For the past 8 years I’ve enjoyed designing for the Penny Black And More Challenge but the challenge has ended and is moving in a new direction with a new sponsor.
I have a sweet card featuring some adorable WPlus9 bees and bears.
I painted with twinkling H2Os on Arches hot press watercolour paper, sponged the sky and grass with distress inks and added stickles to the wings. I fussy cut the bear on the ground and popped it on foam tape.
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i was absolutely shocked to see that i was the random winner of the Ellen Hutson Twelve Tags 2019 challenge! i had to get hubby to check to see if i was reading the winners’ post correctly and yes, one of the tags i entered was posted so it was true.
if you follow me you know that Christmas is challenging for me because of my son’s brain cancer diagnosis in early december and his birthday at the end of december right after christmas. the 12 tags challenge has been a tradition for 6 years now; it gives me something to focus on and feel productive during the holidays.
so, this is the card I sent to Ellen Hutson. i painted the poppy stamps wreath, die cut with hot press watercolour paper, with twinkling H2Os and added glossy accents to the berries. the WPlus9 sentiment fit perfectly.
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Cutting paper and fussy cutting images are tasks that I usually avoid because of the strain and subsequent pain in my hands so I was eager to test the scissors Tonic Studios USA sent to me.
For the past couple of weeks, I cut a variety of materials with each of the scissors as listed below.
Spring-Cut Multi-Purpose Scissors 10″
I like these scissors! The blades are sharp, they fit comfortably in my hand and I love the spring action – it makes them easy to operate and they are perfect for when a longer scissor blade is needed. The locking mechanism opens effortlessly with my thumbnail and just as easily locks back in place. The protective blade cover is also easy to remove and replace.
Spring-Cut Fine Tip Detail Scissors 6.5″
I like these scissors too! Like the larger scissors, they fit comfortably in my hand and the spring action is easy to operate so cutting is more enjoyable and less painful. I stamped the azaleas below twice on 140 lb. hot press watercolour paper, painted with sennelier watercolour paints, cut the leaves and attached them to the card base; then I cut the petals and adhered them. I also used these to cut the 90 lb. cold press watercolour paper flowers and the heavyweight printed cardstock that I stamped the flowers on. These will be my go to scissors for fussy cutting. The locking mechanism easily opens and locks back in place and the protective blade cover is easy to remove and replace.
140 lb. hot press watercolour paper flowers
90 lb. cold press watercolour paper flowers
170 gsm heavyweight printed cardstock flowers
Decoupage Scissors
Because of the smaller size, these required more finger grip strength and dexterity than I have. Both the 140 lb. hot press and 90 lb. cold press watercolour paper flowers were difficult to cut through. Although they worked best when i cut the doodle flowers above from the 170 gsm heavyweight printed cardstock, I preferred the 6.5″ spring cut detail scissors.
Tim Holtz 7″ Non-Stick Titanium Scissors
I was pleasantly surprised with these scissors because I really like the spring action of the others. The blades are very sharp, the handles are comfortable and these scissors are especially useful when cutting double sided adhesive sheets and foam tape. In addition to the materials listed above, I also fussy cut some shapes from a cardboard box with ease. The blade cover snaps in place but i could only remove it with the use of a rubber gripper.
Try before you buy! My local stamp store owner lets me test a product to see if it suits my hands; she has opened brand new products for me to try but sometimes there’s a model that is used for classes anyway.
Thanks to Tonic Studios for allowing me the opportunity to discover useable products that make my paper crafting time more enjoyable and thank you for popping by.
i made it to day 12 and the inspiration is a different colour palette that i found very challenging but now that i finished my tag i might use these colours again.
i was inspired by both day 12 designers to create this tag: i loved the stripes, greenery and focal point on Carolyn Peeler’s tag and i also loved the die cut joy sentiment that Angie Backman used.
i painted the stripes with a blue twinkling H2O and mixed my own colours of twinks to paint the poinsettias and added some tan coloured pearls; the wplus9 joy sentiment was die cut from kraft and layered.
