#1131 – A Stained Glass Crocus

Hello and welcome! It’s the first challenge for me in this year! We are starting the challenges at Addicted to Stamps & More with Birthdays challenge this year. There are no other themes to follow other than the need for it to be a birthday project.

And here’s what I made –

I wanted to make a stained glass effect card since I saw these cards from Jennifer McGuire. I had already kept my die chosen and ready for when I wanted to make the card – Simon Says Stamp Crocus Flowers. For the window, I chose to use Hero Arts Infinity Dies Arches.

To start with, I embossed the dies on a white panel and colored them. For the background I used distress inks and a brush to ink blend and for the Crocus, I used Zig brush pens. Once dried and done, I adhered the pieces together and stacked them with a couple more layers of die cuts. I then used Glossy Accents and filled in all the negative areas. I then left it to dry overnight.

For the card base, I used Simon Says Stamp Crystal Distortion embossing folder on black card base – I finally got to use this after more than a couple of years of buying! I then adhered matte silver cardstock die cuts on the previously assembled Crocus+Window piece and adhered this over the embossed base. For the sentiment I used Neat & Tangled Celebrate die, using black as the shadow and the matte silver for the seniment. After adhering all these pieces on the card, I used a few sequins for embellishment.

I must admit I love this technique despite it using quite a bit of the glossy accents and taking quite a bit of drying time. It is worth the wait!

And I’m joining these challenges –

Inkspirational challenge #358: Shine/Shiny

Neglected Stuff challenge January – I used the Simon Says Stamp Crystal Distortion embossing folder– old and completely unused! Not sure how old this is, but I’ve had it with me for a couple of years at least.

AAA Birthday Card challenge ##81: Winter Birthday – I’ve used a winter flower in my card.

So take your time to join the challenge as well. You can get more inspiration from our DT at the Addicted to Stamps & More challenge blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#1125 – Card Chain Challenge September

Hello and welcome! I got to join the Card Chain Challenge again for the September challenge and today’s the reveal day.

The September challenge had the following options:

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

Sketch Option

(Orient as desired.)

Theme Options: Flamingos / Fish / Friendship

Product / Technique Options:  Foil / Silhouette

And here’s what I made –

If not obvious, I used the colors, the sketch, the Friendship theme and the Foil from the product option.

I started with the background, using Neat and Tangled Rice Paddies stencil. I didn’t have a teal colored ink in my stash, so I used green ink and blue on top of that, going over the same areas so that both the inks blend together to give a teal.

Once done, I set that aside and stamped the mermaid, the shell and the starfish from the Simon Says Stamp Be a Mermaid on white cardstock using VersaFine Onyx black ink and colored them using distress inks. On the mermaid tail, I also used Perfect Pearls of similar colors and also Gansai Tambi Starry Skies in gold to get the colors from the theme. I then fussy cut all the images and went over the edges using black Zig brush marker.

I die cut three panels of increasing size from white cardstock using Hero Arts Infinity Dies Arches. On the middle panel, I added a strip of foiled washi tape, which had a gorgeous wavy pattern on it. On the top panel, I stamped images from Trinity Stamps Sea Life Silhouettes. I then adhered the pieces over the stencilled card base. After that, I adhered the mermaid tail, the shell and star fish and also a few sequins. I also added a few drops of the same gold from Gansai Tambi Starry Skies. I then stamped the sentiment from Winnie and Walter The Big, The Bold and The Happy stamp set.

I got this beautiful card and some lovely die cuts from Linda this month!

Checkout the entire chain of cardmakers who participated this time in the the Card Chain Challenge challenge blog. Wow! I am so impressed every single time by the variety of cards!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#1114 – Window to a Garden

PE: Honorable Mention at Timeout challenge!

Hello and welcome! We have a new challenge at Seize the Birthday challenge. This time, I am the leading lady and I have chosen the topping to be ‘Use a Frame‘. As always, every Challenge still carries the ‘Anything Goes‘ option.

And here’s what I made –

I started with the flowers in the background. I wanted to make a wild garden like scene. I used Simon Says Stamp Butterfly Blossoms, stamped them with a light ink and then watercolored it using Daniel Smith watercolors. I also stamped the butterflies using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink and then watercolored it the same.

My initial idea had a branch of flowers on top, but once I was done with the background, I liked the version without it better, so I left it out.

