Two Rennie Rose (Altenew) cards

Recently our good blogging friend, Darnell Knauss, sent a reminder for the January Twofer Card Challenge #34 - Flowers. It's not difficult to find a set of floral stamps on our shelves, right? I chose an older Altenew set, Rennie Roses, for my flowers and also two differently sized cards, a slimline for encouragement and an A2 birthday card. 

Card #1

First I stenciled (Altenew Classy Stripes) a light yellow diagonal stripe on the upper two thirds of the white panel. Three Beautiful Day foliage die sprigs fan out around the flowers adding texture and visual interest. The orange blooms were each stamped in VersaMark ink and gold embossed on an watercolored panel (Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan set). The green leaves were each stamped in green DI, clear embossed, and tucked around the modern roses. More green was added with the Beautiful Day clear embossed sentiment. The white panel was glued to a kraft slimline card which fits nicely in my Paper Source slimline envelope.

Card #2

My dramatic black card focuses on a stamped background. I set up several stamps in the corner on the white panel and with the Misti stamped in black, rotated the panel and stamped the opposite corner. I repeated this with another group of stamps completing the panel with smaller images to fill the background.  Pink Fresh Studio's Lea's Ornate Uppercase Alphabet helped create the focal sentiment cut from black glitter foam. A small sentiment from SS Sentiment Strips was inked with DI to match the small Rennie Rose die cut. The inside of the black card was lined with a white panel for a message. Such a fun card to create.

Both cards fit the Twofer Challenge. Card #2 is also linked to SS - Make Your Own Background. 

                         

I'll see you around the blogs and always on Instagram @vikkispapertrailetc

Happy New Year a few days late!

Welcome to 2021 friends! Confession: I'm a very lazy blogger. I've viewed many of your blogs and have spent a lot of time on Instagram at vikkispapertrailetc the past couple of months as it is easier to post. The mail carriers have been kind to me with new products and new supplies of ink and glue to reinforce my stash.  Next week marks the end of our first year in Portland. We're grateful to live in a walking neighborhood after 40 years on a rural hilltop. It has made the difference in my outlook in this quarantine life. As a natural introvert it has been important to see people daily walking to and fro living the best they can in these circumstances.

I alluded to new items and the two cards in this post feature one of them, the Altenew Hanging Garden dies. My cards use the positive and negative parts of the die in an inlay technique with the additional touch of red to brighten the neutral gray and white. The Color Hues Jan. 1-14 challenge to use gray and red determined the colors of my paper and ink. The two grays vary in their cool and warm tones but work together, I think.

Card #1

Card #1 begins with a side folding PTI Weathervane gray card stock splattered with white. Textured gray woodgrain paper and a white panel were each die cut with the larger die. The positive parts of this process were inlayed in the opposite negative panel. The berry portion of the die was cut twice from red linen paper. The encouraging red sentiment is from a PFS Partial Cut Floral Frame set from 2019's SS Stamptember. A thin red strip on the left finishes the triangle of red areas on the card.

 

Card #2 

My second card uses a PTI soft stone card front and the gray woodgrain panel finished with the largest SSS stitched rectangle. A PTI Enclosed: Wreath's sentiment, Peace, die cut in red and embellished with Wink of Stella clear finishes this one. The texture is so pretty. Christmas card #1 done for the year. I almost wished that it was turned horizontally with the sentiment in another corner.

Both cards are linked to three challenges: 

Color Hues #TCH 9, SSW: Something New, and NBUS

                      

Thanks for your visit and again, Happy New Year! 

Color Hues: TCH #7

Happy holidays on the first of December! I'm delighted to join the Color Hues 7th challenge today as the guest designer. This bi-monthly challenge focuses on a two color palette in your card design. 

The two colors selected this session work well

 for winter themes, don't you agree?

Card #1

My first card sparkles with starry blue holographic paper on one ornament and magenta shimmer paper decorating the second. The blue ball dangles via a scored line from the pine needles. Both ornaments and pine spray were directly glued on a die cut panel which was then adhered to a top-folding white card front. 

Card Menu: Nordic Frames die (The Greetery)

Pine Needle Trio dies (SSS)

What the Doodle: Ornament die (PTI) first time to use this one

December Typed Words (PTI)

Card #2

I hate to discard negative die cuts especially when they serendipitously all line up. After a trim the white rectangle was directly glued to a blue panel to create the blue needles. The winter sentiment will let me use this for Christmas or other occasions.

Card Menu:

Pine Needle Trio dies (SSS)

an old HA monthly kit sentiment

vellum banner (The Greetery)

The Color Hues team have beautiful ideas that you can see on the blog. They would love for you to play along with their new challenge.

My cards are also linked to the SSSW challenge: Anything Goes

Thank you for your visit!

So very grateful for you

 

Yipes, it's October 29 and the Altenew Inspiration Challenge is almost over. This is a challenge that I often overlook until it's too late but not this month. My favorite Altenew leaves are the Leaf Canopy set. It doesn't matter if they're stamped in black and white, on vellum, on color card stock, or colored with watercolors or copics, they are gorgeous. 

The leaves were die cut from a panel of Bristol paper that had been smooshed in three Ranger Distress Inks: Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint, my idea of the challenge colors. I absolutely love leaves that vary in colors like this! Squeal!! Each spray of leaves was glued to a matching fun foam die cut before placing it on the Dotted Swirls debossed kraft panel. A simple SSS sentiment strip and a few sequins finished this one! (I actually regret adding the sequins but too late now).

