Saturday, December 30, 2023

Deep Mid Winter - Happy New Year Ornament

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

Hello friends - as the year is drawing to a close, so is our current challenge In the Deep Mid Winter. 

Today I wanted to share with you an ornament I made to welcome in the new year...

I found a bunch of these neat wood ornaments at a garage sale this fall and I knew they would be so much fun to use.  I started off by inking up the ornament with a couple shades of pink Distress Oxide ink. I then added black ink for the ornament cap.  I stamped a few Large Snowflakes and Small Snowflakes around the edge. I then stamped Happy New Year from the Party Words set in the center. I added a bit of glitter here and there...because everything is better with glitter you know - LOL!!
 I finished off the ornament with a bit of die-cut pine branches a jingle bell and ribbon.

It's ready to be placed on the tree to help welcome in 2024!!

Hope you've all had an amazing year and if you haven't already take a bit of time to join in on the fun. All the best to you and yours in the coming year!













Thursday, December 28, 2023

In the deep midwinter: Winter ATC`s

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

Hi everyone! Hope you have had a wonderful Christmas time together with you beloved ones!  This is my (Liesbeth) final blogpost for this year. Because we had our granddauhters here, I didn't make something new this time for our Midwinter Challenge, so an oldie! But I think it's very very wintery!


Two ATC's on a bue Distress inked background. I stamped with white and black ink and used some white embossingpowder and a white gel pen.
Stamps used: Small Cityscape, Misc. Words and Carmen`s Veranda's beautiful ATC Birds in Trees.


A very healthy, peaceful  and happy 2024 everyone!💖

LiesbethXX

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

In the Deep Midwinter: Elf with Star

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

Welcome to the day after Christmas as we start to wind down our December Challenge:  In the Deep Midwinter.   You still have until the end of the month to enter your projects for a chance to win some free stamps.

For this card, I used the Elf With Star stamp from Carmen's Veranda.  The background is a section of a paper collage master board I made using wintry colors and patterns.  I edged that with some silver ink and layered it with a white panel.

I stamped the elf with black ink onto a white paper scrap and fussy cut him out.  I then colored him using Copic Sketch markers.  I added a star to his wand and accentuated his eyes and mouth with a black marker.  He was then attached to the card front along with two little blue washi tape dots I placed in the lower right corner.

So come and join the fun here on the Portal.  We look forward to seeing what you create before the end of the month to celebrate the Deep Midwinter!



Monday, December 25, 2023

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!
 
We would like to wish all our customers and blog friends a very 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

Thank you so much for your support this year for our small family business and for sharing your beautiful projects using Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda stamp. 
I'd also like to thank the design team for the amazing work they do all year.
We hope you have a day full of love and joy.
 Treasure the little things.
 
If you are crafting don't forget our 

IN THE DEEP MIDWINTER CHALLENGE

 is running until the end of the month and the team are sharing awesome inspiration here on the blog.  Take some time to enjoy a look at their projects and maybe leave a little love.
The world need more love.
 

Sunday, December 24, 2023

In The Deep Midwinter - Let It Snow!

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

What's the Deep Midwinter without snow???


Today our little gnome friend is lobbying for a bit of the white stuff!

I started off by inking up a piece of white cardstock with various Distress Oxide inks. I then stamped the Trees background over top I added a bit of glitter to the trees here and there to mimic a bit of snow on the branches.   I then hand cut a couple snowdrifts and added a bit of ink and glitter.

I stamped the Front Sign Gnome on a scrap of white cardstock and colored him with Clean Brush Markers and wrote the little message on his sign. I finished him off with yes - more glitter (you can never have too much glitter - lol!!).  He was then fussy cut and affixed to the card using foam tape to make him pop off the background.

Do you have snow where you are for Christmas? 
We alas are having a warm and rainy Christmas...no snow in sight but we'll not let that dampen our spirits!





Thursday, December 21, 2023

Solstice bird

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

Happy Solstice today. Cathy here with a Solstice card for you. 

Stamp Used:


I stamped the Christmas bird and colored in with copic markers, and I made it into a large tag. Then I layered it on some Kraft cardstock and then on a black card base. 

I added some glitter to the lights and added a green strip of paper on the side.

There is still time to join the challenge here

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Any Excuse For A Party

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!
 
Hello Portal Peeps.  Gail here today.  Winter Is Coming!!!!!
Well, maybe it's here.  Time to PARTY!!!
Never underestimate an old lady's ability to party!

 
I made this kinda cool background by stamping Lost Coast Designs ATC Doodle Circles with ice blue chalk ink and then randomly stamping parts of Shrubbery with Midnight archival ink.  I also smeared the edges with the midnight ink.



Monday, December 18, 2023

#180 In the deep mid winter challenge.

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

Hi there, Riet here.
 Its a lovely challenge, love the winter theme.
I hope you will join the lost coast designs challenge.
You have a chance to win stamps.
And let's face it, who wouldn't want that.
Now the step by step of this winter landscape.


