JOY

I must admit, over the past couple of weeks, I really went to town making holiday cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids. I didn't finish as many as I would have liked, but I got several done any way.

For this card I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #163:

I didn't do the small squares, but just had my image take up the whole focal panel.

I used the "Penguin Joy" digi image from Bugaboo Stamps. I printed it on 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils & a damp paintbrush. I added Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique to the snow clumps on the letters, and heated that after it had dried to puff it up. I also added clear Wink of Stella to the letters, the little heart on the penguin, and the snow on the ground. For the sky, I applied a wash of Broken China Distress ink. Then I set that aside to dry.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to the size in the sketch, and adhered it to a piece of green cardstock I'd cut to cover the front of my white A2 card base. When my focal panel had dried, I adhered that in place. Very simple. The longest parts of the process were choosing my design & coloring the image.

Merry Christmas from Mimi

I have another card that I sent to Send a Smile 4 Kids. This one uses one of the images from "Mimi's Winter Friends" by Penny Black. I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #110 for my design:

I stamped Mimi on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper that I'd die cut with the Lawn Fawn "Stitched Journaling Card" die. Because I wanted to watercolor her, I used Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I colored her with my Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. Once I'd finished, I wet the area below her with clean water, and added a wash of Pumice Stone Distress ink. I did the same for the sky, using Broken China Distress ink.

I sat back & looked at it--and thought, this is supposed to be a winter card. In particular, a winter card that's going to a child up north, where it snows. It should have snow on the ground instead of dirt! (In my defense, here in Texas we don't get much snow. Dirt is very realistic for winter scenes!) I was not about to scrap it and start over completely, though. So I went over the Pumice Stone area with white gesso. The Pumice Stone reactivated enough to color the gesso, so it's not just stark white, but I think that looks better than just white. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! LOL) When the gesso dried, I stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message," with Archival Jet Black ink.

I cut a piece of green patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.25x5.5", and adhered it to the front of a white A2 card base. I also cut 3 strips from a piece of pink paper from BoBunny's "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" pad. I punched 3 snowflakes from white glitter cardstock with an old EK Success punch, and glued them to the ends of my pink strips. I measured where to adhere my strips, and put them in place. Then I adhered my focal panel, and I was done!

Merry & Bright

I know I said I'm not a one-layer card kind of gal (layer withdrawal, anyone? LOL), but I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment sometimes. I decided to do one more for a2z Scrapbooking's challenge this month. Since I knew I wanted to do a bit of watercoloring, I created my card base from Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper.

I used 2 stamps from a new-to-me set by Hero Arts, "Joy to the World." I put my card base in my MISTI, and used my grid template overlay to help me line up my greeting & one of the "tree" stamps. Then I picked the stamps up with the door on my MISTI, and used Versamark ink to stamp them on the card. I sprinkled on Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and melted it with my heat gun. Then I masked off the tree. I stamped the second tree, and sprinkled on embossing powder. That's when I realized my mistake.

I wanted my third (right hand) tree to go in front of the middle tree, so I should have stamped & embossed that first. No big problem, though, since I realized this before I melted my embossing powder on the second tree. I just positioned my stamp, and stamped it in Versamark, overlapping the middle tree slightly. I brushed away the embossing powder from the middle tree where they overlapped, and sprinkled powder onto my third tree. Then I heat set both trees. You can't even tell I goofed--whew!

Once my embossing had cooled, I brushed clean water over the greeting & trees. Then I smooshed Evergreen Bough Distress ink onto an acrylic block, and picked it up with a wet paintbrush. I daubed it onto the wet areas of my paper, letting it bleed and blend. Then I dried that with my heat tool, and went over those areas with Pine Needles Distress ink and a wet brush. When I had the depth of color I wanted, I dried it again.

At this point, I felt the greeting & images looked a bit disconnected. So I added some splatters of Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist in the Tinsel color. This gives it added interest, and I think just helps to pull the design together. Once that had dried, I put my card under a book, since the watercoloring & heating had warped it a bit. I left it there for a few hours, and it flattened out nicely!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Make a Holiday Card"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

You're Cool

I just wrapped up making holiday cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids. I have had the "Arctic Penguins" and "Jolly and Merry" stamp sets from Mama Elephant for several months, and haven't used them much, since I couldn't really come up with any ideas. Finally, I thought to do a search for "Arctic Penguins" on Pinterest (head slap!). I found lots of ideas there, including the one that inspired this card.

I used the "Stitched Film Strip" die from Pretty Pink Posh. Because the die isn't long enough for what I wanted to do, I had to do a little creative die cutting. I first cut all but one end from some black paper. Then I lined up the die with where I'd already cut, extending it up the paper more, and finished cutting the filmstrip. I didn't really cut both ends "closed," since my paper wasn't long enough, but I had to cut it a little shorter anyway, so it worked out.

I stamped 4 of the penguins on white cardstock with Versafine Onyx Black ink, cut them with the coordinating dies, and colored their beaks with an orange marker. I placed them behind the filmstrip frames, and marked where to cut them so they wouldn't stick out beyond the edges. After trimming them, I glued them to the back of the frame. Then I took a strip of patterned paper from BoBunny's "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" pad and adhered it to the back of the filmstrip & penguins.

After I adhered the filmstrip in place, I placed the card in my MISTI. I used my grid template to line up the greeting, from "Jolly and Merry," and stamped it on my card in Versafine. All I had left to do was trim off the filmstrip where it hung over the edges, and another holiday card was done!

Peace Crystals

a2z Scrapbooking is having a "One Layer Holiday Card" challenge at their blog. I will be the first to admit, I am not a one-layer kind of girl. It's not that I find them overly difficult; I just love my layers! But I decided to give it a go for this challenge. I really should probably do more cards like this, since it came together super quick.

