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Color Hues #39

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Tracey has chose great spring colors for this round of the Color Hues Challenge. 

CH #39 Anim.

The day my Spellbinders "Bouquet of Flowers" arrived, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this challenge.

PurpleGreen

I started with pre-made Memory Box card in a lovely shade of purple, and pulled out Memory Box's pad "Vibrant Violet Collection." I chose three hues of purple from the pad as well as scraps of New Leaf and Green Parakeet from Papertrey Ink and set about die cutting groups of florals and leaves. The colors in this closer look appear darker than they do in real life.

PurpleGreenClose

I used a heavy piece of vellum for the floral wrap and some metallic gold for the bow. I already had the die cut oval in my stash and arranged the florals in the wrap, added the bow and adhered it to the oval. When I laid the oval on the purple card base, it definitely needed something else, so I pulled out one of Simon Says "A2 Thin Frames" and die cut it with the same gold paper as the bow.

PurpleGreenFlat

Before gluing all the components on the card base, I gold embossed the greeting from The Greeetery's "Sentiment Suite: Birthdays." 

I'm sure you'll find lots of inspiration from the Design Team on the Color Hues blog, so hop on over and please join the card making party!

I'm entering this in the Happy Little Stampers: Dies where the challenge is Anything Goes.

HLS Dies

 

 

On Trend: Alcohol Ink and Foiling

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We've been home from a fabulous trip to Hawaii and San Francisco for about four days now, and I'm still adjusting to the differences in time as well as the environment. All but one of our days were warm and sunny. Everything was green and flowers were gorgeous both in Hawaii and San Fran. Here, not so much. There have been snow flurries two days, and the daffodils are just starting to bloom. It's supposed to warm up again, but only for a few days. I am spoiled!

It will take awhile to edit all the photos we took, but eventually I'll have a few posts about the trip. I did post a few photos every day on Instagram, so you can hop over there for a preview if you'd like.

I finally got to the crafting desk this afternoon will a challenge from Just Us Girls on my mind. It's Trend Week there and they are looking for foiling on alcohol inked backgrounds. I knew I had a small stash of alcohol ink backgrounds, but wasn't at all sure whether the Glimmer Foiling machine would like alcohol inks. It took two tries, but the second one worked beautifully.

FoiledBD

I die cut the alcohol ink piece with an Ellen Hutson Essential Squares die and then a slightly larger one with gold mirror cardstock. The foiling plate for the sentiment was one that arrived with my Glimmer machine and is a NBUS! You can see the glimmer a bit better here:

FoiledBDClose

I decided it didn't need a lot of embellishment, but I like the three shiny gold pearls on the righthand corner.

FoiledBDFlat

This is going, of course, to the Just Us Girls Challenge, but also to Addicted To Stamps and More (Make Your Mark) and the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge (Happy Birthday.) And off to the April NBUS Challenge as well.

JUGSMakeYourMarkWednesdayblog-logoNBUS




Birthday Bear

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Today is the birthday of a very sweet little girl who is turning five. Before we left on vacation, I gave the card to her "Nana" who will give it and a gift to her during the birthday celebration. 

BDBear

Having granddaughters this age, I was pretty sure a shaker card would be a hit! I did learn (the hard way) that to give a shaker card to a three year old is a big mistake. They are more interested in gettin at the sequins that just shaking them. 

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I die cut the sentiment circle from Simon Says three times, twice in white, and once in pink and layered them so there would be some definition around the shaker.

BDBearFlat

The bear, his cupcake, and the present are all from Ellen Hutson and colored with Copic markers. I'm throwing this in the ring at Addicted to Stamps and More where the theme is "Make Your Mark," and at AAABirthday where the challenge is "Critters.
Today's the last day of our epic trip. We'll be in airports and airplanes for the better part of the day tomorrow, but home in time for bed. I've got lots of crafty ideas once I get back to the crafting desk.

 

Color Hues #38

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Sheri's choice of Pink and Green for the Color Hues Challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to try out one of my stamp and stencil combinations that I won from Pinkfresh Studio.

