Red Christmas

This week's Fusion Challenge is Red Christmas and since I love using Red at Christmas, I wanted to join in.  I use a lot more red during the holiday season.  In fact, more than the rest of the year combined. It always says "festive" and I enjoy it.  I particularly like vibrant reds and scarlet tones paired with gold or silver and I have a second card today using those colors.  Let's face it, I love metallics or shimmery papers and I use them as often as I can. When I started stamping a couple of years ago, I loved the look of heat embossing but I was terrible at it. I got mixed results and most of them time it didn't look that good.  Because I loved it so much, I kept trying until I figured out how to make it work for me.  I got very good at doing it and I rarely mess it up anymore thank heavens. My powder tool is Baby Powder with a fluffy brush.  I like the feel of it and it has worked for me way better than my EK Success Powder Tool or Powder Pouch.

Between all the gold embossing I do and all the beads I've made for Christmas, I have used a lot of Versamark Refill although the majority of it has been for the beads.  I have a container of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) that I've had for 2+ years that I have often wondered if I could ever use it all but with bead making, I have used almost the entire container.  When I got up on Monday morning (a.k.a. Cyber Monday), I had an e-mail from Michaels offering an extra 30% off of sale prices and free shipping for that day only, so I checked to see if they had Versamark Ink Pads and UTEE (my Versamark pads do get icky looking so I needed to replace a couple of them).  They did, so I got both for 30% off of the already half priced items and I didn't have to set foot out of the house. SCORE!  The problem with this is that I also saw some paper that I've become a fan off that wasn't available anywhere except in the actual store.

This past summer I went in to Michaels looking for a specific item and by chance found these cardstock stacks from a company called Craft Smith.  They have a big bunch of those on sale at Michaels for $5.99 right now so I did something I don't do very often - I drove into Tulsa after a couple of doctor appointments to see it in person. They had so many different ones and I dragged 5 of them home.  There was a particular one I wanted that they didn't have called "North Pole Gazette", but I found a suitable replacement called "Always Christmas".  This red and gold foiled paper was in this stack plus I got one in Rose Gold, Christmas Metallics (Gold, Silver and Rose Gold), and one Gold & White.  Did I mention that these were $5.99?  I could have brought many more home, but I didn't.

Specialty papers that have foil or metallics of any kind tend to run about $2.00 for a single sheet so I didn't think I could pass up a whole pad of those when they were only $6.00.  The Craft Smith brand tends to be thicker, heavier paper and one of the clerks told me it cuts better for her.  The paper is much smoother than most so it does cut cleaner.  I understood what she meant as I felt like I was constantly replacing my trimmer blades before even though I spent the extra money to get the titanium ones.  I can't stand raggedy looking cuts so I finally got a Tonic Personal Trimmer after I broke the handle off of my Creative Memories Personal Trimmer. That trimmer was never as good as the Tonic even when it was brand new.  I am surprised at how good this trimmer cuts every kind of paper and I plan to eventually get the larger version for my studio (after we move). I mostly cut everything with a die, so it isn't as big an issue as it use to be but I remember how it was a constant source of  irritation.  The smaller sized trimmer will cut up to 9 inches so I still have to use my big Fiskars trimmer for the longer sheets.

Getting back to my card, I got the Merry & Bright Stamp TV Kit that released last month I think it was. With my kit I ordered 2 of the cube ink pads to try them out; Cherry Red and Fresh Asparagus.  These inks stamp beautifully in one layer.  I do love the translucence of many dye inks but sometimes I want a better coverage without stamping multiple times. To get equal coverage in similar colors of my regularly used inks, I would have to stamp at least three layers. The red really stains but since Poinsettias are mainly pink or red, I guess it isn't a big deal. I know it doesn't affect the stamps, it's just my inner neat freak coming out.  In case you hadn't noticed, all red family inks stain, even many light pink inks.  They stain worse than black.  Now granted, I don't have a big variety of ink brands but I have tried several.

The inks I use most of the time are Papertrey and Altenew.  I have 48 colors in each of these brands.  I have Distress Inks in cubes and Distress Oxide inks in the colors that have been released so far but I only use those for techniques so I'm thinking of adding some of the Gina K Inks to my collection and moving my Distress Ink cubes to another area.  I also have several of the Tsukineko Brilliance Inks which are pigment (and Pearlized) and opaque and give a completely different look so I could store the Distress Inks with those as I have another container that is empty.  That would make enough room in my Ink Storage Chest that I use for all my ink cubes to add the Gina K Collection to my tools.  I am that impressed with these inks.  It all depends on what look you are going for.

