Poinsettia

I just got this die to make a small poinsettia and was very excited.  I wanted to try something new and I went ahead to create my own pink and green paper for the leaves.  Since I was doing it, why not making my own light green banner as well?  They are different inks but they all worked fine to give me what I wanted.

It was quite a large area of red pink that I've prepared and because of the layers, the color was not truly consistent throughout the piece.  That was great for this purpose because the petals should show some inconsistency, right?  That was done by Worn Lipstick distress stain.

The leaves were prepared with Forest Moss Distress Ink pad.  The color was just buffed onto plain old cardstock and after a couple circles, I got an area of green big enough for three leaves.

The banner was prepared with Tide Pool shadow ink using the direct to paper technique.  I had a lot of suspicion about this method but it was not difficult at all.   Having said that, I probably want to do it on a small piece only as it did take quite a while to get the cardstock fill with the intensity of the color.

It was fun making my own colored paper.  I probably need not freak out when I want a particular color but don't have that color's cardstock!

My card is entering the following challenges:
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Stampin' Royalty - Anything Goes
Penny's Challenge - Add Black or bling
Seize the Sketch

The Corrosive Challenge - Tic-tac-toe (I've chosen the top row)

 
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

A snow globe evolved into a Christmas Tree

How did a snow globe evolve to become a Christmas Tree?  No, I didn't observe such an evolution while I was making cards, but it was how my idea has transformed.  When I saw this sketch from CAS on Sunday, how I wish I had a snow globe die or stamp!

But then I thought a window card, which is my recent obsession, should be too bad either.  I thought about using a christmas ornament but eventually I turned to my Christmas tree:

I probably have not captured it well in the picture, but the star sitting on top of the tree sparkles.  I have put some Zig Wink of Stella Clear Glitter on it.  It sparkles but only when it look at it straight.  If you tilt it the glitter does not look as sparkling.

For the sentiment, I have tried various embossing powder but as it turned out, the plain old white embossing powder gives the best result.  I tried Holographic, Polysparkle, Tinsel, you name it.  They are all pretty but I was afraid that they do not pop enough on the green banner.  Had I used a black banner, those embossing powders might look better.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Allsorts challenge - Treemendous
Sweet Stampin' - Wood, Tree or Leaves
Make it Monday - Anything Goes
Craftin' Desert Divas - Anything Goes
Created with Love - Anything Goes
The Paper Nest Doll - Anything Goes
Tammy Scraping Corner - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you

I started making today's card with the color combo from Color My Heart Color Dare in mind:

I love Gypsy and I love Buttercup but I just can't imagine how to put them together.  They are spring/summer colors so I wanted to see how I can tone down the brightness of the colors.  I decided that I will use quite a bit of neutral colors, and I thought of the For Always paper pack.  With a sketch from Make It From Your Heart Volume 2, I knew that I would use the B&T from the paper pack, then use Gypsy and Buttercup cardstock.  I was going to use Sketch 19 but because I want to show the flower on the B&T paper, I have turned it upside down.  I made the roses from Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge then the fun part was to pick a stamp for the panel.  I have chosen one of my favorite sentiments from Avonlea Card Making Workshop on the Go:

Before I stuck down everything, I had used the background stamp from the set to fill the background of the card.  I used second generation stamping, so it is really subtle but it did make the card more complete.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Crazy 4 Challenges - Favorite stamp set
The Hobby House challenge - Roses
Amusing Challenge - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything Goes
Eureka Stamps - Thank you

Thanks for stopping by!

A cute owl

Today's card is based on a card made by Kristina Werner back in 2010.   She has a Holiday Card Series every year and the Series inspires us not just on Christmas cards but all kinds of cards as she gives out so many tips while showing us how she makes the Christmas cards.

My card, though similar to hers, has quite a number of differences.  What's really interesting is that when I first saw her card back in 2010, as much as I liked it I thought the card would look equally cute if the bottom part is trimmed.  Then fast forward to the point where my card is finished, which is much shorter than hers, I thought my card would also look as cute as if the bottom part is removed.  Perhaps I am just too used to the standard size cards so my eyes tend to be drawn to the upper portion.

