WWC205 - Donna's "All About Holidays" Challenge

I love the "All About Holidays" challenge but decided that I had to get away from Christmas cards this month.  What could be better than making an Easter card, especially since I was dying to use the gorgeous new Sale-a-Bration stamp, Lovely Lattice.

I love the colours I chose for this card, don't you?  My base is the Heavy Whisper White followed by a layer of Calypso Coral and then a layer of Soft Sea Foam.  Before adding the Soft Sea Foam, I ran it through my Big Shot in the Subtle embossing folder and then cut it using the lovely stitched Rectangle framelits.

For the actual image from the Lovely Lattice stamp set, I decided to heat emboss it onto a piece of vellum cardstock with the Silver embossing powder.  Once that dried and cooled, I carefully fussy-cut it out.  Then I used my Calypso Coral, Old Olive, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, and Mint Macaron Stampin' Blends to colour the image from the back of the vellum.  I love the beautiful colours and especially love the look of the coloured vellum.

For the sentiment I turned to the You're Inspiring stamp set because of its size and the pretty Font.  It's stamped with Calypso Coral ink and then cut out with the stitched Oval framelits.  The matte is cut out of Calypso Coral with the Oval framelits.

Remember, you can get the gorgeous Lovely Lattice stamp set free with a qualifying purchase from Stampin' Up! until March 31st.

And let's not forget that the talented Sandie Munro is our Guest Designer this week as well.  Check out her work and the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've also entered this creation in the following challenge:

Stampin' From the Heart #235 - Anything Goes

WWC198 - Gail's "All About Holidays" Challenge

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love those adorable little "House Mouse" critters!  Small wonder that I chose to use this adorable stamp for Gail's "All About Holidays" challenge this week.

Don't you just love that image?  This one is a large stamp called Carousel Ornament, starring the adorable little Monica Mouse.  I love the amount of detail in this stamp!  Because the horse is a Christmas tree ornament, after colouring it using my Watercolour Pencils I added quite a bit of shine.  On the horse's body I added some of the Frost White shimmer ink and on the tail, hoofs and mane, I added some Champagne Mist shimmer ink.  I also added some silver to the pole and the harness using a silver pen.

Although the stamp itself has lots of greenery at the top and right of the image, I decided to add a bit of dimension by cutting several pine twigs from Pear Pizzazz cardstock.  Once they were cut, I added Soft Suede along the centre to make it appear woody and then added some Granny Apple Green to a few of the needles for added interest.  Glued on top of the stamped twigs, you can still see the stamped image but there is a sense of depth to the image.

Since I absolutely love the Silver Foil-Edged cards and envelopes available in the Holiday Catalogue, I cut the image panel to size, allowing for a narrow matte of Poppy Parade.  A tiny sentiment from the Wishing You Well set (also in the Holiday Catalogue), finishes the card off nicely.

I hope you'll check out the awesome creations by the other Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also entered this creation in the following challenges:

House-Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge #280 - Anything Goes

Mod Squad Challenge - Happy H-Owlidays (Use a Critter)

Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge #208 - Christmas Critters

WWC193 - Tristan's "All About Holidays" Challenge

Oh, I love making Holiday cards, don't you?  And this week it's Tristan's "All About Holiday" challenge.  A great time to try out one of the new sets from this year's Holiday Catalogue.

I've been looking forward to using the awesome new Alpine Adventure bundle.  The stamps and Thinlit dies are so perfect for anyone who love the great white outdoors in the winter.  I decided to use the sled this time.  Instead of stamping it, I chose to die-cut it twice.  The first time I cut it from a piece of Real Red cardstock and the second time I cut it from a piece of the beautiful Wood Textures Designer Series paper.  Once I had both die-cuts, I cut the Wood Textures one apart carefully and glued some of the pieces onto the Real Red one, making a wood-topped sled with a painted red metal frame.  Awesome, right?

