FINAL HOLIDAY CARD

I thought I was completely finished with all of the holiday cards, and I could finally retire all of my Christmas supplies for the year. But then I saw what was happening over at CAS Colours & Sketches for their 450th challenge. We are challenged to select one of the previous challenge sketches from 2021 and make it seasonal. Okay, I can do that!

  

The sketch I selected is #415 from April 13, 2021:

This design was almost completely made with dies - the stitched rectangle is from Pink Fresh, the circle of stars Avery Elle, the stitched circle opening LDRS Creative, and the little village images are Alexandra Renke. I added a sentiment from Penny Black that I heat embossed with Stampendous "Detail Silver" embossing powder. After assembling all of the elements I added three tiny gems. 

CAS Colours & Sketches: Challenge #450 - Celebrating a Milestone with a Clean and Simple Seasonal Challenge! (cascoloursandsketches.blogspot.com)

Added January 7, 2022:

WHAT'S UP?

What's up at our household is decorating for the Holidays - always a HUGE effort! A couple of years ago I donated our 7' tree and replaced it with a smaller 3' tree to be placed on a game table in our living room, thinking that would be so much less work. It's now easier to decorate the Christmas tree, but that did nothing to alleviate the efforts of the rest of the house! So, we are knee-deep in Christmas decorations and storage bins. The cats love all of the disruption!

I took a bit of time away from the decorations to create this mini slim-line card in response to CASology Challenge #398 - "Above". So, what's above? Well, the sky is above! And since I am using dies with this, I am also including it in the challenge for December at Happy Little Stampers "Anything Goes with Dies".

I stamped the moon image from Hero Arts #CM357 twice - once on a medium blue textured cardstock and again on a silver metallic vellum - and heat-embossed the images with Navy Stampendous embossing powder. I fussy cut the moon out and glued it over the top of the blue moon. I mounted a piece of silver vellum paper onto a 3-1/4" x 6-1/4" side-folded navy card base. I then cut a smaller piece of navy cardstock and die cut a stitched circle and a splatter of stars from Sizzix/Tim Holtz #663117 "Snowy Stars". Finally, before attaching the navy-blue card front over the silver mat with dimensional foam, I stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts #CM351 and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.

I've now created an envelope template for the smaller mini slim-line cards to make it easier for custom envelopes. This one was made with silver metallic vellum and lined with a scrap of navy star paper.  

 CASology: Week 398: ABOVE 

Happy Little Stampers: HLS December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

BROWN PAPER PACKAGES

This is my final blog submittal for the weekend - I really do need to get a couple of other tasks completed! I've been mulling the current photo inspiration at the Less Is More Challenge #457 and was drawing a blank, but this morning I decided to take a turn at it and keep it as CAS as I could. I was especially inspired by the cards that the Design Team created.

I didn't have any embossing folders or stamps that were knitting-based but I chose a very old stamp (old enough that I had to use a bit of tape runner to stick it to my MISTI) that suggested the gray and white knitted fabric in the photo. I stamped it three times with Memento "Gray Flannel" ink to stretch across the full width of a rectangular stitched piece of die-cut cardstock. I over-stamped the sentiment (another very old rubber stamp) and heat-embossed it with Stampendous "Red Tinsel" Embossing Power. I glued the stitched rectangle to the face of a top-folded white card and die-cut another stitched rectangle - this time in kraft card stock - and tied a red ribbon around it and attached it to the card. The envelope is lined with an interesting wrapping paper I have that is printed with red, silver, and gold silk ribbons. 

The light levels are very low on this December day, but here's a closer look at the sentiment at an angle to show off the sparkly red tinsel embossing powder:

"Less is More": Challenge 457 - Photo Inspiration (simplylessismoore.blogspot.com)

   

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

While I haven't actually started decorating the house yet (I usually don't start that until around the 10th or 12th), I have been working on my personal Christmas cards and hope to get them finished up this next week.

I made this card in response to the current Freshly Made Sketches #514. This is not the Christmas card I'll be sending out for family and friends, but it will be one of the cards I'll send to other friends and acquaintances who are not a part of our more intimate circle. I have quite a few one-off cards from challenges over the past couple of months and I usually use those for individuals.

