Joyful Poinsettia Christmas

 The calendar tells me there's only a week until Thanksgiving, and Christmas is just around the corner! At Color Hues we are inviting you to bring out red and metallic gold to make your cards over the next two weeks. Christmas or not, these colors are elegant and full of possibilities! 

I am making every effort to dig into supplies from my stash and bring them out for inking! The Joyful Poinsettia stamp (W Plus9) makes a beautiful background. I stamped it in Versamark ink onto Real Red card stock, and heat embossed it with glittery gold embossing powder. 

The sentiment is in gold foil and I adorned it with  three red gems. 

Sparkle and elegance are my favorites for Christmas cards and this one has both. It's much more glittery IRL! 

Can't wait to see what you will make with these colors. Please join us!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

 Supplies: Sentiment is from Gina K Foil-Mates Joyful Holiday

I'm adding this to Peace On Earth Challenge

Reminder for The Flower Challenge: Yellow and Black

 Take a break from holiday stamping and join us at The Flower Challenge! Just a reminder about the November challenge to create cards using yellow and black. 

My first card for this challenge went heavy on the yellow hue. This time the black and white blooms take center stage with a bright pineapple yellow on the side.

Making a gatefold card with the opening off center gives this card a unique bit of interest. 

Please be sure to check out the DT designs. I hope you'll be inspired to play along! 

Radiant Red and Gold

 Hi and happy Monday! Christmas cards are coming fast and furious at our house and I'm happy making the cards I look forward to all year! I have so many stamps for Christmas but today's card features a new-to-me rubber stamp by Penny Black called Radiant Red. You can never have too many poinsettia stamps! 

I love to watercolor. I stamped with Toffee Crunch ink onto Canson Watercolor paper and used Distress Ink re-inkers to color the blooms. I've long been a fan of PB but Jill's recent videos about batch stamping have inspired me to try her system to avoid decision fatigue. In giving this a  try over the weekend, I found myself sitting to paint and work on this card (and others) in little bits of time between football games and home duties. 

A simple card but dressed up with a beautiful sentiment, a border die and gold flat sequins. I'm playing at The Paper Players today 

the Penny Black Saturday Challenge 

Merry Little Christmas Challenge 

and adding this to NBUS as well. 

Thanks so much for your visit. I hope you're having a wonderful day. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Other supplies: small sentiment - Penny Black Jolly Snippets; LawnFawn Just stitching Double Rectangles, Sentiment Dies from Birch Press Design

Sketchbook Bouquet for The Flower Challenge

 Greetings to you, friends! It's a new challenge at The Flower Challenge where we make florals the main feature of our cards. This time, we've added a color option to use yellow, black and white. 

I've been enjoying combining older supplies with  new products, so I pulled out the Sketchbook Bouquet stamps by Lori Craig. (Taylored Expressions.) The outline stamps include a die and a stencil. Although the lines are delicate, I thought they work perfectly with the bold color palette. 

I stamped on white card stock with black ink and heat embossed with clear EP. Watercoloring with Scattered Straw and Squeezed Lemonade Distress inks, I also placed the mask over the bouquet and ink blended lightly around it to add highlights to the background. I really like yellow, so I went with it! Spatters of black ink with a damp brush are a go-to for me. I finished it off with a bit of ribbon. 

Please check out the lovely DT samples. You have a month to play along. Hope that you will!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Blue Roses Birthday for Color Hues

 Hello and welcome to a new month! That means a new challenge at Color Hues! Dear Julie B chose Light Blue and Purple for us to use. You know, I thought at first of snow flakes but I decided to go with - you guessed it - flowers. 

It started with a gorgeous new-to-me shade of purple from Concord & 9th that I fell in love with. I usually avoid purple or use pastel tones but this time I went BOLD with the main panel. 

I love the result! Pairing pale blue roses and a sentiment from The Greetery for the focal point, I added a layer of gold foil card stock for a bit of shine. Because these colors are so out of my wheelhouse, I really felt pleased when it was done. The 'challenge' is real, that's why we do them, right? It is how I began stamping and how I keep learning! 

We hope you will check the DT samples and fill our gallery with this pretty color combo! Thanks for checking in. 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies:
The Greetery - Fleur Impressions stamps and dies; Opposites Attract stamps and dies

Spellbinders: Plaid Company EF
Concord & 9th - Cardstock and ink - Grape         Soda, Lilac card stock

Season to Sparkle with Kindness and Joy

 Hello, I'm getting into the Christmas spirit! I'm happy to be here with a second card made just for the fun of playing in some new challenges. A new to me challenge, Christmas Craft Creations' theme is monochromatic cards. There were several entries that inspired me and a huge variety of color combos. 

I loved the idea of using pink and purples, so I searched my DSP files and found the retired paper from SU that forms the background panel for my card. 

The second challenge at 52 Christmas Countdown features one of my favorite techniques. Make a shaker card! My snowman image was stamped with Fig ink (Concord & 9th) onto white card stock and colored simply with Copic markers in rosy hues. A little ink blending around the snowman and a white snowy strip at the bottom help complete the scene. 

The new-to-me stamp and die are called Kindness and Joy from Penny Black. You can never have too many snow-people stamps, right? The sentiment is from a lovely PB set called Jolly Snippets that has some of the cutest sayings in small sizes and varied fonts.

Thanks so much for your visit today, I'm beginning to feel back in crafty rhythm again! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'm adding this to the challenge at NBUS
Cut it Up Challenge Blog - Add a sentiment 
Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Joyful Christmas

How are you doing? This fall weather has given us a cool spell but the last few days of warm weather have been fabulous! 

 I've been in a stamping slump lately. I have 4 cards a month to make for DT gigs, and I make them very far ahead to avoid last minute stress. Doing it that way means I have a couple days of spurts for cards needed, and then a week or two or three goes by with no stamping. I'm not sure if I am losing my mojo or losing interest but I intend to kick myself into action with some challenges just for fun this week. 

Beginning with Just Us Girls where Nancy asks for a CAS card where we only use the center area of the card. She suggests that is easy and I agree, it was great to start with something simple. 

My hexagon dies (WPlus9) were inked with wood grain and I added a die cut border. Stamping a sentiment from SSS directly to the panel, I added a stamped image from Merry Sprigs (The Greetery) and layered three of the die cuts for extra dimension. Three simple pearls adorn the sentiment.

I will keep the stamping going and the blogging a bit short. Thanks for coming by to take a look. Your comments always boost my spirits and are so welcome!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Other Challenges entered: 

Krafty Chicks any occasion 

October Rudolph Days 

Simon Says Anything Goes

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge