Snowflake Net Christmas

 

The Color Hues Challenge colors of magenta and blue were the perfect colors to inaugurate my new stencil, Snowflake Net, by A Colorful Life Designs. Such a crazy nontraditional snowflake stencil calls for bright, nontraditional colors, don't you think?  I used Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean Distress Inks which are more vibrant than the Oxides and a blender brush to build up the color.  As I blended I got various hues of violet as a bonus.  For the sentiment I cut the word "merry" three times in white and once in black using a die from Birch Press Designs, stacked them, and backed it with some velum because the background was so busy.  Then I white heat embossed the word Christmas from the Simon Says Stamp Stained Glass Greetings set on black and attached it with foam tape.  I backed the panel with black cardstock before attaching it to a white card base.  By the way, if you are looking for an intensely black heavy cardstock, I recommend Hero Arts Pitch Black Premium 111 pound cardstock. I finished off my card with some black sparkles.

I also plan to enter this card in the Winter Wonderland "Anything Christmas"  and Inkspirational "Snow" challenges.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Non Traditional Snowflake Card

 

I love snowflakes!  As a design element, that is.  As some of y'all know, I grew up where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream passes close enough to warm the air just enough that we didn't get snow that often, and when we did, it usually didn't stick.  I now live a hundred miles up river where we can count on getting some snow every winter and, being on the fall line, we are on the border of a little and a lot, so I like many Richmonders, rush to Publix when there is the mere possibility of snow flurries.  I prefer snow when I don't have to drive in it and it melts within a day or two.  On the other hand, I love snowflakes as a design element and believe you can never have too many snowflake stamps, stencils, and embossing folders.  This card uses snowflake stamps from three different set, but I am getting ahead of myself.  First, the layout of this card was based on this Freshly Made Sketch:

I started by making a mask and, using blender brushes, created a background with Wilted Violet, Salty Ocean, and Blueprint Sketch Distress Inks which are more vibrant than the Oxides.  I then created some texture in the lower right corner with the Gina K Designs Festive stencil and Milled Lavender ink fading it out as I moved upward and toward the center.  I stamped the snowflakes with Versafine Black Onyx ink using stamps from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Mini Swirly Snowflakes, Gina K Designs Sparkle and Shine, and Close to My Heart Snow Flurries sets.  The sentiment from the Stampin' Up Snowflake Wishes set is popped up.  Of course I had to had a few clear sparkles to the centers of the snowflakes.

Thank you for stopping by!   Until next time, Hansi

An Anniversary Card for the Color Hues Challenge

 

I am not usually a fan of color challenges.  They often ask you to combine three or four colors and specify the shade of the color which is just too confining for me.  The new Color Hues Challenge picks two colors, and you are free to use different shades of that color plus neutrals.  This week's challenge was to use Cream and Gold.  I can finally post my entry.  You see, this is an anniversary card for my husband, who sometimes looks at my blog, so I had to wait until I gave it to him to post.  Yes, we did get married on a Friday the thirteenth.  

I do not remember who made the heart with the leaves.  A few years ago a friend came over to do some crafting and bought the die with her.  I cut one to keep in my stash.  The second heart came with my Gemini Jounior and the love sentiment is an old Stampin' Up die.  I heat embossed each die cut with three layers Ranger Princess Gold and set them aside.  For the front panel I used Ranger Vintage Pearl to heat emboss the Rebecca Lace Background stamp from Simon Says Stamp on Colonial White cardstock from Close to My Heart.  To get the gilded edge, I held the paper perpendicular to a Versamark stamp pad and pressed the edge into it and then heat embossed the edge with more Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder.  I wanted the plain heart to have some leaves to compliment the large heart, but of course, I didn't have the die, so I cut a few leaves from the Simon Says Stamp Circle of Leaves die and heat embossed them with three layers of the Vinatage Pearl powder.  I put everything together, popping uo the panel with craft foam.   I embellished the large heart with a few small pearls.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Sherlock in the Library

 

This birthday card for my sister, a children's librarian, was inspired by several challenges.  The first is, appropriately, The Library Challenge featuring children's book, "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss.  You can be inspired by the cover, the title, or the story. 

