Handmade Hydrangea-Like Flowers

It seems like a long time since my last post, but it's only been about a week. I've been very busy with non-crafting projects, but this morning when I saw the handmade flower challenge at Less is More, I just had to play along. I started by inking up a small flower stamp. I repeatedly stamped the image keeping the stamped images close together. I did this until I felt like the combined images looked somewhat like the shape of a Hydrangea. I created two of these images. Then I used ink to shade between each flower.  To create the leaves, I drew in the leaves, making it look like the leaves were behind part of the flowers and colored them in with colored pencils.  Next I fussy cut around the flowers and leaves.  I slightly overlapped the leaves from the two flowers and adhered the flowers to a white cardbase.  I finished by stamping Happy Birthday int the lower corner.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections, Ink: Studio G, Colored Pencil: Crayola, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Stamp: Stampin' Up (sentiment), flower: Studio G

Festive Snowmen

The color challenge at Simply Less is More is RED & GREEN. I started with the snowman, added the festive green and red scarves and detail with a white gel pen.I adhered them to a frame with an oval center and added white punched snowflakes here and there.  

Supplies:
Cardbase/cardstock: Paper Studios (brown, green and red cardstock are pieces from my scrap stash)
Punches: Martha Stewart, snowman, Emagination and Tonic Studios, snowflakes
Marker: Bic Mark It
Colored pencils: Crayola
Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives Foam Tape, Scotch Advanced Tape Glide, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Season's Greetings

This card was inspired by the Glamour & Glitz challenge over at Simply Less is More.  My handmade ornament was cut from glittered paper. I added metallic trim, gems and a few bands of glitter.

Supplies:
Cardbase: DCWV
Cardstock: green: scrap pieces, red: MME I Believe
Punch: Ek Success Tree, Letters: Oriental Trading Punches
Trim: Offray
Metallic Paper ?
Gems: Studio G
Glitter: Gary M Burlin & Co
Adhesive: Scapbook Adhesives Crafty Foam Tape, Scotch Quick Dry

Sewing Challenge

Here's a card with sewn accents for the sewing challenge over at Less is More . I am also submitting it for the Back in Black challenge at Cas-ual Fridays.To make this card I started with a black card base and used my sewing machine to stitch gold leaves and stems on it.  On a separate piece of black cardstock, I sewed the gold petals (in a straight line), detached them from the card stock, separated them into sets of two and laid them out in a flower shape.  Around the outside of the card, I used  a gold marker to create faux stitching.  I finished the card by adding a gold piece of patterned paper to the inside for recording a message.

"3" Mushrooms

I had a blast making these cards for the challenge at Simply Less is More. The challenge is 3 of anything on a single layer card. Creating a single layer card is a REAL challenge for me because I have very few stamps. So today, I decided to make my own stamps. I used a piece of craft foam and cut it into the shape of a mushroom. Then I cut the shape into pieces, adhered them to an acrylic block and stamped away. I added additional color with colored pencils and a white-out pen.   I used a black marker to write the sentiment.I am sharing my "trial card" as well. It is a rectangle rather than a square. I couldn't decide which shape I liked best. The following is a photo of my handmade stamp pieces:

  

Hope you are having a terrific week! Thanks for stopping by!

Working with Gold Leaf Foil

To create this card for the "Something Shiny" challenge at Less is More. I reached for my Mona Lisa Gold Leaf.  I am just learning how to work with it. I started by dry embossing the design  on black cardstock and then used a  paint brush to apply the Mona Lisa adhesive.  After letting it dry to a tacky state, I applied the gold leaf.  This is a challenging medium for me because it is hard to control and keep the lines clean.  I did okay with this design, but am eager to continue working with the gold leaf to polish my skill.  In addition to the gold leaf, I used foil paper and gold brads.   If  anyone happen to know of any great resources or videos about working with gold leaf, I would really appreciate it if you shared them with me.

Thanks for coming by the blog!