New Year is approaching!

Hello Again,

I told you I would be back to write on behalf of Make My Monday Challenge Blog! This week we have a themed challenge.

New Year or Calendar

This is a great challenge to wrap up the year and do hope you will join us at Make My Monday. Here is my inspiration card. Enjoy!!

Yes we all know the traditional colors for New Years; black, white, champagne, silver, and gold.
Well I decided to spruce it up a bit with a bit more color and bling.

I created the Bokah background about six months ago.
 It didn't work out for that card but, oh wow, it is a perfect fit for a New Years theme.

Luster gold elements and black create a traditional look. However the
splash of magenta and sea foam green is what gives it its uniqueness.

 I do hope everyone reading this post will have a happy and safe New Year. And please hop on over to Make My Monday and join in. We will be looking forward to see what you create! Take care all and see you soon.

All the best,
Shawna

Christmas Baubles

Hello Everyone,

For tonight I am playing along with Colour Q, The Male Room, Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and Fusion. Christmas is still in the air!! So here is my card, enjoy!

Christmas baubles using kraft paper and images from my friend Merethe.
The small red velvet bow gives the sentiment ornament something special

The snowy bird scene was done by Merethe. All I did was highlight it using some shading around the scene. Red is popping around the card.

Challenges Entering:
Colour Q: cQc #321
The Male Room: TMR#25-15 Christmas or Seasonal Greetings- Challenge #25
Watercooler Wednesday Challenge: WWC48- Anything Goes with Snow
Fusion Card Challenge: Season's Greetings

       

I think these Christmas baubles are so beautiful. Simple color with pops of red creates a vintage style with a modern layout. I choose to highlight the snowy bird scene because it was a different and it seems to stand out from the others.

I do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and am looking forward to a crafty New Year! You will hear from me one more time tonight for Make My Monday with a new challenge so until then take care and see you later tonight.

All the Best,
Shawna

Seasons Greetings

Greetings to you!

For this post I am playing along with The Male Room, The Color Throwdown, and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Here is my card, enjoy!

I wish I could take credit for the amazing bokah background. I thought this scene would fit the background very nicely
with the designer patterned paper.

The red pearls, gems and kraft cut outs were graciously given to me by Merethe. We did a pocket-letter swap. I think I really lucked out!! These are gorgeous!!

Adding a touch of red really makes this card pop!!
The garland was on the stamped image.
All I did was highlight it by dotting the lines with a silver gel pen. 

I think the kraft elements makes this card unique. Adding these 

elements the card a bit more masculine and unexpected. 

Entering Challenges:
The Male Room: Challenge #25- Christmas or Seasonal Greetings
The Color Throwdown: ctd373- any Christmas Creation, any Colors
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Winter Wonderland

  

Black snowflakes seem to be a nontraditional to display snowflakes but I think in this case it is justified. The black elements of the tree and foreground are dark and seem to be in a semi-silhouette. Adding the black flakes gives the bokah time to shine!! At first I didn't have gems on the snowflakes and it seemed too harsh. When adding the gems they seemed to have come alive!

Thank you again Merethe for sharing your beautiful die cuts with me. I am really enjoying them.. I would encourage you to check out her blog. She is a very talented lady..

I also want to thank you for allowing me to steal some time from you during this busy and sometimes hectic season. Please be safe and take care.

All the best,
Shawna

Ornament Card

Hello All,

For today I am playing along with Crafty Gals Corner, DRS Designs, and Simon Says Stamp Challenges. This 'card' is an ornament mixed in with the card.. Here it is, enjoy!!

I actually had another idea for the ornament but then this came to mind
and it worked out perfectly. The monochromatic style reminds me of a
Winter Wonderland.

The ornament's hanging from the ribbon and becomes part of the design of the card.
All she has to do is untie the bow and the ornament becomes free. 

The ornament was sits center stage in the window.
Ornament was done die-cutting a snowflake in white then laid on contact paper
Die cut the contact paper and added a vellum snowflake in the center. Sprinkled the remainder of the contact paper with contact paper. Finally adding it to CS cut in the same shape.

The sparkle and shine is its dominant feature.
This was done by stamping the lace with pearl sky blue ink and lined with satin ribbon.
In the backdrop is metallic paper by KaiserCraft. Snowflake is glitter paper and a gem in the middle of the flake. 

 The monogrammed 'S' is from the Micheals dollar bin (oh blast those dollar bins). It is just a sticker and it looks like a million bucks.

Entering Challenges:
Crafty Gals Corner: Challenge #50- Anything Goes
DRS Designs: Challenge #205- Inspired by Color 
Simon Says Stamp: Monday Challenge- Winter Wonderland
Simon Says Stamp: Wednesday Challenge: Die Crazy

  
 
This is a gift for my neighbor. She is the watchdog for this neighborhood, nothing gets past her and thank goodness. I think she will like this card and I must say she deserved every last bit of time I spent making it..

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I know everyone is busy this time of year and I am so grateful for your time. See you soon..

All the Best,
Shawna

Transparent Shaker Card

Hello Readers!

