Watercolor cards...

So, the Monday before Thanksgiving, I spent the day with Susan Hiles, who lives north of me here in New Jersey. She taught me some free hand water-coloring. THIS was the first thing we did. It was so fun! I was amazed at how pretty it turned out. But wait, look below...

This week, I turned it into THIS card. OMG! I am SOOOOOO blown away!

This one had a slight learning curve. I kept wanting to go the wrong way with the points of the holly. I'm sure that makes absolutely no sense... LOL. But, look below for what happened with this...

DA BOMB!! Those Taylored Expressions strip sentiments work wonders to make magic. And, of course, a stitched die-cut and extra colored layers, sequins and Nuvo drops...

This one, as doing it, reminded me of something my grandmother had painted on porcelain. When I got home, I took a picture of my work next to hers, which btw, has a date of 1950 on the back. All her porcelain I had just acquired when my mother downsized this past April. NOW, look what I did with this piece...

OH MY GOD!!! This is so damn pretty! These three cards will dwell in my Studio for the next year. At that time, I may be tired of looking at them and I'll find an appropriate recepient. It would definitely have to be someone who would hold on to and cherish it... :)

Update: 12-5-20 Another piece I did with Susan but didn't like. However, in a challenge in Seongsook's in August, this worked!

Update: 12-13-21 I think this is the last piece from this event that was turned into a card. Funny story though, again another challenge in Seongsook's in August of this year and I got SOOO excited that I could create a WATERCOLOR card with this that I didn't notice that the rest of the challenge was for it to be a BIRTHDAY card. Oh well, my bad. BUT, off it went to Susan for her Christmas card this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS PEEPS!! And thank you for following me this past year...

Ink Pad Class...

 I drove into New York City last night to take a class at the Ink Pad. I know what you're thinking, "YOU DROVE INTO NEW YORK CITY?!!!!" Yeah, I'm nuts...

 All of the cards we made were using Mama Elephant stamps and dies...

 Cute little penguins... and when I say "little", I mean LITTLE! 

 This was cute! The little characters making snow angels...

 A very apropos card for NYC... so damn cute! 

 This was the last one we did and the only one I had to finish at home. I love. love, love this die! Definitely on my wish list for Black Friday! And BTW... that makes my five Christmas cards for November COMPLETE!! Of course, there will be a LOT more as now it's crunch time for the personal cards to be done. The Ernman is home at Thanksgiving and the personal ones will need to be signed before he heads back to California... :)

And this is me and the instructor, Cheiron Brandon. I met her a few years ago when I took her Holiday Extravaganza class. She is one creative soul and a really neat lady...

Playing Catch-up with Christmas Cards...

I've missed four months of the last ten on my challenge to make five Christmas cards a month... my bad!! So, October was catch-up month! Here's twenty... :)

Starting with mid-month when Ann Ullery stayed the night after her cruise and we did these. A Rubber Cafe stamp set colored with Prismacolors. Following a technique I learned at the first Junkie Fest, we made a faux fence. The flame and the wax drip have Glossy Accents and stickles are on the berries for dimension.

Since I have so much Christmas patterned paper, I watched a couple Kristie Marcotte videos (the 6"x 6" queen of cardmaking) to see if I could use up paper...

  

I also caught a Kristina Warner video where she gold embossed the background paper. So, I did that on the red piece. The Noel is from a 12"x 12" pad with extra pieces. Gold glitter paper and bling from my stash...

More like the above...

I used the same layout I used when crafting with my mentor, Barb, at the beginning of October at her home in California. It worked perfect for the extra pieces from another 12"x 12" pad.

I've been cleaning up files on my computer all week and came across a card I made in a Craftsy class back in 2017. I decided to CASE it with Christmas papers. Not bad!

And these two? Just corners of a 12" x 12" pad using a stitched die and Taylored Expressions sentiment strips...

But, the bad part of all these is that with ALL the paper I used, it barely made a dent... ugh! BUT, twenty more Christmas cards for my stash. :)

A week of Autumn Cards...

 Over the past week, I've been rather successful in my Studio and I wanted to share...

 Last week, Ann Ullery stopped by for a "crafty" day before she took a cruise out of Newark up to the Fall Foliage of New England... and beyond. This stamp is from Simon Says Stamp called "Sketched Flowers". We heat embossed with Rose Gold embossing powder and then colored with Zigs. The die-cut is triple layered with the top layer out of gold cardstock. There were two of these but one has already gone postal...

 This card was actually made when visiting my friend and mentor, Barb, while visiting my hubby who's now working in California... wait, what?! Yup, California! The stamp set was from Stampin' Up and I learned a new technique that makes this look so elegant. I made two. On my return, I wanted to add a sentiment. I was soooooo nervous about adding it right on the paper because the paper is textured. I was afraid I wouldn't get a good impression. And if I ruined it, then what? Anyway, lots of practice on other textured paper and my trusty MISTI, it was a SCORE!!! I absolutely love how perfect this is! Barb, you're da best!!

