Cardinals in the Snow

As much as I complain about winter, one thing that is pure joy at this time of year is watching the birds at our feeders.  In the last few years it seems like there aren't as many cardinals as in past years, but when we get a snow, then they appear, almost always in pairs, and 3 or 4 pairs at a time!  They are gorgeous at this time of year, all the redder against the snow!

So I decided to make a card to recreate those times.

supplies: colored cardstock, white glitter cardstock, a snowflake embossing folder, rubbed with white ink,  Spellbnders Tweet Cardinal and branch from Sweet Birds on a Branch, Simon Says Stamp Four Seasons die and stamped Winnie & Walter Big Bold Seasons sentiment, several small snowflake dies

What's your favorite bird to see at this time of year?  I love the chickadees and woodpeckers.

Woodlbock Wednesday

OOPS I'm a week early here!  The challenge is NEXT Wednesday, Dec 31.  I'm still sharing today, as I have a blog post scheduled for then. Sorry for the mixup this may cause!

Here's my final card for this year for Amy's Woodblock Wednesday.  I chose a lovely Memory Box one called Peace Collage and accessorized it with some Tim Holtz goodies and a new cardinal die from Simon Says Stamp.

supplies: colored cardstock, Memory Box Peace Collage, embossed in white, Tim Holtz Funky Wreath, Mini Holiday Greens, Simon Beautiful Cardinal, 3 snowflake dies

You can see more cards using woodblock stamps at Amy's blog.  They generally come on the last Wednesday of each month.

 Thanks for stopping by, and I wish you a Merry Christmas!

Winston

About a month ago, around Veteran's Day, we got our first snow.  Big fluffy flakes that stuck to the roof of the house, but not much else.  I took that as a sign to play with Tim Holtz's Colorize Winston.  He's been around awhile, but is new to me this fall.

supplies: colored cardstocks, a snowflake dp, Tim Holtz Winston, Colorize dies and (retired) Tree Line die, Lawn Fawn Build a Snowman bird, Spellbinders Sending Joy Sentiments press plate/die set, red glimmer foil, adhesive foam squares

I first constructed Winston.  He's the largest snowman I have, and he takes up a good area on my A2 card, so I needed a smallish sentiment for this card.  I ended up attaching it to the bottom of Winston before I lifted him above the background

For the background, I cut out the treeline and trimmed it to fit, and tore a piece of white cardstock for the bottom half of my card, and attached them to my card base along with the snowy design paper.   And I always love a little cardinal friend for my snowmen, and this Lawn Fawn one was a good size for him.

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Here he is as an ornament on this year's tree.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Country Christmas

 Annie Williams has a new collection being released today; it's called Country Christmas.  Here's a card I made using the Country Snowman dies.  Annie gave her snowman a bit of a cowboy feel - how fun!

supplies: white, kraft, and colored cardstock, Country Snowman dies, sentiment from A Merry Little Christmas glimmer plate/die set, red glimmer foil, snowflake embossing folder, adhesive foam squares

Isn't the bunny cute?  Annie showed the bird feeder full of seeds, and I followed suit, using markers to simulate them.  There's also a broom for the snowman to hold, which I didn't use this time.

The rest of the Country Christmas Collection is just as cute, with dies for a rocking chair and teddy bear, horse-drawn wagon, a barn, a big star, an embossing folder, and a sentiment set.  

I thoroughly enjoyed putting together this little scene, especially during this hot spell we've been having!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Spellbinders Club Kits for July: Mugs, Mittens, and Sweater Hugs

 The July Club Kits from Spellbinders are now available for new subscribers, through July 27!  The theme this month is all about winter: Mugs, Mittens, and Sweater Hugs.

My first card today features the Large Dies, Mugs and Mittens, and the 3D embossing folder, Starry Snowfall.

supplies: red, white, green, and kraft cardstock, vellum, Mugs and Mittens dies, Starry Snowfall 3D embossing folder, adhesive foam squares

The dies are a 22-piece set, and include a tiny snowman and a Santa face that fits in the cocoa cup, too.  The "Warm Cocoa Wishes" sentiment that you see here is also included.  I especially like that we get 2 curvy dies to help us make the steam coming from the mug - I used vellum to make mine.  