This card was a lot of fun to make, I really enjoyed the process, except the part that I had to cut the window.  I had always wanted a 2" circle punch and when I was cutting the window, I really wish I had a 2" circle punch on hand.  This is one of those rare instances that a die-cutting machine is not as convenient than a punch as it is really challenging to cut through two layers of cardstock. 

I keep looking at the card as I am so happy with it.  :)  Owls are one of my faves on cards!

My card is entering the following challenges:
Keep it Simple - include source of inspiration
Jingle Belles Rock - Creature
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
Creative Knockouts - Favorite Twine
Crafty Little Fairies - Anything Goes
Hanna & Friends - Anything Goes
Hiding in My Craft Room - Use a Critter
The Glory of Christmas - Homemade Background
Savvy Handmade cards - bats or birds

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing with Cricut

After I saw this sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge, I took my time to incubate ideas for my card. 

I almost went ahead to use flowers on my card like the sketch suggests.  But I have cards that have many flowers and I truly want to make something different.  So I tried to think really hard what can be used to replace flowers in the sketch.  It took me a long time to figure that out but I think it is worth it. 

Clouds.  I used both the positive and the negative from the die cut for the clouds panel.  The panel is matted with one of the overlays in the Artbooking cartridge as I want to create some "shadow" or overcast.  I tried using a piece of gray cardstock but it was too dark.  An elevated overlay beneath the clouds is just right to achieve the effect.

I've used the sun to replace the ribbon but I kept the sentiment in the same place.

This card was a lot of fun to make and is entering these challenges:
Paper Creators' Craft - Pink and/or blue
My Sheri Craft - A little comfort
Avenue 613 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

A Christmas Tree

I'm having more and more fun with my Christmas-related supplies!  When I saw this sketch from Pals Paper Arts, I knew exactly what I need to break open:

I want so much to fill the middle with a big Christmas tree and so I started to play with the Lawn Fawn set Trim the Tree:

There has to be presents under the tree and I colored many of them.  I have not counted but I think all stamps in the set comes with a coordinating die so even though the presents are small, it was easy peasy to cut them out.  I used paper piecing on the tree so the top two layers have the stripes going in one direction that's opposite to the bottom layers.  To make the layers pop, I just rolled up a glue dot and stuck that beneath the scalloped edge.  It is a quick way to get clear foam adhesive!

My card is entering the following challenges:
ABC Christmas challenge - Under the tree
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
Craftin' Boutique Challenges - Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments Challenge - Christmas sentiment
Crafty Little Fairies - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Oh Christmas Tree

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Fun with coloring

I continue to catch up with Christmas cards and I finally broke open the stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn to make this cute little card:

Don't you just love the birdies?  As a coloring novice these images are perfect for me to practice - they have just enough real estate for me to color but not too big an area so even if I mess up it is not noticeable.  :P  To tell you the truth one of the birdies was messed up.  Can you tell which one?

I colored them with distress markers, one of my current favorite go-to coloring medium.  I had my big set for perhaps a year and a half but I didn't really start using it until a month ago.  I tried to use them, I really did but the results were an epic failure and I hated to continue wasting paper.  After watching a couple of tutorials online had I slowly learned some basics of coloring.

The sketch of this card came from Sketchbook Saturday Challenge.  I always love Iwona's sketches and love to be inspired by her cards.  She has presented two totally different cards based on this sketch - one is feminine with shabby chic details, the other has bright colors with an encouraging sentiment.  Go to her blog and check them out.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Crafting with Dragonflies - Card with nature/tree/leaves
Fab n Funky challenges - Distress
Lady Anne's Challenges - Anything Goes
Timeless Tuesday - Fussy Cutting Fun
Craft-Room Challenge - Our Feathered Friends
Merry Monday - Use music or carol inspired theme

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas card

I should really catch up on making Christmas cards.  Look, it is almost Halloween!  I donate Christmas cards every year and I also give out stacks to some of my friends and relatives so they can in turn give to their friends and relatives.  Sometimes during Christmas visits it is fun to see my card given to one friend has landed in another friend's place.  LOL.

