Hello Stamplings!
Welcome as we whoosh around to another week! Tomorrow begins the Year of the Fire Horse. (That's horse, not hose, like I keep reading it!🙃) If your year has started out sluggishly, get ready to feel renewed engerny! I found this little bridle bit for you:
Given that the Horse is a Yang Fire sign, its energy is audacious, exuberant, and high-spirited. “Put together these Yang qualities of Fire in the Fire Horse, and we have an extremely intense, energetic, fast-moving and action-oriented year ahead."🐎
Onefer
I should have made you a card with a horse on it. Instead, here is a Fire Dragonfly:
Otherwise known as the Aqua Dragonfly. I used The Greetery's, "Jumbo Curiosity Moth," but changed out the moth body for a dragonfly body I found in my stash. The wings are cut from a piece of brusho'd glossy paper.
The dragonfly was inspired by the layout from Freshly Made Sketches. In order to change up the bottom half of the sketch, and because this is E = Embossing on the I.D.E.A.S. calendar, I embossed the bottom half with a Sizzix e/f.
I'm not sure if you can see in the photo, but I wanted to add some razzahmatazz to the embossing and, you know, pretend I was a professional, so I blended some light aqua ink over the raised images. Only that was "Ew," way too much aqua per my resident hamster critic, so I really got brave and lightly blended black ink over the aqua! I know, black! I'll be viral, right? I'm also playing in the Allsorts Challenge (Embossing).
Twofer
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This is a textbook QCAS design. The pretty sprig is NBUS called, "Meadow Grass" from Taylored Expressions. I die-cut it from white cardstock, but for some reason it photographed creamier than it is IRL. Sadly, you can't see Hammy's beautiful winking, which he was so becited to do again!
I'm playing with Seize the Birthday (CAS with Dies) and Addicted to Stamps and More (Die Cuts and/or Stencils).
Threefer
As I was typing this yesterday, I happened to see a couple of more challenges and before the clouds completely covered the sun, I made another CAS design.
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I used one of the emboss-resist designs from Stampin' Up for the base. I started by masking off and ink-blending the candle bases in order to follow the sketch from AAA Cards. Then I had a heck off a time trying to figure out how to do the flames. All of my candle flames were too small. I tried free-hand and fussy-cutting them, but I got another "Ew" on that idea.
Next, I took a field trip through the Playhouse and when I got to my greenery drawers, I hit the jackpot when I came across the "Leaf Canopy Die" from Altenew. It's from 2018 and old now, but it remains one of my favorites and who knew one of the pretty leaves made a perfect candle flame when ink-blended through the negative die-cut?! And even more amazing? I just noticed one of the sediment stamps in the set says, "So happy I have finally found you!"😮
I found a white die-cut balloon and string in my stash and blended them with ink and added the sediment. I'm also playing in The Paper Players challenge from Stef calling for, "CAS with Balloons and Birthday."
I found a white die-cut balloon and string in my stash and blended them with ink and added the sediment. I'm also playing in The Paper Players challenge from Stef calling for, "CAS with Balloons and Birthday."
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Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*
As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower!
Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*
As always, thank you for coming by to visit the Playhouse and special thanks to you if you take the time to join as a follower!
*Life is too short!
They are all beautiful, Darnell xoxo
ReplyDeleteSo lovely to see your delightful cards and wonderful blogging again, my friend. Great find in the leaf/flame!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you are back at it and with such pretty cards! Thanks for joining in at AAA Cards
ReplyDeleteGreat Birthday card designs, each and every one! And thank you for allowing us to see the "flame" in that leaf -- we all need to see our stash a bit differently sometimes. Glad you were able to get in some crafty time!
ReplyDeleteAs for the lunar new year? Aren't all our "years" just flying by? Asking for a friend...
Three beauties, Dolly! I LOVE the gorgeous colours of your Fire Dragonfly. The embossing at the bottom shows a little of the turquoise through the black sponging. So creative ... and a great accident! :) Your CAS leafy branch is so beautiful against the hammered background, and your candles shine brightly, especially with the beautiful, gold embossed design! You are on a roll, my friend. Love, Lolly
ReplyDeleteD, your gorgeous hitchhiker is spectacular as the main character of our Sketch this week! And WOW did you ever have a beautiful save on the embossing - who'd have thunk? YOU!
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The sunshine always shows up the texture and dimension on your cards so beautifully. You did a pretty great job with the sketch, and your cobbled dragonfly has the most amazing wings! Love the hammered paper and oval-highlighted leaf die on your QCAS card. When it comes to going viral I'd say your candle flames might be the ones. Whether as die cuts or stenciled through the negative they're perfect! The sentiment you mentioned indicates it was kismet. That's such a pretty and clever card and I love it a lot! Thanks for the funny, too, teehee. It's good to have you back on Mondays, Darnell!
ReplyDeleteThat jumbo dragonfly is the perfect focal point for the sketch and I love the different colors and textures, too. Adding the black was genius--gives so much depth to the embossing! Thanks for joining us at FMS this week!
