Let Your Heart be Light

Happy New Year!  You are seeing right, I am featuring a Christmas card on New Year's Day!  However, it's also the first of the month and that means it's time for a brand new Fan Club Christmas Challenge at SCS!  Our amazing leader of ten years is stepping down so the new team decided we wanted to celebrate Stacy with the first challenge of 2022!  

I have my card in the SCS gallery with a link to Stacy's fabulous card if you would like to see it.  

I took the beautiful Pixel Christmas Tree and stamped it in several shades of green.  Each time I wiped away the ink from the ornaments.  Then I watercolored the ornaments.  A MISTI is a must for a project like this!  The textured watercolor paper would be impossible to restamp in the exact spot several times without a MISTI. I created a border with one of the Border Stitching Dies.  The sentiment is Heart Light and I added a couple of tags from the Small Tags Die Set.  The tags are one of the things that really captured my attention on Stacy's card.  

Anyone is welcome to participate in the challenges at Splitcoaststampers simply click the SCS link above!  

Wishing you a wonderful New Year!  

 

The Right Footwear!

Hello!  

It's time for a new Free 4 All Challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  This week our theme is "It's a Girl Thing".  You are invited to join us!

I had great fun with the Boot Tag and dangled it from the Barbed Wire Border.  The sentiment is from Cowboy boot Sayings.

I was hoping to make this post a little longer with a few 2021 cards that I have not shown yet but that will have to wait for now.  If I can't back here before then I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Hugs!

Ang  

         

 

In the Valley

Phew! It's kind of fascinating to see how the body dumps everything to focus on healing.  I actually thought that maybe the joy of painting and stamping was gone for good.  This week's Watercolor Wednesday Challenge proved otherwise.  I really enjoyed it.  I didn't spend a lot of time on this and I didn't redo it even though, I am sure I can do better.  I used my best watercolor paper and I could really tell a difference.  There are some projects that my lesser quality paper handles just fine but this scene was a dream to paint on 100% Cotton.  

I hope you are enjoying a safe and healthy last week of 2021!

Thanks for stopping!

 

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours, MERRY Christmas!

I am going to keep this short and sweet because if I don't I am going to write my feelings and no one really needs to read those on Christmas!  Hehe!   Instead,  I wish all of my readers a SAFE and HAPPY Christmas!  

I am playing along with the SCS Inspiration Challenge.  At SCS the challenges are up every day which is a beautiful thing for those that love to create every day! 

Featured items on this card:

Fir Trees

Winter Greetings

Mini Woodland Animals

Also, the current IO Sale is Thanks and you can find it HERE!

I love you all and hope this day is special for you!

 

Chillin' and Shakin' without a Border

Hello everyone; I am sharing a fun shaker card on the MISTI Blog today. At first glance, this might not seem like a shaker, but it is! This technique has been around for a few years, but I recently discovered it in an online class! I will get back to the "how-to" of the shaker, but first, let's talk about how the MISTI makes stamping a joy!

I use the New Original MISTI and/or the New Mini MISTI for every card project. First, I placed a piece of cardstock in the Original MISTI and stamped the three adorable penguins from Just Chillin' a far enough distance to die-cut them. (by the way, Just Chillin' is BACK in stock! Woohoo! Haha, I am just so excited because it's one of my favorite new sets!)  Anyway... I always leave my stamps on the platform until I finish making the card if I have an issue and have to restamp. That is one of the reasons I love having more than one MISTI. While the image stamps are in the Original, I stamp the sentiment with the Mini MISTI.

Creating a Seamless Shaker is easy, so it's my new favorite technique! 

Cut clear stamp packaging or flimsy acetate larger than the card front. It should be large enough to fold over and adhere. Decorate the card front. Place the card front face down on clear packaging. Miter the corners of the acetate. Add double-sided tape to the back of the card front. Remove the tape backing on 3 sides. Fold clear packaging along the card front and adhere. This will leave one side open to fill with shaker filler. Flat sequins are ideal, but as you can see, my shaker is filled with both flat and curved. For flat sequin mixes, I really like Picket Fence Studios. Seal the remaining side by folding over the packaging and adhering to the tape. Lastly, adhere your shaker to a card base. Easy peasy!  