I used the mittens and the large snowflake from the large die set along with the 4-piece stencils for this month called Warm & Woven for my next card.

supplies: white, pinks, and mint cardstock, silver glitter cardstock, Warm & Woven stencils, pink and mint inks, Mugs & Mittens dies, sentiment/die from Stay Snuggly, adhesive foam squares

There's also a 5th stencil included, which makes a knit pattern, to be used all on its own. 

And finally, here is the BetterPress kit called Festive Press, and the Caboodle die: Ginger Sip. 

supplies: white, kraft, and red cardstock, silver glitter cardstock, Festive Press BetterPress plate, red ink, Ginger Sip Caboodle dies, sentiment from Stay Snuggly, adhesive foam squares

I didn't use the mug elements this time to show you that all of these dies can stand alone without the handles.  And there are 2 sentiments included in the BetterPress Kit, but I liked this one from the Clear Stamps and Dies better for this particular card.

You can look HERE for information on Spellbinders Clubs.  Each is available for new subscribers only from the 6th until the 27th of each month.  If you click on my links under each card, you can see the specifics of each product.  You can subscribe to each of our 10 kits separately, (and you can "unjoin" a subscription at any time without any penalty), or you can get them all, plus a free bonus item each month, and save 60% by choosing the Deluxe Caboodle!  

July Spellbinders Club Kits: Mugs, Mittens, and Sweater Hugs!

The Spellbinders Club Kits for July are now available for new subscribers!  This month's theme is Mugs, Mittens, and Sweater Hugs.

The small dies of the month are called Cocoa Greetings, and consist of 18 dies to make some cute mugs.  To begin this month, I made up 3 mugs which you will see being used today and in the next few days with various backgrounds.  I thought I'd show you them all together first.

supplies: Cocoa Greetings dies

As you can see, their hats can double as whipped cream dollops!  There's also a snowflake die in this set.

My first card mixes the Stitching Kit, Frosted Stitch, with the little deer mug above, and the sentiment is from the Glimmer set.

supplies: white, cream, pale peachy pinks, tan, and black cardstock, Frosted Stitch, 3 strands of white embroidery floss, Cocoa Greetings dies, Arctic Glimmer sentiment, silver slimmer foil, adhesive pearls, adhesive foam squares

The deer mug was my favorite of the 3, so I chose these pale peachy-pinks and white for my stitched card to use as a background with it.  It is a really lovely design.  Here it is all alone before I added the mug.  I especially like the 6 dainty snowflakes in the center!  I made this into a shaped card by cutting an extra white shaped base, scoring it about an inch down from the top, then securing that to my stitched panel with strong 1/8" adhesive tape.

supplies: pale peach and white cardstock, Frosted Stitch dies, 3 strands of white embroidery floss, adhesive pearls to match

Next I mixed the Santa mug with the Glimmer kit, Arctic Glimmer, and a sentiment from the Stamps and Dies: Stay Snuggly.

supplies: colored cardstock, Cocoa Greetings Santa Mug, Arctic Glimmer glimmer plate and silver glimmer foil, sentiment from Stay Snuggly stamp/die, adhesive foam square

The Clear Stamps/Dies this month are sentiments to fit this month's theme, plus various snowflakes.  This sentiment is one of the larger ones.  Silver glimmer foil is included in this month's Glimmer kit, and enhances the snowflakes nicely. 

And finally, here is the Penguin mug, along with the Embossing Folder, Frosted Stitch, with another sentiment from the Glimmer kit.

supplies: colored cardstock, Cocoa Greetings Penguin Mug, Frosted Stitch embossing folder, sentiment from Arctic Glimmer 

I'll be back in a few days with the rest of my cards from this new release.

You can look HERE for information on Spellbinders Clubs.  Each is available for new subscribers only from the 6th until the 27th of each month.  If you click on my links under each card, you can see the specifics of each product.  You can subscribe to each of our 10 kits separately, (and you can "unjoin" a subscription at any time without any penalty), or you can get them all, plus a free bonus item each month, and save 60% by choosing the Deluxe Caboodle!

Woodblock Wednesday!

 Here's my card for this month's Woodblock Wednesday at Amy's blog.  Choosing a snowman seemed right to wind up my mini snowman series this month.

supplies: white and aqua cardstock, 2002 Anita's Sugarloaf, Inc snowman stamp, bird from (retired) MFT Tweet Holidays, sentiment from Simon Snow Love stamp set, Simon Stitched Rectangle die, Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle die

This stamp isn't labelled very well, just with a peel-off sticker that says "Anita's Sugarloaf, Inc., Lithonia, GA", with a 2002 date.  I got it at a local craft store here called Pat Catan's, which has since sadly closed its doors.  They carried lots of woodblocks with the name Anita's on them.