I used Hero Arts' "Christmas Crystals" stamp set for my card. After creating a card base from Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper, I placed it in my MISTI and positioned my stamps. Once I had them where I wanted them--and STRAIGHT!--I picked them up with the door of my MISTI, and inked them with Versamark. I stamped the images & greeting, and then heat embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder.

Once the embossing had cooled, I used 3 of my Zig Clean Color pens to color the crystals. I basically traced around the embossed lines, and then used a damp paintbrush to pull the color out into the center of each facet.

When the color had dried, I drew a line with a fine-tip black pen from each crystal up to the top of my card front. I tied 3 little bows with crochet thread, and glued them to the tops of the crystals. And that finished this card. Like I said, quick & easy. But oh, that layer withdrawal...! LOL

Thinking of You at Christmas

Ellen Hutson is currently having their November Pin-Sights challenge. They posted the following mood board, as inspiration for participants' projects:

I decided, due to my need for holiday cards, and despite the lack of "regular" Christmas colors in the photos, to make a Christmas card.

I used one of the lessons in May Flaum's "Tried & True Card Designs" class as the inspiration for my design. Basically, the idea is to create a wreath. When I saw the lesson in class, I knew almost immediately which set I wanted to try: Essentials by Ellen's "Bokeh Dots." I've seen holiday wreaths made entirely of ornament balls, and wanted to recreate that look on my card.

I used 3 of the solid dots in the set, with Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, and Tea Dye, as well as Delicata Silvery Shimmer pigment ink. I cut a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper to 3.75x5", and lightly drew a circle on it, using a Spellbinders circle die as a template. I had initially thought, since May did in her lesson, that I would use water during the coloring of my wreath, which is why I used watercolor paper. In the end, I didn't do any watercoloring, but there was no harm done from my paper choice anyway. I stamped the dots around my circle outline, trying to keep a balance of colors & sizes, and keep a fairly circular shape. It's really not quite as easy as you might think!

When I had finished stamping the wreath, I turned to the greeting. So that I wouldn't cover up my wreath too much, I decided to use a vellum strip. I stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message," in Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with Ranger Silver embossing powder.

I positioned the strip in place, and folded the ends to the back of my panel, without applying any adhesive. Once I had the placement worked out, I applied tiny dots of glue to the back of the strip, hiding them behind the embossed words, and adhered it to my panel. I also added glue to the ends behind my panel, and stuck them down. I then created a "faux bow," as demonstrated in this tutorial.

For the mat, I was again inspired by the look of a mat on one of May's cards. I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and painted along all 4 sides with a paintbrush and clean water. Then I tore the cardstock where I'd wet it, giving me a controlled ragged edge. Finally, I dried the cardstock with my heat tool, inked around the perimeter with Tumbled Glass, and adhered my main panel to it. I inked around the edges of another piece of white cardstock, cut to A2 size, with the Silvery Shimmer Delicata ink, and when that had dried, mounted my matted panel to that. I adhered that to a white A2 card base, and another holiday card is finished!

Send a Smile 4 Kids Holiday Cards

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having their "Stella Says Sketch #318" challenge. I actually ended up making 3 holiday cards based on the sketch, to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids:

My first card uses the "Teddy--Present" digi image from Bugaboo Stamps. I printed him on Strathmore smooth bristol paper, and die cut that with one of the tags in Mama Elephant's "Tags a Lot" set. I then colored him in with my Zig Clean Color pens, adding white dots to the box with a gel pen. I inked the edges with Aged Mahogany Distress ink, and added a reinforcer I'd cut from brown cardstock, using a die from "Tags a Lot." I punched a hole through the top, and added some baker's twine.

For the background, I cut a piece of red cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and printed my greeting, from Doodle Pantry, directly on it. I cut a strip of paper from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Candyland" patterned paper pad, and punched one long edge with Fiskars' "Threading Water" border punch. I adhered that under the greeting, and added my tag. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2 card base, and added 3 dots of Silver Stickles next to the greeting.

My second card uses the "Candycane Stocking" image. I printed this on bristol as well, and colored it with my Clean Color pens. I die cut it with one of Lawn Fawn's "Small Stitched Rectangle" dies, and inked the edges with Aged Mahogany. I printed the greeting on my red background panel, and added a punched strip of paper from Echo Park's "Home for the Holidays" 6x6" pad. After adhering my focal panel, I mounted it on a white A2 card base, and added my Stickle dots.

My final card uses the "Christmas Window--Santa" digi image (discontinued). I again printed this on Bristol, and die cut it with the same "Tags a Lot" die as in my first card. I colored it with my Clean Color pens, adding stars/snowflakes with my white gel pen, and inked the edges of the tag with Aged Mahogany. I cut the hole reinforcer from the same cardstock as the background, punched a hole, and threaded baker's twine through. I printed my greeting, added a strip of paper from The Paper Studio's "Woodland Wonderland" 6x6" pad, glued on my tag, and adhered the panel to a white A2 card base. I added Silver Stickles, and my trio of cards is done!

Two "Card Shower" Cards

Jennifer McGuire is having a "card shower" for two children suffering from cancer. She also included information on each child's sibling, in case anyone wanted to make them cards, too. I decided to make a card for each, not just because I wanted to, but also in the spirit of avoiding sibling rivalry! :)

Emily, one of the children, has a younger sister who likes pink & purple. I was struggling what to do for a 3-1/2 year old girl, whom I don't even know. Then I looked down on my desk and saw this stamp set that I just recently got, and thought of Catherine Pooler's love of pink & purple snowflakes. Bingo--stamp a flurry of pink & purple snowflakes!