One more thing before I go, check out the new MIS-T Ruler! They are sized perfectly for use with the MISTI and come in metric and imperial units of measure! I am thrilled with this new tool! I am terrible at ending up with a teeny tiny workspace, so a normal-sized T-ruler makes me crazy! No room! How exciting to have small T-Rulers to help in getting things straight!  

I am playing along with Freshly Made Sketches #516!

This is also for the Free For All Challenge - SNOW!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

          

              

December Watercolor

Hello!  Welcome to Watercolor Wednesday in the middle of December!  I am hosting the challenge this week. We are following a gorgeous tutorial creating snowscapes in the round!  I like to give our mail carrier a card and gift every year so I think this will go to her.  

I used a Fancy Sentiment from Picket Fence Studios.  All of their "Fancy Sentiments" are on sale right now, it's a great deal and they pair beautifully with so many types of images!

I had no energy last week.  I actually didn't think I was going to be able to paint for last week's Watercolor Wednesday but I managed it.  I just couldn't blog it.  So here it is.   You can find the Watercolor Wednesday Challenge for this card HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

 

I used this paper for the project but it's not 100% cotton so does not have some of the properties that are found in 100% Cotton. 

This is a beautiful paper I like to use as often as I can.

Impression Obsession Theme Day - A Country Snowman

 **Affiliate links used when possible which means I earn a small commission when you buy from clicking a link with no added cost to you!**

  Hello and welcome to the Impression Obsession Theme Day.  Our theme this month is snow, snow, snow!  Have you seen snow yet?  We haven't had any for a few years so it's always fun to add it to cards! 

I used the snow image and a sentiment from Country Christmas Sayings for the background.  The Country Snowman is super adorable and comes with everything I used on this card; no accessories are needed!  

The next card features the cute Skiing Snowman set.  I randomly stamped snowflakes from the set over the top of a light blue textured Wreath.  

Head on over to the Impression Obsession Blog to see all of the SNOW cards the team has created!

Have you created any snowy cards?  If so, post a link in the comments and I would love to see what you have created!  

One more thing, frame images, and dies are currently on sale in the IO Store.  Click HERE or the photo below!

          Thanks for stopping by!    

         

Joy!

When I thought of Joy for this week's Free 4 All Challenge, December was still some ways away.  It's easy to think of Joy and December when it hasn't happened yet!  Ha! 

 I love December and Christmas.  It also happens to be my birth month so there is a lot of joy happening!  However, now that I am smack dab in the middle of December, I am finding that there is a lot I am not loving this year.   I don't love that I have missed over a week of December happenings being sick this year!  It means I probably won't get out Christmas cards and I have no idea what gifts I am giving!  I haven't been to a store since before Thanksgiving!  So yikes. However, the bottom line is those are just things and stuff.  Maybe there is a reason that the Grinch Stole Christmas has always been my favorite Christmas show!  Moment by moment there is a lot to be joyful over!  So here are three cards that just won't ignore joy!  

I hope you are gliding through December!  Leave me a note and let me know how you are doing, good or bad!

****

First, up is this cool seamless shaker card!  These are so much fun to make.  I took JOY in being released from having to use foam layers to make a shaker!!! 

****Edited to add instructions.  So sorry, I was feeling rough and didn't have the energy to tell you how I did this! I was hoping to find a video from Mary who taught this in a class, I took.  I couldn't find hers but I did find a video from JD.   I used stamp packaging to make this shaker.  You can also find pockets.  Scrapbook.com is sold out right now but you can take a look HERE to get an idea of what you are looking for.  You can see in the stamp pocket that you can purchase that the corners are mitered.  I did that myself with stamp packaging.  