I wanted a flash of red, so I stamped and fussy-cut this adorable little bird from a favorite MFT clear set.  I like the font of the Simon sentiment, too!

You can see all the other entries at Amy's blog HERE.

More Snow Friends

Another snowman card today, this time featuring a retired set from Art Impressions and a new (to me) heart stencil.

supplies: white and soft navy cardstock, Art Impressions (retired) Sparkle & Cheer clear set, Taylored Expressions Rotating Hearts stencil, Pink Fresh Studio Morning Sky blue inks, Spellbinders Perfect Touch die

The hearts stencil is just one that you turn 90 degrees 4 times, changing inks as you go.  I decided to do it in blues for its first outing.  The snowman and friends is part of a set that features snowmen, and my sentiment is part of that set, too.  

It's cuteness overload with these little creatures, don't you think?  Sure to bring a smile!

Snowy

 Here's everyone's old favorite snowman from Penny Black!  He's a woodblock, dated 2008.  This time I made a (mostly) 1-layer card, using masking and paper-piecing.

supplies: white cardstock, red and white gingham dp, Penny Black Snowy woodblock, trees from (retired) Mark's Finest Papers All is Calm stamp set, sentiment from Simon Snow Love, unknown (retired) snowflake embossing folder

I stamped Snowy on a white panel, then masked him to overstamp the tree stamp two times.  Then I added minimal colors with markers and paper-pieced his scarf and hat.  Next I stamped my sentiment in red, and then ran the entire panel through a snowflake embossing folder.

How is your January going?  It's winter here, for sure!

Winter Scape

 We've had several days of snow with frigid temperatures so that it doesn't melt, and keeps accumulating.  Recently we also had a full moon and looking outside at night was breathtaking.  

I've been wanting to do a winter version of The Greetery's Rolling Hills Countryside suite, and today was the day!  Here's what I came up with.

supplies: white, dark green, medium grey, and pale yellow cardstock, The Greetery Rolling Hills stencils and a pale blue ink, Countryside and Rolling Hills Tree dies, circle die as a mask, dark blue ink, sentiment from Simon Snow Love

I used only the striped stencils this time, and then used the topmost one as a guide to make a mask so that I could color in the night sky, adding a circle mask for the moon.  Then I simply added my die-cut trees and houses and stamped my message.  

You can see a spring version using these supplies HERE, and a fall version HERE.  

What is your winter doing where you live?

Timeless Trees

  Here are some more of the other products in the Simon Hurley Timeless Trees release. 

The Classic Christmas Tree set has a gorgeous large tree, various ornaments and stars to decorate it with, a tree stand, and some presents, complete with ribbons.  

supplies: cream, krafts, greens, and red cardstock, Classic Christmas Tree dies, Holly Flourish embossing folder, Christmas Sentiments BetterPress Plate/die

This pretty tree is made up of a 3 layers, for lots of interest.  I put my little scene against an older embossing folder background, and used a BetterPress sentiment for my card this time.

And the Whimsical Bottlebrush Trees has 2 different trees that you can layer to make as short or as tall as you like!

supplies: white, kraft, teals, and red cardstock, Whimsical Bottlebrush Trees, Holiday Background Panel, silver glimmer foil, Heartfelt Scallop die, Handwritten Holiday Sentiment die, glue and prisma glitter 

After constructing my trees, I put tiny streams of glue along the branches and then dipped them into glitter for a snowy feeling.  Then I placed them on a backdrop of silver glimmered stars/snowflakes.  The sentiment is also from Simon Hurley, released earlier this year

This collection also includes embossing folders, one of which you'll be seeing soon, and some large ornament dies which can be layered.

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Lisa Horton's Essential Holiday Collection: Nested Tree Frames and Holiday Background Panels

 I have a couple of cards today using some of the new releases from Lisa Horton's Essential Holiday Collection.

supplies: white, Audrey Blue, black and other colored cardstock, Lisa Horton Nested Tree Frame dies, Holiday Background Panel press plate, Moondust glimmer hot foil, Essential Tags dies, Christmas Wreath Add-ons Snowman dies, Handwritten Holiday Sentiment dies, baker's twine bow, adhesive foam squares

I started with the Holiday Background press plates.  There are 4 separate ones in the package; I chose the snowflake one and foiled it with Moondust glimmer foil.  Then I used the largest of the stitched rectangles in the Tree Frame set to cut it out.  That was glued to the Tree Frame, and the whole thing was centered on my card front.  Then I constructed my snowman and used a chopped tag from the Essential Tags set to carry my sentiment.

