Wine some more?

More wine themed cards using the December card kit from My Favorite Things, A Good Time to Wine.

I made an attempt to use my little Foldio light box to take these pictures. I had to adjust the lighting a lot in Photoshop to keep them from looking dim and sad. I have got to get better lighting for that thing, or give up and get a real light box.

Happy New Year, everyone!

To your continued greatness!

I have a new card kit from My Favorite Things, "A Good Time to Wine". It has the prettiest sparkle gold paper I've ever worked with. OMG it doesn't shed glitter!!  So, what did I do? I added glimmer paste, which actually does shed a little.

The kit contains a shaped bubble that creates the body of the wine glass (die included), so I filled it with a small amount of white wine colored beads. The wine glass is cut from some of the Mercury Glass paper I've been using for Christmas cards. I love that stuff.  The background is an embossed swirly pattern that I've only used horizontally to indicate wind before, but it's very festive here vertically, right?  I used Tonic moonstone glimmer paste through a spotty stencil. Stingy old me only used tiny strips of the gold glitter paper on the side and bottom of the card.  The sentiment was gold embossed on a kraft strip, and the card base is kraft, also.

I have notice that I only do 4 or 5 cards from a kit before I "quit".  My goal is to do more than 5 with this one.  I may even go back to the Festive Flamingos and do more there, too.  I think they may still be in the bag. Except for the stamps and the dies, that is. Oh who am I kidding, it has been broken down into components into the stash at this point.

Oh, and those beads?  Well, they are just barely a little too thick for the shaker pouch. I had a little trouble gluing that glass down flat to the card. My bad, I know that sequins are better for shaker cards for a reason. Oh well, live and learn.

Die cut critters say "Merry Christmas to You"!

Today's cards are mostly all die-cuts, with minimal stamping. Really, I made these cards up back in September and thought it too soon to write about them, so here it is, time to send them and I'm glad I remembered to photograph them. 

The critters are SSS storybook characters, oh so much fun to cut from different colors and put together on a card base.  The sentiments are from My Favorite Things. The large "merry and bright" was stamped and embossed with sparkly green embossing powder. The "Jolly Holly Days" is from Lawn Fawn's Deck the Halls set, and the Merry Christmas circle die cut is from MFT. I think the row of houses border might be MFT also.

I'm trying to figure out what this last one is missing.  Ya'll may see it again with something else on it. 

I have a couple more cards to share in a few days. 

Green for the Season! With some gold thrown in, too!

I made a lot of green and gold tags, and wanted to feature one on a card. This specialty paper from Tonic is made from cotton, and is very soft, with hints of gold under the green. I love it and you will be seeing more of it in coming projects!

I didn't embellish the tag, I just put the "fa la la" and the music over top of it. The "fa la la" die is Simon Says Stamp (I think, I can't find the packaging), the tag is My Favorite Things' Tagbuilder Bluebrint 5, and the music is something I got at Michael's quite a few years ago.

My stash has reached the point where if I don't label things, I forget where and when I got them and exactly what brand they are. Dies, unlike stamps, look a lot alike under the packaging. Is this my subconscious telling me to stop buying stuff?  If so, no thanks.

The deer tag is one of several I'm working on. I'm loving the shiny gold "Mercury Light" paper.  It's also Recollections from one or 2 years ago. Also, it's hard to see in the photo, but the "fa la la" is covered with glittery shimmer paste from Tonic.  It's messy and fun.

Layered snowflakes will always be fun.

Last year I got a card kit from My Favorite Things that had layered snowflake dies. While I only made one card with them last year, I made a bunch of the snow flakes and put them aside.

Today I used round tag dies and made a bunch of tags with the layers of snowflakes. What could be more fun?  The sentiment is from an old Alley Way set, stamped and silver embossed on a mini tag from MFT.  The white panel is embossed with snowflakes, with a folder that has been in my stash for years.

Nontraditional colors can be fun, right?  I will decide later if these shall remain tags or if they will go on cards.

