Meowy Christmas

Janis at Her Peaceful Garden has been hosting her annual Cat Lovers Hop this week. One of the options to participate is to create a cat-themed project. I created this Christmas card using the new "Christmas Tree Cat" stamp set, illustrated by Anita Jeram for Colorado Craft Company.

 

I double-stamped the image onto a panel of Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper with Simon Says Stamp's Fog ink. I wanted a no-line look, but still wanted faintly-visible lines to guide my coloring, hence my choice of ink. I used my Prismacolor pencils to color it. I colored the cat to look like our middle cat, Barney. I did have to refer to the stamp set's index sheet frequently to see what all the little bits & bobs on the tree were, so I knew how to color them.

After I finished coloring, I stamped the greeting in Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink. I chose this because it's a mid-tone cool grey, which complements the colors I used for the cat. I played around with placement a while, and finally decided to tuck it in next to the cat's head. It seems like that location was made for that greeting to nestle. Finally, I cut 2 narrow strips of red cardstock, adhered them to both sides of a white A2-size card base to frame my panel, & adhered the panel on top.

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

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Merry Christmas Penguin

 

The current Christmas Card Throwdown challenge has the theme of "Winter Sweaters." I decided to pull out an old Hunkydory Crafts, Ltd. stamp set that I got in a papercrafting magazine a couple of years ago for my card. My design is from an old Operation Write Home sketch.

I began by stenciling the panel to go behind my image panel. I used the "Holiday Knit" stencil by Tim Holtz. I figured this reinforces the "sweater" theme even more! :) After I sprayed the back of the stencil with Krylon Easy Tack, I positioned it onto my cardstock piece. I used Worn Lipstick, Faded Jeans, & Bundled Sage Distress inks over the stencil. I masked adjacent sections of the design with yellow Frog tape as I went.

To tie into the theme yet again, I used a piece of Lawn Fawn's Knit Picky 6x6" patterned paper--a freebie I received with an order--as the background of my card. I cut it to 4x5-1/2", & adhered it to a white A2-sized card base. I layered a piece of sage green cardstock from my scrap stash over that. I matted my knit-stenciled panel with a narrow black mat, and adhered that in place.

I stamped the reindeer antlers head piece first on my Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper panel, then masked it. I stamped the penguin on that panel, and stamped the sweater on another scrap of bristol. I colored the images with my Tombow markers, using the blender pen to add highlighting. Finally, I fussy cut the sweater, "painted" the edges with a black marker to hide the paper's white core, & glued it over my penguin.

I chose a greeting from the same stamp set, & stamped it in black on a strip of light blue cardstock. After I matted that in black, I added 3 Bottle Green Nuvo Crystal Drops to the one end. I let that dry overnight, before adhering that & my image panel to my card.

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

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Layer It Up"

Thanks So Very Much

 

The October Monthly Mix Challenge at Gina K Designs is "Colorblocking." I got the inspiration for the pattern on my card from this photo I found on Pinterest.

The hardest thing about this card was actually figuring out how to do the masking. I finally cut a piece of scrap cardstock to 6x4-1/2", & marked out where I wanted the bands of color. I used a metal ruler & craft knife to cut along the inner line for the outermost section, leaving me with a panel & an L-shaped piece to use as masks.

I cut another panel of white cardstock to 5-1/4x4". I taped my panel mask in place, and inked the outer band with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink. Then I covered that with my L-shaped mask, moved my panel mask 1/2" down and to the left, and inked the next section with Cracked Pistachio Oxide ink. I repeated this process, using Broken China, Evergreen Bough, Mermaid Lagoon, and finally Pine Needles Distress Oxide inks.

I chose a greeting from Gina K's "Autumn Wreath Builder" stamp set. After letting my inked panel dry for several hours, I heat embossed the greeting with Ranger White Super Fine Detail embossing powder. I also heat embossed one of the leaf images on either side of the greeting, just for a bit of decoration & to fill in the space a little more. Finally, I matted my panel with black cardstock, and added it to a white A2-sized card base.

I'm also entering this card in Creative Knockouts Challenge #372: "Embossing Delight."