Here's another card that uses almost everything in the Nested Tree Frame set; I just kept on layering!

supplies: white, kraft, 3 green, and pale aqua cardstock, Nested Tree Frame dies, Holiday Background Panels falling snow panel press plate, Opal glimmer hot foil, Sending Joy Sentiments press plate, Green glimmer hot foil, tiny clear gems

I really like the idea of the small rectangle backgrounds in the BetterPress set - it's nice to have all these options that fit inside this interesting frame!  Here I used opal glimmer hot foil and the falling snow panel on a pale aqua cardstock.

I'll be back again in a few days with another creation using other new goodies from this collection!

Simon Hurley Let It Snow Collection!

 I was fortunate enough to get to play with a few sets from this month's new Simon Hurley Let It Snow collection!

supplies: black, white, red, green, aqua, orange, pink cardstock, Playful Penguins dies, Frozen Flurries cover plate, Handwritten Holiday Sentiments, tiny white pom-poms, adhesive foam squares

This is such a fun collection!  I made just 2 of the 3 different penguins, and didn't even use some of the accessories that are included, like reindeer horns and a Rudolph nose, a gift package, and more hats.  The sentiment set includes 16 different word dies with matching shadows that you can use to make your own greeting.  And the Frozen Flurries is a cover plate that can be used whole as I did, or you can pick out the individual flakes to make your own arrangement.  As you can see, you have a nice selection of flakes in all sizes!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope my card helped to cool you down from this summer heat!

A Woodland Scene

 Here's a new BetterPress plate/die set that I couldn't wait to get home to play with!  I've always been enamored with woodland scenes, and now I have another way to make them!

supplies: white, red, kraft, and cream cardstock, Birch Trees & Friends press plate, black, grey and cement inks, sentiment from All Seasons Spring press plate/die set

This set is one of those that comes with a registration template that helps you to place the various birch trees and use different colors of inks on them.  This was my first time using a registration template, and it was an easy process!  After finishing pressing the trees, I tore a scrap of white cardstock for the snowy ground, and then added my sweet fawn, birds, and my sentiment.

You'll be seeing lots more of this in the coming months!

Hope your day is going well - thanks so much for stopping by!

Dancin' Christmas Friends - Klondike the Moose!

 I have a card today from a new collection this month, Dancin' Christmas Friends.  

supplies: white, krafts, and teals cardstock, Dancin' Moose Klondike, All Seasons Winter press plate/die set, Teal glimmer hot foil, Frozen Flurries die

I think Klondike is so fun, and I plan to make him into ornaments to give to our grands - wouldn't it be fun to make a bunch of these with sweaters of different colors, and various lengths of his legs?  At his largest he can be about 6" tall.

This time I made a slim-line card, added the snowflakes from the Frozen Flurries cover plate die, and a little foiled sentiment.

This Dancin' Christmas Friends collection has a fun variety of creatures in it - do check it out!  They all have swinging legs so that they can dance!

Four Seasons Winter

 Spellbinders has released an exclusive collection called All Seasons.  It consists of a set of dies and shadow dies of the names of the four seasons, plus 4 press plates sets with smaller sentiments for each season.  Today I'm using the Winter ones.

supplies: white, aqua, and silver glitter cardstock, various strips of aqua/snowflake patterned papers, Four Seasons dies, All Seasons Winter betterpress plate and die set, teal glimmer hot foil, various small snowflake dies

I cut my paper scraps into strips, and then used them to cover an A2 panel, leaving a tiny border between the strips.  Then I simply foiled the press plate sentiment, cut out the large word dies and some snowflakes, and put everything together. 

I'll share some of the other seasons with you soon!  Thanks for stopping by!

Spellbinders July Club Kits!

 The Spellbinders Club Kits are available now for new subscribers, and the theme is Christmas in July!!

The Stencil of the Month is Sprigs and Bow, a group of 5 stencils with a mask for the bow.  Here's my card.

supplies: white cardstock, Sprigs and Bow stencils, Altenew Fuschia and Magenta, Teal Cave and Galactic Stream inks, blending brushes, sentiment from Christmas Magic Sentiments

I added a tag with one of the sentiments from this month's Clear Stamp of the Month: Christmas Magic Sentiments - I like the font on this!  After I'd done all my stencilling, I secured the stencil with the bow details back to my panel, and ran it through my Platinum 6 machine to emboss it to give it some dimension.