This 7 drawer jewelry chest is what I use for my inks.  I primarily use ink cubes because the Rheumatoid Arthritis makes it difficult to manage the larger sized pads when I use my MISTI. I can control the ink application better in cases where I need to take the ink to the stamp versus the stamp to the ink.  That is most of the time.  I've even started using the Mini MISTI for the banners I tend to use for my sentiments.  My top drawer has a few Distress Inks in colors I almost never use along with the two Gina K Inks and this is where I'm thinking I will switch out the ink pads as I add a few Gina K Inks at a time.

I stamped these poinsettias, leaves and holly using the two Gina K Inks.  This was a single layer of ink.  I stamped the holly berries in the same Cherry Red but I decided to put Nuvo Drops over the top in the color Autumn Red.  See how smoothly those inks stamped?  It's pretty darn impressive and I am anxious to add a few colors at a time.

The Red and Gold Background paper was cut with the WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Die which cuts the full A2 sized Stitched Rectangle.  I also used some of the Gina K Designs Heavy Base Weight White #120 Cardstock for my card base and the sentiment panel which was cut using the Gina K Designs Decorative Label Dies.  Her coordinating dies in this Merry & Bright Stamp TV Kit are also incredibly easy to line up and cut after you've stamped them.  I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and Heat Set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder, then stamped it again and heat set it again just to make the sentiment a bit bolder.  This is my favorite new trick learned from Jennifer McGuire this year.  I attached that to the background panel with Foam Tape.  I adhered the holly and poinsettia with foam tape as well.

I have several other projects coming up this next week and I hope you'll come back again to check them all out.  Thanks so much for stopping by! The supplies I've used are linked below for your convenience.

Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS	Gina K Designs Stamp TV Kit - Merry & Bright Shop at: GKD
Versamark Ink Shop at: PTI | SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	Scotch 3M Faom Tape Shop at: SSS	Tonic 6 Inch Personal Trimmer Shop at: SSS
Gina K Designs Cherry Red Ink Cube Shop at: GKD	Gina K Designs Fresh Asparagus Ink Cube Shop at: GKD	Gina K Designs Heavy Base Weight White Cardstock Shop at: GKD	Gina K Designs Decorative Label Dies Shop at: GKD
Nuvo Crystal Drops - Autumn Red Shop at: SSS

Bountiful Thanks

My card today is for The Paper Players #368 - a Tic Tac Toe Challenge and The Fusion Card Challenge, Autumn Leaves. This card came out nothing like what I had intended when I started it.  I've been experimenting with Alcohol Inks and Alcohol Blending Solution on Yupo Paper (I got mine from Amazon) a bit this weekend and the particular one I used here didn't come out how I wanted it to.  It turned kind of reddish orange with my combination of inks (Gold Mixative with Red Pepper) which definitely felt more Fall than Christmas or holiday.  So I rolled with it and die cut the paper with Romantic Leaves from Spellbinders.

Before I move on, I want to talk about what I've learned with the Yupo Paper and the Alcohol Inks.  Initially, when I tried Alcohol inks, I didn't have any Yupo Paper so I used some of my SU! Glossy White Cardstock. I was pretty satisfied with those results but everyone talks about how you're supposed to use it with Yupo Paper.  Honestly, I didn't care too much for the Yupo Paper.  It's somewhat expensive, it's thin like vellum, and I didn't think it moved or worked very well with the alcohol inks. I purchased a single 11 x 14 pad with 12 sheets that I can cut down into 6 panels, but I would not use it again for this technique. I thought maybe I was using the wrong side, but there doesn't seem to be a right or wrong side and I tried both sides.  Also, I think it takes a lot of Alcohol Blending Solution to achieve good results and that is pretty pricey as well. So while I like having this tool in my tool belt, it isn't one I will use very often and when I do use it, I plan to stick with Glossy Cardstock. The best results I got by far were by smooshing the paper into the ink which I did on aluminum foil rather than dropping the ink directly onto the paper and adding blending solution to it.  I have several other backgrounds (including the ones I made with Glossy Cardstock last week) to use in a variety of colors that you'll see on upcoming projects and I used one here.

