Hi Everyone…welcome to another month on the Colorful Options Blog. Thank you for joining us for last month’s challenge, and we hope you can join us this month, too, because it’s time for a new challenge.

And the theme for this month is……

WINTER WHITE

Fair warning… this is a LONG post! 😁😁

I created a mixed-media gift card holder. This was inspired by Natifa on Tim Holtz’s 2022 Stampersanonymous Christmas release.

Supplies used:

• Papers: Tim Holtz Idea-ology CHRISTMAS Backdrops th94277; Nina solar white card stock 110lb; Strathmore Acrylic cardstock, Plaid paper from stash
• Inks: Distress Oxide (Picket Fence, Speckled Egg, Antique Linen); Archival ink in Hickory Smoke; Versamark Embossing Ink
• Sizzix dies – Tim Holtz: Thin Ice, Vintage Labels, Wreath & Snowflake, Collector
• Stampersannonymous sets: Department Store CMS458, Snarky Cat Christmas CMS416, Stamptember 2022, Darling Christmas CMS457, Bold Tidings CMS440, Tiny Text Christmas CMS424
• Embellishments: Nuvo drops in White; Ranger hologram embossing powder; Ranger white embossing powder; white eyelet, white pony tail holder, miniclip
• Mediums: Distress Collage Medium, Grit Paste in Snowfall
• Acrylic Paint: Distress Paint (Picket Fence, Speckled Egg, Antique linen); Floetrol; DecoArt in Pearl White; Golden in Interface Gold; White Gesso
• Stencils: Elements Christmas, Elements Mechanical, THMM145
• Impresslit: 3D Snowflake

Directions:

Cut your acrylic cardstock down to 6″x4.5″. Mix your paints for paint pouring. I used white as my background, poured strips of Antique Linen, Interface Gold, and Speckled Egg, and used pearl white for swiping. Dry time in Texas was 24 hours. While you have the paints out, paint a Miniclip white. Cut your snowflakes, trees’ snow, hill, and the middle panel from the poured paint cardstock. Cut all other items out of white cardstock. For the middle panel, I used a trimmer and corner rounder.

To create the base, use the Christmas Backdrop with a “blue” appearance. Cover both sides of the paper in a whitewash using a gesso or Picket Fence and a credit card. The drying time was only a few minutes. Add a second and third layer to get the effect you desire. Score at 2.25″ and 3.5″. Apply the grit paste through the stencils on the outer surface of your card. Allow drying for about an hour.

Using the snowflake stamps, emboss using the “sprinkle” technique, combining white and holographic embossing powder. While you have the embossing powder out, emboss the tree trunks in holographic embossing powder.

Cut your patterned paper down to fit your panels and adhere. Cut your pocket in the paid and then apply a whitewash. Accent the pocket folds with gold paint. Once dry, adhere to the center of the right inner panel. Stamp the tag in Distress Oxide Ink for the sentiment and the borders. Emboss the snowflakes in white and adhere.

For the middle panel, stamp your image in Archival ink and leave it in the platform; paint the tree in Speckled Egg, once dry, stamp the image a second time. Then apply Nuvo drops as your snow.

Assemble the remaining elements and adhere. Add a white eyelet to the left side of the card. Thread your ponytail holder or white elastic through the eyelet. Clip the closed card on the right and secure your card with elastic. Whew! You made it!

Why don’t you pop over to the Colorful Options Challenge and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team-mates. As always, you have until Wednesday, December 28th, 11:59pm US CST time…5:59am(Thursday, December 29th) UK time…6:59am(Thursday, December 29th) CET to join in with the chance to win a  SimonSays Stamp-Tim Holtz 2021 exclusive die: Dashing Through The Snow.

Have the Merriest of Holidays!!

Hello everyone! Merry December!

I have a different and fun project for you. I upcycled a Littlest-Pet-Shop figure. She was cleaned with alcohol and then painted with acrylic paints. I added a few sequins to her eyes. I love watching people upcycle dolls and have these figures on hand. Much easier and less time-consuming than the dolls. Enjoy!

As it is the beginning of December, there is a new challenge at the Colorful Options Challenge. Purrfect serves as my rainbow-inspired and color-of-the-month contribution.

Go visit the Colorful Options Challenge and check out the amazing creations from the talented Design Team. You have until Wednesday, December the 28th 11:59pm US CST time…5:59am(Thursday, December 29th) UK time…6:59am(Thursday, December 29th) CET to join in with the chance to win a Stampingbella set with Rosie and Bernie.