CH #38 Anim.

The "Darling Dahlias" background stamp is gorgeous, and the five piece stencil makes coloring it so much easier (and faster) than coloring with Copic markers or colored pencils.

PinkGreen

I own quite a few of the mini ink pad sets from Pinkfresh, but almost no full sized pads. For stenciling, the small pads work nicely, and I chose two pinks for the flowers: "Sparkling Rose" and "Bubble Gum." The leaves were stenciled with "Key Lime" and "Grassy Knoll." There's also a stencil for coloring in the background. Initially, I thought I might leave it white, but ended up with a very light gray.

PinkGreenClose

Once the panel was stenciled, I die cut it with one of Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangles," framing it with the next size in green. I used both the stamps and the dies from Papertery Ink's "Sending Hugs" for the sentiment. The green die cut letters seemed a bit lost on the colorful background, but a shadow layer in black really helped and tied in the banner sentiment which had been stamped in black and fussy cut. I put some dimensional tape behind the banner.

PinkGreenFlat

April 1st rarely brings spring to western New York, so creating your own flowers is a great substitute until it finally warms up enough for things to flower in the yard. Wherever you live, I hope you'll find time to create some Pink and Green goodness and send it on to our Color Hues gallery. And don't forget to check in on the blog to see what the DT and our two Guest Designers, Trina and Carol have created. 

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Carol

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Tracey

 Once again, I'm sending this card over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge. It's taken me several months to get to this stamp and stencil set, and I still have products I haven't used from my big win.

NBUS

Don’t Forget to Write

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Years ago I purchased my first large stamping kit from Papertrey Ink called "Don't F0rget to Write. It was packed with preprinted card fronts, preprinted florals with accompanying dies, and a stamp set with dies. I have all the components in a cute red paper "suitcase" sitting on top of one of my bookcases. And I just never think about what's up there. Last week I was in need of some "thinking of you" cards and pulled it down. In just one afternoon, I had eight cards–seven "thinking of you" cards and one birthday card. I took some of my inspiration from the Papertrey Ink Design Team at the time the kit was released, but once I got going most of the cards just came together without much thought.

The first two cards use preprinted card fronts. One of them I cut down with a rounded rectangle die and then used the next larger die to cut a white mat. The "note" is one of several word dies included in the kit, and the "just a" is part of the stamp set. I added some Nuvo Drops to the centers of the flowers, and added them to card fronts.

Pink&Green

These two used preprinted cardstock with and without florals. The floral cluster on the left card was die cut from a sheets of florals. I added more Nuvo Drops to the florals and die cut the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Scripted" dies. On the right, the sentiment is actually a sticker. I die cut a white circle as a mat and adhered it with dimensional tape. Some of the preprinted patterns are on squares, and there's a die that cuts a lovely scalloped card that I didn't use this time around. The floral centers are white pearls this time.

PinkX2

The next set use the purple papers. The design of the left card is a CASE from Kay Miller. The lovely die cut frame is also part of the kit. For the card on the right I used a piece of Bitty Big striped paper in Amethyst Allure. I filled the circular frame with a white circle cut with Ellen Hutson's Essential Circles dies and added the die cut florals. The sentiment is just the same as the first cards, and I added a few rainstones as embellishment. These floral centers were filled with enamel dots.

PurpleX2

Lastly the green combos. The birthday card on the left is one of my favorites although it's a bit fussier than the rest. I added a floral cluster die cut that matched the florals on the printed paper. I cut a vellum strip and added a piece of Paper Source ribbon to it before adding the cluster with dimensional tape. The sentiment is from a group I had foiled a week or so earlier from Spellbinders. On the right, another smaller square note card which needs no explanation, since all the elements are explained above. 

GreenX2

Here's a closer look at the birthday card.

OrangeMakeAWish

I have another Papertrey Ink kit that's looking for some attention soon, but it will be awhile. We'll be on vacation when this post is published, and although I have another post scheduled for the first of April, it's likely to be very quiet here for the next two weeks.