Thinking of You

The theme of the October Monthly Mix challenge at Gina K Designs is "Color Blocking." I created this card for a friend of my mom's who is going through some trying times right now.

 

A photo I found on Pinterest inspired the background design. I decided to do a nearly-one-layer card, and ink the background, rather than cutting & adhering sections of cardstock. I used Distress inks in Milled Lavender, Dried Marigold, Squeezed Lemonade, Tattered Rose, Cracked Pistachio, & Tumbled Glass. (I was going for kind of a pastel rainbow vibe.) I began by penciling in guidelines on my panel, using a T-square ruler to make sure everything was straight & square. I taped off the 1" strip along the left side with one long piece of yellow Frog tape, and used more Frog tape pieces to mask off each triangle as I went along. I inked each triangle section one by one, making sure to spread my colors out so no two adjacent sections were the same color.

 

Once I finished the left column, I removed my tape and dried the ink with my heat tool. I then taped off that column to mask it. I repeated the same inking process on the wider column, taping off to mask as I went with each color.

 

I heat embossed the flower & greeting, from Gina K's "Peaceful Florals" set, with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I figured the background was too pretty to cover up, so decided not to stamp & color the flower on a separate panel. To mat my panel, I found a textured platinum metallic cardstock in my stash. I trimmed that to leave a 1/16" border on all sides, then adhered that to a white A2-sized card base.

Two Christmas Cards

 

 

 

The October Color Challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is to use blue, white, & kraft. I don't know that I would ever have thought to combine these 3 colors, but I like the way my cards came out!

 

I used the 4" Gina K Wreath Builder template, along with her "Holiday Wreath Builder" stamp set, for my first card. I stamped the flowers first, with Lawn Fawn Forget-Me-Not ink. I used Hero Arts Cornflower ink to stamp the leaves, & Lawn Fawn Blue Jay ink for the little snowflake images between the flowers. This was my first time using the Wreath Builder, and I must say, it made things very easy!

I chose a greeting from the same stamp set. I stamped the circular border image first onto a scrap of kraft cardstock, then heat embossed with Ranger White Super Fine Detail embossing powder. I then heat embossed the greeting, & die cut it with a We R Memory Keepers "Nested Circles" die.

I matted my wreath panel with kraft, trimming it to a 1/16" border on all sides. Finally, I adhered my greeting circle. I considered adding sequins or some similar embellishment, but decided against it.

For my second card, I started by stamping my background. I used images from Hero Arts' "Vintage Christmas Post" stamp set (discontinued) and Lawn Fawn's Yeti pigment ink.  I really like the subtle white stamping on the kraft panel.

 

I die cut the "Poinsettia Border" from Memory Box (discontinued) from white cardstock & a light blue glitter cardstock. I also cut the "Christmas Blessings" from Simon Says Stamp from the same glitter cardstock. I glued the frame for the poinsettia border onto my background, and inlaid the blue petals. I then glued my greeting on. In hindsight, I wish I'd stacked multiple die cuts for the greeting, or added another die cut for a shadow, but I didn't think of it in time. So, to help it stand out a bit better, I outlined the words with a white gel pen.

To finish the card, I added Blue Babe Nuvo Crystal Drops to the center of each of the tiny flowers in the poinsettia border, and White Blizzard Nuvo Glitter Drops to the berries. I trimmed my panel to 5x3-3/4", and added it to a white A2-sized card base.

Happy Hanukkah

 

Scrapbook and Cards Today magazine had a sketch challenge as part of their World Card Making Day celebration. The sketch they posted inspired the design of my card.

I needed to rotate the sketch 90 degrees for my elements to fit. I used a patterned paper cut to 5-1/2x4-1/4" as my background. I cut a piece of silver cardstock to 4-1/2x3-1/4", and cut a piece of white cardstock to the same size.

I positioned the white panel in my MISTI stamping tool, and centered the menorah stamp, from Hero Arts' "Happy Hanukkah" set, on the panel. I stamped that in Lawn Fawn's Blue Jay ink. I removed the panel and replaced it with the silver panel. I stamped the menorah on that in the same position, so I had a guide for die cutting. I repeated this process with the Star of David stamp, adding one on either side of the menorah.

