Naughty Kitty

There is a reason why we didn't have a Christmas tree last year.  I thought it would be safe to hang a few ornaments from the dining room light fixture; however, between the day after Thanksgiving and New Year's somebody grew.  If anyone knows how to share this with the motion on, please let me know.  She is jumping and the ornaments are swinging.  Needless to say, I had to take down the ornaments.

You know that when I saw that The Alphabet Challenge was "N is for Naughty" this incident and stamp came to mind.

This adorable stamp by Inkadinkado is perfect for a CAS card which aligns beautifully (purrfectly?) with the Addicted to CAS Challenge code word of creature and The Sweet Stampin' Challenge to feature an animal in honor of World Animal Day which was October 4th.  As you can see, if I placed the kitty where I wanted her to be in terms of composition, the branch would be at loose ends, so I used a journaling pen to extend the branch to the edge.  The sentiment is part of Hero Arts' Fluffy Stockings Stamp and Cut set.

Now to color the image.  I have never mastered alcohol pens, so I used my Prismacolor  pencils.  I recently discovered that they make a colorless blending pencil.  All I had to do was draw a heavy line of silver (I don't have a gray pencil) along the edge and then "color" with the colorless pencil in small circles to draw the color out into a fade.  I also used it to smooth away most of the pencil strokes after coloring the ornament.  I layered the panel on colored cardstock before attaching it to a card base because it needed the extra pop of a colored frame.  I hope it still qualifies as CAS.  In case you have noticed the sentiment in the completed card and the sample above are in different colors, I come from a family of crazy cat lovers, so I made several cards for Calli(sto) and her sister to send to their aunts and uncles.  Of course she had to supervise.

By the way, Calli is now 14 months old and is still naughty, although she prefers to say inquisitive or playful.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

So Many Stars for Freshly Made Sketches

I really like this Freshly Made Sketch, but it presented a problem.  I had just gotten Stampin' Up's So Many Stars bundle and, like a spoiled child, I wanted to play with my new toys.  Unfortunately the sentiment didn't fit the sketch.

I finally decided to force it by using the sentiment with a star to create the medium square element and replace the "sentiment" with a trail of stars.  Where did I get that little star stamp?  I (gasp!) cut it from one of the star cluster stamps.  I when I edit stamps I avoid making straight cuts.  I usually cut stamps in a curve to make it easier to fit the pieces back together in proper alignment when I want to use the whole stamp.  The sentiment and white stars are heat embossed with white detail powder and the star trail and edges are embossed with silver detail powder.  To do the edges I stood the cardstock straight up and pushed the edge into Versamark and then my plastic tub of powder.  After I cut the silver foil pieces I put them through my die cut machine between two pieces of cardstock.  That eliminated the raise dots left by the holes in the small dies and gave the foil a softer shine like you get with silver embossing powder.  I spritzed the card panel with Hero Arts shimmer spray.  For the center of the large star, I cut two white and one silver small stars and stacked them to keep it from getting lost in the white filigree stamping.  Of course I had to finish my card with some sparkles.  

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Peace and Snowflakes Ornament

I love this two piece die from Hero Arts.  The circle of snowflakes and the ornament outline are separate dies, so you can cut out an ornament as I have done here or cut an opening ringed by snowflakes into a card front which I will show y'all another time.

I started by dropping green, blue, silver and white Hero Arts glimmer inks onto a craft mat, misted them with water and dragged paper through it all.  I cut a solid ornament shape twice from aqua paper and once from the inked paper and stacked them before layering on the snowflake layer.   I used a Birch Press Designs die to cut the sentiment three times, stacked them and attached them to the shadow piece cut from Silver paper.  All this stacking gives the card dimension.  To help separate the ornament from the background I embossed the background with Stampin' Up's Subtle folder.  I finished the card off with some bitty sparkles in the centers of the snowflakes.

