Guest Designer at the Four Seasons Challenge

 I am so excited to be the Guest Designer at the Four Seasons Challenge for this month.  

Here is the Mood Board for this challenge.  I can't wait to see what you create with this! This is my card - hope it feels Fall to you!

I had made this background of leftover glitter paper quite a while ago but have been saving it since the colors speak fall to me; the glitter is crisp and the colors are so pretty! I stuck strips of the various glitter card to a piece of plain white card then cut it out with a stitched scalloped slimline die.  That was attached to a white slimline card. The sentiment is cut from 2 different dies; happy is from Elizabeth Dies (the die is discontinued, but if you do a search you can find it - item number is 1161, Happy Birthday 2) and the fall is from this Pinkfresh Studio's Alphabet, both are cut from Curious Metallic's Ice Silver card.  Once I attached the words, I decorated the card with various gems from Picket Fence Studio (they have the BEST gems; they are a bit pricey but SO pretty and sparkly in person!).  

I am so looking forward to the start of fall weather! I've had enough of the heat and am SO ready to snuggle under some quilts and break out my flannel shirts! 

Thank you so much for stopping by and please be sure to check out the Four Seasons Challenges! Fondly, Christi

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Dragonfly Dreams, M - Halloween/Autumn
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Fall Colors
Dream Valley Challenges, #281 - Dies and/or Punches
Try it on Tuesday - Sparkle and Shine
Die Cut Divas - Anything Goes
Inspiration Station, #40 - Harvest (honestly, the word inspired me more than the picture!)

Marvelous Metals at Twofers ~ Challenge #12

Hello crafters! Welcome to my post featuring the new challenge at Twofers, challenge #12, Metal, chosen by Zoe. This time I took the theme literal and made an embellishment out of metal! Here is my project, which could be hung on a wall, stood on an easel or framed:

What I Used to Make my Project:
White Card
Fredrix 4" x 6" Canvas Panel, painted prior
Tin (I used a soda can)
Copics: G17, V09, RV04, R29
Tria Marker in V564 (pantone purple)
Spellbinders Inspire Die Plum Blossom, IN-046
DieNamics MFT Pierced Oval Stax, MFT-521
Sentiment from Hero Arts, C2768 Moments (disc.)
Thin Gold Decorative Paper
Embossing Fluid
Embossing Powder in Gold

The first step in making this project is getting the tin can ready.  I rinsed the

The die taped to the tin, & the tin taped to the metal
adapter.  You'll have to tape the tin down because it
will keep rolling up on you.

can out thoroughly, set it out to dry overnight and then cut the can with tin snips (wearing gloves AND goggles!), removing the top and bottom.  That leaves you with a nice piece of tin to work with.  I have cut tin with dies before and the only thing that is different is you have to use a metal plate adapter when you are using low profile dies.  I have found that the "regular" dies from Tim Holtz will cut the tin without a plate but the low profile dies seem to need that extra push.  I bought mine at a stamp convention from Tesslar Stamps/Scrapbook USA, but I imagine you can get them from other sources as well.  

The die cut with one coat of green alcohol ink

Next you want to paint your 4" x 6" canvas panel.  Mine was already painted; I used acrylic paint, I think it was called Champagne Gold, but it was months ago. If you have to paint your panel, set it aside to dry and start coloring your tin die cut.

I wasn't sure that the Copics and Tria markers would work on the tin, but I was pleasantly surprised at how cool the

Close up of the flowers

colors blended together.  Be very careful holding the die cut, it is VERY sharp and while it appears harmless, it isn't.  I held mine down while coloring it, and I started with the branches, which I colored green.  I then colored the rest of the die, using pinks for the flower buds, pinks & purples for the flowers and red for the bird (I do love Cardinals!).

I found that the ink would sort of swirl together, giving the appearance of texture.  I let the ink dry a bit, but I did go over the die quite a few times to get the dept of color I wanted.  While I was coloring the die I moved on to getting the rest of the piece ready.

