Season's Greetings

 

The current Dies R Us Challenge is "Christmas." I used the "Angle Approach" Cut-Fold-Tuck die from Spellbinders (discontinued) for this card. This card I saw on Pinterest inspired the basic design of my card.

I die cut the main element from a piece of green Die Cuts with a View Flip Side cardstock. This has a light color on one side & a darker shade of the same color on the other. I carefully removed the cardstock from the die, and folded back the pieces around the perimeter. I also folded up the center circle bits to give them some lift.

I glued the die cut centered towards the top of a 4x5-1/4" piece of navy cardstock. I had a scrap piece of white cardstock left over from another card, that I'd embossed with the "Plaid" embossing folder from Sizzix & Tim Holtz. I decided to use that behind my greeting.

I wanted to heat emboss my greeting, from Simon Says Stamp's "Holiday Greetings Mix 1" stamp set, onto the same navy cardstock as I'd used for the background. But, I didn't want to cut into another, larger piece of navy. So I cut off a little over an inch from the bottom of my panel, heat embossed my greeting a little higher than center, and carefully trimmed the greeting out. I adhered the negative strip to my card base, butted up against the bottom edge of the upper background panel. I adhered my white cardstock strip, which covered the seam between the 2 navy pieces, and glued my greeting on top of that.

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

 

Die Cut Divas December Challenge: "Anything Goes"

613 Avenue Create December Challenge: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Holiday Tags

 This is a slightly different post from me, since I'm not writing about a card. Instead, I'm sharing 6 holiday tags I made for the 10th annual "25 Tags of Christmas" challenges.

 

 

Tracy McNeely's tag on Day 26 inspired my first tag. I didn't have the same dies she used, but I have Sunny Studio's "Merry Sentiments" stamp set & coordinating die, which I figured is a good substitute. I first die cut 3 bulbs, keeping the negative cardstock as a stamping template for my MISTI stamp positioning tool. I put tape behind one of the die cut openings, sticky side facing up, & stuck one light bulb into that spot. I positioned the most solid stamp, and picked it up with the MISTI door. I used Lawn Fawn Jalapeno, Memento Lady Bug, & Hero Arts Tide Pool inks for this lightest layer. For the darker layer, I used Memento Cottage Ivy, Love Letter, & My Favorite Things Blu Raspberry inks. I stamped the base of each bulb with Memento London Fog & Gray Flannel, and silver heat embossed the filaments.

I die cut my tag with a Scrapbook.com "Nested Tags" die from Strathmore Mixed Media paper, and cut another from plain white cardstock as a backer. I inked the main tag with Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord, Blueprint Sketch, & Chipped Sapphire Distress inks, and added a bit of Black Soot Distress ink around the edges for some drama. I spattered the tag with silver pearlescent watercolor. I glued on my bulbs, & used a silver paint pen to draw in the "cord." After I adhered the tag to the backer, I used metallic silver embroidery floss to tie on 3 small silver jingle bells at the top.

 

My second tag was inspired by Carol Mayne's penguin tags on Day 1. I printed Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Festive Penguin" digital image onto a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper, and painted it with my watercolors. I die cut it with a scalloped circle die, & used another die 2 sizes larger to cut 2 green scalloped circles. I glued the green circles together for greater stability, & then glued the image circle on top. I punched a hole with a 1/8" hole punch, and threaded through a length of baker's twine.

 

 The inspiration for my 3rd tag came from Ardyth Percy-Robb's tag on Day 3. I die cut the poinsettia bract & leaf pieces from red & green cardstock scraps with the Poppystamps "Blooming Poinsettia" dies. I used Aged Mahogany & Pine Needles Distress inks on finger sponge daubers to add shading to the pieces. After curling the petals & leaves by running them over my bone folder, I adhered the center of the smaller flower layer to the larger with a tiny glue dot. I used more glue dots to adhere the leaves to the flower.

I embossed a white die cut tag with one of the "Bloom" embossing folders (discontinued) from Lifestyle Crafts, and glued my flower to that. I added red organza ribbon, & tied it with metallic embroidery floss. Finally, I glued some gold sequins in the center of the poinsettia for some bling.

Kim Heggins' tag on Day 1 inspired my 4th tag. I printed the "Winter Birds Trio" digital image (discontinued) from Bugaboo Stamps onto a 1-1/2"-tall strip of Canson XL watercolor paper, and painted it with my watercolors. I die cut a tag from a patterned paper from my scrap stash, & another from mint cardstock to go on the back. After adhering them back-to-back, I die cut the bottom with one of the "Stitched Borders 3" dies from Pretty Pink Posh. I then adhered my image panel with ATG tape. I stamped the greeting, from Lawn Fawn's "Winter Sparrows" set, onto the same mint cardstock, & added that under my image panel. I decided the image panel blended in to the background at the top too much, so I added another strip of mint above it. I threaded some cream satin ribbon through the top hole, and that finished this tag.