I chose a four year old stamp by Inkadinkado featuring a tabby cat because I have always thought of the Cat in the Hat as being a tabby.  The background stamp by Impression Obsession which I think is about three years old could be my sister's house where bookshelves line many of the walls.  The colors were inspired by this photo from the If you Give a Crafter a Cookie Challenge.  I love that the name is a riff off of another children's book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  

I started with the smooth side of a sheet of Tim Holtz watercolor paper.  Working with Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, and Broken China Distress Inks, and several different sized acrylic blocks, I smooshed ink onto a block, spritzed it with water and smooshed it onto the paper, leaving it there for a couple minutes to let the ink absorb into the paper.  This gives more intense color.  Each time I changed colors and blocks I made sure to overlap so the colors would blend.  Needless to say, Distress Oxide inks will not work becuase they are opaque and you would not get the rainbow effect.  Once the background was dry, I stamped the books using a stamp positioning tool, so I could double stamp because the paper still has some texture and I wanted to get a good image.  I watercolored the cat using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers trying to duplicate the colors in the background.  I popped him up with foam tape.  The sentiment was inside to avoid covering anymore of the background.

With the emphasis these days on photopolymer stamps it is easy to forget how clean and crisp an image rubber stamps give you.  The Retro Rubber Challenge which requires you to us a rubber stamp that is least a year old is new to me, and I think I will keep playing it to inspire me to use more of my rubber stamps.

Oh, why did I title this "Sherlock in the Library?"  My other sister has a ginger tabby named Sherlock.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Balloons and Confetti for Sieze the Birthday 200th Challenge

 

Seize the Birthday is celebrating their 200th challenge! With prizes!  Usually they have a topping/theme which is optional.  If it's not your thing then anything in the way of a birthday card goes.  For this challenge only they want you to take inspiration from this graphic and state what part of it inspired you.

I chose to include balloons and the colors.  Also, the spatters reminded me of confetti which people used to include in cards sometimes until they caught on to the fact that their friends don't appreciate celebrating their birthday by getting out the vacuum after opening a card.  Since I try to be considerate, I trapped the confetti in a shaker.  This will allow me to enter this card in the Simply Create Too challenge to make a shaker card.

I started with the Happy Birthday die set from CZ Designs which has a sentiment and shadow.  The sentiment was easy.  I cut it twice from thick white cardstock backed by a Stick It sheet and once from thick black cardstock, no Stick It.  I stacked them together to give dimension and help the sentiment stand out when backed by sequins.  I used Stick It for the white cardstock, so I would not have to fool with glue and risk getting it on the acetate when it was time to attach the sentiment to the card.

Now for the shaker!  I used the shadow die to cut the opening in a 4.25 x 5.5 inch front card panel.  Then I cut two pieces of craft foam that were 1/4 inch smaller in length and width.  I put the card panel over each piece and traced the opening on to the craft foam.  To get a head start on cutting the opening I ran each piece through my die cut machine with the shadow die. After I glued both pieces of craft foam together I used scissors to enlarge the opening by 1/8 inch all around.  I used two sheets of foam to give my shaker pieces plenty of room to shake.  Next I glued a piece of acetate behind the opening on the card panel, flipped the card over and attached the sentiment on the front pressing with a bone folder, flipped it again, and then glued on the double decker foam sheet to the back being careful to line up the openings.  After I put some sequins in the opening I sealed it with a small piece of white card stock, keeping the card face side down until I was sure the glue was dry.

While the glue was drying I used a Stampin' Up punch to cut out some balloons from scraps and inked the edges to give them some dimension.  I also cut the word celebrate in two colors.  I will get to that later.  Once the glue was dry, I laid the balloons where I wanted them on the front panel, marked  the spot, and drew lines/strings with a black pen.  I attached the balloons, using thin foam tape behind the green balloon and thicker foam tape behind the blue one.  I glued the panel to a 4.5 x 5.75 inch black mat and then a 5 x 6.25 card base.  

About those celebrate die cuts?  They were stacked slightly off set and put inside with another balloon:

This is what it looks like shaken and flat:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Black Cat Birthday

 

Usually I struggle with birthday cards for men, but never for my youngest brother who is owned by three cats, one of whom is all black.  Every window in his  house has at least one cat perch in case the window sills are not comfortable enough for his little darlings.  Can you say spoiled?  In case you think I am poking fun at him, I have two who have my husband and I wrapped around their paws.  Okay, on to challenges!  

