Two Christmas Cards

This month's theme at a2z Scrapbooking's challenge blog is "Holidays." This is actually the last challenge they are hosting, as they are sadly closing their store & closing down the challenge blog. I created 2 cards for this challenge.

I used Sketch #SC672 at Splitcoaststampers.com for the design of my first card. I thought the partial circle at the bottom of the sketch would make a good moon for my deer, from Hero Arts' "Deck the Halls" stamp set (discontinued). I wanted to make the card one layer, though, so I had to do quite a bit of masking.

I cut an A2 size panel of Strathmore Mixed Media paper for my card front. I actually tried this on a lightweight white cardstock first, but the paper peeled when I took up my masks, probably from too much moisture in the paper after inking. The mixed media paper is 140 lb. and smooth, so I got much better results. I also cut a piece of masking paper to 4.25" wide by about 5". (I made it a little shorter than my panel just because I didn't need it any bigger.) I used an old My Favorite Things "Snow Drifts" die to cut a hill from the bottom of the masking paper, and then used a circle die to cut the "moon" portion.

I adhered the hill mask to my panel, and used that to help me position the moon & sky masks. Then I removed the hill mask, and inked up the bottom part of the panel with Black Soot Distress ink. I replaced that mask, and removed the sky mask. I used Scattered Straw Distress ink at the horizon to look like the sun's final glow illuminating the moon; and Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, & Black Soot Distress inks for the upper part of the sky. Before removing the masks from the hill & moon, I spattered Light Gold watercolor from the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set over my sky. I dried that with my heat tool, and moved on to the moon.

After I replaced the sky mask, I removed just the moon mask. I inked up that area with Scattered Straw Distress Oxide ink, and then inked over it with Lawn Fawn Yeti white pigment ink to lighten it. Finally, I removed the sky & hill masks to reveal my scene.

I stamped the 2 deer with Black Soot Distress Oxide ink. I didn't want to use a dye ink, since it would let the moon show through the deer. By using the Distress Oxide, which has pigment ink in it, my stamping remained opaque. I used my MISTI stamp positioning tool to stamp the deer, so I could make multiple impressions and get a good dark image. Finally, I used a black pen to color in the eyes, ears, & the spots on the fawn, so they were true silhouettes.

I stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Joy to the World," in Black Soot Oxide ink. I again used my MISTI, and curved the greeting to fit the contour of the moon. I had to stamp it twice, to get a good dark impression. And that finished my first card.

My next card was super easy. I used Sketch #SC586 for my design, changing the 3 upper rectangles into tags. I created the tags from some holiday paper that was in my scrap stash. For the "trees," I stamped the image from "Joy to the World" 3 times onto Canson XL Mixed Media paper with Versamark ink. I heat embossed them with Ranger Silver embossing powder. I inked each with Twisted Citron Distress ink, giving them an ombre effect by adding more ink at the bottom. Finally, I fussy cut them out.

I glued on 1/4" wide strips of Neenah Rosa textured cardstock to the bottom of the tags, to "ground" the trees. I glued my trees to the tags, then stamped the larger solid star from "Joy to the World" on each tree, & heat embossed those with silver as well.

I stamped & heat embossed the greeting, from Hero Arts "Very Merry Christmas" (discontinued), on another strip of the same Rosa cardstock. I adhered that to a 5.25x4" panel of pale yellow cardstock, and glued my 3 tags above it. Finally, I adhered that to a lime green mat that I'd mounted to a white A2 size card base.

I'm also entering these cards in the following challenges:

A Blog Named Hero: "Nature" (first card only)
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes" (second card only)
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes" (first card only)
Repeat Impressions: "Anything Goes" (both cards)