Simply red (deer)

I am enjoying these deer die from My Favorite Things. They are called Delightful Deer, and are similar to last year's Deer Love. 

I used more of the gold shiny paper, and a birch tree die from my forgotten stash of dies. I've forgotten where I got them, that is. The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set that I use every year. I'm a big fan of that font and I keep returning to  it.

As I was getting ready to name this post, the name Simply Red popped into my head. Anyone remember them from the 80s? They were great. 

Fa la la! etc.

This reindeer is from a stamp set in my collection for years. I think I got it in 2015, but it came out in 2012. It is "Fa La La" from The Alley Way Stamps.  The actual "falala" on this card is from a die cut, possibly Simon Says Stamp. I'm entering this one in the Retro Rubber Challenge as it is an "anything goes" challenge. I never seem to have the right theme going on for them, but this is perfect because it is anything, LOL.

I cut the falala from the gold foil background panel and covered up the hole with the brown patterned paper. After adding the cut falala on top, and the Copic colored reindeer, I decided to add a bunch of small die-cut snowflakes. These are from My Favorite Things and Paper Smooches. I cut them from foil and glitter card stock, and topped each one off with a drop of copper or gold Nuvo drops.

I added red Stickles to his nose, and when it dried flat I added Nuvo crystal glaze to give it more shine and some dimension.

It is kind of tricky to photograph mirror-foiled paper, but you can really appreciate all the shine on this one. It's one of my favorites so far this year. Deck the halls you all. Whenever you're ready, of course.

Warm wishes for you, deer.

I'm trying my hand at this week's Color Throw Down Challenge. The colors are slate blue, orange, brown and white.

I can tell you right off the top that working with slate blue is not in my comfort zone. But, moving onward, I started by ink blending 2 similar colors of Distress Oxide ink, Faded Jeans and Stormy Skies. After adding the snow hill, I cut the 2 deer from orange and brown paper. The orange is quite dark in this photo because I tried to ink up the edges with more Distress ink. I also added some typewriter text clear embossing over both deer. I added clear Stickles to the orange deer's antlers, and finished with white and copper Nuvo drops.

The deer are from My Favorite Things' Delightful Deer Dienamics set, and the sentiment is from an old Lawn Fawn set called Winter Fox.

I stopped myself just before I added a copper drop behind one of the deer. I really have to remind myself of how things might actually look.

I've got no business in Michael's. None.

Every year I buy patterned paper at Michael's that I seriously don't need. I am having a very good time making cards with the paper I already have. And yet, I did it again. Christmas Pets, this one is called.

I made a couple of quick cards with it:

I realized pretty quickly that there were not enough larger images to make focal points. These are the 2 largest, and there are 2 more duplicates in the pad. All the other images are smaller.

Ha! Serves me right for making impulse purchases in Michael's. 

Deck the Howls

Today, 2 new cards featuring the cute Christmas dogs from My Favorite Things' Deck the Howls set. The dogs are so cute, but I learned this time that when using Copic markers, the paper REALLY matters. For these cute dogs, I stamped them with MFT's Extreme Black ink on MFT's Smooth White card stock. It came in the flamingo kit, and it feels wonderful. But, I won't do that again as the Copic colors bled, a lot. I  had stamped them 2 times, so the next group will be some other color medium, like pencils. This card stock will make great bases, though.

Anyway, for the red card, I die cut the word Joy from 3 different fonts, and had the dogs (and a bone) coming through the "O"s.  On the green card, I used the new free word die, and added a couple of dogs. I will stamp an appropriate dog-themed sentiment on the inside.

Yes, another flamingo card! This flamingo is colored with my Polychromos pencils on some very inexpensive children's watercolor paper from Walmart. I like it because it has a pretty good texture for colored pencils.

More flamingos!

This card is for the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge # 408.  I used more patterned paper from the kit, but it's not my favorite paper to work with for Christmas.

Yes, I am having fun with the card kit, thank you very much! I just enjoy this other paper more.