Hope your Halloween is spooky fun and lots of energy for the huge week ahead!

Photos are from a walk in Portland this week. The first photo is a panoramic view looking toward Washington State with Mt Adams peeking up on the left and a faint Mt Hood in Oregon on the right side.

Card is linked to October's Altenew Inspiration Challenge and SSSW Anything Goes

October SSS Card Kit Fun

This summer I subscribed to the Simon Says Stamp Monthly Card Kit. I like the variety of products and also the option to pass on a month that does not interest me or if I'm traveling. The October kit contains a darling bear, owl, fall props, a fabulous large sentiment plus more. I made three cards yesterday from the kit supplies and several Christmas cards. It helped that my husband was away bird watching at the coast.

 

The first card is a slimline birthday card for married friends whose birthdays are in October. I used a new PFS slimline die to cut the windows from white card stock which was inked with Antique Linen DI. The panel was backed with pattern paper from the kit and popped up with foam tape on the kraft card. The figures were colored with copics, color pencils or stamped on color cardstock before I fussy cut them. The envelope was stamped with more of the same items from the kit and lightly colored with pencils. Linking this card to the current SSSW challenge - Make a Card and Envelope.

Two more kit cards

A PTI circle was inked up with the newest Distress Oxide Crackling Campfire ink after embossing the wonderful sentiment. A few leftover die cuts from The Greetery's BotaniCuts Oak were added for interest.

Frankly this cute bear and the owl were my reason to purchase the kit. Using Gina K masking paper simplified stamping this scene. A SSS wonky rectangle die finished the panel edges which was mounted on a pattern paper card front. I left off a sentiment until it's mailed.

Birthday duo

Today's post includes two birthday cards using many products and colors. 

 

Card #1: The panel was first white embossed with an older Hero Arts Friends background stamp. Four different Distress Oxide inks were blended over the embossed letters. A SSS Wonky Rectangles die trimmed the panel which was glued to a deep rose card front. Two PTI Leaf Prints leaves and a two-layered PTI Leaf Silhouette leaf were grouped together with a string bow in the upper third of the card. A longer SSS sentiment strip phrase was cut apart and stacked below the leaves. This card was recently entered on Virginia's Show and Share challenge via Instagram.

Card #2 uses seven of the new Concord & 9 inks with the smile sentiment cut from an eighth Cn9 colored card stock. The design die cuts are from PTI's Fresh Bouquet and Words to Live by: Smile sets along with a small ink-blended SSS Sentiment strip. The card front was stamped with the PTI Cover Up: Grid stamp. A trio of old Hero Arts circle shadow stamps add extra spots of color and clear rainstones complete the card. Must say that this was a fun card to create!! I'll link this to this week's SSSW Challenge: Anything Goes.

Blessed

Good morning! Here's my card today made after many minutes of gluing fine lines of the navy outline and filling in the details with blue and turquoise leaves. Due to an accidental ink spot on the background the entire project was splattered with more color! Ha ha for CAS - not.

 

The NBUS Leafy Envelope (PFS) was die cut from watercolor paper and all the pieces fell out.  I gently ink blended HA Navy ink over the outline and glued it to a white panel. Next the large leaves sections were colored with copic markers and inlaid in the appropriate spots. The other leaves were left unfilled but colored again with copics.  I masked the envelope area and splattered ink around the area. The panel was placed on an aqua-turquoise card front. My friend Greta kindly shared the PTI Blessed die cuts a while ago and this statement touched my heart. In this pandemic time I've been blessed by old friends and new acquaintances found on card blogs sending "thinking of you" and "hello" cards. Thank you all.

Card linked to Color Hues TCH #2 , SSSW: No Stamps Allowed, and NBUS

Today would have been my dad's 94th birthday. We surprised him on his final birthday 40 years ago so that he could meet his youngest grandson, six months old then. Little did we know he would die from a stroke five months later. I was loved and blessed by him.

September SSS Card Kit Group

With all of the smoke in the air keeping us inside, I finally opened the SSS September card kit box this week.  So far I've made five cards. I usually prefer plain backgrounds for my cards but with all the pretty pattern papers included in the kit, I put aside my preferences. FYI, the fires are mostly in the mountains and river canyons in Oregon but not in Portland.

The first two cards feature the wonderful sentiment die included with the kit. I used green vellum for the shadow sentiment on the first card and yellow vellum laid over white card stock on the second. I fussy cut a yellow flower and popped it up as a center for the orange flower. The entire panel was trimmed with a SSS Wonky Rectangles die.

The sunglasses card reminds me of a postcard you might send to someone saying "wish you were here".  The panel edges were finished with a SSS Stitched Rectangle die. The card front was textured with a PTI linen impression cover plate before the panel was added. 

Both of these cards will be linked to the SSSW Challenge: No Stamps Allowed. 

The next two cards share the same background paper with the positive and negative images of a PTI United States die. The first card used a sentiment from the kit embossed in gold and hearts stamped in aqua. It's companion card has a sentiment from PTI's These United States and an extra "Let's Explore" poster from the kit added.

I'm linking this card to NBUS #18. I had not used this kit until this week plus I had never used the USA die or its sentiment.

My fifth card again uses a background pattern paper from the kit in shades of navy, blue and cream. The kit provided the fussy cut clouds, heart balloon and sentiment. This card's colors were chosen for the new challenge, Color Hues TCH #2.

Thanks for your visit today! See you around the internet!