Remember Lyra Belacqua?

Lyra is the 11 year old heroine of Philip Pullmans trilogy His Dark Materials. The film is named the Golden Compass. Living in a parallel universe Lyra sets out to rescue children that are held in captivity in the abouts of the North Pole. She has a daemon, a soul animal, that can change shape from ermine to moth to wildcat to a mouse, and who is her constant companion.

This is a story line in a very small nutshell. I set out to make a card that would incorporate all this and also answer to several challenges at the same time. 

I needed stamps, papers and watercolors.

 I started by stamping the background with white ink and the snowfall stamp. I then added blue papers on top and bottom of the sheet. Next I stamped the girl and a mouse, colored them in, then fussy cut them. I punched the stars from gold foil - the color gold a hommage to the name, 'Golden compass'.

As a nod to the scenery, North Pole, I decided this would be a good Christmas greeting to a child, so I stamped the sentiment 'Christmas greetings' and adhered it to the card.

 

Entering this in these challenges that were my inspiration today:

 

Time Out: #321 The Movies

 

Stamps&fun=Creativity: #501 Metal/ Metall - mein Metall is Gold

 

Do-All Creatives: #117 Verwende die Farbe 'Kraft' / Use the color 'kraft'

 

Krafty Chicks: #837 Christmas 

 

A Perfect Time to Craft: #9-2026 open challenge

Remember

 Today I took my inspiration from a sketch, a tic-tac-toe and challenges with prompts. I don't often make vintage-inspired cards, but today was the day.

It all clicked together when I found this stash of design paper with fades and color runs and delicate handwriting. That reminded me of my stash of floral rub-ons from Japan that I have wanted to use. Add to that some shape dies and gems (not in the photo), and the card was taking shape in my mind.

 

I cut two hexagons and mounted them onto the background paper. I then selected a branch with flowers and rubbed it on. A butterfly was added as were three stratetigally placed gems. The sentiment is a strip that has hung in my stash since a decade - finally I found a good place for it!

 

Entering this in these challenges that inspired me today:

Time Out: #319 Pick 2 - My choices were geometric, stitching and floral

 

TGIF: #590 Sketch challenge

 

Little Red Wagon: #871 "We didn't start the fire" - I chose to go with 'history'

Tic-Tac-Toe: #tttc299 My choice is the diagonal: insects -gems-free

 

Kreativ-Tanten: #116 Alles geht / Anything goes 

A Place To Start: #260608 AG / no rectangles optional - I am playing with AG (2nd entry) 

 

Snowdrops

 It was time to take on the pile of paper strips, those that fall on the wayside when one has been cardmaking for some time. I had been binge watching Jennifer McGuire on Youtube and got inspired to do something about my pile. I can only recommend you look her up, if you can't part with good paper strips either.

This was the beginning today: an embossing folder, a die set, markers, and a hexagonal die cut for a project that never felt right.

 

I embossed the background and mounted it. I then die cut the snow drops and colored them in just lightly and placed the hexagon structure behind them.

 

Entering this in these challenges that inspired me today:

I Love Promarkers: # 612 In the pink 

Die Cut Divas: Let's celebrate, white w/a splash of color

Time Out: #319 Pick 2 or more - I picked monochrome- floral - geometric

 

AAA Card Challenge: #320 It starts with S - my word is Snowdrops

And as I was using snippets today I am showing this in Snippets Playground #583

Woodland greetings for your big day

 I had so much fun casing a card two days ago (here) so I wanted to try another one. A couple of challenges are also playing nicely together and I could use the prompts as an inspiration for my card.

The supplies looked like this:

And the project I am casing comes from the most recent SU catalogue (pg. 34-35)

Now, I changed quite a bit and kept much the same. I changed the background to reflect the dark paper seen on the left page. I omitted the flowers as I wanted this to be a woodland scene, but I kept the arrangement, the bottom strip and the bow for the sentiment strip.

I started by embossing an alcohol ink print using black Versafine for the background portions. It never gives me full coverage, so I painted the missing bits over with a dark green marker. I then die cut the foliage in three shades of green and stamped and colored the fern, then fussy cut it.

