OWH ODBD Challenge - Masculine themed cards

The December Our Daily Bread Design challenge is to make masculine themed cards.  A lot of the men I know enjoy spending time out in the mountains.

This card was made by lots of stamping and masking with some very old scenic stamps.  The color was sponged in to create some of the colors of a sunrise.  I still need more practice because I haven't done this technique for years.  The punch is a McGill punch.

Merry Christmas 2013

Tex always enjoys finding a gift under the tree on Christmas morning.  His favorite part is tearing off the wrapping paper.  After playing with new toy for a bit, he allows Rudolph to watch him eat breakfast.

Me, I'm posting on my blog for the first time with a new computer.

Basket of flowers

In an effort to continue using card making supplies that I have and haven't used, I pulled out some more of my old wood mounted rubber stamps.

 

This stamp in from the Punch-Ins collection by Make an Impression.  The technique is to stamp the image and add flowers punched and shaped from cardstock.  I also stamped the basket on kraft cardstock and cut it out.  This made the basket available to tie the ribbon around it.  I have more of this type of stamp that haven't been used for a few years, so expect to see more of these cards in the future.

 

This card was made with a poinsettia die by Boss Kut instead of using punches.  The sentiment was part of the original collection.

 

Holiday memories

I've been busy preparing for Christmas and enjoying the holiday season.  I feel that I really can enjoy the season for the first time since I lost my dear hubby.  Memories will linger forever, but I also now feel that I can enjoy my life.

 

This airplane ornament is a personal tribute to my pilot husband.  It will always be on my tree, along with many personal ornaments.


It has been very cold this year for our little corner of the world.  I do live in the southern Nevada desert and mostly enjoy sunny dry weather.  This was a surprise and not so welcome to have such cold weather here.

 

 Our skies have cleared again and it's warmed up a bit, but some of the plants were frozen and will need to be replaced in the spring.  Time moves on, but we will always have our memories.

Few more Christmas cards

I think I've finished making Christmas cards for this year. 
I do make multiples of some of these, while others are singles.  Most of them are in the mail.

This was made with a gold metallic sticker by Gold Label.  The background is embossed, but that doesn't show up well in the photo.

This is another old wood mounted rubber stamp by Art Impressions from 2001.  I stamped it with Versamark ink and silver pearl embossing powder on the dark blue cardstock.  The background is a very pretty paper called Sheer Marble Paper by Embossing Arts.  I adhered it with vellum tape to the blue cardstock.  The sentiment and corner pieces are silver metallic stickers. 

I'm pretty sure these supplies are no longer available, but I'm trying to use these supplies I have hoarded for many years.

Desert snow

I know it's winter, but I much prefer summers in the desert.  Yesterday morning, I awakened to see our beautiful mountains covered in snow.

 

 This is a pretty scene early in the morning, but when I looked down, I saw the snow in my backyard.

 

Fortunately, the sun soon came out and melted the snow in the grass.  We had a clear cool winter day.  However, the clear skies allowed for the temperature to drop a little too low for this desert rat.

 

It looks like a good day to stay inside and finish up my Christmas cards.

Scenic card

I made this card for my brother's birthday.  It's not perfect, but he already knows that I'm not perfect and will appreciate the effort.

 

Scenic cards take some practice.   I stamped the mountains first, then masked them by stamping on a piece of Masking Magic.  I cut out the mountains and covered the stamped ones.  I sponged some ink around the mountains for sky and ground, then added other stamped elements.  The little mountain stream is created by masking everything except the water, then sponging on some blue ink.  The moose was created with a punch.

Don't forget thank yous

I'm taking a break from Christmas cards to make some thank you cards.  One of my pet peeves is that many people forget to say Thank You.  Be sure to make some thank you cards so they will be ready when needed.  It's always nice to have them available so you don't forget to send them.

This Core'dinations cardstock was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folders and sanded to make the words more visable.  Tie a ribbon around it and mount it onto a framing layer that works with the ribbon.  I mounted this onto a white base card, so it is ready to write a personal message inside when needed.

These cards are quick to make and can be made in multiples.  If I make more than I need, I can always send these off to OWH so our deployed troops can send messages to those who support them.

Scenic sticker cards

I bought a group of these scenic metallic stickers years ago.  They are made by Mark Enerprises.  When I first bought them, I only knew how to use the outline portion of the stickers on cards.  I have recently learned that you can also transfer the negative portion of the sticker to your cards.  It actually creates a prettier image.  You can see a video at this site, just click on the Reverse Sticker Technique.

I used this transfer technique and placed the silver sticker onto a circle of blue cardstock, then layered it onto a couple of Spellbinder diecuts.  The embossed layer is a brushed silver.  The sentiment is also a silver sticker, made by Starform.

These cards were made using the same technique, showing both parts of a sticker by Gold Label.

These gold stickers are mounted on brown cardstock. 

I embossed the cream cardstock with tiny stars with an embossing folder by the Paper Studio.  I added a glossy gold layer, then a brown layer, then mounted it on Vintage Cream cardstock by Papertrey Ink.  The sentiments are also gold stickers.

Christmas Candle card

 

This stamp is another old wood mounted rubber stamp.  This one is from Magenta, but doesn't show a date.  The sentiment is Make an Impression and says 1997-2006.

After coloring the rubber with Marvy markers and spritzing it before stamping, I stamped it on smooth white cardstock.  The image wasn't vivid enough for my taste, so I added some color with Prismacolor pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits.  This made the holly berries fade into the candle, so I added some small adhesive backed gems.

Gold Embossed Poinsettia card

With this group of cards, I dug deep and used a 1992 PSX rubber stamp.  I love these old good quality wood mounted rubber stamps because they give great images.

 

When preparing to heat emboss on darker cardstock, it's important to rub an embossing buddy (mesh bag full of powder) over your cardstock to remove any fingerprints that may attract the embossing powder, leaving specks around your image.  I stamped this image with Versamark ink, then applied gold embossing powder, cleared any excess powder and heated with my old Heat It Gun.

I added black and a glossy gold layers before adhering to white cardstock.  Once again, the sentiment is a gold sticker by Starform.