I used the Freshly Made Sketch below and drew on the Jingle Belles Challenge theme of peace on Earth and the ABC Christmas Challenge theme of sparkle and texture.  Here is a shot using a direct flash, so you can see how sparkly it is.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Hanging Ornaments

The theme for the September Christmas at Sweet Stampin' challenge is Christmas decorations and this Freshly Made Sketch seemed perfect for it:

I decided to use a wide Merry Christmas sentiment to create the illusion of the strip across.  I used a die from Birch Press Design and stacked three cut from Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grape cardstock topped with one cut from Gold foil paper slightly offset.  This gave the sentiment lots of dimension.

Now for the ornaments!  I made them using the Simon Say Stamp "Ornate Ornaments" stamp and die set with Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder and colored them with a Violet Zig Clean Color Real Brush marker.  I simply swiped it across the embossing and blotted up any bits of ink that might have been on the embossing.  No need for detailed coloring when you are only using one color!  The original plan was to use gold embroidery thread to "hang" the ornaments and place it on a Gorgeous Grape card base, but as I laid everything out the card seemed pretty boring, so I used substituted black for those elements which gave it more pop.  I wish I had used regular sewing thread because the embroidery thread is somewhat fuzzy.  I had also planned to let the ornaments swing freely, but like so many plans, that needed to be revised as the bottom two ornaments kept switching places and the round one on top of the almond one did not look right.  After I glued them all down I realized I could have left the almond one loose like a tag.  Y'all may see another version of the hanging ornaments in the future.  I had to finish the front off with (what else?) bitty sparkles.  The folks at the Winter Wonderland Challenge blog want to see my favorite embellishment.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that sparkles are my favorite!

Here is the inside using a sentiment from Close to My Heart's "To You and Yours" stamp set which I stamped with Black Versafine ink and embossed with clear detail powder.  No messy black embossing powder for me!

I also plan to enter this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Monochromatic Challenge.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Star of Light in a Shimmery Sky

Once again, I have a shiny card that needed to be photographed with and without the light hitting it at an angle to show the shimmer.  I created it using this Fab Friday sketch:

For the background I used a sponge to lightly dab Wild Wasabi, Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy and Blackberry Bliss on to white cardstock and then swirled diluted Frost White shimmer ink over it.  After trimming it down I lightly sponged some Night of Navy along the edge to ground it and used white craft foam to pop it up from the card base.  I also heavily sponged Blackberry followed by Frost White on a strip of white cardstock.    I used dies from the Star of Light set to cut the background star from shimmer vellum and the filigree star from silver foil paper.  The sentiment is from Jane's Doodles' Holy Night stamp set and is attached with thin foam tape.  I finished the card with a purple sparkle from Hampton Art and some silver sparkles from TPC Studio.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi 

Sparkling Snowflake Shaker Christmas Card

What a difference the angle that the light hits an object can make!  In the first picture the card is upright and shot using a flash aimed straight up flooding the subject with even, indirect light, which is how I usually shoot my cards.  For the second I propped the card back against the background and bounced the flash at the ceiling roughly halfway between the camera and card so the light reflects off the surface allowing y'all to see how shiny it is.  But I am getting ahead of my self...

To me this Freshly Made Sketch screams shaker card:

That would mean a Christmas themed shaker card given the time of year...  The ABC Christmas Challenge is S for sparkle and T for texture which is perfect because I am still playing with Hero Arts Glimmer paints which have a beautiful metallic finish.  They come in dropper bottles and are almost as thick as acrylic paint, so I use techniques involving water.  For the card in my last post I put a few drops on an acrylic block, spritzed it with water, and smooshed it onto watercolor paper.  For this card I put a few drops of Blue, Green, and Sliver on a craft mat and spritzed generously.  I then used a sponge to dab the color onto watercolor paper.  The layers of color combined with the rough paper provided lots of texture and sparkle.  I also used the same Hero Arts Snowflake Cluster die I used on my last card to cut snowflakes, but then cut them apart and placed them around the sentiment panel.  I used Galvanized Metal paper that was available last year from Stampin' Up for the word merry and the background of the shaker pocket.  The sequin mix is Frosty II mix from Kat Scrappyness.  I finished the card off with sparkles at the center of the snowflakes because y'all know I like sparkles.

