Smooshing in the New Year

Hi everyone.  Welcome to the New Year!  And welcome to Happy Little Stampers January CAS Challenge.

This challenge is sponsored by

Smooshing is one of my favourite technique right now.  I love the randomness of the design when I drop and drag card stock through diluted ink or paint.  Makes very beautiful backgrounds or die-cuts for cards.

I have three Smooshing videos on YouTube: (I really do love this technique!) :)

Smooshing with Inks

Saturated Watercolouring

(smooshing with re-inkers)

Smooshing with Inka Gold

Inka Gold is such a beautiful product and is awesome for this technique.  The wax paste has a metallic, pearly sheen --- GORGEOUS!  And that's what I used for my smooshed winter sky above.  I simply added two die-cut rows of trees that are coated with clear glitter glue, and a simple stamped sentiment in gold to match the colour of my background. :)

We are so excited to have Joyce (Cards-by-the-Sea) as our Guest Designer for HLS CAS this month.  Welcome Joyce!

Come check out the challenge to see the amazing cards by our Guest Designer and Design Team members.  Then make a Smooshed CAS card and join in the fun.  Hope to see you in the gallery.

I'm entering this card into the Just Us Girls Challenge #324 - Thank you.  Perfect timing! :)

Thanks for coming by for a visit!!

Stamps:  Thinking of You (Happy Little Stampers)

Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Delicata Gold (Tsuikineko)
Accessories & Tools:  Inka Gold wax pastes (Gold, Turquoise, Greenyellow), water mister, Fir Tree Border die (Impression Obsession), Dazzling Details Glitter Glue (SU!)

Challenges:
HLS January CAS - Smooshing
Just Us Girls #324 - Thank you

Update on Christopher

Hi everyone.  Wanted to give you an update on Christopher's medical condition. Christopher is the brother of a friend and team mate from HLS, Bozena.  I first mentioned him in this post.  He has lung cancer and had tried all the conventional treatments, but wasn't strong enough to go through any more chemotheraphy.  The only option was alternative treatments in Germany at a very high expense.  Bozena has been working hard on fundraising for the treatments, and is continuing as there are more treatments in the future.

I'm happy to report that he has recently finished his third trip to Germany.  The last scans he had showed no metastases in the head, neck, abdomen and chest.  There was also no lymph node enlargement in the recesses of the lungs and mediastinal, which previously existed.  And the tumor in the right lung has decreased slightly. These are all good signs that the alternative treatments he is getting are working for him.  I'm so happy for Christopher, Bozena and the rest of the family!

Christopher still has a long way to go, but the signs are good.  He will find out at his next visit if there is a possibility to have the tumor removed, something that wasn't possible earlier.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Here's a link to Bozena's update on her blog if you want more information.

Thank you.

Favourite Five Christmas Cards 2015

Stenciled Christmas

Deck the Halls

Snowy Winter Night

Rainbow Snowy Sky

Stenciled Christmas Tree

I'm joining in the fun event over at Debby's blog.  She is again posting her five favourite Christmas cards she made this year, and is asking others to share their favourite cards as well.  The event is open until Jan. 5th, so there's lots of time to play along.

I found it really easy to pick my favs this year ... turns out they are all mixed media cards. :)  Who knew??!!  :)

To me, a few of them may be CAS as well (except for the Deck the Halls card).   The lines are getting blurrier and blurrier for me to distinguish these days. :)  CAS is supposed to be one main focal point, and all my cards have two ... so maybe they aren't CAS after all.  What do you think??

I hope you'll come join in the fun over at Debby's blog.  She usually has another event to share her five favourite cards of the year (not Christmas).  Looking forward to that too. :)

Challenges:

Debby's Five Favourite Christmas Cards 2015

Sweet Snowman

Hi everyone.  Sharing a card today with a new-to-me stamp (I think this has been around for a while, but I just bought it).  Love this sweet snowman. :)  Stamped the image onto my card front, a second image onto a piece of mixed media paper, and a third stamping onto a post-it note.  Cut out a mask from the post-it note and placed it on my card front.  Used a falling snow stencil to add white embossing paste, sprinkled with iridescent embossing powder while it was still wet.  Once dry, I heat embossed the falling snow.  It's quite sparkly in real life, but doesn't show up in the photo above.

I used my Zig Watercolour pens to colour the second image, fussy-cut and layered it on top of my card front image.  Just adds a little dimension.  The present was fussy-cut and popped up on dots so it has more dimension that the snowman.  Stamped a simple sentiment to finish.

Quick, easy and fun card to make.  :)

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Sharing a picture of a small sampling of cookies I made this year.  I made some for us ... but most to give away.  Adding up all the cookies, I made just shy of 60 dozen. Crazy, right??!!  :)   Almost half (28 doz) are the iced sugar cookies on the left (aren't they pretty?!).

Wishing all of you the best of the season.  Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Thanks to everyone that stopped by for a visit and to those that took the time to leave me comments.  I appreciate your support and kind words.  Merry Christmas! xx

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Stamps:  Sweet Snowman (Penny Black); Frosty Sentiments (Amy R)
Paper:  White (Neenah); Mixed Media Paper (Strathmore)
Ink:  Black Archival (Ranger); Zig Clean Color Real Brushes (Kuretake)
Accessories & Tools:  Falling Snow Stencil (Simon Says), Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver); Iridescent Embossing Powder (Ice) - Stampin' Up!; heat tool, post-it note