For this card, I wanted something that would work with the color of my leaves and I happened to have some paper out that would work perfectly.  I found this great 8.5 x 11 paper pad by Momenta at Hobby Lobby.  All of the prints in this pad are watercolor look and many of them have gold or silver paint splatters on them.  Since I have the touches of gold in the leaves, I chose this soft yellow/coral print for my background.  I die cut it with MFT Blueprints 15 Stitched Rectangle Die and gave it some healthy mists Iridescent Gold Shimmer Mist.  I arranged the leaves on that panel then adhered them with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  To keep everything simple, flat and easily mailable, I cut a strip of vellum with the largest MFT Horizontal Stitched Strips and then stamped the sentiment from the Color Pop Autumn Stamp Set using Versamark and heat setting it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I used my powder tool first so that my embossing would stay clean.

To adhere the vellum strip, I put a skinny little line of sticky dot adhesive (Kokuyo) on the stitch line of the background panel and then gently pressed the vellum onto that.  The adhesive is light blue and if you put it directly onto the vellum, it shows through.

I die cut one of the Impression Obsession Butterflies that I use all the time from Gold Foiled Cardstock and put skinny strips of Scotch 3M Foam Tape under the body and a glue dot under the back end to make it seem as if the butterfly was about to be in flight.  I added a few Nuvo Drops in Copper Penny for a bit of contrast and let them dry overnight. 

I hope you enjoyed my card and will take time to stop by The Paper Players Challenge Blog and the Fusion Card Challenge Blog. 

Teacup Flowers

Today's card is for the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge and the Fusion Card Challenge. It's been quite a while since I got to do any water coloring so I chose a stamp that I could use for that this time around.  I adore the pink polka dotted cup in the inspiration image so I chose color to be my inspiration for my card.  Not having any Pink Paper with White Polka Dots, I resorted to one of my often used tricks to make something similar.

 

If you visit me very often, you know that I love to have a touch of metallic gold on my cards. This might be gold card stock, gold heat embossing, gold shimmer mist or a gold pattern in my elements. Sometimes it is all of the above. I often buy Gold and White patterned papers. I recently purchased a few paper pads that were all gold and white.  One was a specialty Die Cuts With a View 12 x 12 Premium Stack that was all gold and white prints and the other 2 were from Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby's brand) 4.5 x 6.5 pads that were more than 50% gold and white patterns. I separate out the gold and white patterns and keep those all in the same cropper hopper paper holder, including the 12 x 12 sheets. Today's polka dot paper came from one of those pads. 

The really cool thing about white and gold is that you can make the white any color you want.  So I used Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Ink and ink blended the whole piece of cardstock with it using a Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool. Once I had that done, I gave it some spritzes of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold.  I buy mine directly from Canvas Corp Brands.  I've requested Simon Says Stamp to carry it several times, but so far they haven't. I do have a few other colors of shimmer mist, but I pretty much stick to the iridescent gold or the sheer sparkle that I use made by Tsukineko.  I set that aside to dry while I did my stamping and heat embossing.

Next, I stamped the image from WPLUS9's Kind Soul onto watercolor paper with Versamark Ink and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I then water colored the blooms and leaves using Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, Shabby Shutters and Mowed Lawn Distress Markers. I have not tried using the Distress Oxides to watercolor with, although I know they can be used that way, because I love the look of the regular Distress Inks.

Once I had the image water colored, I gave it a good spritz of Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz and let it dry before die cutting it with the coordinating Kind Soul Die. I also die cut the polka dot panel with the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies in the largest size. I chose this particular stamp set because it tumbles across the page at an angle much like the flowers from the inspiration image.

I created a top folding card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock. I die cut the banner using the Number The Stars Banner Die from Papertrey Ink and the Hello from a Hero Arts Hello Stamp & Cut.  Using 1/16th inch foam tape, I attached the floral arrangement first, then attached the 'hello" die cut to the banner and the banner with foam tape just on the right hand side of the banner. For the other end of the banner, I just used regular Kokuyo Dot Runner Adhesive.  My favorite foam adhesive is the Thin 3-D Foam Squares from Scrapbook Adhesives.

This finishes this card for these two challenges.  I hope you'll have time to play along or at least go and check out the other cards that have been entered into this challenge.

