CCEE1902 Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Liz continues as the CCEE Stampers hostess this week, reminding us that Elvis Presley's birthday is this week (January 8th).  She challenged us to make him come alive in some way on our cards.  Maybe a rock and roll theme, records, an Elvis or guitar stamp, or perhaps even "Blue Suede shoes."  I included almost all of those things on my Pop-Up Tag Book card, using both stamps and computer images.

Be sure to visit the CCEE Stampers blog to see some more cards dedicated to the King of Rock 'n Roll!

We Don't Need Roads

Nerd that I am, I'm so happy to be part of the Kindred Stamps Design Team for the next four months.  I love all their geeky stamp sets.  For my first blog post as part of the team, I am showing off a stamp set that you may have a very short time to purchase -- Back in Time.  It is in the "Last Chance" category in the store.

To start my card I cut a piece of light blue cardstock 4" x 5 1/4".  Using the KS Forest Stencil (top row of trees) and some Ranger Distress Peeled Paint ink, I sponged the back layer of trees.

Then I changed to Ranger Distress Mowed Lawn ink and sponged in the smaller row of trees.  I filled in some of the small spaces with a darker green and a very small sponge dauber.

At this point I cut a strip of grass patterned paper, using a hill die for the top, and adhered it at the bottom of the card.  I have some MFT Die-Namics Road dies and cut one to span the card almost at the bottom.

I then stamped the "flying car" with Memento Black Tuxedo Ink, colored it with Copic markers and carefully cut it out.  I have found that, if you go around the edge of the cut-out piece with a black brush marker, it fills in any random white space you may have missed in the cutting process.

I mounted the scene onto a piece of white cardstock which was cut 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half.

Using my MISTI for positioning, I stamped the sentiment with Versamark ink onto the road die-cut, sprinkled it with detail white embossing powder, and heat embossed it.

All that was left was to add some foam pop dots to the back of the car and strategically place it flying over the tree line.

CCEE1901 Black Ice

Liz started off 2019 for the CCEE Stampers with a technique that is brand-new to me -- Black Ice.  She said she lives in a place where winters are relatively mild, but her greatest fear is driving in icy conditions.  "Black ice" is a very hazardous condition she has heard others mention -- and discovered in the tutorials on Splitcoaststampers a technique called "Black Ice."  If you also are unfamiliar with this technique, here is a link to the tutorial.

Here's my card.  It is actually my second attempt -- the first one didn't go so well.  This one isn't great, but it's definitely better than the first one!

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog to see more examples of this very interesting technique.

Designer Challenge - "NEW"

Today's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is entitled "NEW."  We were to try something new to us -- new technique, new color scheme, new style.  What kind of card would be perfect for this challenge on this day?  A Happy New Year card, of course!  I incorporated several other "new" things besides "happy new year" -- a new technique I had seen Karen do (a double spinner card) as well as some new fireworks stamps (first time I've used them).

In case you haven't seen Karen's video on how to create this double spinner, here is a link to her YouTube video.  This is a close-up of my double spinner mechanism.

As you can see, the upper spinner mechanism is a trimmed-down version of the original spinner mechanism.

A fun element on this card is the pouring champagne, which was made with a small piece of embroidery floss.  

In addition to the Spinner Square Pop-Up die, my card included pennants from the Twist Panel Pop-Up set and balloons from the Explosion Pop-Up set.

Thank You So Much!

Here it is -- the last day of 2018!  Before I share my card with you, I must tell you that this is my last card for the CottageCutz design team.  I have so enjoyed these last several years on this team and working with some very talented people.  My card today is two-fold.  First, of course, it is my weekly post; but secondly (and maybe most importantly) is to say thank you to Joanne and Mary for their support.  And now, my card!

After Christmas we all have a need for Thank You cards, and that's what I have for you today.  I used a really cute CottageCutz die -- Hugging Penguins.

I started my card by cutting the die pieces from white cardstock.

Using the packaging for inspiration, I colored the pieces with my Copic markers and constructed the penguins.

I then cut the pieces for my card base:

White - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4" and folded in half
Red - using the largest die in the Cross-Stitched Rectangle Set
Cream - using the 2nd largest die in the Cross-Stitched Rectangle Set

After shading a line for placement of the die-cuts on the cream panel, I constructed my card base.  This shaded line will "anchor" the penguins.

I cut the "thank you" sentiment from a scrap of adhesive-backed black cardstock.

I then added the die-cuts to my card, and it was finished.

CottageCutz dies used on my card are:

Once again, thanks to everyone with whom I have worked during my tenure on this remarkable design team!

Almost the New Year

Christmas is behind us, and it's almost the New Year.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.   Today I have an early Happy New Year's card, using several Karen Burniston dies.  On the front I used her House and Fence Pop-Up -- not popped up!  And, as I live in Florida, I thought I would add a palm tree!  

The markings on the house and the tree trunk were made by sponging some distress ink onto the cardstock before removing it from the dies.

The inside was made using the House Pivot Panel die as well as some more palm trees.

The 2019 was made using an alphabet/number set from Memory Box.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I wish you nothing but happiness in the New Year!

All Is Calm

Happy Christmas Eve!  I hope you have all your Christmas shopping, wrapping, baking, and card-making finished.  If not, I have one last, rather quick and simple Christmas card to share with you today.   I love the way silhouettes look on a card.  This one was made with a not-so-new silhouette die from CottageCutz called Away in a Manger.

To start my card I cut the silhouette from black cardstock.

And then I cut my cardstock as follows:

White - 8 1/8" x 5 1/2", 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Black - 4 x 5 1/4"

I cut the smaller white piece larger than I will eventually need; but, because I am going to sponge the background, I made it slightly larger to allow for trimming after I've finished my sponging.   Then, using four different distress inks, I sponged my background.

I then trimmed the piece down on all four sides to 3 3/4" x 5".  What this does is eliminate the darker color around the edges where the sponge initially hit the cardstock.  And then I constructed my card base.

After gluing down the silhouette at the bottom, I stamped the sentiment in the upper left-hand corner, and my card was finished.

As promised at the beginning of this post, this card went together quite quickly.  The CottageCutz die I used on it is: