SOS 384: 'Tis the Season

Hi, friends. 

This week, Donna is the hostess at Shopping Our Stash and she's given us a good one: 'Tis the Season!  Soooo... winter, winter holidays... what's the season saying to you?

Here's my card:

Supplies:

• Background made with Color Bursts in Prussian Blue and Ultramarine.  I then sprinkled water, and then added some watered-down gesso and hit it with the heat gun so the gesso didn't draw too much of the blue.
• The trees were cut months ago with a Tim Holtz die.  The metallic tree was cut from some packaging.
• Tim's Holiday Quotations from a couple years ago. 
• I added sequins with Glossy Accents *just* to increase the stashiness of this project.
• The gray matting paper was a scrap of textured cardstock.  I rubbed it with bits of sandpaper to show the texture-- of course the images don't do it justice.

Well?  What does "'Tis the Season" mean to you? See you at Shopping Our Stash!

SOS 382: Washi-washi-washi!!!

This week at Shopping Out Stash, Donna is our hostess, and she has chosen the theme WASHI WASHI WASHI!  What a perfect theme for stash-shoppers... who can resist decorative tape?  I mean, it's useful, inexpensive, and oh-so-stashable.  So, let's use it up!

Supplies:

• Candy cane paper from a co-worker... she gave me sheets and sheets, so I've got to use it up!
• Tiny envelope template from Paper Source, a store in Berkeley, CA.
• Once envelopes made, Liquitex gesso was sponged on for a frosty-glow
• Various washi tapes added, including the following brands: K & Company, Scotch, and I *think* the "Oh Happy Day" might be Jane Davenport... and the gold-striped tape is generic, I believe.
• Pre-cut mistletoe sprigs and tree, all Tim Holtz dies
• Tim Holtz Holiday Quotations stickers, specifically used from sheets I had used the least of (in the interest of stash-shopping!)
• Stickles in Xmas Red and Silver

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you are inspired to play with washi tape with us... see you at Shopping Our Stash!

Merry and bright rooster

This is a fun one:

I always love non-traditional colors for holidays!  This card was a fast-make:  I stamped the rooster weeks ago and I cut the sentiments weeks ago also.  Didn't plan for them to be together,  but they were right in a pile on my desk together-- serendipity.

Supplies:

• I carved the rooster stamp based on an image I took of my friend's rooster, Roo-Roo.
• Roo-Roo was stamped on Canson Mix Media paper with Recollections gradient ink,  bought two years ago on clearance at Michaels.
• Tim Holtz holiday sentiment dies cut from scraps

I'll share this at the following challenges:

• Make My Monday: Non-traditional colors
• Cupcake Inspirations:
  

Lassen Thanks

These cards were made with a stamp carved two weeks ago.  It went through four iterations before this stage, and I still may fiddle with it...

Supplies:

• Hand-carved stamp using Speedball rubber
• Ranger Arvhival Ink in Jet Black.
• Jane Davenport watercolors
• Strathmore watercolor paper

I'd like to share them at the following:

• Addicted to Stamps: (This is CAS to me... single stamp and sentiment...)
  
• Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: (...skipping the snark... for now...)
  

A CASE of wine...

Haha, I CASEd a CASE of a wine label!

Here's mine:

Click HERE to see Chris's.  She and I exchanged messages about holiday versions, and she brought up poinsettias... duh.  So I am CASEing hard!

Supplies:

• STAMPlorations poinsettia stamp inked with Distress Embossing Ink and heat embossed with Recollections EP in black
• Sentiment written with a Ranger Letter It pen and heat embossed with Recollections EP in white
• Viva Paper Pearls in Anthracite
• All paper used were scraps!

That's it!

I'll share this at SOS, of course, for our labels challenge (and because I love my team and the spirit of SOS!), and I'll also share with Time Out Challenges.

SOS: Packaging

Hello!  This week at Shopping Our Stash, we are asking crafters to create something based on food or beverage packaging.  I went rummaging through my pantry and decided on a La Croix box.

You know I am not a huge cutesy-stamp person, but I could not resist this lady.  I saw her at the AI booth at the Scrapbook Expo and could not walk past-- even though I had already spent my money...

Supplies:

• AI "Shake your grass" gal along with an AI spring-thingy for the shaking booty...
• Skin colored with Spectrum Noir pens and some mild sunburn added using Jane Davenport cream pastels
• Leafy paper and orange paper from my stash-- brands unknown.  I believe both of these papers came from a coworker... she shared some awesome stuff!  (If you follow my Insta, she is the lady who made the turkey from a book :) ... I am trying to get her to start a craft blog.)
• The circle is a die that Autumn sent a couple years ago.  I use it so often!  Thanks!
• DOx as shown in image to match the La Croix box
• Skirt, lips, and coconuts colored using Rexell Derwent colored pencils
• Multiple colors of Stickles
• Nuvo Drops
• Silver gel pen for glasses
• Fiskars punches used for flowers
• The sentiments were made to look like they were on wooden signs... hey: it was easy and I'd been assembling these cards over a couple days in snippets of time-- I had to get it done!  I used gathered Twigs DI, I think... 
• The sand inside is from a Pebeo tube.  This stuff is so cool... and I seldom use it.  