I am also entering this card in the Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge to use something clear because you can't make a shaker card without clear acetate.  Plus some of the shaker bits are clear.  

One more Christmas card done!  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time,  Hansi

A Snowflake Cluster For Freshly Made Sketches' 400th Challenge

I am a Virginian which means I like snow as long as it melts before I have to drive in it and white Christmases are pretty much only in my dreams.  I can remember two and one of those was more a heavy frost which was gone by mid morning.  That said, snowflakes are one of my favorite design elements for a Christmas card, so I was excited to see this new die in the new Hero Arts catalog and couldn't wait to play with it.    I decided to interpret the rectangle in this Freshly Made Sketch as any shape in order to use my new toy die.

Did you notice this is Freshly Made Sketches' 400th(!) sketch?  What a milestone!  I started playing when it was sketch #64.  Congratulations and thank you to the talented, dedicated folks who have given their time and creativity to keep this challenge going.

I made the background by dropping blue, purple, and silver Hero Arts Glimmer inks on an acrylic block, misting it with water, and smooshing it on to Archer Cold Press watercolor paper.  I love the metallic shine of these inks and the sandy texture created by using them on watercolor paper.  The photograph does not do it justice.  Because the watercolor paper is so much thicker than the Galvanized  Metal cardstock next to it, you could see the white ragged edge, so I sponged Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide Ink along the edge to make it less noticeable.

I cut the snowflakes five times, trimmed off the flourishes and bottom snowflake of four of them and stacked them to give the two upper snowflakes dimension.  I also popped up the sentiment with foam tape.  The color sparkles are from Hampton Arts and the clear from Close to My Heart.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

The Best Laid Plans...

My husband is into astronomy, so when I saw the Stargazing stamp set in Stampin' Up's new catalog I knew it was the perfect set for a Father's Day card for him from me.  To paraphrase Robert Burns, the best laid plans of mice and men...

I ordered the set the morning of June 4th as soon as the catalog went live.  It shipped on June 6th.  On June 8th UPS turned it over to the Postal Service in Sandston, Virginia, the hub for Central Virginia, for an estimated delivery date of June 11th.  Plenty of time to make a card, right?  It was not delivered on the 11th, or the 12th, or the 13th.  That evening the UPS tracker revealed it to be in Myrtle Beach which, if you are not familiar with beaches on the east coast, is two states away in South Carolina!  Maybe it wanted a vacation after the long trip from Utah.  My order finally arrived the day after Father's Day and this weekend I had a chance to play with it.

The original plan was to stamp the nebula/galaxy in dark ink over a watercolored base to let stars show through in pastel colors, use the star cluster stamp to emboss a few stars in white over top, and finish it with that perfect sentiment.  I began by watercoloring on the smooth side of Ranger watercolor paper.  Now watercolor is an exercise of letting go as the water will move color where it wants to and changes it as it dries.  This is what I ended up with.  I apologize that I did not think to photograph it before I started trimming cutting it up.

I was working with this Freshly Made Sketch and thought the darker bleeding purple parts would make a good stripe.

I wanted to cover the whole center panel with the galaxy stamp which meant I would have to make multiple images and blend them.  Plus, I did not really want to have that center section of the stamp be so light.  After practicing on cardstock I decided the best bet would be to pounce ink on using a small thin Life Changing brush.  I used the same technique to color narrow strips of the watercolored paper.  Next I tested the star cluster stamp with Gina K fine detail white embossing powder on my galaxy test piece.  I am glad I did because no matter how fine a powder you use, Stampin' Up's DistINKtive stamps do not translate well with embossing.  Next I sprayed on some Perfect Pearls mixed with water to make the galaxy shimmer.  Note to self:  watercolor paper is not cardstock!  Although the spray worked well on my test piece, it did cause some running of the Night of Navy ink on the watercolor paper, softening the stars.  Then again, if you have ever looked though a high powered telescope on a hot, humid night there is some softening of the image, even when there is no condensation on the lens.

