Just Because Tree Silhouette Card

 I saw a gorgeous card on Facebook, made by Erin Lee. I wanted to try the same technique myself. 

I cut three circles from a white card front. Everything nests together so it was easy to see where it all fit back together. I used several colours of Distress Oxide inks and blended a background from orange to turquoise down the card front. The circles were arranged together and I blended those in a slightly lighter colour scheme. The circles were placed back into the openings, just slightly overlapping the left edge to allow a tiny bit of white to peek through. The trees were die cut and I rounded the bottom to make them look more realistic. The sentiment was embossed under the trees to finish off the card. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Snowman Duo

 This cute card was made using an old stamp set that has been in my stash forever. I just can't get rid of it because the snowmen are so cute! 

I die cut two stitched borders and offset them to make the snow. The snowmen were stamped and coloured. I stamped several snowflakes using the same colours as I used for the scarves and I added co-ordinating Stickles to each of them. The sentiment was stamped in the top right corner. I added a thin mat and then adhered that to a white card base. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Triple Fold Over Card with Sunflowers

 This fun fold card is very easy to make - it is simply a gatefold card with three cross tabs. 

I used some old autumn papers and dark green cardstock. The sunflowers were stamped, coloured with markers and die cut. I used only parts of the images as each was on a long stem. I brushed the flowers with a gold shimmer brush and added some Liquid Pearls around each. 

Inside the card, I used the same three sunflower images and stamped them along the bottom of the card. They were coloured and I added a sentiment at the top. Easy! 

Enjoy,

Alyson

TSOT 576 - Blessings of Peace

 Welcome to Try Stampin' on Tuesday 576!

It's a horizontal sketch this week and the optional theme (in additional to the sketch) is birds. 

I really struggled with this challenge... I wanted to use a bird but nothing seemed to work. I eventually opted to stamped a bird on dark cardstock and colour it with white pigment ink. The background was embossed with a woodgrain folder and I inked over the lines to bring out the pattern. I used a mint colour to enhance the dark colours on my card. The sentiment was stamped and die cut and I added some silver metallic thread just under that piece. 

Come and join us at TSOT and show us how you interpret this week's sketch. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can't wait to see what you create! 

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 492 - Peace on Earth in Pink

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 492!

It's a horizontal sketch this week - please see the sketch below. 

I stayed very true to the sketch this time.

The green background was embossed with a holly and berry embossing folder. I die cut the grey cardstock with a blanket stitch die. The white background was embossed with a snowflake embossing folder and then lightly inked in green around the location of the flowers. The tag was die cut and I added a black border before stamping the sentiment and adding the flower and leaves at the top. The floral spray was placed at the right side of the tag and a piece of pink twine was tied at the top of the tag. Some silver gems were scattered around the card to finish it off.

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you interpret the sketch shown above. 

You have until Sunday evening to link up your project. 

We can't wait to see what you create!

Enjoy,

Alyson

Red Poinsettias on Circle

 This card idea was based on one that I saw in a Facebook group. I used a different circle die for the centre and chose a traditional Christmas colour scheme. 

I die cut a circle from the card front using a scalloped circle die. Another larger circle was adhered to the back of that opening. The poinsettia flowers and greenery were die cut and I inked the bases of all the pieces. They were arranged on two sides of the circle and a sentiment was stamped at the bottom. I used white paint mixed with water to splatter the front of the card. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Hippo Holiday Slimline Card

 I don't make a lot of "scene' cards but I just love these three Christmas hippos! I wanted to use them together on a card and a slimline card was the perfect size for that. 

The three hippos were stamped, die cut and then coloured. I also stamped and fussy cut some trees. The background was stencilled with clouds and I die cut three lengths of snowbanks with a stitched die. The snowbanks were offset and I added the trees and hippos to create a winter scene. A sentiment was added at the bottom and I added clear Stickles to the trees. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Season of Wonder Wreath Card

 This card ended up being a little busier than I had originally anticipated... 

The wreath was stencilled on white cardstock and I used a light hand to also stencil a flourish pattern around the outside of the wreath. That piece was die cut using a stitched rectangle die so the wreath was partially cut off the left side. I added dark green and red mats before adhering the front to a leaf embossed card base. The sentiment was stamped, die cut and adhered with foam tape. I added some red gems, brushed the berries with red Stickles and brushed the darkest leaves with a clear shimmer brush. 

I am entering this card into the Peace on Earth Christmas challenge. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

CD 515 - Reason to Smile Card

Welcome to Colour Dare Challenge 515!

