On The Second Day of Christmas...

Hello!

It's time for another challenge (using any of her images) over at Heather Hudson's new challenge blog at My Artistic Adventures!  As it is the mid-month challenge, we are continuing the Christmas theme "12 Days of Christmas," and this time it's "Two Turtledoves."  What that means is that she would like to see two of anything, doesn't have to be bird-related.  So two bows, two kinds of glitter, two candy canes, two of whatever you like.  Easy peasy! 

For my side step card (which I cut on my Silhouette Cameo) I chose to use her Vintage Bluebirds collage sheet which includes various sizes of the blue bird image as well as various sizes of the music paper tag.  I then proceeded to layer this card with all kinds of goodies.

The grungeboard Tim Holtz Holiday Lamppost was painted black and then decorated with a bit of silver paint to add a bit of detail, then topped with a layer of clear crackle glaze for texture.  The holly leaves and berries were embellished with a bit of glitter glue, and the "glass" is vellum, the back of which I colored with Copics.  It is layered onto a piece of rustic netting with gold threads shot through.

The little Merry Christmas sign is from Heather's Vintage Candy Cane collage sheet and actually dangles from a gold jump ring and has been embellished with a wee bit of red glitter glue.  The grungeboard holly leaves and berries are glitter glued, too.  It adds so much to the final look!

This is a chipboard (cookie box) poinsettia that I've painted and embellished with more glitter and glitter glue.  I've put die cut leaves behind it and added a few teensy pine cones.

The banner is from the Victorian Vintage Banners sheet and the words are from the Vintage Angels Peace On Earth  sheet.  These are so incredibly useful.

Another look at the lovely blue bird image that I've embellished with a bit of green and red glitter glue.  I made the nest from bits of the same netting that I put behind the lamp, having first taken all the threads apart.  Colored it with a bit of distress ink then added three tiny jingle bells as "eggs."  A few more leaves and another pine cone finish the look.

Here's a candy cane from the aforementioned Vintage Candy Cane sheet.  Of course it, too, has glitter glue added, plus a red rhinestone for the center holly berry.  The snippet of blue lace is a scrap that I had hand dyed some time ago.  I added Perfect Pearls along the top.

I've added a small strip of white seam binding to help the card stay upright as it tends to want to slide and flatten because of all the embellishments. There's still plenty of room to write a short greeting inside.  Sort of.  This kind of card doesn't lend itself to long, wordy messages.

Thank you so much for joining me today, and do head over to Heather's blog to check out what she and the other very talented design team members have created for you.  And then feel free to play along!

Happy crafting!

 

Challenges:

 Craft Hoarder's Anonymous #1 - What's Your Style? (Vintage with lots of embellishments and STUFF!  I used the netting ribbon from my stash - it's so old I have no idea where it came from. <smile>)

Frilly and Fussy

Hello!

I've been going through FC (Fussy Card) withdrawals lately, so I thought I'd enter the latest Fussy and Fancy challenge (buttons) and really pile on the F&Fs (Fussies and Fancies).  I also wanted to enter the latest Frilly and Funky challenge, too because their challenge is to include both a bird AND nest on one's project, and I've been seeing quite a few clever handmade nests out in blogland and wanted to give it a try.  How fun are THESE!

Is this fussy and fancy and frilly and funky enough?

The stamps are all from the Inspired By Stamping store because they work so well together.  To start with, I used French Country Backgrounds to stamp the chicken wire pattern at the bottom of the pink layer.  I just love the country flavor it imparts without being too homespun.  (Not that there's anything wrong with homespun, mind you, just not for this particular card.)

The sentiment is comprised of the two stamp sets: Just Because for the frame and All Year Wishes I for the sentiment itself.  I sponged the inks on the frame stamp in various colors and inked all the edges.  The shape was cut with the Fancy Labels I die.

The doily was cut with my snazzy new Silhouette Cameo.  I see a long and fruitful relationship with this machine in my future.

These two pieces are stamped with the IBS Summer Postcards Add On stamp set.  I colored the flower image with Copics.

Check out the little heart.  It's a button I made using shrink plastic then stamped it with the aforementioned French Country Backgrounds before shrinking it , then tied it with linen twine.  Just p'ecious.

The bird is a digital image that I fussy cut (told you I was having withdrawals) and glittered up with clear and blue glitters.  The nest was so much fun to make.  I used one of my homemade large glue dots to wrap thin rope twine around, then glued some pearl beads and mini pearls in the center.  By the way, the rope twine was wrapped around some ribbon in 4 or 5" increments in a recent stamp order (from Inspired By Stamping, I think!) and I saved them thinking they might come in handy.

And last but not least, I sprinkled some vintage buttons all around and added some IBS Small Flowers.  Talk about exquisite little blossoms. 

And that, dear readers, is my card today.  Thank you for taking the time to come visit, and I hope you are having a lovely Father's Day weekend.  I know we are (F&F&F&F withdrawals notwithstanding).

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

Fussy and Fancy #91 - Button Up
Frilly and Funky - Birds and Nests
The Ribbon Reel #55 - Treasure Pearls (lace doily, twine nest, pearl eggs, ribbon)
Crafty Ribbons #48 - Anything Goes w/ribbon