I cut the oval die cut out and the metallic gold paper. Then I embossed the sentiment using gold embossing powder.  While the stamp isn't manufactured any more, you can find it online.  I trimmed the sentiment, placed everything where I thought I wanted it to go and glued the gold background paper onto the panel, then the sentiment. 

Once I thought the tin die cut was colored enough, I glued it onto the oval and set it under the floor tiles I have on my desk.  The tin really didn't want to stay

Shiny!

straight, having been curled when it was a can, so I needed the weight of the tile to hold it flush with the paper and to ensure the whole die stuck.  I let it sit overnight.

The next day I attached the oval to the panel and I was done.  I love reusing items that would just be thrown out, and since we don't have bottle or can returns here in Colorado, I saved this can from the landfill.  Even if you do have can returns, it's worth the few cents to have a little crafty fun.  I'll be coloring with alcohol inks on tin more now that I saw how the inks reacted with each other.  I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and got some inspiration to join our Metal theme at Twofers.  You have TWO WEEKS to enter your project, just make sure you follow the rules, and you could win a $20 gift certificate to Alleystamps - yes, you can even pre-order all the new goodies coming out at CHA right now!!   

If you do have a moment, please stop by and marvel at the creations my wonderful teammates have made; you can visit Jane here and Zoe here.  Thanks so much for visiting and I'd love to hear what you think so please leave me a comment - Fondly ~ Christi 

I am entering my Marvelous Metals project in the following Challenges:
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - #346 Not a Card
Addicted to Stamps - #176, Anything Goes
Scrappy Land - #33, Anything Goes (you carry Spellbinders)
Die Cuttin Diva's - #248, Tweet, Tweet Use a Bird
Stamping Sensations (M) - Anything Goes with a die(s)
Create And Inspire -#37, Anything Goes

Party Girls!!

If you have been reading my blog then you know that this is my family's birthday time of year so here we have another birthday card!  For this one, I used cheerful colors, some glitz and a fantastic chipboard piece by JittoBear.  I hope this puts you in a party mood, if you needed a reason!

What I Used to Make my Card:

Happy Birthday Chipboard Cut Out by JittoBear
Glossy Cardstock

Ranger Archival ink in Jet Black

"Girlfriends" stamp by The Stampsmith

Distress Markers in Gathered Twigs, Festive Berries, Squeezed Lemon & Mustard Seed

Distress Ink in Gathered Twigs

Glimmer Spray by Ditto (got this in the $1 bin YEARS ago)

Silver Cardstock

Core'dinations Bright Colors Card in Lime, Atoll Aqua & Love Potion

A Wink of Stella in Clear

Sharpie Water Based Paint Pen in White

When I made this card I knew what I wanted it to look like and after I picked out which Happy Birthday chipboard I wanted to use, I sprayed it with the

It really is pretty!

glimmer spray. I had bought this spray a long, long time ago and I thought it was like a black glimmer.  Surprise! It was silver but with a dark base to it.  No problem, I could work with that! I spritzed the chipboard a few more times and set it aside to dry.

Next, I stamped the image on glossy cardstock.  Set it aside to dry (it takes a bit longer than standard card to dry since it is on glossy card).  While it was drying, I cut the party hats out of the 3 colors of Core'dination card.  I swiped my clear Wink of Stella pen on the pink one, drew circles on the green one using the Sharpie pen and left the blue one plain.  I trimmed the image, then edged it with the Distress Ink using the Mini Ink Blending Tool.  I cut out a layer of the Love Potion card and then another of the Atoll Aqua to layer the image on. 

Before I layered the image I decided to give the girls a little makeover.  I colored their hair and lips using the Distress Markers and a cotton swab, a technique I learned from Tim Holtz's Blog. 