ReplyDeleteThree lovely cards, Darnell! The leaf die cut to make the candle flame was just meant to be! What a perfect find and what beautiful candles with the emboss resist. The die cut balloon makes your card all the more festive. It is so wonderful to see your card in the gallery, thank you for joining my CAS challenge this week at the Paper Players!
ReplyDeleteAwesome take on our sketch. Love the shine. thank you for playing at the AAA Cards Challenges
ReplyDeleteThree gorgeous cards, Darnell - especially love the dragonfly you crafted for card one, the delicate sprigs on card two and the genius masked candles on card three!!
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you posting again Darnell and I love your 3 cards. The dragonfly is beautiful and I love your other two cards also. Thanks for sharing your birthday card with us at Seize the Birthday.
ReplyDeleteFabulous cards, Darnell. My favourite is the last one, such a striking design.
ReplyDeleteLiz xx
First off with a gorgeous dragonfly all done in turquoise! Your tests and trials ended up with a wonderful bottom layer that may very well go viral! Love your QACAS branch that shows so well against the inking in the background! Love all that texture too! Your candles are amazing! What a great design! I hope you had as much fun making these as I've had admiring them! So good to have you back in Blogland, my friend!
ReplyDeleteThree beauties, for sure! My fave is the CAS card with the candles--brilliant use of the leaves for the flames!
ReplyDeleteI think all of your embossing inking shenanigans worked, this is fantastic, Darnell! In fact, they all are!
ReplyDeleteWonderful selection of cards! The leaf for the candle flame is genius and your dragonfly is a stunner! Thanks so much for joining us at Freshly Made Sketches.
ReplyDeleteI love all three of your cards, Darnell. The serendipitous discovery of a leaf shape for your candle flame made me smile. We lose things in our craft rooms...and then we find even better things. As for your prediction of a more energetic 2026, I think you nailed it! There has certainly been more action in Minneapolis than I ever thought possible. I'm hoping things will die down a bit, now that the Feds are making their exit (supposedly).
ReplyDeleteA lovely trio of creativity, all very different Darnell, many thanks for sharing the first with us at Allsorts challenge.
ReplyDeleteB x
Fabulous threefer Darnell. I love how the fire horse turned into a moth then dragonfly, (which I prefer because they are so beautiful). Second one, the sprig does look cream 🧐🙃😵💫, thirdly great idea for the candles, and the flames, so clever, so too was the black ink on the embossing! xxx
ReplyDeleteThree lovely cards especially the last one, Darnell... and your funny totally cracked me up. Praying for you and hubby.
ReplyDeleteShaz in Oz.x 🙏🏻🤗😘
All three are fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at Addicted to stamps and more for our die cuts / stencils challenge.
Happy crafting!
Catherine x DT
Nice post with lots of cool cards, nice to see you creating! The dragonfly card is striking with pairing the dragonfly die and embossing paper-cool paper, so glad you shared it at Allsorts challenge, your leaf card is so striking, and the candle card is so cool, I have that background paper so will have to play today! Take care.
ReplyDeleteI hope this is an energetic and action oriented year but not fast moving. Days, weeks, months go by fast enough as it is. When you get back at it your creative mind takes over and the results - three fabulous cards. The black inking is great on the dragonflies and the QCAS card is lovely but it's the candles within the Chevron gold that really delight me, Darnell. That and the story about the leaf flame.
ReplyDeleteThree very different and very delightful cards, Darnell!! I'm especially fond of the second one. Great find to use the leaf for the candle flame - so creative.
ReplyDeleteThree beautiful birthday cards, Darnell! I love how you did the candles directly on that embossed paper for the third card, it's fun how the stripes show up on the candles too. And great job with that sketch, I definitely found it to be challenging. Thanks for playing along with The Paper Players this week!
ReplyDeleteThree lovely cards and what a clever idea to use a leaf die to make a stencil for your flames. It has worked a treat xx
ReplyDeleteYour dragonfly card is so striking! Thanks for playing with us at Allsorts challenge.
ReplyDeleteLove your dragonfly card a lot. I am sure pleased to see you blogging again. Praying all is getting better each day with Kevin. Hugs to you both.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, I'm very happy that it is the Year of the Horse. I should get busy and make a bunch of horse-themed Christmas cards for my sale. But meanwhile, I'm happy to see your cards with dragonflies, pretty spring sprig, and candles. How clever to use a negative leaf die cut to make the candle flames!
ReplyDeleteThree wonderful cards! I am especially in awe of the clever design of the 3rd card!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to see you with three cards. All wonderful creations especially the dragonfly. Thank you so much for sharing at Allsorts challenge.
ReplyDeleteThat's just so very clever, the way you've created the candles and flames. Indeed, who know a leaf and a flame were the same thing! This is such a gorgeous CAS design. Thank you for joining in with us at The Paper Players.
ReplyDeleteWow, it's so good to see you in the gallery. Your 3 cards are fantastic. Excited to talk with you tomorrow. Thanks for joining us at Seize the Birthday.
ReplyDeleteDarnell, as always, your cards are just gorgeous! I do like the one with the sprig and the candles are fab!
ReplyDeleteAll of your cards Darnell are stunning l especially like your Dragonfly and the colour used too x
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