The Color Throwdown & Fusion Challenge

I am popping in with a quick card this morning. I made this card yesterday but I didn't photograph it until this morning. The Color Throwdown #451 has these pretty colors of dark pink, light pink, green and white.  The Fusion Challenge has a great sketch this week and I wanted to try mixing a couple different patterned papers which I am not that great at doing.  I wanted to give it a shot so I selected two coordinating patterned papers and decided to incorporate the two challenges into one card by combining the key elements of color and sketch.

I started with a top folding card base made from Hibiscus Burst Card Stock. I die cut the My Favorite Things Stitched Rectangle from Blueprints #15 from the pink and rose striped paper for my background layer.  Next I cut two smaller Stitched Rectangles using the second largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies; one from a different patterned paper and one from New Leaf Cardstock.  I adhered everything using the sketch as my layout design.  I wanted something simple to bring that pop of green onto the foreground so I die cut one of the Spellbinders Romantic Leaves and then popped the sentiment on top of that.

I finished off the card with a few sparkling clear sequins from Simon Says Stamp.  The ones I have are an assortment of sizes in one package which works best for how I use them.

This is it for now.  I have a few other projects on my desk this morning to finish but I am getting dental work done this afternoon so I don't know if I'll be back today or not.  I might come back and work until the anesthesia wears off.  LOL! Have a great day everyone!  I hope you'll come back soon.

Make It Monday #286 & The Fusion Challenge

Today I have a card for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #286 - Coordinating Pairs and Fusion Card Challenge.  Fusion is one of my favorite challenges to participate in and this week's challenge sent me all the way back to how I found Papertrey Ink in the first place.

I started making cards in 2015 but initially, I didn't really stamp much and preferred to make them using die cuts only.  As I got a little more comfortable with stamping, I started learning techniques by watching Jennifer McGuire and Yana Smakula's YouTube Videos.  I was also looking at and pinning cards on Pinterest and came across this Make It Monday #98 technique video done by Betsy Veldman way back in 2012.  That led me to the Papertrey Ink Blog which led me to their store.  I had ordered one thing from them previously, but it was through someone's affiliate link and I hadn't taken the time to look around their store. After I found this, I became a regular reader at the Papertrey Blog and eventually a regular customer.

I tried Betsy's technique one other time quite a while ago, (maybe even more than a year ago) and it was fairly successful.  But I wanted to use different Papertrey products for this card.  I pulled Holiday Photo Finishers (a Vault set that I bought on the Papertrey FSOT Forum), Stitched Sentiments and Graceful Greetings for the main portions of my card.  I also used a couple of hearts from the Hero Arts Prayers Stamp & Cut Set.  I used my Mini Misti to line things up on my cardstock so I could stamp as much as possible in one stamping.

For my first card, I started with a panel of Black Chalk Paper that I got quite a few years ago from Stampin' Up.  It's no longer available but I still have several sheets of this as well as an additional pack. That's probably enough to last me at least 10 years!*Ü*  Betsy used Ocean Tides Cardstock for her video example but had done others on True Black Cardstock.  It's been over about a year and a half since I made my card in this style so I was happy to revisit this technique now that I'm a better stamper.

Both of these cards use Versamark Ink with Hero Arts White Embossing Powder. I put the left leafy branch, the Sentiment and the bottom flourish on for the first stamping, and then the right branch with the flourish above the greeting for the 2nd stamping. I don't know how Jennifer McGuire stamps 10 cards and then puts embossing powder on because even doing one card, I can't keep the Versamark wet enough to have good coverage.  My Versamark ink pad is new so it shouldn't need re-inking. We run our air conditioner starting around the 1st of May (if not sooner) so that contributes to the dry air.  But I would encourage you to do it however it works for you. So I stamp one side, sprinkle powder and then stamp the other side, sprinkle powder again and then heat set the whole panel. The hearts were stamped randomly by hand and heat set separately. The second card uses Ocean Tides Cardstock for the front panel and after all the stamping was complete I die cut it with the Gift Card Layers Die from WPLUS9 which is an exact 4.25 x 5.5 inch Stitched Rectangle Die.  I love the finished edge that die cuts give my cardstock. Although I am very good about changing the blade in my Fiskars Trimmer, it will just never be as crisp as a die cut edge.  The Chalkboard Paper was also die cut using the same die.

