Shimmery Snowflakes

Hello!

Today I would like to share with you a shimmery snowflake card that I made using products from Creative Inspirations Paints.

The background snow flurries were stamped using Tanzanite paint for some lovely shimmer, and the snowflake die cut was glittered with Resplendence Angel Dust.

I embossed the sentiment with silver embossing powder and put that layer onto a navy blue mat.

And that's my simple, CAS but wintry card for you.  Thank you for joining me, and don't forget to stop by the CI Paints challenge blog and play along.  The theme is Inspired By: Anything Goes. 

Happy crafting!

Snowflake Bear at A Gem of a Challenge

Hello!

It's time for another challenge over at A Gem of a Challenge, and this week (Challenge #91) the theme is "Pearls", which can include anything pearlescent, be it paints, papers, embellishments, etc. This challenge will run from 8:00 AM August 3, to 6:00 PM August 9, and the prize for the winner will be 2 individual digi images (NOT SETS) from Pink Gem Designs. So do head on over and see what the rest of the lovely Design Team have created, then join us, won't you? We'd love to see you!

For this card I used the adorable PGD stamp "Baby Polar Bear."  Isn't she just the sweetest thing?  For the white base layer I sponged two colors of blue ink through a snowflake stencil.  OK, I'll confess - I used the wrong color of blue ink and redid it with the correct color thus giving a slightly two-toned appearance.  I like it.

I colored her with Copics then masked her while I airbrushed the background, also with Copics.  Some clear glitter on the littls stars and snow, and some gold glitter on the big star added a nice note of sparkle.  I splattered some thinned white acrylic paint to mimic falling snow, once again masking the image.

The diecut snowflakes have been glittered up, and I hand wrote the word "JOY" on the tiny banner and added a couple of pearls.  Pearls also decorate the little bear's winter scarf.

A different angle to try to show the sparkle and dimension.

I also stenciled the inside a little bit.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I wish you a lovely Saturday doing the things YOU want to do, be it crafting, spending time with the family, or both!  And don't forget to visit us at A Gem of a Challenge and play along!

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

Simon Says...Anything Goes
Divas By Design - Favorite Color Combination (red and navy)
Pile It On - Anything Goes

Stamp Nation - Sketch

 

Shabby Ornament, and Challenge Day

Hello and good morning!

It's time for a new challenge over at Tuesday Alchemy, and this week's challenge is #45 - Anything But a Card.  How fun - you can make ANYTHING, so long as it's not a card.  The prizes are awesome:

5 digital stamps from 

and
$10 store voucher to 


So start crafting and let us see what you can do!

My project is another rosette, this time a cone ornament consisting of rolled squares of CS.  I learned this from my good friend Catherine Pooler over at StampNation (members go here, non-members here).

It was a little tricky to put together, but the end result is so worth the glue all over my fingertips.  Just ask my DD - this ornament now resides in her apartment.  

You can achieve different sizes of ornaments with different sized squares.  Mine is approximately 5.5" across, which was achieved with 2" squares.  They get a bit fiddly when trying to roll and glue them, but stick with it - it's worth the effort.  All papers except for the snowflakes were inked on the edges with distress ink.

For the centerpiece, I used Robyn's Fetish digital image "Gilded Dove." I printed it on white shrink plastic, then cut it out, shrunk it and colored it with Copics.  The jury's still out on whether it's better to color an image pre- or post-shrinkage.  I'll keep you posted.

Tip: Line art images are better for shrink plastic projects than silhouette images as there isn't as much ink to shrink.  That ink has to go somewhere, and too much of it in the initial stage can lead to smearing after shrinking.

Look closely and you can see the glasslike finish - this was achieved by flooding the colored piece with Ranger Glossy Accents.  It was my first time using it, and I LOVE it - it dries very quickly and with a wonderful hard shine.  I applied a ring of ostrich feathers behind the image, gluing it to a doily die cut (which you can barely see).

 I added some snowflakes to the lower right hand side that I first painted with ivory paint, then glittered and added pearl centers...

 ...and a soft, squashy messy bow with an antique brad to the upper left hand side for balance.  And I lightly glittered inside the points of the cones all the way around, then added a narrow gold ribbon for the hanger.

This is a Christmas ornament of the shabby chic ilk, but it doesn't have to come down after Christmas as it has winter appeal as well, and my DD plans to leave hers up until spring, unless I fail to come up with a spring/summer replacement, at which point she'll leave this up until I do.  Oh, the pressure.