I stamped 3 of the snowflakes from the set on a panel I'd die cut using one of the "Small Stitched Rectangle" dies from Lawn Fawn. I used Hero Arts inks in Bubble Gum, Grape Juice (first & second generation stamping), and Soft Lilac. After I'd covered the panel, I set that aside to work on my greeting.

I die cut my greeting from black cardstock, with Lawn Fawn's "Scripty Joy" die. I glued it to a piece of vellum that I'd cut smaller than the snowflake panel. I taped the vellum in place temporarily on my background with low-tack tape, and stitched around the perimeter to attach the vellum. Finally, I adhered my snowflake panel to a white A2 card base, and coated the "joy" with Star Dust Stickles.

I wrote about Xander in this post. He has an older brother who likes airplanes, among other things. I have the "Small Planes" die set from Simon Says Stamp (discontinued), and thought that would be perfect for this card.

I die cut a white panel with the largest of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. Then I used one of the "Landscape Trio" dies from Mama Elephant to die cut 4 strips from that panel. I inked the top strip completely with Tumbled Glass Distress ink, then inked just the lower edge of each of the remaining strips. Finally, I glued them all to a 4.25x5.5" white cardstock panel.

After cutting a wavy banner from green cardstock, I stamped my greeting on that with Lawn Fawn's "Milo's ABC's." I heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and cut the left end in a V-shape. I die cut the larger of the 2 planes from red shimmer cardstock, & glued it directly on the background. I added foam tape under 2 points of the banner, and used liquid glue for the rest, to give it an even more "wavy" appearance. After I glued it down, I drew a line along the straight edge with a red gel pen. Then I poked 3 holes, and threaded crochet thread through, so it looks like the plane is pulling the banner. Finally, I adhered my card front panel to a white A2 card base. All I have left to do is add an inside sentiment to each card, and they will be ready to send!

Season's Greetings

Yana Smakula had a lesson on Day 7 of "Holiday Style," which focused on "Shimmer & Shine" cards. Her card used the negative of a greeting die cut in a foil patterned paper background.

My version was actually a pretty simple card to do. I began by stamping the "Wood Plank Background," from My Favorite Things, on a piece of white cardstock using Delicata Golden Glitz ink. Once that had dried, I die cut Simon Says Stamp's "Season's Greetings" from the panel. That was when the real fun began!

In Yana's card, she had had just the negative space from die cutting the greeting as the front of her card, giving it a very modern look. Because of the relatively large open spaces in the letters in my greeting, and my wanting a more "traditional" effect, I wanted to replace the inner pieces of the letters into the negative space. First, I cut a piece of gold foil cardstock to 4.25x5.5", to use as my backer panel. I applied foam tape to the back of my main panel, adding several really tiny pieces around and between the letters. That was actually one of the most time-consuming parts of making this card! When I felt I had covered enough area to support the panel pretty completely, I removed the liner papers from the tape and adhered it to my gold foil panel.

When I'd die cut the greeting, I used a dryer sheet on the back of the panel, so the die cut pieces would stick to it, and I wouldn't lose any of them. I carefully peeled each piece up, and used my 2-way glue pen and tweezers to glue them all in place on the foil panel. The only piece I lost was from the middle "s" in "season's." No problem, though. I just trimmed the apostrophe piece (which I didn't need for this) to the approximate shape, and glued it in place! I will admit, the smallest pieces were not easy to maneuver into place and adhere without getting glue all over. But I think it was worth it in the end. All that I had left at that point to do was mount the card front to a white A2 card base. This will be going into my collection of holiday cards for my mom & me to send out this year.

Merry Christmas Snowflakes

The theme of Day 1 of "Holiday Style" was "Clean & Simple" cards. Debby Hughes' card in that day's lessons inspired this one.

Debby used a snowflake border die from Simon Says Stamp, that I don't have. So I decided to improvise. I first cut my white panel with one of the "Landscape Trio" dies from Mama Elephant, to create a curved edge along the top. I also die cut 4 snowflakes, using one die each from Spellbinders' "2013 Snowflake Pendant" (discontinued) and "Banner and Trees" sets. I coated each snowflake in Versamark ink, and heat embossed them with Ranger Silver embossing powder. I did this one more time for all 4 snowflakes, to get a nice smooth coverage. I also inked the curved edge of my panel with Versamark, and heat embossed that with silver.

For the greeting, I used one from Lawn Fawn's "Peace Joy Love" set. I used my MISTI tool to help me position the stamp so it followed the curve on my panel, then stamped and heat embossed the greeting.

I used a few snowflake stamps from Hero Arts' "Joy Snowman" stamp/die set (discontinued) to stamp a panel I'd cut from 140 lb. watercolor paper, then heat embossed those with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. When that had cooled, I wet the entire panel, then dropped in diluted Blueprint Sketch & Pine Needles Distress inks. After I'd blended the colors, while everything was still wet, I sprinkled on coarse sea salt, to create a mottled background. I dried the panel with my heat tool, and then brushed the salt off. I also flicked Heidi Swapp Tinsel and White Linen Dylusions mists onto the panel. Finally, it was time to assemble my card.

I glued my die cut snowflakes to the back of my white panel, so they peek out over the edge. Debby had mounted her panel with foam tape, but I didn't want to risk the snowflakes getting bent as the card goes through the mail. So I adhered my panel to the background with a combination of ATG adhesive for the lower part and liquid glue for the snowflakes. I then mounted my card front to a white A2 card base. All I have to do now is add an inside sentiment, and this card is ready to go!

I'm entering this card in Live Love Cards' November challenge: "Snowflakes."

Happy Christmas

Online Card Classes "Holiday Style" is wrapping up this week. :( It's been a fun class, as always, with LOTS of inspiration! This card was inspired by one Shari Carroll did on Day 11.

