Merry Monday Farewell

Hi everyone.  Today I'm playing along with the last Merry Monday Challenge #296 - Rustic Christmas.  It's always good to make my Christmas cards throughout the year so there's no panic come November.  This challenge has helped me with that so I'm sad to see it ending.  Thanks to all the wonderful Designers that have kept us inspired weekly for many years!

The white tree was what I noticed first with the inspiration photo and then the warmth from the brown wood.   I think the colours of the sky look very rustic, so hoping this card qualifies.

I made a quick, clean and simple card using a wonderful die-cut paired with a Floating Alcohol Ink background.  The sentiment was stamped in brown ink to finish the card.

Here's a close-up ...

Stamps:  Snowglobe Sentiments (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  White (Neenah 110 lb. card stock); Glossy card stock (unknown)
Ink:  Alcohol Inks (Ranger); Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Evergreen Window die (Memory Box)

Challenges:
Merry Monday #296 - Rustic Christmas

CAS Mix Up January Challenge

Hi everyone.  Happy New Year!  Starting off with the CAS Mix Up challenge for January ... and it's a fun one! :)  Hosted by Bonnie ... this is such a cool challenge.

Use any product that starts as a liquid ... could be alcohol inks, stains, re-inkers, liquid paints, etc.  The choice is yours. :)

I started with a Floating Alcohol Ink panel that I made last year.  This technique is a little messy, so I made several up at one time.  Click HERE for a link to a video tutorial on this fun and easy way to use alcohol inks.  I believe I used mixed media card stock, but you can use glossy, regular card stock and haven't tried it, but yupo should work well too. :)

I die-cut this modern hexagon background from my card front and the alcohol ink panel.  I inlaid the white pieces back into the design, and then glued most of the matching alcohol ink pieces on top, popping up the rest for a bit of dimension. Wanted to keep the design very CAS, so added a simple stamped sentiment to finish.

My CAS Mix Up card has alcohol inks, floating alcohol ink technique, die-cutting, inlaid die-cutting and stamping. :)

We are so happy to have Trina (My Crafting Closet) as our Guest Designer this month.  Welcome Trina!!

We hope you'll join in this fun challenge, which is open until January 24th.  See you in the gallery! :)

Thanks for visiting!

Stamps:  Word Salad (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb.); Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Ranger Alcohol Inks:  Mermaid, Poppyfield, Ultra Marine
Accessories & Tools:  Mod Hex Background die (Poppy Stamps), container for floating AIs

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up January Challenge - Liquid Colours

CAS Mix Up September Challenge

Hi everyone.  This is a scheduled post as I'm off on a break right now.

It's the start of the CAS Mix Up September Challenge.

I love the artsy design of marbling.  Today's card features "Floating Alcohol Inks Technique" which creates a marbled look.  I have used that for the front tag on the card above.  This is a simple technique were you partially fill a plastic container with water and then squirt alcohol inks into the water.  They rise to the surface.  You dunk in your piece of card stock (card stock, manilla tags, glossy card stock all work).  The alcohol inks are immediately attracted to the paper once it hits the water.  You just dip and pull out your card stock and you'll have some gorgeous designs to use for backgrounds, tags or die-cut embellishments.  I used teakwood and mermaid alcohol inks to make my main tag.

I die-cut a leaf sprig from dark brown card stock, pressed it with my versamark ink pad, and heat embossed in clear.  I like the shine on the leaves, which I shaped with my stylus and mat for dimension.  I also heat embossed my brown stamped sentiment with clear to tie it all together.  I cut out a second tag from a piece of smooshed Inka Gold (turquoise and gold), to place behind the the main tag to add some dimension.  I added a knotted dark brown ribbon with silver edges to the top to finish.

My CAS Mix Up card has Stamping, Marbling, die-cuts, Smooshing with Inka Gold, and Heat Embossing ... and it is still Clean and Simple,

I hope you'll come play along with our challenge this month.  Remember to keep your card CAS (Clean and Simple).  There are a few different video tutorials on marbling techniques on the challenge blog if you want to check those out and give them a try.