We have a tic-tac-toe grid for you this week. Choose any row, column or diagonal and use those three colours. You can use any other colours FROM THE GRID as well. 

This is definitely an autumn colour palette... I used the left column (Nectarine, Pine and Sundance) and the bottom row (Sundance, Gold and Paprika) plus black and white.

I used a layering stencil from Gina K. Designs to stencil the floral image using Sundance, Nectarine and Paprika for the flowers. The greenery was stencilled with Pine ink and I just used a lighter hand for the first layer. That piece was trimmed and I adhered that, a houndstooth patterned piece and a thin strip of gold glitter cardstock to a shiny black piece of cardstock. The same black cardstock was used to die cut the sentiment and I stamped the other part of the sentiment on white cardstock. The entire front was adhered to a white card base. I added some black Liquid Pearls to the centre of the flower and Diamond Stickles (clear) to the darkest part of the flower. 

Come and join us at Colour Dare and show us how you interpret this week's challenge. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Half Wreath Mini Slimline Cards

 These two mini slimline cards were created from one stencilled wreath that was cut in half. 

I stencilled the wreath on a larger than usual piece of white cardstock and cut it in half. I also stencilled a flourish patterned around the outside the wreath using a very light hand. The scalloped borders were die cut and the wreath pieces were fit underneath. I added a foiled sentiment to each card, coloured the berries with red Stickles and brushed the darkest leaves with a clear shimmer brush. A few silver gems were added around the images.

I am entering these cards into the Peace on Earth Christmas challenge.

Enjoy,

Alyson

A Little Hi with Inked Flowers

 This is a technique I had not tried before... inking vellum from the back and then die cutting. 

The floral image was embossed in white on vellum and I used distress oxide inks to add ink on the back side. It was hard to see the lines at times and it was even harder not to mix pink and green or to overlap sections. That piece was die cut. I cut a piece of black cardstock slightly smaller than the card base and arranged the image across the centre. The same floral die was used to cut the black cardstock as I wanted a white background behind the flowers. The black end pieces were then embossed with a dotted embossing folder. All the pieces were arranged on the card front and I added a sentiment at the bottom. Some clear dew drops were placed around the card and I added pink and clear Stickles to the flower centres. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

MTC 64 - Sunflower Smiles

 Welcome to Make the Cards Challenge 64!

The challenge this week is to use washi tape on a card. 

Initially, I thought of washi tape on a small roll - the same tape that I often use to hold dies in place. It occurred to me that there is much better washi tape out there now - tape with detailed images that can be die cut. I decide to use a set of washi tape sunflowers for my card. 

I found various patterned papers that were the same colours as the flowers for the four panels. A brown cross piece with a strip of gold glitter paper was added just above the centre line. I adhered the washi tape sunflower images and added a stamped sentiment under one of the leaves. Some gold metallic thread and gold sequins were added to finish off the card. 

Come and join us at Make the Cards and show us how you use washi tape on your card. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can't wait to see what you create! 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Sanded Panel Hummingbird Card

 I saw a card like this on Pinterest - I would love to give credit to the original designer but no name was attached.

The four panels were create by rubbing Distress Oxide inks on white cardstock. Once they were dry, I used sandpaper to rough them up a bit and then trimmed them into strips. Those pieces were layered on a stitched white rectangle. The flower was die cut from inked panels as well and the hummingbird was stamped (layering stamps) and die cut. I added a black border and adhered everything to a piece of paprika cardstock. Some gold gems were added to finish off the card. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

DT 121 - Yuletide Season Poinsettias

 Welcome to Double Trouble Challenge 121!

This week, it's all about dies (or punches) and woodgrain. The small graphic is below - please visit the Double Trouble Challenge site for detailed information. 

I had some leftover die cuts from some Christmas cards that I recently finished and decided they would work well for my card. The background is a piece of woodgrain paper and I lightly inked the edges with a turquoise ink pad. The brown background was die cut and then cut into two pieces. The sentiment was stamped on white and die cut, along with a darker brown circle background. I arranged the poinsettias and other blooms around the sentiment and cut slits in the background pieces to string a ribbon though. A bow was added under the sentiment and I added a glitter gem to each of the flowers. 

Come and join us at Double Trouble and show us your projects with dies or punches. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

I am also linking up my card with the Use Your Stuff challenge (woodgrain). 