The sentiment was tied with flax twine. It reads "Many happy returns".

Entering this in these challenges that were my inspiration today:

Time Out Challenges: #318 Mother Nature

 

Inspire. Create. Challenge: #212 CASE a card

 

CYHTP: AG /Celebration (use an embossing folder) Going with 'Celebration' option

Paper Rock Scissors: #19 AG - plenty of paper, scissors for the tail of the sentiment strip

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Happy Birthday 

 

 

Colors for your birthday

 Today's inspirations became a recipe: a square card w/ a non-white base - birthday - blooms - a color palette of four vibrant colors.

These were the supplies: dies, papers and a sentiment stamp.

 

I die-cut every flower twice with different colors, then assembled the flowers with inlays onto the yellow paper. I snitched the layout idea from the color challenge, I thought it was genius.

 

Entering this in these challenges that I was inspired by today:

Seize the Birthday: #331 A square card wit a non-white base 

AAA Card Challenge: #319 Color challenge 

 

Try it on Tuesday: Summer blooms

Time Out: #318 Mother Nature 

 

 

Koi greetings

 I needed a card that was not overly sweet. I love my pinks, but blue is a good option, too. There were some nice challenges to nudge me on. 

My supplies were stamps and inks. And paper. I had a blotched background left over from the positivity card and since it had already been half inked I now inked it fully and then stamped the background on it.

The aperture was cut freehand and propped up with foam tape. (If your eyes detect a stitched line along the edge of it - well, that was made with a pattern wheelie.) The koi fish were stamped in two colors and then fussy cut. The sentiment reads: "A little hello".

 

I am entering this in these wonderful challenges:

Time Out: #317 Water

 

The Paper Funday: #89 Make a splash

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Add some text

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends: July 19. AG 

Happy to you

 I could not believe it. It has been a couple of years since I bought this beautiful die set - and have not once used it. Today a challenge made me think of it and I packed it out. The colors were inspired by another challenge. I used small paper paint chips, too - always a win as I have too many stashed up.

 

This is a birthday card.

 

I am entering this in these inspirational challenges: 

Time Out: #316 Inspiration photo - I was inspired by the open geometric structure

 

Seize the Birthday: #329 Blue, pink and yellow

Snippets Playground: #535 

I am also entering in these AG challenges:

Cupcake Inspirations: #638

 

Paper Rock Scissors: #17 

Enjoying summer

 I will happily confess that summer is not my season. It is hot, it is sticky, swimming brings only temporary relief and there's no point gobbling tons of ice cream, either. Nevertheless, in the spirit of challenging myself, I considered a few challenges that want to see summer or seaside. And I know a friend who would love a card in this vein.

So I gathered my supplies: a die that reminds me of frothy water, and a cat with sun glasses. The stamp is actually meant for Halloween, but I think it fits perfectly for a summer scene, too.

 

The cat definitely needed an ice cream, so I drew a paw and a cone with three scoops, a classic. I then colored the cat in with my pencils. I made the sun umbrella out of two circles, red and white, that I cut strategically and put together again.

 

Entering this in these challenges that I drew my ideas from:

Time Out: #315 Pick 2 - I picked water and ice cream, but summer belongs here, too

 

Just Us Girls: #827 Summer 

The Four Seasons Challenge: AG Summer 

 

Cardz 4 Galz: Seaside or coast 

Shopping Our Stash: #576 Summertime 

 

Life's good

My favorite beverage is a frothy topped latte - something I don't get to enjoy every day, not even every week, it's a special treat when I go to a coffee house.

Inspired by a challenge that asks this question, followed by others that gave me the colorway and details I pulled out a few supplies: papers, twine and an embossing folder. I was debating between hessian and origami triangles (by Nellie Snellen). I decided to go with the origami triangles, given that the base was kraft - I felt that hessian would have brought this into a more rustic territory.

I tore the coffee cup shape out of patterned paper, then added a more colorful twine than I had originally pulled out. The milk froth was fashioned from cake paper (slightly dyed) and the steam was made with rub-ons.

