commissioned birthday cards

And today's summer programming, more commissioned birthday cards. 

Requested for a brother whose car is his pride and joy. I made three to choose from...

TAWS car stamp

Artemio cityscape stamp

Winnie and Walter sentiment stamp

Right at Home Holidays are on the Way die

washi tape

Renke die

Inkystamp sentiment

alcohol ink background, embossing powder

And for a butcher ;)

Neat and Tangled Hot Dog stamp

Inkadinkado sentiment

Have a great week!

a tribute to melissa lane

It's incredibly sad. To be taken so "young". They'd finally gotten away from military life, back to the US and settled down to start their farm life. And now a year later Melissa, my STAMPlorations teamie, is gone. Much too soon.

I know how much she loved nature - flowers, fruits, veggies, beautiful snowfalls, sunrises... I'm sure she's very happy to know that those things all continue on as if nothing's changed. Baffling, isn't it?

I can't even begin to imagine how much has changed for Melissa's family. But they share an amazingly strong faith in God and I trust this will help them get through.

To help all of us "get through", Shery from STAMPlorations has organized this tribute today so we can share our sadness but also celebrate Melissa's love for this vibrant, colorful life.

I chose a card of Melissa's from a recent post of hers which I think is incredible. I don't claim to understand how she created this beauty, but I decided to try my best to create something similar.

Here is my version as a sympathy card for her family but also in celebration of Melissa's life.

 STAMPlorations Shower of Flutters stencil

STAMPlorations Honeycomb Delight Reversed stencil

STAMPlorations With Sympathy die

Artemio Insekten stamp

acrylic paint

Distress inks

I started with a gelli plate background I'd created with orange and yellow acrylic paints. I put the butterfly mask down and applied red ink. I also applied dark blue ink up top but then switched to blue acrylic paint to get the vibrancy I wanted. When all was dry and in a nod to Melissa's blog name "Honeybee Lane" I used the honeycomb stencil and applied white pigment ink. I also stamped the bee in the lower right. A die cut sentiment backed with a white shadow finished my card.

I hope you like it. I hope Melissa would like it. I hope it captures nature's beauty and vibrancy that she so appreciated. To appreciate the hard work and passion Melissa and her family put into their new farm as well as the beauty they were already able to reap, check out their instagram grid.

And if you'd like to join our tribute, you will find the details here. (As well as 15% off  stencils thru Oct 21 should you feel like getting inky.)

I'm sharing this card at:
STAMPlorations Mixed Media - October
Hiding in my Craft Room - Super Scraps Saturday
Tuesday Throwdown - Missing You
Love to Create - Anything Creative/Mixed Media
Inkspirational - Comfort

christmas card set - artemio gnomes

OK. It's back to good ole' one-layer stamped cards for today's Christmas-card-set-as-neighbor-gift. With an age old stamp set from Artemio. But I'm calling a return of the gnome trend. Probably riding a unicorn!

I grabbed my Altenew ink cubes and the stamps and let the set inspire me.

Number one.

Artemio Garden Gnome, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Number two. Gnome meets 'shrooms. In purple and blue (the new black while we're talking trends).

Artemio Garden Gnome, Klartext Script Gruesse Weihnachten

Number three. In more Christmas-y colors.

Artemio Garden Gnome, Klartext Script Gruesse Weihnachten

Number four. Non-traditional colors again. And two cute gnomes.

Artemio Garden Gnome, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Number five. A little heavy on the black to be traditional perhaps, but I likey the best.

Artemio Garden Gnome, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Glad you're still coming by. I'm not quite done yet...

Taking these little guys to these challenges:

The 12 Months of Christmas Linkup - Star Struck
Sweet Stampers - Christmas
Bastel Traum - Christmas, Winter, Stardust

Addicted to Stamps and More - Holiday

HLS November CAS Challenge

inspired by kate's sequin strands

I had a productive crafting session yesterday. Ready? Have you seen the lovely sequin strands Kate L. has been creating lately - like this one here? Had to do that. So I took a cue from this card and made this card.

I did some shaving cream/acrylic paint marbling awhile back and used a piece of glossy cardstock from that session and Diemond Dies Snowflake 1 to cut three flakes which I clustered together atop a BG heat embossed in white with a snowflake from Artemio. Added a white heat embossed Klartext Gluckwunsch sentiment too. Then the sequin strand and voila!

I chose my marbled specimen based on the colors at Rubber Dance January challenge. Perfect for wintery cards, don't you think?

So with lots of marbled loveliness still left, I pulled out Kesi Art Snowflakes and die cut one marbled and one gold large specimen. And made this.

Created my cardbase by randomly stamping with Winnie and Walter Sentimental Winter, then applying embossing paste through Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil and sprinkling gold glitter on some of the snow while it was still wet. Then I splattered with blue watercolor. See that sparkly gold snow gently falling? Such fun.

And, since there was still a wee bit of the marbled CS left... I made a card for my friend's hubby's January birthday.

Used Studio Calico Wonky Hearts Wedding to die cut hearts from a white panel. Dry embossed it with a woodgrain embossing folder. Adhered a few of the white hearts to the panel, some marbled snippets to a blue cardbase and then adhered the panel with foam adhesive.

I used the last tidbits of the marbled CS and fun foam and Memory Box Parker Alphabet to cut "happy". Completed my sentiment with a heat embossed Winnie and Walter Winter Wonderland "birthday". Completed the card, balanced it out a bit, with two bits of washi on the front panel. Don't you love how the woodgrain and marbling make a nice pairing?

Lots of texture happening here - glossy CS, acrylic paint matt-ness, dry and heat embossing as well as the raised panel and the extra white heart die cuts.

