cardmaking - Right as Rain

The Cutting Edge Challenge #10

It’s time for the another Cutting Edge Challenge! Our inspiration this week is one of my cards.

I created the card last year celebrating the end of summer/beginning of fall. That’s Ginger taking center stage in a hay field on Whidbey Island.

I decided to focus on the crows/blackbirds/ravens that seem to be prevalent at this time of year – on fences, on telephone wires, wherever they can rest (or survey their territory!).

I used a combination of Distress Inks to create the background panel to which I attached the bird die cuts from Spellbinders Birds On A Wire. I used a sentiment stamped with a Neat and Tangled set to finish it off.

We’d love to have you play along! Head on over to The Cutting Edge Challenge blog where you’ll find inspiration from other members of the team, the rules and regulations, and the InLinkz tool for you to link up your project!

Housewarming Party

I’m joining the Housewarming Party in celebration of Catherine Pooler’s new site! Suitably, the party theme is HOME.

To join along, simply make a card based on the theme HOME and link it up on Catherine’s blog. Yes, there are prizes! You can’t have a party without prizes! Check it out! A one-year subscription to StampNation, plus prizes totaling over $300 from the sponsors: Some Odd Girl: $20 gift card; Ellen Hutson: $50 gallery; CAS-ual Fridays: $25 gift card; Winnie & Walter: home-themed stamp set; Penny Black: Shades Creative Die; Pretty Pink Posh: $50 gift card; Clearly Besotted: £30 gift certificate; Hero Arts – $30 gift card!

For my HOME-themed card – a neighborhood scene set in the fall – I combined die cuts from several Taylored Expressions sets (Neighborhood Border and Build A House) with a sentiment from the TE Welcome Home stamp set.

Before you go – I’ve got a one-month subscription to StampNation to give away. Just leave a comment on this post!

Be sure to head on over to Catherine Pooler’s new site to hear about the party and to find out how to enter the link up for a fabulous set of prizes!

Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas Stencil + Embossing Paste

Today, I’m sharing two cards using the Birds & Leaves stencil from the Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas 2014 Catalog.

For the first card, I used gold Ferro paint (so not technically embossing paste) through the stencil and finished the card with a sentiment from “Very Merry Christmas,” one of my favorite holiday sentiment sets from Hero Arts. I used a double frame to showcase the stenciled image.

For the second card, I applied Ranger’s texture paste through the stencil, which I “water” colored with Distress markers after the paste was dry. This was a much more ambitious card than the first one! My first try was a mess as the watercolor seeped through. I was much more careful the second go round, although there’s still room for improvement.

Supplies:

Basic Grey Stencils: Evergreen, Birds & Leaves	Viva Decor Ferro Metal Effect Paint, Old Gold	Ranger Texture Paste	Hero Arts ClearDesign: Very Merry Christmas
Distress Marker Set of 37 w/ Tube	Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Gumdrop, 10 pk	Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Gumdrop, 25 pk	My Favorite Things Die-namics, Blueprints 1
A Cardstock, Neenah Heavyweight, Classic Crest Solar White 110 lb, 25 pk	Hero Arts Embossing Powder, Gold	Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder, 1 oz. Gold

InLinkz.com

Penny Black Watercolored Background

Today, I’m sharing a card created with the Penny Black 40-350 Tree-Lined background stamp and several Penny Black die cuts.

I inked the Tree-Lined background stamp with several Distress Inks, in shades of blue-green, and then lightly misted the stamp. I laid a piece of Ranger watercolor paper on top of the stamp and pressed lightly.

Once dry, I trimmed the panel and attached it to a red card base. The “Merry” sentiment, die cut from the 51-021 Love & Joy set, was adhered to the smaller tag from the 51-007 Tagged die cut set. I cut the “Merry” out of gold foil, as well as out of white cardstock in order to add some depth. I used the Zig Memory Two-Way Fine Tip Pen to glue the foil die cut to the white cardstock one.

Hero Arts Guest Artist – Handmade for Christmas

I’m delighted to be a guest artist on the Hero Arts blog today with a holiday card featuring stamps from the Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas 2014 Catalog.

Please head on over to the Hero Arts blog for details about the card and to watch a video in which I describe how I chose the ink colors for the trees. I also go step-by-step through the construction process of the card.