I struggled a bit with the newest prompt at Jingle Belles - "primarily feature the color red." I'm not sure why, but nothing inspired me until I watched someone sponge two colors onto a piece of foiled designer series paper. I used one color, a different piece of paper, and a brayer instead of a sponge, but it was definitely the inspiration I needed:
stamp set - Brightest Glow; ink - Really Red, Versamark; Stampin' Emboss powder - Gold; designer series paper - Most Adored (Sale-A-Bration); card stock - Real Red; Stampin' Cut dies: Thoughtful Expressions
I can't decide whether I wish I'd worked harder to get the background color more even, or if I like the variegated look better - I stopped with a variegated look, so let's say that's my preferred look. Either way, I really enjoyed the process with the newest Stampin' brayer! I have both the softer rubber brayer and the sponge brayers we used to offer, but this one was much easier to work with.
I was cleaning up a bit yesterday and found these die-cut letters I hadn't used last month. They would have looked stunning on a white background if not for the hint of green peeking out from the underlayer. The pine boughs die cut I've had for a few years provided some green for the background, but then I needed a "buffer" so the word didn't disappear. I decided my newest dies would be exactly right for a vellum layer, pulling together something old and something new for the current Jingle Belles challenge:
After painstakingly weeding out the pinecones and boughs, I remembered why I don't use that die set more often, but it's worth it for a special card
If you're new here, you may not know yet how much I love the Jingle Belles blog, where Stephanie and Lauren have inspired us for 14 years! "to prevent holiday mayhem" by making Christmas cards January through November. For January they've prompted us to use wrapping paper. Sometimes I find it easier to narrow down my creative choices if I have more direction, and over the years, I've found several other favorite sites that help me out with that. The snowflake theme for my card today is from Christmas Crafts All Year 'Round and the sketch is #617 from Freshly Made Sketches:
stamp set - Ringed with Nature; ink - Versamark; Stampin' emboss powder - metallic silver; card stock - Shimmer White (retired), Brushed Gold (retired), Basic White; designer series paper - not really, it's tissue gift wrap I received from a friend a few years ago
All that white space tends to make me a little nervous, but it's got a sweet subtle shimmer in real life.
Just a quick note to say that reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Oh, wait, that was Mark Twain. But unlike several of my all-time favorite authors, Mark Twain included, I'm still having adventures in the current realm.
When I retired, I vowed to make more things and read more books. In 2023 I made 316 cards; the only year I made more was 2020. So far this year, I'm on track for 366 cards in 366 days, but it may be a bit early to have my hopes up. Here's my first, using a a template from JessCrafts.com:
I have consistently read more books each year since I retired, but for 2024 I'm simply hoping to match my 2023 record of 60 books and 20,000 pages.
In 2022 (which you may have noticed is the last time I posted here), I was gifted a Nintendo Switch Lite and Animal Crossing New Horizons - that became a daily habit! Towards the end of last year, I realized that "play more games" should have been one of my retirement goals as well, but I don't think I'm going to quantify that one.
Watch this space for new updates - I'm hoping to blog a bit more actively this year. That won't be a difficult goal to achieve, based on my 2023 activity!
