Simply Wonderful

 It's birthday season for my extended family, so I have a whole pile of cards to make!  This is the Simply Wonderful stamp and die set from The Greetery, that I had already stamped out a while ago.  I die cut the shape out several times and layered them together for a little dimension, and then it was a quick assembly to just pick a background and stamp the Have a/birthday.   

Distress Oxide inks are Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Faded Denim.  Papers are Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid.

Happy Birthday, Harvey!

 I have a great nephew who turned 4 this week!  And he's a bit of a jelly bean fan, so I pulled out my How You Bean? stamp set from Lawn Fawn, plus the shaker add-on kit, to make him a fun jelly-bean shaker card.  I haven't made a lot of shakers, but knew this was the right occassion.  I coloured all the beans with my Copic markers, and pulled out some Halloween paper that I've had for YEARS!  It made for a fun card:

I cut the jar die out of thin craft foam, and layered it along with 3 layers of cardstock to create the frame, added in some acrylic beads and glitter along with a handful of individual jellybeans.  I love the little Lawn Fawn face stamps!  The one with the moustache cracks me up!  I added a layer of acetate before topping it with the stamped images.  It makes a nice rattling noise when you shake it, and the beans jump all over the place.  I think Harvey will love it.

You can find all the Lawn Fawn stamps and dies at the Papercrafter's Workshop!

Deck the Halls

 Here's the second card that I put together this week using Berry Merry, Winter Sprigs and Falala from Pigment Craft Co.  I'm using up some old CTMH paper that I've had for years, and I really liked how this sentiment worked on a slimline card:

Wishing You Joy

 I've been stamping up a huge pile of greenery from two of my new Pigment Craft Company stamp sets this week, and put a couple of them together into cards tonight.  Here's my first one using Winter Sprig stamps and dies and the Falala sentiment set:

I used my Misti to stamp my multiples using Distress Oxide inks, and grabbed my background die from The Greetery to cut my kraft cardstock, and mounted it to my base with 3D foam adhesive.

A little twine bow finished it off.  Starting to get in the zone of holiday crafting!

Ai Foundations Chairs

 I'm sharing a slimline card today that will be on the Art Impressions blog on Saturday, using the 5432 - WC Foundations Chairs set:

This is the perfect stamp for a slimline or even a mini-slimline card.  I began by colouring up the stamp in #969 Chocolate/#565 Deep Blue and stamped it using my Misti - this worked really well for such a large image, as I was able to give it even pressure, and if I'd missed a spot, I could've gone over it a second time.  I placed the image slightly right of center, as I planned to add the sentiment and a pumpkin to the left side of the card.  *I purposefully left the lower corner of the bench uncoloured when I stamped, as that left me enough room to stamp the pumpkin from 5426 - WC Veggies just in front of it.  I used my stamp positioner to place it, as well as the possum from 5425 - WC Peeking Animals in one of the pots.  I partially painted the three chairs in #346 Sea Green, #606 Violet and #443 Turquoise which helped me know how to place my flowers and foliage in the pots by balancing out where the colours would be.  I used the Daisy Bunch from Flower Set - 4052 in #993 Chrome Orange, the small dots from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set in #443, and the vines and grasses from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 in #249 Hunter Green.  To brighten things up and fill in any gaps, I used the tiny sprig from set 5009 in #126 Light Olive. 

I finished painting in the 3 chairs, and added several shades of #969 to the bench.  Pots were painted in #947 Burnt Sienna, #N55 Cool Grey 7 and #228 Gray Green.  To finish off, the spiky flowers from 5258 - WC Flower Set were added in #606, and the branch from 4964 - WC Branches set was added to two pots.  Shadows were added with #565, and the background was done in a wash of #228.  The pumpkin was painted with layers of #993/933/947.  The sentiment is from the Exclusive Daisy Set, and the dots were added with a fineline marker.  Be sure to check out what Dot & Tricia will be sharing on Saturday for the Watercolour Weekend!

Skiing By!

 I was lucky enough to get some Happy Mail this week from my lovely niece... gifting me this sweet stamp and die set from Pinkfresh Studio, called Skiing By!  I used a card by Nicky Meek that I found on Pinterest as my design idea, with my own spin on it:

There is minimal colouring required on the critters (so cute!) and they cut out so perfectly with the dies.  The set even includes the mountain and hillside dies, so other than my Copics, some ink blending on the sky and a little glitter - it came with everything I needed.

This will work perfectly for a holiday card for some of my friends that don't celebrate Christmas.  Cute and wintry.  I am entering this into the Pinkfresh Studio October challenge, using just the colours this month!

Winter Farmhouse Part 2

 Here are my other two cards featuring Simple Stories' Winter Farmhouse papers:

This warm gold gingham paper looks amazing with the faded aqua birch tree paper!  I added a chocolate diecut wreath, and cut my word die from a mat-gold cardstock (has more of a shimmer to it), and added some mat gold Nuvo drops.

I am a sucker for a good snowflake patterned paper!  It stayed as the focus of my card, and I used one of the preprinted sentiment squares popped up with 3D foam adhesive, with a few diecut snowflakes as the only embellishment.  Here's a look at what I got put together - happy to have 10 more Christmas cards in my stash.

Winter Farmhouse

 I adore these Simple Stories papers!!  I got the Winter Farmhouse collection a year or two ago... and have not pulled it out until now (gasp).  I love using patterned paper for Christmas cards, so I created four different designs, and will share two today, and two tomorrow.

The larger prints on today's cards are what drew me to this paper pack - I love that dusty aqua colour, and when it's paired with the wine and forest green - happy sigh.  I used a sentiment set from Reverse Confetti, stamped on some light kraft paper, and added a few die cuts.  I got 6 of these made!

I will post the other two, and a group shot here tomorrow.

Small Fall Wreath card

 I'm using the smaller wreath included in the Fall Wreath stamp and die set from Pigment Craft Co. today, to make a fall masculine birthday card (it's just masculine in that I'm giving it to a guy!):

This is a 2-part stamp set, so I used my sponge daubers and 5 colours of Distress Oxide inks on the leaves to get my fall ombre effect, and then stamped the frame/veins in a neutral ink.  I die cut the shape out, along with 2 others which I layered to give my wreath a little bit of depth.  I kept my card simple, as I really wanted the wreath to shine... and guys generally don't go for fussy cards!  I stamped out my sentiment and attached it with some 3D foam adhesive, offsetting it a little to balance the open part of the wreath.

Fall Wreath

I am really loving everything from the Pigment Craft Co. lately!  I picked up a few things from their fall release, and am using the Fall Wreath stamp set and die today, along with the Sweater Season Sentiments:

I used Sorbet, Creme Brulee and Garden Green cardstock from CTMH, and Creme Brulee ink for the sentiment.  I love that the wreath dies can be used on their own, with just the veins (as I've done here), or with the stamp set.  I was able to sort of interlock the different pieces to put my wreath together.

 I used my sewing machine to add a line of stitching around my kraft base - finished card is 5 1/2" square.