forgotten but not gone (3)

 A few more cards that seem to have been forgotten in my photo file...

Today I'm sharing two techniques you might want to revisit. The first is one of my faves learned from the oh-so-talented Yana S. - random stamping. And while you're at it, make a whole sheet and turn it into four cards. I shared a spotlight tutorial on this over at STAMPlorations if you're interested.

First stamp all over keeping in mind where the four card panels will be.

Cut and adhere your panels.

Add sentiments and you've got a set.

Hero Arts Bird and Branch stamp

floral stamps

Stempelkueche sentiment stamp

Speaking of sets. Here's one made with a solid stamp image using selective inking and spritzing to achieve a truly watercolored look.

Altenew Watercolor Wonders stamp

Altenew Super Script sentiment stamp

Distress Inks

Happy weekend!  

rico design neon meets hand lettering

First off, I am not a hand letterer and don't claim to be. It's so much harder than it looks.

But at Creativeworld in Frankfurt last weekend I was totally smitten with the Rico Design booth and their use of neon coral. And I discovered their neon watercolor palette. So I came home and ordered it. And played with it.

In the booth there was a sample - someone had painted some words with the neon coral. So after perusing hand lettering on instagram, I gave it my best and came up with this set of cards. (I used the stamp set to drive my choice of words to hand letter.)

Rico Design Neon Watercolors

Altenew Label Love stamp

waterbrush

black Sharpie

white paint pen

Copic C3 marker

washi

I apologize for the grayness of the photos. It's cloudy here today and I didn't want to brighten the photos too much. I tried to keep the neon as true to life as possible for you, but the coral (oh that coral!) and the orange are 10x better IRL ;)

These watercolors are so cool. Truly neon. And if you don't use too much water, really opaque.

Thanks for coming by again today. Hope you enjoyed my post. I'm joining the Anything Goes fun at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the Anything Goes Challenge at ATSAM.

playing with pinkfresh again

Back with three more cards inspired by Lea L.'s Christmas Creating All Year and Pinkfresh's January Challenge (which I've missed the deadline for - argh!) and the desire to actually pull out and play with my all time favorite Christmas paper pad. Oh Joy. Do you know it?

 Pinkfresh Oh Joy 6x6 paper pad

Pinkfresh Oh Joy stamp
Pinkfresh Oh Joy acrylic stickers
Reverse Confetti Round Top Tag die

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die
STAMPlorations Angel Icon die

Spellbinders Treasured Tags die

Do you have a favorite in this card lineup?  I'd love to hear which.

It's so exciting to pull out stash and have a go. I let the papers lead my way ;)  Thanks for looking.

I'm sneaking in at:
ABC Christmas Challenge - A for Anything Christmas Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #422

playing with pinkfresh

Did I ever have fun last night! Inspired by Lea L.'s Christmas Creating All Year and Pinkfresh's January Challenge (which I've just missed the deadline for - argh!) and the desire to actually pull out and play with my all time favorite Christmas paper pad, I pulled out a bunch of stash and created six cards. Here are the first three. Recognize the paper pad?

Pinkfresh Oh Joy 6x6 paper pad

Pinkfresh Live More 12x12 paper

Pinkfresh The Mix stickers

Pinkfresh Oh Joy stamp

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

Right at Home Holidays are on the Way die

Spellbinders Untamed Fleur die

Do you have a favorite paper pad? Do you actually use it?  I'd love to hear which. It's so exciting to pull out leftover die cuts and old stickers and have a go. I let the papers lead my way ;) Thanks for looking.

I'm sneaking in at:
ABC Christmas Challenge - A for Anything Christmas Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #422

spellbinders dainty florals set of tags

Did you see yesterday's post? Well I mentioned having a hard time figuring out what to use as the focal image on the BG I'd created. I wanted to use neon. So I die cut lots of neon. But then didn't use them. So this tag set was born.