Next up is the adorable Large Dies of the Month: Snowcapped Holidays.  I paired these dies with the 3D folder, Pine Cones and Berries, and another of the sentiments from the Stamps and Dies of the Month, Christmas Magic Sentiments.  This card is 5 X 7.  The birdhouse would fit onto an A2 card, but it would be a tight squeeze to get the branch on that size too, at the same time.

supplies: white, pale aqua, greens, kraft, brown, reds, yellow, grey, and black cardstock, Snowcapped Holidays dies, Pine Cones & Berries 3D embossing folder, sentiments from Christmas Magic Sentiments, gold embossing powder

I like that the birdhouse die also cuts a woodgrain texture!

Since I covered up most of the embossing folder, I made another card with it, and used another sentiment from the stamp and die set.

supplies: white and red cardstock, Pine Cones & Berries 3D embossing folder, markers to color, sentiment from Christmas Magic Sentiments  and matching die

Here is the Die of the Month kit: Skating into the Holidays.  When I saw these ice skates, I decided to recreate the skates I had; they were pale blue trimmed in white fur!  I backed them with the Embossing folder of the month: Hexi Snowflakes.  I'm back to A2 size again for this one.

supplies: white, blues, pinks, greens, cream, and silver foil cardstock, Skating into the Holidays dies, Hexi Snowflake embossing folder

It amazes me how the designer of these dies get so much detail into them!  The laces and bow on the skates add so much to them!  I decided to not use a sentiment on the front of this card.

My next cards are very simply compared to all the bits and pieces of the ones above!  July's Glimmer Kit is called Joyful Holly, and one of the Caboodle items is a stencil to color in the holly.

supplies: cream and gold foil cardstock, Joyful Holly glimmer plates, gold glimmer foil, Joyful Holiday stencil, Sweet Leaf and Coral Berry mini ink cubes, blending brushes, Hemstitched Rectangle die

And finally, the Stitching Dies of the Month, Stitched All Wrapped Up.  I love "brown paper packages", so I used kraft as my background.

supplies: kraft, Schoolhouse Red and Lipstick Red cardstock, All Wrapped Up Stitching dies,  Diamant Gold metallic thread,  Joyful Christmas Sentiments glimmer plate/die,  red glimmer foil

This design doesn't need much of a sentiment, so I used a reversed foiled one that I had in my stash from last year.

You can look HERE for information on Spellbinders Clubs.  Each is available for new subscribers only from the 6th until the 27th of each month.  If you click on my links under each card, you can see the specifics of each product.  You can subscribe to each of our 10 kits separately, (and you can "unjoin" a subscription at any time without any penalty), or you can get them all, plus TWO free bonus items this month, and save 60% by choosing the Deluxe Caboodle!

Cool Crew

Happy New Year! 

I've been eyeing this Cool Crew die set from Taylored Expressions for a year, and finally brought it home thanks to a nice Black Friday sale last year!  I thought they would be a fun addition to my snowman collection; the first ones done in paper!  And I know the GRANDS will enjoy dressing them, too.

These will look cute on a tree, nestled in the branches, or just set on a mantel or shelf.  I made a 2nd group to give to our Grands this year.  The tree in the background is made from Concord & 9th Take a Bough dies, with Impression Obsession cardinals added to the branches.

supplies: white, black, and colored cardstock, Taylored Expressions Cool Crew dies

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Winter Wishes

This Snowy Birdhouse was one of my favorites last year, but I was amazed that I only used it twice!  We need to fix that, so here is a card that mixes that 3D embossing folder with a bird from another. Friendly Birds.  

supplies: white and Schoolhouse Red cardstock, Simon Says Stamp Snowy Birdhouse and Friendly Birds 3D embossing folders and matching dies, markers to color details, tumbled glass distress ink for background, various small snowflake dies, sentiment from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Christmas 2023 sticker book, white gelly-roll pen for falling snow

I attempted to make a little chickadee visiting my birdhouse, as they are frequent visitors at our feeders in the winter - such perky little creatures!

Tim's Winter Wishes sticker was a happy accident as my sentiment, but doesn't it fit perfectly?!