I die cut a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with one of the tag dies from My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" set. I then stamped one of Hero Arts' "Christmas Crystals" on that in Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I added the chain & little bow in the same way. Then I took clear water and painted over the ornament, and dropped in diluted Distress inks in Evergreen Bough & Pine Needles. I ended up not liking the way it looked, with the color just around the ornament, so I sprayed the whole tag with water and added color again, taking it out to the edges. Then I set that aside to air dry.

I die cut another tag from a shimmer vellum, and the larger tag from pink patterned paper from BoBunny. I actually cut the vellum tag only partially, by leaving the top of the die hanging outside my cutting plates. Then I took my scissors and finished cutting to the top of the piece, to give me a longer tag. I adhered my vellum tag to the pink, and layered my focal tag over the vellum.

For my greeting, I stamped "happy Christmas" using 2 of the stamps from Simon Says Stamp's "Christmas" mini set. I then heat embossed that in Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder, and cut it into a banner. I cut another banner strip from the same pink paper as I'd used for the tag, and layered that behind the white greeting strip.

To assemble my card, I cut a piece of pale blue cardstock for the background. I adhered my tag to that, and mounted the greeting over the top of the tag with foam tape. Finally, I adhered the card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Christmas" challenge.

Merry Christmas

The final day of "regular" lessons in "Holiday Style" was on using one stamp set, 5 ways. Five different designers used the same stamp set to create cards with different looks. Jennifer McGuire made two shimmery cards, using a foiled stamped image on vellum and a dry-embossed background. I took the inspiration for this card from her general design.

I began by embossing a 4x5.5" piece of silver foil cardstock with the "Snowflake Swirl" embossing folder by Darice. I also stamped my image (source unknown) on a piece of white cardstock, and heat embossed it with the Color Blend Verdigris embossing powder by Wow. I die cut that with a Spellbinders "Standard Circles SM" die, and trimmed off one side Then I glued that to my embossed panel.

I had used the "Merry Christmas" die from Simon Says Stamp to die cut the greeting from white cardstock a few days ago. I intended to use it on another card that never did work out. So I figured it would be perfect for this card. I colored the die cuts with Peacock Feathers Distress ink, so the words would stand out from the background. I ran them through my Xyron Sticker Maker, and adhered them to my panel. I inked the sides of a white A2 card base with Peacock Feathers, and finally adhered my main panel to that. I will be sending this card to the parents of a child with cancer, as part of Jennifer's "card shower."

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Christmas" challenge.

Very Merry Christmas

Michelle Short had a lesson on Day 9 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style," on doing "Soft Tone-on-Tone" cards. While I didn't have the die she used for her card, I was able to do something similar on mine.

I began by die cutting my tree from silver foil paper, using one of Spellbinders' "Banner and Trees" dies. I also die cut a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with the largest of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. After deciding where I wanted my tree on the panel, I stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Very Merry Christmas" set, in Versamark ink. I then heat embossed it with Ranger Silver embossing powder, to coordinate with the silver tree.

I replaced my tree on the panel, without adhering it, and made little pencil tic marks around it, so I would know where to paint. Then I brushed clear water over the area inside those marks, and dropped in diluted Peacock Feathers Distress ink. Once I had that blended out, I dried it with my heat tool. (Yes, I'm impatient like that! LOL) I went over it with a little more Peacock Feathers, and also dropped some Cracked Pistachio Distress ink into the wet Peacock Feathers layer. I dried it with my heat tool again, and repeated the process one more time, focusing more of the color towards the center of my shape, and fading it out to white around the edges.

After drying the panel once more with my heat tool, I adhered the tree, which I'd run through my Xyron Creative Station, on to my panel. All I had to do then was adhere the panel to a white A2 card base. I am sending this card to the parents of the little girl I created this card for, as part of Jennifer McGuire's "card shower."

I'm entering my card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "Christmas."

Merry Christmas, Xander!

This is another card for Jennifer McGuire's "card shower." This one is for a little boy, Xander, who has also been battling cancer, and is now under hospice care. It's a bit unconventional, with no Christmas tree, no ornaments, no reindeer, no Santa. But 2 of Xander's loves are paintball and baseball, so that provided the inspiration for my card. The layout came from the sketches My Favorite Things provides for their "Blueprints 15" set, which I used for my die cutting.

I first die cut the larger white panel. I used paint daubers in Twisted Citron and Gold to create my splats. (My original idea was to use red & green, but I don't have a red dauber, and I figured it might end up making mud anyway, since they are complementary colors.) After I got the paint started in the dauber, I sprayed the end lightly with water, then pounced it on my cardstock. I repeated this a few times with each color. I figure that's about as close to paintball splats as I can get! Then I set my panel aside to air dry.

I cut another, smaller white panel for my greeting, and inked the edges with Mowed Lawn Distress ink, for a bit of contrast. I didn't have any holiday greeting stamps that had an appropriate font for this card, though. So I scanned the panel into my computer, and opened that image in Photoshop. I used an old Creating Keepsakes font (with a baseball "theme") for my greeting. After I got the type sized & formatted in Photoshop (using the image of my scanned panel as a guide), I printed it directly on my panel. Then I adhered that panel to my "paintball" splat panel.

I cut a piece of red cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and embossed it with the "Charles" embossing folder by Cricut. Then I stitched around the perimeter twice with black thread on my sewing machine. This provides more contrast, and helps tie in with the black font in the greeting. I actually channeled my inner May Flaum, making the stitched lines wavy. That's really not as easy as doing just a straight line, either! :)

For more gold accents on my card, I painted a scrap of white cardstock with the gold dauber, and die cut the star & banner end (also from "Blueprints 15") from that. I also die cut a stitched circle from a scrap of Strathmore smooth bristol, and inked it with Mowed Lawn. Then I glued the star on that.