I used to make card sets where the cards given to the same friend/relative carry the same theme, patterned paper or the like, but this year I am doing something different.  For one reason I have got a lot of Christmas goodies (Thanks to the Close to My Heart Holidays From the Heart Gift Guide) and I have a tremendous volume of supplies to work with, and second, the cards go to different people anyway, the recipient does not know how other cards from the sender look like, so why bother making a set?

Having said that, because of the time crunch, I may have to make some cards that are truly easy to replicate. They could be given to different people, so no one will really notice that.  Shhhh....  I was really trying to use the Memory Box dies I bought a while back and I think this could be one of those that I'll replicate:

It is simple but elegant.  Some friends told me that a card like this is itself a small decoration on the mantle.  Great!

My card is entering the following challenges:
Craftitude - Anything Goes
Jo's Scrap Shack - Anything Goes
Polkadoodles - Christmas is coming
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Inkspirational - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
52 CCT - Bling
 

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Leaves

I am excited to play another OLW challenge.  One layered cards may seem easy and quick but I like it as a way to challenge my craftsmanship.  When stamping is the major focus, any tiny imperfection is amplified.  Yet, when I first saw the theme of this OLW challenge I was a bit disappointed.  Leaves. Boy oh boy, can we start Christmas cards yet?  My mind has already gone to the Christmas land so when the theme is about leaves, I thought I wasn't going to play along as I have enough fall cards.

Then I came across the card made by Cheryl, one of the hostesses of OLW.  She has made a Christmas card!  That's right, there are so many kinds of leaves and who says that it has to be a fall card?  If I am ahead of the game, I could probably use a clover to make a St. Patrick's Day card!  LOL.

Interestingly I found my forgotten stamp set Petals & Stems from Avery Elle and at first glance I couldn't imagine using it on Christmas cards but hey, after adding the berries (or designed as dots, fillers, whatever) it worked!

Finally a Christmas sentiment was stamped in brown and a Christmas card was born.  I like it.  A lot.

I have read quite a bit about the Memento Luxe Pigment Ink Pad online and I took the splurge and bought four of them.  Two of them, Pistachio and Rose Bud, were used on my card.  I am normally not a huge fan of pigment inks as I am so tired of cleaning my stamps but this pigment ink takes no effort to clean off.  I also like that it dries fairly quickly.  Both the green and the red stain my stamps but I do not mind that at all.  More colors of this Pigment Ink will go on my Christmas wish list.  :)  The brown color is the Ranger Coffee Archival Ink.  It is a beautiful brown but comparatively it took me a lot more time and effort to clean the stamp.  Having said that, it's worth it.  I love this card.

I have a disease that I tend to forget my new goodies but I'm glad that I've played with three for this card.  If you have new goodies that need some love, break them open and enjoy them!

Thanks for stopping by!

A bright birthday card

I've made this bright birthday card with a big party hat:

I really like this color combo and I drew the inspiration from the color challenge at Sunday Stamps! :

I know these are fall colors but why should we be restricted by that?  It can also be a great color combo for a birthday card!  I've used Goldrush, Lagoon and Chocolate from the Close to My Heart palette.  Coloring this party hat was fun.  This is the first time that I colored it with markers and the first time that the light source is on the left side.  I'm glad that the shadows of the image give me a good hint of how to color it and it wasn't too bad for a coloring newbie.

The sketch of the card came from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.  I love how clean it is!

My card is also entering the following challenges:
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Make a card
Hiding in My Craft Room - Color It
Totally Gorjuss - String
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes Birthday with the option of Fall colors

Thanks for stopping by!

