Day 1 of TE Sneak Peeks for August!

Today Taylor's Baker's Dozen is sneaking peeks of a very special Giving Tree set benefiting Angel Tree—Joy to the World. This is my new favourite Whimsical Wishes set that I've illustrated and I see so many possibilities for cards, tooth fairy pillows, ornaments,.... I have two cards today, which feature the same sweet angel. 

First, here she is with her pocket of hearts. 

I stamped and masked the pocket before stamping the angel on patterned paper. Her head and halo were stamped on Gina K pure luxury cardstock and coloured with copics. The blue panel is dry embossed with the new Musical Swirls impression plate, which has whimsical swirls on one side and a musical score on the reverse. I've also used my Taylored medium scallop and hearts border dies but kept the overall card simple.

Well, here's the same precious angel but this time she's holding the wreath heat embossed in silver. 

I used a versamarker to heat emboss her halo after colouring her with copics. I also used a trick I learned from Taylor and coloured white half pearls with copics to match my colour scheme.

Can't wait to see what Taylor's talented team has created with these precious angels...

Charmaine Ikach,

Danielle Lounds,

Melody Rupple,

Jodi Collins,

Karen Giron,

Melissa Sauls,

Regina Mangum,

Sankari Wegman,

Wanda Guess 

Taylor VanBruggen,

Tori Wild

Thanks for stopping by...

~Nancy

A winter wish

This card is double duty for two challenges: TECC45 (Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge 45) and LSC197 on Splitcoast. Lots of rules to follow. First, Taylor's sketch was fairly specific--I used circles though instead of ovals (basically because I don't have oval nestabilities yet!). For the Limited Supplies challenge, I was asked to use

1. snowflake images only whether stamps, patterned paper...

2. a monochromatic colour scheme

3. some sort of “bling” or sparkle

4. one word only

I think I stuck to snowflakes--the 'swiss dots' embossing folder created the flurries. ;) My monochromatic scheme is winter silver, white and muted blue/soft grey. My bling is mostly in the silver embossing. And my one 'wish' is focal to the snowflake embellishment. The chipboard snowflake is inked up with basic gray classic ink, then sponged with white craft ink, embossed with detail silver embossing powder on the edges for a distressed look, and finally, sponged with more white craft ink and heat set. The snow flurries are also heat embossed in silver (but I used Versafine for finer detail). I was inspired by Karen's bella card recently; I've layered my nesting circle/scallop/circle in the same way.

Stamps: snow flurries and sentiment, SU

Ink: SU sahara sand classic, basic gray classic, whisper white craft; Versamark in onyx black

Paper: SU whisper white and going gray; Blitzen Fresh Snow and Jack Frost, Basic Grey

Other: circle/scallop nestabilities, SU 1/2" circle punch; SU detail powder in silver; heat gun; SU basic gray taffeta ribbon; silver hodgepodge brads; sponge; cuttlebug 'swiss dots' embossing folder

Challenges on Splitcoast

This week I took on several challenges and posted these two to Splitcoast, but didn't have a chance to give the full details here until now. Busy with kids and Friday appointments at Sick Kids--today was especially long.

First, MFTSC59: My other ride...

I ordered my first stamps from 'My Favorite Things' this week. I'm so excited to be back into stamping and inspired by my friend Karen. Make sure if you have an 'enabler' in your life who got you on to MFT that you let Kim know (see Refer a Friend in Forums on Splitcoast). My card doesn't actually use an MFT stamp but I loved their naughty sentiments, particularly "My other ride is a pole!" My minivanabella from Stamping Bella, which is a little too close to home with the three kids and minivan in constant motion, was perfect for this. I searched for patterned paper that had vertical lines (the pole) and found this kinky, 'amplified psychedelic' from American Crafts. The rest is quite simple. I cut the freehand curve on the reverse side of the patterned paper using Martha Stewart's straight blade (the one that inserts into the handle). The great sentiment is printed on my laser and the image is coloured with copics. I'm so looking forward to trying the Gina K pure luxury 120lb cardstock I ordered this week. I'm okay with the copics but have seen so much better!! ...a little sponging around the edges and some simple ribbon.