Because of the texture on my background from the embossing, I decided to use liquid glue to adhere my main panel. I also glued the gold banner piece so that it peeked out from under the focal panel, and glued the star/circle piece on. I weighed all that down with my two pencil cups on top of acrylic blocks until the glue dried. Finally, I adhered my front panel to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Christmas"
Through the Craft Room Door "Anything Goes"

Holiday Style--Shape Stamping

On Day 3 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style," May Park had a lesson on "Classic Shape Stamping." I created my card based on her lesson.

I first drew a triangle on a 4.25x5.5" panel of white cardstock. Then I used several small stamps from various sets (Hero Arts "Joy Snowman," Lawn Fawn "Peace Joy Love," Clearly Besotted "Holiday Sentiments," and one that I don't know the name of) to fill it in. The inks I used were Hero Arts Butter Bar, Red Royal, & Green Hills. Once I had all my images stamped, I used the smallest dot stamp from "Bokeh Dots" (Essentials by Ellen) to fill in any blank spots. Then I heat embossed those dots with Ranger Gold embossing powder.

For the greeting, I chose one from Hero Arts "Very Merry Christmas" set. I placed my card in my MISTI, and positioned my greeting stamp. I masked off the bottom portion, and inked the top with Green Hills, then removed my masking tape and stamped the first part. I cleaned my stamp (which I realized afterwards was really unnecessary in this case), and masked off the top. I used Red Royal on the "Holiday Season" part, and stamped that.

I punched a star from white cardstock that I'd covered in Stick It adhesive, using a punch from The Paper Studio. I then coated it in gold glitter, and glued it to the top of the tree. I applied 1/8" wide strips of Scor-Tape to either side of my panel, and covered them in the same gold glitter. Finally, I mounted my panel to a white A2 card base.

Be Merry

Jennifer McGuire is having a "card shower" for two children who have cancer. I made this card for one of those children, Emily, who is 6 years old now. One of her "likes" that Jennifer listed is animals. So I hope this holiday card with a reindeer will make her smile!

I used a piece of patterned paper from The Paper Studio's "Woodland Wonderland" 6x6" pad for my focal image. I laid my Spellbinders "Grand Circles" Nestabilities die over the image, with part of the die hanging off the bottom & right edges. I ran that through my die cutting machine, then adhered the panel to a piece of red cardstock that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5".

For the greeting, I used a stamp from Lawn Fawn's "Peace Joy Love" set. I used my MISTI to help me position it so it went around the curve of my panel, and stamped it in Versamark ink. I then had to reposition the stamp, since it wasn't long enough to reach around the entire curve, and stamp part of it again. Then I sprinkled on Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and melted that with my heat tool. I mounted my panel to a white A2 card base, and rounded the top left corner with the 1/2" side of my Corner Chomper.

The reindeer's nose is brown as is, and I decided I just had to make this Rudolph. Unfortunately, my only red gems were either too small or too large. But I found a clear gem that was just the right size, so I colored it with Cranberry alcohol ink. When that had dried, I glued it in place with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

I'm entering this card in Merry Monday Challenge Blog's challenge #180: "Use a Reindeer."

Cool Yule

I am very happy to be a Guest Designer over at Send a Smile 4 Kids for their "Anything Goes 4 Kids" challenge this week! We have three very generous sponsors: Crackerbox Palace is giving one winner 3 digis; All Dressed Up Stamps will award 2 digis; and Sassy Studios will give 4 digis.

For my card, I used a digital image ("Cool Deer") & greeting ("Cool Yule") from Crackerbox Palace. I opened both in Photoshop, and used them to create a mock up design of my card, using Sketch #98 from Operation Write Home:

 Once I had them sized correctly, I printed both onto scraps of 140 lb. watercolor paper.

I colored the reindeer with Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to blend and shade the colors. I also painted the background with some watered-down Broken China Distress ink. Once my piece had dried, I did a little "outside the box" die cutting. I laid my Spellbinders "Standard Circles SM" die over my image, then marked where the inside of the die crossed the antlers & arm of my reindeer. I used my scissors to fussy cut in along the antlers & arm to those marks. Then I positioned my die again, slipping it under the antlers & arm, so they would not get cut by the die. I ran it through my die cutting machine, and trimmed off a little excess paper around the antlers & arm, where I hadn't cut enough. Then I went along the edges of those elements with a black brush tip pen, to make the fussy cutting look neater. Finally, I added a little Glossy Accents to the lenses in his glasses, for a bit more coolness.

I cut 2 squares of patterned papers from my scrap stash, and adhered them and the greeting panel to a piece of kraft cardstock that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5". I glued down the reindeer image, and rounded the top right corner with the 1/2" side of my Corner Chomper, just to soften that corner & add a bit of balance. All that was left was to adhere it to my white A2 card base, and add a little shine mark to his nose with my white gel pen. I will be sending this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

Merry and Bright

I've been participating in Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style" this week. The theme for Day 5 was Cute & Whimsical cards. Laura Bassen had a lesson on using masking to create a scene with cute critters on a one-layer card. I based my card idea on hers.

I used Mama Elephant's "Arctic Penguins" stamp set, with the coordinating greeting set, "Jolly and Merry." I began with my penguins, doing the one on the left first. I stamped the hat on my A2 card base, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then masked that and stamped the penguin. By masking the hat, it makes it look like it's right on top of the penguin's head. I stamped the middle penguin, and then the Santa hat for the right hand penguin. I masked that hat, and stamped the penguin, then masked him and stamped the present he's holding. I then stamped the greeting, again using Tuxedo Black.