 

Magnolia Ballerina

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As soon as I saw the Altenew "Magnolia Ballerina" I knew I would find a home for it. When Ellen Hutson had a sale a week or so ago on all Altenew products, I put the embossing folder (and the accompanying stamp set) in the cart. I'm not disappointed. Altenew's 3-D embossing folders are just gorgeous. I ran this one through my die cutter with watercolor paper, and with the March Altenew Challenge in mind. Here's the inspiration photo. It's definitely a CASE of Therese at Lost in Paper with a change in orientation, size, and sentiment.

Inspiration-Challenge-2022-03-SQ-Opt-2

Watercoloring a white flower on white paper is, needless to say, a bit of a challenge. Looking at the light purple in the color triad, I used the lavender in my Daniel Smith palette. The palette is not one I use too often, but it included all three of the colors in the challenge, and required no mixing. It's hard to see the watercolor on the petals, but I think that's the point.

MagnoliaFlat

The embossing folder is larger than a standard card, so this was cut down considerably to make a square card. You can see the folder here.

MagnoliaClose

The sentiment is from The Ton's "Easy Expressions: Birthday." I keep a collection of these sentiments ready to go in a small basket, and it's amazing how often they work.

Magnolia

After cutting the image down, I cut a very narrow mat from Gina K Asparagus cardstock, and added it to a card made with Simon Says "Ivory" cardstock. Some time ago I read that Ivory almost always is a good match for watercolor paper, which I've found to be true.

In addition to the March Altenew Challenge I'm entering this in the new Paper Players Challenge for CAS Blooms. Despite the large image, this fits my definition of CAS since the majority of the image is white.

Pp583

 

 

You’re the Best!

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I'm on a mission to get cards created for the challenges I've been thinking about all month. Today's card is for the Pinkfresh Studio Monthly Challenge, and the emphasis is on frames. In addition there is a color palette to use as well.

MonthlyChallenge-Mar22 (1) Small

I knew right away I wanted to use one of my new hot foiling plates, and it's thanks to two big wins at Pinkfresh Studio that I have the foiling plates to design with! "Lush Vines" is one of my favorites. Although I've foiled previously, I've never tried to color with Copic markers on the Hammermill paper I use for foiling. Turns out it's easy as can be.

PFS

The first step was to create the oval frame with one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Ovals. After marking where it would go, I colored jus the parts of the design that would show through the frame. Once that was done I die cut the next largest oval in gold and adhered just the frame around the oval. Then I attached that piece to the foiled piece with dimensional tape.

PFSClose

Up to that point everything was going as planned, but I hadn't decided on a sentiment. It was clear that part of the sentiment needed to go on top of the oval and I had a collection of Pinkfresh "Brushed Sentiments" already foiled. The "You" fit in perfectly, and I finished the sentiment with a phrase from Altenew's "Build a Flower: Magnolia" which I embossed in gold and cut with an "Itty Bitty Strip" from My Favorite Things.

PFSFlat

There have times recently when the finished card is totally unlike my original vision, but this time it's just about perfect!

 

Color Hues #37

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One thing I love about the Color Hues Challenge is the challenge to use colors I would never think to use. Nancy's choice of Yellow and Pale Teal would never occur to me, but as it often turns out, I'm a new fan. In fact, I ended up with two quite different cards.

CH #37.017

The card I started out to make ended up being the second card I created. I just couldn't get the elements to come together, so abandoned the multiple pieces and went on to make my signature CAS card,

YellowTeal1

I started out with the "Shape Shifter Square #4" by Papertrey Ink. The entire design includes another frame with a more intricate design which I eliminated,  using an Ellen Hutson "Essential Squares" die to cut it off for a cleaner look. I die cut it three times: once in white, once in yellow (Papertrey's Harvest Gold), and once in pale teal (Concord & 9th's Sea Glass). I punched out all the die cuts in the white image, and inlaid them with yellow and pale teal. I used a neutral brown on the centers of the four small daisies.