Seize the Birthday wants to see die cuts and The Paper Players want something clean and simple featuring pets.  This die set from Impression Obsession is the purrfect one for his card.  Each ""window is popped up with foam tape and the sentiment is from a long retired Close to My Heart set, Holiday Tags.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

"Stained Glass" Snowflake

 

I saw this Jennifer McGuire video last year and finally got around to trying the technique for the Jingle Belles' Heavy Metal/ Baby It's Gold Outside challenge. and the Die Cut Divas' Holiday challenge.  If you don't have time for a video, I will try to explain what I did.  First I used a Stick It adhesive sheet to back a sheet of heavy white cardstock and cut five die cuts using the Spellbinders Snowflake Snippets die.  I also cut a square the size of the die cuts from heavy cardstock without Stick It for a base.  Using Stick It or another type of two sided adhesive sheet makes it a lot easier to "glue" the die cuts together.  I attached one die cut to the square and then colored in the spaces with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers followed by a shimmer brush.  Next I stacked on three more of the die cuts and applied Glossy Accents in the spaces.  The goal is not to completely fill the wells, but to make sure you have a generous amount that gets into all the nooks and crannies.   I used a toothpick to pull it into the tight corners.  While the Glossy Accents dried I coated the last die cut with Versamark and heat embossed it using Ranger superfine silver embossing powder.  I did this a total of three times.  I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on the card front after laying the embossed die cut on it to check the placement.  After waiting a few hours for the glossy accents to thoroughly dry I attached the embossed die cut on top to make it look like stained glass and used a liquid adhesive to attached it to the card panel.

A few thoughts:  The stacked die cuts really do look like stained glass giving it a definite wow factor.  This is not a card I would send to just anybody and nor does it lend itself to mass production.  It it is quite thick and should be mailed in a padded envelope.

I will also be entering this in the Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge which is a new one for me.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Thank You Card for Freshly Made Sketches

 

Our next door neighbors on both sides have gardens and have been sharing the fruits of their labors with us all summer.  As the season is winding down I wanted to write them thank you notes.  The Circle of Leaves die by Simon Say Stamp seemed appropriate and fit nicely with this Freshly Made Sketch:

There was one problem.  Putting the sentiment on the lower right would throw off the balance and there was the perfect space to the lower left where it would fit, so I flipped the sketch.  

Since you can never have too many thank you cards I set about making some backgrounds plus I pulled out a few I made in the past and never used.  Using re-inkers I dropped ink on glossy paper and then smooshed a second sheet on to it to get two backgrounds for the same effort as one.  I also made a couple where I spritzed watercolor paper, dropped on ink, spritzed some more, and waited for the magic to happen.  While my backgrounds were drying I cut the front panels using the Circle of Leaves die from Simon Says Stamp.  For each background I picked out coordinating cardstock for the mats and sentiments.  To provide some dimension, I used a die by Simon Says Stamp to cut the word thanks three times from white cardstock, stacked them, and topped the stack with the chosen color or foil cardstock which for this card was Dreamy holographic paper from Close to My Heart.  I cut the shadows from the middle of the color cardstock which would be hidden behind the front panel.  This way they matched and I would not have to cut additional paper.  I heat embossed a sentiment from the Hero Arts Thanks stamp and cut set in silver.    

Here are a few more that I made.

I plan to also enter this in the Aud Sentiments Challenge.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi 

 

Welcoming a Long Awaited Baby

 

The theme of the current Daring Cardmakers Challenge is Oh Baby!  Oh baby is right!  After ten years of disappointment and heartbreak my cousin and his wife have had a beautiful baby girl.  Of course that calls for a gift accompanied by card.  I used an old Close to My Heart stamp and colored it with my Prismacolors.  Then I used stitched rectangle dies from Kat Scrappiness to cut around it and create a mat.  The sentiment was cut from metallic gold using a Simon Says Stamp die.  I like the softer finish.  Before mounting it to a pink background popped up with craft foam I cut the small heart from the part that won't show.  That way it matched perfectly.  The last step was to use a clear shimmer brush on the bow and heart.  Unfortunately it doesn't show in the photo.  Here is close up of the coloring:

I am a little nervous about sending this because the new mama is a professional artist.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

    

The Star of My Life

 

Most of the cards I make for my husband are of the more romantic variety, so I don't have to worry about designing a masculine card, but to me, his birthday calls for one.  I don't know about y'all, but I struggle with masculine cards.  Fortunately he has two hobbies, astronomy and cooking, which gives me some direction.  For this year's card I went with a star for astronomy.

