Winter Blues

Welcome to December, I hope that everyone is staying safe and able to enjoy the days leading up to the big day! My header for December is the American Christmas bird, the Cardinal! I made a pumpkin bird feeder after Thanksgiving and have had many different "visitors" stop by for a taste! 

The Christmas Craft Creations Challenge theme for December is Winter Blues. I chose several blue glitters to "color" my background. It was hard to capture the actual sparkle of this card, but I can assure you in real life it really is sparkly!

I began with layering a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Super Adhesive Sheet to white cardstock. After removing the protective backing, I placed a die cut snowflake border to the top of the exposed adhesive. 

The seven different Sparkle N Sprinkle glitters, listed below. were applied starting at the bottom with Blue Lightening, then progressively getting lighter up to the almost white Olaf White glitter as the background of the snowflakes. 

The Sweet Cuts Classy Deer die was run through my big shot over another piece of Super Adhesive Sheet layered to light blue cardstock. The protective backing was removed and Marine Blue was applied to the exposed adhesive.

The sentiment (Prickly Pear Christmas Tree) was stamped on white cardstock in Versafine Clair Twilight ink and before it dried, Sparkle embossing powder was applied and heat set.

I used the Lawn Fawn (Just for You labels) die to cut out the sentiment, I cut it half way and then moved the die cut along, as the die cut was too long for the sentiment.

I had an extra snowflake lying on my desk.  Versamark was applied and was heat embossed with Bracing Blue. The snowflake and sentiment were attached with mounting tape as was the glittered deer to finish off my card for today.

 

Below are the products that I used on my card today. 

Prickly Pear Christmas Tree Set

Versafine Clair Twilight

Versamark

Bracing Blue

Sparkle Embossing Powder

Lawn Fawn (Just for You labels) die

Memory Box Lindeman Snowflake die

Sweet Cuts Classy Deer die

Snowflake border die

Super Adhesive Sheet

Glitters: Marine Blue (deer)

Background glitters: Blue Lightning, Rapture Blue, Ocean, 

  Waterfall, Princess Elsa Frost, Waterscape, Olaf White

Hope I've given you some inspiration to color, without inks? Would love to see you join in the Challenge over at Christmas Craft Creations with your Winter Blues?

I'd like to join in the following Challenges with my card today:

Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge #85: Anything Goes

Classic Design Challenge #12: Anything Goes

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge #11: Anything Goes

52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge: Snowflakes (June)

Crafty Calendar Challenge: Christmas

Crazy 4 Challenges: C4C564

DRU Challenge #158: Christmas (Sweet Cuts Deer)

My Time to Craft Challenge #446: Christmas Animals

The Sisterhood of Crafters: Anything Goes Christmas/Winter

Penguin Bookmark

Hello there and thanks for visiting my blog today! 

My November header is the culprit to the many rutted trees in my backyard 😭. I have been spending lots of time out in the yard this Fall planting new trees to replenish the many that have fallen, or have had to be taken down,  over the past few years. They had small tender trunks and when the side gates got blown open a week ago, this guy decided it would be a good idea to come in and rub his antlers over six of them. He definitely killed three of them, but I hope that the other three may survive. I was devastated! Then after closing the gates and putting up tree guards around everything that could be a potential patient, I went out the next morning and found this - lying outside one of the gates! He is huge! 

Anyway, on to my card:

 ,,,, or should I say anything but a card, as that is the theme over at Christmas Craft Creations for the month of November. 

So, I chose to make a corner bookmark. 

Starting with a piece of navy cardstock 4" x 4", using my scoring mat, I marked the 2" mark on three of the sides. Lining the marks up and scoring and folding the two diagonals in towards each other, making the back of the bookmark.

I then chose my patterned paper and cut it to fit the inside of the back and taped it into position. A square piece of navy card 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" was cut diagonally, then taped over the two triangles to create the pocket for the bookmark. I traced around the bookmark on to the back of another piece of the same designer paper.

I cut out the DP on the inside of the lines, so that there would be a little navy blue border when this was taped down to the front.

To decorate I decided on the cute couple of penguins from Hampton Art (SC0665) which were stamped on to white cardstock with Versafine Claire Twilight ink and then sprinkled with Sparkle embossing powder.

They were colored with Copics and then die cut with the coordinating die.

For the back of the bookmark, I used the sentiment and snowflakes from another penguin set from Hampton Art (SC0714) and arranged this in my stamping platform and stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed with Detail White embossing powder.

I then cut off the tip of the top corner to allow me to pass a tassel through on a needle.

I then took a little piece of wire and slipped it through the tassel, so the tassel would not slip out.

The penguin couple were then taped to the front, holding hands!

That finishes my project for today. This was fun to do, and a little bit different from the traditional bookmark. I hope I have given you some inspiration to pop over with anything but a card for our November challenge at Christmas Craft Creations. We'd love you to pop over and see what the other designers have come up with.

Below are the products that I used in my project today:

Penguin Stamp and Die Set (Hampton Art SC0665)

Penguin Stamp and Die Set (Hampton Art SC0714)

Versafine Claire Twilight

Sparkle Embossing Powder

Copics

Versamark Ink

White Detail Embossing Powder

Tassel 

I'd like to play along in the following challenges:

The Holly and the Ivy Challenge #83: Anything Goes

Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: November

Creative Craft Cottage Challenge #135: Christmas/Winter

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #28: Anything Christmas Goes

Pearly Sparkles Challenge #57: Christmas/Winter Critters

Hope to see your project over on the challenge blog!

Till next time,

Shona

Pink and Brown Birthday Wishes

 Hi there,

My card today was inspired by the Fab'n' Funky Challenges, which is celebrating it's 500th challenge with a special blog hop. I needed a card for a very good friend and I had recently picked up a fun little stamp set from Stampin' Up called "From All of Us" and since there are five critters in the image and five in our family, I thought it quite fitting! My friend loves pinks and browns, so I chose to use different shades of both in my project.

I began by stamping the image with Versafine Claire Morning Mist, using the stamp platform.

Next I colored in the image using a variety of shades of pinks and browns.

Once colored, I put it back in the stamp platform and restamped it with the Morning Mist and then applied Sparkle embossing powder to give the outline a nice crisp look and a bit of a sparkle!

Next I created a little cross-stitch frame out of pink cardstock and taped it down a wee bit wonky.

"from all of us", from the same set was stamped in the bottom corner, and the Birthday Wishes (bitty Birthday Wishes) was stamped in the top left hand corner. This was then foam mounted on to a piece of brown and white dotted designer paper. Nuvo drops were applied to the left hand side of the card and some brown and pink baker's twine was tied in a bow in the top right corner.

That finished off my card for today!

Here are a list of the ingredients used for my project:

From All of Us (Stampin’ Up)

Bitty Birthday Wishes (My Favorite Things)

Versafine Claire Morning Mist

Various Brown and Pink Copics

Sparkle embossing powder

Cross Stitch Nesting Rectangles (Tutti Designs)

Nuvo Jewel Drops Strawberry Coulis

Nuvo Crystal Drops Dark Walnut Bubblegum Blush

Brown and Pink Bakers Twine

I'd like to join in the following challenges with my card:

Fab'n' Funky Challenge #500: Your 2 favorite colors and tell us why

Creations in Pink: Anything Goes mainly pink

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #44: Include a critter

Hope you've enjoyed my share today.

Till next time,

Shona