WT190 – Grateful for You

• Stamps: Dotted Autumn, Antique Cracking
• Paper: White, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie

  

  WT190 Grateful for You

• Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: brads

Here is my submission for yesterday’s Ways To Use It Challenge: Get Cracking (WT190).  I didn’t start this card until 9 pm, and I try to be in bed as close to 10 as possible (in order to function the next day) so I made this a simple card.  I don’t like doing simple cards unless I like they way they turn out (and they don’t look “too simple”).  I think this one turned out pretty good.  I’ll likely include this in the batch of cards I send to Splitcoast’s Stamp Your Heart Out Campaign, which gives cards to the troops for their use.  I sure welcome a cause like that which can make use of my odds ‘n’ ends cards, as it seems we usually really only use Christmas, Birthday, and Sympathy cards ourselves, and I don’t always want to just make one of those types!

For a little extra dimension, both the pumpkin stem and the leaf on the pumpkin were stamped in old olive, cut out, and glued into position.  To balance the antique cracking background on the old olive panel, I rubbed a chocolate chip ink pad over the chocolate chip panel.

Thanks for looking!

It’s a Winter Wonderland outside…

Out my bedroom window

Horses at the barn

Out on the deck

Dreamer & Hank close-up

… and I’m thinking I’ll just stay inside and spend the rest of the day making cards.  :0)

They say it’ll be 65 again by Thursday… oh well – winter will eventually come and stay.  Even *I* have to admit that it would be a little early if it came today and STAYED.

Season of Friendship Joyful Tree

• Stamps: Season of Friendship, Small Script, Antique Cracking
• Paper: Cream, Always Artichoke, Baroque Burgandy, Mellow Moss

  

  Season of Friendship Joyful Deer

• Ink: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Baroque Burgandy
• Extras: Holographic & Clear embossing powders, twill ribbon

I created this card for my mom to use as a Christmas card for fellow members of her genealogical society.  She writes fantastic poems, and wrote a lovely one for this year’s Christmas card to them involving the “family tree” that discussed the bark on the tree.  So, I used antique cracking on the background and used my new Season of Friendship tree in the foreground.  It’s a pretty simple card but that’s what she wanted it to be as she’s got to make a good stack of these and there’s no sense creating a card that takes a long time to duplicate!

Special notes: the little birdie was stamped & embossed and then I cut him out, and the snowflakes were also stamped & embossed with “holographic” glitter powder for a little extra sumthin’ :0)

Changing Seasons Thank-You

• Stamps: Changing Seasons, Lovely As A Tree, Fantastic Foliage, Noteworthy, Antique Cracking
• Paper: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard

  

  Changing Seasons Thank-You

• Ink: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard, Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla, SU Markers (Not Quite Navy & Bordering Blue – used in sky)
• Accessories: Clear embossing powder, ribbon, Coluzzle, exacto knife, aquapainter
• Technique: watercoloring, emobssing, sponging

I made this as a thank-you card to thank the local SU demo that helped me locate someone who wanted to sell their “Changing Seasons” stamp set.  She found one I could afford and I am SO excited to have this set now!  I can picture many more lovely creations that I can make in the future with it.

Fore this card, I inked the stamp first with Versamark and then with Chocolate Chip, stamped it, poured clear embossing powder over it, and embossed the image.  I like to do that when watercoloring to reduce any yucky image “bleeding.”

Season of Christmas Joy (WT189)

• Stamps: Season of Friendship, Small Script
• Paper: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, White

  

  Season of Christmas Joy (WT189)

• Ink: Close to Cocoa (tree), Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Real Red, generic pigment White
• Accessories: ribbon, brad, coluzzle, edge distresser, slot punch, glitter, large & small corner rounder punches
• Technique: sponging

Woohoo!  Our Stampin’ Up order arrived this week and I was eager to start using some of it (it was a rather large order! haha!).  I wanted to combine the color, sketch, and ways to use it challenge into one card but I also really wanted to use the new “Season of Friendship” stamp set so I put the idea I had for the triple-challenge in the back of my mind and got to work on a Christmas-like card using this stamp set for Thursdays Ways to Use It Challenge: “One Word” (WT189).  (I’ll make that other card either tonight or sometime this weekend as I’m also eager to try combining those three challenges all into one!)  I was also REALLY eager to use my new Coluzzle!  What a timesaver this will be! :0)

This card measures 5″x5″ so I’ll have to custom make an envelope to fit it.  I also rounded a few of the corners for added interest and put some glitter “snow” in the tree and at the base of the trunk to add some winter-y feel.  I’m not 100% in love with how it turned out… I think it still needs “something” – maybe more glitter?  Maybe not…  The good news is, however, that we’ve now got over 50 Christmas cards made and that’s a pretty darn good chunk of the 100+ we send out, so in all honesty we don’t “have” to make any more Christmas cards if we don’t want to because we have enough now to easily cover anybody who would really treasure receiving a handmade card (the rest can get boughten ones!).  Although I can’t imagine being done with making Christmas cards yet – I’ll for sure be making more, I just probably won’t be making fifteen of one design again like I did earlier this week.  :0)

Have a GREAT Friday!