I heat embossed the sentiment on paper from DCWV's Weathered paper stack, cut it out with a thin die, pressed the edges into the Night of Navy ink pad, and attached it with foam tape.  A few sparkles finished the card off.  Whew!  I am also entering this card in the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge to make a masculine card and the Happy Little Stampers watercolor challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Father's Day Cats 2019

This Father's Day card from our two and four legged daughters is based on this Freshly Made Sketch:

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of white cardstock and applied Candied Apple, Ripe Crimson, and Dried Marigold Distress Oxide inks, blending until I was happy with the result.  While I had the ink out I covered a small piece with Candied Apple, so I could have matching sentiment strips.  I cut the large cat using Close to My Heart's Artistry Cricut cartridge, the medium cat using a die from Spellbinder's Kitty Cats die set, and the little cats using Impression Obsession's Cat Set.  Then I heat embossed them with three coats of clear detail powder.  The sentiment was stamped with an old Close to My Heart set, Say It in Style using Black Versafine ink, heat embossed with clear detail powder and attached with foam tape.  The finishing touches were cut from Stampin' Up's Grapefruit Grove foil paper which has a hologram effect to it.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Kitty Birthday Card for Daddy

This is a birthday card for my daughters, two legged and four, to give to their Daddy AKA Soft Touch.  Here is the inside:

The cats, fish, and yarn were cut from and old Spellbinders set.  The sentiment on the front is from Simon Says Stamp and the one on the inside from Kat Scrappiness.  I can't believe I made a card with no stamping or ink of any kind!  I started this card for the Cut It Up Birthday Challenge and I guess you can say I took the die cut part to heart.  I also plan to enter this in The Seize the Birthday and Happy Little Stampers Anything with a Die challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Wrapped Watercolor Snowflakes

It seems odd to be making Christmas cards while thankful for air conditioning, but making a few throughout the year is the only way I can manage to have enough ready at Christmas.  Having the time to sign, address and mail them in December is another matter, but I digress.  One of my inspirations to make Christmas cards in the off season is to play Christmas challenges such as the Christmas at Sweet Stampin's  challenge which this month is to use snowflakes.  I am combining this theme with Stamping Sensations' challenge to "show your true colors" with bright, bold, beautiful colors and Happy Little Stampers watercolor challenge.  Now bright and bold is not what I usually think of when using watercolors, but I tried a technique Jennifer McGuire calls wrapped watercolor where you use watercolors to paint a wet, heavy layer of color onto watercolor paper, cover it with wadded up plastic wrap, weigh it down (I used a cutting board with my skillet on top), and wait patiently for it to dry naturally.  It took mine overnight.  Let's just say this is not a technique to use if you need a card in a hurry.  You can see the technique in action by clicking on the link above.

Once my card was completely dry, I sponged Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink around the edges and used Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Swirly Snowflakes and Mini Swirly Snowflakes stamps to heat emboss snowflakes in white.  The Merry Christmas sentiment comes from an old Close to My Heart set.  I used Navy Blue Nuvo Crystal Drops in the centers of the snowflakes and attached the panel to a white card base with craft foam for dimension.

Another card ready for Christmas!  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Peek-a-boo Gull

If CAS means lots of white space and minimal embellishments, this card would qualify, but I am not sure I can say simple because lining up the die to cut the window in the right place was fun and games.  I started with this Freshly Made Sketch:

I knew I wanted to make a summer themed card for the Paper Players Challenge, and I had just discovered the Daring Cardmakers intriguing challenge to create a secret hideaway for an element of your card.  I found myself thinking what if I made the circle on the sketch a window which only showed a hint of what was inside.  Some of y'all may know that I grew up where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and have a thing for lighthouses, so this is what you see when you open the card.  