I would like to also share this cutie at the following challenges:

• Lost Coast: Cute
  
• Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: All that glitters is gold (I used a ton of Stickles...)
• Just Us Girls: 
  

Cheers!

Subtle Deer Birthday

I made this birthday card for our school's beloved custodian.  He is very low-key, and so there was no sentiment.  I organized the site to dress like Dan on the Friday before his birthday (his birthday was on a Saturday)... so on Friday we all wore a white shirt and jeans and a ball cap. He did NOT get it!  Ugh!  But I told him Monday... I said, "Didn't you notice anything funny about the way people dressed on Friday?"  And he said, "Ball cap?"

Here is his card:

Supplies:

• Dina Wakley cotton watercolor paper inked with the following Distress Oxides: Vintage Photo, Evergreen Bough, and Frayed Burlap using an old oak leaf stamp from many, many years ago
• The deer was carved by me like 1.5 years ago and inked with Distress Oxide in Walnut Stain
• Cool wood tape by ARC... I totally hoard this and hardly use it... time to start using it!
• Pre-cut foliage by Tim Holtz... it's from the mini-greenery die set.

I'll share this with International Art & Soul's Wild Animals challenge.

Holiday humor...

I saw this quote on Pinterest and had to use it:

The inside says: "...please resist the urge to brag."  LOLOLOLOL!!!

Supplies:

• Jane Davenport watercolors
• Krylon Archival UV spray to protect the watercolor

That's about it!  I made four of these.  I need to make more so I can bring some to the book shop to sell-- I think people will get a kick out of them!

I'll share this at the following challneges:

• CAS Watercolor:
  
• Make My Monday: Winter foliage
• Happy Little Stampers, Christmas:
  

Chickadee Birthday

This was made for a beloved coworker:

Supplies:

• Paper Trey Ink stamp set.  I had to have it when it came out, and then it was sold out and I had to be put on a waiting list!  I inked it all with various Ranger Archival Inks
• The background was inked with DI in the following colors:Chipped Sapphire, Shaded Lilac, Wild Honey, and Scattered Straw.  I then splattered some DI + water across the card.
• The Cassiopeia constellation was added using Nuvo Drops.

I'll share this with Watercooler Wednesday for their occasions challenge:

Oldometer

Not an original idea of mine, but I saw several versions on Pinterest.  Here is mine:

Supplies:

• Old Basic Grey paper
• Library cards for the white parts
• Happy Little Stampers number stamps that Autumn sent me, thanks! 
• Amy Tangerine letter stamps
• All stamps inked with Ranger Archival in Jet Black
• Various DI used to distress the paper
• 7 Gypsies black masking tape

This is on its way to my dad!

I'd like to share it at the current Cupcake Inspiration challenge:

Birthday Greetings from Devil's Peak

This is a stamp I carved last month of a mountain that I love near Soda Springs, CA, called Devil's Peak.

I will send this card to a friend who is an avid outdoorswoman.  I went to forestry school with her and she is a forester in Oregon now.  She will appreciate this.

Supplies:

• Hand-carved stamp from Speedball rubber
• Stamp inked with Ranger Archival in Jet Black
• Image colored using various Jane Davenport watercolors
• Sentiment also inked using Jane Davenport watercolors

I'll share this at the following challenges:

• Frilly & Funkie: Harvest of Gratitude (sooo... in the F&F post, it says to make a card that shows what with what reflects your thankful heart: this place does!  My fave spot on earth!  Does that count???)
•  Seize the Birthday: CAS
  

Warm fall wishes

Here's another card made with the current SOS Tic-Tac-Toe in mind:

Here's my tic-tac-toe board:

(Diagonal from top left and across from top left)

Supplies:

• Background on Strathmore watercolor paper created using the old leaf stamp described on my other post, heat embossed with Ranger EP in Antique Turquoise
• Background then colored using a variety of Magicals and Color Bursts-- I was in a frenzy and not sure what I used!  
• Turquoise mat in back was just a scrap
• Edges all distressed using my Making Memories distresser
• Mug was doodled as a single-line drawing using a Ranger Perfect Medium Pen on a scrap of watercolor paper.  Perfect Medium Pens are irritating in the same way that the Letter It pens are: no color, so you can't tell what you've drawn!  Irritating.  I heat embossed using Ranger Antique Turquoise EP
• Mug was colored using Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals in Dark Chocolate Truffle and Tiffany Lou Blue, plus a little Color Bursts in Prussian Blue for depth.
• The leaves were all pre-cut by me months ago.  I go on cutting frenzies where I get my box of paper scraps and all my dies and my Big Shot and I sit on my living room floor and cut, cut, cut.  I store the cut pieces in blank CD cases, labeled by cut.  I inked these with Brushed Corduroy DI.
• Tim's Christmas Quotations used as the little greeting.

