Winter Trees - Make it Neon!

Be sure to enter the Die Cut Divas' challenge - October is Autumn and Animals.

Neon Holidays can be fun too.

I love the neon purple on this Christmas stamp, Winter Trees.  When I saw this in the Hero Arts catalog last year, I knew I had to get it.  I also used a die cut I've never used with this type of stamp before.  It makes for an unusual style.  I added mini sized round gems and lots of dabs of Star Dust Stickles onto the snowflakes falling among the bare branches of the trees.   I'm entering this in the Hero Arts challenge in the category:

• Merry and Bright – Brighten up your holidays with NEON! Use any Hero Arts neon ink or neon dauber on your project.

This LOOKS BLUE - THIS IS NOT NOT NOT BLUE,  THIS IS PUTPLE .  Oh well, it is lovely.

The background is Patterned Paper.  I thought it was perfect for the card.

 A close-up of the little gems and sentiment.

A close-up of the trees, gems and Stickles.

I hope you like this.  It's a little bit different, but I like it.

Recipe:

Hero Arts Winter Trees CG471

Hero AEtsBanners and Messages CL721

Hero Arts Neon Purple Ink 

Sheer Ribbon

DCWV patterned paper 

I Made One TOO!

I was checking out Pinterest and came across a tissue box cover, not just an ordinary tissue box cover, but a GORGEOUS tissue box cover here.  I followed the link to this website, called Paper Cookies.  Delightful name, eh?.  She's done a tutorial that is so easy to follow and so easy to do, that you will make one too. You can also see the written tutorial at Split Coast Stampers here.  You really do need to visit Diane Zechman's blog.

Remember that our Die Cut Divas' challenge is Autumn or Animals.

Here's my take on Diane's tissue box cover and my entry to Crazy 4 Challenges.

This is the top and I forgot to emboss it, oh well, only I will know... well, you too, and I know you won't tell.

Undecorated side, which looks pretty darn good.  The top strip is embossed with a similar design as the cardstock.

I decorated two of the sides and cut out the Hero Arts butterflies & bird from Antique Engravings (CL383), still one of my favorite stamps sets, ever. 

I am very pleased with my cover.  Two sides are left clean.

The color here is not the color of the box.  The previous photos show true colors.  I wanted to get a better photo of the box so you could see exactly how pretty this box is.

I hope you enjoyed this and try one too.  

Yes indeed, Autumn is HERE!

I went to a Stenciling class on October 2nd and this is what I accomplished, with expert help form our teacher at The Stamp Art Shoppe.  I used the same stencil, but they look totally different, don't they?

This is a new Dreamweaver Stencil "Oak Leaves" and we got to play with it on different textures.  

All cards are dry embossed.   

The first card: The top rough panel was stippled with different ink colors, then Translucent Embossing Paste was applied with the stencil still in place.   The Oak Leaves stencil was removed and glitter was sprinkled onto the wet paste and the panel was left to dry.  The dried panel was attached to the dry embossed brick panel which  was quite glossy and had Memory Box pads applied directly to the panel, then wiped off.  Some ribbon and a greeting completed this card.  I'm very happy with it.

Mirror paper was stenciled and many colors of Distressed Stickles was applied with the Oak Leaves stencil in place.  The mirror panel was attached to a dry embossed silvery panel and that panel then adhered to a dark green note card.

This pre-embossed white panel then dry embossed on a light table with the Oak Leaves stencil, then with the stencil in place, the image was painted with a stipple brush dabbed in Fall colors.  I then used the Heart Winged Butterfly I had stamped and embossed in white after stippling the color on.  

You can find inks, distress Stickles, and stamps at our sponsor, Creative Play.

Arlene and the Die Cut Divas

Butterflies and Leaves

Kind of a collage thing going on here.  Butterflies and Leaves - this card has an autumn air about it.  I think the butterfly printed paper makes me think of Autumn.I really like the feel of it.  Kind of a random scattering of butterflies and leaves.

I'm entering this card into the Hero Arts challenge and I've included some wonderful Hero Arts Felt Leaves (CH182) on my card to DECK THE CARDS!

• HERO ARTS challenge is HERE!
• Deck the Cards — ‘Tis the season for decking the halls…and of course the cards, too! Use at least one Hero Arts embellishment to deck-out your holiday card. A few options include metallic decor, gems, pearls, and felt embellishments.

• Merry and Bright – Brighten up your holidays with NEON! Use any Hero Arts neon ink or neon dauber on your project.

• A Few of My Favorite Things – Create any Christmas/Holiday/Winter card with a favorite stamping technique plus a Hero Arts holiday stamp.

