Birthday Card (cards scare me)

Well it is always a challenge for me to design a card, I am not sure why but it's true. I wanted to make a beautiful card for a dear lady that is an amazing person. She is known for her unique style and wonderful details so I knew I had to pull out everything I had to get this design. I know she'll love it even if it is kinda sloppy because she is just a good person like that. Hehe!

I don't like to measure so I just eyeballed everything and used three layers of heavy white cardstockto make my card. 

The bottom layered is sprayed with Lindys Stamp Gang sprays. The edges were distressed and then it was glued to the card base. The second layer is made using ColourArte and Primary Elements powders. The top layer with the die cut out is crackle paste then LSG sprays, then watered down turquoise DecoArt paint and finally some DecoArt titanium white antiquing paint. 

All the layers were popped up on foam dots for dimension. The real magic started with chipboard feathers that were painted white. The flowers are goodies I won from Creative Artiste and the bows were made with strings from my stash. The blue ribbon and white pearl things are from my stash as well. The white branch looking things are the MS branch punch. Everything was given a flick and spritz of white paint and a flick of white alcohol ink. The little horseshoe is from a friend Sara of Saras Closet. 

Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I would like to share this card with these challenges: 

Frilly and Funkie-Winter Hues

Mixed Media Place January Challenge

I was inspired by the blues and the feathers 

Southern Ridge Trading Co-Winter

I chose to use winter colors

Secret Santa and a Card!

Why helllloooooo lovelies! Can you believe it is December already!?! I sure can't. I am so very thankful that everything is looking up and my family is doing well. We had a scare with my beloved FIL but he is improving every day. Thank goodness! And I am also thankful for such an amazing team at Anything But Cute. Every lovely lady on our team is talented, sweet, supportive, plus we all communicate terrifically. This year we decided to do Secret Santa gifts and my chosen one is Autumn! She is a kind and caring lady, not to mention a totally stellar artist so I had to pull out the big guns for this card! Cards scare the daylights out of me and I always have such a hard time with the design. This little card took me 3.5 weeks! Yikes and haha all at the same time right? Here is my gift to the fantabulous and wonderful Autumn!

I started with brown card stock and cut the TH paper to size. No measurements because I eyeball everything. Then I used my sanding block and sanded the TH paper to help showcase the holiday words. The edges were distressed. 

Next came the Santa picture (a lovely gift from Bubbles, aka Pamellia, last Christmas). I had a play on words since we are doing a secret Santa and thought this pic was perfect for the theme. Not to mention so very festive and perfect for the Holiday!

 I heat embossed the ornate frame with about 4 different embossing powders and then glued the Santa picture to the frame. I also wrote on the back of the frame the year, and date so Autumn remembers where it came from. :)

The front was made to look like glass by using a thick layer of Glossy Accents. Yes, there are air bubbles but that's okay by me. A plaid bow, some jingle bells and Santa is good to go. 

I then heat embossed a chippie word and added some more goodies and a snowflake charm to the front of the car. I think I mostly used hot glue and glossy accents for adhering everything. And of course the "snow" is a circle stencil with some glittery embossing powder sprinkled over it and the snow on the edges of the card is made using the DecoArt snow writer. 

Now for a secret: I just had to add a special touch and make Autumn a keepsake she could put on her Christmas tree so I added Velcro to the back of the ornate frame Santa so it can be taken off of the card. It's an ornament in disguise! Happy Secret Santa Autumn!

And that's all for this cards folks! But, wait there is more! Here is a sneaky peaky of the gift I received from the gloriously sweet and talented Branka of Vintage Handmade. You just have to go visit her blog to find out the amazing details of this rustic and gorgeous design! I absolutely love it!

It looks even more fantabulous in real life and the textures and crackle are spectacular! Thank you very much B and Merry Christmas! Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I would like to share my Santa card with these challenges:

A Vintage Journey-Winter Magic

Emerald Creek Dares-Winter Wishes

Creative Artiste #21-Anything Mixed Media Goes

Southern Ridge Trading Co-Christmas and New Years

Try It On Tuesday-Celebrate

I'm totally celebrating Christmas and the giving season! 

Creative Embellishments-Photo inspiration 

I made a dangle ornament and used a metal snowflake charm like the one in the picture. 

Valentine's Day Card

Hello everyone! With V-Day 3 days away I figured I needed to get started on my hubbies card. I decided to make him one this year (a first for me) because I love him and he deserves a handmade piece! Yeppers, he's awesome sauce like that! Haha!

I kept it mostly CAS/masculine but of course had to experiment with a new way to create some patina! One of my favorite artists growing up was Amy Brown (and she's still awesome sauce!) I remember getting her book when I was younger and she experimented with paints and salt. So I grabbed some salt and sprays and performed my own experiment. Here are two results.

The above picture features stamping with a TH stamp and heat embossing with Rangers Verdigris EP and multiple layers of LSG sprays with a layer of salt here and there. The picture below features larger salt grains, LSG sprays and DecoArt Carbon black mister.  

Pretty! Sometimes I am sad to create a background because I don't want to cover it up with anything! Know what I mean? 

Anyway, I used the larger panel to create my 9 small squares and edged those with Copper Inka Gold. Those were adhered to black cardstock that I spritzed with DecoArt misters and LSG sprays.  

The X's and O's were found in my Alpha letters stash. They don't all match but it's okay by me. I rubbed some of the Copper IG on those as well and left the Glittery X's alone. The heart was drawn and cut out then painted with Carbon Black, a coat of multi medium and Prima black micro beads were added for texture. I stamped inside the card as well but that is a secret! Hehehe!

I would like to share this masculine card with these wonderful challenges:

A Vintage Journey-Industrial

(Hopefully my new patina painting technique has an industrial element, I also used metallic copper cardstock for the base)

Southern Girls Challenge-Anything Goes with Team Trace

Country View Challenges-Make Your Own Background

One Crazy Stamper-Anything Goes

Paper Creator's Challenge-Must Be Love