Deck the Halls

 Today's card is quite simple, and, may I say, quite dainty.

These were my supplies: a small stamp, a die and some ready cut greenery I have received.

I started by stamping, then painting it in with my Gansai Tambi watercolors. They give more coverage than regular watercolors. Then I fussy cut the image. I arranged some greenery around it. Then I die cut the twig out of red card stock and cut it apart for flowers / berries.

 

Entering in these lovely challenges:

Inkspirational: #380 Christmas florals and greenery

Sweet Stamping: Use red 

Merry Little Christmas Challenge Blog: #71 AG Christmas

Aud Sentiments: #343 Stencils and/or Christmas+ Sentiment - I chose Christmas+sentiment 

Love to Craft: #75 AG 

Big congratulations

 Today's card is for a little girl's big birthday. I gathered the supplies for it: a set of shape dies, a block of designer paper, a stamp and markers and a die for the greeting.

 

I started by die cutting the card base and then the designer paper into this inbteresting squared oval shape. Then I stamped the cat, adding a balloon, and colored it. Then I cut the sentiment out of designer paper as well. It reads " Big congratulations".

Entering this in these great challenges that inspired me today:

TGIF: #tgifc 600 Celebrate with us 

 

Aud Sentiments: #342 Fall and/or any shape but rectangle + a Sentiment - I am playing with the 'or' option.

Die Cut Divas: Shaped cards (2nd entry)

Seize the Birthday: #337 Geometric/ Word die/dies

 

Allsorts: #851 Feminine or AG - I am playing with Feminine

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: AG 

and because the stamp is brand new I am showing this at

NBUS: #91 October

 

Fly on!

 I was in the mood for making a word mess today. I have a lot of ancient stamps - and I mean between 10 to 18 years ancient. It was high time to show them some much needed love. 

 

"Of course" I was inspired by a couple of challenges, as always. 

I started by stamping the background with the handwritten text stamp up and down. Then I gessoed over everything, it was simply too busy-looking for my taste, and sprayed some DO over it and let it dry.

The result was nice and subdued, perfect for the bird carrying an envelope. I also added some rub-on flowers to create some interest. The sentiment reads "Thinking of you".

 

This card is playing along in these lovely challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Transport it 

Allsorts:  #858 Sympathy / Thinking of You / Get well 

The Neglected Stuff: September 2026  - This card was made of only neglected materials!

Aud Sentiments: #341 Tags and/or Thinking of You + sentiment 

 

Three - five - eight

 Three colors, five presents, eight twinkles are on my card today. I was inspired to make a Christmas card again. 

These are the supplies I needed. One challenge asks for alcohol inks, but lacking those, I am going to use my alcohol markers on yupo paper. The results are very much the same. I have also used photo paper with good results.

 

I started by treating  a sheet of yupo with green and blue markers. I wanted three distinct colors with as little overlap as possible. I then backed my sheet with regular paper and cut the gifts and their bows.

 

I mounted them in a formation inspired by a sketch (see below), stamped and heat embossed the sentiment ("Merry Christmas") and attached it. Lastly I added the red twinkies. 

Sorry about the photo! The mornings are not as bright as in summer. What's dark blue now looks black... I might re-shoot this.

Entering this in the challenges that were y inspiration today:

Freshly Made Sketches: #751 

 

Aud Sentiments Challenge: #340 Alcohol inks and/or Summer + a Sentiment

Passion For Markers: #852 Ribbons and/or bows 

Sparkles Christmas Challenge: #187 Clean and simple

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Lots of layers 

 

Apple thief

 Again I cherry picked five challenges that I wanted to combine in one card. It all started with the 'neglected stuff'  (this challenge is such a good reminder to use what we haven't used for some time!). 

 "Good enough to eat" made me think of my apple thief stamp that I used last back in 2024, the call for alcohol inks reminded me to pull out my block of alcohol paper prints (as I don't own any inks this is a great alternative), the call for 'no rectangles' inspired me to pull out my somewhat weirdly shaped, but beautiful dies and 'layer it up' provided a gentle nudge to dig out those paper doilies that I really want to use up, and finally, the mere existence of the Neglected Stuff challenge  made me grab the very neglected small tag from a sheet that I bought - and used - back in the '00s (gasp!).

 

 I started by cutting the background out of alcohol ink paper. Then I stamped the apple thief and colored it in with GT watercolors and mounted it with foam strips it on half a doily. The small tag found its place, too. The sentiment reads: "From heart".

 

Entering this in these lovely challenges that inspired me today: 

 Papercraft challenges: #132 Good enough to eat

Aud Sentiments: #340 Alcohol inks and/or summer+ sentiment - I am going with alcohol inks+sentiment

A Place To Start: AG, but No rectangles 

The Neglected Stuff: August AG - my neglected items are the stamp, the doily and the tag (2nd entry of 3)

Unicorn Challenge: #123 Layer it Up 

Where the wind takes you

Monochromatic is always a challenge I like. I am so glad these challenges exist and every once in a while there is a call for monochrome.

Today I wanted to go pink. There are so many pretty shades from pale to dark. I was also drawn to a sketch and thought it would be fun to use my irregular circle dies for that so the result would be a bit more interesting. I used the medium and small for this.

The ethereal dragonflies and butterflies were stamped and then colored in with pink markers. I placed the gelli print behind the circles and raised the surface a bit to create some depth.

I found a great sentiment in my stash "Go where the wind takes you". A few spritzers round up the picture.

 

Entering this in the challenges that I implemented:

Aud Sentiments: Monochrome

I Spy with my Little Eye: #37 Monochrome

Freshly Made Sketches: #739 

A Cut Above: Anything die-cut 

Die Cut Divas: Anything die-cut 

Gnome greetings

When you have a good idea you better make the most of it. Yesterday I made a magical Christmas card, today I needed a male greeting card - so I thought: what if I used the same idea, but changed up things a bit?

Here's what I changed. Instead of the ballerina cat I stamped a friendly figure which I then dressed up to be a Christmas gnome. Instead of using a stencil for falling snow I used an embossing folder with fir boughs. Instead of stamping the sentiment I hand wrote it.

What stayed the same: The general layout and the use of greenery.

I used my markers to color everything, and the metallic dots are both silver and gold. I love to use mixed metals in my work whenever possible.

Entering in these challenges that served as my inspiration and guideline:

613 Avenue Create: AG/ twist: any winter holiday - I go with this option

Aud Sentiments Challenge: Winter/New Year + embossing folder

Cardz 4 Gyuz: Elves or gnomes

Colorful Options: Silver and gold

Passion for Markers: #719 Add a sentiment 

Girlz Make Guyz Cards: AG male card (alles mag mannenkaart)

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