Leaving the masks in place, I die cut another piece of masking paper with one of the "Snow Drifts" dies, from My Favorite Things. I adhered that to my card, then inked the sky with Faded Jeans & Salty Ocean Distress inks. Before I removed my masks, I taped the "Falling Snow" stencil from Simon Says Stamp over my card. I smeared Golden Light Molding Paste over the stencil. When I had the coverage I wanted, I carefully removed my stencil, and scraped the dots of paste off that were covering the greeting. I sprinkled Ranger Holographic embossing powder over the wet paste, removed my masks, and let the snowflakes dry. After the paste had dried, I used my heat tool to melt the embossing powder. This gave it dimension & a bit of sparkle.

Because of the "sketchy" nature of the penguin stamps, I decided to color them with colored pencils. I used the brightest colors on the hats, skates, & present. I also added a little light grey to the white areas on the penguins, just for a bit of shading. Finally, I colored the "ice" area with a pale blue pencil, and this card was done! I'm sending this card along for the Caring Hearts Card Drive, to go to a resident in a nursing home.

Holiday Shimmer & Shine

Day 7 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style" class was all about adding glitz & glam to your cards. Carissa Wiley had a lesson on accentuating die cuts with glitter & foil.

I ended up getting a bit carried away, and made 6 different cards. I used the "Seasonal Sentiments" dies by WPlus9 for the word die cuts on all my cards. I also used one of the "Sprigs" dies by Spellbinders for the green flourishes.

I first die cut all my greeting words from Strathmore smooth bristol cardstock. I taped them on the back, to keep them in the surrounding cardstock while I inked them. I used Abandoned Coral, Barn Door, & a bit of Fired Brick Distress inks for an ombre look on the red words; and Evergreen Bough & Pine Needles Distress inks for the green. I also die cut the "joy" out of gold glitter paper and black cardstock, cutting the heart from the "o." I glued the glitter die cut to the black, slightly offset, to give a shadow appearance.

On my second card, once the Distress ink had dried, I used a makeup sponge to apply Versamark ink to the lower part of the die cut word. I then sprinkled on Stampendous Jeweled Gold embossing powder, and melted that with my heat tool, giving a glittery gold "dipped" look to the die cut. I stamped the other parts of the greeting, using Clearly Besotted's "Holiday Sentiments" set, onto burgundy cardstock. I then heat embossed that with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and cut the greeting into strips. I cut the ends into a V-shape. I then glued all the elements to my panel, which I'd cut to 4x5.25". I matted that with a piece of black cut slightly larger, then mounted that to a white A2 card base.

I followed the same basic procedure for my other cards. For the 2 that I foiled the die cuts, I applied the Versamark with the makeup sponge, then heat embossed them with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder. Then I ran those through my Heidi Swapp Minc Mini machine with Rose Gold foil. The Minc re-melted the embossing powder, fusing the foil to the cardstock.

Detail of foiling

For the green die cut words, I applied Versamark to the die cuts, then heat embossed them with Ranger Silver embossing tinsel. I stamped the "wishing you" from Simon Says Stamp's "Christmas" mini stamp set onto a strip of dark green cardstock, and cut it into a banner.

I did the same procedure for my next card, just substituting the greeting from WPlus9's "Pretty Patches: Christmas" stamp set for my banner.

Three of these cards will be going in my package to the Caring Hearts Card Drive. My mom & I will use the other 3 for our own holiday cards this year.

Holiday Style--Day 7

On Day 7 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style," Kristina Werner had a lesson using glitter embossing paste and stencils. I don't have glitter embossing paste. In fact, I don't have "real" embossing paste at all. But I didn't let that stop me from creating 2 cards based on her lesson!

For my first card, I used Hero Arts' "Repeating Loops" stencil. I taped it in place over a panel of navy cardstock, and spread Liquitex Gloss Super Heavy Gel medium over the stencil. Once I had even coverage, I removed the stencil and cleaned that & my palette knife. Then I sprinkled on Ranger Silver embossing tinsel, which stuck to the wet medium. After that dried, I melted the embossing tinsel with my heat tool.

I die cut 2 snowflakes from white cardstock using dies from Spellbinders' "2013 Snowflake Pendant" set (discontinued). I also die cut my greeting, using the "Season's Greetings" die from Simon Says Stamp. I cut a panel of light blue cardstock to just under 2" high, and glued my greeting onto that with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I made sure not to glue down the descenders on the "g's" in "greetings." I stretched a piece of crochet thread across the bottom of the panel, under each "g," and taped the ends to the back. Then I tied another piece of thread in a bow around the first piece. Finally, I glued the rest of my greeting down over the thread.

I adhered my greeting panel with foam tape to the background. After cutting my snowflakes in half, I glued them down to the background, so they look like they are coming out from behind the panel. I punched 3 more snowflakes using an old EK Success punch, and glued them on the background. Finally, I mounted my card front to a white A2 card base.

I created my second card just like the first. I used Tim Holtz's "Holiday Knit" stencil for the background, with the same gel medium & embossing tinsel. Because the stencil was narrower than my 4" wide panel, after I'd melted the embossing tinsel, I used a silver Uni-Ball Signo pen to draw dashed lines along the sides of the design. I feel this gives it a more finished, "grounded" look.

I used the "Christmas Blessings" dies from Simon Says Stamp for my greeting. I cut my greeting panel slightly taller than in the first card, so the whole greeting would be glued to it, rather than hanging off the top. I glued my greeting with Multi Medium Matte. I had to use a white gel pen for the dot on the "i" in Christmas, since that had disappeared out of the die!  But I don't think anyone will really notice. :) I used the other half of my large snowflake from the first card. I punched 3 more snowflakes and glued 2 to the background, adhering the remaining one to the greeting panel. And that finished these 2 cards, which I will send in my package to the Caring Hearts Card Drive.

