Stamping with a Leaf

 CAS Watercolor is asking for Maple Leafs to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of their challenge. I crossed a technique off  my list (don't smirk, you all have one) that I've wanted to try for ages, stamping with organic matter, i.e., leaves. Thankfully, my neighbor has a maple tree that is providing all kinds of stamping of them right now. Picked a leaf off the lawn and, after cleaning it off, applied various Oxide Inks and sprayed it with water. Laid the cardstock over the leaf. Moved some of the color around on the image with a damp brush. Stamp & embossed a very old, unmarked sentiment. In the photo, the card is resting on my "stamping" leaf...you can see some residual color on it if you look closely. Congratulations and wishes for continued success to CAS Watercolor on this wonderful milestone.
   

Stenciling Stars

Received a new Tim Holtz stencil from a Simon Says' Stamptember collaboration set and was eager to ink it up. The following twofer is the result.

AAA Cards new challenge is use one corner with the color combo shown below as an option. So that's what I did with Altenew inks and an older, favorite Winnie & Walter Halloween set. Boom! Done!

Less is More wanted a rainbow so, using Altenew inks again, I applied the colors in rainbow order. Then, with the residual ink on my brushes, softly added some ink blending over the appropriate color on the border. The Papertrey Ink sentiments were stamped following the curve of the stars (what pain that was). 

     

Sweet Twofer

               

Twofer's Challenge is perfect for the upcoming seasons...Halloween and Christmas. So I chose the sweets from Waffle Flower for the candy image (see if you can spot it).

Used lots of products for the Halloween card including this adorable ghost and spider from Gerda Steiner (love their expressions). I'm adding this card to Day of the Month's Card Club, as well.

Background Web: Impression Obsession

Foiled Panel: Thermoweb

Sentiments: Essentials by Ellen

For the Christmas card I used my NBUS Gina K Wreath Builder and went to town stamping the candies. Diecut the circle color and Nuvo Crystal Glaze because candy is shiny...right? Once dry, framed it in white and attached to some very old patterned paper. Glued the sentiment over the circle.

Stamps: Waffle Flower

Patterned Paper: Photo Play

Sentiment Banner: Mama Elephant

Sentiment word dies: Concord & 9th

Be Brave

Time Out is looking for an "Encouraging" card this fortnight. What could be braver than a butterfly, beginning flight from a closed cocoon? So I decided to be a cheerleader for these magical creatures. The Stamp Market provided the critter and the popped up sentments are from Simon Says. Used a Penny Black frame and attached the focal panel with funfoam. 

Spooky Birthday

Had to work with a palette this time for AAA Birthday Card challenge. Have to say, was grateful I didn't have to be limited to CAS because I used a bunch of company's products on this card. I was attempting to depict a graveyard with the groundskeeper's home in the background. (Not a job I ever wanted.) Was trying to get a spooky, ground foggy vibe...you'll have to tell me if I succeeded.
Stencil: Funky Fossil
Die: Lil Inker
Sub-sentiment: Simon Says
Stamp: Ancient leftover Image from my stash
  

CAS Floral

Pretty soon some of our feathered friends will be migrating. I'll miss seeing them playing and bathing on our fountain. So this card is for them and The Flower CAS Challenge. Thanks to Altenew's layering stamp set and inks, this card was a piece of cake. Truly CAS. The hardest part was placing the enamel dots (always something that boggles my brain).

Wing Man

CAS is the technique and "Feather" is the cue word...could this card fit CASology's challenge any better. Sprayed several colors over watercolor paper to create this dotted effect. Once dried, diecut with Simon Says dies and set aside. Ink blended yellow (what else?) on the card base and stamped the Picket Fence sentiment. Adhered the feathers to the card above the sentiment at different levels. Pierced two holes around the quill, threaded hemp through them and tied a not. Also linking this to The Male Room's CAS challenge.

  

Happy WCMD

Today were celebraing World Card Making Day (WCMD) and this is my card for your. And the added benefits are that 1) it's a Christmas card and  2) it's for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge-Gifts. As you can see, Santa has already visited and is on his way to next stop. Made it a shaker just for fun.

Gilded Autumn

AAA Cards is looking for one-layer with the option of Autumn. When I think of Autumn, I think of lots warm colors with flowers and trees losing their vibrancy. Used an older Prima Adhesive Rub-on from my stash and gilding flakes for the image. A Hero Arts sentiment is stamped in dark brown. The shades of gold, copper, purples and greens remind me that Fall is here.

Margarita's for Solace

This time, Time Out's, "Breast Cancer Awareness", was a piece of cake to come up with an idea. Used CAS-ual Friday's (the challenge sponsor) ribbon die to make a stencil which was inked up with ombred pinks. Masked the ribbon, spritzed the coordinating stamp with water and stamped it down. Then stamped and white embossed the sentiment on a pale pink strip of vellum. Then got creative with a margarita in pink Copics to support the sentiment. Arranged the sentiment, drink and condiments to the card. The set was gifted to me by Michele, I Card Everyone and it inspired the whole card. Added some Nuvo Jewel drops to balance the card.

