Snow Days

We got a beautiful snow here in Kansas yesterday.  It floated down in huge flakes for a while, but swept away easily from the sidewalks and driveway.  I had a bit of time to spare, so I created this card, using my new Winter Fenceline stamp from Serendipity Stamps.

I stamped Winter Fenceline in my favorite Rich Cocoa from Imagine Crafts/Tsukindeko and sponged the background with VersaMagic Turquoise Gem to match the stripes.

I'm entering this in the current Serendipity Stamps Challenge.

Thanks for visiting!  

I love your comments!

Stripes

Happy New Year!

Yes, of course we're well into the new year now.  Many of you may have all your Christmas things packed safely away.  Not me.  I still enjoy gazing at the lights on the Christmas tree, playing Christmas CDs while I work and all.  I try not to see the aisles of pink and red hearts taking over Hobby Lobby right now.  I'm not ready for all that.  

I know.  I'll regret that in about a month. 

These past couple of month, as the holidays caught me by surprise, I had to, one by one, drop seemingly important things from my growing to-do list.  One thing that had to go were the card challenges.  I felt only a little pang of regret.   I'd recently applied for two design team positions and missed out on both...though I did make round two on one of them.  So maybe I was due for a step back and a deep breath.

Now I'm ready to jump back into the fold.

One thing I really enjoyed last year (besides my precious time on the CardMaker Blog Team!)  was participating in the challenges on the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog.  

If you've never checked out Serendipity Stamps before, make that a New Year's resolution!

The first challenge this year calls for stripes.

I wanted to use my new airplane stamp for a one-layer card.  (I bought one of these for both me and my sister, in honor of our cousin Kenny and uncle Bud.)   I brushed a bit of brown pastel on the card, using a cotton ball.  After stamping the plane, I used a kneaded eraser to remove pastel from areas of the clouds, creating highlights.

Then I added these stripes from Hero Arts and the sentiment from Avery Elle.

Hmmmmm.  It looks okay, I guess, but it wasn't really what I had in mind, so I started again.  Looked to me like this design needed a square card.  (So many of them do!)

For this version, I sponged sky blue and pink pastel in the background.  (You may not be able to see it in the picture, but it shows up beautifully in real life.)  This time a stamped the plane in black and the stripes in sky blue.  (Okay, if they look a little muddy, it's because I got a bit impatient and probably didn't clean that stamp as well as I should have!)

I like this one a lot better.

What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

I wish you all the best in 2016!

On the 6th Day of Christmas...

I don't know about you, but my card stash is running pretty low right now.  With the rush of preparations behind me, I get to spend a little time with some of my new supplies, making little gifts for the second, third, fourth, etc. days of Christmas.  

this could be a sympathy or encouragement card...using my favorite iris stamp from Penny Black

an engagement card

Thanks so much for visiting!

Happy New Year!

Jingle All the Way

Third Sister Handmade

The Leaves Grow Old

I almost think I love late autumn best of all, when the sky hangs low with wintery-looking clouds and those last bright leaves still cling to the tree branches.  I’m forever trying to capture this look on paper.  

For this card, I knew I wanted to do some double-layer stamping. 

I dotted in colorful leaves with yellow and orange dye ink...

 ...and then added  Imagine Crafts/Tsukinedo Amplify! to make the bigger tree pop from the page without adding a lot of extra bulk.

I fell in love, first with this quote and then with my card, and I decided to send it to my aunt June for her 89th birthday.

Materials Needed

 Tsukineko:       Kaleidacolor Tahiti ink;   Radiant Neon Warm ink;  Memento Rich Cocoa ink;          Radiant Neon Amplify! Electric Orange and Electric Yellow;  Sponge daubers;   Bullet tip Fantastix

·        Sheer Shimmer Spritz;  Tear It! Tape

·        Inkadinkado:  Fall Trees stamp set

       Penny Black:  Fantasy Tree stamp

·        Pretty Pink Posh:  Stitched Banner Duo die set

·        Momenta:  Gemtone Basics 8 x 8 cardstock pad

·        Miscellaneous:  kraft and white cardstock, heat gun, calligraphy pen, temporary adhesive

Thanks for visiting!!

Autumn Birthdays

I can't help it.  I'm hooked on fall, even if the weather doesn't always cooperate.  So any birthdays this time of year are likely to celebrate the season as well.

Here I experimented with a couple of new stamp pads from Imaginecrafts/tsukineko, not blending the sponging too much.

 Supplies:

  Imaginecrafts/tsukineko

•  Kaleidacolor Tahiti ink
•   Radiant Neon Warm ink
•   Memento Rich Cocoa ink
•  sponge daubers 

 Inkadinkado

•   Fall Trees stamp set    

·        The Paper Studio

• Dendrology paper pad

From the Shop............

Those Kansas City Royals are keeping me up late at night!

Today I'm sketching alder branches to go with a poem I'll be calligraphing.

At first, I tried watercolor pencils.

For some reason, I almost like this best in monochrome.

But I do like a hint of winter sky behind.  I used mostly blue here, but added a touch of pink of a snowy sky look.

Then here's a bare branch, touched with snow.  I used Conte crayons for this sketch.

I haven't yet decided which one to use with the poem.

What do you like best?

www.thirdsisterhandmade.etsy.com

Thanks for stopping by!