Just when I thought this year would never end...

...here we are! I think I've been saying this every year since 2020, but I'm very glad to be saying goodbye to this past year. In looking back on 2023, it wasn't one of any personal traumas or losses in our immediate family, but there were some in the extended one and in the neighborhood and community at large. It gets harder and harder to find tranquility and ease in a world with so much disruption. I'm thinking I'll probably feel the same by the end of 2024.

But then there's cardmaking! What a great creative outlet for us to share with our international community of like-minded individuals. In this vein I went into my office/craft room this week, and in a creative frenzy, turned out several cards that I'll be showing in the next week. This first one was done as a general greeting to my followers, but then I saw that Inkspirational Challenges had a final Mood Board challenge for the year and decided to share this first card there:

So, Happy New year, all! The Mood Board features black and gold and elegant. Good thing, because I have completely run out of white card stock! So I started with a 6-1/4" x 5" black card base. I die cut a smaller stitched rectangle in black and heat embossed an old flourish stamp with Recollections "Champagne" embossing powder. I did the sentiment at the same time and thought to add a couple of horizontal lines with a bone folder and score pad, but then since I had to reverse the panel to score it, I put the second score in the wrong place. YIKES! Instead of just starting over, I re-embossed the sentiment on a strip and placed it over the screwed-up panel. Then I die cut a champagne glass from Tim Holtz out of some iridescent ivory card stock. The champagne in the glass is die cut from some glitter rose-gold cardstock. I used the same cardstock for a narrow mat behind the stitched panel and attached all to the black card base. A couple of small black sequins for bubbles completed the card. 

The available light today was pretty flat, so it's not apparent how shiny this card really is. This shot shows a bit more:

Here's the link to the Inkspirational Mood Board:

Inkspirational: Inkspirational Challenge #306 - Moodboard (inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com)

Added January 20, 2024:

Here's a final 2023 photo to share. This is our beloved Tiger asleep yesterday right next to me on the sofa. 

 

DECEMBER MID-MONTH - TWO OLD BATS

Continuing with our Halloween/Christmas imagery at Two Old Bats Halloween Mid-month prompt... 

My "Ghost of Christmases Past" is here to remind us that 2023 is almost dead! How did that happen? This guy is an old rubber stamp from Stampfrancisco and his hat is a gnome's hat that he borrowed for the occasion. I colored and fussy cut it. I computer generated the sentiment, glued all images over a printed cobweb paper, matted it all in white, and then fussy cut five candy corns for embellishment.

Here's our fun mood board for the month. Take a look at what the Design Team is offering up for inspiration:

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: December 2023 Mid Month Reminder

We still have two weeks left in the month, so if you find yourself with a couple of extra minutes during the holiday season, join in the fun!

FINAL BLACK, WHITE & GOLD

I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago that I was completing my black, white & gold series of Christmas cards to present them tomorrow to six interior design friends as we meet for our annual holiday get-together. We don't do a formal gift exchange, but there are usually a couple of small "tokens" given out - things like small candles or sachets, or Christmas ornaments. It's all very informal, with the emphasis on companionship. These are the last two cards I finished up for my classy friends:

For this card I used a large overall poinsettia rubber stamp that I've had for years. I stamped it on white cardstock with black ink then again a couple of times on gold stock with black embossing powder. Then I fussy cut one of the larger poinsettias and layered the bracts, giving it some dimension. I die cut a frame out of a black cardstock stitched rectangle that I gold heat-embossed the sentiment on and glued over the patterned background and matted it with gold cardstock. I attached it all to a black card base and added some tiny gold beads in the center of the poinsettia.

The second card is a bit larger than the others - I made it from an A7 Strathmore stamping card and coordinating envelopes: 

The first thing I did was to cut a black panel slightly smaller than the card base and heat embossed a white wreath (Impression Obsession rubber stamp). I cut a metallic gold panel slightly smaller than the black one, die cut a stitched circle opening in it, and white heat embossed the sentiment. I mounted this over the face of the black panel and added a bow and a couple of die cut holly leaves. The final step was to glue tiny gold sequins onto the wreath.

Here are shots of the entire collection of six:

    

FINAL PAPER PLAYERS CHALLENGE FOR 2023

It's hard to come to terms with it being almost the end of 2023, but here we are in the last challenge of the year at The Paper Players. This week's hostess is the lovely and talented Claire, and she is challenging us with four colors:  

The Paper Players: PP670 - A Color Challenge from Claire

I have to admit to struggling a bit with this set of colors, mainly because I just couldn't settle into an idea - I had so many of them floating around my head. I knew I wanted to continue with filling in my Christmas card needs, but I don't have any printed papers in my Christmas stash with these colors so I knew I would have to create something from my stamp supplies. I finally settled on working with this string of Christmas lights from Papertrey Ink that I haven't used for a long time. This stamp set ("Holiday Lights") came with four different lights and my favorite one is long-gone - probably chewed up by a dog or cat or the garbage disposal in the sink where I wash all of my stamps! For nostalgic purposes I settled on this traditional shape that looks like the lights we always had on our Christmas tree in my youth. Does anyone here remember the hours it took to string up the lights and add the tinsel so that it didn't look like the tree had been just slapped together?

