spotlight on pretty feathers

I'm over at STAMPlorations with a spotlight project for this card. Check it out here.

simon says joy to the world

"We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming"... again.

A teensy break from Christmas card sets today, though there's one more coming...

Have to share three cards I made with the delightful Joy to the World set from Simon Says Stamp special Cyber Week release. You can check out Kelly's Michaelangelo version here. I had to keep it a bit more CAS, ya know?

So without further ado, here's the first. The stamp set reminded me of those Precious Moments statues that were around when I was younger. Very pastel. Remember? So I tried to capture that feeling with some gold embossing and pastel watercoloring.

Next I concentrated on Jesus in the manger. And what better way to concentrate than to spotlight? So after some masking and stamping, I colored the die cut circle with Copics and gave the sky a good coat of Wink of Stella for sparkle. Popped it back into the B/W scene and voila!

Now for a bonus card! To tell you the truth, the first stamp from the set which caught my eye... ready for it... was the little sheep! So I channeled my inner Ksenija and this happened. Well, and thanks to Altenew Bold Alphabet die too. The heart is SSS Large Holiday Shapes.

I'm taking these cards to:
SSS flickr challenge - #85
SSS Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes

AAA Cards - Christmas

CU tomorrow with the last of my neighbor gifts. I heard that sigh of relief ;)

christmas card set - layered holly

Another card set I made for this year's neighbor gifts. Using Shirley's Layered Holly again. Love this set.

I revisited the "sentiment in the middle, masked and stamping all around it" technique! Not much variation. Changed up the sentiment. And stamped more leaves on some cards than others.

Thanks for looking! Tomorrow's the last set! I think.

I'm joining these challenges:
Winter Wonderland - Red and Green

AAA Cards - Christmas

HLS November CAS Challenge

STAMPlorations inspiration #154

Welcome back! Time for our last Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team for November where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

Today we're using Shery's Shery Russ Designs stamps. Have you seen the sale in the shop? Til month end nearly all products are 40% off!

As you may recall, this month I'm inspired by a paper collection from Pinkfresh...

So that sweet little birdie perched on a pink teacup became this birdie atop a stack of coffee cups! Which I livened up with Copics. Can you say easy peasy?!?

 Christmas Cookies and Cheer, Fowl Play, Sketchy Coffee Cups

If you're looking for more inspiration ... I used the coffee cup set on this card too. Heads up... the next Coffee Lovers Blog Hop isn't far off ;)

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the November inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. Glad you stopped by :)

I'm stopping at:
Cards and More - Things with Wings
SSS Wednesday - Food or Drink

christmas card set - cas with technique tuesday

More of the card sets I made for this year's neighbor gifts today. This one is for Americans!

Today's set was inspired by the stamp set. I don't think I'd ever used it before :( The result was a extreme CAS card set.

I used Technique Tuesday Twinkle On.

with silver gel pen on the light sockets

with WOS on the stars

with multiple ink colors on the tree

with puff paint on the hat

Thanks for looking!

I'm joining these challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - AG with the option of blue

Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple

HLS November CAS Challenge

christmas card set - cas heat embossing on dark cardstock

So it's back to more of the card sets I made for this year's neighbor gifts. Instead of cookies. Which I now think might have taken me less time!

Today's set was inspired by various dark colored cards with gold embossing. So simple but so pleasing - to my eye at least. And with a MISTI, so easy too.

I used Waltzingmouse Poinsettia (you know Claire B is designing for Gina K these days) and sentiments from Concord and 9th O Christmas Tree and Klartext Frohe Weihnachten.

I'm joining these challenges:

Sparkles Monthy Challenge - White Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - AG with the option of blue
Cards and More - mood board

Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple

HLS November CAS Challenge

christmas card set - charlie und paulchen

So it's never too late to add a new stamp set to your Christmas arsenal, right?

Who has the sweetest face in the animal kingdom? I've always thought Labrador puppies and fawns with their big, round eyes. So can you understand how when I saw this precious fawn from Charlie und Paulchen, a new-to-me company in Germany, he/she just had to come live at my house?

I'm back today with a set of cards for my neighbor gifts that just happened. I kept trying out ways to use an image like this, not your typical stamp. Not all results are great, but I'll share them with you anyway ;)

 multicolor inked with Altenew ink cubes

heat embossed - Lil Inker Stitched Rectangles,  Klartext Frohe Weihnachten, pine punch

 masked and stamped with tiny golden dots 

 stamped with Distress Oxides and clear heat embossed, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

and stamped off with the leftover Distress Oxides, Winnie and Walter Audrey Cutaways and topped with a punched bow!

 and while I was embossing, why not a gold one on black CS?

So whaddyasay? Are you a fawn fan? Do you have a favorite design from my lineup? I think I might like the first and last ones best.

I'm joining these challenges:
Inkspirational - Designers Choice

Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple

HLS November CAS Challenge

guest designing at inspired by all the little things

Very happy to be joining Tracey M (of 25 Tags of Christmas fame) and the great team over at Inspired by all the Little Things this week. How do you like this inspiration photo?

When I saw that fabulous wooden star I couldn't not go with the wood plank idea to make my own star. And then of course, gold heat emboss a sentiment onto it to recreate those gaps where the planks come together! And well, why not put a loop of twine behind it?  Geez, I really had good intentions to come up with something original! The only thing I actually changed up a bit were my pine branches.

Hero Arts Pine Bough, Sizzix Star, MFT Hand Lettered Holiday

Created a spray of branches with my favorite wooden stamp and added some snow with strokes of a white gel pen.

Hard to see, but I actually stamped a wood pattern (Winnie and Walter Into the Woods) onto the black CS after I'd scored it but you barely see it. You see that some stray embossing powder stuck to some of the still-damp Versamark woodgrain when I embossed the sentiment. Rather than brushing it off before heating, I decided to leave it so that it would accentuate a bit of the woodgrain pattern.

Hope you'll play along. I'd love to see how the photo inspires you. I'll stop by next week. We are celebrating Thanksgiving this Sunday since it's not a German holiday, so I'm busy in the kitchen right now! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving if you celebrated. And thanks for having me, Tracey!

papertrey november blog hop

It's that time of the month over at Papertrey! And that time of the year - the holiday season has arrived. How about this lovely table setting?

Needing tags for this year's neighbor gifts (card sets) I chose to make a tag based on the inspiration. The things that jumped out at me were the leaves, the golden word, the orange plaid and the colors of the swag. (The feathers too, but I couldn't make that happen ;)

PTI Enclosed Present die, leaf punch

We are actually celebrating our Thanksgiving tomorrow here in Germany. I've got lots to do in the kitchen right now, but I look forward to seeing your creations later too!

tags for 25 days of christmas tags - part 3

Three more tags to top my neighbor gift Christmas card sets. Inspired by Tracey M's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.

For Day 10 with Winnie and Walter I was inspired by Lindsey's simple but oho red tag and made one just like it.

MFT Traditional Tags, Papertrey Wonderful Words Holiday, Avery Elle Winter Wreaths

For Day 11 with Studio Katia I totally loved Tracy's gold-embossed-on-dark-CS tags cuz I made a set of cards just like it (which you'll see soon).

MFT Blueprints 4, WMS Poinsettias, Create a Smile Schone Bescherung

For Day 15 with the MUSE Christmas challenge ladies, I was inspired by Kimberly and Cornelia to make a white on white tag to accompany my marbled trees set.

Papertrey Tag Sale 1 die, Diemond Die Pine Tree, C9 O Christmas Tree

Once again, thanks for the wonderful inspiration Tracey and all her guests!