The circle of stars is a die set from Sizzix/Jim Holtz (#663117 "Snowy Stars") that I purchased a couple of years ago and had not used yet. I've tried it a couple of times, but I ended up having to punch all of the stars and circles out individually, which is a bit of a pain in the butt! I started with a 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" side-folded white card, layering a 5" x 5" cardstock with the die-cut circle and foil mat over the face. I heat-embossed the sentiment (Impression Obsession #CL971 "Holiday Words") with Stampendous silver embossing powder on a strip of navy metallic vellum, which I cut to a banner. I glued this and 3 of the stars from the Snowy Stars die set and that was it.

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #514 - A Sketch by Cécile

Added December 7, 2021:

 

  

ALONG THE EDGE - SNOW

This morning my card challenge is AAA Cards Challenge #204 - "Along the Edge" + Optional Twist "Snow". I have a strong preference for mostly white cards so that's the direction I went on this one. I'm also sending it over to Tic, Tac Toe Challenge #142, following the bottom clues across - Embossing/Winter/White on White.

I started this card with a side-folded white card base. I die-cut a stitched rectangle out of the same 110# cardstock and blind embossed it with a Darice snow embossing folder. I stamped the sentiment from PTI's "Christmas Cheer" with Memento "Gray Flannel" dye ink and glued the rectangle in place. I layered one of the die-cut trees from Sizzix/Jim Holtz #660978 Thinlits die and trimmed it from the right side of the card. Finally, I decided to add a red die-cut cardinal for dramatic effect (Impression Obsession #DIE079-U "Birch Trees"). I lined a coordinating envelope with red metallic vellum.

 AAA Cards: Game #204 - Along The Edge + optional twist Snow

TTTC142 - Featured Designer Betty - Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Added December 11, 2021:

COLOR THROWDOWN

When I saw this morning's Color Throwdown Challenge #671 - Pink, Gray, and Silver I knew I wanted to try my hand at coming up with something. The crystal chandelier caught my attention, so I started there.

I started with a 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" white top-folded 110# card base. I went online to Lamps Plus and found a catalogue sheet for a crystal chandelier, saved it to my computer, and printed it in black and white onto a piece of the same heavy white card stock and cut it down to 5" x 5". I mounted this image to a slightly larger silver foil mat and die-cut through both layers with a Stampin' Up "Framelits - Chalk Talk" tag die. The sentiment was stamped directly onto the folded card face with PTI "Hibiscus Burst" ink before mounting a PTI "Hibiscus Burst" damask printed paper, which I had pre-cut an opening into so the sentiment would show through all of the layers. The top 2 layers (white printed stock and silver foil) were then attached to the face of the card with dimensional foam and clear gems were added. The envelope is lined with the same PTI "Hibiscus Burst" damask printed paper as used on the face of the card.

I might have stretched the challenge requirements a bit by using a black and white image (I hope this is not considered a totally digital design) to come up with the gray tones and the printed damask paper with pink and red, but I'm pleased with this very non-traditional Christmas card. My plan is to send it to one of my interior designer friends. 

Here is the link to the Color Throwdown, with the inspiration photo:

Color Throwdown: Color Throwdown #671

LET IT SNOW

Well, this was a fun challenge! I think I have a preference for the challenges that feature photographs, because there's always so much to draw from. For this Just US Girls Challenge #612 - Photo Week, my eye was drawn to the shopping bags on the black and white Moroccan tile floor. On closer examination, the shopping bags were printed with "Let it Snow" and "Joy" and swirls and snowflakes.

I started by creating the shopping bag out of kraft paper by first stamping the sentiments and swirls in Hero Arts "Unicorn" pigment ink and PTI "Pure Poppy" dye ink. The "Let it Snow" sentiment is a PTI product from their "Christmas Cheer" clear stamp set. I used a white gel pen to add a bit of snow to "Joy". I then cut it to what looked like the correct proportion and to make it look more like a used shopping bag, I crumpled it up and smoothed it out again and added a kraft handle. No matter what I did, I just couldn't make the tile floor work, so I opted instead for a solid black stitched rectangle stamped and heat embossed with stylized snowflakes from a very old stamp set. I attached this to a top-stitched white card, added the shopping bag with dimensional foam, and inserted a couple of packages. I lined a white envelope with kraft paper and stamped the sentiment on the envelope just below where the flap will seal.