Finally back to my craft table

It has been the longest time that I was away from my craft table.  It was hard.  I wish I was traveling or having some other activities, but the truth is, I didn't heed the doctor's advice and my right eye needed more treatments.  Guess I could still do a lot with my left eye alone but that was a mistake because I had a swollen left eye the day after.  It was a lot of rest or boredom this past week as I could not even read magazines or watch TV.  Having said that, I came to truly understand the importance of taking GOOD care of myself.  For those who are temped to skip medication or treatment, don't do that!!

What was the first thing I did when I got back to my craft desk?  Playing distress products and I had so much fun.  So.  Much.  Fun.

I started playing with alcohol inks and made these tags:

The techniques employed from top left to right:  Faux patina, tinted tinsel, ombre, monoprint and faded layers. 

I can't decide which technique I like the best but I love experimenting the techniques!  For faux patina, in addition to using the traditional bluish green, I also tried it in reddish purple and I like it.  I have a feeling that this color will appear on my Valentine's Day projects soon!

Then I also played with my distress paints:

The techniques I tried are, from top left to right:  Distress Paint Marbling, Colored Crackle, Altered Surface, Eroded Metallic, Stamping Resist and Industrial.

Eroded Metallic technique totally burned me out.  I have tried at least five times to get to this result that is marginally acceptable.  But I didn't let that take me down.  Instead, I tried it on some metal charms and wow, it was much easier to get that look on those charms than on paper. 

I love the Industrial technique as I am constantly looking for ways to make great masculine cards and isn't this background perfect for a man?  Again, since I have my pack of metallic charms on my table, I couldn't resist to try the technique on the little trumpet.  It looks very cool!

The Stamping Resist technique reminded me of a quick experiment.  How will the result change if I use distress stain? 

The tag on the right used the Stamping Resist technique with distress stain instead of paint.  The background is faint, compared to the one on the left.  Distress paint does a far better job in getting all the details of the stamp.

Just in case you are wondering how the un-altered music charms/foil tape look, here's a quick comparison:

The un-altered music charm is placed in the middle of two tags.  This violin (or viola, cello or bass, whatever it is) has a clean pewter color.  The drum and sticks on the far left look really rusty.  No one wants to play a drum like this.  The trumpet on the right, however, has this aged look and I can absolutely imagine a handsome man playing it in a band........  The un-altered foil tape on the far right is much more bright and shiny compared to the portion on the tag.  Both are nice but I do like the one with Industrial technique has it shows more depth. 

It has been a fun-filled day and there are so many other things I'd like to try.  Now that my eye only needs regular treatment, I will have more time to play and yes, I'm going back to my craft table now.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Designed Decor Framed Kit

Looking for ways to make hand-made gift for the holiday season?  I have a suggestion for you - The Designed Décor Frame Kit.  In fact I am going to make one for my family.   I like that the kit can be dressed up for the holiday season, but later be modified to become a simply home décor item.  Want to know more about it?  Let's watch the video below and find out more!

Paper Piecing

I have a storage box to keep my new goodies.  This box is where my new goodies go when they come home with me.  I have been really good at stocking it up to the extent that it has an overflow.  I am very happy with new products but I must try them out so the box can yield to more new goodies. :)

One of the things that lived in that storage box was the Lawn Fawn Blue Skies stamp set, together with its coordinating die.  I have a strong motivation to play with it and I am using the sketch from Sketchbook Saturday Challenge:

 

 

I always like Iwona's cards and her sketch challenges always give me a good time.   As I am really into window cards lately, I meant to use this sketch to create one, but as the card evolved the window somehow disappeared:

 

 

I have used the retired Dream Pop paper for the balloons.  As for the yellow background, I wanted to make it coordinate with the fuchsia panel so I inked up a background stamp and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  The pattern is rather subtle, so it gives way to the bold and bright striped fuchsia panel.  Paper piecing is easy peasy when there is a coordinating die.  Who doesn't like the convenience?

 

 

My card is also entering the following challenges:

Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Stampin for the Weekend - Anything Goes

Jellypark Friends - Anything Goes

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

 

Thanks for stopping by!