YellowTeal1Close

I left the outermost border empty so the yellow card base would show through. It also adds a bit of dimension to the design. Deciding on the sentiment took while, but I decided on a white embossed greeting on vellum which doesn't detract from the design.

YellowTeal1Flat

When I sat down the next day at my desk, I saw all the pieces for the first card I intended to make. A new day made all the difference. The "Lovely Layers" set from Papertrey Ink has always been a favorite and that's where I had started. Arranging it the second day came pretty easily. Who's to understand the creative process? And in the end, I chose this one to post on the challenge site.

YellowTeal2

Layering the Lovely Layers pieces on a "Crimped Circle" from The Greetery worked well. Then I decided to use my new "Detail Petal Plate" from Simon Says for a subtle background. 

YellowTeal2Close

I used my favorite Gina K Design "Master Layout #1" dies to cut that panel as well as one from the soft teal to create a narrow border. The sentiment also comes from a favorite set from Pink and Main: "Special Day" which I embossed in white and die cut with Papertrey Ink's "Skinny Mini Banners."

YellowTeal2Flat

I hope you'll end up finding this combination inspiring as well, and join us at Color Hues. Be sure to take a look at all the wonderful creations by the Design Team as well as our Guest Designer, Kerry.

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Carol

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 Tracey

I'm determined to use new products as often as I can, so I'm sending the second card over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

NBUS

 

Celebrate

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I keep a running list of current card challenges that I follow regularly. Just Us Girls is one of my favorites, but because it is a one week challenge, I often miss the opportunity to play along. When I saw the current challenge was their Trend Week and Embossing folders was the challenge, I wanted to find time to create a card for it.

JUGS

I've done a pretty good job recently of using products that have been in my collection for awhile, but never used. There was only one embossing folder that hadn't seen the light of day, and it was Altenew's  "Decorative Florals." 

CelebrateTag

The embossing folder is a large one with multiple blooms. I started out with a card that used the whole embossing folder, but switched gears after my husband (who rarely has a suggestion) felt that the foiled sentiment and gold embellishments detracted from the beautiful embossed flowers. 

CelebrateTagClose

I switched then to a tag, embossing it with only one of the florals. Then I lightly tapped a white pigment ink pad over the embossed elements. I used this technique for the first time last year on a Christmas card and loved it, and I like it here as well

CelebrateTagFlat

The trick then was to decide how to add the sentiment, and I chose a Pinkfresh Studio die cut from their "Scripted Greetings," using some vellum for the shadow die. I'm adding this to the NBUS Challenge since my embossing folder fits the category perfectly.

NBUS

I have two more challenges I'd like to enter this week. We'll see how the time goes. Tomorrow I'll be back with the new Color Hues Challenge which features some wonderful spring colors.

 

Mirrored Triangles

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Pinkfresh Studio's "Mirrored Triangles" offers multiple design options. I had my first opportunity to play with it this week, and know I'll be returning to it with different color combinations, and different configurations. 

StenciledX2

Although my first idea was to create an ombre effect, I ended up cutting the design in half and using the two sections for separate cards. For sure, it created a much more CAS design which I like a lot. 

Stenciled1

As you can see in the photo above, the design is created with just one stencil that you rotate for each new color.

Stenciled1Up

After cutting the stenciled design in half I cut two very narrow borders of black and mounted the piece on a white card with dimensional foam.

Stenciled2Up

A simple banner (MFT's "Itty Bitty Strips"} with a white embossed sentiment was all the cards needed. Two cards for the stash with guys in mind!

I'm sending these off to three challenges:

AddictedHLSNBUS


Springtime Hello

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About 90% of the snow in our front yard has melted, and there are a couple of buds on the hydrangeas, but according to the meteorologist winter is not gone! Not that I expect it to be in early March. Yesterday we were nearly blown off the sidewalk with gusts of winds clocked at 60mph, but the record high temperature of 73° was a very welcome change. The Paper Players has a springtime challenge, and I had time to play yesterday. I needed a note for a new church member and this fit the bill. 

