Snowboard Santa

I was looking for a cool image for a teenager and found this gem at Mo's Digital Pencil: http://www.mosdigitalpencil.com/snowboard-santa/

Christmas Cards for School

Here is a bunch of Christmas cards I made for the teachers and helpers at my kids' school:

Wintry cards for Kat Scrappiness Blog Hop

Here are two wintry cards using watercolour backgrounds.

This one was stamped with black embossing powder and tag from Unity Stamp Co (Kit of the Month Oct 2013). The tree silhouette stamp (GinaK Designs) seem to be discontinued:

And a white embossing ink one using the same tree stamp.  The sentiment is from the same Unity Stamp set.

This is posted as part of the Kat Scrappiness Blog Hop!!   It's a really good cause and though it's near impossible to support financially from South Africa I hope this helps!
>>> http://katscrappinessblog.com/charity-blog-hop <<<

• #KatScrappinessCharityBlogHop
• #CoffeeOasis
• #KatScrappiness

God bless

Riette

Fancy framed shaker

And here is card number 3. This one took me quite a while to make. The cut frame has 3 layers and is then layered on another cut-out from the die-set to create the frame and base for the shaker. This whole shaker was then mounted onto a card base from which the front edge has been partially die-cut from the same die to match the shape of the border.

Die-cut:   https://www.nellieschoice.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=stained+glass
>>> Fantasy Flower 3

http://www.country-crafts.co.za/pages/bakery/stained-glass-die-sgd004-2174.php (South African retailer)

God bless
Riette

Snowmen sliders

This is card nr 2 of the specially ordered cards. It's for a young boy and I thought he would like the spinning and sliding snowmen.

Snowmen: Grab bag from GinaK Designs (probably discontinued stamps, they're so old)

Lights: https://www.unitystampco.com/oh-christmas-tree-kom-10-13/

Die-cut: https://www.papertreyink.com/pti-dies/papertrey-ink-movers-shakers-spinners-die-collection-set-of-3/

God bless
Riette

Flamenco

I was asked to make 3 special cards for Christmas and as usual I like to include a theme of interest for the specific person where possible.

This one was for a lady who loves dancing!  I decided to leave out a sentiment so that it can be used for Christmas / Holidays / New Year.

Image:  http://www.mosdigitalpencil.com/flamenco/

(I'm no colourist and usually avoid it so this was just coloured quickly with watercolour paint.)

God bless
Riette

Christmas CAS Card class Embossing

Related posts:

• http://redcardcorner.blogspot.com/2018/11/christmas-cas-card-class-day-1.html
• http://redcardcorner.blogspot.com/2018/11/christmas-cas-card-class-day-3-colouring.html

Today is a simple heat embossing card:

The gloves on a string is from https://www.unitystampco.com/oh-christmas-tree-kom-10-13/

The sentiment is from a discontinued GinaK Design set.

Pardon the quick post but wanted to take part :) 

God bless

Riette

Christmas CAS Card class Colouring

Hello all

(See also http://redcardcorner.blogspot.com/2018/11/christmas-cas-card-class-day-1.html)

Day 3 of https://www.onlinecardclasses.com/cleansimpleholiday/ was all about coloring. I was weary of this one because I actually hate coloring. Whether it be pencils (too much effort and I'm impatient) or markers (too expensive to maintain) so I try and avoid it where possible. Which means that a LOT of my stamps start to gather dust. Not. Good. So I was very relieved to see a lot of watercolouring, not only of backgrounds, but images as well.

The images, with candy canes, are from Unity's 2013 (Oct) Kit of the Month:

I made a shaker card and it was actually not difficult at all. The image was stamped on watercolour paper (front) with Archival Ink. I mounted it with painter's tape and watercoloured the images. Once it was dry I cut it out with a craft knife to make a window. The image was stamped on normal cardstock as well for the back and lightly shaded with distress ink. The candy canes were also stamped on watercolour paper, painted and cut out. Then it was easily assembled with foam tape behind the front panel. The shaker window has some of the candy canes and some stars added. 

All credit for this goes to Kristina Werner who's blog I have been practically stalking these past few months and I can't get enough of her watercolour cards. It's been a revelation.

I trust everyone is A-OK!

God bless,
From a VERY hot Johannesburg!

Riette

Christmas CAS Card class Inking

Hello all!
It's been ages but I HAVE been card-making. I've just not had time to update my blog!
I signed up for Kristina and Jennifer's  Online Card Class and day 1 is all about INKING!.

I did a masked off strip that I ink-blended before stamping over it. I did some shadow stamping on the trees as well.

I'm so looking forward to Day 2!

God bless!
Riette

Altenew October 2018 and CTS291

WOW it's been a long time!  I have been making some cards but with a very special purpose and not for challenges. At least not card blog challenges, but they were very challenging! More about that soon.

This is my very first Altenew challenge entry with my first (and currently only) Altenew set! (It's nearly impossible to afford importing them to South Africa.)

