A Bit of This, a Bit of That

I've been stamping a little more than usual lately, which is not surprising with the winter holidays just around the corner. My last post was a birthday card for a dog, and the three I'm showing today were also for special occasions.

Card 1: This "chalkboard" card was born after a rather impulsive decision to take on a StampNation weekend challenge earlier this month - done entirely with the intention of procrastinating on making Christmas cards, which is ironic considering this turned out to be a Christmas card. StampNation has hundred upon hundreds of challenges in the forum that never close, so members revisit them and sometimes add a new cards to the threads. Ally, one of our Dream Team members, offered to assign anyone who wanted to play two challenges to choose from so they could make a card by the end of the weekend. One of my challenges was to use the chalkboard technique, one I don't recall having tried before, and this is how it turned out:

 Inside:

Card 2: One of my "old" stamping friends and coworkers (who really isn't all that old, lol) sent me a cake for my birthday in September of this year. Well, more accurately, she sent me a picture of a cake:

and suggested that I color it and send it to her for her birthday in November. It felt like a cross between a request and a dare, so I had to do it. Here's how the card front looked once I colored the cake with colored pencil and raised it up over a stamped background, then added sequins as a final touch:

For being a digital image, it turned out better than I expected, although in retrospect I should have taken more time with the shading. Here's the inside:

I haven't heard from her yet, so I need to follow up this week and be sure she received it. It would be sad if it were lost in the mail.

Card 3: I have the coolest home health aide, and one of the many things I appreciate about her is that she loves to do DIY projects and is familiar with a lot of art and crafting terms; and what she doesn't know she asks about. During one of our discussions, she mentioned she really likes Steampunk, so for our six month anniversary I made her a card using Steampunk stamps:

The card base is Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, and the flowers you see on the side are on designer series paper (or maybe gift wrap, come to think of it - I'm not really sure). The images are embossed in copper, and a few copper sequins finish it off. This is the inside of the card:

Close-ups of some of the embossed images:

and the envelope:

I was really happy when she got the card and said she loves it!

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So that's it for today! Coming up next: Some non-traditional Christmas cards made using the Hip Holiday stamp set by Catherine Pooler Designs, specifically her "crooky tree." I'm rather proud of this next batch - but I'll say more about that tomorrow when they post. See you then!

Thankful smiles,
Joyce Spear a.k.a. StamperJoyce