That's it.

Along with Shopping Our Stash, I'll also share this make at the following challenges:

• Creative Artistes: AG Mixed Media
• Frilly & Funkie: Harvest of Gratitude

SOS 380: Tic-Tac-Toe!

Hello!

I'm the proud hostess at Shopping Our Stash this week and I've come up with a Tic-Tac-Toe (because I always love them... hope you do, too!):

Here's one of the cards I've made to share:

This was made using the top row and the far- right column.

Supplies:

• Main panel was a background made a couple months ago and was just in background stack.  It was made using a Hero Arts stamp heat-embossed with pewter EP onto some inexpensive watercolor paper and colored with Color Bursts in Burnt Orange, Yellow Ochre, and Sepia.  After trimming the edges, I ran Distress Stain in Brushed Pewter aroud it to cover the white paper edges.
• The matting panel was made also a couple months ago on the same type of inexpensive watercolor paper, but this was a scrap that I had gel-printed on using unknown paints... could have been Liquitex... could have been Distress... I just have no recollection of it!
• The leaf is an old, old stamp-- one of the first stamps I think I bought as an adult.  I bought this in Willits, CA, on a trip to visit Humboldt before I attended HSU.  So it must have been back right around the year 2000... hmmm... I know I've used this stamp before, so it would be interesting to see the way I remember the story of this stamp from the past!  Anyway, the stamp was heat-embossed on a  scrap of watercolor paper in pewter and colored with Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals in Dark Chocolate Truffle and Rudolph's Red Nose.  Gorgeous.  Then I fussy-cut it and inked the edges with heavily neglected Distress Stain in Brushed Pewter.
• The "Thanks" was heat-embossed with Pewter as well on a scrap of the gel-printed mat paper.

That is it!  I have some more to share this week-- let's just hope I have time!  The abbreviated weeks always mess me up!

Thanks for stopping by.  I look forward to seeing which way you'll play the tic-tac-toe!

SOS 379: Raining cats and dogs!

This week at Shopping Our Stash, Alica is our hostess and she has chosen the theme: It's Raining Cats and Dogs!  You can go any direction with this from cats, to dogs, to rain!  Or all of the above!

I was shocked to discover that I really don't have a ton of cat, dog, or rain stash... so I struggled... until I thought, "Hmmm...  I think the Christmas Grumplings might have a cat or dog..." And YES!

I love the Grumplings.  The sentiment stamps that come with them are hysterical as well, but I wanted a sentiment as a humorous focal, so I added a favorite winter quote!  I'll just have this card ready for when my winter grumpiness sets in.  (Not a fan of the cold...)

Supplies:

• Taylored Expression Grumpling (set from a few years ago) inked with Ranger Archival in Jet Black on a scrap of 110# cardstock; colored with Spectrum Noir and Prismacolor markers.  Cheeks "blushed" with Jane Davenport cream pastels
• Sentiment panel was a scrap of Strathmore watercolor paper and written with Distress Crayon in Black Soot scribbled on my mat and brushed with water and a small sturdy brush.  Edges of panel inked with DI in Stormy Sky.
• Background paper is Bo Bunny from 2013, given to me recently by a coworker.  Edges distressed with a Making Memories distressing tool (in my opinion, the best on the market) and inked with DI in Stormy Sky as well.
• Garland dies by Elizabeth Craft Designs and cut from a scrap of glittery paper. (I actually cut these a couple weeks ago.)  These were adhered with matte Distress Collage Medium.
• The black cardstock in the back was also scrap.  I was amazed to find it because I never have a piece of black that is this big!  

Hope to see your creations at Shopping Our Stash this week!  

No spring chicken...

This is a birthday card I made for my parents to give my brother:

Inside it says, "You're no spring chicken."  My mom was like, but he's a boy!" and I told her that chickens are a species and the chicken on the front is indeed a rooster.

Supplies:

• Yours truly carved the stamp of one of my friend's roosters.  This is Roo-Roo.  He was inked with Distress Embossing Ink and heat-embossed with Recollection Snow embossing powder.
• Woodgrain is a Heidi Swapp stamp, heat embossed with Ranger EP in Potting Soil on watercolor paper, then colored with DOx in Gathered Twigs/Vintage Photo
• The sentiment on the front is by Tim Holtz
• Inside, I wrote and heat-embossed, "You're no spring chicken."  This was in black.  Thought I had a picture of it... but it's not there.  Sorry.

I'll share this at the following challenges:

• Casual Fridays: 
  
• Sweet Stampin' Humor (the funny sentiment is on the inside...)
• Simon Says Stamp on Monday: Take flight (yes, take flight, chicken, and good luck.)

Holiday watercolor wreaths

I've been wanting to make a bunch of holiday cards... this was a good start:

Supplies:

• Watercolor paper painted with Jane Davenport watercolors and accented with Finetec metallic watercolors.
• Scraps of solid textured cardstock used to mat.

I'll share this with Country View for their current Plantastic challenge.