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as you know, i love making christmas cards year round so i was excited to be invited to design for scrappymo’s rudolph days challenge to create holiday cards on the 25th of every month.
i watercoloured this cute inky antics image with twinkling H2Os, added glossy accents to the ornaments and white flocking to the pom pom; to finish it off, i layered the wplus9 die cut merry sentiment.
the challenge runs until the last day of the month; visit scrappymo’s blog to view the rest of the team’s inspiring cards and the challenge rules.
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it’s so hard to believe it was seven years ago that my son passed away; it feels like yesterday and at times i feel like i’m stuck in a time warp, resisting the passage of time but knowing i have no control over it. the impact of grief might change over time, but it’s forever and i wish more people would understand that.
my son had a special fondness for elephants so i watercoloured the wplus 9 bubble talk stamp with twinkling H2Os and die cut and popped it on top of a background i created with dylusions ink spray and twinkling H2Os. the hearts were die cut, also painted with twinks and covered in glossy accents with a few extra bubbles added. i used black wow! embossing powder on the sentiment, masking part of it from the wplus9 ‘unforgettable‘ set. finally, i finished it off with polka dot washi tape.
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the jingle belles prompt is ‘BLING on the Holidays’ and i have bling, just no mojo so i cased my trees card and used different coloured glitter papers.
i used the same design as my other card, the same wplus9 merry die and these little guys are also part of the same IO die set. instead of colouring my background, i added some red and clear stickles to the designer paper (free in a magazine), matted it onto shimmer paper and then glitter paper. i used the inlaid die technique with these tiny gingerbreads – time consuming but i like how it looks like white icing so all that frustration effort was worth it. i might even make a set of cards with this design.
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i made another card featuring this adorable wplus9 elephant for a special someone who really enjoyed the last one i made.
i fussy cut the elephant, used a wplus9 heart balloon die, watercoloured them both with twinkling H2Os and popped them on foam tape. the wplus9 sentiment is from the same stamp set and the hello was die cut from coordinating old kaisercraft paper and attached to fun foam. to finish it off, i added some twine around the trunk and i hope this card will be as well received as the last.
i was inspired to play along with these challenges:
wplus 9 – Throwback Thursday #11
kathy’s 30 day colouring
Simon Says Stamp – Have A Heart
Sweet Stampin valentine
thanks for popping by.
how’s this for cutting it close? i have under four hours to get this posted to the Jingle Belles christmas card challenge where the theme is oh christmas tree; rushed for time, i made a quick and easy CAS card.
i saw this cute tree die on one of jingle belle stephanie’s fun cards in november so when i saw the impression obsession die set at my local stamp store in december, and it was 30% off, i quickly added it to my basket. you might recognize the merry sentiment that i’ve used quite a bit; it’s a Wplus9 die and everything was cut from green glitter paper. the background was created with distress inks on 140 lb. cold press watercolour paper.
i’m also playing along with these challenges:
scrappymo’s Rudolph Days Challenge – anything goes
addicted to stamps and more #178 – holiday
Simon Says Stamp – anything goes
thanks for popping by.
it’s a struggle to be merry on this dull and snowy day, but i am glad that i made my first christmas card for 2016! i know it’s a long way off but the only rushing around i’ll do in november is adding sentiments to the insides because i might not be sure who i’ll send which card to yet.
the jingle belles would like to see something old and something new so i used an image in a fancy pants paper pad that’s about three years old and is now discontinued, unfortunately; the new items on my card are the be sentiment stamp and the merry die.
i’d also like to submit this card to the simon says stamp wednesday challenge to use something new and they’re featuring Wplus9 Products so i used two new Wplus9 items: hand lettered holiday stamp set and the hand lettered holiday die.