Stamps: minivanabella, Stamping Bella

Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso

Paper: SU whisper white textured, purely pomegranate, chocolate chip; American Crafts amplified psychedelic

Other: dimensionals; ribbon, unknown; Martha Stewart straight blade with handle

Copics:

The other one, WT195: Three Birds (for Karen)

Confession: I had already created this card days before even seeing this Splitcoast challenge, but I thought it would be perfect for an embellished envelope. I had just been to Scrapalicious in Oakville to drop in on Cathy for a long overdue but quick hello and spotted these Hero Arts birds (a set of 4). My square nestabilities arrived the same day from Scrappin Great Deals!! Cathy gave me some pointers on using copics, the most important tip being a reminder to pick up colour from the tip of one marker to transfer temporarily to another making a third colour. This was a breakthrough for me! Not only did this produce better blending but it was a relief to know that I didn't need all of the hundreds of colours available! Thank you, Cathy!

So basically, the design came from a great piece of patterned paper (SU) for colour inspiration: river rock; old olive; and real red, or in this case, riding hood red for a more muted contrast. I wanted to include three of the birds in the set and decided to use a long note in river rock. Time to part with my stash! I used the square nestabilities for clean cuts and embossing. No sponging, no stickles...just clean and simple. The envelope repeats the pattern from the paper with punched river rock, real red and old olive circles. The birds are stamped over the circles and envelope and coloured with copics too. Okay, copics don't work so well on envelopes, but no surprise. I touched up incomplete lines on the stamped bird images with my chocolate chip marker.

Stamps: birds, Hero Arts; sentiment, SU
Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso
Paper: SU designer paper, river rock, old olive, chocolate chip, real red, riding hood red

Other: copics, square nestabilities, chocolate chip grosgrain, SU long notes and envelope

Little Happy Snowman

I case'd Tessa Wise's Snowy Trees Card layout and colour scheme with this one. Love her wintery designs! This cute little snowman is from a Sunshine Design cube. I coloured his scarf and mittens, nose and shadows with copics. The edge of the top layer of SU bashful blue is torn and highlighted with Stickles. To reduce the layers, I went around the nesties scallop edge with my copic green (I know, that's very specific!). A little paper piercing, scoring with Scor Pal and rounded corners. This layout is so simple, but it's the offset focal image that makes it, I think.


Stamps: snowman, Sunshine Design; Many Merry Messages, Stampin' UP!
Ink: Adirondack dye ink in espresso, copics (I will get better at recording the colours...)
Paper: SU Ski Slope Designer Series paper; SU river rock, old olive, soft sky and whisper white cardstock
Other: Coluzzle; scallop and circle nestabilities; SU mat pack (paper piercing kit); soft sky double-stitched ribbon; stickles

Now I have to create over 50 of these!

Inspired by someone on Splitcoast and eager to try out copics, I created this design version. (The orginal used SU's Garden Whimsy stamp set and if you've seen this creation, please help me find the link.) You'll see variations of this layout in the next pictures--a central square image that holds a family photo for 2008. We had family photos taken before Henri's transplant and I wanted to include a photo but still have a hand-crafted design. I also used square nestabilities and embossed with my cuttlebug 'Spots and Dots' embossing folder.

Using the same general layout without the 8 small squares in the background, I case'd one of Nichole Heady's designs (Just Because). I love her use of the Scor Pal to create an embossed grid background! The rounded corners are hers too. What's new? I turned the image into a pocket for my family portrait again and printed a sentiment in chocolate on white cardstock, which I mounted on the photo mat. This is my quick, go-to design when I run out of time making over 50 Christmas cards. No stamping; just beautiful paper.

Again, same general layout here, but I used my D'Vine Swirl cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the top part of the background in SU pacific point. I love StampingBella bellas and spotted a swirly scene on their website. I wanted something a little different--fatter trees and more swirls!--so I created my own similar winter scene using Adobe Illustrator, my Wacom tablet and pen, and a lot of learning time! I printed my image on 110lb Xerox cardstock--I'm sure this doesn't compare to PaperTrey's white or other coveted papers--but it worked with my copics to colour the trees and the shadows. I then used Michelle Zindorf's technique (check out any of her amazing tutorials), covering the trees, swirls and snow with VersaMarker then heat embossing in clear. I sponged close to the embossed image and out to the edge, then gradually further out from the image with soft sky, baja breeze, pacific point, not quite navy and possibly night of navy. The snow and trees are highlighted with Stickles.