I started by blending Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy, and Blackberry Bliss inks from Stampin' Up on white cardstock.  Then I sponged on Champagne Mist shimmer ink by Tsukineko over it to give it a gold shimmer that is not that visible in the photo, and set it aside to dry.

Next I cut a 5.5 X 4.25 piece of copper foil paper to use as a mat. To conserve specialty (in other words, expensive) paper, I used the So Many Stars dies from Stampin' Up and a die by Simon Says Stamp to cut the stars and sentiment. Once the inked panel was dry I positioned the die cuts to fine tune the composition, moved the copper star, and cut a medium sized star out of the inked paper under it. I cut a second mediumd star from scrap paper and popped it in the negative space, so the surface would be smooth. I used a stamp from the So Many Stars set to emboss the filigree pattern in copper on that medium star.  After stacking the stars I attached them to the background, rotating the star so that the Night of Navy and Blackberry Bliss points were backed by the opposing colors.  This helped the inked star stand out.  Of course, I had to finish the card off with a sparkle in the center of the star.

I am entering this card in the Watercooler Wednesday Occasions Challenge, the Just Add Ink Challenge to make a card for a guy, and the Seize the Birthday Challenge with an optional topping of adding gold.  So why did I use copper foil paper instead of gold?  After applying a gold shimmer to the background, I found that the copper stood out better and had more of a nighttime feel to me.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Freshly Made Triangles

 

Long time no post!  It isn't that I haven't been making cards; I just haven't had time to photograph them before sending them or haven't gotten them finished in time to meet a challenge deadline.  As it is, this one is getting in just under the wire.  When I saw this Freshly Made Sketch I was so excited because I had just gotten the Prismatic Triangle layering dies by Birch Press Design and wanted to play with them.  

At first I thought I would cut off the extraneous triangles, but then it seemed like the composition would be out of balance, so I thought I would just not color them in which was also unbalanced until I pulled the color through by putting the sentiment on a background using same colors as the triangles that are part of the sketch.  Leaving the edges of the extra triangles ties the sentiment piece to rest of the design.

I started by using blending brushes to blend Peacock by Close to My Heart with Night of Navy and Rich Razzleberry from Stampin' Up on white card stock and cutting it with Layer C (bottom layer) to get the filler pieces to color the triangles.  If you have not tried blending brushes I highly recommend them.  They make it so easy to create smooth blends!  I layered two layer C's and a layer B cut from white cardstock and one layer A cut from Champagne foil cardstock from Stampin' Up.  Champagne is like a warm silver.  I also used it for the sentiment cut with a Simon Says Stamp die. The sentiment piece is popped up with thin foam tape.  Although I usually cannot resist adding some sparkles, this time I felt they would detract from the clean geometry of the design.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

My Baby is Turning 30!

Baby Girl is turning 30!  I can't be the mother of a 30 year old!  Wasn't she a little girl five years ago?  I took inspiration for her birthday card from a card in this Jennifer McGuire video and this Freshly Made Sketch:

I cut a mask using the largest Hero Arts oval infinity die and used Gina K Designs' Music Medley stamp to create the background.  Next I cut the butterfly layers with a Spellbinders die and the vine with a die by Paper Artist from white cardstock and used sponge daubers to color them with ink.  I heat embossed the sentiments (inside and out) and the edges of the butterfly's wings and put small pieces of thin foam tape under the tips of his wings, so they would stay up to provide dimension when I glued his body the the card.  I also popped up the sentiment and the front panel.

 Here is the inside:

Have I mentioned that the birthday girl likes butterflies?  The butterflies and sentiments are from retired Close to My Heart stamp sets.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi