Danny's Cards Blog

For the past week and a half I've been working on an assortment of cards. Unfortunately, the lighting in my house isn't the best and often gives off a blue hue. Thankfully, today the lighting was perfect, so I could finally get pictures of some of my various Christmas Cards. Today's challenge comes courtesy of the Christmas Kickstart Challenge Blog . If you're anything like me, you often collect embossing folder after embossing folder. I must own, literally, two hundred or more folders--of which 30 of them are Christmas theme. I was excited to see the Christmas Kickstart Challenge blog offer an embossing folder and stamp set challenge .  I immediately knew what stamp I wanted to use. Last year I purchased this Otterly Cozy Christmas set from Lawn Fawn . Unfortunately, I never got around to using it. With some quick use of my Copic Markers. I created four different cards all with minor variations. I always love the texture look of Copic Markers. I utilized an assortment

Over on the ARTastic Challenge Blog , designers set out on a vintage inspired challenge. Utilizing famous painter Hilda Rix Nicholas, they showcased an image that exuded vintage Victorian. Take a look at the inspiration below: I set out this morning, know exactly what would be the focal point. I recently invested in the Holiday Paper Doll Card Toppers from Anna Griffin. Besides the hilarious sayings, the actual dolls require assembly, so you can place bonnets and dresses as you see fit. With a little trimming and use of my concentric frame dies, I finished up two cards that I thought fit the challenge perfectly. I really wanted to emphasize the Christmas theme, so I ended up using various reds. For my second card, I followed the same path. Using 3D Dot adhesives gave the cards a little bit of a pop.  And here's the card standing where you can really see the dimension of the card. I'm definitely in full holiday and Christmas swing, so expect more holiday cards for the duration

I love all the October and November autumn colors, and I'm going to be devastated when Thanksgiving is over. Something about oranges, reds and browns just soothe my soul. I also, for some odd reason, love die cutting leaves. Foliage and flowers of any kind looks extraordinarily elegant to me. They were my first die cuts I invested in when I started die cutting, and they're still frequently my most used. Over on the Catch the Bug blog , they laid out a perfect autumnal November color challenge.  The centerpiece of the creation was the Anniversary Frame Dies from Anna Griffin. This is a die set I acquired a while back but have yet to use. Needless to say, the cut and emboss looked dazzling. Using the Seasonal Foliage Dies , I created a number of leaves and acorns, not quite sure where I was going.  What I realized during the assembly process was that the wood-like backgrounds served too much as a distraction. With some quick thinking, I pulled out some embossing folders and voil

Over on the Christmas Kickstart Challenge , the challenge this week was pink — all ranges of pink too. Of course, they did this for Breast Cancer Awareness Month , so anything that supports that cause is excellent. My mother is a survivor of Stage 4 Breast Cancer (nearly 20 years in remission!). She is an iron-fist of a lady, and it really goes to show you that you should never lose hope. Anyway, they also provided two photos to help with inspiration: For my first card, I used the pink bows as inspiration for Christmas: For both cards I used the Anna Griffin Christmas Box Cut and Emboss Folders . I then added ribbon all around the wreath and tied a pink bow to give it that full Christmas look. Using pink snowflake cardstock from Recollections and a craft background, and voila, this was it. I'm really happy with the results, but working with ribbon always feels like stressful as it is so much harder to adhere to paper.. For my second card, I used the gold plates as inspiration: I wa

Over on the Daring Cardmakers blog , they're celebrating Dictionary Day with a Dictionary Day challenge. The challenge stated the following, "I need very little persuasion to celebrate words - celebrate with us by using a dictionary definition, dictionary or book page or make words the focal point of your creation this week." I knew I had the perfect stamp to get this challenge started, and with pulling out my Maps, Texts, and Ledgers card pack , I got to work. Here were the results: This birthday sentiment, which defines what a birthday is, comes courtesy from Stampendous . By layering the different texts, and using a background with writing on it, the effect was exactly what I was hoping for. To give it a little elevation, I tied twine around the whole set to give it another dimension. And here's the card standing up: Overall, I'm very happy with the end result. I did this while in the midst of working on a Ruby anniversary card (40th!), which I will showcase l

This week over on the Color My Heart challenge, they gave us a wide range of nine colors. Like yesterday's Christmas Colour Challenge , I was excited to go into this challenge with Christmas on my mind. Additionally, my favorite color Toffee (or sometimes referred to as craft) made an appearance. Here were the colors that I could use: I made use of ballerina, blue bells, toffee and linen. Here was the card I made: I'm not usually one for religious iconography, but something about the trifold card was too cool. This is perfect for those who love their Three Wise Men cards. A tradition I know many people hold near and dear to their heart.  The die set is the Nativity Shadow Box Dies  from Anna Griffin. I actually created a backing to the card so that I could write a little message to the recipient. Rather than follow gender norms, I flipped the traditional man in blue, woman in pink. The choice was two fold, one was an element of surprise, but the other is Mary is often depicted