Step 1:  create your card front, add die-cuts, sentiment, etc.  Step 2: cut a piece of very thin acetate or stamp packaging larger than your background so that you can fold it over and adhere it(about a 1/2 inch larger on each side).  Place your card front(background piece) face down on the acetate.  Place sturdy, double-sided tape on the edges of the card (you should be looking at the backside of the card front and placing the tape on the backside).  Step 3: Remove tape backing on 3 sides of the card. Fold acetate or packaging around the card and adhere to the sticky back.  Now you have a sealed card front with one side open.  Ste 4: fill the card with your choice of sequins and shaker mix.  Step 5: Fold over the 4th edge of acetate and adhere to the back of the card front.  Step 6: cover the back with sturdy double-sided tape.  Remove tape backing and adhere to a folded card base!  Easy Peasy.  

Bells and background stamps are a thing of joy!

A textured wreath adds welcome to any door (or card) and that is a pretty joyful thing!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I really would love to hear how you are doing and what brings you joy this year so leave me a comment and let me know!   

Today's Featured Items

JOY (word die)

Summer Bouquet

Holiday Holly Background Stamp

Small Bell Ornament

Wreath

        

       

                        

 

A Very Merry IO Die Cut Day!

 

 **Affiliate links used when possible which means I earn a small commission when you buy from clicking a link with no added cost to you!**

Hello!  Today is the day that the IO Team features beautiful die-cut cards.  I always have so much fun adding dies to my projects.  

I have a thing about bows so I was one happy gal when the Small and Large Layered Bows Dies landed in my art room!  I used the Small Layered Bow for this project.  First, I created a background with the Distressed Bandana stamp and die-cut it with the Crazy Stitched Set.  Next, I added the Large Bell Ornaments, topped by the bow.  Lastly, I used the merry from the Typewriter Sentiment dies. 

Next up is the sweet Primitive Angel for Impression Obsession's Die-Cut Day! 

First, I stamped the background with the Cowboy Christmas Background stamp.  Next, I created the angel; she is so sweet and easy to decorate!  The Primitive Angel is a wonderful size on a card but she would also make beautiful ornaments and tags!  I decorated her dress by stamping her dress with the Mini Gingham background stamp.  Lastly, I added mirror sequins to her wings.

To see more fabulous die-cut creations head on over to the Impression Obsession Blog for a list of teammates participating in Die-Cut Day!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a great Monday!

Today's Featured Items

        

     

         

      I love using the MISTI when stamping background stamps!

Impression Obsession's Christmas Card Hop Day 2 & Giveaway

Hello!  Welcome to Day 2 of the IO Holiday Card Hop!  I love creating holiday cards so this is one of my favorite hops of the year!  Check out all of the hop details below!

Today's cards share a color theme in common but are very different.  First up is the Cowboy Couple.  The couple with the dangling mistletoe is one stamp but it would be super simple to mask off the mistletoe and use the couple for cards all year long!  To the Barbed Wire Frame (25% off until 12/14!), I added sparkling stars from the Frosted Cookies Die set and enamel dots.

Next up I created a scene with the Cool Yule bears and the Fir Trees Slimline set.

Details, Details!

Each day (December 1st& 2nd) you can find a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog. We will be giving away THREE Impression Obsession $25 gift certificates for the event - so the more you comment through our Holiday Hop the more chances to win!

All comments for each of the event days will be open until Tuesday, December 7th at 8pm CT All winners will be announced on Wednesday, Nov 8th on the Impression Obsession Blog.

IO Stamps Blog

Anna Wight

Dina Kowal

Giovana Smith

Ilina Crouse

Jeanne Streiff

Kia Gibson Clapper

Laura Fulcher

Laura Williams

Lee Ann Barrett

Angela Bode

The new Featured Category is Frames!  You get 25% off with no coupon needed!  The brand new Barbed Wire Frame that I featured in the first card is included in the sale!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I wish you good luck in winning a prize!

Today's Featured Items: