Framed Flowers

I thought the latest colour challenge from The Paper Players (#376) was great: Dapper Denim, Lemon Lime Twist and Tranquil Tide. I especially liked how we could choose one other colour to use. I sponged quite an intense background with Dapper Denim and Lemon Lime Twist and framed it with the Tranquil Tide, so chose Pink Pirouette to lightly sponge flowers and for the top layer of the sentiment - just to lighten things up.
The card:

Made using:

Stampin' Up: paper (Whisper White, Basic Black, Shimmering White, Pink Pirouette, Dapper Denim, Tranquil Tide, Lemon Lime Twist); ink (Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Lemon Lime Twist, Pink Pirouette), Celebrate you thinlits (sentiment)

Craft Creations Mega Nesting Rectangle Dies

Sizzix Jim Holtz Small Tattered Florals Thinlits

francheville rhinestones

Happy 30th!

Congratulations, Global Design Project, on your 100th challenge - and what a great idea to showcase your designers and invite us to CASE one or more - I suspect I'll be returning. I'd been working on how to use the colours from Just Add Ink's challenge #372: Tranquil Tide, Pool Party and Powder Pink, and when I saw Tanja Kolar's lovely card I had an 'aha!' moment.
Here's the result:

Made using:

Stampin' Up 

Ink: Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink, Pool Party

Card: Shimmery White, Tranquil Tide

Stamps: Happy Birthday Gorgeous

Other products: francheville pearls, Kaisercraft numbers decorative dies

Joy!

This card, a response to  Global Design Project's GDP#054 sketch Challenge, represents something of a  learning curve for me and since learning how to do new things is one of my favourite activities, making it was a pleasurable experience.

The first thing I learnt was that it's extremely tricky to emboss watercolour paper. I was happy with my lightly sponged background and muted green/brown tree, and wanted to finish it off with a gold star and baubles. The gold star went okay, but the baubles just didn't stick. I was going to throw it out and start again, but then paused, looked at what I'd done and realised I'd ended up with a light dusting of gold on the whole image, which I really liked - so I went ahead and heat embossed it anyway. (I assure you that is gold dust and not dirt, but I know it didn't photograph very well.)

My next issue was what to mount my tree on. Nothing seemed to work, until I hit upon the idea of making my own background (a JoMo DSP!) by layering two Kaisercraft clear stamps - a square music one in stamped-off Cherry Cobbler, and  'Script' embossed in gold.

My last barrier was when I realised I don't really have many sentiments that are Christmassy - (a problem I intend to remedy forthwith!). For the last 25 years, my Christmas cards have been a very simply mounted photo of our two children. I've had a copy of each photo mounted in similar frames and they're on the wall in a big 5x5 square that, as I'm sure you can imagine, tells the story of how they've grown up.

Now, however, my son has moved to England and so I have to make actual Christmas cards (and live with getting a bit tearful whenever I think he won't be home for Christmas). Anyway, I found this little Heidiswapp 'joy' in a 2013 set of 9 stamps and thought the sentiment apt and the size and shape perfect.

Made using

Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler, The Art Department watercolour

Ink: Stampin' Up Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip

Stamps: Stampin' Up Thoughtful Branches, Totally Trees (the star), Kaiser Art Script and Music, Heidiswapp sentiment.

Other: Franceville adhesive rhinestone

Stampin' Royalty Challenge SR#345

I'm continuing my love affair with Stampin' Up's Totally Trees stamp set and so decided to use it for this colour challenge (Delightful Dijon, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler). I sponged the background onto water colour paper, and liked the texture of the trees when I stamped onto that slightly rougher surface.

Made using: 

Card: Stampin' Up's Basic Black, Delightful Dijon, TAD The Art Department watercolour paper

Ink: Stampin' Up's Delightful Dijon, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Stampin' Up's Totally Trees, Thoughful Branches (for the sentiment).

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #252

This card is a homage to my husband, who has recently done the TAT (Trans American Trail) - an off-road traverse of the USA on motorbikes. (Although, instead of saying 'Born to Ride', it probably should say' Born to fall off and break your collarbone and two ribs three days before the end, after riding 9000 kms'.)
Anyway, the red and blue background references the flags of both our countries (I'm from New Zealand), and I chose Dapper Denim and Cherry Cobbler because they're a bit earthier in tone and so suit the off-road experience. That's also why I water-spotted the sponged background. The silver background is - well - I figured even badass off-roaders need a bit of bling.

Made using:

Stampin Up Card: Basic Black, Silver Foil, Whisper White

Ink: Stampin' Up Dapper Denim, Cherry Cobbler, Memento Tuxedo Black

Embossing Powder: American Crafts Zing! Black Glitter Finish

Stamps: Stampin' Up One Wild Ride

Other: Bunch of Banners Framelit Dies, Washi Tape that isn't branded and I got it in a clearance sale.