First I stamped the inside using Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink and Close to My Heart's Perfect Day and Seaside Greetings stamp sets.  Then I cut a window and stamped the front.  After coloring with Prismacolor pencils, I stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Quilted Elegance in Black Soot Distress Oxide Ink.  Then as I wrote the above sentence and looked at the sketch again I realized I had not noticed that it includes an element along the left edge, so I stamped the edge with Stampin' Up's Wood Background stamp and re-shot the photo.  Can I get this posted and linked in time?

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Masculine Birthday Card

I don't know about y'all, but I always struggle with masculine cards.  Given that I do have males who happen to have birthdays in my life, I have to challenge myself each time I need one, so why not look to some of the challenge blogs for inspiration and motivation?  The Papercraft Challenge theme of "For Men and Boys" provided the motivation while Sunday Stamps provided inspiration with this photo and the challenge to use at least three of the colors to create a card.

The drawing in the book reminded me of Simon Says Stamp's Ornate Backgrounds stamp, so I stamped it on Desert Storm paper and embossed it with white powder.  I used ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers to color the image, layering a medium gray and green to make that color to the far right which sometimes looks dark gray and sometimes muted dark green to me.  For the sentiment I combined the word happy from Simon Says Stamp's Stained Glass Love set with "birthday to you" from Birchpress Designs' Make a Statement set.  After trimming everything down I decided I wanted a thin border around it before putting it on the card base but didn't have colored cardstock to match the dark muted green, so I cut another piece of Desert Storm cardstock and colored around the edges in the same gray and green I used on the stamp.  Perfect match!  Then all I had to do was attach it to the card base popped up with craft foam and glue on few white Nuvo Drops.  Because it takes Nuvo Drops so long to harden, I drop a lot of drops in different sizes on a silicon mat, let them dry for a few days and then put them in small jars to use later.

I am also going to enter this into the Seize the Birthday challenge which is always anything goes with an optional topping which I will forgo as this week it is "presents."  By the way, although the Sunday Stamps challenge ends at 6:00 p.m. EDT, there is plenty of time to enter the other two if you are inspired to do so.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Ink Swiping

A few weeks ago I saw this tutorial by May May Made It about swiping layers of ink over dry embossing.  Now I have inked embossing folders and used sponge daubers to selectively apply color to parts of the design, but this looked so free and unpredictable!  I looked through my embossing folders for ones I thought might be interesting  for this technique, embossed a stack of card fronts and swiped away to make some backgrounds which I put aside because life got in the way of card making.  Don't you hate it when that happens?  Then I saw this Freshly Made Sketch:

Instead of using that center panel to stamp and color, why not make the wide frame the most interesting part?  In other words, it was the perfect sketch to use one of my ink swiped, embossed card fronts!  The embossing folder is Swirls and Curls from Stampin' Up.  I am not sure what colors of ink are in this one because I used so many that day, but I do know that I sponged some Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink around the edges to ground it.  I used the Happy Large Word Die by Whimsy Stamps to cut three in white and one in Fresh Fig and then stacked them to give some dimension.  The sentiment strip was stamped using the Well Said set also from Stampin Up, embossed with white detail powder from Gina K Design and popped up with foam tape.  

Ink swiping was so much fun I can assure you that you will see more of it in the future.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi. 

In Memory of a Steel Magnolia

I made another version of this card for a friend whose mother passed.  It had just a hint of color on the flowers and a sentiment in a beautiful script.  It was really pretty, but no quite right.  You see, GrandBetty was what we in the south call an iron or steel magnolia:  a woman who is soft and sweet like a magnolia on the outside and strong as steel on the inside.  She was an artist who loved children, and she was never seen without her hair done.  When she could no longer leave her home, her angel of a hairstylist came to her home to make sure she was properly coiffed.  I have no idea what color her hair really was.  Yet she handled life's challenges, and there were a few, head on.  Of course she did so with dignity and grace.  No, I needed a different card for her to honor her.

