame and then popped the inside piece in the rectangle.  Added the little "Merry  Christmas" sentiment and done.

A new challenge begins tomorrow at A Blog Named Hero - be sure to check it out! 

My card fits into the current Addicted to Stamps... challenge so am entering it there.

 

Hope you like my card today and thanks for visiting - have a wonderful day.

SAGS

I have two friends who are new to stamping and want to learn various techniques for making cards.  So once a month we have a little stamping session.  We call ourselves SAGS - Sunday Afternoon Gorgeous Stampers!

This past Sunday I showed them how to use a brayer to ink up an embossing folder.  I had made two cards and had all the bits and bobs ready for them so they could make a card with their embossed/inked background.

 

We used broken china distress ink for making the sky background and were able to do at least two inkings.  After cutting that piece to 5x3.75, we hand cut a piece of white for the snow, added the tree and deer, put it on a card base and done.  On the card with the stag, I used a bit of watercolor to add a shadow.

 

Thanks for stopping by today - love to read your kind comments.

 

 

POINSETTIA SHINE

A few weeks ago I took the latest Altenew Academy class - Let It Shine Holiday Edition with Carissa Wiley.  Life seemed to get in the way and I only have one card finished for my homework.  

 

Carissa showed us how to add shine to our watercolors by adding some shimmer spray.  Since I didn't have any shimmer spray, I added some Perfect Pearls to my Altenew watercolors to paint my poinsettias - difficult to see in the photo but those lighter parts on the poinsettia are really shiny.  On the card base I stamped some mistletoe with some morning frost ink. 

I am entering this in CAS Watercolour Challenge for this month which is Christmas florals and greenery.

Thanks for stopping by and love to read your kind comments.

FALLING LEAVES

A Blog Named Hero has a fantastic color palette this month for our challenge - perfect for any autumn card you'd like to create with Hero Arts stamps.

I used alcohol inks on yupo paper to create a colorful piece for my leaves which were die cut from the Grateful Leaves set.  Next I used the die to dry emboss the leaves on kraft paper which was cut to 4"x5.25".  Then I rubbed mother-of-pearl Nuvo mousse all over it to give it a pretty shine.  Added this to a kraft card base, arranged my leaves, the little sentiment, added some black Nuvo drops and done.

There are prizes to be won for this month's challenge - a $50 and $25 gift card to Hero Arts - so enter your card(s) here to have a chance at winning!!

Thanks for dropping by and always love to read your kind comments.