Christmas Star

I learned a technique, years ago, called serendipity squares. You take a piece of card stock and just start stamping, inking, embossing etc, and then add bits of scrap paper or whatever catches your fancy. In my case, I had a lot of very thin mulberry paper, so I tore it into bits and layered those over a stamped background. I then swiped the whole thing with silver pigment ink for shimmer and shine. Rather than cut the resulting sheet into squares, I traced and cut it into stars. So I guess these are technically serendipity stars, not squares. A bit of silver embroidery thread wound around the star made this magical embellishment that can be added to cards or tags...or used for home decor projects. I chose to add it to a card, which I had stamped and heat embossed with a snowflake set by Fiskars and then overlaid with vellum on part of the card. Some sheer ribbon, silver eyelets, and a die cut silver word by Sunny Studios finishes this design. Much too much work for multiple Christmas cards, but good for a special friend or family member.

Snippets challenge #412. I used lots of snippets here, of card stock, mulberry paper, vellum and metallic silver card.

 September Rudolph Days challenge, make a Christmas card  

CHNC challenge 451, Christmas 

Word Art Wednesday 509-510 

DL.Art's September linky 

Ally's Angels challenge #50, AG  

Allsorts challenge 643, AG 

As You Like It challenge, Autumn or Winter. My favorite season is winter because of Christmas and getting together with family and friends  

Wishing You the Best

Here is another card that made this week and this time I layered lots of scraps and used a sentiment by Anna Griffin. The butterfly is by Stampin' Up and I used my paper crimper again! Stitched rectangles by Gina Marie, circle dies by Sizzix, and even a few eyelets as embellishment. A bit of silver thread adds sparkle. I'm very proud of the fact that I used every bit of scrap card stock in such a way that there was no waste. The circle was cut from the blue layer and the green stitched rectangle was cut from the center of the green card base. Then the butterfly square was cut from the white card layer..and everything was stacked so you can't see all the missing parts.

Pixie's Snippets challenge 411, Ruby's Memory. At first glance this card doesn't seem like it uses a lot of snippets but if you could use your x-ray vision to see through the layers you would be astonished at all the snippets that were cut from each layer and then covered with the next. I LOVE snippets!
 

Time Out Challenge 195, colored card base and embellishments.

SSS Wednesday challenge, use clear/cling stamp

DL.Art's September challenge 
 

With Sympathy

 I had to send a sympathy card this week and realized that I didn't have any in my stash, so pulled out this older Stampin' Up sentiment and paired it with a small butterfly stamp by Hampton Arts. The label die is by Gina K Designs and paper is by K&Co. In looking back at my old sympathy cards, I realize that I choose green colors over half the time! I think I need to change that so I don't get into a rut.

DL.Art, thankful thursday challenge 284, sympathy

CHN September PP challenge

SSS Wednesday challenge, clear stamps 

SSS Monday challenge, clear stamps

 

Movie Night

 My granddaughter wanted a movie-night themed birthday party this year and asked me to make a few stamped decorations to add to party favor bags and signs that decorated the food trays. So, I pulled out a Dare2BArtzy stamp set and combined it with a Paper Smooches set to make these. Making 24 party favor tags took a bit of time, but aren't they cute?! 

SSS Wednesday challenge, use clear stamps

DL.Art September linky 

Lost Coast Designs challenge, Movie Mania

Cardz TV 148
 SSS Monday challenge, use clear stamps

Asian Crane

A friend of mine let me borrow a stamp set by Stampin' Up years ago, but I never actually finished making a card with the different elements. I put it all together last week, and even used my old Fiskars paper crimper to add texture with gold metallic paper. I left it sentiment-free so I can use it for any occasion and added a few black rhinestones as well.

 SSS Wednesday challenge, AG

DL. Art's August linky 

Cardz TV challenge 148

Time Out challenge 195, use a colored card base and embellishments

Celebrate like A Flamingo!