  This is also an example of an Autumn card for the Die Cut Divas' challenge for October, so head on over to the Die Cut Diva's challenge here.

Recipe:

Hero Arts Dandelion (G4917)

Hero Arts Antique Engravings (CL383)

Hero Arts Big Post Card (S5665)

Impression Obsession Butterflies die-cuts

Hero Arts Felt Leaves (CH182)

Haven't done a scrapling in ages!

I used folded a left-over blue piece of cardstock, dabbed and streaked some Distress inks across it and looked for some die-cuts to use.  I had extras from cutting different projects here and there and there, so below is the resultant scrapling.

I'll add a piece of white paper inside to write on and store it in my scrapling box.  When you just want a little something to a friend, these are a perfect size.  These are fun to do and you use up your scraps for wonderful little notes to cheer someone's day.  This may not be Autumn, but I like scraplings and wanted to share.

Be sure to visit Die Cut Divas to see what Hannah has in store for you today!

I couldn't wait to try out my new dies and I had this great paper too!

I just bought some Memory Box dies and wanted to use them.  Here is my Halloween card, full of Autumn color and the black of night.  The background paper just makes it all spooky sky.  A few bats don't hurt either.  Hope you like this simple card, just die cuts and me.

Be sure to visit Die Cut Divas' for a fantastic interview with Kathy Racoosin.  This week is Kathy Racoosin's interview and some wonderful cards and and...... can't tell yet..  View Monday's post and then I peeked - there will be something great on Wednesday too.  Enter the challenge here.

Memory Box die cuts
Mini Clouds - Style 98689
Modern Landscape Border Style 98257
Hero Arts die cut - Skyline D1079 don't think this die is available now
Hero arts stamp Halloween and Bat C5464
Hero Arts Bat Cluster A224 which has probably been unavailable for a decade or more

I had a lot of fun putting this together.  

Halloween is coming with trick or treating, harvest moons and the beginning of cold weather for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.  I made a card for my daughter-in-law and I colored it with Copics, however, I did NOT blend - it's all striped with color and I LOVE it.  You see all the stripy sky?  That's because it is stripy.  I went over it with two different markers, Apricot (YR16) and Napoli Yellow (Y19).  If you have those two colors, you know the depth of color in both.  Yet they work.  I used a pink on the sentiment - I don't know why, I just did.  Maybe I was colorblind on the night I did this.

Be sure to head on over to Die Cut Divas to see what treats Hannah has in store for you!  Be sure to join the group submitting their entries for our monthly challenge of animals or Autumn here.

Recipe:

Bugaboo digital stamp (don't you just love that scene)

Cuttlebug

Spellbinders Nestabilities - rectangle

Copic markers 

Twine

Gems painted with black Copic marker

Little 60 page note pads for jotting down things in a dash

I found these little goodies while shopping in Big Lots and thought, oooh, these would make great stocking stuffers - little items that would be fun to make and receive.  Everyone uses scratch paper or notes even in this technical age.  I used mostly die-cuts and only two stamps.  I love the Provo Craft Cuttlebug alphabet set "Olivia" to cut letters.  These will go in my co-workers' bags for the holidays.  I thought I'd share.

 I still have six more to make, but these were very easy.

See Hannah's blog post for October 9th on Die Cut Divas, cute and fun and a short little bit of information!  Creative Play is the Die Cut Divas sponsor for October, so be sure to enter the challenge here!

Do you remember the apples I colored on the morning of October 5th before going out to my LSS, The Stamp Art Shoppe in the Sacramento Area?

Beware!  Apples below!  

You don't have to worry about staying in the lines when you're cutting them out.  I've used some of those apples for the card below.  I don't know if I like it or not (the top star is closer to the green on the card then it appears), but it is cheerful and I DO LOVE THOSE APPLES!

 Recipe:

Apples were stamped on Cold Press Water Color Paper and colored with Distress Markers (used a water brush pen to go over the marker ink for that nice water color effect) Distress markers Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge, Orange , Fired Brick, Barn Door, Warn Lipstick, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters

Hero Arts US Map Background CG624

Hero Arts Clear Design September CL056 - no longer on HA website (apples & sentiment)

Cuttlebug

Spellbinders Nestabilities Stars set

Black Enamel Accents (on the stems - makes them more sturdy as well as looking sharp)

Hannah's posting on the Die Cut Divas' challenge blog and we created some samples for you using Hannah's posted colors.  You don't have to use them all, but the colors are so rich that you might just use them all.

