BEAUTIFUL DAY

Recently I was chosen the winner at Day of the Month Card Challenge and today I'm their guest designer for their theme "Beautiful Day".  This is a holiday on 20 November and celebrates all things beautiful.   I don't think I could ever replicate the beauty of fall leaves, but I am having a go at it with my card today.

 

Recently, Kristina Werner had a video (she has many using metallics on watercolor) that inspired me and hope my card will inspire you also.  I didn't have the stamps or the watercolors that she used - instead made do with what I have.  I began by watercoloring a piece of black wc paper with various metallics - gold, pink, purple, blue mostly.  Then I die cut the leaves (carefully keeping the interior pieces of the large leaves in place).  Arranged these on a 4"x5.25" piece of black cs that was die cut with a wonky stitch die.  Stamped and embossed the sentiment and then added to a black card base.  Finally I spattered gold over the whole card.  All of the dies I used are retired but any leaves would work.

There is so much beauty in this world - nature, friends, people - I'm sure you'll find an idea for your card to enter into this challenge.

 

THANKS

Created a Thanksgiving card for Felicita's board at this week's TicTacToe Challenge #138.  I went down the center with thankful, free and any color.

 

Actually used quite a few colors for my leafy background.  Inked fossilized amber, seedless preserves and cracklin' campfire DO on kraft cs with the fall leaves stencil - inked it on one side and then flipped it over and inked again to have the leaves overlap.  Matted this in black and then onto a kraft card base.  Added the thanks sentiment which was layered up with black cs.

Be sure to link up your entry in our gallery by 11 November for a chance to one of our guest designers.

Thanks for visiting today.

MINI SLIMLINE VILLAGE

Today I have a mini slimline card for two challenges - 52  Christmas Card Throwdown (pop-up) and Die-Cut Divas (slimline).

 

I created some larger slimline cards several months ago and decided to scale down to a mini.  The whole idea is from Jennifer but I figured out my own measurements.  I used white pigment ink on the house roofs and trees, cut my own snowbanks and added the sentiment and when it was all assembled I sprayed with shimmer spray.

 

Thanks for dropping by today.

 

POINSETTIA GLITZ

A Blog Named Hero has a great theme for this month's challenge - GLITZ!!  For me a little glitz goes a long way, but you may use as much or as little as suits your fancy for your card!  I went with another Christmas card for my stash.

The base for my poinsettia is some alcohol inked acetate which I die cut with the layering poinsettia die.  Used some green alcohol inked yupo for the leaves.  I dry embossed the background with the Bold Graphic Confetti die.  Mounted all on an A2 card base, added the little sentiment, a few gold sequins and done!  As always, photographing anything shiny and bright is quite difficult and this was no exception - but that poinsettia really glistens!

 

Our generous sponsor, Hero Arts, is giving away two gift cards to our winners this month - so be sure to enter by 26 November at hashtag #abnhnovemberchallenge and tag @ablognamedhero.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

HALLOWEEN CAT IN THE HAT!

My cute little cat is all dressed up for Halloween in her favorite orange witch's hat - waiting for the arrival of Great Pumpkin????

 

My friend, Linda W., sent me the window die cut ages ago and I still had a leftover one.  ModSquad Challenge is being sponsored by Kitchen Sink stamps and I remembered I had the tiny witch on her broom stamp from KS.  Ink blended a background with chipped sapphire, dusty concord and black soot - masked off the moon and with another mask around the sky, colored it with fossilized amber.  Stamped the flying witch and clear embossed (made sure all the surrounding ink was dry!).  Added the bare trees and a bit of gray ink across the moon before attaching the window.  Positioned my cat on the sill and put it all on a wood grained card base.  Except for the KS stamp I think all the other products are retired - cat and hat from PTI, window from HA and trees from SU.

Thanks for visiting today.

 

TICTACTOE#136

If you haven't begun your Christmas card stash, now is the time with LeAnne's TicTacToe board with so many ways to go.  I chose Christmas tree, red and star going diagonally from the top left to bottom right.

 

Die cut the tree from red cardstock and made it into a shaker card with some flat gold sequins.  Added the "merry" sentiment in gold, and done!  My white base card is 3.5"x8.5" and the shaker part is 3"x8".

 

LeAnne has provided us with great inspiration - so have a go with this week's challenge - there's a chance to be a future guest designer.

 

MORE GRAY AND RED

Another gray and red card for CAS Christmas challenge.

 

 

I white embossed the background on fog cs.  Die cut multiple poinsettia petals in white and the leaves in silver cs.  The little sprigs have glossy accents on the berries. Layered up everything, added some enamel dots to the flower center and a sentiment and done.

Thanks for dropping by.

 

 

GRAY AND RED CHRISTMAS

The October challenge at CAS Christmas is to use gray and red.  My first thought was to use a red poinsettia but then decided to go with white and use the gray and red in other ways.

 

I used a little gray ink to shade the white petals and the gray leaves.  Added some glossy accents to the red berries and some red Nuvo drops for the center of the poinsettia.  Stenciled the subtle plaid background in gray. 
 

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

BIG HUGS

Today I just used layering up to make a very simple textured card for our "texture" challenge at A Blog Named Hero.