To get the "chalky" look on the cardstock, you can use white pigment ink very lightly on a paper towel or small sponge dauber. I did use this method on the black card, but for the Ocean Tides Card I notice that the powder I use for my powder tool looked really how I wanted it.  So that it would brush off I gave it a good mist with some hairspray but I think I'll get a can of the cheapest hairspray I can find next time I go to Walmart. My Bed Head Hair Spray worked great, but it's too expensive to use on cards. I like the results of the powder tool so much better and I wanted to keep that look.  I use a 1 inch watercolor wash brush with baby powder for my powder tool.  I like it better than an embossing buddy or the EK Success Powder Tool and my bristles aren't breaking off my brush. With the large size of the brush, it's also much faster.  Again, it's one of those things you have to decide what works best for you. I'm simply giving you another option to try. Baby Powder or Cornstarch are much silkier feeling than the chalky tools of so many other options.

Other than that, I did this technique exactly like Betsy showed in the video I linked above, including the sketchy look around the edges that was added with a ruler and White Prismacolor Pencil.  Mostly I have Polychromo Pencils, but I do have a couple of White Prismacolors for adding highlights or whatever to cards. I also have a few other stamp sets that I think would work really well for this technique the next time I need one.  I also used a Mini Round Ink Blending Tool with True Black and Ocean Tides around the edges.  At the time Betsy did her video, I don't think the Mini Round tool was out yet.

As you can see, the challenge of Fusion combined with the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #286 Challenge resulted in this pair of coordinating cards. Thank you so much for stopping by and spending a bit of time here today.  I love reading your comments so please don't hesitate to leave one for me.

The Fusion Challenge - Navy Patterns

Welcome to a new post for The Fusion Card Challenge. I was inspired by the bold pattern of the Navy & White Pillow on the sofa and also partly by the sketch. If you rotate the sketch 180 degrees, then I'm pretty close.

Navy and Gold always works nicely for a masculine card and I love this patterned paper with the gold foiling. Because I only use a quarter sheet of patterned paper at a time, this pad of paper has already lasted me a long time and I still have lots left.  This particular one came from the 8.5 x 11 Be Bold - Be Bright Collection from The Paper Studio which is Hobby Lobby's in house brand.  All of these papers have gold foil on them and come in a variety of patterns and colors.

To capture the feel of the sketch, I wanted to use some of the things I see in it as well including a horizontal banner, and a vertical design element.  I have two postage frame dies and even though they are two different brands, the smaller Papertrey die (from the Make-It Market Post & Parcel Kit) and the larger Avery Elle die work awesome together. I wanted that gold edge along the outside of my postage stamp so I just tried it and I was pretty excited when they worked together.

The large "Wish Big" sentiment is from Papertrey's Big Basics Die Collection. There are several sentiments each sold individually so you can pick and choose which ones you like and will use. With masculine cards, I like to keep the focal image front and center but I felt the Happy Birthday banner added a nice touch to the Stamper's Select White card base, pulling the whites together.  

This is a super simple card for this challenge and the only thing stamped was the banner that I had done with several others previously.  Everything else is a die cut. I am really happy with this design and plan to use it in the future.  Have a great day and be sure to check out all the entries and Design Team Inspiration at The Fusion Card Challenge Blog.

The Fusion Card Challenge - Musical Butterfly

The Challenge this fortnight is Musical Butterfly.  As always, we have the option of using the sketch, the photo or combining the two of them to get a Fusion of some sort.  I chose the image as my inspiration. While I don't have quite the rainbow of color as in the image, it was still a good place to start.

Using a Hero Arts Music Background stamp, I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black Ink on Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper and heat embossed it using Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder. I chose this particular paper because I wasn't sure how much color I was going to use, but it would stand up to the water I might want to add.  In the end, I added a bit of Broken China Distress Oxide Ink to the center of the panel, misted it with Iridescent Gold Shimmer Mist and set it aside to dry without adding any more color to it.  I was pretty happy with how it looked even though I know you can't see the shimmer here. You can definitely see it in real life!

I die cut this swallowtail butterfly (I'm sorry I don't know who the manufacturer is.  The solid butterfly is a scrap of pink cardstock and the top layer is cut from Clear Sparkle Shimmer Spritz and then I put a little crystal on the pink solid butterfly in the exact spot where the tiny little circles are on the outline butterfly. There are 8 of those little circles on each wing so there are 16 Aurora Borealis Swarovski Crystals on that butterfly.  That is how I pulled in the rainbow color for the butterfly.  It doesn't photograph particularly well, but again, in real life you can see it!  