Here is the link to the JUG challenge:

 "Just Us Girls" Challenge: Just Us Girls #612 - Photo Week (justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com)

    

Added on December 3, 2021:

 

WARMEST WISHES

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the US, so we're all in the middle of food preparations for the feast. It'll be relatively quiet in our home because all of our family members on both sides of the family are headed out-of-town for the weekend and we're on our own this year for the first time in many years. But we're doggie-sitting our son's black lab/pit bull Izzy, so maybe it won't be completely quiet!

I spent a little time this morning in my craft room and the result is a very simple card designed for the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches #513 - a Sketch by Jen B.

When I say simple, I really mean it! I glued a 3/4" strip of blue-gray scrap paper to a 4" x 5-1/4" white card stock and die-cut a snowflake from it. Then I stamped the sentiment from Penny Black's "Merry Up" with Ranger Distress Ink "Stormy Sky" and mounted it to a card base with dimensional foam. I slipped a small piece of paper under the strip on the face and glued the center star in place with dimensional foam. I added 3 tiny clear gems and lined an envelope with the last of the scraps - finished. 

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #513 - A Sketch by Jen B

Added November 30, 2021:

HOLIDAY GREETINGS

Good morning, all! I hadn't really planned to make a card this morning, but yesterday I cleaned up my craft room and I couldn't wait to get in and mess it up again! However, I exercised extreme discipline and put things away as I used them. The challenge that caught my imagination this morning is CAS Colours & Sketches (My spell-check doesn't like that spelling of colors!) #445 - Pink, Metallic Silver & Moss. 

I used a couple of my old PTI products for this card - "Lovely Layers" clear stamps and coordinating dies. I've used these dies over and over as a shamrock at St. Patrick's Day and experimented once with it as a Christmas poinsettia and that's what I decided to do today - a bright pink Christmas poinsettia. I had some scraps of pink iridescent vellum that I used for the flower. I started with a 5" x 5" square of white cardstock on which I stamped "Greetings" (PTI "Christmas Cheer") and Tim Holtz's Halloween splatter and heat-embossed them with Stampendous "Detail Silver" powder. I then die-cut PTI's "Holiday" from the face of the panel, taped it back in, and added 2 more layers of die-cut cardstock. I glued this to a silver metallic mat and onto the face of a 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" top-folded white card. I die-cut the vellum petals and moss leaves and over-printed these with heat-embossed silver. I also cut a center for the flower of some silver cardstock and over-printed it with heat-embossed silver. After assembling the flower, I attached it to the face of the card with dimensional foam. In completion I lined a square white envelope with pink vellum.

Here's a side-shot to show off the silver elements:

CAS Colours & Sketches: Challenge #446 - Colours (cascoloursandsketches.blogspot.com)

Added November 26, 2021:

  

ADDICTED TO CAS - COLOURFUL

Our new challenge #211 at Addicted to CAS is special for a couple of reasons - it's the 9th anniversary of the challenge and it's the last challenge of the year. Our host Nancy has appropriately selected "Colourful" as our theme and our followers should have lots of fun with this one!. 

I started my card by using the current Freshly Made Sketches layout as inspiration. To fit the "colourful" requirement of our Addicted to CAS challenge I chose to use some printed coordinating Christmas papers that have been in my stash for some time. I think maybe I have now used them up mostly, but there are still some scraps left. The papers featured stripes, dots, and an over-all warm red/pink/green pattern of circles and stylized snowflakes.

I side-folded a 4-1/2" x 6-3/4" white card so that it would fit my existing warm red envelopes. I then cut a slightly smaller 4" x 6-1/4" piece of white cardstock and glued on a 1-1/2" wide strip of printed stripe paper. I then die-cut an LDRS Creative "Stitched Circle" opening in the smaller card face. I stamped the sentiment from my new favorite stamp set, Penny Black's "Merry Up", with VersaMark Watermark Ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I next glued the circle die to the card face and layered the top panel onto the folded card with dimensional foam. I added a couple of strips of striped paper on each side of the folded card and die-cut a warm red circle and layered it on top. Finally, I die-cut two triangular Christmas trees from the coordinating papers and inserted them into the layered circles. My final "finishing touch" was a pink gem on the white tree. I also used the white dotted paper as lining for my warm red envelope.