I love the richness of Distress inks.  I chose a kraft note card and sponged Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, and Antique Linen onto the card.  I stamped the Hero Arts US Map Background and Maple Leaf onto the note card and then stamped the Big Ticket images on a white piece of card stock.  I chose Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, and some Worn Lipstick.  There may have been more, but I don't remember which.  I cut the Ticket with the matching die and added a wonderful leaf brad to the ticket and adhered with glue dots.  I love glue dots.

Hope you liked it - a very Autumn card.

A Glimpse of My Day - World Card Making Day!

Second post of the day:

World Card Making Day - a few photos to show you I visited my local stamp store, The Stamp Art Shoppe.  There are some cards I made as well as the tables where we all sat and had fun.  This was also a get together to make cards for Operation Write Home.

I was happily chatting, stamping, and eating from 10:00 to 4:00 today.  Well, not eating from 10:00 to 4:00, only from 12:30 to 1:00.  Susan, the teacher/hostess for this event made a wonderful salad with homemade dressing and tortilla wraps made with chicken.  I don't know where Susan gets her recipes, but they are delicious.

Here's the table I sat at.  That's my goodie bag in the middle with some chocolates and candy corn in it from the teacher.  We're working on our first card.  Six people at our table.

Second table had six people at their table and you can see they are just getting into the groove to make cards.

Our first card.  We all just loved the purple on this card.  I only brought two cards home and this was one of them.

This was a pretty simple card, but it was fun and easy to make.

 I thought these were fun colors and patterns to put together, so I did.  It's going to Operation Write Home.

 We all fell in love with this card.  I made it for my girlfriend as her birthday is Monday.  I just love the dry embossed background and the images all embossed with white embossing powder.  

I'm afraid I don't have photos of the other cards I made.  I thought I had taken some, but alas and alack, no.

I hope you enjoyed these cards and I have to tell you, I had so much fun.

WORLD CARD MAKING DAY!

I'm sure you'll be able to enter many challenges today.  Me?  I'm off to my Local Stamp Shop (The Stamp Art Shoppe) to do a whole day of crafting from 10:00 to 4:00 with lunch served too!

I'm taking my camera so I should have something for show and tell.  I also am taking a Splash Inks class with Judi of JudiKins on Sunday, October 6th, THEN I'm going to my friend's birthday branch after the class. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it.  I just colored these apples this morning - Ranger Markers on Watercolor Paper - WOW - fast and I think these turned out spectacular.

I found the information below for World Card Making Day, October 5, 2013.

Welcome to the 2013 World Card Making Day Card Contest!

HOW TO ENTER: 1. Create an original card for any of these five occasions: a. Birthday b. Christmas/Season's Greetings c. Hello/Thinking of You d. Love e. Thank You 2. Attach a removable label to the back of each entry that includes your name, address, daytime phone number, e-mail address, and a detailed description of instructions and supplies used to create the card. Mail entries to: 2013 World Card Making Day Contest 14850 Pony Express Rd., Ste. 200 Bluffdale, UT 84065 *Entries will NOT be returned. The contest is open to all individuals, except winners of the 2012 World Card Making Day Contest; however, international winners are ineligible to receive the prize package unless able to provide a United States shipping address. For the full rules, click on Official Rules at the bottom of the page. Entries must be postmarked by October 15, 2013. All entries will be judged equally based on overall appearance, creativity, and execution. Multiple entries in several categories are permitted, but you may only win in one category. They will award three (3) winning cards per category, for a total of fifteen (15) winners.

Here's to October!

Here's to October! Be sure to visit Die Cut Divas for our new challenge.  Our sponsor for October is Creative Play Stamps.  

Hannah's hosting this month's Die Cut Divas' blog challenge.  I hope you will participate in this challenge.  Animals and Autumn!   Remember you must use at least one die cut or embossing folder on your project   And the Sponsor for October is!!!!

Creative Play Stamps! 

I'm sharing a Penny Black card that sort of expanded on me.  You know how it is.  You're working on a panel and suddenly, you think, "OH, I'll add this and this" and all of a sudden the panel is larger than your card base.  Well, if you don't EVER have that happen, it happened to me.  My card is now 5" X 7".  Not the smaller card I was originally going for.  I couldn't help putting some gems on the store front after I smooched a heart on the purse.

Recipe:
Penny Black Tete-a-Tete 4258K (girls talking0
Penny Black Slapstick cling - Uptown 40-191
Penny Black clear April Showers - sentiment
Dreamweaver Stencils Pine Trees LL570

Copic markers

Cuttlebug

Embossing folder

Glass gems