I'm not going to draw this post out with a lot of unnecessary details as I am fighting computer issues this weekend.  We have a wedding next weekend and I won't be able to be online at all, so I'm trying to get some work done before hubby continues his diagnostics on my desktop.  I can't even imagine trying to write a blog post by tapping in one letter at a time on my iPad but I may have to do that yet.  So, I have a few more posts to write.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Be sure to check in over at The Fusion Challenge to see all the projects.

Fusion Card Challenge

We have a fun inspiration image to work with this session over at the Fusion Card Challenge.  Most of the time I am far more inspired by the photograph than I am by the sketch and much more so this week although I did a pretty good job of combining the two.  I just love this cascading bouquet coming out of the classic pick up truck and I wanted to try to portray that feeling in my card.

To accomplish this, I used Papertrey Ink's Fresh Bouquet Stamp Set and Fresh Bouquet Coordinating Die.  I cut several of the bouquets from Stamper's Select White Cardstock and heat embossed the outline image using some Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I do this using by using the negative as a placeholder in my Mini MISTI.  Then I did all the stamping using my Brilliance Pigment Inks in Pearlescent Orchid, Pearlescent Purple, Pearlescent Thyme and Pearlescent Coral. I have most of these colors in the little dew drop sized ink pads although there are a few colors that don't come in the smaller size yet, like the Coral.  One of the really nice things about pigment inks is that one stamping is typically enough ink for a very good, even coverage.  But because I used the MISTI, I can fix it if I didn't get it the first time.

Just like in the photograph, I wanted the focus to be on the bouquet, so I used the pearly inks there rather than adding the shimmer to some other part of the card. I really liked the somewhat sedate color of the pick up and the bright pop of color against it, so again, I tried to mimic that in my card by using a background panel of Ocean Tides Cardstock.  The striped print of the center panel is a piece of cardstock from the Make It Market Don't Forget to Write Kit.

The sentiment is from Altenew's Beautiful Day and is one of my favorites.  You can use it for a special day such as a wedding day or just to wish someone a nice day for no special reason at all. Those are my favorites to send out.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!  I'll be back soon with another card for you.

The Paper Players & Fusion Challenges

My card today is for not just one, but two challenges; The Paper Players Challenge #337 which is a sketch and The Fusion Challenge - "Paris Rain".   We can be inspired by the colors, the imagery, or the sketch or we can combine all of them at the Fusion Challenge.  I was inspired by the color palette but used the sketch from The Paper Players Sketch Challenge to make my card.  This card is for my hubby and will be a little surprise that he finds somewhere -- his lunchbox, or his closet or laying on his keyboard in his home office; everyone likes to feel appreciated and he is no exception although I think he would deny it if you asked him.

This card uses SU! Smoky Slate Cardstock for the background panel on top of a top folding card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  The circle and banners are cut from True Black Cardstock.  The Silver and Red piece was made by stamping the Simon Says Stamp Emma Background on Stamper's Select White Cardstock, heat embossing with Silver Embossing Powder and then ink blending with Festive Berries and then Pure Poppy on top. I think Ink Blending is my 2nd favorite technique after heat embossing.  I cut a 2 inch strip down the center of the panel and then punched it with a Stampin' Up Banner Ends Punch. I cut two of the shorter banners from the Doubled Ended Banner Die, one from Smoky Slate and the other in True Black. I cut the Smoky Slate banner in half and then put that on the back of the black banner so that just a bit was showing on each end to help it pop. I used Thin 3D Foam Squares to mount it.  For the sentiment, I used "you are my favorite" from the Hero Arts Hello Stamp & Cut Set.  He is, after all, my favorite husband! *Ü*

The supplies I used are linked in the post or you can find links for the Simon Says Stamp Store and Papertrey Ink Store on the right hand sidebar. Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll come back soon.

The Fusion Challenge

I have a card on my blog today that is for the Fusion Challenge which is a bi-weekly challenge and I'll also be linking it up over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for a second entry there.  At the Fusion Challenge, we can use the sketch or we can use the photo as inspiration or we can combine them for a Fusion of the two.  The Simon Says Stamp Challenge has "The Color of Love" theme for this week.

I love the interlocking hearts on the quilt and used them as my inspiration for my card. I've made several cards for Valentine's Day this week and they have all been in a similar style but I must say, this is a favorite.  I love how elegant it is in Gold and White with the tiny touch of red in the itty bitty hearts.  Those little hearts are cut using a Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die.  This particular card is for Valentine's Day but wouldn't this be oh so elegant for a 50th Anniversary Card?  You could put the "50" where the "love" die cut is now. I still have a bit more of this paper so I will definitely be trying to remember this for future reference.