I love flamingos! Here they come!

Yes, it's the Festive Flamingos from My Favorite Things' October card kit. I was (virtually) standing in line when these became available earlier this week. I ordered on Tuesday and they came on Thursday.

I wanted to get one of these made up as soon as I could, so I basically copied this design from their website. Thank you, Rachel Alvarado for your simple and charming layout.

I was in such a hurry to get this one done that I forgot to add the white gel pen highlights. Oh well, we'll get back to these.

Side note: I find it kind of hard to work with Barbie purples and pinks for Christmas. I think I may save these tiny plaid papers for something else.

The flamingos are Copic colored, and the card is tinted with Distress Oxide ink in Spun Sugar and Faded Jeans. The spots are Nuvo Jewel Drops in Periwinkle.

I'm a big fan of the flamingos. Did you know that all the flamingos at Lion Country Safari are named for presidents?

Another fun flamingo fact: their color depends on their diet. The more shrimp they eat, the pinker they get!  The flamingos at Lion Country Safari are well fed:

Let's ink up a book!

I took a page from an old book, and inked it up with Distress Oxide inks and a stencil, then cut out a raggedy panel with a die.

I really love the look of text backgrounds, but sometimes I find myself trying to read them. What's up with that?  It's like always noticing the tune in the elevator and trying to identify it.

The butterfly, dragonfly, and botanicals are from My Favorite Things' Fluttering Friends, and are colored with my Polychromos pencils and cut with my Brother Scan N Cut 2. I finished it off with a circle die cut and some Nuvo drops in gold.

Now, back to more Christmas cards when no one is looking.  I'll share them all in November/December.

It's your hippo day!

Today's card is a simple card with lavender hippos. Why not? The hippos are colored with a combination of Copic markers and Spectrum Noir markers. I really don't like the Spectrum Noir purples. They are very hard to blend.

The hippos are My Favorite Things' Happy Hippos. The yellow dots are Tonic Nuvo drops. I've never had issues with the bottles before, but I guess you need to start somewhere. I think lumpy dots give the card character, don't you?  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 

Pig humor

Today I challenged myself to use up some supplies or throw them out already. So, going through my box of pre-colored images, I found this cute pink pig. I think I may have done this 2 years ago when I was at my brother's house. I remember that because I bought this stamp set at the store in the town next to his, Eustis. I colored him using my sister-in-law's Crayola colored pencils. 

So, use it or toss it?  I don't want to toss it, so I started the search through the stash for the paper that would make it look better.

In real life the pinks do not clash. I wish I could photograph colors better. Sigh.

I also used the current sketch challenge at My Favorite Things, Sketch 400.

Here's the inside, with a cute flying pig peeking out from behind another strip of patterned paper. 

The stamp set is Hog Heaven from My Favorite Things, and the background paper is from the MFT set, Roses All Over.

I did end up throwing away most of a pack of paper from October Afternoon because I realized I pull it out and try to use it often and end up putting it back on the shelf. Now that it's gone I won't have it cluttering up the paper tray. It's not like I don't have 50 others to look at. Really.

Simple flowers for thanks

You know, sometimes it's really hard to get your mojo back. I was distracted by sewing for a while, too. Sometimes it seems all I want to do is buy new supplies, but I may not be so keen on doing anything with them when they come in the mail.

I challenged myself to use several things that I simply HAD to have and hadn't used in months. So, I did some flowers (always a good start) with my Mission Gold watercolors, and used a cute word die from (I think) Simon Says Stamp.  The flowers are also SSS, Even More Spring Flowers.  I don't remember where I got the holey background die. I do know that I will probably never try to prop it up on dimensional foam dots again. It's lovely in real life, but what a pain!

I love watching the YouTube artists watercoloring flowers. I wish I were half as talented as they are. But, I keep chugging along. Some day, some day.

I cut the "You" word die (also SSS) from 3 layers of black card stock and one of a deep teal, and glued the layers together. Seriously, did I really forget to put the pin back in the lid of the glue bottle the last time I used it? You bet I did, so I had to soak the lid to get it freed up again.