We are thrilled to have Kimberley Wiener (WienerHoneyMooners) as our Guest Designer for September. Kimberley won the CAS Mix Up July Challenge - Markers with this BEAUTIFUL CARD.

Come play along.  The challenge is open until the 24th so there's lots of time to try out some marbling on your cards. :)

Stamps:  Mix Mash (Happy Little Stampers)
Paper:  White card base (Neennah 110 lb.); glossy card stock for marbling; Early Espresso (SU!)
Ink:  Alcohol Inks:  Mermaid, Teakwood (Ranger); Early Espresso (SU!); Peacock Feather Distress re-inker (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools: Gold Inka Gold (Viva Decor),  Little Leaves Die, Stitched Tag die (??), clear embossing powder, heat tool, water mister, silver edged early espresso ribbon (SU!)

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up September Challenge - Marbling

Floating Alcohol Inks

Hi everyone.  A while ago I had a day where I tried out the Floating Alcohol Inks technique.  I made lots of different combinations of colours, using leftover pieces of glossy card stock.  Click HERE to see a card I posted earlier using one of those backgrounds. This technique produces a marbled look --- very cool!

Fast forward 9 months later ... I still have a big stash of these backgrounds.  Just so happens that my good friend, Karen is running a challenge on Splitcoaststampers using this fun technique.  Here's a link to Karen's Floating Alcohol Ink card.

So I pulled out a FAI background from my stash, placed the clock stencil from Tim Holtz over top and sponged some vintage photo distress ink.  Mounted my piece onto foam and popped it up on my card front with a simple stamped sentiment. Easy, peasy ... and another CAS mixed media card is done. :)

I need to delve into that stash more often. :)

Since I used a snippet of glossy to make my background, I'm heading over to Snippets Playground for some fun!

And dropping in to play at Simon Says Wednesday where Anything Goes this week.

Have a great day!

Stamps:  Fun Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb.); glossy card stock (SU!)
Ink:  Alcohol inks:  red, blue, yellow, brown (Ranger); Distress Ink:  Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Clock stencil (Tim Holtz), sponge

Challenges:
SCS Technique Challenge - Paper Marbling - you must be an SCS member to join in the challenges
Snippets Playground - Week 236
Simon Says - Anything Goes

Winter Sky

Hi everyone.  I can't believe we are into fall and Christmas is not long away.  It's the start of the Happy Little Stampers October Sketch Challenge, and this month I made a Christmas card to add to my stash. :)

Here's the sketch ...

This challenge is sponsored by

Plus

I tried a new-to-me technique called Floating Alcohol Inks to make this background. I actually took an afternoon to experiment a while back and made about 20 different backgrounds in just minutes. :)  The biggest time is waiting for the card stock to dry! :)  This is one of those "you get what you get" types of techniques.  The inks float in the water and then you dip your card and you never know what you're going to get. I love the randomness of it.

To me, the colour combination and pattern above looked like a cold winter sky, perfect for my sketch card. :)  And I had another background which was similar, but had a bit of darker blue added (reminds me of the northern lights), so I made a second card with the same design.  I'm going to keep one for myself, and the other will be donated. :)

We are excited to have our very first Guest Designer for the Sketch challenge.  A warm welcome to Valentyna (Flourishtina).  We're so happy to have you with us this month for the sketch challenge!  Please click HERE to check out Valentyna's amazing sketch card, along with the cards from the rest of our very talented Design Team members.  I'm sure you'll be inspired to join in the fun.

Hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by.

Stamps:  Mixed Christmas Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Mixed Media (Strathmore)
Ink:  Alcohol inks: Botanical and Mermaid (Ranger)
Accessories & Tools:  Country Landscape die (Memory Box); Dazzling Details glitter glue (SU!)

Challenges:

HLS October Sketch