A little hedgehog

The weather reminded me of this little hedgehog stamp from my stash.  It came from the retired Twitterpated Workshop on the Go and I loved this little hedgehog from first sight.  It is so cute!  I can't help but using it on a Fall/Thanks card:

Isn't he darling?  He was actually double-stamped.  Because it is a solid image and some areas are not as  crisp as I wish so I inked it up and stamped the image again.  Thanks to the nature of clear stamps I had no problem lining up the image.  I  added some Liquid Glass dots on his back to mimic his stiff hair.  This touch adds dimension and interest to him!

The sorbet panel was stamped also in sorbet with his little footprints randomly.  The greeting panel, on the other hand, had a background of leaves in sorbet.  Note that the leaves were stamped using second generation, giving it a softer look yet a cool coordinating background with the patterned paper.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Twist of Faith Card Challenges - Autumn Colors
Bearly Mine Challenges - Ribbon, String, Twine
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Autumn/Anything Goes
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Anything Goes
Crafting Desert Divas - Anything with a Sentiment

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Circles, circles, circles

I have been thinking about the color challenge at Color My Heart for a looooong time.  I am rather weak in coordinating colors and I tend to go with conservative color combos, especially those that are prepared in patterned paper.  Nonetheless, I constantly push myself to try out new color combos.

This week the color combo at Color My Heart is Pacifica, Outdoor Denim and Ruby - two shades of blue and a red:

Sarah also told us that it is the color combo from the ProPlayer paper pack.  But the patterns are really big and I can't possibly think of using it on a card, what should I do?

I totally meant to test it out but end up liked this idea.  It is a great way to tackle a color challenge:

I loaded the paper to the Cricut machine and randomly cut some circles of various sizes.  Then I randomly arranged the circles on a card and stamped a birthday greeting.  Easy peasy.  It makes a fun manly birthday card!

My card is also entering the following challenges:
Penny's Paper-Craft Challenge - no squares
Make in Monday
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments - Anything Goes
Creative Craft Challenges - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

A Christmas Tree

I'm happy to share another Christmas card with you today.  My eye is starting to feel itchy so let me type at light speed to share the details.

First, the sketch of the card is based on 52CCT:

I like that the card sketch is rather simple and provides a lot of possibilities.  As I didn't have a lot of time for this card, I keep my card on the simple side:

I randomly picked up my 6x6 paper pack and cut two patterned papers to squares.  Then I thought I could put the green striped squares differently to give it some interest.  Do you see the stars in the white circle?  I meant to add the starry background because a plain white background is too boring.  I added some glossy accent to the star on the top of the tree, but not sure if the picture captures that.  I love love love the embossed sentiment.  The font of the sentiment is very elegant and the lines are thin, and somehow that makes the embossed sentiment feel like that on a store-bought card. 

My card is entering the following challenges:
Avenue 613 - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 everybody - Anything Goes
My Besties - Dies
Eureka Stamps - Anything Goes
Inky Chicks - Use different die cuts
Holly Jolly Christmas challenge - stars & stripes

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas bird

There are a couple of bird stamps that I reach out a lot.  For a Christmas card, this one from Close to My Heart To You and Yours stamp set is by far the most popular one.  I like to play coloring with it.  I usually color it with watercolor pencils, or sometimes just color pencils.  I have yet mastered coloring with markers, but I secretly play with them often to practice.

Today's card is based on the sketch from Mojo Monday:

I set my heart on making a Christmas card then I saw this requirement from Merry Monday:

So I added the bird to the sketch:

I like this card and I just had a lot of fun coloring the bird. 

I'm afraid it's time to treat my eyes again so I have to stop here.  Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Using my pins?

Do you pin?  How many boards do you have?