I white embossed the "thank" word on black card stock, from an old Sizzix set I got from Michael's. It was one of those sets of clear stamps that were a direct copy of the original Tim Holtz designs that were red rubber.

So, I think I may have jump started my creativity, just a little. We shall see, I suppose.

Side story:  The computer I was using since last August had been back at HP at least 3 times, and had its motherboard replaced that many times, too, from about April to late June of this year. When it died again a week after its last return I took out the hard drive and trashed it.  Stupid HP All-In-One. I went back to a desktop tower (Dell this time, thankyouverymuch). I really hope I'm over the computer drama.

Simply no mojo for cards

I have been sewing for the last month, and have no mojo left for cards. And it's not like the sewing is that great, either.  Sewing pants that fit are like looking for a unicorn.
So, I decided to slap out some cards to get me going again, sort of. While not entirely creative, I'm hoping they will jump-start my imagination again.

I'm probably going to enjoy the die-cut cartoon animals (I certainly bought enough of them), but I'm still trying to make them look OK.

Oddly enough, just looking at the photos has given me some ideas. I may be back with these 2 again after a bit more embellishment. Or not.

Not card related, but life.

I came back from a lovely cruise to Bermuda (cold temps in Baltimore sailing out and in, windy and beautiful while there, thank you very much). One of my closet shelves collapsed while I was gone. This is the same closet that took me 2 days to fix one support clip back in about 2012.

Anyway, I had to remove all the stuff from the floor, and it was like an archaeological dig in there. Pretty good for a 2.5 foot section of shelving.

So, while unpacking from the cruise, I started to lighten up my closet. You would think I had never done this before, considering how much stuff I let go. 7 or 8 large garbage bags later, and my closet is much looser. This is about half of it. A whole bunch went directly into the trash, also.

My other big dilemma was what I wanted to do as opposed to what I had to do. All I really wanted to do was get back into my craft room and make cards. What I needed to do is get a pair of pants traced off so I could quickly sew up some new ones. Quickly sewing pants is a fantasy of mine. Don't burst my bubble, OK? But the dining room table is all full of cruise packing junk (and my old PC junk, and my paper cutter, etc.). Did I mention that my serger died right before I left for vacation?  I remember buying it back in 1993. It has become a "must have" for my sewing, so I made the time to go buy a new one. But, I can't play with it until I make the space.

Did you know that Goodwill doesn't want your old hangers? For years I was buying new hangers, rather than unhanging stuff that really needed to go. And these are just the ones I took from the stores. I'm keeping or donating the ones I bought to friends.

Happy birthday picnic!

How fun is this?

It is a blatant copy of the Crazy Paper Chick's, because well, how do you improve on something so cute?

I used some of my older paper, the thin stuff, to make an envelope. It doesn't match, but it doesn't clash, either. I make my envelopes that will go through the mail with the print on the inside.

I have had this paper stack that I got at Michael's for over 5 years. Yes, I got this thin stuff for scrap booking. It says My Mind's Eye on it, but it is really only MME patterns, not their actual paper product.

One (or two) more "Valentines" and then I quit.

Just a couple more valentines from THE KIT and then I'm done with it until next year. I may use the stamp, though. I just hope I have learned my lesson and really study the contents of the kit to see why I must have them.  Stickers are not big in my book and I should have known that.

Speaking of stickers, here's one of a unicorn that I put on some of the patterned paper from the kit. I turned the pink rectangle into a banner with a V shaped die and some more patterned paper. I slapped on another banner sticker for the sentiment, and a row of hearts, just because.

The kit is the Limited Edition Valentine Kit 2018 from Simon Says Stamp. Here is a picture of the kit, and I believe it is out of stock, but you can still get the bits of it separately, which is what I should have done. Oh well.

Birthday Gang

Well, it started off as an entry into a challenge, but before it was done it disqualified itself.

