Warm Desert Rays

 

One of my aspirations for the year is to stop collecting and start using the crafting supplies that I just had to have.  None of y'all have that problem do you, lol?  First up is this stamp from Hero Arts, issued to celebrate their 45th year in business in 2019, which I combined with this Freshly Made Sketch. 

I wanted a sun washed desert feel, so I searched through my stash and found a background created using Cape Cod Coral and Clam Bake Beige from the Lindy's Magicals' Nantucket Pearls set on watercolor paper which I trimmed down to 4 x 5.25 inches.  To create interest I inked the Sacred Spells stamp from Lavinia with Fired Brick Distress Oxide ink and used second generation stamping on the upper left and lower right sides.  I did the same thing using a stamp from Stampin' Up's All Adorned and Festive Berries ink in the lower right corner.  To complete the background I inked around the edges with Abandoned Coral using a small blending brush.

After stamping the sun in Ground Espresso, I used stamps from Stampin' Up's Desert Details set, my MISTI, and Salvaged Patina and Evergreen Bough inks to put down a base for the stripes.  I then randomly dabbed Evergreen Bough and Ground Espresso on the upper stamp and Rustic Wilderness and Ground Espresso on the lower stamp and stamped again to give them a distressed weathered look.  I stamped the sentiment using one from the same set in Ground Espresso.  To add dimension I cut the trimmings from the original background to make some narrow stripes.  I finished the panel with some clear acrylic drops I had on hand and popped it up on a card base with two extra panels of cardstock.

I love the seventies vibe of the stamp and the warm sun washed look of the finished.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Always in Our Hearts

 

The current Time Out Challenge is to CASE this card by Gina K: 

If you are new to the concept, CASE stands for Copy And Selectively Edit.  Gina has an easy to recognize style involving ink blending with stamping, often silhouette, over it, lots of white space, and a thin black mat mounted on a white card base.  This pet sympathy card, based on the comforting idea of The Rainbow Bridge, is my take on it.  I used small blending brushes and Distress ink with a stencil made with  a heart die from Stampin' Up and a piece of Gina K Masking Magic to create a rainbow heart.  The cat was cut from black cardstock using a die from Paper Roses and the sentiment is from an old Close to my Heart set, Big Hug.  I used a die from Altenew's Mix and Match Frame set to cut the black dots around the edge.

I also plan to enter this the Make My Monday All Creatures Great and Small and Allsorts A/G with option of All About Hearts challenges.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Kitties Sparkling for Christmas

 

The cats were not part of the plan.  No, really!  The plan was to emboss an old Hero Arts stamp, Branches and Flourishes Christmas Tree, using PEARLustre Emerald embossing powder from Stampendous, embellish it with bitty sparkles that were colored with a red alcohol marker and top it with a gold sparkle from Stampin' Up.   Gold embossing a sentiment from an old Close to My Heart set, Holiday wishes, would complete a CAS card for the Stamping Sensations "Add Some Sparkle" and ABC Christmas "A is for Anything Christmas Goes" challenges.  

Alas, when I went to embellish the tree it came to my attention that the power on the end of the lower right branch had failed to melt and had since smeared.  What to do?  Cover it up, of course.  One of my favorite dies, labeled simply "Cat Set" from Impression Obsession to the rescue!  I embossed the sentiment on a strip popped up with thin foam tape to provide something for the cats, which had been cut three times and stacked for dimension, to stand on.  And you know they had to have blingy collars for the holidays.  Thanks to them I will also enter this card in the Show Us Your Pussy Cats "Furrything Goes" challenge because as far as Luna and Calli are concerned, the kitties are the stars of the show.  That tree is just the backdrop for them.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Magicals and Embossing Folders

 

I have been experimenting with Lindy's Magicals, and after seeing this Jennifer McGuire video, I have been thinking it might be fun to try them with embossing folders.  Can You Handle the Pressure, a new to me challenge, has provided the motivation to actually do it.  Can You Handle the Pressure is an anything using an embossing folder goes with an optional twist challenge which begins on the second and fourth Saturday of each month at 12:00 a.m. and ends at 8:00 p.m. the Wednesday before the next challenge begins.  The current optional twist is borders. 

After trying all three of Jennifer's techniques with different folders I selected one using Hydrangea Blue and Sweet Violet Purple Teal from Lindy's Magicals' Victorian Bouquet set and the Swirls and Curls embossing folder from Stampin' Up,  I embossed a piece of watercolor paper, sprinkled the powders on it, and spritzed with lots of water.   It doesn't show in the picture above that the mica in Sweet Violet Purple Teal is teal.  It shows a bit better in this photo I took outside with the card angled to the sun:

Now to make a card!  I used this sketch from the Global Design Project:

I cut the embossed panel into sections.  Two pieces to use for this card, a full length strip to use on another card, and three smaller leftover pieces to put in my scrap organizer for use later.