What I used for this card.
(used only the tree)

 Stazon 
Midnight Blue.
Jet Black
Saddle brown

Distressink,
Dusty concord
Musterd seed
Chipped sapphire
Stormy sky
Tumbled glass 
Distress oxide,
Weathered wood

White gelpen.
Markers or color pencils.

I started with 3 strips of paper that were torn off.
Sponge along the paper edges with the Distress Oxide Wethered wood.
This way you can make beautiful snow edges.

I also use these strips as masks when I stamp the cityscape.
I stamped it with stazon midnight blue.

Now choose a place where the moon should be and
use Distress ink Musterd seed to make a yellow spot slightly larger than the moon stamp.
Stamp the moon with the Stazon Saddle brown.

Now we are going to create the sky with ink blenders.
For this we take different colors and build up, from light to dark, as shown on the card.
I used these distress ink colors for this
Dusty concord, Chipped sapphire, Stormy sky, Tumbled glass.

Well, because I only thought about using the Lycaonia stamp at this point, I stamped her on a thin paper, colored her in and glued her on later.
But before I glued her on I first stamped her on the card so I knew exactly where to place her.

Stamped the trees with Stazon black.
Now finish with the white gel pen. Make stars in the sky and snow on the tree branches.

I hope you enjoyed it and join us in the challenge. The more who participate, the greater the prize.
And you can even participate with stamps from another brand.













Saturday, December 16, 2023

Bauble Town

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!
 
Hello Portal Peeps!!   Gail here today.
Have you got your jingle on yet??   It's all about winter all month here on the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity.  We are celebrating the season and hope you will join us with your stamped anythings featuring wintery things.  I grabbed a classic combo for me, Carmen's Veranda Snow Cowboy and Southwest Town.  I love putting these two together.  
 
I was going for a bauble effect...... but Snow Cowboy had other ideas and hopped out of the frame for a nice dimensional look.
 
I started by stamping Snow Cowboy and Southwest Town twice with different shades of blue archival ink.  I fussy cut the top of the towns and the cowboy.  Snow Cowboy lost his arms!! but don't worry, a little in place stamping will sort him out a bit later on.
 I stamped the star from Carmen's Veranda Elf with Star using white ink on a scrap of black card for my sky.
I layered the sky and town pieces and stamped the snowman again where he was going to be to get his arms back.  I added the white hammered card panel with the die cut hole, glued it all on the base and finally lined up my fussy cut Snow Cowboy.  Yee Haw!!
 
Now it's your turn.  Are you up for the challenge?  We can't wait to see your projects!  
Submit your entries in the linky party by 23.59 PST on the 31st December and don't forget to follow us so you don't miss anything!  The team will be posting more inspiration throughout the month so check back and join the fun.

Happy Stamping!
Gail

Friday, December 15, 2023

CHALLENGE #180 REMINDER - IN THE DEEP MIDWINTER

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!
 
Hello Portal Peeps.  
 
Gail here today with a little reminder from the team for the current challenge.  This one is running all month so plenty of time to get your entries in!  We will be announcing winners on the 5th of the month, so do pop back and see who wowed the team and gets our snazzy blog badge and the coveted Lost Coast dollars.

CHALLENGE #180

IN THE DEEP MIDWINTER


We want to see your stamped anythings featuring winter. 
Real rubber or clear stamping and the theme must be the focus of your project.  A small stamped sentiment in a sea of die cuts or digi images will not qualify to win the prize and you may be deleted!!!!  Bwahahhaaahaha.

Please remember we do have some Challenge Rules to follow so look them over to ensure your entries qualify to win this month's prize!

You are welcome to play in our Challenges using rubber stamp images from any company but if you use any of our Lost Coast Designs or Carmen's Veranda stamps...we love it when you do...then your entry counts as two which doubles your chances of winning in our random prize drawing.

PRIZES

To ensure you all have a fabulous time playing in our Challenges this is how our Prize system works!
The more entries the better the Prize so tell all your friends to join the fun too!

1 - 4 Entries = one winner chosen by the team is awarded our Challenge Winner's Badge
5+ Entries = one randomly picked winner will receive a $5 gift certificate to spend at
Lost Coast Designs/Carmen's Veranda
10+ Entries = one randomly picked winner will receive a $10 gift certificate to spend at
Lost Coast Designs/Carmen's Veranda
and all winners get our snazzy Challenge Winner's Badge to proudly display on their blogs!

If you don't have a blog then no prob, you can still play in our challenges by sharing your projects from public photo sharing sites which includes our Facebook Company Pages for Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda.  Please include our Challenge info and the link back to our challenge in your photo's description!  As long as the privacy setting for your photo is public you're good to go.  See, it's so easy to join the fun!  FYI, you can't link up projects shared in closed Facebook groups! 

Here's some more lovely inspiration from the team.  ENJOY!

Roni used Lost Coast Designs Brush Strokes, Pieces of CalligraphySmall Snowflakes Set, Lucy HLP, with Carmen's Veranda Too Many Options sentiment.

