World Cardmaking Day: Sketch

I'm going back to the third challenge at Winnie & Walter and doing the sketch that Gayatri created.

I'm not sure I could have gone much different from the bats and cobwebs in the sketch!


A Winnie & Walter set that I hadn't used yet was Big Bang Confetti.  I liked the idea of soft color wash with a one of the confetti stamps. Since I went soft, I went with this prayer set that I just got from Simon Says Stamp.  Nothing fancy, just soft and sweet.
Simon Says Stamp Prayers Winnie & Walter Big Bang Confetti Stampin' Up Crumb Cake Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors - the aqua and turquoise Simon Says Lake Shore Ink Doodlebug Glitter White

World Cardmaking Day: Masculine

The fifth challenge from Winnie & Walter is to make a masculine card.  Easy-peasy!  I have two teenage sons who routinely need encouragement. My 19-year old is living on his own for the first time and dealing with all of those life things that so often get in the way - "Mom, Dad, my car won't start", "Mom, my employer only gave me two shirts but I work six days in a row and the laundromat is expensive", "Mom, how do I fix my hamburger after I used an entire handful of dried oregano"!! LOVE his phone calls!  And I love surprising him with cards in his mailbox. My 15-year old is just a busy guy and there's always a need to encourage or applaud.  So I am well stocked for masculine cards.  Here's an arrow die that I had purchased just to point at a big sentiment.


I don't know which son is going to get this - because they are both pretty awesome!!!  (Also remember that I am home alone all weekend so I am feeling quite loving toward everybody since nobody is here to annoy me!)  But I'll put it away for when it is needed.
Simon Says Stamp Mod Arrow Border My Creative Time Speech Bubble Sentiments MFT Lush Lagoon CS Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Salty Ocean

World Cardmaking Day: Gold

The fourth challenge from Winnie & Walter is "gold".  (I missed the third challenge - but I'll go back and pick it up later!) I generally struggle with gold, but there's one time that I think gold is absolutely perfect - Christmas, particularly nativity scenes.


The other thing that I struggle with is photographing gold.  This photo looks so dull when, in real life, that embossing powder is full of iridescent flecks and looks gorgeous!  You can see it a little better in the close-up.

The set that I used by Winnie & Walter is Happy Christmas. It's full of sweet sentiments and a great variety of Christmas images. 

Winnie & Walter Happy Christmas

MFT Stitched Jumbo Fishtail Banner

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder

Pretty Pink Posh 4 mm sequins

World Card Making Day: Color Challenge

The next challenge from Winnie & Walter is a color challenge: mint, aqua, yellow and kraft.  It said baby to me so I went for this quick and easy card using strips of patterned paper.



I have to admit that this idea isn't original to me - I saw it just this week when I was crafting at a friend's house.  She did the weaving with Washi, her card was vertical and it framed a Christmas image - I fell in love with the look.  She doesn't maintain a blog - she does pin cards here but I don't see the card that I based this on.

Winnie & Walter The Big, the Bold and Blessings
Papertrey Ink Hanging Out dies
Lil' Inkers Of the Heart dies
Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
Taylored Expression Toffee CS
MFT Homespun Gingham Paper Pack
MFT Berrylicious CS
SU So Saffron CS and patterns
SU Mint Macaron CS
Ellen Hutson Iridescent Daffodil Sequins
White Hemptique

It's World Cardmaking Day!

I have the most amazing weekend in front of me.  There's not a single male in my house this weekend - I am ALL alone.  I LOVE being alone.  Good food, a bottle of wine (a little bit later!), chick flicks - and cards.  It was totally by luck that this weekend happened on World Cardmaking Day.  I looked at all of the options out there for celebrating the day and decided I was going to make a run at doing every challenge from Winnie & Walter and I'm going to try to do them all today!  Fingers crossed.