May your Christmas tree survive its annual cat battle!

Happy rainy Saturday morning, everyone! I’m popping on the blog to share another December birthday card. Distress Oxide paired with Copics, and a little help from Kindred Stamps. Enoy your weekend!

Challenges entered: The Fairy and Unicorn Challenge, Shopping Our Stash Challenge (light sabers shine bright), NBUS Challenge,

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I have a CAS card to share; well, my version of a CAS card. This one is perfect if you need a quick and cute birthday card this December

Cute Bristol cardstock down to 4.5″x5.5″ and cut 0.25″ strips of masking tape. Create your grid and ink blend using Distress Oxide in Peacock Feathers, Spun Sugar, and Picked Raspberry. Cut Happy B-day out of the remainder of the card stock and color with Picked Raspberry. Stamp your image with Ink on 3 disappearing ink and leave it in the stamping platform. Restamp your image with Versamark Black Onyx ink. Cut out your image using an Exato knife. After gluing, you’re done!

Have a Happy Turkey Day!

Challenges entered: Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers, NBUS Challenge,

Happy Thursday morning, everyone! I am back with another tag to match another wrapping paper.

This tag was inspired by a make done by Stacy Hutchinson for Tim Holtz’s Lumberjack Red release. I had to shop my stash to see what I had on hand that would give me a similar result. I love shopping the stash!

Supplies:

• Papers: Nina Solar White 110lb cardstock, red & black cardstock from the stash
• Inks: Distress Paint (Lumberjack Red); Archival ink (Black Soot)
• Stampersannonymous sets: Scenic Holiday CMS 391
• Embellishments: Collage Medium, Clear Rock Candy Glitter, Red stickles, jingle bells, ribbon and Kreink white thread
• Die cut: Tim Holtz framed tags, Simple plaid
• Tools needed; stamping platform, hole punch, Xyron Sticker Maker.

Directions:

Cut a tag using the framed tag large die out of black cardstock. Cut a square of simple plaid using the red cardstock; run this through your sticker maker. Apply to your tag aligning the left sides; cut the excess retaining the right side, then add this to the bottom to fully cover the tag. Cut a rectangle out of a piece of black cardstock to the dimensions 2.625″ x 5.875″. Hold it up to the tag and cut the corners to match. Adhere to your tag and use a hole punch, re-punch the hole. Cut a piece Cut a rectangle out of white cardstock to the dimensions 5″x2.5″. Using both images in the stamp set, using a stamping platform, stamp to create your scene. Paint areas randomly with red paint and allow it to dry. Apply collage medium and sprinkle with glitter. Glue the scene to your stage. Add ribbon, jingle bells, and stickles. Enjoy!

Challenges entered: Tic Tac Toe Challenge (Red, Free=plaid,floral=trees), Shopping Our Stash Challenge, The Dream Factory Challenge (sleigh rides=Santa Clause 2)

Happy Wednesday morning, everyone! I am in full holiday-making mode. I decided to “up” my wrapping game this year and am attempting to “match” tags to my Christmas wrapping paper. This tag will be paired with a red & white candy cane striped paper. I think it will be adorable. If you want to join me in my quest to match this year, I’d love to see what you make; paste a link of your project below. Hoping some holiday magic comes your way this week!

Directions:

Cut a tag using the framed tag die(medium), brayer and Distress Ink and allow to dry. Cut two rectangles one at 3.5″x1.75″ and the other at 1.5″x2.5″. Withe the lines stamp and Distress oxide ink, stamp the larger rectangle using a stamping platform. Stamp your tree with Archival ink. Place some embossing ink on a mat and thin it with a little water; splatter your tree lightly with the ink and then sprinkle with silver embossing powder. Heat it up. Stamp some stars in the background using distress oxide. Add your sentiment, stamp and #25 using archival ink and a stamping platform. Adhere your layers together. Add some ribbon. Finally, you get to place your stars and candy. Enjoy!

