Poinsettia Poem

Hi everyone.  I've fallen behind on my Christmas cards that I make throughout the year.  Taking a few months off means that I need to get back to it.  I made two of today's card.

I wanted to try a technique that I saw on my friend, Trina's (Phamtastic) blog a long time ago.  She made a floral card with the cascade of flowers coming from the top corner.  After colouring the images, she cut out the center to create a card panel with frame, popping up the center panel.  I loved the design and finally tried it today.  Thanks for the inspiration Trina!  :)

I stamped Poinsettia Poem (Penny Black) in black pigment ink and heat embossed with clear before watercolouring using distress inks.  Once finished, I splattered with diluted white ink for falling snow.  Once that dried, I cut out the center with a frame die from Spellbinders.  I attached the frame to my card front and popped up the panel on foam, placing it over top of the center, being careful to line up the images.  To finish I added a die-cut Joy (AliExpress) cut from black card stock.

Close-up ...

I'm sending this card to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge for April.

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Stamps:  Poinsettia Poem (Penny Black)

Paper:   White card stock (Neenah 110 lb.); Mixed Media paper (Strathmore 140 lb.); Black card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:   Black Obsidian (Altenew); Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany (Tim Holtz)
Accessories:   Clear embossing powder (Ranger), heat tool, watercolour paint brushes, Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders - retired), diluted white acrylic paint, splatter brush, Joy die-cut (AliExpress)

Challenges:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - April

Cards of Thanks

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing a few thank you cards that I made for my surgeon and nurses who cared for me during my recent hospital stay.

I'm still recovering and will be for a few more months.  In the meantime, my mojo is gone missing ... hopefully temporarily. :)  I decided it would be best if I CASED some of my previous cards, although I tried to add some changes to each of them.

The card above is for my surgeon that performed my heart valve replacement.  And below are a few more cards I made for some of the nurses that looked after me during my week stay at the hospital.  The rest of the cards I sent were from my stash.

... and ... this was a card I made for a playday with my friends Susan and Christine, that we had to postpone.  Smooshed distress inks and gesso with prints made from die-cuts.  LOVE these colours! :)

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Dry Embossed Gilding Flakes - Group of Seven

Hi everyone.  

First, I want to thank everyone for the well wishes and lovely cards I received.  I am thankful to have so many people pulling for me through my heart surgery and recovery.  I'm doing OK ... hubby is taking great care of me. :)

This month our Group of Seven Cardmakers tried Dry Embossed Gilding Flakes following a video from Technique Junkies, Embossed Gilding Flakes and led by Susan.

Please check out the details for the technique and link to video on the blog ...

Group of Seven Cardmakers

I actually did this technique in late-February.  This is such a fun technique (as long as the gilding flakes don't get away from me!).  I love the shimmer and shine of gilding flakes ... they always make an elegant card.  

I used Warm Sunshine (Cosmic Shimmer) gilding flakes to make two small panels.  For the first panel, I die-cut the Moonlight Butterfly (Memory Box).  I then dry embossed my butterfly with Musical Flourish embossing folder (Cuttlebug).  I have mini archival inks in several colours, this time using Sepia to lightly swipe (direct from ink pad to gilding flakes panel) over top, catching the highlighted design.  This has to be done carefully so that you don't get a lot of ink on the background.  I did three coats before being happy with the contrast.  

To finish the card, I smooshed Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks using a piece of acetate.  Adding the inks and spritz of water onto the acetate allows me to lightly dab onto my card front with a little bit of control.  I stamped the sentiment (Happy Messages - Stampendous) in the same Sepia archival ink as well as using that ink on the antennae.  

Close-up ...

The second panel is done with the same gilding flakes (Warm Sunshine) and embossed with Courrier (Carabella Studio) embossing folder.  This time, Vermillion (dark red) archival ink was lightly swiped to pick up the highlighted, embossed design.  I used the panel for the background, adding a die-cut branch (sponged with Gathered Twigs DI) and punched flowers (coloured with more of the Vermillion Archival ink).

In all, I found this to be a simple technique that gave beautiful results.  The video used black ink and that would have worked on both panels, but I wanted subtler colours and I'm happy with the results.

If you have gilding flakes in your stash, I hope you'll try out this technique and share your card in the linky on the Group of Seven blog.

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Card #1:

Stamps:  Happy Messages (Stampendous - retired)

Paper:   White card stock (Neenah 110 lb.)
Ink: Sepia Archival ink (Ranger)
Accessories:   Double-sided sticky sheets cut to size, Warm Sunshine Gilding Flakes (Cosmic Shimmer), Rub-it Scrub-it piece for burnishing flakes, Musical Flourish embossing folder (Cuttlebug),

Card #2:

Stamps:  Many Everyday Messages (Hero Arts)

Paper:   White card stock (Neenah 110 lb.)
Ink:   Vermillion Archival Ink (Ranger)
Accessories:   Double-sided sticky sheets cut to size, Warm Sunshine Gilding Flakes (Cosmic Shimmer), Rub-it Scrub-it piece for burnishing flakes, Courrier embossing folder (Carabelle Studio); Hydrangea punch (Martha Stewart), Lavish Branch die (Memory Box)

Challenges:

Group of Seven - March - Dry Embossing Gilding Flakes

Kitten in Cup

Hi everyone.  This is a pre-scheduled post that I did at the end of February.  I wasn't sure if I'd be up for making cards after surgery, and I wanted to be able to play along in the Rudolph Days March challenge ... I like to play along each month and have done so for several years. :)

I started with an adorable kitten die that I received from the wonderful Maureen, keeper of the Rudolph Days challenge.  Thanks again Maureen!

I die cut the kitten in the cup in several colours of card stock (white, red, gray, patterned paper - ho ho ho christmas from Polkadoodles) and then pieced it together, adding sponged shading along the edges of the plain coloured pieces.

I smiled the whole time I was making this card! :)

Close-up ... 

As I mentioned above, I'm sending this over to the Rudolph Days March challenge. :)

As well, this is the first time using this sweet die, so I'm sending it over to NBUS Challenge #48 - thanks Dolly!

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Stamps:  n/a

Paper:   White card stock (Neenah 110 lb.); Slate Gray, Real Red card stock (SU!); ho ho ho Christmas (Polkadoodles)
Ink:   Basic Gray; Real Red (SU!); Distress Inks:  Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar (Tim Holtz)
Accessories:  Kitten in Cup die (Cottage Cutz), sponges,  black fine tip marker, Circle die (Spellbinders)

Challenges:

Rudolph Days March Challenge - Anything Christmas goes

NBUS Challenge #48