I learned that Pinterest is a lot of fun but at the same time a total time burner so I have been avoiding it.  You see I have the Pin button on my blog but I rarely pin.  Sometimes my computer is so slow that it takes longer than what my frustration allows to load my pins.  Before I start pinning, I am ready to close all my windows.  I can't help but wonder how I can use Pinterest to improve my life if I don't have to patience for it to load my pins.    Call me outdated.  Call me backward.  I will gracefully accept that.

I started my blog in part to have a craft diary.  I was asked if I would make a duplicate of the cards I make, no, because I normally take a picture of my card, write a post about it, then won't feel bad when the day I have to part with it comes.  However, when the number of my blog posts grows, it is becoming difficult to look for my past creations.  That's when I started pinning.  I pin my own cards.  Pinterest thus serves as my "back-up craft diary."  I also started other boards to pin others' cards and creations, but I stumbled upon how to organize the pins and thought I should keep the collection manageable until I know how I want to organize them.  I really wish there were "sub-boards" within boards.  For instance I  wish I could have a board for all my cards then within this board I could have a Christmas sub-board, a Birthday sub-board, etc.  Am I brain-washed by the way I organize my files in my PC so I want to do it the same way on Pinterest? 

Susan from OLW asked that we use our pins as an inspiration to create a one layer card.  She generously offered to share her boards as inspiration.  Wow.  I took a cursory look at her Pure Inspiration board and her Cards board and found her pins awesome.  I love those cards that have such a clean look but the white space is so powerful that your eyes tend to fix on it.  Amazing.

So I was inspired by the white space of her cards and I decided to make one like that.  How to make it interesting?  Colors.  But color coordination is never my forte so I looked at some color challenges to see what others are doing.  Halloween colors?  Good, I just can't go wrong with that.  I used the palette from Fab Friday Challenge:

Then I found this sketch from CAS(E) this sketch:

My card is basically a combination of the card sketch and the color combo:

No, this card is not going to a kid.  I figured that I have no Halloween decoration in my office so I'll place some random décor and cards in the office.  I should have made all my Halloween cards for the kids this year, but will make a couple extra just in case a friend asks me to lend him/her a card.

My card is also entering the following challenges:
Crafty Calendar - Halloween
Hiding in my craft room - Halloween colors
Moving along with the Times - Anything Goes
Sarah Hurley - Halloween
Craftin' Boutique Challenges - Halloween

Thanks for stopping by!

Round Christmas card

I'm rushing through because I'm posting it just minutes shy of the cutoff of Mojo Monday Challenge.  Its sketch asks us to make a circle or square card:

I've picked the round version and made a Christmas card:

I have been having quite some fun with round cards recently.  They are fun and easy to make!

Since I'm cutting circles, what about the interior?

My card is entering the following challenges:
Holly Jolly Christmas challenge - no patterned paper
There she goes clear stamps - decorate the inside
CAS on Sunday - shape it up
Christmas Stampin - circles
Jingle Belles Rock - Shape-up for the Holidays

Thanks for stopping by!

Fussy cut fun

It's World Card Making Day today!
Interesting I kicked off my crafting fun with scrapbooking instead.  That's just as fun.  But I can't let this day go without making a card.  It's World Card Making Day!

I based my card on the sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

And my card utilizes the fall color scheme:

The title of today's post is fussy cut fun, did you see my fussy cuts?  When I was cutting out the banner, I purposefully picked this portion of the patterned paper so the flower on the paper could sit at the lower left corner of the sentiment piece, like the sketch suggests.  However, I think it needs a little more emphasis so I cut the same image from the same paper and heightened it with some foam tape.  One raised flower looks too boring, so I stamped another one and stuck it with foam tape, slightly overlapping it with the patterned paper flower.

I am happy with the result and will surely try this technique more often.  Having said that, would I be willing to waste a lot of materials to do this?  Probably not.  The papers are too pretty to cut to begin with, I hate to waste even a scrap piece!

My card is entering the following challenges:
Craftitude - Anything Goes
Crafty Katz - Anything Goes
Simply Create Too - Fall
Catch the Bug Challenge - Anything Goes
Allsorts Challenge - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' - Fall
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Fall

Thanks for stopping by!