I lined up my menorah & Star of David dies, from the coordinating "Happy Hanukkah Frame Cuts" die set, over the images on the silver panel, and ran that through my die cutting machine. I repeated for the other star. I laid the silver panel over the white one, just to make sure everything was lined up properly. I had to shimmy the silver panel a bit, but overall it worked fine! So I went ahead and added lots of foam tape to the back of my silver panel, and adhered it to the white. I did trim a bit the edges off the white panel after adhering, just to make sure they didn't peek out from behind the silver at all.

I stamped the greeting onto a scrap of Essentials by Ellen 40 lb. vellum, with Ranger Jet Black Archival ink. I heat set that so it wouldn't smear, then cut it into a label. I used Plus vellum adhesive to adhere either end over the menorah cutout. This is the best adhesive I've found for adhering vellum. It does show ever so slightly, but is hard to see if you're not looking for it. Finally, I adhered my focal panel to my card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Dies R Us Challenge #154: "Anything Goes with Dies Sold at Dies R Us"

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create's October Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Sending Pumpkin Hugs

 

 

The woman I send cards to for Send a Smile 4 Kids currently needs Fall cards. I made this one, inspired by the "Awesome Autumn" challenge at Lawn Fawnatics, using Sketch #SC745 from Splitcoaststampers.com as the basis for my design.

 

I thought it would be fun to have the 2 squirrels from Lawn Fawn's "Pick of the Patch" stamp set in each of the smaller circles, "looking" at the group of pumpkins in the middle. After I die cut the circles in a piece of Lawn Fawn "Knit Picky Fall" 6x6" patterned paper that I'd cut to 4x5-1/4", I lined it up over a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper cut to the same size. I traced the circle openings onto the bristol, so I would know where to stamp my images.

 

I stamped the squirrels first, & then stamped the pumpkins, masking the middle one when I stamped the right & left ones. Finally, I masked all the images, as well as the ground area in the middle circle, & inked the sky with Speckled Egg Distress ink. I placed a mask for the sky, and inked the grass with Shabby Shutters Distress ink. I removed all the masks, & colored my images with Tombow markers.

 

I used a "Sending Hugs" greeting stamp that I'd gotten as a freebie with an order from Lawn Fawn. The stamp is straight, but I was able to curve it on my MISTI tool to match the curve of the larger circle window. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink to stamp it.

I chose a tan cardstock for the mat on my card, & adhered that to a white A2-sized card base. I cut down the bristol panel slightly, just so the edges wouldn't peek out from behind the patterned paper. I added double-sided tape to the back of the bristol panel, and removed the liner paper only part of the way.

 

To position my bristol & patterned paper layers correctly, I taped the bristol to the back of my patterned paper with 2 pieces of painter's tape. I made sure the tape didn't attach to the double-sided adhesive I'd put on the bristol. I positioned the panels on my card, & when they were placed correctly, I pressed down where the double-sided tape adhesive was exposed. I carefully removed the painter's tape, removed the rest of the liner paper, & adhered the bristol panel completely. I added LOTS of foam tape to the back of my patterned paper, & adhered that in place over the bristol layer.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #370: "Fall"

Sending Hugs

 

 

 The current Lawn Fawnatics challenge theme is "Awesome Autumn." I created this CAS Autumn card to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

I used Sketch #SC726 from Splitcoaststampers.com as the basis for my design. I used one of the "Stitched Leaves" dies from Lawn Fawn to cut a leaf from a plaid paper, also from Lawn Fawn. I glued that to a kraft cardstock circle.

I cut 4 strips of paper from some 6x6" patterned papers that I'd received from Lawn Fawn as a freebie with an order. I adhered them to a cream cardstock panel, as per the sketch, and glued my leaf circle over the intersection. I used a "Sending Hugs" greeting, another freebie from Lawn Fawn, & stamped that in Lawn Fawn's Sage Leaf ink. I adhered my card front to a white A2-sized card base, and that finished this quick & easy card.