Hello

I started by using the Pinkfresh Studio hot foiling plate, "Lush Vine" to emboss a piece of white cardstock. I love the result! Then I finally broke out the Pinkfresh "In the Meadow" Washi tape and accompanying die. I now have a lovely pile of blooms die cut and used two of them on the card.

HelloClose

The two-piece sentiment is from The Greetery's "Opposites Attract." 

HelloFlat

In addition to The Paper Players, I'm adding this to the Addicted to Stamps and More gallery where "Any Occasion" is the challenge, and to NBUS for using the Washi tape.

Pp581 AddictedNBUS

Prayers and Cards for Ukraine & A Double Challenge

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Nancy, the creator of Color Hues, asked the Design Team if we'd like to create a card using the colors of the Ukrainian flag. This week has been so horrific—loss of life, lives scattered as mothers and children flee leaving behind their husbands to take up arms against the unprovoked aggression by Russian forces. There's so little that any of us can do except pray and hope for a quick resolution of the fighting, so I was happy to design a card as one way to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. The intent is to flood Instagram and FaceBook with cards for the Ukrainians. Our regularly scheduled challenge hosted by Lindsey is just below this new challenge. Cardmakers can enter cards for either challenge during the next two weeks.

Cards For Ukraine! .001

Here's my card:

Coneflower

I had to wait quite awhile before the Honey Bee "Coneflower" die came back into stock. When I finally purchased it, I was in the midst of holiday creating, so this was a wonderful opportunity to pull it out. It's a multi-layered floral, and I used a bit of dimensional tape that added even more dimension to the card.

ConeflowerClose

I also used a new embossing folder, "Plaid Company," from Spellbinders which arrived with a few hot foil plates right after Christmas. Color Hues is a two-color challenge, but neutrals are allowed so I took the liberty of adding a brown center to the coneflower, but chose to die cut the leaves from vellum. The lines in the die are much more apparent when using vellum.

ConeflowerFlat

I knew I wanted a sentiment that included the word "peace." This is part of a longer sentiment from one of Simon Says reverse sentiment sets for Christmas. I die cut it with another new product, "Itty Bitty Strips," which is going to see a lot of use! I hope you'll join us in the challenge to support Ukraine, and also in the very apt color challenge chose by Lindsey below.

Lindsey's colors for this round at Color Hues are just perfect for St. Patrick's Day. If that doesn't appeal to you, check out the cards the Design Team and our Guest Designer have created.

CH #36.001

Since my husband's birthday falls on St. Patrick's Day, I've taken the theme but created a birthday card for him.

GoldGreen

Paper Source's Clover cardstock is the perfect St. Patty's Day green, and I combined it with some gold mirror cardstock that I love but is often a challenge to photograph. I used Pinkfresh Studio's "Headliner Alphabet" and die cut them from the green panel. When that panel was adhered to the gold mirror cardstock it shines right through. 

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I had to cut apart a sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio's "Simply Sentiments: Thank You" to create the phrase I wanted.

GreenGoldFlat

I don't own a shamrock paper punch but found a set of stickers in my stash and chose the one with a tiny heart on it. I added two other gold hearts from Simon Says "Holiday Shapes that I use frequently to finish the embelllishment.

Although you can find all the DT's cards on the Color Hues Challenge blog, you can find the details for their cards here, as well as that of Julie P. who is our wonderful Guest Designer this round.

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Carol

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Tracey

I'm posting the first card in Darnell's NBUS Challenge. I outdid myself with using new products—one of my goals for 2022.

NBUS

 

Freshly Made Sketches & More

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There are often times when my blog is quiet for quite a few days in a row. It is unusual, however, for me to post twice in one day. My son's birthday post was scheduled over the weekend, and I had hoped to find time on the weekend to create a card for the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm a huge fan of Cécile's designs, so didn't want to miss this opportunity to take on one of her sketches. The challenge closes later today, so I'm getting this in just under the wire! I'm also adding this to the galleries for Addicted to Stamps and More and Time Out Challenge where "birthday" is the prompt.

