sympathy cards

When I return from a visit to Michigan, my mojo always suffers from a bad case of jet lag. Checked out some challenges to get me creating cuz unfortunately, I needed a few sympathy cards.

Went to CASe this Sketch and saw this.

And the code word at Addicted to CAS is

So it was pretty easy to come up with this card thanks to Winnie and Walter Big, Bold and Comfort and its die.

Then I checked out CAS Mix Up and CASology.

Out came the watercolors in soft shades of gray to make more ombre backgrounds and these cards were born. They are going to DH's cousins who lost their mom.

I masked off areas on the fronts with painters tape before heat embossing and watercoloring (and even splattering on the last card). The first card's image is from Clearly Wordsworth Poetry of the Earth. The second uses Altenew Freeform Greenery. Sentiments are from KartenKunst.

Notice the yellow in the last card? That was in a nod to the November Altenew challenge which celebrates Summer in the Winter - like my Schneewittchen rose that blooms into December in my yard. Sympathy cards in Germany tend to stick to black and white, but Tante Hilde was a bubbly gal so I think a spot of yellow is allowed amidst the gray.

Thanks for coming by today. Have a great Thanksgiving if you're celebrating. Eat some turkey and sweet potatoes (and stuffing and beans and cranberry relish and pumpkin pie and cornbread muffins....) for me too, will ya?

STAMPlorations inspiration #107

Welcome to the blog. I had some fun putting together today's Inspiration Post card with lots of bits and pieces. It's actually a mixed media card too - as a reminder for the current "Thanksgiving" Mixed Media Card Challenge which is open until Nov 25th.

Let me show you what I did.

It all started with the bit of a stamped pumpkin from Oh So Grateful left over from this card. I Copic colored it (TECHNIQUE) and pulled out some old Basic Grey Indian Summer PP. I created a tag with it using CUTplorations ATC Tag Builder.

In a nod to the optional element of "table" at MMCC I added a strip of paper hessian (TEXTURE) like a placemat cuz I think the scallopy edge looks like a tablecloth! Added some die cut leaves from my snippets and a Reverse Confetti sentiment stacked on fun foam (DIMENSION). Some raffia at the top of the tag adds even more TEXTURE.

Then I remembered that MMCC is a CARD challenge... so popped the tag onto a kraft cardbase and called it good ;)

There's more inspiration over at STAMPlorations. And join us at the MMCC with your mixed media Thanksgiving card here.

giving thanks blog hop

There's a humongo-jumbo blog hop happening today with an absolutely wonderful theme - GIVING THANKS. Something I try to remember to do every day, but what better time of year to have a special event than as Thanksgiving approaches in the US!

Shery R. at STAMPlorations organized this with members of the DT as well as lovely guest designers from challenges you are probably thankful for! I won't keep you long so that you can hop along and check out all the beautiful creations. You've probably arrived from the STAMPlorations blog - if not you can start the hop here.

Here's my contribution.

An image with a coordinating die... had to put my big girl panties on and get out the Copics. I tried to channel my Debra J. but it ain't working! Anyhoo.

After I'd colored the basket from Many Blessings and die cut it with Blessings Word, I die cut multiple "Blessings" from textured white CS and adhered them randomly to my white cardbase which I'd lined with a strip of washi. These products are part of the Many Blessings Bundle available here. If you want to see the stencil from the bundle in action, check out this card.

Then I heat embossed the word "many" onto a black snippet and adhered it and the basket with foam adhesive.

I like the deep harvest colors combined with all that white. What do you think?

Don't want to keep you, but two things you'll want to know. There are tons of prizes for commenting and/or hooking up a "Giving Thanks" card. You have until Nov 30. And... Shery's offering 35% off store items from today until the end of the month with the code BIGTHANKS. Check it out here.

Now hope on. The lovely Anita in France is your next stop. She's got an autumn beauty for you...

STAMPlorations inspiration #106

Another STAMPlorations inspiration post and another card for you today. How's your Christmas card creation coming along? I've a pretty simple design for you. I revisited the iconic images in Gone Postal, choosing the two Christmas images.

Since the images are intended to be used in the postage stamp, they are too small to carry a card when stamped alone. So I decided to give each of theme a little frame to play in :)

I heat embossed the images and the sentiment from Sentiment Builders: Christmas and New Year with white. I colored a tiny portion of each image with green to add a little more color. Added a few snowflakes with white pigment ink too.

Then I die cut a frame using the two smallest dies from Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle. Cut the frame in half and glued it onto my nearly-one-layer card.

Hope you likey! There's more inspiration over on the blog. Be sure to comment too and you might win a GC.

CUTplorations november release hop

Thanks for stopping by. Two new dies in the spotlight today over at STAMPlorations. Wanna see what I made? I used the border dies to make a chimney for Santa to land on. And then I used the ATC die to make a tag and used one of the border dies to make some holes along the sides. Ran some baker's twine through them for a fun touch.

Keeping this real quick, but be sure to leave comments for a shot at some prizes. Deets are here. 

guest designing at where creativity meets C9

So excited to be coming to you today as the winner of the first challenge over at Where Creativity Meets C9 - Concord and 9th's challenge blog. What a cool stamp company it is with some unique and very hip designs. My prize for winning the challenge was the chance to guest design for the November challenge. Ready for this month's theme? You're gonna love it.

SPARKLE AND SHINE

Got your sunglasses ready? Meet my card.

I used Concord and 9th's Map Love and heat embossed and fussy cut the word "love" for a little shine. Know what? I actually bought that set just because of that word/font!

The PP is from the Modern Edition Paper Route pack. I tore a panel, tore a slightly larger black panel and adhered them both askew on my cardbase.

Then I die cut a circle of gold glitter CS and some hearts. One from the PP and about 20 from tissue paper. I stitched down the center of the hearts to keep them together and also allow them to fluff up for a bit of interest. TIP: This technique works great with any symmetric dies you have! (I've done it with a Christmas tree on this tag.)

I bent "love" a little before adhering it to the heart so that it would pull the PP layer up. Like how it allows you to see the B/W stripes on the reverse then too.

To add a little more sparkle and shine I scattered some sequins and added a strip of glitter washi up top too.

I'd like to thank Jessica for having me at Where Creativity Meets C9 this month. Have I inspired you? What sparkly ideas do you have for this month's theme? I look forward to your creations over in the gallery. Have a great day!

another spotlight on the journey from inspiration to card

I'm over at the STAMPlorations blog today with this card. Go take a look to see where my inspiration came from!