I'm taking these cards to The Heart Desires #8 too, inspired by those snowflakes on the cake and the wintery branches.

Cuz I used acrylic paints for marbling I'm joining CAS Mix Up for January.

I used new products (Klartext Gluckwunsch, WW Sentimental Winter and Studio Calico hearts die) so I'm hooking up at Danipeuss #034 - Alles neu too.

And the last two cards are going to Winnie and Walter Gossip Column - Marble

Hope you enjoyed this lineup. Have a great weekend!

more tag fun at the CLASSroom

On the eleventh day of Christmas

The CLASSroom gave to me

A perfect tag design by

the amazing Kittie!

Maybe you saw my post yesterday with my first six tags for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist over at the Ellen Hutson CLASSroom. I love this special event they have every year so I squeezed some time in to play along. Especially after I'd seen Kittie's tag design for day 11 .  I grabbed STAMPlorations Luggage Tags dies and made some tags.

Now before I move on to days 7-12, can you say "Dumbkopf"? That was me yesterday in my rush to get tags made, photographed (in this various shades of gray weather we're having) and blogged. Posted Day 7's tag as Day 3's cuz it has foil too. Duh. Meet my actual tag for Day 3, that was inspired by Joni's foiled spotted deer. I applied rubber cement through SSS Falling Snow stencil, let it dry, then burnished foil onto the dots with my bone folder, Added a strip of double sided tape and more foil where the PP meets the tag and topped it off with an Essentials by Ellen Merry and Bright die cut...

I'm hooking this tag up at Simon Says Stamp November Work it Wednesday - Dies and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Gift It. I think a gift tag counts.

Moving on...
Day 7

These ladies had a nice striped sketch - I CASEd Melania's tag - and having just foiled for the first time (tag up top) I pulled out double sided tape, laid it onto the black tag and then burnished gold foil onto it. Easy. Hard to photograph. Stamp set:  MFT Hand Lettered Holiday    Die: SSS Poinsettia Parade

Day 8

Inspired by Carly's colorful inspiration piece from Margaret Berg and adding a touch of Ashley Goldberg's style I made this one-layer tag with a vellum overlay. I chose to use a camper image to play along with The Heart Desires Challenge #7. I inked the trees up with Distress inks and spritzed them before stamping. Stamp set: Artemio, Precious Remembrance Sketchy Christmas

Day 9

White = Elegant. I can't seem to go all elegant, gotta have a touch of playful.  I heat embossed trees and a house on the tag. You can barely see the gold glow I added to the house windows and door. Added a couple snowy hills, dry embossed. And snuck the gold antlered deer and his family in too. Stamp set: Neat and Tangled Winter Wishes    Die: MFT Snow Drifts and Memory Box Deer Trio

I'm joining the fun at Little Tangles - Silver and Gold. Not sure if you can see it but the silver is on the deer edges so you can see them in all the white. The gold is on the antlers, the house and the heat embossed sentiment. And at Memory Box - Marvelous Metallics too.

Day 10

Inspired by the the girls' use of kraft this tag was born. Used pigment and dye inks in greens. Stamp set: Winnie and Walter Winter Woodland and MFT Hand Lettered Holiday

I'm joining the Rerun fun at Winnie and Walter, although I chose the pine needle bough from Winter Woodland instead of Hollie's Festive Florals. I loved the natural look of Heather's card - kraft and twine.

Day 11

Kittie's tag for this day inspired my design for most of my tags. Love the PP on top, dry embossing on the bottom and a focal image. Unfortunately I don't have a wreath that would have looked the right size on this tag. And I was too lazy to create my own. Thus the ornament.  Stamp set: Waltzingmouse  Die: Spellbinders

Day 12

Inspired by the beautiful color palette and motivated to play in Where Creativity Meets C9 "Winter" challenge I made another tag with vellum overlay. Soft stone tag with world map stamped in khaki. White heat embossed snowflakes falling onto the world. Heat embossed and snipped sentiments atop the vellum overlay. Stamp set: Concord and 9 Map Love and Poppystamps Holiday Hoopla

Whew! Thanks for checking out my tags. Hope you are having a wonderful Advent and not getting too stressed out. We're off for more Christmas cheer this evening. Might even be carol singing... I wish you and yours - and all of us the world over - peace, love and joy this holiday season.

doggie sympathy

A quick post to share a quick design which I unfortunately needed twice last week. Two families lost their golden retrievers (as did Shona C.) in one week. Our Ellie is only 3, but it sure makes me dread THE day...

Decided to use a stamp from Artemio and give it a cloud/halo effect by lightly Distress Inking around the embossed silhouette image. The sentiment is Technique Tuesday.

One was a girl.

The other a boy.

Thanks for looking. I'm sharing these cards at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday where it's about Thinking of You. And at Stempelkueche where it's about Saying Goodbye.

MMCC #21 reminder

There is still plenty of time to join us at the Mixed Media Card Challenge where this month it's about

 A Gelli plate print came to my service. Surprised, right?

A few birds  and birdhouses from Artemio Birds and Cages a few white embossed trees from Winnie and Walter Kindness and a sentiment from Hero Arts Happy Hello. TIP: Archival Ink works well on acrylic paint surfaces like Gelli prints.

Join us for some mixed media trees and birds fun, won't you? The challenge is open until March 25. Thanks for visiting today.

I'm playing at:
Craft Stamper - TIMI March Anything Goes with stamping
Penny Black and More - Feature a Creature
Anything but Cute - Crazy for Colour (hope my card isn't too "cute")