Supplies used:

• Papers: Nina Solar White 110lb cardstock
• Inks: Distress Oxide (Lumberjack Red); Distress Ink (Lumberjack Red), Archival ink (Black Soot, Rustic Wilderness); Ranger Emboss it Dabber
• Stampersannonymous sets: Darling Christmas CMS 457(stars&tree), Department Store CMS 458(#25), Holiday Postmarks CMS323 (air mail), Tiny Text Christmas CMS424, Composition and Lined CMS 332 (lines)
• Embellishments: Silver embossing powder, Candy and stars from shaker packs, white ribbon, red & white cord
• Die cut: Tim Holtz framed tags
• Tools needed; stamping platform, brayer, embossing gun, fan brush

Challenges:Tic Tac Toe Challenge (Red, Free=star,Holiday floral=tree), Pearly Sparkles Challenge, ABC Christmas Challenge (X=Extra special), Shopping Our Stash Challenge, The Dream Factory Challenge,

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Just had to share a surprise that awaited me on Tic Tac Toes’ Challenge. Thank you, ladies, for choosing my card Christmas Giftcard! I had such a fun time making it! Just had to share some joy that came my way today! Cheers, Makira

My Christmas Gift Card holder was chosen. Thank you, ladies!

Happy weekend, everyone! I have a watercolor-based card to share today. I cased a card of mine from last year, Christmas Magic, as I liked the overall color scheme I used. The process took a few days to allow for the drying of the different layers. Here’s the recipe:

Directions:

Cut the watercolor paper to desired size (6″x4.5″). Place your masking stencil down and ink the background. Spray with water and allow some of the colors to run onto the moon.Using the other stencils, add details to your moon. Allow the paper to dry. Stamp your images using archival ink and allow to dry. Paint the images using oxide, pencils and watercolor. Allow for drying time between layers. I lost a lot of the detail on the tress and had to add the detail back using a fine liner. Add snow to the trees using gauche. Allow your paper to dry. Add white puff embossing powder to Santa’s coat and hat using the embossing pen. Use the gold pen to add details to Santa’s bag. Add your glow effects using a fine paint brush and stickles. Splatter “snow” using white gauche over the card. Create a black border using a ruler and the Sharpie. I couldn’t find a cardstock in green that matched well enough for my liking. So, I created the color I wanted with bristol smooth cardstock and Iced Spruce. Emboss the sentiment on a scrap of the Iced Spruce cardstock with Aged Mahogony. Assemble your layers and enjoy.

Supplies used:

• Papers: Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper 140lb, Fabriano Black Black 300g paper, Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock 100lb
• Inks: Distress Oxide (Speckled Egg, Tumbled Glass, Old Paper, Bundled Sage, Iced Spruce, Aged Mahogony); Archival ink (Black Soot); Versamark Embossing Ink
• Stampersannonymous sets: SSS+Tim Holtz Stamptember 2022 and 2021; Christmas Tiny Text
• Embellishments: White Puff Embossing Powder; Aged Mahogony Distress Embossing Powder, Stickles in Unicorn, White, and Green; Gold gel pen; Copic 0.2 fine liner; Tim Holtz embossing pen; Black Sharpie
• Watercolor pencils: Black Soot, Hickory Smoke, Fired Brick, Tattered Rose, Walnut Stain, Rustic Wilderness, Peeled Paint.
• Watercolor and Gauche Paint in white
• Stencils: Tim Holtz Moon Stencil

Challenges entered: Tic Tac Toe Challenge (Green,Holiday Floral=trees,Embossing AND Green, Snow, Wood=ladder AND Green,Free=Sparkle,Elf=Santa is the head Elf…..The Santa Clause), The Fairy and Unicorn Challenge, Pearly Sparkles Challenge, NBUS Challenge, ABC Christmas Challenge (X=Xtra Special), Allsorts Challenge

Hello everyone! Welcome back! I have a fun gift card holder to share with you today. A festive mixed-media, fun-fold card.

Supplies used:

• Papers: Tim Holtz Idea-ology CHRISTMAS Backdrops th94277; Tim Holtz ephemera, Tim Holtz Paper Stash
• Inks: Distress Oxide (Ground Expresso); Archival ink (Black Soot,Rustic Wilderness, Barn Door); Versamark Embossing Ink
• Stampersannonymous sets: Department Store CMS458, Forest Floor CMS 422, Darling Christmas CMS457,
• Embellishments: Nuvo drops in Black; Emerald Creek’s Chocolate Dream embossing powder; Brown Velvet Ribbon by Tim Holtz; ephemera items from TH; Foundry Wax in Statue; Metallic Luster Gold Leaf
• Mediums: Distress Collage Medium, Grit Paste in Snowfall
• Acrylic Paint: Distress Paint (Lumberjack Plaid, Rustic Wilderness, Ground Expresso)
• Stencils: Holly Berr
• Thinlits: Framed Tags, Collector, Festive Bouquet