All of these critters had been previously colored and cut, and were sitting in my "critter bowl". All of them are from various My Favorite Things stamp sets. The challenge, from MFT, was to use stamps from 3 different sets. No problem there. I had most of it glued together when I realized I had used another company's sentiments. These are from TAWS. Also, that tall spiky grass is from a die I cannot ID by company. And, I'm sure the paper is from Lawn Fawn.

Oh well, when I mix it up I really mix it up. I should have put the shark in, after all.

The giraffe, lion and monkey are from MFT's Sweet Safari. The frog is from Witch Way Is the Candy, the llama is from Llama Love, and the moose is from Warm and Fuzzy Friends. Most of the animals were colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, except the llama, which I really don't remember how he's colored.

I still have a lot of critters in the bowl. I have room for another short critter there on the left, so I may be back with a revision, later. Watch this space.

Wild about it!

So, here's a sketch challenge I can really get into. Pretty simple, actually. Here's the sketch:

And here's my entry:

Yes, it's pretty bland, but I kind of like the softness of it.  The water colored zebra is from My Favorite Things' Sweet Safari, and the main panel is MFT's Gift Box Coverup.  The heart is part of a very old set from Little B.

The window panels and the heart are lightly inked with Distress Oxide ink in Worn Lipstick, on the bottom halves. The whole panel is mounted on black and white zig-zag patterned paper from MFT.

My Punny Valentines

Yes, I love puns.There you have it.

These are from Simon Says Stamp's Foodie Friends stamp set, which came in the Limited Edition Valentine's Kit (January/February 2018).  These tiny images were colored with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers on mixed media paper, and cut with my Brother Scan N Cut. I put them on small white panels that had a smear of Distress Oxide color and stamped with the coordinating puns that came with the set. I used a few of the heart stickers from the set on the "Soda-Lightful" card, but the others were mounted on a ripped paper die and then layered with some black and white accent paper.

I am almost avoiding talking about my buyer's regret with this kit. The main part of this kit, aside from the stamp set, is the large sheet of card-stock stickers. So far I've made 2 cards featuring the stickers and I'm completely under-impressed with them.

Back when I was first making cards I learned about the phenomenon of "sticker sneeze"", where stickers were put down seemingly at random.  Want to see an example? Here you go:

The group of flowers in the lower right are part of the patterned paper, and the 3 big images are stickers.  I'm totally unimpressed with this one, alright?

No, not typical at all!

Well, the color combo of pink and black went over so well with the monster card that I did it again! 

My monster card was a featured card on MFT's "You've Been Spotted" this week. Woo hoo!

This cute little typewriter is from Simon Says Stamp's Foodie Friends set, which was part of the Limited Edition Valentine kit . I'm still wondering why I got the kit, wondering how to use the cute, but very flat stickers, etc. More on that dilemma to follow, my friends.

The typewriter was colored with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers on mixed media paper, for the Daily Marker's 30 day coloring challenge. The pink blob on the white panel is Distress Oxide Ink in Worn Lipstick. Yes, another atypical Valentine. There's more in the pipe, too.

Here come the Valentines! Almost.

Yes, I have climbed up onto the Valentine wagon, sort of. Although I'm kind of wondering why. I presume I'll mail a small amount of these and donate the rest, somewhere.

The monsters above are from My Favorite Things' Monster Sized, again. Yes, I DO have a lot of them already colored with Prismacolor or Polychromos pencils, all cut up with my Brother Scan N Cut 2, ready to go, so why not?  A strip of black and white striped paper, a couple of die cuts, some ink, and it's good to go!

The cat below is from Tim Holt's Crazy Cats collection. A bright pink cat? Why not? He is colored with my Spectrum Noir markers, and mounted on double stitched hearts (diecuts from Gina Marie Designs), The sentiment, and striped paper accents are from My Favorite Things. 

Are these really Valentines? Probably not, but what the heck. They will have an appropriate "Happy Valentines' Day" greeting inside, to redeem them.