Enjoy

Better late than never, I always say. It took a long time to come up with an idea for the current Time Out challenge. Even with a fabulous inspiration, my brain couldn't come up with anything. So I played with an older foil mate from Thermoweb and foiled it with matte black. After staring at it seemingly forever, decided to use The Stamp Market and Concord & 9th dies and embossed them with green glitter powder. Diecut the foiled panel and black CS with the leaf die. Trimmed the panel to follow the curve of the leaf and adhered it to a white A2 cardbase. Inlaid the embossed leaf outline and black leaf pieces and, with foam tape, attached the diecut sentiment.

Solo Dragonfly

Unfortunately, needed a sympathy card for a male. This situation makes it doubly difficult for me but CASology came to my rescue with inspiration. Used an older Clearly Besotted two piece die set, Simon Says' flight trail and The Stamp Market's sentiments. The dragonfly is dry embossed on the panel then layered with a vellum diecut of which the body portion is Copic colored. Topped it off with the detail diecut colored with shimmery watercolors. Sentiment and trail are stamped in grey.

Christmas Typography

Less Is More is looking for typography this fortnight. Because I was stumped, I really study the DT's creations and realized I had the perfect Papertrey Ink Christmas stamp. Embossed twice to get a really substantial sentiment in Antique Gold on cream CS. Stamped Altenew's newest poinsettia over it in peachy, once dry wiped of the residual ink and called it done. Simple and elegant.

Autumn Rose

That nip in the air means Autumn is on it's way and AAA Cards inspired me to use this sweet rose die for an inlay technique. Stenciled the upper 1/3 of  an A2 card, added a strip of metallic, copper washi. Diecut with the rose and an Altenew sentiment  and colored the rose. Thought about coloring the "thanks" but liked the clean look of the white with the washi. Inlayed the rose back into the stencil/washi card. 

Read a Book

Finally playing with the Day of the Month Card Club...took some time to get an idea. Pulled out an older Waffle Flower stamp set because I can't resist this bear especially since he's wearing glasses. Did some masking and Copics and just went to town coloring (don't look to closely). The canary is just so cute had to add him. We're big readers here and actually enjoy holding the book so this is what our house looks like sometimes.

Favorite Season

Just under the wire for The Male Room's current challenge. Actually, Summer is my favorite season but I do have a favorite mate so this sentiment from Concord & 9th is one of my favorites (apparently, I have a lot of favorites). Diecut the leaf from the same stamp set along with the twiggy wreath (not labeled) and the the frame (Hero Arts nested rectangles). Stamped the leaf veins on kraft and embossed in brass powder. Applied several inks to the leaf and spritzed it with water. When dried, attached the leaf, wreath and sentiment to a panel of striped PP and then to grey CS. Easy peasy.

Festive Bears Times Two

Once more it's time for the Twofer Challenge and critters are the theme:

Since my creativity jumped over Autumn and straight to Winter, I chose Pink Fresh Studio's polar bears for my critters as shown below:

My first card is a birthday, shaped shaker using Reversed Confetti's patterned paper and Little B's nested heart dies. 

Stamped and embossed snowflakes and a Stamp Market sentiment on smoky lavender CS. Reinforced the frame with another diecut for stability. Applied sticky foam tape the the back of the heart. Filled the shaker with sequins, beads and gems in appropriate colors and adhered the lavendar CS. Attached my watercolored bears over the window.

The second card is a shimmery fest (not caught on camera) of teal.

This time the bears are stamped in grey and Copic colored. Saturated a panel in a teal Altenew watercolor and Pixie Dust from Ink On 3. Stamped the, now dried panel, with Waffleflower snowflakes and embossed with WOW! sparkling white powder.  Diecut the "Merry" in white glitter CS and dark blue fun foam. Stacked them with the glitter CS on top. Attached it to the watercolored panel. Embossed a vellum strip for the sub-sentiment and wrapped it around the card horizontally. Strategically adhered the polar bears to the card.

Scandi Card

Had to play with Christmas Kickstart...after all, my blogpal Michele (I Card Everyone) is doing a Guest Design gig and she's always an inspiration. Scandinavian Holiday is the theme but I only had one set that fit it from Fun Stampers Journey. Stamped and embossed on Tonic mirror card...yes, you can really heat emboss it if your careful. Dry embossed the card base with a Hero Arts wood design frame and called it done.

Birthday Cityscape

Moonlit stenciled cityscape to play with AAA Birthday Game #5. Shades of grey ink over lavender cardstock for the buildings and blended pinks and blues for the dawning sky. A supermoon with a PTI diecut and MFT sub-sentiments.  Good for gal or a guy. Simple. Clean. Done.

Coral Blooms

The Flower Challenge says, Anything Goes and  I went with Christmas cards...building up my stash for the holidays. Started by stenciling transluscent paste through an unlabeled stencil, then added Nuvo clear iridescent glitter (of course, the photo doesn't really show the glitz well). Used Altenew stamps and a frame die with a Papertrey Ink sentiment to decorate the card. Added iridescent gems from Lucy's Little Things and called it done. Had some leftover diecut images so made a twofer.

Unfortunately, the light was messing with me and the camera this morning but, in real life, this is pretty, too.