Directions:

Choose coordinating papers for your card. Score one at 2.25″ and 3.5″ for your base. On the outside of your base paper, apply grit paste mixed with paint and allow to dry. Cut two pieces of postcard cardstock down to size with the deckle trimmer. Glue them together. Place in a stamping platform and stamp with Archival ink in green. Color the red and brown with paint while in the platform. Once dry, stamp the berries, pinecone, and ribbon with black Archival ink. Splatter Versamark Ink randomly on the center image and the back of the card; apply Chocolate embossing powder. Adhere the ribbon and stamped image to the center back of the card.

Find coordinating ephemera pieces and glue the base pieces together. Repeat the stamping, painting, and stamping technique for the center image. Adhere all to the center inside of the card. Using the element stencil and foundry wax, apply to the left inner panel. Add pine cones with ground expresso and embellish them with nuvo drops.

Cut a coordinating piece of paper using the collector to make your pocket and embellish with Metallic Luster. Adhere the pocket and foliage pieces to the inside

Cut your tag out of coordinating postcard paper using the smallest framed tag and Rustic Wilderness. Place the tag in a stamping platform and repeat the stamping, painting, and stamping technique Distress the edges with Ground Expresso. And you are finished!!! Enjoy!

Challenges entered: Tic Tac Toe Challenge (Red, Sparkle, Holly), ABC Christmas Challenge (velvet ribbon), Everybody- Art – Challenge, Fusion Challenge,

Hi Everyone…welcome to another month on the Colorful Options Blog. Thank you for joining us for last month’s challenge, and we hope you can join us this month, too, because it’s time for a new challenge.

And the theme for this month is……

BURGUNDY

I created a highly-layered, mixed-media card. Like many mixed-media makes, this is not a CAS nor a fast card to make

My card started out by cutting out the paper for the background and adhering it to a white cardstock; ink the edges as desired for a more vintage feel. Cut the bag out of bristol cardstock and ink using a combination of distress oxides in Aged Mahogany and Ground Expresso. For the tree, acorns, bows, presents, candy cane, bear, and garlands: cut using coordinating dies and cardstock stash, inked and non-inked. After assembling the candy cane, coat it with a collage medium and cover it with clear rock candy. The kitty is cut using linen for her head and cardstock for her body; using distress paint, paint the body and head to add your Siamese points. Cover the Siamese’s head with Modge Podge Stiffy; once dry, assemble your cat. I cut a slit in the bag with an Exacto knife to allow the present and the bear to sit “in” the bag for a more 3D effect. Tie a ribbon around the bag and secure on the back with some tape. Layer and glue everything down. Add the Liquid Pearl drops to function as ornaments. Enjoy!

Supplies used:

• Papers: Tim Holtz Idea-ology CHRISTMAS Backdrops th94277; Cardstock from the stash in: green, burgundy, ivory; Inked cardstock remnants from previous projects: browns & greens; Linen cardstock; Tim Holtz Gold Cardstock; Nina solar white card stock 110lb; Strathmore Bristol cardstock 110lb
• Inks: Distress Oxide (Age Mahogany, Ground Expresso, Iced Spruce)
• Sizzix dies – Tim Holtz: Festive Bouquet, Deck the Halls, Toyland, Mischieveous
• Embellishments: Kreinik Metallic (#8) brown ribbon; Liquid Pearls in Garnett; Distress Clear Rock Candy
• Mediums: Distress Collage Medium, Modge Podge Stiffy
• Acrylic Paint: Distress Paint (Ground Expresso, Antique Linen),
• Embossing Folder: Tim Holtz, 3d Cobblestone
• Impresslit: 3D Snowflake

Why don’t you pop over to the Colorful Options Challenge and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team-mates. As always, you have until Monday, November 28th, 11:59pm US CST time…5:59am(Tuesday, November29th) UK time…6:59am(Tuesday, November 29th) CET to join in with the chance to win a  SimonSays Stamp-Tim Holtz 2021 exclusive die: Dashing Through The Snow.

You can also follow the Colorful Options Challenge on Instagram

and if you use Instagram…

please add #colorfuloptionschallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them there too

I look forward to seeing what you create this month…

Have Fun and Happy Crafting