Happy Camper Mountain Scene

 

Hello and Happy February!  I had such fun creating the scene on my card I’m showing you today!  I picked up this Happy Camper set from My Favorite Things last month because it was on a great sale, I believe because they’re retiring it.  It’s just so cute though!  And perfect for my outdoor loving friends.  I also picked up the Elegant Stitched Stax Dies from MFT and used it upside down to give the look of a “patch” or national park badge so my scene could fit in it.   Look at how cute all the animals are in it!  

I’m a mountain girl at heart and feel so blessed that we have an abundance of mountains in our Province to spend time in, so for this scene, I had to have mountains in it!   I came across one of those ads on Instagram that totally inspired my idea for the scene that I’ll show you below.  Since the stamp set doesn’t have mountains or a lake, I sketched some on XPress It Blending paper and outlined them with a multi-liner pen and coloured the mountains and lake with Copics to add to the picture.  I’m basing my lake after Lake Louise with its crystal turquoise waters, and red canoes you can rent to explore it.  It’s spectacular.  All the pieces are fussy cut out, which took a bit of time, but I finally ordered the dies now, so next time it will go quicker.  

I even added a reflection of the red canoe in the lake!  

These art puzzles were a great inspiration!  I love the 3D effect they have and it was fun to try and mimic that.  

Some of the elements are popped up on foam dots so it really has a 3D feel.  The background sky is sponged with Chipped Sapphire Oxide ink and Black Soot Oxide ink, and then splattered with white acrylic paint for stars.  The green grass is sponged with Cracked Pistachio and Mowed Lawn Disress inks.   

I love the overall depth, dimension and interest I was able to create.  I’d like to cozy up in that hammock right now!  

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Happy Camper Mountain Scene

Oh Santa Dear!

Santa sometimes needs a change of clothes don’t you think?  I’m sure he gets tired of all that red, and green is just as festive at Christmas!  So, while the laundry is being done, he’s feeding the crew a treat as he gets ready for Christmas.  I think this little pairing from Power Poppy is adorable!  It’s called Under Glass:  Christmas Traditions available in polymer (on SALE) and as Feeding Blitzen in digi.  All coloured up with Copics.  

Creating a fun snowy background came with both embossing paste and ink, and lots of splatters of green and white as well.  A bit of washi tape, twine, die cut snowflakes and enamel dots add pops of colour.  

Blitzen is looking very pleased with the snack and Santa might just stick with his green suit!    Thanks for joining me today!  

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Oh Santa Dear!

Masculine and Pencil Work

 

Getting down to those dog days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere!  We were driving this weekend through Alberta and the fields are looking ready for harvest, and some farmers are already at work.  All of our kids start school this fall, (teaching or University) and I’m longing for some temperatures that are just a bit cooler.  I picked up a new Stampin’ Up! set over Sale A Bration called Stylish Sketches.  It has a nice loosely drawn feel that is perfect for a more masculine style, and since I’m starting to lean a little more to Autumn, I pulled out my Prismacolor Pencils and some Kraft cardstock and coloured up a couple of cards using this set.  

These two ducks are a lovely pair and white pencil pops so well on Kraft cardstock.  I first laid down a layer of white pencil and then added in the greys, browns and almost iridescent blue/greens that comprise the ducks.  

The layout uses some patterned paper I had in my stash and a woodcut die from The Greetery.  

The sentiment is from a retired SU set, little friends.  I love that typewriter font.  

For this design I went decidely more fall with warm shades for the fox from the set.  I just saw a fox traipsing across our pathway when we were on the motorcycle last weekend in a National Park.  He tucked right into the woods, so I mostly saw his body and tail escaping.  Red Fox have such a nice combination of rust, grey and white that I tried to convey in the colouring, again laying down white pencil first and then adding colour over top.  The mustard cardstock has a basketweave stencil to pull in a bit more rich colour.  

The patterned paper is from Craft Consortium and I’ve added die cut leaves with some distress ink sponging to really capture that autumn feel.  

