Leftovers

The challenge at Jingle Belles this fortnight is to use leftovers on our cards. From their brief, some examples of "leftovers" are: paper scraps, offcuts, an image you colored or die-cut or fussy-cut but never used, a small piece of ribbon too pretty to toss away, the last sticker in the packet. I might have all of these. Time to clean up!

Here's my card, then I'll explain:

Now that I look at this, the snow looks like waves. Trust me, the baby deer is not on a sunny beach.

I started by going through the box in my Holiday Stuff drawer that holds all my bits and bobs: packages of stickers, felt thingies, brads, etc.  I pulled out a bunch and used a few here.

For starters, that piece of Pool card stock was part of a failed card front. I stamped the trees from a Paper Smooches set in Soft Pool ink -- I was going for an idea of a forest in the background, but didn't want it to stand out or be a focal point.

I sponged around the trees with a cloud mask and some white pigment ink.I drew in the snow with a white gel pen.

There's a heart on the tall tree, and I covered it with my last Little B mini poinsettia. The deer is a brad from a package I found -- years old and never opened. Technically it's not a leftover, unless you count that it's ANCIENT and never opened. A relic.

The sentiment is from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler set. I stamped it in Hero Arts Silver ink and embossed it with SU silver embossing powder. In real life it's quite shiny.

Thank you to the Belles for making me go through my collection of holiday stuff. It was fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Some of the stuff I used: Little B mini poinsettia sticker, SU silver embossing powder, deer brad, and the following:

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Let It Snow

The new challenge at Jingle Belles is a sketch:

I kindof took a few liberties with the sketch by turning it sideways, then flipping it over (I actually hung it backwards on my desk lamp):

and made this:

I almost entitled this post "More is More", as I'm not sure what else I could have piled onto this card. I was hoping I owned a tiny critter on skis, but sadly I do not.

The birch trees are a Savvy Dies die from many years ago and almost never sees the light of day. The sentiment is from a CAS-ual Fridays set (I think), as it is unlabeled. I used three Distress Ink blues for the sky and two yellows for the moon.

I cut the blue panel into three parts using my Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders dies. I was originally going to pop up the left and right panels, but in the end, I stayed with them all flat. You can barely see the cuts:

There they are in the handsome red circles.

I know there are probably a bazillion different ways to follow this sketch with less work than you see here. That stamping without a net (oooh, that acronym would be SWAN) can get complicated.

The sentiment was stamped in Memento Luxe Black and clear-embossed.

Once it was all put together, I thought it needed snow to go with the sentiment, so I added some Pearlescent Embossing Paste through my Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow stencil. I used the bottom part of the stencil to make it less busy.

I'm off to link up to the challenge. Thanks for stopping by!

Some of the stuff I used: Savvy Dies Birch Trees, CAS-Fridays stamps (I think), vat of clear embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders dies, SSS Fog card stock (birch trees), Memento Luxe black ink, Distress Ink (Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, Broken China), Pearlescent embossing paste, SSS Falling Snow stencil.

Stamper Abducted By Aliens

BREAKING NEWS: A stamper in Southwest OH has been abducted by aliens and replaced with a surrogate. Or else she has been abducted by aliens, had a probe inserted in her brain, and she's been returned to her domicile. Those are the only plausible explanations for yet another card using (gah) PINK, and also a cute critter. We'll share more with the public as investigations proceed.

*ahem*

Yes, I did it. I made another card for the current Jingle Belles challenge to use pink on a Christmas/Winter card.

Here's my card:

When Taylored Expressions came out with their latest Grumplings set, I needed to own it. To color the kitty's hat and scarf, I copied the colors from the stamp set index, mostly because I'm in a color rut, and (BONUS) the colors include pink.

The card layout ended up matching my current sketch challenge. (BONUS #2)  I used more of my Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses papers. Some day I may actually use them up! I think I've only ever used up one pack of 6x6 paper before I got sick of it and gave the rest away. And the colors on the stamp set index coordinate with the Eskimo Kisses papers. (BONUS #3!)

This almost makes up for the first two cards I made today that are dangerously close to being pretty trash. I intensely dislike them, and they took me hours to make. I was not happy.

But THIS card makes me happy. I love a good attitude.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: I have a headache, and there's a lump at the base of my skull. I wonder what's up with that?

Some of the stuff I used: Taylored Expressions Holiday Grumplings stamp set and dies, Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses 6x6 paper pad

Merry Christmouse

The current brief for Jingle Belles is to use (gah) pink somewhere on your project.

So I gritted my teeth and made this:

I might be a little proud of myself since this Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper is pretty ancient. It does have pink in it, though.

Speaking of ancient, I flocked the mouse's hat:

I think I've had that SU flocking since 2002 or 2003.

Isn't that mouse stinkin' cute? I don't know what's come over me lately with all these cute images.

I followed the current MFT sketch:

(I turned it 90 degrees.)  I may try the sketch again later and actually use an MFT image. ;/

Thanks for stopping by!

Some of the stuff I used: SSS/LF Stamptember Merry Christmouse collaboration set, Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses 6x6 paper pack, SU white flocking, SU 2-way glue pen (best way to make that flocking stick that I've found), SSS Stitched Rectangles, LF Stitched Hillside Borders.

A Holiday Card

The ladies at Jingle Belles have asked us to make a Holiday or Winter card -- something for someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas. One of my friends celebrates the Equinox. That's a tough one to do, but I do have Hanukkah* stamps, so I made this:

I made many of these until I ended up with this version. Let's just say I confirmed I am not a colorer. This version was the least painful.

The menorah was colored with Copics, as were the candles. The flames were stamped in Delicata Gold and clear-embossed. After I'd put the white panel on the grey card base, I said out loud, "just leave it alone", but noooooo, I needed to put something in all that white space. NEEDED to. I added a few Martha Stewart holographic stars.They are very shiny:

I think it's safe to say this will NOT be my Hanukkah card this year. I'll need to design something less fussy. I have until early December to figure it out.

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: My card won a shout-out at Jingle Belles! Whoot!

* Several people have asked me why Hanukkah/Chanukkah is spelled so many different ways. It's because the name is transliterated from the Hebrew word for Hanukkah. Transliterated means something is spelled the way it sounds in its native language. Because the first letter in Hebrew is the CH guttural sound, some people spell it Ch and some just spell it H. It keeps things interesting, and probably aggravates stamp-makers. This Paper Smooches set has both spellings. It also confounds Spell-check.

Stuff I used: Vat of clear embossing powder, Copics (0, C0, C3, C5, B01, BG02, BG07), SU Basic Gray card stock, A Muse gingham card stock, and the following:

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