Cathy used Lost Coast Designs Two Gnomes and Small Snowflakes Set
 
 
Liesbeth used Lost Coast Designs Party Words and Large Snowflakes set.

Now it's your turn.  Are you up for the challenge?  We can't wait to see your projects!  
Submit your entries in the linky party below by 23.59 PST on the 31st and don't forget to follow us so you don't miss anything!  The team will be posting more inspiration throughout the month so check back and join the fun.

Happy Stamping!
Gail
Challenge Host

Challenge #180 - In The Deep Midwinter
December 1st - 31st Please read over out RULES to be sure your entries qualify you to win!
ALL rubber stamp companies are welcome.
Linky closes Sunday, December 31st 23.59 PST.
All entries must be entered in our link up but your don't need a blog to win.  See our RULES page for more info

 

 

Thursday, December 14, 2023

In the Deep Midwinter: Georges and Louis

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

So glad you are back with us as we continue our month long challenge:  In the Deep Midwinter.  I grew up in the Midwest so remember what those winter days could be like.  So use those memories as your inspiration for this challenge.

For this one, I have a card that uses the Georges and Louis stamp from Lost Coast Designs.  I love this stamp - it is one of the first Lost Coast stamps I acquired.  My background is a portion of a master board I made with a winter theme.  Using silver embossing powder and a Versa Mark Watermark pad , I embossed this with a splatter stamp then added some more of the silver to the edges of the card.

I stamped George and Louis with black ink onto white card stock and fussy cut them out.  I then stamped Georges's coat with blue ink, cut that out, and superimposed it onto the original image.  I colored this in with Copic Sketch markers and attached it to my card front with foam tape.  A boy and his dog playing in the snow!

Be sure to post your makes here on the Portal and you might be the lucky winner of some free stamps!




Tuesday, December 12, 2023

#180 In The Deep Midwinter - Santa Cat

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

Today I have a fun winter/Christmas card for you using one of my favorite stamps from Carmen's Veranda.. Peekaboo Kitty...


The kitty was stamped on a piece of off white cardstock and colored with colored pencils.  It was trimmed and added to this fun piece of pattern paper.  I then stamped the Two Gnomes and trimmed away one of the hats. It was then glued about 1/4" above the kitty - I filled in the gap and added a ball with glitter.  I added a few bits of glitter to the trees as well.  Finally I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment from the Party Words set.

Hope you've enjoyed todays card and that you join in on the fun...



Sunday, December 10, 2023

Santa Frank

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

Hello Cathy here with a fun holiday card for you today.

Stamps Used:

I started out with stamping Frankenstein and Two gnomes. I colored Frank in with copic markers and then cut out. Next, I cut off one of the gnomes hats and colored it. 
I added some glitter fun foam to the bottom of the hat with a holly sticker and a little white pom-pom to the top. I then glued them onto a music scrap that I tore around and inked the edges with brown distress ink. I stamped 1 snowflake form the Small snowflake set in the same brown ink around the whole background. 
I layered that on some Christmas cardstock and added some Christmas ephemera to the front of the card.

You can join the challenge here.


 

Friday, December 8, 2023

#180 In the deep mid winter.

Welcome back to Lost Coast Portal to Creativity where Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda collide to bring you twice the inspiration and double the fun!

 
Hi, Riet here.
It's December so that's why it's a winter challenge.
Everything related to it is good for the challenge.
I chose these funny Christmas gnomes, really love them.
They come in two sizes.
For this shaker card I used the smaller ones.
And this is how I made the card:

What I used:
LCD stamps

Distressink:
Barn door
Memento tuxedo black

Small snowflake punch
Punch for white small cirkels that looks like snow 
White acrylic paint
White posca marker
Markers or pencils to color the gnomes.
Foam tape
Mica sheet
Window and frame die.

I started by coloring and cutting out the gnomes.

With the Distressink Barn door and Rustic wilderness I made 6 prints on my worksheet.

Spray some water on it and place your paper on top.
Don't wipe, just give it some time to absorb the ink.


Once the paper is completely dry, we will splash with white acrylic paint.

While the background is drying we continue with the frame.
We stamp the frame with Distress ink Rustic wilderness and the checkerd border stamp.

On the bottom of the frame we stamp the text "Merry Christmas" with Memento black.

I cut some silver snowflakes with the punch.
And some dots in 3 sizes from white paper.
That is the filling for the shaker element.

I glue the red/green background onto a piece of paper.
Glue the checker board frame around it.
Now stick the foam tape on the back
and stick it on a white card.

Now glue the mica sheet that you first cut to size on the inside of the window frame.
Place foam tape around the frame.
Now place the shaker elements on the background and stick the window frame on the background.

Use the posca pen to put some white dots on the text.

Now we glue the gnomes to the windows.

The card is ready.
I hope you like it.
I'd love to see what you make of it.
So post it on the challenge blog or on the Facebook group.
Then you have a chance to win new stamps.