Fall Leaves...

This card is for the latest A muse Lounge Challenge, "Fall Favorites". Fall is the best time of year as far as I'm concerned...we have had gorgeous weather so far and the leaves have been stunning. For this card, I used the Maple Leaf solid stamp from A muse with three different Ranger Distress Inks, spritzed the stamp with water and stamped onto watercolour paper. I cut out the leaves and popped them up for dimension on a neutral background. The strip of chocolate chip behind them helps draw the eye and grounds the leaves nicely. My sewing machine was feeling neglected, so I stitched a border around my card. I need a sympathy card for the wife of an older gentleman I met in London while in university...this will be fitting for her. Thanks for stopping by - hope you can squeak in a card for the challenge before the month is up!

Supplies:

Paper: SU (kraft, chocolate chip), watercolour paper
Ink: Ranger distress ink (peeled paint, fired brick , tea dye), palette hybrid burnt umber
Stamps: A muse (maple leaf solid, in my thoughts)
Accessories: sewing machine, pop dots

Clean and Simple Sketch Time...

Whew...October has been just as busy as September...where has the month gone? I finally got to make a card for the Clean and Simple Challenge on Splitcoast. This week, we are using kstamper's card as a sketch to go by. I just love all the white space in her design! I felt like colouring with my copics tonight...that took the most time. Once that was done, I added the pierced border, a few baubles and the sentiment (on half of SU's curly label punch).

By the way, if you want a good deal on Copics, check out this new (Canadian) website - www.onecrazystamper.com - Copic Sketch markers are $4.95 each!!


Supplies

Stamps: A muse (carolers, falala)
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Paper: GinaK Pure luxury white
Accessories: Copics, MM paper piercer, Bella Baubles, SU curly label punch

Granny Square Inspired...

This week's Tuesday Trigger, "Not Your Square Granny Squares", is a nostalgia-invoking afghan made of Granny Squares...

I've looked at it several times this past week and finally got down to making a card last night for the challenge.

I printed out a free hexagon template from Cia's Palette - a full page of  medium-sized hexagons.  I overlaid three of them on a piece of kraft cardstock and pierced an outline of them. I punched circles out of a scrap of orange that I had previously run through my Swiss dots embossing folder, added a punched star and a dew drop to the middle of each "granny square". I cut the hexagons out, distressed the edges and used them as a border. Could easily work for a masculine card! Hope you are having a great weekend!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (eucalyptus), SU (pumpkin pie, kraft, chocolate chip)

Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber

Stamps: A muse (thank you MA)

Accessories: SU punches(word window, 1 1/4" circle, small star), bella bauble (pickle), cuttlebug embossing folder (swiss dots), MM paper piercer, corner chomper

I dusted off my Prismacolours & Gamsol...

I decided to keep the previous card I posted for my niece's shower to use for the wedding and made a new card.  The reason?  The card didn't end up matching the gift wrap.  Silly, huh?!  I needed a brightly coloured card to go with the brightly coloured drinking glasses that I wrapped in brightly coloured tissue paper.  I have been meaning to pull out my Prismacolour pencils and gamsol for a while now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  I still love colouring with them, and on GinaK's pure luxury cardstock, the blending is amazingly easy and smooth!  I used a scrap piece of faux suede punched with a scalloped edge along the top and actually tied a bow...I rarely do bows!  The piercing along the bottom of the dresses makes a unique shadow.  Hope you like it...

Supplies:

Paper:  GinaK pure luxury white

Ink:  Palette hybrid noir

Stamps:  A muse (simple dress, congratulations MA)

Accessories:  ribbon (may arts), SU dotted scallop punch, MM paper piercer, prismacolour pencils, gamsol

XOXO...

My niece is engaged and getting married soon...her shower is coming up this weekend. This card is for her and fits CAS85 (the latest clean and simple challenge on SCS). The challenge is to use kraft, red, brown and vanilla with optional orange. I opted out of orange this time!

I stamped the Xs and Os 3 times to make a background for the beaded hearts. In order to ensure perfection, I drew a fine pencil line with my Tim Holtz ruler and then used my stampamajig to line up the bottom of the Xs on the pencil line. I distressed this panel with tea dye inks because I cannot resist distressing every card I make (plus, it also keeps the vanilla layer from being too stark looking).

I ran some scrap pieces of stix 2 anything adhesive sheets through my cuttlebug to cut out the hearts. The dies cut through this stuff easily. Once I stuck the hearts to my vanilla layer, I peeled off the top adhesive layer and rolled them first in the bigger beads, then the microbeads to fill in the gaps. You need to press down hard to make sure the beads stick well or you get a mess! Hopefully the photo captures some of the shine and dimension of the hearts - they are so pretty!

Thanks for stopping by - hope you have a great week!

Stamps:  A muse (congratulations MA, XOXO bl)
Paper:  SU (kraft), A muse (shimmer couture brown), PTI (rustic white)
Ink:  Palette hybrid (burnt umber & moulin rouge), PTI tea dye
Accessories:  beads & micro beads (dollarama), Stix 2 anything sheets, Sizzix Hearts & brackets die

Not wishing for snow or anything...

I made a Hallowe'en card recently, so why not a winter one!! This is my third card for the A muse Lounge sketch challenge. This time, I used Krystie's perfectly CAS card and flipped her layout upside down and backwards. My idea was to make a monochromatic winter card with a vintage feel...

This was a quick card to make because there is no colouring! I love these fun winter images from A muse, especially the boy trying to catch a snowflake. I punched out parts of the image and aged them with tea dye inks. Then, I overlaid them with the red punched panel(popped up for dimension). Add some dp and a sentiment and done! Might alter this idea slightly for my holiday cards this year!

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (enjoy the wonders MA, innertubing, winter boy, catch a snowflake)

Ink: palette hybrid moulin rouge, PTI tea dye inks

Paper: GinaK (pure luxury white), A muse (red shimmer couture, red vintage)

Accessories: SU 1 1/4" circle punch, corner chomper, pop dots

One card, two challenges...

This card is for the latest A muse Lounge challenge - a sketch challenge (this one is Lexi's) as well as for the weekly CAS challenge on Splitcoaststampers - an inspiration challenge based on this.  To make my own birthday wreath, I grabbed all my A muse tiny birthday stamps so that I could colour them in brights like the photo.  Then I took my circle nesties and used them to trace 3 different sized circles.  Using my stampamajig for perfect placement, I stamped the images around the circles.  The main circle is quite a bit bigger than in the sketch and I switched the image/sentiment around, but I think it still works.  Hope you like it!

Supplies:

Stamps:  A muse (tiny hat, tiny gift, tiny cake, happy birthday bold)

 Ink:  Palette hybrid noir

Paper:  GinaK pure luxury white, SU basic black, A muse chiffon green

Accessories:  Stampamajig, paper piercer, pop dots, copics, circle nestibilities