I'm entering my second card in Virginia's View Challenge #20: "Texture."

Hippo Birdie to You!

Ellen Hutson's current challenge at The CLASSroom is a "Mix It Up" challenge with Mama Elephant. The idea is to combine one or more products from Mama Elephant & the Essentials by Ellen line in a project. I decided to make this shaker card for one of my mom's assistants, whose birthday is next month.

I die cut a frame from a piece of paper from Echo Park's "Fine & Dandy" 6x6" patterned paper pad, using 2 Simon Says Stamp "Stitched Rectangles" dies. I also used the larger die to cut a piece of pink cardstock, and a piece of acetate. I adhered the acetate to the back of my frame with my ATG gun. For the backer piece, I used one of the "On Point Borders" stamps by Mama Elephant, to stamp a pattern on the pink cardstock panel, with Hero Arts Bubble Gum ink.

For the front of the card, I stamped the hippo, birdie, hat, and one of the balloons from "Wish Big," from Essentials by Ellen. I colored them with my Zig Clean Color pens, and fussy cut them out. To "regain" the hippo's tail, I stamped the tail & part of his rump on my frame. I also stamped the bird's feet on the hippo's back, since I'd had to cut his feet off, too. (I promise, neither one screamed! LOL)

To assemble my shaker, I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to glue a few sequins to the backer piece, just so everything won't be in the bottom of the shaker when the card is stood up. I added 2 layers of foam tape to the back of the frame, making sure to butt them up closely, so none of the sequins or seed beads would fall out. After treating the acetate & edges of the foam tape with my powder bag, to cut down on static cling & neutralize the adhesive on the sides, I filled my shaker with a mix of sequins by Doodlebug Design & some seed beads from my stash. Since I've tended in the past to overfill my shakers, I purposely restrained myself from doing so this time. In the end, I think I could have put a little more in, but it still works. Finally, I carefully removed the liner papers from the foam tape, and adhered my backer piece to that.

I used Perfect Paper Adhesive to glue my images to the front of the shaker. I made a pompom for the hat from some embroidery floss, and glued it down with a dollop of Ranger Multi Medium Matte. I also used Multi Medium to glue a piece of baker's twine so the birdie looks like he's holding the balloon. Then I set that aside to dry while I did the greeting.

I die cut a piece of pink cardstock using one of the new "Mini Tags" dies from Pretty Pink Posh. I had already cut the "Hippo Birdie to You!" greeting (also from "Wish Big") apart for a previous card, so I just lined the stamps up, one on top of another, on my acrylic block. I then stamped the greeting on my tag in Versafine Onyx Black ink.

After the glue had dried on my pompom & balloon string, I used more Perfect Paper Adhesive to adhere the greeting tag. I cut a piece of yellow cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and mounted that to a white A2 card base, then adhered my shaker to that. And that finished this card! When my mom "commissioned" this card, she told me that her assistant likes shaker cards, so hopefully she'll get a kick out of this!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door "Anything Goes"
Pile It On #95: "Any Holiday/Celebration"

Merry Christmas

Kathy Racoosin had a lesson on Day 3 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style" titled "Elegant Mixed Metals." I created this card, inspired by hers.

I die cut a piece of pale grey cardstock with one of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. To create my patterned background, I stamped it with the poinsettia & holly leaf from "Mistletoe & Holly" from Essentials by Ellen, and one of the stamps from WPlus9's "Spring Blooms" set (berries). I used Tsukineko Brilliance Galaxy Gold for the poinsettia blooms, Platinum Planet for the leaves, and Cosmic Copper for the berries. Then I set that aside to dry.

For the greeting portion, I die cut the "merry" from Simon Says Stamp's "Merry Christmas" die from white cardstock, and coated it with Galaxy Gold ink. I also cut a piece of vellum, and stamped the "Christmas" from the "Christmas" mini set, also by Simon Says Stamp, in Cosmic Copper. I wrapped the vellum strip around my die cut panel, and adhered the flaps of that on the back of the panel. When the ink on my "Merry" die cut had dried, I glued that down with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

I cut another piece of white cardstock (1/2" larger in both directions than my main panel), and inked around the sides with Cosmic Copper. When that dried, I adhered my die cut panel to that. I inked yet another piece of white cardstock with Hickory Smoke & Shaded Lilac--blending the colors together to create a warm grey--to create my outermost mat. When that had dried, I adhered my matted panel to that. Finally, I mounted my card front to a white A2 card base.

Gingerbread Joy

This is the second card I've made inspired by Laurie Willison's lesson on Day 1 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style." This time, rather than do a diagonal, I masked just a horizontal line towards the bottom of the card. I then blended Distress inks in Abandoned Coral & Festive Berries to create a subtle ombre look. I scored a line at the top of that section, and then every 1/2" up to the top of the panel.

For the gingerbread man (stamp source unknown), I used Ranger Archival Coffee ink to stamp him on a scrap of Strathmore smooth bristol paper. I then colored him in with 2 different colors of brown Zig Clean Color pens. I made sure to keep my darker shading just around the edges, to simulate the toasty edges cookies can get when they are baked. I used a white gel pen for the "icing" on the hands & legs, the mouth, and buttons; and a black gel pen for the eyes. I finished him by fussy cutting him and gluing him to my card panel.

I die cut Lawn Fawn's "Scripty Joy" from some green cardstock for my greeting. I added dots of glue to the back of the word with my Zig 2-way glue pen, and adhered it in place, adding the dot for the "j" with more glue. Finally, I mounted my panel to a white A2 card base. I will be sending this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids, to brighten the holiday for a hospitalized child.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges;

Send a Smile 4 Kids "Happy Holidays 4 Kids"
Pile It On #95: "Any Holiday/Celebration"
Virginia's View Challenge #20: "Texture" (used dry embossed lines on panel)

Chickadee Holiday Card

Our Daily Bread Designs' challenge this week has been a sketch challenge. They posted this sketch, to use as the basis for a card design:

I took a pretty literal approach, but inked the edges of the panels instead of matting them.