I layered the image on the 2 colors of cardstock but felt it still needed more, so I went into my stash and pulled out a piece of silver cardstock.  I matted the image the last time on that and glued my party hats onto the girls.  Lastly, I attached my properly glimmered Happy Birthday chipboard and I now have another card to mail out.  Two down and a hundred to go (no, it just feels that way!), why is it birthdays and holidays always creep up on me?!?

I hope you got some inspiration from my Happy Birthday Girls card! The weather here has finally been nice; today was the first day in ages we had no storm activity at all. I hope you are enjoying your weather. Thanks for stopping by ~ Christi

Another look at my Party Girls

I would like to enter my Party Girls in the following challenges:
Allsorts - #316, Use a Stamp
Fab 'n Funky - #264, Gorgeous Girls
Papertake Weekly - Oh So Pretty
Through the Craft Room Door - week of 6/16 - 6/22 - Anything Goes
The Paper Girls - #82, Happy Birthday

I am now going to get some much needed rest - I just got back from Michigan (literally 2 hours ago!) and my body is screaming for a rest!! See you all tomorrow, bright and early, for my Anything But a Card post - the theme is "Out and About" ~ Hugs!!! Christi

Woven Heart ~ March reveal of the Card Chain Challenge

We are running a bit late this month, but all seems on track now :)
Oh my goodness! I am stunned that it is April already and that means March is over (which isn't a bad thing, just crazy how time is flying!)!! Anyway, the inspiration for this card was to use up some scraps ('cause I hoard scraps, along with most everything else). I had scraps of the lovely white and silver paper.  Yup, sometimes, as you know, all it takes are some scrap to inspire a project, which typically causes me to make more scraps, but I digress.  I made this card for the March Card Chain Challenge and sent it to Dee Shah, all the way in Kenya!  

What I Used to Make this Card:
Scraps of silver floral paper
Cut strips of shimmer gold paper
Cream (vanilla) Card Base
Heart Die from Die-Namites, Rose Heart, #DN-1140
Silver Ink
Sentiment from Quietfire Designs, Ten Tiny Tag Sentiments, #6382  
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Labels, #660060

And I got THIS beautiful card from the woman responsible for me finding out about this fun challenge, Becca Cruger.  Becca is super talented, as you can see from the card I got, she said "This was my first time playing with gelatos", and all I could think of was how springy the card was and what I mess I typically make when trying out something new.  So pretty!! And you all know how i love good mail :) You really need to check her blog out ~

Getting back to me (this is my blog after all!), I took my scraps, made more scraps, and came up with this woven paper to use as a background for my die cut heart.

Close up of the woven part

A bit about the Card Chain Challenge - each month you have several options to use as a theme. In addition to a sketch and a color palette you can use for inspiration, Deborah Nolan (the woman who handles the Card Chain Challenge) also gives some word prompts you can use, and I chose Friendship, again (honestly, the challenge is mostly an open theme - depending on how much you want to challenge yourself).  I have so much fun just freely creating!

So after I wove my paper and die cut my heart out of the heavy silver paper,

Sentiment Close-Up

using my Rose Heart die, I put the heart over the woven paper and used it as the background.  The gold paper I used is a soft gold, so using a white card base was too stark, so I used a vanilla card base.  Once I had the card done, I used the sentiment from Quietfire, stamped on a piece of vanilla card, with silver ink, and die cut it using the Tim Holtz Labels set.

That was it! I don't think the photo's do the card justice - it's so hard to show how truly lovely all the metallic cardstock is.  I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and please, consider joining us at the CCC - you know you need some good mail!!  ~ Fondly, Christi

Another View

I would like to enter my Woven Heart card in the following challenges:
Pixie's Snippits Playground - Week 171
Sweet Stampin' - Paper Piecing 
Polkadoodles - #14, Use a Die
Sister Act Card Challenge - 100th Challenge! Always Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments - #128 Anything Goes w/ a Sentiment
That's Crafty - Gold & Silver Challenge