Now it's your turn!

Addicted to CAS: Challenge #211 - Colourful

 

    I'm also entering this card in the Freshly Made Sketches #512 since I used the sketch for inspiration: 

Freshly Made Sketches: Freshly Made Sketches #512 - A Sketch by Kim

TINY TREES

Sometimes challenges come along in "bunches" that can be combined into a single card and these are SO MUCH FUN! How could I possibly resist a challenge to fit everything into a 1" space while making a scene and using a smaller-format card? 😀

AAA Cards Challenge #203 offered up the opportunity to put everything into a 1" space, Just Us Girls #610 challenged us to use a mini slim line card (3.25" x 6.25"), and Happy Little Stampers November Christmas requested that we "Make a Scene".

I die-cut a 1" square from white cardstock just slightly smaller than the mini slim-line size and I die-cut a drift of snow with a Lawn Fawn stitched wave and mounted it behind the square opening. I die-cut 3 tiny trees from Alexandra Renke #D-XX-AR-W0128 "Winter City" and layered them in the snow drift and mounted a small piece of blue and silver Japanese rice paper directly on the face of the card and placed the winter scene over this. It really doesn't get any simpler.

I had just enough of this beautiful paper that I've been hoarding for a year from which I made a custom envelope. It's Ella & Viv Paper Company from their "Spice Market Collection". 

 AAA Cards: Game #203 - One Inchie + optional twist Masculine

"Just Us Girls" Challenge: Just Us Girls #610 -- TREND Week (justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com)

Happy Little Stampers: Christmas Challenge

FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS

The Thanksgiving cards are all but finished! All I have to do at this point is sign them, slip them into their envelopes, and drop them into the mail. This is probably the earliest I've had my cards finished.

I made 26 of these flat enough to go through the US mail with standard first-class postage. I started with some 120 lb. Environment "Desert Storm" cardstock from LCI Paper and matching A2 envelopes. I side-folded the cards and stamped the leaf swirl across the face of the card with PTI "Orange Zest" ink. Then I die-cut a smaller stitched rectangle and repositioned the stamp on my MISTI so that the swirl would match up when the top piece was glued to the face of the card with a dark brown vellum mat. I added some additional color to the leaves with PTI "Americana" ink. I have no idea whose autumn swirl this is, I've had it for so many years and have used it again and again. The sentiment is from Colorado Craft Company's Savvy Sentiments #SS366 - "Truly Thankful" and stamped with PTI "Dark Chocolate and heat embossed with Stampendous "Detail Clear" embossing powder to enrich the color of the sentiment and add a bit of sheen. The final step was to die cut a couple of tiny houses with Nellie's Choice #SD214 "Village" from dark brown cardstock and glue those over the leaf swirl. 

You can see that I also used the leaf swirl image across the corner of the matching envelopes. I also lined the envelopes with dark brown vellum that I had in my papers. I couldn't get a good photo of the inside but they have a matching leaf swirl, "Happy Thanksgiving", and a single tiny die-cut house.

I thought to send this over to Happy Little Stampers November "Anything Goes with Dies" challenge. 

 Happy Little Stampers: HLS November Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

SNOWY KISSES

The final CAS Christmas Card Challenge for 2021 features "Christmas Critters". I have to dig pretty deep into my stash to find very many critters - I tend to spend my Christmas stamping money on sentiments, snowflakes, and tiny houses. But a couple of years ago I did fall for these deer dies from My Favorite Things and I've used them several times.

I'm not sure who manufactured the snowy swirls embossing folder, but that's where I started with this card, by mounting it to a white top-folded card. I die-cut the little deer from kraft cardstock and smudged a bit of brown ink onto them. I cut a scrap of navy snowflake paper into a tag and layered it with the sentiment from Penny Black's "Merry Up" in PTI "Blueberry Sky", die-cut 3 hearts from kraft, and added a navy twine tag tie. I finished by lining a kraft envelope with a blue swirly snow paper scrap.

CAS Christmas Card Challenge: CAS Christmas November Challenge