I cut out a panel of white cardstock, die cut this using Hero Arts Infinity Dies Arches. I also die cut a frame using the same dies from a piece of yellow cardstock. I also embossed the white die cut panel using Spellbinders Splendid embossing folder.

Assembling the card, I adhered watercolored panel on a white card base. I then adhered the frame to the window panel and then foam mounted it on the card base. For the sentiment, I used a sentiment from the same stamp set, stamped and fussy cut it and then foam mounted it partially on the stamp, the rest covered with glue. The butterflies came last, fluttering around the garden. 🙂

And that finished my card. And I’m joining these challenges –

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Bright & Cheerful

Die Cut Divas challenge May: Watercoloring

AAA Birthday card challenge #73: Anything Goes

Timeout challenge #289: Your favorite winged thing (Butterflies!)

Step over to the Seize the Birthday challenge to checkout what our guest and the rest of the DT created. You’re sure to be inspired!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#1111 – A Tunnel Birthday card

PE: Honorable Addict at Addicted to Stamps and More!

Hello and welcome! It’s time for a new challenge at Seize the Birthday. The leading lady this time is our leader, Nancy, and she has chosen the Topping of ‘Layer It‘. The topping is, as always, optional and you are always welcome to join as long as your project is birthday themed.

Incidentally, my sister’s birthday also fell recently and this is the card I had made for her –

Yeah, the outside looks nothing special. Because the fun is inside!

The card opens with a double door layout which opens to a tunnel card, with a wild garden theme. I was inspired by one of my own cards I had made in the beginning of the year.

For the card front, I used a pattern paper from and the sentiment die cut using Simon Says Stamp Birthday Wishes. I added a few small butterflies from My Favorite Things Hip Clips.

I started with making the different panels for each of the layers. I used Canson Montval watercolor paper and before adding anything, I added a base layer of color on the panels using distress inks ink smooshing technique. And I used quite a few different products on this one.

Coming to each of the panels – for the botton most, I used Hero Arts Blooming Meadows and Technique Tuesday Wildflowers and used distress pencils to color them. In places where the print wasn’t good enough or smaller places where I didn’t want to stamp, I took my brush and painted them myself using the color from the distress pencils. middle layer, used Mudra Leaves and Altenew Floral Shadow stamps, coloring the stamps with the water dipped distress pencils, them stamping them and then coloring them some more using a brush wherever I needed it. Once this dried, I cut out the window in the center. I also added a few more die cut leaves from WPlus9 Folk Art Floral and also some flowers using Paper Smooches Flowers 2 dies and then some butterflies using a small die from My Favorite Things Hip Clips.

For the top layer, I used Simon Says Stamp Arching Leaf Border, Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms, Paper Smooches Flowers 2, Simon Says Stamp Delicate Hummingbird Duo and butterflies from My Favorite Things Hip Clips. I had intended to leave the layer as is, but it was too flimsy, so make the layer more stable, I die cut a frame from the same cardstock to stick it on.

For making the sides (the doors) to the card which extends to the tunnel, I took two pieces of cardstock, scoring the sides to 0.5″ each, then folding them to get the zig-zags where I would attach each panel. (If my explanation is confusing, a simple search in youtube might give you a video with a much better one!!). I used one door for the card front, and the other to add my greetings.

For some embellishing, I used Sakura Glaze pen in black on the butterflies and the eyes of the hummingbirds and some Nuvo drops on the flower centers.

Of course, because of the zig-zag sides, the card ended up being too thick and couldn’t fit in a normal envelope. I had to make one out of thicker paper and adhere the pattern paper on it (it had a width of half an inch!) – thank goodness I didn’t have to mail it – there would be no quarentee that it would arrive intact! 😉

And that’s my ‘took so many days to make’ card! I’ve already declared to my sister that never again will any card I make be this elaborate. This is my apex! 😀

And I’m also joining these challenges with my card –

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #490: Die cuts &/or Stencils

Neglected Stuff challenge #425 – It’s been years since I used WPlu9 Folk Art Floral dies, Hero Arts Blooming Meadows and Technique Tuesday Wildflowers and I have never used Mudra Leaves stamp since I bought it years ago! I am so glad I used them here!! 🙂

Checkout the Seize the Birthday blog to see what the rest of our DT and our guests have created for your inspiration! And don’t forget to join the party yourself!

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