I began with some lovely patterned paper (really would like to hoard it!!).  Die cut it with the big hugs and layered up those pieces.  The pp piece is 3"x6" and I put that on a card base 3.25"x6.25 for a mini slimline card.  Added my layered up hugs to the card front along with a sentiment from the same set, some sequins and done.  The design of this pp could easily be reproduced with a large flower stamp such as Floral Rose or Bloom and Grow.

 

Our generous sponsor, Hero Arts, is giving away two gift cards to our winners this month - so be sure to enter by 26 October at hashtag #abnhoctoberchallenge and tag @ablognamedhero.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

ITSY BITSY SPIDER

Have seen quite a few edge to edge shaker cards lately and came up with an idea for using a cellophane Halloween treat bag for my shaker.

 

I was able to make two cards from one treat bag by cutting down the inside fold of the bag.  The bag I used had the spider web design on it.  I followed Mindy Eggen's method for constructing the card.  I die cut the spider and added black thread to attach it to the back of the shaker.  The body of the spider is covered with glossy accents for some added shne.  Then just put it on a black card base and done.  I think I'll look for some Christmas treat bags at Dollar Tree or one of the craft stores.

Am entering my card at Addicted to CAS (spooky) and TwoOldBats (anything goes).

 Thanks for visiting today.

 

PATCHWORK PUMPKIN

Inspired By... and ModSquad challenges both currently have pumpkins as their theme.

 

My background was done with a stencil and soft gray ink.  Pumpkin and leaves were stamped on white and colored papers, die cut and arranged with the little sentiment.  The white pumpkin on the gray rock photo was my inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

GINGKO LEAVES BOUQUET

Joanne has a wonderful variety themed board for us at the TicTacToe challenge #134 this week.  I went right across the middle with leaves, thanks and shades of brown.

I haven't used my ginkgo leaves from a PTI set (Harvest Berries) for ages - so pulled them out and die cut from watercolor paper.  Smooshed them around in some greens and then used a colored pencil for some shading.  Did the same with the orangey stalks in the background.  Made the background with a plaid die mounted on the same kraft color card base.  Then arranged my leaves in the copper pot, added the sentiment and a few sequins and done!

Have some fun creating a card with the ideas from our board this week and enter our challenge for a chance to a future guest designer.

 

HALLOWEEN FUN

Have two more Halloween cards today for three challenges - TwoOldBats, The Paper Players (spooky) and CASology (view).

 

 

My first card used some very old dies - MMH September 2016 (leaves), the Cheery Lynn screen door cat and a PTI pumpkin.  Made the wreath for the door with some of the greenery cut apart and arranged on a little circle ring.  Put my scene together on a wood grain background and done.

My second card looks like somebody needs to wash their windows!!!  Actually not much a "view" from that window!!  The card was really pretty quick and easy - die cut the window- again with a very old PTI die.  Put cobweb pp in back and adhered my spider.  The spider was cut from some black glitter paper and I also put glossy accents on the body. The spider is only glued at the top part of the window so it's dangling.  Added the little sentiment and done.

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

AUTUMN LEAVES

Texture is the theme this month at A Blog Named Hero - so many ways to add texture to your cards - embossing, layers, embellishments, paste (alone or with stencils), torn edges - there are probably many more.  My card today uses embossing, layers and embellishments.

 

Used two of the add-ons from the September MMH - autumn leaves fancy die and fall leaves stencil.  Began by ink blending a background of DO abandoned coral, spiced marmalade and picked raspberry.  Then used the stencil with more of the same colors, flipped the stencil and used DO wilted violet.  Finally I embossed this piece with a very old embossing folder.  I thought this would give it a kind of leaves swirling in the wind effect.  Trimmed to 3.75"x5" and matted with rose gold metallic and added to a gray/tan card base.  Die cut the maple leaf from rose gold and layered it up four times before adding to the card along with the sentiment and a few sequins.

 

Enter your textured card on Instagram at hashtag #abnhoctoberchallenge and tag @ablognamed hero.  Our generous sponsor, Hero Arts, is giving two prizes to our winners  this month - so be sure to enter by 26 October.

Thanks for visiting today.

 

CHRISTMAS VILLAGE

The other day Jennifer McGuire used some new dies from Concord & 9th to make 3D fold-out cards.  I had some house dies that I thought would work and figured out how to make my own slimline fold-out cards without any special dies for the fold-out part.

The houses were die cut in various shades of blues and reddish tones - trees just from green cs - then used white pigment ink to add "snow" to the roofs and trees.  Put yellow cs in back of the house die cuts so it would look like the lights were on.  All the snow banks were just hand cut - just like Jennifer did in her video.  The sentiment was die cut three times for stability - also the lamp post.  Added the little stars in the sky and done.  When folded to put into an envelope, my card measures 8.5"x3.5".  Please contact me if you are interested in the measurements I used.

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

AUTUMN BUTTERFLIES

I was trying to think of something different for several challenges - Addicted to CAS (autumn), ModSquad (butterflies) and Day of the Month (thankful) - and came up with a flurry of butterflies in autumnal colors.  Also, have had these butterfly stamps and dies and never used them. 

I stamped and die cut multiple butterflies on several pieces of pp and then played around with placement on the kraft background.  Decided it needed some texture so embossed a smaller piece of kraft.  After putting it together, I spattered with gold and white paint and made the bodies of the butterflies gold too.  My card is a mini slimline - 3.25"x6.25".

 

Thanks for stopping by today.