 

I edged the embossed pieces with Villainous Potion Distress ink and attached them to a piece of watercolor paper with a strip of silver foil paper to separate them.   When I place the panel against the card it didn't seem grounded, so I cut a mat in white and inked the edges with Villainous Potion Distress Oxide ink which was too bright, so I toned it down with a little Dusty Concord Distress Oxide.  I made three hello die cuts using a Birch Press Design die and stacked them for dimension.  Lastly I nestled some silver pearls from Stampin' Up in the swirls on the purple side.

I also plan to enter this in the Birthstone Challenges, a new challenge that runs in six week cycles beginning the first of of each odd numbered month and ending the 15th of even numbered months.  For each challenge we are asked to create any project featuring the birthstone colors of the challenge period which for January and February would be garnet and amethyst meaning red and/or purple.  You may use one or both colors and include other colors, but the birthstone colors must be dominant.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Enjoying Snow From the Warm Side of the Window

 

The Inspiration Station Challenge prompt for January is this photo:

The cat, of course, caught my eye as did the fact he is on the warm side of the window which is the only way my pointy eared darlings experience snow.  The other element that attracted me was that this is not a photo, but a piece of art with texture from brush strokes and layers of color.  I knew at once that I would use my Prismacolor pencils, my Poppy Stamps window die, a cat die (I have a few), and the Pine Trees 3D Shading stamp from Spellbinders that I think I bought right before the Pandemic.  

I stamped the trees with light gray ink and colored over them with my pencils.  I applied a little Stickles on the tops of the branches which shows up yellow in this picture. I used an Impression Obsession die to cut the cats three times each, stacked them, used dark gray and black pencils to create contours, and then applied a layer of Glossy Accents over them.  I cut three windows and stacked them with a piece of acetate between the bottom and middle layers.  The background panel was cut using a stitched nesting frame from Penny Black.  I cut the stamped trees down to fit behind the window and attached the cats to the front.  I tucked a piece of thin foam tape between the upper part of each cat and the acetate to level it up to the lower portion that was attached to the window sill.  The sentiment comes from Gina K Designs' Sparkling Snowflakes set.

In addition to the Inspiration Station challenge, I plan to enter this card in the Retro Rubber "Winter Scenes", Cut It Up "Anything Goes", and Crazy for Cats "Anything CAT Goes" challenges.  Thank you for stopping by,  Hansi

Another Trip Around the Sun for My Baby Girl

 

Another trip around the sun for my baby girl!   Birthstone Challenges is a new challenge that runs in six week cycles beginning the first of of each odd numbered month and ending the 15th of even numbered months.  For each challenge we are asked to create any project featuring the birthstone colors of the challenge period which for January and February would be garnet and amethyst meaning red and/or purple.  You may use one or both colors and include other colors, but the birthstone colors must be dominant.   Katherine's favorite color is purple.  The optional theme for the Seize the Birthday challenge is Things With Wings and she has always loved butterflies.  This shouldn't be difficult!  Here is what I came up with.

I used an old layering die, Butterfly Beauty from the Beauty Abounds bundle by Stampin' Up, to cut the bottom layer from glossy white paper and the top from silver shimmer paper.  I backed the butterflies with some old patterned paper which is primarily shades of purple with a bit of blue mottled together.  The background is the scrap left after using the dies on white paper that I then splattered with a violet Wink of Stella brush and fitted around the butterflies.  I finished it off with a popped up sentiment and sparkles.  

It is hard to see how shiny this card is when photographed inside with a bounce flash, so I used my phone to take this shot outside in an attempt to capture it without a direct flash which would white out everything.

Please consider checking out and maybe entering the current Seize the Birthday challenge which runs until January 24  at 9:00 a.m. and the inaugural Birthstone Challenge which ends February !5 at 4:00 p.m. MT.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Birthday Card For a Cat Dad

 

I need a birthday card for my husband, a devoted cat dad known as Soft Touch by our furry, pointy eared darlings.  Once again Freshly Made Sketches has provided the purrfect sketch to use my favorite cat die from Obsession Impression.

I have always cut the cats from black cardstock and placed them against bright colors or on a black and white card.  This time I cut them from white cardstock for a white CAS (ish) card with a pop of color provided by a background I made using watercolor paper and Lindy's Magicals which are like Brusho powders with mica in them.  I used the Victorian Bouquet set which has green mica in some of the colors.  For each block I used Hero Arts square Infinity dies to cut two squares to stack and then taped two dies together to cut a frame for the third layer.  I then used the smaller, "inside" die to cut a square of the background to inlay.  I cut two of each cat and stacked them to give them some dimension.   For the panel I used a die from Altenew's Mix and Match Frames set and trimmed off one end for a 4x3 panel and backed it with more of the background.  I heat embossed a sentiment from an old Close to My Heart set, Holiday Tags, in silver.

Inside I heat embossed a sentiment from Gina K Designs' So Many Sentiments set and used some of the extra cats and scraps to pretty it up.

I also plan to enter this into the AAA Birthday Anything Birthday and Show Us Your Pussycats Anything Goes challenges.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi