CCC Penguin Trio

 Hi there and welcome to September! We got the aftermath of Ida  and although we were lucky with just a little basement water and power outage, many neighbors did not fare so well. We have nearby towns with several feet of water and several of our main streets collapsed under the force of the rain. I was down in the cul-de-sac picking up pieces of tarmac and piles of gravel thinking how lucky we had been, when I noticed the bees were busy supping up the water from the street, to take back to the hives! 

My two hives over-wintered well and immediately swarmed in early Spring, so I gave away two swarms (was unable to catch one) and then had to also split the two hives, so now I have four. 

I have already harvested 64 pounds of honey and have 20 or so, waiting to get bottled. Then on Monday, I had to take another 23 frames off (probably around another 80 pounds), otherwise they will get honey bound. This has been a crazy bee year!! That's the long story about my header - this little lady is sipping water down in the cul-de-sac to take back and cool down the hive. 

My card today is for the September Challenge over at Christmas Craft Creations, where this month the theme is your take on the provided sketch.

I can't remember the last time I took part in a sketch challenge, and instead of using trees, I decided to go with penguins! I had two Hampton Art penguin stamps and die sets, so combined the two of those for my project today.

I chose the three scarf-wearing penguins and placed them in the stamp positioner and inked them up with Versafine Clair Nocturne.

They were then colored with Copics.

I put the colored images back in the stamping platform and inked again with Nocturne ink and then heat embossed with Clear Detail.

They were then die cut and I decided to fussy cut the little one out so that he didn't have a white halo around him.

I found an embossed snowflake background in my stash and then I set about making some snowdrifts using double stick tapes and tearing them. I added Diamond Dust, which is a chunky glitter, then Bridal glitter which is more opaque. I finished with a torn strip of white cardstock which was taped over the bottom section (to make it more opaque). Brushable Glue was then applied to this piece and the top had some Diamond Dust applied, with more Bridal glitter below.

A little dimensional glue on the trim of the Mummy penguin's hat with some Diamond Dust to tie in with the sparkle!

The sentiment (Hero Arts) was stamped on white cardstock in Versafine Clair Nocturne and then embossed in Clear Detail.  This was punched using Stampin' Up's Window punch.

The penguins and the sentiment were all added to the background with tape and mounting tape to give a little dimension.

Below you'll find the products I used:

Hampton Art Stamp and Die Set SC0714

Hampton Art Stamp and Die Set SC0665

Hero Arts Stamp Set CL343

Versafine Clair Nocturne ink

Clear Detail embossing Powder

Copics

Double Sided tapes

Brushable Glue

Dimensional Glue 

Diamond Dust glitter

Bridal Glitter

Stampin’Up Window Punch

Mounting Tape

Thanks for stopping by today,

Shona

Tinsel in a Tangle

 Hi there, and welcome to my second card this month for the Holly and Ivy Challenge. where it is always Anything Goes, just has to be Christmas themed. We hope you will come join us this month!

Today I am using a set called Christmas Goose from Sparkle N Sprinkle and the sentiment is from Don't Stop Believing (Stampin' Up).

I forgot to take my camera up to my stamping room when I made this one, so there aren't any process photos!

I started by stamping the goose image in Versafine Clair Nocturne and then heat embossed with Clear Detail. I used Water Color Pencils from Stampin' Up to color the image, coloring outside the lines of the bulbs deliberately! 

I die cut the image with the Sizzix Dotted Ovals die and then layered on to a black oval (using the larger sized die). The sentiment was stamped with Versafine Clair Nocturn and was heat embossed with Clear Detail.

After putting the card together, Nuvo Glitter Accents Fresh Snowfall was applied to the bulbs. 

Below please find the products used on my card today:

Christmas Goose (Sparkle N Sprinkle)

Don’t Stop Believing (Stampin’ Up)

Versafine Clair Nocturne

Clear Detail embossing powder

Sizzix Dotted Ovals dies

Water Color Pencils

Nuvo Glitter Accents Fresh Snowfall

I hope you decide to join in the Challenge this month! Pop over and see the other Designers' inspiration too!

I'll be back soon,

Shona

Oriental Christmas

 Hi there, I'm so glad you stopped in to take a peek at my blog today! My backyard August header is the beautiful Clearwing Hummingbird Moth enjoying nectaring on Butterfly bush.

August already? My, how the months are zipping by! My card today is for the Christmas Craft Creations Design Team. This month we are asking for you to use non-traditional colors. I was going for Halloween tones for my card, using oranges and purples, but when I removed the stencil, it suddenly gave me an oriental feel? What do you think?

I recently acquired a couple of new stencils from Del Bello's Designs, after I was "enabled" by a couple of blogger friends, Diane and Darlene. I ordered the stencils from Del Bello on Thursday and I had them on Saturday! Quickest service ever!

The Sweet Poppy Holly Baubles Stencil was taped down to a piece of glossy white cardstock.

As I said, I set out using some Distress inks in Halloween colors, quickly learning that the Oxide inks worked better with the detail of the baubles!

I used a black Copic for the stems and strings for the baubles and then a purple Copic for the berries.

After lifting off the stencil, I just stamped the sentiment, from a Sparkle N Sprinkle set "Christmas Baubles".

The panel was then mounted on to a mustard card base and a piece of gold bakers twine was tied around the spine to finish off my card for today.

I do hope I have inspired you to join in the Christmas Craft Creations Challenge this month? Below please find the products used in my card today:

Christmas Baubles Stamp Set (Sparkle N Sprinkle)

Sweet Poppy Holly Baubles Stencil

Distress Inks 

Distress Oxide Inks

Copics

Mounting Tape

White and Gold Baker’s twine

Till next time,

Shona