It's Saturday and I am happy to be back at my desk and blog today! The original plan for the weekend was to travel to Atlanta for the weekend to spend time with grandchildren, but a bout of back spasms and a misadventure with the heating pad meant no long car rides for me for awhile!
So Plan B included making a Christmas card instead!
I created the background by stamping and embossing in white on white cardstock Penny Black's new Christmas release background stamp Decadence. I then colored the surface with a variety of Distress inks and Delicata gold ink. I sprayed a fixative on that surface and then stamped the Holly Concert image onto the background using black ink and then embossing with clear. I colored the birds and holly branch with Copics. The texture of the background makes the birds and holly look like an oil painting, as there is quite a bit of texture on the surface. "Peace" has been cut using the Penny Black creative die set Peace, Love, Joy. I stitched the three layers together and decided I really love the look! For some reason I am really excited about bird images for Christmas and Penny Black has released at least three wonderful bird images for Christmas!!
I think that "decadence" background stamp is well-named! It is scrumptiously detailed.
Hopefully I will be able to set the Christmas stamps aside now and then and make more Autumn themed cards. But you know how it is when you have new stamps ... just gotta ink them up!! Happy weekend and thanks for stopping by. Oh, and never sleep while you are laying on a heating pad turned up to "high". Don't ask me how I know!!
I guess it's pretty obvious that my choice of colors for the flowers in the cart was inspired by the patterned paper! This is more paper from my new 6x6 pad by Doodlebug Design called Happy Harvest, a gift from my friend, Sally. I remember when we lived in Wisconsin that it was always in late September that the colors in the flowers became deeper and brighter, as if they knew they had one last chance to look beautiful before the frost came.
The cart image was stamped and embossed and colored with Copics. I then taped the scalloped Nestie to the paper and ran it through the Big Shot. Pop dotted it onto the card base and added some diecut leaves and an acorn, also a gift from Sally! I added Glossy Accents on the flowers and parts of the wheel and cart, just to shine things up a bit. The sentiment is Penny Black and I stitched it to the card base.
This card is being sent to my niece, Kim, who sometimes checks in on my blog! Hope she forgets today ...
Cool and overcast here today! It's a windows open kind of a day!! You still have time to enter the color combo challenge at the Penny Black blog! The challenge closes on Friday. If you can't enter the challenge, click on the "gallery" option and be prepared to be inspired!!
Thanks for the visit!
Yesterday I posted a Christmas card and today I am playing with Fall colors. I couldn't get into the Fall theme without just the right patterned paper, and I wasn't able to find what I had in mind locally.
I have a friend, Sally, who lives in Missouri and she has the knack for sending little gifts at just the right time; this time it was a 6x6 paper pad called Happy Harvest by Doodlebug Design. It is just perfect to enhance any fall image. Also in the package were hundreds of small, detailed die cut leaves, acorns, branches, and other diecuts, each style packed in the perfect baggie for size and quantity!! I think Sally knows I would never have the patience to cut so many tiny items!! I have been known to hoard the things she sends, but this time I intend to use and enjoy!!
The flower is the smaller dahlia image stacked with a pop dot onto the center of the larger dahlia image from Penny Black's transparent set "Dahlias". Both flowers were stamped in VersaMark and embossed in white. Distress inks were rubbed onto each flower to create the color. That is real burlap that serves as the base for everything else!
I added white enamel dots and did a little stitching. I love the texture and colors in this card.
Don't forget about the Color Combo Challenge at the Penny Black blog. You have until September 27th to enter. This card most closely uses the color palette shown on Day 5 of the challenge.
Hope your weekend was a good one!
.
Couldn't wait to get this Santa image inked up from the Penny Black transparent set Whooo's Wishing . This set includes this Santa, penguins, a snowman, a deer and some owls who give the set its name.
I stamped Santa with Vivid red ink and then outlined beard, moustache and eyebrows with a black pen. I popped each Santa into a frame created by my Tri Square die. The holly leaves are stamped on the inside of the card and allowed to peek out. The original design was altered when I looked at my finished card and realized the sentiment said "oh, oh, oh" as in Ho Ho Ho stamped upside down!!
A new strip of white solved that problem! I love these little Santas .. they have a bit of a Bavarian Alpine look!!
Rainy day in Huntsville!! Lots of stamping time! I'm not quite ready to go full time towards Christmas. Fall is a good time to switch to warmer tones and celebrate the Fall holidays! But you know how it is when new stamps arrive by mail!
I made this card earlier in the summer and must have been influenced by the hot and bright sunny days! I used the same flowers from the Blooming Garden set for the embossed and distressed background as I did for the focal point. I needed to break up all that sunny color so I added the Polaroid die cut. The sentiment is also Penny Black: Eloquence. And then I stitched it all together!!
This card may have the recipient reaching for sunglasses! Embossing the background image and then going over it with Distress inks is such a quick and easy way to get an impressive background. And some days we need quick and easy.
It's an overcast Friday here; a relief from the hot and sunny and humid days we've been having.
The riding mower is parked in the front yard waiting for the mower ambulance to whisk it away for a hopefully brief stay and recovery at the mower hospital! Having learned the hourly rate and the pick up and delivery charges, I think I need to check with Blue Cross and see if this is covered!
Thanks for the visit! Don't trip over the mower!
Here she is! A four-day veteran of Daycare and now three months old!! Evelyn Rose is just as sweet as she looks in the photo. Sleeps through the night for Mommy and Daddy. Grandma gets to visit via Skype and Evie now watches and listens and smiles for Grandma!
We will be in Wisconsin for Evie's baptism in October. Can't wait!!
Evie says "hi" to Grandma's blogger friends.
I've been eager to try using stencils for a background and picked this Heidi Swapp stencil up at Michael's for 99 cents!
I placed it on white cardstock and sprayed with Kraft Glimmer Mist. Loved the result!! I then stamped Penny Black's Christmas Red and Green image onto the background. I added butterflies cut with Penny Black's creative die Flutters. That Christmas stamp has many non-Christmas possibilities.
I actually purchased four other stencils recently online and when they arrived I put them away very carefully ... so carefully that I cannot find them!! Is it possible I have too much stuff?
Wednesday is my grocery shopping day. I love the buy one get one free items. My receipt shows that I spent $97 but my savings came to $48. Not bad!!
And I want extra points for not mentioning that my husband once again locked his keys in the car at the golf course. Worse yet, he had left them in the ignition in the "on " position! Resutl: very dead battery. Thank goodness for Triple A!! I would like to say I handled it sweetly .... I would like to be able to say that!
Thanks for your visit.