FMS Final 524-001AddictedTimeOut

I started by hunting for some specialty papers I've had for years, but I know I didn't see them when I did my huge January reorganization and purge. That left just a couple of places to look, but I didn't find them. In the process, however, I found this beautiful piece of vellum.

FMS2

I die cut the vellum with one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectanges, and using the next biggest one cut apiece of dark gray cardstock from my scrap folder. I already had the silver diecut in the envelope with My Favorite Things "Leafy Greens."

FMSClose

I added them to a card base made with Concord and 9th's Dove cardstock. All that was left was to stamp the sentiment from Sugar Pea's "Everyday Sentiments" and add the silver pearls.

FMSFlat

My hope today is to get even more time for crafting. I have a couple errands to run this morning, and then should have plenty of time to get back to the crafting desk. I have a stack of hot foil plates I want to play with. I recently won a second big prize from Pinkfresh Studio, and they sent me four beautiful foiling plates and a die cut. The luck involved with these wins is just amazing as they are a random pick from all the comments left on blog posts or YouTube videos. Given how popular Pinkfresh Studio is it's amazing to have won two big prizes in just four months, but I am very grateful!

Edited to add: When I came back to my desk this afternoon, the card above was laying there, and it just felt like something was a little "off" about it. I die cut a second vine from another scrap of dark brown cardstock, and layered it so the silver became a shadow. I'm much happier with this version!

FMS-R

Here's a closer look:

FMS-RClose

Too late to change it for the challenges, but I'm happier!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

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Today is my son's birthday, and I had a lot of fun creating his card this year. He's a fan of graphic designs so I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy this card. Although I've been an incredibly lucky winner with Pinkfresh Studio in the last several months, this is a hot foil plate I purchased along with the coloring stencil knowing I'd get a lot of mileage from it.

MattBD

I used gold to hot foil this fabulous "Geo Blocks" design on white paper. I gave a bit of thought to leaving it as is, but am very happy I changed my mind and used the stencil to add two shades of gray to the blocks.

MattClose

I die cut the stenciled pattern and a gold border with the Gina K Designs "Master Layout #1). That die set has turned out to be a staple for me. Then I added both to a dark gray card base.

MattFlat

I wanted a sentiment with a simple font and chose this one from My Favorite Things "Greetings Galore." I used one of Pinkfresh Studio "Basic Label Frames" and embossed the greeting in gold, adding three matte gold pearls for some embellishment.

I'll be posting this in Just Add Ink where the challenge is to use two of three items on a list. I chose texture and layers. It's also going to the Time Out Challenge where they are celebrating their 8th birthday. And, finally, it's off to Darnell's NBUS challenge since this is the first time I've used that wonderful hot foil plate.

Just Add TimeOutNBUS

Snowflakes

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Actually there is only ONE snowflake on my card, but it's a perfect morning for this post since we got another 4 inches of snow overnight with more promised during the day. I'm much more in the mood for flowers and sunshine, but Addicted to CAS has "Snowflake" as the challenge and Perfectly CAS wants "Metallic." Since one of my intentions for 2022 is to get Christmas cards made in advance, I was happy to oblige.

Addicted Perfectly

I started with a clear picture in my mind for the card design, and once I found a new pack of Paper Source Royal cardstock and a sheet of Tonic Mirror Holo Waves the card came together pretty quickly.

Snowflake

Both the snowflake die cut (Simon Says "Kate") and the sentiment (Simon Says "Holiday Greetings: Mix 1) are old favorites.

SnowflakeClose

The Royal blue paper is new to me, and although the Mirror Holo Wave has been in my stash for quite some time, I've never used it before either. You can get a bit of the metallic glow from the photos, but it's much better in person.

SnowflakeFlat

I do have hopes of die cutting some florals before the weekend is over, but there's a long list of non-crafty tasks that need to be done as well. Hope your safe and warm wherever you are!