While my design inspiration came from the sketch, my focal image treatment was inspired by Kristina Werner's lesson on Day 3 of "Holiday Style," Online Card Classes' current offering. I stamped the "Chickadee" from Our Daily Bread Designs on a piece of white cardstock that I'd die cut using a "Scalloped Square" die by DoCrafts. I used Ranger Archival ink in the color Coffee. I then colored the berries with a Carmine Red Zig Clean Color pen. I actually should have waited to do that, because when I inked over the panel with Antique Linen Distress ink, the red ran just a smidge. I was careful, though, so it wasn't too bad. After I'd inked around the image with the Antique Linen, I went in with Walnut Stain Distress ink, and blended in just a little from the edges. Then I went back with my Antique Linen blender, without adding more ink, just to get a smoother blend. I also added shading to the image by painting on Walnut Stain, that I'd diluted slightly with water, in areas of the image. I really like the aged, antique-y look this gives!

For the patterned paper layers, I used one from Authentique's "Believe" 6x6" paper pad, and another from the "Christmas Candyland" 8.5x11" pad from The Paper Studio. I did ink over the latter with Antique Linen, after cutting it to size, just to make it blend in with the rest of the card. I also used a green plaid from "Christmas Candyland" for my background. After inking the edges of my smaller layers with Walnut Stain, I adhered them to the background.

I cut a thin strip of the "B" side of the red patterned paper, and punched one long edge with the "Scalloped Sentiment" border punch by Fiskars. I inked around the edges with Walnut Stain, to hide the white core, and glued it in place. I then adhered my focal panel to the background.

I created a "faux" bow, following this tutorial, using some white grosgrain ribbon I'd colored with an Espresso Adirondack paint dauber. I wished I could have used the Walnut Stain ink, but I've found that Distress inks will run, if they get wet, when you use them to stain ribbon. But the Espresso paint worked well enough.

Since I'd cut my green plaid to 4-1/8x5-3/8", I inked around the edges of my white A2 card base with Walnut Stain, so I would have a thin, brown mat. I let that dry for a couple of hours, then adhered my finished panel to the card base. I will be sending this card to the Caring Hearts Card Drive, so it will hopefully bring cheer to a resident of a nursing home!

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door's "Anything Goes" for the week of November 10
Pile It On: "Any Holiday/Celebration"

Hope for a Happy Holiday

Merry Monday Christmas Challenge blog is having a "Pink, Green, & White" challenge. This is my second card for that challenge.

My inspiration came from Laurie Willison's lesson on Day 1 of Online Card
Classes' "Holiday Style" class. The theme was clean & simple cards. I don't think you can get much cleaner & simpler than this! Because I like the insides of my cards to be "pristine," I did my work on a separate panel, that I then adhered to my A2 card base. But you could easily do this right on the card base, as Laurie demonstrated.

I masked off the lower portion of my panel at a diagonal with some low-tack painter's tape. Then I blended Cracked Pistachio & Evergreen Bough Distress inks, to create an ombre effect. I removed the tape, and scored along the top line of my inked portion. I flipped the panel over, and scored on that line again, to make the line raised on the front, then scored every 1/2".

For my snowflakes, I used 3 of the stamps from Hero Arts' "Joy Snowman" set. I stamped them in Hero Arts Bubble Gum ink on white cardstock, then cut them out with the coordinating dies. After stamping my greeting, from WPlus9's "Pretty Patches: Christmas" mini set, in Versafine Onyx Black ink on my panel, I glued down my snowflakes. Finally, I adhered my panel to my card base. Like I said, you can't get much simpler!

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door's "Anything Goes" challenge for the week of November 10
Craft Your Passion: "Anything Goes"

Merry & Bright

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having their "Stella Says Sketch" Challenge #317. The challenge, obviously, is to use their sketch for your card design:

I began by creating my background panels. I was inspired by a lesson Debby Hughes did on Day 1 of Online Card Classes' "Holiday Style" class, going on now. She used the emboss resist technique with watercoloring on one of her cards.

I stamped my snowflakes (stamp set source unknown) on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper that I'd cut to just under 3.25x4.5". I then heat embossed them with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. When that had cooled, I sprayed the panel with water, and used Distress inks in Evergreen Bough & Picked Raspberry to color the background in a watercolor style. While the inks were still wet, I sprayed the panel again with my homemade Perfect Pearls mist, to give it an all-over shimmer. Then I set that aside to air dry.

For my focal panel, I die cut a piece of Strathmore smooth bristol paper with one of the "Classic Ovals LG" dies by Spellbinders. I printed the "Snow Friends" image from Bugaboo Stamps on that, and colored it in with my Zig Clean Color pens. Finally, I inked around the perimeter with Evergreen Bough.

By now my background panel was dry. I cut it into thirds, and adhered the pieces to a white A2-size card base, with a little gap between the panels. I stamped my greeting, from Simon Says Stamp's "Christmas" set, below the right panel, and heat embossed it with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. To pop up my focal panel, I die cut a piece of craft foam with another Spellbinders oval die, and adhered it to the back of the panel with double-sided tape. I adhered the panel to my card with more double-sided tape. Finally, I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to glue 3 gems to the right side of the card.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Merry Monday Challenge #179: "Pink, Green, & White"
Catch the Bug Challenge Blog: "Anything Goes"
Live Love Cards November Challenge: "Snow/Snowflakes"