Before heading to California, I had die-cut several leaves from the Tim Holtz "Fall Foliage" set from some paper I had colored with Distress Oxides. They were monopolizing my table. Following a very well written tutorial from Annie Frazer, I made the background paper using the "Gesso Resist" technique. What a fabulous, fabulous result! Thank you Annie! AND, home to some of those leaves all over my desk. The sentiment is from a Laurel Burch set, the bling is Gina Marie Designs and the twine from my stash. I made two and like above, one is already postal...

 Still a lot of leaves on the table so, I CASEd this from something I saw on Pinterest. Sentiment is Gina K Designs, bling Gina Marie Designs, background paper from a 6" x 6" pad and twine from my stash. I made two and like above, one is already postal...

 This set is Stampin' Up's "Sheltering Tree". It's been ages since I used it and I was determined to do something different from what I did last time. At first, because there are sooo many different layers of stamping, it was kicking my butt. You know the game, ink in the wrong places, lopsided stamping, things not lining up... but, I kept with it and the result? Fantastic!! I made three... and now ALL the rest of these cards need to make their way to the post office. After all, the fall is fast receding.

I made these a top folding card which is a rarity for me, so added an inside piece. Well, TWO inside pieces. That teeny, tiny brown? It's the same paper I used on top...

So, HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

Fabric Cars...

Fabric, fussy cut and made into cards...

The quarter yard I started with...

The background license plate paper is from a 6" x 6" pad called "Through the Lens METAL" by Elizabeth Crafts. 

It was great to be in the Studio today, listening to music and creating...

June's Christmas Cards...

 Here's my FIVE Christmas cards for June... just in time. These are Penny Black stickers I THINK I got while at last years Junkie Fest. Honestly, I don't remember but every time I've looked at the sticker sheet all this past year, I've thought of Junkie Fest. Which btw, is going on right now in Minneapolis. I hope everyone has as much fun this year as I did last year...

 I took each of the five stickers and stuck them onto a beige sheet from the Paper Studio's "Christmas on Amesbury Street" 12" x 12" pad that I have and cut around that to give the sticker some substance. The red patterned paper is from the same pad. The other piece is a scrap. I used Love from Lizi's gold sticker between the two papers for a little pizzazz...

 Each sticker panel is popped with foam tape...

 This one, I thought, was too pretty to put on the patterned papers...

I haven't put sentiments on any of these yet. I think I want to but I'm not sure how. Enlighten me with your thoughts... 

UPDATE: 12-7-19 Oh my!! What a difference the sentiment makes...

Cozy Crop Productivity...

 Cozy Crop week went from Easter Sunday, April 21st, until the following Sunday, April 28th. This was my seventh consecutive visit. Ending productivity count was fifty completed cards. The beginning of the week wasn't as productive as the end of the week. I was a little "out of sorts" as the week wasn't going as I had expected...

 

 These are from a Queen and Company kit. Although the cards are lovely, I was quite disappointed in the kit. It was marketed as "all inclusive" but I discovered it was not. And for $39.95, I was not happy. There were NO instructions included and all paper used came from one 6" x 6" pad. This, of course, makes the paper go 10x faster. I purchased this kit because the colors were incredibly vibrant. In person, they were not. I know the people crafting with me were not happy with my "complaining" but it's difficult for me not to be vocal when I feel I've been taken for a ride. No more Queen and Company kits for me. Lesson learned... :(

 

 This card however, was my favorite and although not as bright as the advertisement, it's still a fun card and I love it...

 

Another crafter and I had a "foiling session". Of the fifteen images I did, only these four were "Cindy quality" (the airplane card has a background piece). I've thrown in the towel on this medium as well. WAY too much money to spend on product to only have 30% of it be up to my standards. I gave away most of the images to the other crafter...

 



 This had to be the most fun part of the cardmaking week. Susan Hiles, who has been with me all seven visits and sits next to me, took my box of  "partials" and helped me create twenty-one cards using items from the box. I was stunned! Some of these pieces are from cards made as far back as 2015. I've lugged these around for ages. Well, at least years anyway. This was SO, SO fun! And now, my box is very light weight... woot, woot!!

And, of course, I did make my five Christmas cards for April. Three designs but five cards. The poinsettias are from a W plus 9 stamp and die set. called "Christmas Rose Bouquet". The "peace" card was following a card I saw on Pinterest. I may do this one again... it's different!

 

 

So, another Cozy Crop week under our belt. The trip home, Susan and I critiqued the week and thought maybe a week was too long. Maybe it was. If everyone isn't meshing perfectly, the week can drag...

 



From a kit...

 This kit by Rubber Café came out in December 2013... can you say OUCH!! It included a stamp set w/18 stamps, 6"x 6" pad, 8.5" x 11" colored cardstock, pop-up stickers, ribbon, colored seam binding, candy shoppe dots, bling and an Inspiration Page.

 

 On this card, we weaved the center square with the colored seam binding. What a unique idea!! And the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner I absolutely loved and anchored the ends with the candy shoppe dots. EVEN THOUGH I had to fussy cut the banner...

 

 I used the pop-up tree sticker on this one for a very simple look. I love the cloud paper from the 6"x 6" pad... works perfect! Ohhhhh, that seam binding! No worries about bulkiness in the mail with this...

 

I used one of my border dies on the bottom and made my own tag for the focal point. I used up a few of the stickers too. Although I only made three cards from this kit, there are enough supplies to make at least a  dozen more...