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i’m playing along with the Wplus9 Throwback Thursday Challenge #10, although i’m just making the deadline. i don’t have the featured dies but i love designer maureen’s card with the quilted squares so here’s what i created:
i used the small stitching line from the doodle buds stamp set and added washes of twinkling H2Os, matted it on black card stock and used the sentiment from the same set.
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i love making tags so i’m playing along with ellen hutson’s 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2015 Challenge. last year was the first time i joined in and only managed to create a couple; i’m not sure how many i’ll get made this year, but it’s fun getting lost in the creative zone.
i was inspired by both designers’ tags for Day 1; i liked the bright pink and trees Carolyn Peeler used and the larger die cut sentiment on Stephanie Wincott’s.
i created the background with distress ink, die cut everything with glitter paper, layered the snow drifts and trees and added some snow and ribbons. thanks for popping by.
i made this card for a very special someone who loves elephants – happy birthday! you might remember that i used the wplus9 bubble talk elephant on two previous cards and they were so well received that i *had* to get the unforgettable stamp set too.
i had so much fun watercolouring this adorable image; as usual, i watercoloured with twinkling H2Os and i added clear wink of stella to the balloon for extra shimmer. the tiny stars were randomly stamped in green since the recipient’s favourite colours are purple and green.
i’d like to submit this to the wplus9 Throwback Thursday Challenge #8 – Fair Isle Backgrounds – not exactly the right stamps or colours, but i was inspired to make a CAS card.
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i just had enough time to meet the deadline for the wplus9 Throwback Thursday #7 – Pretty Patches & Country Charm Challenge. Although older product is featured, the stamps are new to me and so cute so i bought them. besides, maureen did such a fabulous job of making her own plaid paper that i wanted to give it a try.
since i stamped on kraft, it was difficult to get the green and brown inks to show up so i used a ruler and pencil crayon to add those colours; this was so much fun! i popped one of the sentiments from the pretty patches pumpkin set on foam tape after i sponged around the edges with distress ink.
i also made two 3 inch cards with the pumpkin stamp, fussy cut and popped on foam tape:
thanks for popping by. #wplus9tbt
i’m playing along with the Wplus9 Get Sketchy Challenge #3:
i started this card with the washi tape on the bottom and painted cold press watercoloured paper with a yellow twinkling H2O. the stars from the wplus9 whole lotta happy dies were die cut with hot press watercolour paper and also painted with twinkling H2Os with some wink of stella for extra sparkle. the wplus9 hand lettered hello was die cut four times and i used scor pal tape and glitter for the top layer. finally, i added some pretty pink posh clear sequins and seed beads.
thanks for popping by. #wplus9
the colour combination at the wplus9 Pure Color With Kara: #3 Stamping Text Over Stamped Images is one i rarely use so i had to try it. besides, i don’t have enough wplus9 stamps yet to try the technique; will have to fix that.
you might remember seeing this adorable wplus9 elephant before and you’ll probably be seeing more of him since one family member loves elephants.
i watercoloured with twinkling H2Os and Sennelier watercolour paints, die cut both images and popped them on foam squares.
thanks for popping by. #wplus9
i’m playing along with the WPlus9 Challenge – Get Sketchy with Joni #2 and here’s her sketch:
i watercoloured this cute elephant from the clear stamp set ‘bubble talk’ with twinkling H2Os, masked him and stamped the hearts border. to finish it off, i added red stickles to the tiny stamped hearts and one of the sentiments from the same set. this card will be sent to a family member who loves elephants.
thanks for popping by.
i’m playing along with Throwback Thursday #5 at WPlus9 where the theme is to be inspired by one of three cards using the Fresh Cut Wreaths stamp set. 
i was inspired by the first card with the popped frame against the stamped floral background. i watercoloured the chickadee from the clear stamp set, a new day, with twinkling H2Os on hot press watercolour paper, used the out of the box technique to die cut the frame, popped it with foam tape onto designer paper with a floral and leaf print. finally, i stamped the sentiment from the same set and i’m giving this card to my daughter. thanks for popping by. #wplus9
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