He does look ready for adventure doesn’t he?  

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Masculine and Pencil Work

Bridal Shower Card Set

Last weekend I attended the Bridal Shower of one of our daughter’s friends.  As a gift I decided to make her a set of thank you cards that she could use for the wedding, or any other occasion really.  I rarely do assembly line cards because I don’t enjoy it as much, but I created 8 cards and coordinating envelopes as a nice set for her using The Greetery’s Spring Mix stamp set, stencils and matching die.  As long as you pick a nice colour palette, it makes gorgeous cards every time!   For these cards, I used a primary colour palette with coral and orange in place of the red.  

Of course I decided to make the card set the day OF the shower, so I was scrambling to get out the door and only took these pictures near our window, so the the corals, yellow and orange have a bit more warmth to them in real life.   

 

I used these Distress and Distress Oxide Inks:  Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey, Blueprint Sketch, Campfire, Saltwater Taffy, Crackling Campfire and Salty Ocean in the background.   Just a touch of sparkle with some clear sequins and the popped up sentiment.  Doing this type of card using layered stencils always reminds me of screen-printing :)

All tied up in a bow for the shower!  

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Bridal Shower Card Set

Bringing Summer Sun Poolside!

 

While we’re just getting excited about flowers popping up from the ground...dreaming of summery sunny days at the beach or by the pool, The Cat’s Pajamas is bringing it to us in all sorts of fun ways this May!  

I’m excited to kick off today with two new designs from the May Release.  I have to say, this release was such fun for me to play with.  Fun themes, vibrant colours, colouring, cutting files, it’s really got it all, and it totally sparked my creativity.  

My first design pulls you poolside with this adorable set called Fun in the Sun.  I had a great time creating the water reflections of a pool with a stencil and Distress Oxide Ink, and then adding our favourite Kitty in her floaty on the surface of the water.  

I’ve framed her up, and added the sentiment and wave to accent the design, including a few turquoise sequins.  

For fun I took the bubbles from the set that I had printed and used them to create my own beach ball accent,  all it took was a few lines from my micro-liner pen and a bubble is a beach ball!  

Such a fun design to create with!  I’m ready for the pool!   

The next card is oceanside with our favourite bunny!  This is Life’s A Beach.  

He’s protecting his tender fur from those rays, soaking the shade with some RnR under his beach umbrella.  I think he’s so cute with his coconut drink!  All of the colouring is done with Copics.  

To customize my scene, I’ve added some stripes to the umbrella to make it really beachy, drew in some PLAID bunny board shorts for swimming, and added soft ocean waves in the background. I placed him on a background I created with one of our new cutting files called Make Waves.  

Because I knew I wanted to make a multicoloured wave background, copied and pasted three of the cutting files for this set of waves onto the 12 x 12 section for my Silhouette.  

Next I added 3 sets of beachy colours for cutting.  

Then trimmed it out (my blade was a little deep so you can see there’s a bit of fraying).  But then all you need to do is piece by piece add the waves to the background so the pattern matches.  I have extra waves left over to use for other projects if I want.  

I think it makes a fun way to add texture and colour, with out taking away from the design.  The sentiment is from the new Summer Sayings set, and I added pointillism dots to mimic the sand to tie in.  

Here’s a peek at the newly released May items I used today!  See you next week with two more fun designs!

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Bringing Summer Sun Poolside!

Customizing Digital Paper and NEW TCP!

Hi Stampers!  I’m back today with a few more new designs using The Cat’s Pajamas April Release.  As you might already know, Alma has moved into the digital realm with TCP and that means a lot of new and  different opportunities with stamps, accessories, cut file, paper and embellishments.  On this first design I did a little playing around with the new Black & White Spring Digi papers to coordinate it perfectly with this Birthday bear and the new set A Beary Good Year.  

I  began by printing out the plaid paper in black and white and coordinating it to my card by sponging onto the cardstock.  It’s transformed from black and white to a ombre multi-colour design that matches perfectly with my Copic coloured bear.  

