Cardinal Christmas

My card today is my favorite of all I've made this year!  I love this image!!!

I am a very traditional red/green Christmas person, but I do also love some non-traditional color combos like this one.  My image and sentiment are from Sweet 'n Sassy's "Christmas Joy" and cut with the coordinating die.  I stamped it on Kraft and colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers.  The sentiment is heat embossed.  My DP is from my scrap pile (both pieces are from the same pad, but I can't remember the name!)   A scrap of ribbon and a bit of twine are tied behind the snowflake brad.

Challenges...
Word Art Wednesday #213 - anything goes/family friendly
CASE-ing Christmas #32 - anything winter holiday goes
Dies R Us #38 - Christmas (dies-Spellbinders Circles and SnS Christmas Joy)
Cute Card Thursday #403 - add some glitter (my brad is glittery though it's hard to see)
Simon Says Stamp Monday - holly jolly stamping (Christmas theme)

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!!!

Christmas and snow and a big mistake!!

Have you ever made a big mistake when crafting?  I do that often!  Sometimes, it totally messes me up and everything goes in the trash can, but sometimes, the mistake turns out to be a blessing in the end.  This card is the latter.  I do not often "fall in love" with my own cards, but I did with this one... mistake and all.  Maybe even because of the mistake!   I was printing my images, some on white cardstock and some on Kraft.  I printed some outlines that I want to color and then I printed some pre-colored images so the card will go together more quickly.  Ummm!  I always keep the printer setting on "color" so I don't have to go change it every time, but somehow it was on "black and white" so when I printed, I got black-and-white "colored" images.  Not happy!!   I meant to leave the cardstock by the printer so I could print the other side PROPERLY the next time, but mistakenly grabbed those sheets and took them to my craft room with the others.  As I was beginning to work, a thought came to me... try to color the black-and-white colored image.  Maybe you've done that before, but it was new to me.  And... I love it!!!   Some images work better than others depending on the original colors and amount of shading, but I was happy with this result.

First, the Kraft...

I love the muted tones because of the Kraft!  I used lighter shades of my Spectrum Noir markers.  This DP (all scraps!) is awesome and I love the inked embossing, so this one really make me happy!   The image is from Fred, She Said - Emma and the Snowball (if you want to see what the image would have looked like if I had printed it correctly, check it out here), the EF is Darice Snowflake Swirl, and the Merry Christmas is a clear sentiment from M5D.

Here's the white...

This one is much brighter.  I'm not a very experienced color-er, so the shading really makes it look good without much effort! This DP is AC Let It Snow and it is embossed with CB Holly Ribbons.

Challenges...
CASE-ing Christmas #29 - CASE card (I CASE-d the snow)
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long  #56 - lots of texture or layers (I have both!)
Hand Stamped Sentiments #221 - sketch

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!!

Triple time Christmas

Awhile back, I made a card and entered a challenge and used a new-to-me technique called "triple time stamping."  (Click HERE to see my card and HERE to see a tutorial) I love it and planned to do more, but....  Do you do that too?  Plan to use a technique or product and then forget or just don't have the time to "play"?   I did finally make the time to try this again and found a few challenges to inspire me, too.  

My triple stamped card...

Supplies...
Core'dinations Patterned Kraft
Snowy Mailbox digi by Delicious Doodles
Spectrum Noir markers
Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics A
Twine
Paper Studio snowflake brad
McMahon 5 Designs clear sentiment
Distrezz-It-All

Challenges...
Brown Sugar Challenge #133 - use a bow and a die cut (Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics)
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long #39 - anything goes (Christmas)
Christmas Card Challenge #11 - Christmas/Winter and/or photo inspiration (I just went with Christmas)
'Tis the Season TTS35 - photo inspiration (I went with the trees)

CASE-ing Christmas #7 - card to CASE made by DT member Donna (I CASE-d the many layers)

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!!