Altenew set:  https://altenew.com/products/hope-stamp-set 
Altenew ink cube sets: Tropical forest + Pocketful of Sunshine
Sentiment: https://www.unitystampco.com/feel-better-soon-april-2014-sentiment-kit/

The background was shaded with various different dye inks in my stash.

ALTENEW OCTOBER INSPIRATION CHALLENGE:

Cas(e) This Sketch #291

God bless
Riette

Veels Geluk dimensions

This card was made for a friend of my mother's.  "Veels Geluk" means congratulations in Afrikaans.

The letters were die-cut three times with white and the top layer with design paper and then all glued and stacked. I added glossy accents on top of the letters to give them even more dimension. They almost don't look like paper!

The flowers were stamped in the round around the edge and I did it twice to have a duplicate set which was cut out and popped on for dimension.

The florals are from Unity Stamp Co Kit of the Month January 2014

Love & Blessings
Riette

Nested die-cuts window

In a previous post I posted a card I made using nested die-cuts. Here is another card I made with some of the other colors that I had cut at the same time.

I made  window card and used the nested die-cuts over the acetate of the window.

The back of the glued die-cuts doesn't show the liquid glue because it dries clear.

The sentiment is from GinaK designs "Whimsical Wishes" (retired set).

Bad-ass every day

I've been making quite a few cards over the past few weeks but haven't had time to upload them yet so I'm starting to add these in no particular order.

This card was made with Unity Stamp Co Kit of the Month June 2013 floral image and the sentiment is an itty-bitty "Badass Every Day".  This was the very first time I've used this stamp and even still had to peel off the protective backing.

I don't like coloring so the flowers were colored by scratching Gilettos onto the craft mat, adding water and then with minimum color on a brush I colored the images. This is not on watercolor paper but normal mid-weight cardstock.

I was trying a different technique that didn't work out but because I had two identical sets of the image I cut out the second set and added it as a dimensional layer to the bottom. I love how this turned out.

Playing along with:
http://craftingwithanattitude.blogspot.co.za/2018/05/challenge-39.html
http://carabbiemomentsofcraft.blogspot.co.za/2018/05/challenge-143.html
https://moo-mania.blogspot.co.za/2018/05/even-more-flowers-noch-mehr-blumen.html
https://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.za/2018/05/wk-20-anything-goes-polkadoodles.html
http://simplypapercraftsforalloccassions.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-57.html


Love & Blessings
Riette

Wonderful wishes

I've been extremely inspired by Jennifer McGuire's blog videos and have a very, very long list of techniques I want to try.  I have been using my Cuttlebug for die-cutting a LOT more lately :D

• The die-cut is from Nellie Snellen:  https://www.nelliesnellen.com/techniques-nellie-snellen/dies/multi-frame-dies/nellies-multi-frame-die-mfd030-round-lilly.html 
• The sentiment stamp from Unity Stamp Co:  https://www.unitystampco.com/everything-wonderful-june-2013-sentiment-kit/

It's great to get back into the swing of things.

I used the new Viva La Verve sketch for May 2018 as inspiration.

Love & Blessings

Riette

Birthday Spinner

I've been wanting to do a spinner card for ever, and my son has been nudging me on as well. So I finally bit the bullet and got my spin on.

I printed this image twice, one flipped horizontally in a mirror image, from Mo's Digital Pencil "Superkid".  The thread runs between the two images and is simply adhered to the back of the front panel from which I cut the circle. I did cover the inside of that panel with a matching white cardstock with same circle to cover the thread.

My son was thrilled :)

The sentiment stamp is an old one from Papertrey Ink.

For inspiration on spinner cards with a twist, watch https://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2017/09/spin.html 

Playing with:
http://intaas.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/ch32-interactive.html



Love & Blessings
Riette

Take the leap (wobble card)

I was watching some card making videos lately that used "action wobblers".  It gave me an idea of making my own version.  I used a Mo Manning image from Five Little Faires and printed my own sentiment.  To make the wobbler, I took two thin strips of paper and folded them criss-cross. We used to do this in school sometimes when we were bored!

The below side view takes a peek underneath.  So if you tap her she gives a wobble! I should have made the wobble tower taller but will do that next time!!!!

Playing with:

http://ttcrd.blogspot.co.za/2018/05/ttcrd-anything-goes-challenge-week.html

http://intaas.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/ch32-interactive.html

https://colourcrazychallenge.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/week-17-anything-goes-colouring.html

http://fussyandfancychallenge.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-210-add-die-cut.html

http://www.josscrapshack.com/2018/04/ffc-231-always-anything-goes-with.html

https://polkadoodle.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/wk-17-polkadoodles-crafting.html

Love & Blessing
Riette

More Joy

I posted a while back a Joy card using the negative of the die-cut as a shaker window. Here are the letters I cut out. I cut another 2 layers of each to make it nice and dimensional.

The background is emboss resist with a dry embossed panel for the lettering. Easy peasy.

