Bah! Humbug! Oldie but Goldie Challenge

The challenge for this week at Bah! Humbug! was an oldie but a goldie.  Everyone was asked to dust off some old paper, technique or other item and use it.  I must confess, I don't have much in the way of old paper or other stuff in my stash and most of the stuff that I do have that is old I don't like too much.  So, after lots of thought and consideration, I decided to make a style of card I haven't made in ages, a Z-Fold card.  I added a couple of new twists, though.

First, the I-Top brad in the middle instead of a small circle and some ribbon.  I thought this was a brilliant change and one I think I'll incorporate in the future.  The other new thing, an MS punch around the page punch.  I bought this one in the January sales and haven't used it yet.  What do you think?  Isn't it fun?

The paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I bought this set when they were having a huge after holidays sale.  I'm liking this company more and more.  If I recall correctly, they had some yummy paper released at CHA last week (not that I was there or anything, I drooled at all the fun stuff when they did sneak peaks).  But back to the paper, this particular set is very glossy and quite thick.  It was wonderful for a card that stands up. 

The sentiment is stamped with tuxedo black Mementos and comes from a recollections set I bought a year ago, or so.

Finally, the digi is from Tiddly Inks.  I am still getting the hang of coloring digis but I'm fairly happy with the way Santas Helper turned out.  The red on the suit might be a little flat but I love his bag and boots.  It was tough to color his hair and since the entire thing is only 2 1/2 inches. I was trying to have a light hand. Oh, Santas Helper was cut out using a Spellbinder's Nestability.  I believe it is called Curved Rectangles. 

Christmas Card Embossed with a Holly Leaf

I have watched all of the wonderful cards created for some of the challenge blog sites and have been wanting to submit some items.  In fact, the reason I initially created this blog was so I would have a place to post my cards for the different challenges.  That was 6 months ago and while I've created a number of things, I haven't done a challenge since last July/August.  I'm hoping that will change. 

Without further ado, here is my Christmas card for today.

I wanted to try a new technique.  I embossed a piece of white cardstock using the Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder, Merry Christmas.  The embossed cardstock is 4 inches by 5.25 inches.  I covered my brayer with green ink, then rolled it over the embossing folder.  I must tell you, I was a bit nervous as I did this to one of my brand new embossing folders but it came off with just a baby wipe.  My embossing folder looks just fine.  I would have liked to have the ink a little darker and I'm not certain why the center section never quite inked the paper but I still like the effect.  Then, I added a bit of holly (I used the cricut cut from Joy of the Season) and I put all of it on a card topper of red with gold glitter florishes.  The card base is white card stock.  The red paper comes from Little Yellow Bicycle. 

Here is a close-up of the holly and the embossing.

I hope you like this and that it will inspire you to try something new, whether that is doing a challenge or a new technique.

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Black and White Sympathy Cards

I don't think it is ever easy to make sympathy cards.  However, I feel like these could go in the stash box for when I need them (except for the second one which is already on its way to some friends). I almost broke down and bought a card before I worked these two out.  The real plus to making sympathy cards, you can say what you really feel as opposed to trying to find a card that says what you want.  These worked for me, mostly because I chose the sentiments.  

OK, so here are the cards.

The paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle, Love Letters.  I got it on sale this week from their website.  It was a great price so I bought two stacks.  The scallop is from Alphalicous Cart and the circle and rectangles (card base and card topper) are from George.  I really don't know what I would do without my George cart.  It was the very first thing I ever "bought" with rewards points.  

Speaking of rewards points, I am getting a Gypsy with all of my rewards points.  I'm so excited  I have gone back and forth on whether I wanted one and thought about getting one when the price went under $100 and then this week Michaels started selling them for $50.  I'm not sure how much I'll use it, although it would be nice to set-up my E someplace that isn't immediately connected to my laptop.  If the transfer of files back and forth is as easy as they say, I think I'll be happy.  The truth is, I had 4000 rewards points sitting there and nothing to do with them.  I didn't want any of the carts they were offering and 4000 points would have gotten my 5 or 6 at least, and I really don't do "promotional" items.  If PC wants me to wear their T-shirt or hat around and advertise for them they can send it to me for free.

OK, I digress, back to the cards.  The font on the first is Calibri and on the second it is Papyrus.  The inside says, "It's so curious:  one can resist tears and 'behave' very well in the hardest hours of grief.  But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer... and everything collapses. - Collette"

I hope this gives you some ideas for simple sympathy cards.  Stay warm and let me know what you think.