I started with a white stitched panel for the main image and stamped a couple of light strings with Memento "Tuxedo Black". This was followed by lights in Memento "Bahama Blue" and "Lady Bug" and PTI "Hibiscus Burst" and added an old sentiment in red. I matted this with blue and black card stocks and sat on it for a couple of days because it was looking a bit bare. I finally opted for a red eyelet and some blue satin ribbon. I glued all of this to the face of a white card base and once again sat on it for a couple of days. It was still looking a bit bare, so just before photographing it I decided on a bit of sparkle with a VersaMarker and Kaleidoscope transparent embossing powder. It's pretty subtle, but adds a bit of shine.

Postscript: This is my last week as one of the three Guest Designers at The Paper Players for 2023. 😢 I'm not sure that I really understood what I was getting myself into by a card a week, posting comments, and selecting my favorites for an entire year. I had some tech challenges with Blogger and missed a couple of deadlines, but BOY, did I learn a lot! Being able to work alongside eight such talented card makers has been a real joy. The volume of high quality work these ladies put out week after week, year after year is staggering and it astounds me - especially when I take into account that they also have busy lives and families and other interests!  My hat's off to Jaydee, LeAnne, Ann, Anne Marie, Joanne, and Claire - thank you, my mentors this year!! And thanks also to Suzy and Tara for joining in this adventure. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Nance the blog Administrator! So much work goes on behind the scenes to keep a challenge blog up and running.

I'm planning to stick around and continue to participate in 2024 (although I doubt it will be every week), and I hope my followers will as well. See you in January!

Best wishes for a wonderful Holiday Season 

surrounded by the people you love!

Fran Wing 

 

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

Cleaning up the craft room a bit I came across some glittery card stock that I bought a couple of weeks ago and set aside. I don't remember who the manufacturer is, but it's a whole line of metallic cardstock from shiny to matte iridescent to glitter and they're gorgeous. I picked up some of the rose gold - what's not to love about rose gold? Inspired by the challenge at Inkspirational - "Add Glitter", I decided to continue with my Christmas cards. 

I bought the pale blush cardstock at the same time as the glitter paper and made a card base from it. The sentiment is from PTI's "Season's Greetings" and I heat embossed it with Zing! "Blush" - there were some chunks of embossing powder that I didn't see before using my heat gun and I couldn't scrape them off. It is what it is! The gray front panel is an iridescent cardstock from my stash and I die cut it into a smaller stitched rectangle, matted it with the rose gold glitter and some dark gray matching paper (the same stock I used for my custom envelope), and mounted all of that off-center on the card base. The snowflake was die cut from the rose gold glitter and blush iridescent cardstock (Penny Black #51-561 "Snowflake Tag"). I pulled some pale gray satin ribbon through the hole in the center of the snowflakes and tied it off in a bow and added a couple of tiny rose gold sequins. The lining of the envelope is a piece of handmade rice paper that has been knocking about my craft room since the beginning of this whole cardmaking adventure.

Here's a photo showing the glitter a bit better - no sunshine here in the northwest so everything came out a bit flat.

Inkspirational: Inkspirational Challenge #304 - Designer's Choice - Add Glitter (inkspirationalchallenges.blogspot.com)

I think this card is also appropriate for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge, using the bottom row across - Free/Embellishment/Die Cut:

TTTC238 - Featured Designer Felicita - Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Added December 17, 2023:

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

I haven't participated at Christmas Kickstart Challenge for a while, so decided to join in this week with another black, white, and gold card - just when you thought I was all finished with that! At Christmas Kickstart they're inviting us to link up anything "Christmassy".

When I was working on this card I had stamped the little rectangle from Alexandra Renke twice on black cardstock and heat embossed one with gold and one with white embossing powder. So this version has been sitting on my desk for a while waiting for an idea. I decided that I wanted this version to be more white than the other, so I went with this little winter scene. I had some scraps of an iridescent white cardstock so used a stitched wave die for layers of snow and die cut a couple of little trees from Nellie's Choice #SD214 "Village". I added some gold stars from Tim Holtz and set about what to do for a frame to set the scene off. I settled on die cutting a square opening on a white card that I had die cut into a stitched rectangle - but, alas, the white cardstock was slightly yellower than the snow and trees, so I went back into my paper stash to find a white sheet that matched the snow and trees. Happily I found a textured stock and I gold heat embossed an old never-before-used sentiment below the opening. When I started putting it all together on a black card base, I decided to add a bit of gold embossing along the edge of the front panel to give it a more finished look. 

I'm pleased with this card. I've always had a real love for anything miniature and I completely enjoy doing these little scenes. 

You should be forewarned that there is still another black, white & gold Christmas card in the works! We have a close-knit group of professional interior designers here in Medford/Ashland and we've been meeting during the holidays for years for an annual gathering. My plan is to have five black, white & gold cards to present to each of my dear friends. 