For today I am playing along with Crafty Gals Corner, If You Give a Crafter a Cookie, and Simon Says Stamp! This card is packing quite a punch tonight. Here it is, enjoy!!

The entire front panel is the shaker. I used a metal stencil and added texture
paste on the acetate. 

Entering Challenges:

Crafty Gals Corner: Challenge #50- Anything Goes

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie: Cookie Challenge #34

Simon Says Stamp: Monday Challenge- Just a pinch; Work it Wednesday November Challenge

      

______________________________________________

The shaker elements are sandwiched between layers of acetate.

The shaker elements consist of punched silver
snowflakes, sequins, and glitter.

Showing through the window is the patterned paper backdrop.
I like the double white matting adding a bit of texture.

This is the shadow of the image showing through onto the patterned paper.
It features a magnificent ombre effect with a touch of texture

Usually I make a mess when creating shaker cards but in this case the force was with me (had to it!). It took a bit of thinking but in the end I think it all worked out. What saved me this time was a sticker maker I just bought. I made the foam between the layers acetate into a sticker. It proved to be much easier then traditional glue.

Well that should do it for me.. Thank you so much for spending time with me!! I do hope you enjoyed yourself and I hope to see you soon.. Take care,

All the best,
Shawna 

Rejoice

Hello Readers!

Today starts a new challenge at Make My Monday Challenge blog. I do hope you can join us. The theme this week is 'Wings at Christmas'. The DT team did an excellent job of interpreting the challenge. Here is my inspiration card, Enjoy!!

The vellum halo reminds me so much of artwork of the past.
The stitched ends are the perfect touch.

I loosely added the vellum and black layer to the card.
To create the illusion the image is floating.

The angel was colored on black CS then colored with some Perfect Pearls
and Prismacolor pencils.

I choose the vellum sentiment to coordinate with the halo. 

Entering Challenges:
Naughty or Nice Challenge: NON#22: Show Us Some Wing



When I was a little girl I went to a Catholic School named 'Our Lady of Peace' in New Jersey. Every year we would travel through the church to see some of the stained glass artwork. I remember the angels with their halos over the Baby Jesus. This stamp is reminiscent of stained glass so naturally I went back to my memory banks and pulled the stained glass image from my childhood and here is the result. I hope I did it justice...

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to spend with TheGrandStampede. I do hope you will join me again. Take care and see you soon.

All the Best,
Shawna

Christmas Butterflies

Hello Everyone,

The end of the year brings goodbye's and hello's. And for today I am announcing that this is my last entry as design team member for Brown Sugar Challenge Blog. It has been a fantastic experience with challenges played, voted, and designed with many talented crafters. Thank you to Kim for giving me this opportunity! Here is my last card.. Enjoy!

Christmas colors and butterflies who would have thought that would be a good combination?

Theme - Buttons

Sponsor

Morgans Art

Stohttp://www.artstampsstore.com/

Festive colors and starry background creates a magical scene

The theme this week is buttons. Working with the sponsor image, I decided to make little button bodies.

Gold banding under the copper sentiments see to give the perfect glittery detail.

This is not a traditional Christmas card but I think it relays the magic of Christmas very well.  The wings of the butterflies were colored using Christmas colors and the 'sparkle' in the yellow'ish background creates the illusion of light (at least I hope it does!). These magical creatures also have buttons for their bodies accented with very thin gold tread. To me, it looks like a place where  children want to go to laugh and flutter around with the butterflies.

The sentiment is die-cut with the same material as the buttons which is cut from copper colored paper. I thought the combination would compliment the butterflies. The gold color from the banding is also accented on the butterflies buttons. This unusual scene not normally seen this time of year.. But why not? That is exactly what I asked and answered with 'why not!!'.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I do hope you can hop over and see all the other inspiration cards that were created by this very talented design team.  And who knows it may prompt you to join in the fun! Take care all and see you soon!

All the best,
Shawna

Pinecone Wreath

Hello All,

For today per Monika's, from Creative with Monika, request I am playing along with Daring Cardmakers and let me tell you I will be regular at this challenge site.  The inspiration cards are incredible and the challenges are thought provoking and well.... Challenging!! Here is my card for today, enjoy!

No it is not a mistake, I did leave a 'nail' out of the board. It needed to be imperfect. The wood is 'weathered' which I think is beautiful and is true to the feel of the photo.

Challenges Entered:
Darling Cardmakers: Elemental Inspiration 
(Elements used: Bow, Berries, Sentiment, Wood accent)



Having faith can be a pretty tall order. The kind of faith that someday all will be well with the world. Especially this time of year, when we reflect on the previous year and reminisce, and then look to the future with new optimism and hope. I have faith that future will be bright, it might take a bit, but happiness, love, and hope is what always prevails. Having faith in each other is what keeps us... well... together!  To quote the singer, George Michael in his 1987 album 'Faith':

'Cause I've gotta have faith Unh I gotta faith
Because I gotta to have faith, faith, faith
I gotta to have faith, faith, faith

There is your earworm for today! You can thank me later with your scathing comments... LOL..

Thank you so much for joining me for the second time today at TheGrandStampede. Take care everyone and we will see you all sooner then later.

All the best,
Shawna