The pink, delicate drawing, and sparkles keep it sweet, but the pink is brighter and I used bold stripes on the edge and a sentiment embossed on a black strip to provide contrast and better reflect who she was.  The layout is based on this Freshly Made Sketch:

The stamp is by Simon Says Stamp and I colored it with Prismacolor pencils.  I am much happier with this version.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Thank You for a Thoughtful Gift

My best friend growing up, who is stationed in Bagdad, sent me a flag that was flown over the American Embassy for me in honor of my grandfather and father who served in the Marines and Navy respectively.  I still tear up when I look at it.  Such a special gift requires a special thank you card.

I started by inking the flat side of the Leafy Branch embossing folder by Cuddlebug and embossing a piece of Colonial White cardstock.  Then I swiped an ink pad directly on the raised design.  I then used a sponge dauber to add a bit more color to some of the leaves and stems.  I love the batiked effect.  I heat embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder and then gilded the the top and bottom edge by perpendicularly pressing the edge into a Versarmark pad and then in the embossing powder.  I popped it up using foam tape.  The twine was bought at Target years ago.  I like how the metallic thread compliments the heat embossing.

I am entering this card in the Just Add Ink challenge to just add embossing.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Star in a Swirling Metallic Sky

The Jingle Belles want to see Christmas cards with glitter or metallics and I had some of the Hero Arts Glimmer Metallic Ink that I wanted to play with.  Did I mention that the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge has the optional twist of stars?  I had a vision of a star in a metallic version of a swirling galaxy sky.  Time to get playing!

The glimmer inks are fairly thick, almost like paint, and come in a dropper bottle.  I put a few drops of pewter, blue, and purple inks on a craft mat and spritzed them with a bit of water to thin them some but not so much that they would not have some texture as they layered on my paper.  I smooshed Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock into the puddles dragging and lifting until the paper was covered and let it dry naturally.  I did not spritz the paper during the smooshing and dragging process.

Next I used a die from Stampin' Up's Star of Light set to cut a star from my dry panel and from a piece of craft foam cut slightly smaller.  I then embossed the sentiment and attached the card front and craft foam to the card base.  I cut a filigree star from silver foil paper to nestle into the star shaped well and finished it off with a blue violet sparkle.

Lastly I used Color Box silver metallic pigment ink to stamp the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi 

Materials used:

Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110 cardstock, Close to My Heart Silver foil paper

Ink:  Hero Arts Glimmer inks in Pewter, Blue, and Purple, Color Box Silver pigment ink

Stamp and Dies:  Star of Light by Stampin' Up

Embellishments:  Purple Sparkle by Ki Memories, White craft foam, Gina K Superfine White embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches Meets Color Throwdown for Valentine's Day

After my last post about a valentine for a friend to give to her husband, please don't think I neglected my own husband.  Here is the one I made for him using this Freshly Made Sketch and this week's Color Throwdown colors, dark pink, black and gray:

I started by using the A Layer of Birch Press Design's Adora layering die set to emboss the background.  Do you think that can count as the leaf element?  The smaller heart is Melon Mambo layered over three black hearts, brushed with Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents for sparkle AND shine (although it does not show well in the photo).  The black layers subtly echo the word "love" which was cut from black glossy paper.   For the "gray" elements I used Champagne foil paper and gray sparkles.  The card front is popped up with a piece of craft foam for added dimension.

Here is the inside which I embellished with hearts leftover from the card in my last post.  The stamping is embossed with silver and Versamark ink and clear detail powder over black ink.

Yes, he liked it.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110 cardstock, black and Melon Mambo cardstock, Champagne foil paper, and black glossy paper from Stampin' Up
Ink:  Raspberry Pigment ink from Close to My Heart, Onyx Black Versafine ink, Versamark ink
Stamps:  Thoughtful Messages by Simon Says Stamp, Mad About You by Close to My Heart
Embellishments:  Gray sparkles from Close to My Heart, Silver detail embossing powder by Ranger, Clear detail powder by Stampendous
Other:  Adora Layer A die by Birch Press Design, Sweet and Sassy framelits from Stampin' Up, Cupid Hearts Border die by Simon Says Stamp, Opulent Swirls die by Crafter's Companion for Gemini