 Christmas Kickstart Challenge: Christmas Kickstart Challenge #81 - If it's Christmassy, Link it Up!

Added January 5, 2024:

ANGEL WINGS

I started my day yesterday with the intention of participating with the new Color Hues #77 - Pink & Silver" challenge. Other than wanting to add to my Christmas card stash, I wasn't clear on what I hoped to accomplish. With those colors it seemed I needed something frothy and textural. I hit on the idea of maybe angel wings and remembered an old Tim Holtz die that a friend gifted me with quite a few years ago. It's one of those old really thick Sizzix dies (#658259 "Layered Angel Wings") that came out before the thin steel ones and I've never used it, because the image was like a pair of disembodied wings and I didn't know what to do with them! I think the idea was to use them on altered art behind one of the Holtz sepia-toned vintage cut-outs. In any case, the die has been in my stash for a very long time and I decided to drag it out and see what I could do with it. 

I can't decide how I feel about this card, but I spent so much time making it that I have decided to just throw it out there like spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks!    

I had thought to make the wings with layers of different colors or textures of vellum - like a ballerina's tutu. I cut so many layers with different vellums but couldn't decide on how to present them. I decided on a square format with ivory heavily-textured watercolor paper. I made a top-folded card base, using the deckle edge for the bottom opening. I cut a smaller square and die-cut another Tim Holtz die (#663117 "Snowy Stars") and matted it with silver metallic cardstock and glued it to the face of the card base. I attached the wings to the face of the card and added a silver star and pink brad between the wings to suggest a "celestial being" delivering tidings of comfort and joy. But after a strenuous search through all of my Christmas stamps, nowhere could I find that sentiment, so I settled on Peace on Earth - which we could certainly use a bit of this holiday season.

So, there it is. Like I said, I can't decide about it - it's either brilliant or completely missed the mark! I'll let all of you decide. 😅  

Color Hues: Color Hues #77-Pink and Silver (colorhuesthecolorchallenge.blogspot.com)

Added 1/01/24

Nice way to start the new year!

Postscript: Just as I was uploading this card on the Color Hues blog, I saw a lovely card by TK that I wanted to comment on and it led me to a new-to-me challenge - NBUS - "Never-Before-Used-Schtuff. What a great idea - I'm in!

NBUS: NBUS Challenge #57 (mynbus.blogspot.com)

AND, also added 1/01/2023

From Darnell @ NBUS

"The wonderful thing about human resilience is that we never give up hope for peace on earth. Congratulations, Fran, your card represents that hope beautifully."

MERRIEST WISHES

Well, this has been a fun card to make! I picked up some random light-weight Christmas papers at a sale this past week without any intentions for what I would do with them. I generally use the light printed papers to line envelopes. It's Sunday and time for a new challenge at The Paper Players, so I thought to use one of the papers for our new challenge hosted by the brilliant Jaydee - "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas".

I started out inspired by the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, which features an arrangement of circles running at a diagonal across the card with a sentiment cutting through. I thought to fussy cut a bunch of the ornaments from one of the papers (you can see it being used as the lining on my coordinating envelope), but first adhered a strip of the paper to heavier white card stock to give each ornament a bit more weight. I die cut a stitched rectangle slightly smaller than the A2 side-folded card base and just started gluing on the ornaments randomly. I white heat embossed the sentiment on a black strip of cardstock and glued it over the top of the ornament arrangement, tied a black & white baker's twine bow, and attached the panel to the face of the card base with some dimensional foam. I popped up one of the ornaments with foam and overlapped it onto the sentiment strip. Then for a final touch of festive bling, I glued on some pink sequins.

I'm looking forward to seeing what our Paper Players blog followers do with Jaydee's theme. You should see what the other designers have come up with to inspire you! Hop over to our blog and check it out:

The Paper Players: PP669 - A Theme Challenge from Jaydee 

 I'm also including my card in the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches #614:

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #614 - A Sketch by Jen B 

DECEMBER TWO OLD BATS

Yes, we at Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge are just batty enough to attempt combining Halloween and Christmas images! This is always a bit of a struggle for me, but I came up with a card I'm actually pleased with, based on the upper left quadrant of our inspiration board.

Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge: December 2023 Anything Halloween

I started with a white top-folded card base and a winter holiday sentiment usually used on Christmas cards. I stamped an Impression Obsession jack-o-lantern image in black and colored him with my Copic markers. Then I over-stamped an old PTI Christmas light string, fussy cut some tiny, printed candy corns for lights and dropped a spider from the string. I added the little web at the light string with a fine black pen. The sentiment from Impression Obsession was the final layer and I die cut this all into a deckled edge rectangle, matted with black card stock. It was all looking a bit bare, so I added the striped paper at the bottom of the card and attached the die cut panel to the face of the card. A handmade envelope from coordinating card stock finished everything off.

If you're in the middle of your Christmas cards, just pop on a Halloween image and send it on to us for our enjoyment! If we get to 25 entries there's always a drawing for a special gift. Check in with all of our designers and see what they're offering up for this December challenge.