 

This tag's inspiration came from Carol Mayne's elegant creations on Day 4. I heat embossed the Essentials by Ellen "Mondo Poinsettia" (discontinued) in gold on white cardstock, and cut it out with the coordinating die. I heat embossed my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Color Layering Christmas Tree" stamp set, with the same gold onto a panel of burgundy cardstock. I matted that with a gold foil patterned paper from my scrap stash, that I had backed with white cardstock for more stability. Finally, I glued on my poinsettia.

For my 6th & final tag, I used Karen Bull's tag on Day 13 for my inspiration. I stamped the truck & presents from Stampendous' "Truck Tidings" (discontinued) onto Canson XL watercolor paper. After I painted the images with watercolors, I cut them out with the coordinating dies. Because the truck die also cuts out the side window, before I removed the paper from the die, I added double-sided tape behind the window to keep it attached to the truck body. I used the same tape to adhere the presents "into" the truck bed.

I die cut an oval from blue cardstock with a We R Memory Keepers die, & added a strip of brown cardstock to the bottom for a dirt road. I positioned that in my MISTI, and stamped the greeting. I ran the oval through my die cutting machine again with the same die, to cut the overhanging piece of the brown strip. I glued the truck in place & added the oval to a red mat. Finally, I used my Crop-a-Dile II to punch a 1/8" hole & threaded through a length of red satin ribbon.

Deck the Halls

  

I got the inspiration for this card from this one I saw on Pinterest. I have the same snowflake die, from Spellbinders' "2013 Snowflake Pendant" set (discontinued), so figured this would be a perfect time to use it.

I began by die cutting the snowflake from a paper from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Basics" 6x6" patterned paper pad. I positioned that panel onto a piece of white cardstock that I'd cut to the same size, & lightly traced the opening with a pencil, to guide my stamping.

I placed the panel in my MISTI stamp positioning tool, and used the penciled guidelines to place the jingle bell stamp from Sunny Studio Stamps' "Holiday Style" set. I stamped the different layers to build up what is a really realistic image. I used Memento London Fog ink for the base layer, and Hero Arts Charcoal & Black inks for the subsequent two layers. I also used London Fog for the hanger. I stamped the branch image from the same set multiple times across the top of the panel with Lawn Fawn's Noble Fir ink. Finally, I used a silver paint pen to draw a hook from the bell hanger to the branch.

I added my snowflake die cut panel to the white panel with foam tape. I mounted that to a green mat, and adhered my card front to a white A2-size card base. For the greeting, I used Lawn Fawn's "Deck the Halls" stamp set. I stamped it on a white strip with Noble Fir ink, and adhered that to my card.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts #378: "Christmas Delight"

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

Ink Smooshed Season's Greetings

  

I recently made several cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids. One type they are always looking for is teen cards. I thought the rough-and-tumble look of this would make a good one for a teenager. I got my inspiration for this card from this one I saw on Pinterest.

I began with the ink smooshing on the background, using Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, & Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide inks. I pressed the ink pads--one color at a time--onto my non-stick craft mat, and spritzed lightly with water. I picked up the ink with a piece of clear plastic sheet protector, and pounced it onto a panel of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I focused the inks mostly around the edges, leaving the center more white with just a few splotches. After I finished with each color, I dried the panel, so the colors wouldn't get muddy.

Once I had finished the ink smooshing, I used a few stamps from My Favorite Things' "Sophisticated Snowflake" set (discontinued) to stamp with the same colors of Oxide inks. Some of the snowflakes I spritzed with a bit of water after stamping, and a few I stamped on the paper after I dampened it a bit, so they would melt into the background somewhat. Others, I stamped on dry paper & left them alone for a crisper feel.

I use Simon Says Stamp's "Season's Greetings" die--and oldie but a goodie--for the greeting. I die cut it from green shimmer cardstock, and a few times from white cardstock. To help me get the words positioned correctly, I also used the die to make an impression in my background panel. For that, I just positioned the die on my panel, & ran it through my die cutting machine with a light pressure setting, so it didn't cut through. I glued the first white die cut onto that impression, and glued the rest to that, stacking each one to make a thicker greeting. Finally, I glued on the green die cut. I even layered the apostrophe & tittle! Finally, I matted the panel with dark green cardstock, and added it to a white A2-size card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts #378: "Christmas Delight"

Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge: "Happy Holidays 4 Kids or Anything Goes 4 Kids"

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