This card is easy stuff!  I cut two of the hearts from gold foiled cardstock. This die cuts and embossing in one step. I have had this die for a number of years (15 maybe).  It's an Accucut die.  The banner is from Papertrey Ink's Tag Sale Quilted Die.  The Happy Valentine's Day sentiment is from the Hero Arts Love Stamp & Cut Set. The glittered gold and white paper is from Michaels Open Stock.  The love die cut is Simon Says Stamp Kristina's Love Die also cut from gold foiled card stock.  The little red hearts are cut from Red Mirror Board.  I made several Valentines this week using Gold Mirror Board, but I didn't honestly care for the look of it too much.  It was okay this one time, but I prefer the more muted color of the gold foiled cardstock and it's much easier to photograph.  I used a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die in the largest size to cut the background panel and gave it a light mist with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist.  While that dried, I did all my other die cutting and stamped my banner using Versamark and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Gold Embossing Powder.  I normally use Antique Gold but it was too warm of a color for the glitter paper.

I attached the background panel to a top folding Stamper's Select White Card Base.  Then I cut 2 more of the Kristina's Love Die cuts from the same white so that I could make my sentiment a bit thicker.  I glued those, one on top of the other, with Ranger Multi Medium Matte, putting the gold layer on the top. The hearts and banner were attached using Thin 3D Foam Squares.  I use a ton of these in my card making. I have lots of little ones but I just ordered some of the larger ones to have on hand as well. I like that I get a bit of dimension but that they are not as thick as foam tape or regular foam squares. They hold up very well going through the mail.  That is it for this card.  There is very little stamping here, only the banner.

Thank you for stopping by today to check out my project.  Be sure to stop at the Simon Say Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog and the Fusion Challenge to see all the great projects.

One Card for 3 Challenges

It's not very often that I have a card that works for 3 challenges but I do today and I'm so excited.  I am playing at The Fusion Card Challenge, Double D Challenges and CAS (Clean and Simple) on Sunday Challenges.

The image on the left is the inspiration image from The Fusion Card Challenge. Jennifer McGuire even played at The Fusion this week!  We haven't yet gotten our first snow here in Northeastern Oklahoma, but it went all around us last week and even schools were closed on Friday! My daughter even had a little snow in Texas but so far, none for us. CAS on Sunday's theme this week is Black and White with one color of our choosing.  I used Pure Poppy Ink from Papertrey Ink.

The Double D Challenge is having it's 3rd Anniversary this week. Since my grandson, Charlie, is about to have the "Anniversary" of his birthday, I went in that direction with this challenge by using numbers from the Bookprint #'s Die. I don't have the Bookprint Alphabet Dies but I plan to put them on my Wish List now.  I also used the Customer Appreciation gift, Celebrate Big, from Papertrey Ink.  I wasn't sure I would like this set because it isn't my usual style but I qualified to get one so I wanted to try it out. I LOVE it! By using the negative from the die cut with the MISTI, it was very easy to line it up for stamping.

The stamps and dies are all together in this set and I used Papertrey Ink's True Black and Pure Poppy Inks to do all of the stamping. It was so easy to do the banners with the clever way Nichole designed this set. There are also a few little filler images that I didn't use today. With the background paper, it wouldn't have been noticeable but I plan to use them soon.

This set is only available for a short time with a qualifying purchase so hurry if you want to get one for yourself.

I used Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White Cardstock and True Black Cardstock with a piece of Creative Memories Gingham that I have had for close to 20 years!  As usual, I used my Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Dies in the largest size to cut the white mat.

I hope to get a couple of other projects up this week.  I'll be gone for a couple of weeks this month (I'm so excited to be attending CHA), but I have projects for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Designer in the Spotlight each Wednesday.  The projects are finished and the blog posts scheduled.  Be sure to stop by as my last two blog posts feature some Valentine's Day projects.  My post for January 25th is my favorite of the ones I've made so far this year.

I'll be taking lots of notes at CHA about new products that are coming although I confess I am most excited about seeing Tim Holtz and hearing about the new "Distress" items coming to market in 2017!

Thank you so much for stopping by today. The kind and encouraging comments you leave for me are so appreciated and treasured.  I hope you'll be back soon!