Art Impressions Winter release

 I have some brand new Art Impressions Watercolour images to share today!  This is the first of three Watercolour releases for the next few Thursdays on the Ai blog.  Here is 5467 - WC Snowmen Set:

This is the cutest set, including snowmen of all different sizes, along with a sleigh and a cartload of snowballs.  Great for holiday or winter cards!  I made a card and a tag, adding in mountains from 5198 - WC Mountain Set and the trees from 5060 - WC Snowman Set.

Everything was stamped and painted with my Tombow Dual Brush Markers, and I added some chunky glitter to the trees and mountains for a little sparkle.  The tag is diecut with the 5132 Stitched Tag Dies.

Be sure to see what Tricia and Dot have to share on the Ai blog this Saturday!  There is a wonderful wreath stamp set being released as well.

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!