We can’t wait to see what you create! 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Rose Flower Card Set

 This clean and simple set of cards was created for a friend who wanted some specific sentiments. The flowers and leaves were stamped (layering stamp) and die cut. After stamping each sentiment toward the top, the white frames were adhered with foam tape. The flowers were adhered with foam tape and I added some black Stickles to the centre of the flowers and black Liquid Pearls around the images. This is a set of 8 - all the flower colours are different. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Christmas Cards - Silver Foiled

 Yesterday's post mentioned a recent day crop that I attended - I worked on a lot of Christmas cards that day. 

This is the collection of silver hot foiled Christmas cards. The sentiments were all silver foiled along with several of the backgrounds. Aside from some metallic thread and gems, these were kept pretty simple.

Enjoy,

Alyson

Christmas Cards - Gold Foiled

 I attended a day crop recently and took a bunch of foiled backgrounds with me to create Christmas cards. Prior to the event, I stamped, stencilled and die cut several sheets of poinsettia images. 

This is the set of cards that I made using gold foiled images and sentiments. I kept them relatively simple without a lot of extras. I did add some metallic thread and gold gems to some of them. The sentiments were all raised with foam tape. 

Enjoy, 

Alyson

Winter Scene

Winter scenes are always so pretty! I can't imagine living in a climate where there is no snow, although we don't always have snow for Christmas. We do get our fair share during the winter months. 

The background of this card was ink blended after masking the moon and a section at the bottom. The snowbank mask was torn before it was temporarily adhered and the moon is just a circle die cut. Once the ink blending was finished, I left the masks in place and splattered the background with white craft paint mixed with water. The moon mask was removed and I lightly blended a bit of blue ink across the top and bottom of the moon. 

The trees were stamped with black pigment ink and embossed, along with the sentiment. In hindsight, I should have placed my tree stamp a bit lower so all the bases would have been on the snowbank... I used a light grey marker to add some shadows under the base of the trees. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Blue Birthday Panel Card

 I found a card like this on Pinterest (made by Karen Dunbrook) and I wanted to try it myself. 

I actually made two of this card style - the first one didn't turn out as well as I had envisioned so this is the second attempt. 

I used alcohol inked patterned paper for the panels. Each panel was folded under at the bottom and I added a piece of heavyweight cardstock to the back of each panel. This helped to separate the sections without using foam tape. The background was die cut with a reverse stitched die to allow the stitching to show around the opening. I also die cut a leaf image and adhered that under the background at the bottom and allowed it to overhang the left side. A sentiment was stamped in the bottom right corner but nothing else was added to this card. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

TSOT 573 - Pine Boughs

 Welcome to Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge 573!

The optional theme this week is to create something inspired by a book. 

I didn't use the optional theme as I am in the middle of making Christmas cards and wanted that to be my focus. 

I die cut several pine boughs and pinecones and inked the bottoms of the pine boughs with the same ink as the paper. I lightly blended light blue ink along the left side of the white panel (although that doesn't show well in the photograph). As per the sketch, the front panel was adhered to three layers of cardstock colours. I stamped a sentiment and added that to the right side. A few dew drops were added to finish off the card. 

Come and join us at TSOT and show us how you interpret this week's sketch. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can't wait to see what you create! 

Enjoy,

Alyson

AH 490 - Merry and Bright Poinsettias

Welcome to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge 490! 

I am heavily into Christmas card making season so I chose to make a Christmas card for this sketch. 

The sentiment piece was lightly inked in two corners and die cut, along with two green borders. That was adhered to a piece of patterned paper with a green mat and then to an embossed card front with a red mat. The poinsettias were stamped, coloured and die cut and adhered in two corners. I brushed the veins of the flowers with a gold shimmer brush and placed a few gold gems around the square panel. 

Come and join us at Atlantic Hearts and show us how you interpret the sketch shown above. 

You have two weeks to link up your project. 

We can't wait to see what you create! 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Distress Oxide Embossed Flower Card Set

 This is another set of cards I made recently. The backgrounds were created using Distress Oxide inks that were splattered with water. Once they were dry, I embossed a large floral image on each. I chose coordinating patterned paper for the strip along the left side and embossed a sentiment in white on black cardstock. There are various sentiments in this set of 10 cards. 

Enjoy,

Alyson

Stencilled Scene Cards

 This set of cards was created using a horizon stencil from SimonSays Stamp. I originally ordered the stencil and then realized I needed the coordinating stamp set to stamp images that were size-appropriate for the backgrounds.

These cards were all CASEd from ones made by Kristina Werner. I wasn't sure where to start with this stencil so it was easiest to try some already made ideas to start. I will be revisiting this stencil and stamp combo again to make more of these neat cards! 

Enjoy,

Alyson