myasperations 8-18-25

   I made this elegant tag for the current Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says, “Not a Card”. It featured one of the first wood-mount rubber stamps I ever purchased, from a company named Personal Stamp Exchange (PSX). Although the company closed in the early 2000s, they are still known as a company that made high-quality stamps and carried many finely detailed stamps. I have sold most of my wood-mount stamps… except for the PSX ones. I consider them to be heirloom quality!

    I stamped the image with black onto a burnished silver paper, added shading and highlights with markers and a white gel pen, then finished with a base made with items from my stash. I wanted to also enter the elegant tag into the Coffee Loving Paper Crafters/Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge and knew just what to do! Several years ago, I helped decorate for a Women's  Christmas Tea at our local church. The decor theme was "Victorian Christmas," and I was thrilled to find a packet of pretty paper placements at a local antique store. They pictured beautifully detailed blue and teal "china" cups, plates, etc. I still have a few scraps of them in my Christmas paper box, and quickly got to work. I trimmed a rectangle of the placement, mounted it onto teal colored cardstock, and adhered it to the back of the tag. The final touch was to trim the edge of a china plate from the remaining scrap and attach it to the inside of the card, leaving enough room to later add a note or a "to" and "from." Tea, anyone?!

    The black & silver paper (on the card base and inside of the card) is the result of a supply-making adventure with a stamping buddy back in the 90s. Sheets of black paper, silver spray paint, two dishpans full of warm water, and lots of laughter resulted in this pretty paper! The process is fairly simple: you spray the paint onto the water, swirl it a bit with a stick, drop the paper into it- face down- then gently lift and spread it out on paper towels to dry. A bit messy, but the results are striking. I discovered a few dozen sheets in both silver and gold when cleaning my garage last weekend. What a fun find! (I did a bit of research to find a few tutorials that I added to my supplies list.)

Supplies: 

·      Stamp- PSX (Company no longer in business)

·      Shaded with Spectrum Noir Classique markers, and highlighted with Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·      Black and Silver paper made with Spray Paint Marbling- two tutorials found HERE and HERE

·      Metallic silver and embossed gold paper- JoAnnes Crafts (Sadly no longer in business)

·      Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·      All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge-Not a Card

Classic Design Challenge: Anything Goes #08-2025 Aug/Sept

Coffee Loving Paper Crafters/Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge: #44 Aug New Format  

     This month has been flying past! This is my first entry into the Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers (BYSHC) August challenge using assorted items from my stash. The cute and colorful apron is one of six from an Apex SVG set. (Since I don’t have a cutting machine, I often print SVGs in JPG format to use them as digis.) I used my trusty white gel pen to add stitching and lacy accents to the pretty apron. The festive apron is a perfect fit for the cute little gingerbread cookies dancing across the strips of patterned paper. The sentiments complete the fun holiday theme. (I especially like the inside sentiment, which was a freebie from Lovesvg.com. I registered to access their freebies and also get regular notices of new freebies.)

Supplies: 

·   Apron Image from Apex SVG (Kitchen Aprons)

·   Shaded with Spectrum Noir Classique markers, and highlighted with Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Gingerbread patterned paper- 6x6 Paper Pad from Digi Doodles Studios (Gingerbread Wishes)

·   Front Sentiment from a Beccy’s Place Digi set that is sadly no longer available. (Business recently changed to clear stamps/wholesale only)

·   Inside Sentiment- “I just want to bake stuff…” Freebie from Lovesvg.com Note you need to open an account to access freebies

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into: 

{BYSHC} Sketch Challenge FB- #60 Aug 2025         

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- Weeks #712-713 AG/Family Friendly

Outlawz Challenge- Festive Friday: Aug (Christmas)         

Outlawz Challenge-Aug 2025 Linky  

  Park Hopping-My Happy Place (Aug)      Santa’s Village

    This final card was fun to make, partly because it reminded me of a stamping friend that I’ve lost touch with over the years. I uncovered it in a box of cards that I’ve saved over the last 10-15 years because I received them from a friend or loved one, or because I was saving them for inspiration. This card falls into the first category. On the back of the card is written “Handmade by Judy Gill 2013”.

    I have lost touch with Judy since then, and was saddened to see that her beautiful card had not endured the years well. I found it while decluttering my craft room and discovered a few forgotten boxes in its small closet. We run a dehumidifier in our home year-round, so I hadn’t realized that dampness and humidity could cause any damage to cards or papers. Sadly, several cards in the box that held this card were damaged apart… and this card was one of them. I was thankful that the card front, framed with a beautifully stitched border, was mostly intact. I carefully pulled the humidity-distorted image and sentiment from it, and attached a snowy patterned paper in its place. 

     I colored and fussy-cut an adorable snowman and friend digi, adding texture to the snowman's wool hat using a tutorial I found on the web (see link in supplies list.) When finished, I adhered the sweet pair in place. A light covering of Nuvo Glitter drops to add some realism and bling to the snowman’s body. Lastly, sentiments, with a few fussy-cut snowflakes embellishing the inside, finished the card.

    (PS I did a bit of research to see if I can find Judy, and sent messages to two people that are the best options. I’m hoping we can reconnect!)

 

Supplies: 

·   Machine Stitched background upcycled from a card I received in 2013

·   Digi- WinkWinkWink (Seasons Tweetings) Image appears to be retired on Etsy. Maybe if you contact artist, she will open it for sale?

·   Colored with Spectrum Noir Classique markers and Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen

·   Tutorial for creating knitted texture (on hat) can be found HERE

·   Front Sentiment “Tweet Tidings”- freebie from Simply Cards & Papercrafts Magazine (No longer available)   

·   Inside Sentiment- “Christmas Blessings”  from KLMDigitalDesigns Santa Gnome Digi set

·   Nuvo Glitter Drops -White Blizzard

·   Sookwang double-sided tape- Available from several sources on the web.

·   All other misc. items and tools from my stash.

Entered into:  

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge- #260 AG 

Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge-AG Aug 7-Sept 3 2025 (optl twist- Inspired by Berni’s Winter Wildlife card HERE plus a picture is attached next to my card ) 

ABC Christmas Challenge- P, Q, R are for?    'P is for Pastel Colours'  

Paper Funday- #79 Anything Goes