Hello Coffee Friend

Another rainy day in NorCal! We are officially no longer in a drought...although SoCal is still in drought conditions.

I decided to try out Cas(e) this Sketch #204.  I just love this layout...I could easily make a card everyday with this sketch.

I colored Copic markers on Tim Holtz Coffee Time stamp and die set and then splattered distressed inks on the background.

Just saying hello

This year my resolution is to try my hand at more card challenges, ones I haven't tried before. I also resolve to post my cards to the challenge blogs (resolution #2), which is something I seldom do, but here I go!

This clean and versatile sketch by Kim is from Freshly Made Sketches:

I really like this sketch, it was so easy to design my card. I combined it with the Shopping Our Stash Stickle Me Elmo challenge, to use glitter, like Stickles, on a project. I decided my card needed blue glitter but I didn't have any...my first thought was, well I'll just go git some. But that'd be cheating...Shopping Our Stash is about using what you already have, which is resolution #3. So I settled for the green glitter (Recollections stickles knock-off) and it turned out just ducky. (True confession, this card reminds me of a pair of pants I had in the seventies that had big blue and green pop art style flowers. I loved them.)

And here's some close-ups of a few of the faux stickles.

That was fun...what will I try next?

No time like the Presents...

First Christmas card of the year!

This one is for the first Jingle Belles Rock challenge of 2017, to make a Christmas card featuring presents or gift wrap or otherwise characterized by giftyness. I bought the stamp for 80% off at Michael's Christmas clearance and colored with Prismacolor pencils. I haven't gotten into the whole coloring book thing, but it was rather fun. 

Happy New Year!

Halloween Fusion

I love the Fusion Challenge blog...I haven't played along for a long time but I think I need to start.  The current sketch is so adaptable that it took me no time at all to come up with my card design. Yay me!

Here's the challenge: 

And here's my take using just the sketch. The papers are Graphic 45 Happy Haunting and Rare Oddities. The witch that I cut using the Cricut Happy Hauntings cartridge.

I also decided to jazz up the back of the card, just for fun. And to get rid of old scrapbook paper. 

Oh Little Town...

Joining the fun at Jingle Belles, just under the wire! The challenge is to make a card featuring at least one building. Here's my card, using Pink Paislee Snow Village papers. I fussy cut the snow covered homes and used foam tape to create some depth.  Stitched around the edges and made a little tag.

"Clearly" this technique needs a little work

I decided to make a card using vellum for the Jingle Belles "It came upon a Midnight Clear" challenge, to make a Christmas card using a clear element. This one was, ahem, "challenging" (snort!).

I stamped the snowy scene on white cardstock and inked around the edges, then attached it to kraft cardstock. I laid vellum on top and liked the fuzzy ethereal effect. The problem I wrestled with is how to affix the vellum to the image without using adhesive. Stitching seemed like the perfect solution, added bonus, I love sewing on cards. But what I didn't figure out until AFTER sewing...it's virtually impossible to make the vellum lay flat when it's been stitched to the cardstock. So it came out even more fuzzy/ethereal than I intended. So I wasn't going to post it but it started to grow on me. So I added a couple stickers from My Mind's Eye and decided it will do.

Frosty gets his Mojo!

Today I'm using Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #451 to create a Christmas card for the Jingle Belles Frosty the Snowman challenge, to make a card featuring a snowman or snowflakes.

Here is the Mojo Monday sketch:



In my shoe box of Christmas shtuff I found a snowman gift tag on the top of the pile...coincidence?? I think not. That little dude was meant to be on this card! I went with traditional colors, red and green, layering a remnant of patterned snowflake paper and Very Merry paper by American Crafts with black cardstock. I stitched around the edges and added some baker's twine. I stamped my sentiment using white embossing powder. It left some shpritzels on the black paper but I decided it had a nice frosty effect.

Here's my Frosty card:

One more card to add to the inventory!

I'm also submitting my card to:

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge #73 Traditional Colors

CHNC Challenge #284 Vintage or Anything goes as long as it's Christmas

CHNC Challenge Extra It's always Anything goes as long as it's Christmas