City Crafters Challenge - I'm Guest Designer!

I'm so excited to be Guest Designing this week at City Crafters Challenge - week 237!  What an honor.  Thanks Kirsty!

The challenge this week is Christmas CAS - make a one-layer, clean and simple holiday card.
Here is the beautiful inspiration photo that Kirsty has provided.

 Love this photo.  Don't you?  I had a few ideas that might work.  But it took a day or so until I came up with something I really liked.  You know.  One of those "aha" ideas!

Here's what I created.

I used a light green card stock for my card so that I would have a richer background than a white or cream card stock could provide.  I didn't want a sharp contrast between my stamped pine needles and the background.

This stamp set is one that I bought recently and I've used it so many times already.  Love it!  I stamped the pine needles using 5 different shades of green and it turned out just as I had imagined.  So that the sentiment wouldn't get lost in that busy background, I heat embossed it with Early Espresso embossing powder.

Thanks so much for stopping in to take a look.  You can follow the link HERE or at the top of my post, to check the inspiration from the Design Team at the CCC blog and to play along.

Again, thank you Kirsty for the opportunity to Guest Design this week!

Supply list ~
card stock: pistachio pudding (Stampin' Up!)
ink: pear pizzazz, mellow moss, old olive, always artichoke, soft suede, baked brown sugar (SU), Versamark
stamps: ornamental pine (SU), wet paint holiday (PTI)
other: early espresso embossing powder (SU), heat tool

A Bokeh Christmas card!

Hi!  I'm playing along in 2 challenges with today's card.  I had an idea to use gold ink with the bokeh technique and these two challenges were just what I needed, to get this card going.

CAS(E) this sketch #99 - This sketch was created by my friend Michelle (we served on the Dynamic Duos DT together!)

Virginia's View Challenge #9 - All Things Metallic

Here's my take on the two challenges.

Ohhhhh.   I love Delicata Golden Glitz ink.  A. Lot.

So, I had a lot of fun with this card.  I used the back side of two button stamps for my bokeh effect.  I stamped off once before stamping these circles with Sahara Sand and crumb cake inks, then with the gold ink.  Before popping that panel onto my card base, I swiped gold ink onto the edge of the card.

That gave me exactly the look I had hoped for.  So much fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supply list ~
card stock: white (Recollections)
ink: sahara sand, crumb cake (SU), delicata golden glitz (Tseukineko)
stamps: Christmas blessings, button boutique (PTI)

Seize The Birthday - Monochromatic Orange...and an announcement.

Hi!  The new 2-week challenge at Seize The Birthday is up already.  Our Toppings option is Monochromatic Orange.  As always, the Topping is optional.  Anything goes...as long as it's a birthday card, of course!

This will be my last challenge with the wonderful Design Team at Seize The Birthday.  I'll miss these ladies, for sure!  But, life has gotten so busy (lots of good stuff, mind you) that I have to free up some time.  So, I've decided to step down from the team.  I'm sure you'll see me playing along whenever I have a chance, though.
Thank you Lesley, Nancy and all of the DT for all the support and friendship!

Well now.  On to my card, right???

I used 3 shades of orange ink to create this Ikat design.  I've had this stamp set for a while, but it's not seen much ink.  This card was my 2nd attempt.  I tried to do some random stamping on the first one, but it just wasn't working.  So, I decided to keep it simple on this card and I like it so much better!  The sentiment is stamped on a narrow strip (in Vintage Sepia) and popped up with foam tape.
That's about it!

Thanks for stopping by.  And..thank you to all of the team at Seize The Birthday!!!

Supplies ~
card stock: white (Recollections)
ink: pumpkin pie, tangerine tango, peach parfait (SU), vintage sepia (Versafine)
stamps: borders and backgrounds (WPlus9), boutique borders birthdays (PTI)