This cutie is fun to work with too!  The set has all sorts of add-ons for all occasions that when used as a digi are really easy to make work.  So I gave him a party hat, added the cake plate in his hand and then heart birthday balloons and printed him out.  It’s nice to be able to manipulate images like this before printing.  

Some fun framing and accents with die-cuts, and he’s ready to party!  

Next I have a mini-slimline scene that’s perfect for those breezy Spring days.  

This fanciful bunny is from the new set Field of Pinwheels.  After printing the image, I added in some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Ink clouds using a TCP Stencil for the sky and foreground grass, and then paired him with more of the Black & White Digi papers.  The bunting accents are created with the Summer Borders SVG’s and I’ve added some baker’s twine and enamel dots.  

To fill in the grass I’ve used some flick strokes with my Copics to colour in more blades.  The sentiment is  stamped with a retired TCP polymer set, as I thought it was a perfect pairing.  

Take a peek below and the New Release Items I’ve used today!  Be sure to pop over to the TCP Store to pick yours up!  

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Customizing Digital Paper and NEW TCP!

Panda Pedal Parade

September has rolled in on the calendar and at least in our area the weather has taken a decided turn to Autumn.  Though I’m hoping Summer temps will swing back in, I know it’s not going to stay for long.  All our kids are “back at school”, in the unique ways it looks for them.  Our daughter is a Grade 5 teacher in a Spanish as a Second Language classroom doing in-person school - for as long as that lasts, our middle son transferred to a new program in University online this semester, and our youngest son is (for now) doing in person Grade 12.  If there’s one thing that’s constant for all of us its change.  

Today I’m popping in with a new September Challenge at The Cat’s Pajamas.  This month it’s all about Animals.  Any animal is welcome!  So I’m using the adorable pandas in the I’m Not Fat set.  Our fluffy little dude is pedalling to a Birthday Party with gifts and balloons.  He’s coloured up with Copic markers.  

To create the little scene for him I used Distress Oxide Inks and the Great Outdoors Stencil, that I can’t get enough of to bring fluffy clouds and hills.  Then he’s cut out with the  Scalloped Duo Die, and I’ve added the Grass Die to ground the image.  A couple of balloons from the Birthday Set Die accent the image, tied with some black twine.  

For the sentiment I’ve used TCP’s One Liners Stamp Set, and a couple of Enamel dots to add some more black and draw your eye to the sentiment.  

So, pop on over to the rest of the Kitties in The Cat Pack playing along today for more Animal Inspiration and then play along with us!  You could win a $50 Gift Voucher to the TCP Store!  

TCP Blog

Nancy

Wendy

Julee

Cristena

Brenda 

Deborah

Christine (you are here)

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Panda Pedal Parade

Sketchy Santas

Day Three of Sneaky Peek Week at The Cat’s Pajamas!  We’re showing off more Christmas in July and today it’s a snazzy Santa having some fun in Sketchy Santas! 

My sweet skiing Santa is coloured up with Copics and trimmed out and placed on a little border of  Hill and Dale Cut Ups Die and a simple circle.  For the fun background I played with the other new Stencil being released this week called Blizzard.  Using the amazing Big Beautiful Blending Brush and some Distress Ink in Stormy Sky and a Gray ink to blend in an ombre fashion.  It looks so sharp!  

A few holeless sequins on the design  add some sparkle along with a strip of sparkly ribbon.  

Here’s a peek at the new goodies showcased today.  Aren’t all those Santas cute?  

Are you In It To Win It?  Comment on today’s post and you could win a $10 Gift Voucher to the TCP Store!  Check out the TCP Blog tomorrow to see if you’ve won!  

Here’s The Cat Pack playing along today with these New Release Items!

Christine Okken (me!)

Kerry Urbatch

Julee Tilman

Nancy Thomas

and Alma at the TCP Blog.  

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Sketchy Santas