This week's AAA Cards Sketch was perfect for a winter birthday card I needed to get in the mail.
I combined a piece from one of my Cyanotype panels with snowflakes punched from a pearlescent white paper. I finished with the woodblock A Muse Happy Birthday! I had on my table.
With my snowflakes, I'm linking-up at the My Time to Craft Something Snow-Related Challenge.
When I saw the colors from The Color Throwdown, I was immediately transported back to high school in the eighties where I layered my pink and green polo shirts with the collars up. The pink and green color combination were a classic.
Since I was taking a walk back down memory lane, I pulled out a vintage Cuttlebug Happy Birthday Embossing folder and paired it with two woodblock stamps (Savvy & A Muse) and a layout from Paper Craft Crew Challenges.
I went with sparkly glitter paper for the gold and finished with some glittery enamel dots.
The newest challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to make a winter card that is NOT Christmas.
I built my card using the Winter Fun Paper Collection at Carta Bella by Carina Gardner. I added two favorite wood mounted stamps from Savvy Stamps and A Muse with a layout from The Paper Craft Crew Challenge.
I love those colors for a winter card ... and I love paper banners.
I needed to restock my wedding card stash, so I broke out this new (to me) Spellbinders Wedding Dress & Tux by Nicole Spohr.
I was really pleased with how quickly these dies came together (I had to watch a video to determine those were the tuxedo arms ... they seemed a bit thin to me when I was first looking at them).
I cut the dress & tuxedo from specialty shimmery & glittery specialty papers (my marketing team saves me their paper sample books when they get replaced with new ones, and the pieces are large enough for die cuts like these, so make friends with the folks in marketing).
I paired it with some map paper, because we all know that marriage is always an adventure. I die cut the boutonniere and bridal gown bands, bow & flower from gold glitter paper. I finished with an A Muse Artistamps woodblock sentiment.
Since my pink papers were all still piled on my studio table from last week's Jingle Belles card, I pulled out three of the scraps to make this week's card. Remember, It's that time again here at Jingle Belles, our favorite prompt of the year: PINK CHRISTMAS! In which you make and link new holiday cards that are predominantly PINK and we (Stephanie and Lauren) donate $2 (apiece!) per card to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation!
I topped the paper with the adorable Doodlebug Designs Baking Spirits Bright Doodle-Pop 3-D sticker. I finished with a perfect A Muse stamped sentiment and Your Next Stamp Gumdrops Enamel Dots.
I've spent most of last weekend and this morning trying to reassemble my studio. Last weekend I got the bright idea to replace some broken plastic storage with a vintage dresser that I found for half-price at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, however I'm currently in that interim phase where everything is worse before it gets better.
Hopefully by the end of the three-day weekend, I'll have everything much better than when I began. With 20+ years of paper crafting supplies, it can be very hard to make those purging decisions that need to happen over time.
During the sorting and purging process, I found these fun vintage Flower Child Stickers by Jen Hadfield for American Crafts. I thought they would be perfect to use for the Retro Challenge at Seize the Birthday (since unfortunately at my age, my childhood qualifies as Retro). I paired them with a crafty feeling paper from Simple Stories Hey, Crafty Girl collection.
I used one sticker sentiment and a vintage stamped sentiment from A Muse to finish the design together with a rotated sketch from Just Add Ink. I have so many happy memories of all of those retro elements.
I always appreciate those who take care of things for us while we travel, so I wanted to make a special Thank You card.
I used lovely new Traveler Papers from Mintay paired with this week's Tuesday Morning Sketch.
I dug out an old school Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix BigZ Elegant Flourishes Die Cut. I die cut it several times from a scrap of aged grey designer paper that I thought worked with the trunk and camera in my focal image.
I finished with some Taylored Expressions Gold Matte Enamel Dots that looked like the dots on the trunk. I finished with a Wood Mounted Thank You sentiment from A Muse Artistamps.
My card started with wanting to join the Seize the Birthday Embossing Challenge.
Next, I saw the Color Challenge at The Paper Players, so I embossed some hot pink cardstock to go with my black & white.
I combined four vintage woodblock stamps from A Muse, Impress and Stampin' Up for my white square using the layout from Atlantic Hearts Sketch. Bin also joining Sentimental You Challenge at Little Red Wagon Challenge, since mt three sentiment stamps are the star of the show
At Jingle Belles this week, we're still creating with leftover bits of wrapping paper, gift tags or ribbon from the holidays.
Did you know Lauren is the world's best gift wrapper (and I am likely the worst). I like to think of myself as a good gift buyer & sender, but trust me, it won't be wrapped. When I get a gift from Lauren, I put it in a place of reverence, so I can just admire it for a few days before I open it up to see what is inside.
This gorgeous metallic snowflake ribbon was on one of my gifts from Lauren this year, so I wanted to save it to make a holiday card. I wrapped it around a piece of white cardstock that I used to clean an alcohol ink covered stencil (gotta love those leftovers). I then used foam tape to attach it to a kraft card base.
I went through multiple possible embellishments before deciding on this gorgeous button that is carved from a seashell that was in my step-mom's button collection (the card will likely go to a family member who will treasure the keepsake). I positioned a strip of gold glitter underneath it to help ground it against the patterned ribbon. I added a bit of light blue twine to tie it to my alcohol-inked background. With the sparkle of my ribbon & my glitter paper, I'm joining the Just Us Girls Sparkle Challenge.
Glitter & Sparkle is also the theme at the Christmas Craft Creations Challenge. And it's Anything Christmas Goes at The Holly and the Ivy Christmas Challenge.
I finished with a vintage woodblock Sentiment from A Muse Artistamps.
Remember, one random participant will receive the Simon Says Stamp Mid Century Holiday Plate Die to add to their collection.
It's time for another Woodblock Wednesday.
I needed a wedding card, so I pulled out two favorites from my stash. The Art Deco Couple from A Muse Artistamps still had the price tag from Expressions With Heart, a favorite wood block stamp store that my friend & I used to venture to several times a year to spend the day shopping (miss hanging out with you Pam).
The sentiment is from Catslife Press.