Playing with:

http://littlemissmuffetchallenges.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-187-anything-goes.html

https://craftaholicsrus.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-16-anything-goes.html

http://carabbiemomentsofcraft.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-141.html

http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-364-anything-goes.html

https://sunnydaycrafting.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/ch-16-bugs-insects.html

Love & Blessings

Riette

Happy is a word

As per my previous post I've finally dusted off my very old alphabet die-set and started playing around with it. I've been quite happy with how things have been turning out!

The floral stamp is an old one from Joanna Sheen.  I die-cut two sets of the letters and glued them together for dimension and coloured them silver with a marker as well. To make it stand out more, I shaded a strip behind it with Antique Linen distress ink.  The flowers were all coloured with Spectrum Noir markers.

Playing with:
https://www.mycreativescoop.com/color-inspiration-monthly-link-up-33
http://getcreativechallenges.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-68-no-pattern-paper-winners.html
http://cardmaniachallenges.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/cmc103-spring.html
http://cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/no-april-fools-here-its-our-50th.html

Love & Blessings
Riette

Joy Birthday Wishes

I have been so inspired by the work of Jennifer Mcguire and I just had to try one of her techniques using alphabet dies.  I used my Spellbinders alphabet die-set, emboss resisted the background and an old GinaK sentiment stamp.

Here's Jennifer's blogpost:  https://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2017/05/3-ways-alphabet-word-dies.html that shows so very well how to do this.   I think more alphabet dies are going on my wish list.

Playing with:

http://cardsinenvy.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/get-negative-card-challenge.html
http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-201.html
http://www.happylittlestampers.com/2018/04/hls-april-anything-goes-with-dies.html

Love & Blessings
Riette

Lean on each other (Journal)

I've been loving Maurie Manning's images from "Mo's Digital Pencil" to use for Journal pages and I love images of houses so this was a no-brainer :D The sentiment comes with the same set, "Lean" .  I realised that I've been intimidated by the 'big space' of a journal layout but using digital images that I can size bigger works out perfect.

I found a scrap piece of bubble-wrap and covered it with blue acrylic paint before 'stamping' the background with it. It was a bit bright so once it was dried I covered it with a think layer of Gesso.

The clouds are die-cut from a Joy! Crafts die-set.

Playing along with:
https://alphabetchallengeblog.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/a-anything-but-card.html
http://crafting-with-friends.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/challenge-64.html
http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/welcome-to-creative-artiste-challenge-37.html
http://ttcrd.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/ttcrd-anything-goes-challenge-3th-10th.html

Love & Blessings
Riette

Birthday wishes from the herd

I love it when a number of card challenges come together and point me to a beloved set. I haven't used it in years.  It is Funny Farm by GinaK Design (discontinued it seems! A great pity!!)

I stamped the cow on a back panel and die cut the circle from another piece. I die-cut a frame as well.  I slipped the sentiment (also from Funny Farm) inside the circle to pop through. I then stamped only the heart balloon part of a Unity Stamp Co itty-bitty Wild about You.  The lines and wrap-around the cow was hand drawn.  The top panel is popped up with padded tape.

Some Glossy accents on the balloons completed the card.

Playing along with:

http://craftyanimals.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-13.html
http://cccdigicreations.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-91-include-animal.html
https://alwayshappybirthday.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/april-challenge-birthday-anything-goes.html
https://animalfriendschallenge.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/61-april-bauernhofon-farm.html

Love & Blessings
Riette

Birthday texture

My daughter was a bit bored the other day and was ripping pieces of paper and gluing it on another piece of paper.  She brought it to me and thought I might like to use it. Did I ever!!

So I used some mix media techniques with Gelato's to colour the background strips.  I thought about matting it all down with artist Matt Medium but then like the curly edges so I left it.

The rose is from a very old Spellbinders set. I cut it from quite sturdy patterned paper which I then sprayed with some water to soften it so that I could curl it with a thin metal pointy thingy I have in my stash. I cut the leaves (another old Spellbinders set) from patterned paper and then colored and edged it with distress inks.  The sentiment is from an old GinaK Designs set (discontinued). It actually says "happy birthday to you" but I didn't ink the 'to you'. 

Some liquid pearls hide a spot or two of minute ink spots.

I used some grey Gelato to stain the edges and went over that with a bit of distress green ink.

Playing along with:
http://alwaysfunchallenges.blogspot.co.za/2018/04/challenge-52.html - Birthday
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/crafty-catz-challenge-410.html - Anything Goes + old stash

Love & Blessings
Riette

Life and Love (Journal)

Today I have a journal that used some smooching with Gelato's in the background, some stenciling with texture paste that was colored with acrylic paint and a coloring picture from the internet that I cut up.  The little bees are from a stamp set from Unity stamp co.

Playing along with:
http://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/spring-flowers.html
http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/challenge-175-spring-colours.html
http://stampsfun-creativity.blogspot.co.za/2018/03/ch320-fruhling-spring.html


Love & Blessings
Riette

Make today Amazing

A quick CAS card:

Love & Blessings
Riette