BLESSED

Happy Friday everyone!  Yay it's almost weekend and that means craft time!

I'm sharing a quick post today with my Thanksgiving card.  It is a circle card and I love shaped cards!

I've also decorated the inside with a mat and coordinating paper:

I have quite a bit of the patterned paper and am working hard to use it whenever possible.  I thought it is a nice touch to tie the inside of the card with that patterned paper on the front, don't you think?  The difficult part for me is to line up the circular segment with the sentiment.  The sentiment must go parallel with the chord, and I was so scared that I would mess up.  A big relief when I got it on the first try. 

This is my second time coloring the image on the front, except that I am using watercolor pencils this time while I used markers the first time.  I can't decide which medium I like better.  Perhaps I should color it again on a different occasion to make a comparison.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown - Colors of Fall
Nutcrafters - use a hand-colored image
4 Crafty Chicks - Fall/Autumn
Polka Doodles - Autumn Crafting
Challenges and Candies - The colors of Autumn
An Inky Situation - color challenge

Addicted to Stamps & More - Photo Inspiration

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Wishes

Does "Merry Wishes" sound cute to you?  It certainly does to me!  I think it makes it cuter on a card with baubles, or ornaments.  That's the card I'm sharing today:

I've combined a couple of requirements for this card.  First off is the one from Bitten by the Bug - overlay.  With my Artbooking cartridge where there are a lot of overlays, the hardest part was actually picking one to use.  As I wanted to make a Christmas card, I naturally picked this one with a lot of hanging ornaments.  Using just one color is too plain, so I cut it out in New England Ivy and Cranberry cardstock then with a simple surgery I've combined the two making it more Christmas-sy.

Next up I saw the color requirements at Merry Monday challenge:

Out of the five colors I've already used Red, Dark Green and White, the remaining ones are Pink and Light Green.  How should I incorporate those to the existing overlay?  I decided to use a lighter green as a background, then used pink to stamp a snowflake in one of the outline ornaments and the sentiment.  There it is!  I tried a couple versions for the background but I liked this one the best.  I have used different background stamps including one that has the word "Merry" in various fonts.  I thought it would be very cute and conform to the Christmas theme but I was wrong.  In this case, less is more and I think having a plain background would make the center panel even more outstanding.

My card is entering the following challenges:
613 Avenue - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 everybody - Anything Goes
Craftin Desert Divas - Celebration
Make it Monday
The Glory of Christmas - ornaments

Thanks for stopping by!

Ah Autumn

I bought the stamp set Always Grateful a while back but it is the first time I'm using it today.  I love the different tree images - the nature is such a beauty that no one can resist.   As the temperature is getting lower and each day is getting gustier, I think I should catch up with my fall/Thanksgiving cards!

So it gives me a perfect reason to think what I want to do with this set.  Sometimes I bought tools with many ideas to play them but when it comes to actually trying to use it, the ideas all disappear.  Has that happened to you? 

I decided to focus on just one of the trees and played with generation stamping.  I used New England Ivy and Olive, two shades of green to create this:

There are altogether 5 trees, or some of them partial trees stamped.  The trees do make a contrast with the bright pumpkin-colored background.  I also like that the leaves in the patterned paper contrasts with the bare branches.  For the words I went to my friend copper embossing powder and it sits nicely against the New England Ivy cardstock.  Did you see the tone-on-tone stamping on the New England Ivy panel?  This is one of my all time favorites.  I think it was a bit boring to have a solid panel against the busy background above it, so I stamped a less busy background pattern on it with the same color.  It balances nicely with the patterned paper.

This card is entering the following challenges, they are all related to Fall, nature or a scene:
Heart 2 Heart challenge - Au Naturale
Amusing challenge - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamp challenge - Create a scene
Dream Valley - Autumn
Come and get it Challenge - Fall colors
Fashionables stamping challenge - Autumn colors
Get Inky Challenge - Fall colors
Addicted to CAS - Autumn/Fall

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!