 

Entering this in these serendipitous challenges:

Tic-Tac-Toe: TTTC#294 Bingo - I chose the middle horizontal: patterned paper - free - twine 

Cardz 4 Galz: #277 Browns and green with twine or ribbon

Time Out: #314 A favorite beverage

Shopping Our Stash: #575 Craft-astic 

Double D: Bows 

I spy...

.. wintry bear holding a snowflake.

The background was done with ink smooshing in cold, purply hues that I hoped would suggest a cold and snowy winter. The bear i solding a stamped snowflake, but I adhered a die cut on top of that.

There is a glittery silver net ribbon behind the die cuts. I added glittery dots and painted the snowflake with Wink of Stella.

Entering in these lovely challenges:

Allsorts Challenge: #758 I spy.. something beginning with a B - a bear!

Time Out Challenges: #253 Sparkly 

Lost Coast Challenges: #180 In deep midwinter

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Use craft dies

Cut It Up: #292 Use more than one die - I used four, two size circles, the bear and the snowflake

 

Have a lovely birthday

A floral fabric served as an inspiration for this bold and colorful birthday card. The flowers are cut from paint samples - I love them for their uniform coloring and somewhat glossy finish. The large sentiment has been stamped with white and then embossed with a white embossing powder.

Entering this in the challenges that inspired me today:

AAA Birthday Cards: Game #55, Large sentiment

613 Avenue Create: AG/ Optional: Wet/dry embossing - I chose wet embossing

Cards4 Gals: #212 Embossing wet or dry

Time Out Challenges: #251 Photo inspiration

You can change your destiny

 Fairytale figures are destined to act according to their story - right? Or not? I recently acquired this Little Red Ridinghood stamp second hand.

To show that she can change her destiny I colored the stamped image in non-traditional colors. I also added a huge circle of butterflies that are colored in cheery, friendly happy colors. 

The text is from Dina Wakeley Ledger Paper II: Be the energy you want to attract.

Entering this in the challenges that inspired me:

Time Out Challenges: #242 Inspired by words

Simon Says Monday Challenge: We are going around in circles

Krafty Chicks Challenge: #671 Stamp Act week I

Thank you for your visit!

Have fun

I am forever trying to get rid of my scraps and snippets.The palms are stamped onto the tiniest scrap of green paper that I have been keeping for ages, the "sea" is two strips that were left over from a card base, and so forth, you get the idea. The card was going to be more complicated, with an island, stamped waves and sea shells, but in the end I settled for a cleaner design.

Before I gifted this girl stamp to my niece I quickly made a few impressions for myself for later use. The girl character was supposed to be a pirate and enter a ship, but that ship had no place in this card, it would have become too crowded for my liking. I hope this card still reads funny.

Entering in the challenges that inspired me today:

Papercraft Challenges: #95 Girls Girls Girls

Time Out Challenges: #241 Funny

Snippets Playground: Challenge #457

Just Add Ink: #658 Choose two - can one choose all three? I used scraps, made stripes and added sequins.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Vacation

Thank you for your visit!
 

A study in contrasts

 I just love when challenge prompts complete each other in a beautiful way. Today was one of those occasions. I liked the prompt to study extremes. The inspiration photo of The Card Challenge seemed to point into that direction. And I just love birds. There was a helpful card sketch and the prompt 'spring'. Which all boiled down to this:

I created my sentiment using a TH  sentiment "for everything" (omitting the "thanks") and instead of that I added "there is a season". 

I stamped my favorite flowering branch sideways and added a pink bird (ScrapBerry). I have the contrasts of  color, matte vs. shiny, light vs. dark.

I matted it with dark forest green, which now looks almost black.

This is the finished card: For everything there is a season.

entering in:

Frilly and Funkie: A study in contrasts 

Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenge: #4 With a bird / dragonfly optional (I just went with the bird)

The Card Concept: #173 / inspired by the picture prompt

Freshly Made Sketches:  FMS532 

Time Out Challenges: #212 Spring