Funky Christmas tree

A few days ago, my husband came home with a box containing the Stamp of Approval Holiday Magic collection. The stamps and dies in this collection were hand-picked by Catherine Pooler and are just wonderful. I think this is the first time that I broke into my new stamps within 3 days of their arrival into my house.

I'm always having a hard time deciding which stamps to use first, but this time I let myself be inspired by the interesting colour combination over on the CAS Colours and Sketches blog. After picking my ink colours (Dark Chocolate by Papertrey ink, and Dandelion and Elderberry by Memento), I grabbed the Bright Baubles set by Neat and Tangled (none of the products in this SOA collection have been released to the general public as yet) and set to work, using my MISTI and a die cut panel I saved from a previous project (cut using a stitched rectangle die by SSS).

I stamped the tree trunk in brown ink and then added the various baubles in Dandelion and Elderberry ink. I also used my Elderberry ink to stamp the sentiment (from the same N&T set) and the background borders (Holiday Trimmings set by Winnie & Walter; also included in the SOA collection) on my base card. For some festive shimmer, I went over the baubles, star and background borders with clear Wink of Stella and adhered the stamped panel to my base card using foam tape.

Edited to link this card up to the Parade of SOA Holiday Cards.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

CAS Colours & Sketches - 149 Colour combo

ATSM - 169 CAS

52CCT - Pick a previous theme (21 Christmas trees)

Aud Sentiments - 144 Bingo + sentiment
 (middle column: stitching - stamp - glitter)

Paper pieced poinsettia

Cannot believe we're well into November already and that means I really need to get on with my Christmas cards. So I'm trying to squeeze in as much crafting time as I can and to actually create something instead of just thinking about the cards I want to create lol.

I started by stamping the outline image of the Poinsettia Christmas set by Verve Stamps onto a very old sheet of red patterned paper using black ink and then fussy cut the images, making sure to cut the small leaves that were peeking out at the back. I then stamped the solid image onto Rustic White cardstock by Papertrey Ink using Altenew Evergreen ink and my MISTI for perfect placement. I added a few score lines using my mini-scoreboard and stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set using Altenew Ruby Red ink. Love how that red stands out against the rustic white background. After adhering the red poinsettias over the stamped green poinsettias (it was at this point that I discovered I could rotate the red flowers so that the larger green leaf popped out on different sides of the flowers for a more random look). To finish, I added gold dots to the flower hearts using my ancient Vivan pearl pen.

The photograph did not turn out as I had hoped. I will try to take and upload another one that is less dark.

I'm entering my card into the following challenges:

LIM - 248 Paper piecing

Virginia's View Challenge - 20 Texture

ATSM - 169 CAS
52CCT - Pick a previous theme (#1 Christmas flowers)

FTHS stamp of the month October

Today I managed to do a little colouring and create a card with this month's stamp of the month by From the Heart Stamps, called Cornucopia.

After printing the image onto Neenah Solar white cardstock, I coloured the image using Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and used SN coloured pencils to add more shading to the aubergine and grapes. I created the background by colouring with my alcohol markers and then dabbing blender solution using a rag, a technique I picked up from Kathy Racoosin of The Daily Marker.

I die cut the panel using a stitched rectangle die (Simon Says Stamp) and stamped the sentiment from a Birthday sentiment set by Stampendous! using Archival black ink and my MISTI, which arrived 2 days ago, just in time for my birthday (which was yesterday). My husband was so relieved that it arrived in time lol.

I layered my panel onto a piece of orange PP from my stash, after giving the edges a bit more definition using Dried Marigold distress ink (Ranger). The panels were adhered to a top folding A2 card created from Rustic cream cardstock by Papertrey Ink. To finish things off, I went around the edges with my blending tool that still had some Dried Marigold on it, and I added Glossy Accents to the aubergine and the apples.

Challenges I'm entering:

FTHS - Digital stamp of the month October

Seize the Birthday - Anything birthday

Craft Your Passion - 285 Always Anything goes

Papertake Weekly - Take your pick (Colour: Halloween hues)
Kathy Racoosin's 30 day colouring challenge