For my background I took a piece of the Stampin' Up! watercolor paper and scattered a few of the Prussian Blue Brusho crystals onto it.  After spritzing the crystals with some water, I took a broad brush and spread the blue over more of the paper.  Once that dried, I took the evergreen tree stamps from the Rooted in Nature set and stamped several images in the lower portion using Mossy Meadow.  I continued to stamp some more images using only the remaining ink and creating a distant look as the colour faded.  Then I took two narrow pieces of Whisper White cardstock and tore each on the long side in an undulating pattern to emulate snow drifts.  After lightly sponging the torn edge, I glued one down, then the sled at an angle, and then, finally, glued the second one down.

To finish I stamped the sentiment on the lower "snow drift" using Pacific Point ink.  I used a Pacific Point matte for the finished image panel and then adhered the whole on one of the gorgeous Silver Foil edged cards available in the Holiday Catalogue.  Then, in a random pattern,  I glued on five snowflakes cut from Silver Foil with the Seasonal Layers thinlit dies.  With a rhinestone in the centre of each snowflake, my card was complete.

I hope you'll check out the awesome creations by our other Watercooler Artists at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

WWC189 - Heidi's "All About Holidays" Challenge

When I created my card for this challenge I had no idea that the scene could be taken from real life.  That's right.  I have inches of snow on the ground, loaded on the branches of my blue Spruce and burying my poor hanging basket of flowers.  Winter has arrived and we've barely tiptoed into Autumn.

Just for the record, this is my actual view outside my window today.

You can see it didn't take much to be inspired to create Christmas cards today, right?  I only wish I had some cardinals visiting the suet packs hanging in the tree in real life.

I love the stamp I used.  It's one of the Vintage Collection by Heartfelt Creations, Cardinal Bird Feeder stamp set.  The detail and quality of the image made it a joy to colour.  I used my Watercolour Pencils for this as well as my Aqua Painter.  I appear to be addicted to those Watercolour Pencils lately.  But they allow so much lovely layering and let me add details which are more difficult to add with dye-based or alcohol-based markers.

After checking out some images of Cardinals on the internet, I realized that there is a strong hint of orange and gold to their feathers, especially those on their breasts.  I think I've managed to blend the pencils well enough to give that illusion.  I especially loved the added variety I had with my pencils, using the special set Stampin' Up! added for a short time in August.

You'll notice that we have our awesome Guest Designer, Sheri Lee, with us this week.  Expect to see her wonderful cards for the next two weeks while Charlotte Ehrukainen is away on health leave.

I hope you'll be joining us by linking up your awesome creations before Monday, October 1st at 5 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.  To see the wonderful creations by our Watercooler Artists, check out our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.

I've also linked my card up to the following challenges:

Crafting by Designs:  Get Ready for Christmas September edition

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - #409 All Creatures Great and Small

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says Anything Goes

The 12 Months of Christmas Link Up -  Challenge #45 Have a Tweet Christmas

The Merry Christmas Challenge - Sept 15 to Oct 14 Challenge

WWC180 - Marsha's "All About Holidays" Challenge

Woo Hoo!  We have a brand new challenge today!  Marsha is hosting the new "All About Holidays" Challenge this week.  I'm excited because it means I could make a card for any special holiday.  How perfect when Easter and Thanksgiving roll around!

You can see a few of the choices of holidays on the banners shown in the challenge icon.  I've decided that I may as well keep adding to my Christmas stash.  I don't want to be scrambling to make my cards when it's time to write them, after all.

I chose a clean and simple design with my card base in the Heavy Whisper White.  On a regular weight Whisper White I used a circle mask to sponge Bermuda Bay topped with a light coat of Pacific Point.  Then I removed the mask and let my circle dry.  At that point I used my Memento ink to stamp the trees, the reindeer, and the sentiment from the wonderful (and still current) Nature Sings stamp set.

I added a bit of Soft Suede to the reindeer and a bit of Mossy Meadow to the trees, using my Stampin' Markers.  I attached the piece to my base using the Foam Adhesive Strips and then added five sequins.  Simple but I love the results, don't you?

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the other Watercooler Artists at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.   And then I invite you to link up your Holiday creation to our challenge.

I'm also entering my card in the Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #32 - Anything Christmas

as well as in the Crafty Gals Corner Challenge 170 - Christmas in July