Their first challenge is watercoloring.  This challenge called my name because I've been playing with watercolors for the last few weeks and gradually falling in love with what watercolors do.  This was also a good challenge for me because, if I do all of their challenges today, I only have a limited time to do each challenge and I have to start "letting go" in my watercoloring (I really struggle with the lack of control.)

What better way to let the color do what it wants than with a mass of gorgeous fall colors!

This is a great and very easy way to play with watercolors.  Paint on water where you want your colors to go. Dab on some color and let it flow as it will!  My favorite set of watercolors - Sakura Koi Watercolors has some beautiful fall colors. (I know you can create your own fall colors by mixing colors - but it is very handy to have them all ready to go with this watercolor set.) I have to stop chatting - the next challenge is up!  Winnie & Walter The Big, the Bold and Blessings MFT Layered Leaves die Hero Arts White Embossing Powder Pretty Pink Posh sequins Taylored Expressions Sweet Basil Cardstock Stampin' Up Crushed Curry Cardstock Canson XL 140 lb Watercolor Paper Sakura Koi Watercolors Natural Hemp cord by Hemptique

Taylored Expressions Release Day! Simply Stamped - Pinecones

It's here!  All of the new Christmas products from Taylored Expressions are available! Also be sure to head over to the Taylored Expressions blog for a few more sneak peeks and, if you've been leaving comments, see if you are a winner of the giveaways.

I have one more peek for you.

As a lover of everything related to the mountains of Colorado, this next set is near and dear to me. There's a new addition to the Simply Stamped line of layering stamps - this one is Simply Stamped - Pinecones!


This set includes three sizes of layered pinecones (my card only uses the biggest). There are four layers.  Three layers make the pinecone and you could stop there for an incredibly detailed and dimensional pinecone.  The fourth layer allows you to add snow!  (If you are using heat embossing for the snow, be sure to wait until the bottom layers are dry and even then prepare to see stray scraps of white powder.)
Besides the pinecones there are branches and pine boughs and gorgeous sentiments so you can build a truly lovely scene. I pulled out the Little Bits - Snowflake Confetti again. At that point, the card seemed a little blah, so I pulled some of the burgundy sequins from the new Build a Scene - Christmas and I added a Mulled Wine bow that comes with the pinecone die. Love the rich and rustic holiday colors. (BTW - TE's Sweet Basil green cardstock is a truly lovely color - it's become on of my go-to greens which says a lot because I adore greens!!)


It's time to go shopping!  And be sure to check out the TE Blog for a few more peeks and to find out if you have won a prize!
SUPPLY LIST
I used regular white embossing powder on the sentiment.  I used sparkly white powder on the pinecones which gives it a chunky look in the photos, but is wonderfully sparkly in real life.

Simply Stamped - Pinecones	Simply Stamped - Pinecones Dies	TE Sequins - Build a Scene Christmas	Little Bits - Snowflake Confetti
Premium Cardstock - Sweet Basil	Premium Cardstock - Mulled Wine	VersaMark - Watermark Stamp Pad	Zing! Embossing Powder - White Opaque

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Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Going Batty

It's time for a new challenge at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Going Batty.

 listotic.com

Since I am a very literal challenge player - I had to use bats- but I also noticed how those not-so-scary bats looked against the soft colors in the background. I thought this would be a good combo to make a little "spooky" and really "sweet" card!



I hope to see you playing along and going a little batty!! 
SUPPLY LIST
With apologies, when I went to create my supply list, I realized that the Halloween stamps on this card are retired. They are from a series of "Pocketful" stamps from WPlus9. They still have the general pocket set, A Pocketful to use for the pocket and the tag - and they have Valentine add-ons - but I no longer see the Halloween add-on set.

WPlus A Pocketful	WPlus9 A Pocketful Die	MFT Cross-Stitch Rectangle STAX	Authentique Spectrum Series 1
Doodlebug Bumblebee Glitter Sprinkles	Doodlebug Tangerine Glitter Sprinkles	Doodlebug Limeade Glitter Sprinkles

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