I need to make a card for someone who lives in Florida and likes flamingos, so it was the perfect time to pull out this flamingo die, which I hadn't used yet. The flamingo die is by Recollections, the little sailboat die is by Simon Says Stamps, and the clouds are by Spellbinders. I used a sentiment by Cardz TV. My favorite part of this card though, are the snippets of blue card stock that I glued to a scrap cardstock piece, and then cut to fit the card front. I also tore a piece of scrap tan paper and inked the edges to resemble sand. Now of course, flamingos don't live out by the ocean, or at least I don't think any do..but what do I know? So we can pretend that this is just a really, really large lagoon.

Pixie's Snippets challenge 410. I used nothing but snippets for this card, except for the card base. The glossy orange colored paper for the sailboat and sentiment mat are from a cereal box.
 

D.L. Art's august linky 

SSS Wednesday challenge, AG 

 As You Like It, Favorite wild animal and why. I like flamingos, after I found out that they are not naturally pink or coral, but get their color from the shrimp that they eat.

Cardz TV challenge 148 

  

Create More

When my mojo is stuck, I like to work on smaller projects, like ATCs. This also allows me to use some of those stamps that I don't normally use (because they're unmounted and not as convenient to use, or because they just got tucked away). I have no idea who makes this typewriter stamp, and the little background stamp with squares isn't labeled. However, I used a stamp by Pink Paislee to make the typewriter paper, and the sentiment is by The Grey Muse. That decorative image on the typed page is by My Minds Eye.

SSS Wednesday challenge, Add a Sentiment

D.L. Art's August challenge
   

Twofer Challenge #41

I've enjoyed seeing Darnell's monthly Twofer card shares over the years and always marveled at the way the same stamp or die could be used on two very different designs, for two different occasions. This was my opportunity to pull out a NBUS (Never Before used Stuff) die by Simon Says Stamps, as the theme this challenge is Cats/Dogs. I chose a dog, because we had a corgi when I was growing up. Ours was a Cardigan Corgi, which is the one with a tail, but this little Pembroke Corgi will do just as nicely.

My first version is a birthday card for my sister, who is a dog lover, and who is the one who brought out little Corgi home so many years ago. The embossing folder is called birthday ribbons but I forget who makes it. The sentiment and birthday hat (which is actually a little bunting flag that I cut down to size) are by Dare2BArtzy. 

The second card is an Autumn Blessings/Thanksgiving card that uses paper by DCWV from their Harvest collection. The pumpkins were stamped with the Nuts About You stamp set by Honeybee Stamps. This is the same Simon Says Stamp corgi die .

  Thank you to Darnell for a wonderful run and a fun challenge. I may even be inspired to make a Twofer each time I pull out a NBUS supply in the future!

Twofer Challenge #41, Dog/Cat

 NBUS challenge 29

Birthday Puppy wishes

 I won this fun birthday balloon frame die by MFT from Jennifer McGuire, and made a batch of cards in all colors. I stamped this cute pup (also by MFT) and added her to my granddaughter's birthday card. The sentiment is by Papertrey Ink, and I added shine marks to the balloons with colored pencil.

Double Trouble challenge 90, I did Thing 1 and Thing 2.

DL.Art's August linky

Word Art Wednesday 503-504 

2 Crafty Critter Crazies challenge 53

Cardz TV challenge 147  

Stay Crafty with Hero challenge 26, rainbows (I used rainbow colors)

 Creative Fingers challenge 213

Ally's Angels challenge 49: AG 

Make A Wish or Two

I was giving some older, partial Paper Pumpkin kits by Stampin' Up last year, and combined the kit elements with a stamped, heat embossed butterfly from my stash. The sentiment is by MFT. Although you can't see it very well, the backing panel behind the aperture is white glitter paper, which really makes this card sparkle. The embossing powder didn't heat smoothly, but bubbled instead. However, I liked the effect so much that I used this pretty little butterfly image anyway.

SSS Monday challenge, heat embossing

Word Art Wednesday 503-504

D.L. Art August linky 

Creative Fingers challenge 213