Thank you for joining me today, and I hope you'll hie yourself over to Tuesday Alchemy pronto and put yourself in the running for some neat prizes!

Happy crafting!

Ingredients:

Stamp: Robyn's Fetish Gilded Dove
Paper: K & Co. Classic K dp
Ink: printer, Ranger Distress Tea Die (inked edges of papers)
Accessories: Dienamics Let It Snowflake and doily dies, seam binding, pearls, Copics, Glossy Accents, SU Antique Brads, ClearSnap Fairy Dust Glitter "Pralines and Cream," gold ribbon, Creative Inspirations Ivory paint.

Challenges entered:

Simon Says...What's Your Favorite! (tool, stamp, product) - my faves are glitter and ribbon.
Delightful Challenges - Very Blingy
Charisma Cardz Challenge #49 - Christmas Makes
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #62 - Anything Goes & Ribbon
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #185 - Winter
3 Girl Jam Challenge #8 - Christmas Inspiration
Pile It On #49 - Pile On the Embellishments
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #200 - "Deck the Tree Trimmings"
Ladybug Crafts Ink - Anything Goes at Christmas

Frosted Designs On the 8th Day of Christmas - 8 brands/products - Mine are:
Designer Paper, shrink plastic, feathers, Copics, glitter, ribbon, antique brad/pearls (counts as one), Ranger Distress Ink Tea Stain (for inking the edges of the papers).

Pansies

Hi and good morning!  

Today is the day I get out in the yard and start planting the zillion pansies I purchased last week.  262, to be exact.  Last year I only planted 96 and was so tired of planting them by the last 5 or 6 that I practically THREW them into their holes.  Imagine what nearly three times that number is going to be like.  Yikes!  Guess I'll do them in shifts and not try to get them done all at once.

I've been away from my craft room for far too many days, and yesterday was no exception.  I had an emergency dentist visit, then I went to vote, then my DD surprised me by hanging out all day, so we crafted at the kitchen table.  I made "bow charms" which I will be showing in future cards.  So planting my pansies in shifts will be good - it'll allow me some time in the afternoon to "play cards."

Today's card fills several challenges, which are listed below.

It was fun, and since I wasn't worried about trying to simplify it (Simplify? What's that?), I managed to knock it out in a couple of hours, though I wasn't trying to beat the clock or anything.  I've mentioned before that it seems to take me forever to make a card because there are so many things I want to do, but this one was very easy.  

I started with Whisper White CS for the base and Night of Navy for the first layer, which I embossed using the SU Snow Burst ef, then rubbed my Versamark inkpad over the raised images and dusted on Perfect Pearls.  I LOVE the snowy effect that gave the navy layer.  The patterned paper is from Echo Park Paper Co.'s Winter Wishes.

The image is from Flourishes Snow Days stamp set and was stamped with Versafine Smoky Grey.  I cut it out using a Dienamics Oval die and backed it with an Oval Doily die cut.  Then I used a Spica glitter pen on the blades and The Rubber Cafe's Puffies on the pompons for dimension, on top of which I sprinkled a little Dazzling Diamonds.  The little bit of coloring was done with Copics.

I added two layers of scalloped borders topped with a layer of silver ric rac, though because of the main image and the greeting, most of those three layers are covered up!  The snowflakes were die cut with the Dienamics snowflake die and centered with a rhinestone, and the three glittery brads at the top are Candi blanks which I colored with a navy SU marker and covered in Art Institute glitter (cornflower).

And that, dear friends, is today's card.  I hope you have a lovely day, and I will see you again tomorrow.  For me today, it'll be a girl and her pansies.

Happy Crafting!

Challenges entered:

Oozak Challenge #8 - Winter Vibes
Alota Rubber Stamps Challenge #94 - Blue and White
TSG #180 - Dress Up Your Coloring
Anything Goes Challenge 79 - Anything goes
Creative Card Crew Challenge 23 - Silver and Blue
SCS WT399 - No Fall Colors
RRR Challenge 59 - Winter Holiday and Ribbon
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge #132 - Use ric rac
Creative Inspirations - Inspired By: A Sketch (shown below)
Pile It On #45 - Make It Sparkle
FOSTV#45 - Anything Goes

and last but not least,

SSS183 - sketch