Spellbinders Labels Four die

Spellbinders Dainty Florals Etched die
Inkystamp Geburtstagsgruße stamp
Inkystamp Alltagsheldin stamp
Inkystamp Alles im Rahmen stamp
Sizzix Damask embossing folder
Craft Concepts Bees Delight embossing folder
white embossing powder
twine

Had the flowers cut from four neon colors so I mixed and matched the outlines and filler pieces. Adhered them to black tags I'd die cut and dry embossed. Then I heat embossed sentiments onto black snippets and added those to the tags. Twine finished them off. I think these will look great on B/W wrapping paper.

Thanks again to Team Spellbinders for the fun little florals to create with. I'm taking them over to:

Pinspirational - Anything Goes for their 6th Anniversary!
Kreativtanten - Anything Goes
Happy Little Stampers - Anything goes with Dies for April

christmas card set packaging

You may have seen my neighbor gift packaging on IG. This weekend I needed to quickly package a card set for a hostess gift.

Recycled stamp packaging (which I know you've plenty of!), a branch from the yard and some twine. Oh and a sweet die cut to brighten things up.

Fun thing about the cellophane packaging is you can display your favorite creation as part of the whole package. Like this hint-of-a-rudolph card...

I stitched up the sides of the cellophane. Flipped the top edge over and secured it with a strip of washi. Then tied the twine around, catching the branch and die cut in the bow. Voila!

May you be enjoying the pre-Christmas rush. And may Santa be good to you!

Joining the fun at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Stitch it.

christmas card set - flora and fauna revisited

HO HO HELLO! It's quiet on the blog what with Christmas just around the corner. I've been doing really well getting things checked off my TO DO list this year and that makes me really happy! It also made me really happy when my neighbor who received the neighbor gift set of cards I'd created with Flora and Fauna products asked me if I could make her five more cards to send out. Well, sure I can! So I did. Some repeats and a couple new designs. Here they are, again using Altenew ink cubes

Here's the first, with my favorite stamping design - sentiment masked in the middle and random stamping around the masked area - a totally cool one-layer card.

Graphic Flower, Holiday Terrarium,, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Numero dos. With only one doe under the twinkling lights.

Happy Place Woodland, Winter Woodland, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Numero tres. With some subtle gold dots up top and a rock-and-roll inked poinsettia that I then heat embossed clear for a bit of interest.

 Holiday Terrarium, Graphic Flower, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Number four again, cuz this design is just so magical and therefore worthy of the perfect sentiment, even if it is in English!

 Happy Place Woodland, Winter Woodland,  Woodland Animals die

Here's the last, inspired by a card on the Flora and Fauna blog.

Holiday Terrarium, Texture Three, Klartext Frohe Weihnachten

Are you enjoying the season yet or still stressed out? I wish you and yours a beautiful and peaceful season. Thanks for taking the time to visit today!

I'm headed over to these challenges:
CAS of Friday - Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - #364 

The Merry Christmas Challenge - #47 AG 
Simon Says Monday Challenge - Christmas
 HLS CAS Challenge - Christmas

christmas card set - tim holtz

I believe today's is the last card set made for this year's neighbor gifts! Unless I get more ideas I have to try out ;) Using Tim Holtz today (Christmas Memories and Mini Holidays #2) and an old technique.

I revisited the brayering on glossy cardstock technique. Although I used photo paper and it ain't glossy cardstock. Watch for the cracks that happen when the heat embossing tool heats the coating too much and it suddenly sounds like you're making popcorn. Not to mention the not-yet-melted embossing powder that then flies off the panel you're holding in your hand ...

Note to self: Invest in glossy cardstock. Or don't heat emboss with this technique. BUT HEAT EMBOSSING  AND THEN BRAYERING OVER IT WAS THE WHOLE IDEA. If it looks like I was shouting, I was. It was an interesting crafting session, let me tell you. I have a neighbor who's all about blue so I really wanted to do this set for her. Oh well, I'm callin' it the vintage look...

Thanks for looking! If you've stuck with me through all this you're a real trooper. So now it's on to the other TO DO list items. What's next on your list? Mine's cookie baking.

I'm joining these challenges:
SSS Wednesday - Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - AG with optional doily

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

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 - 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