Two More Holiday Cards

The theme for Day 4 of "Christmas Chaos" at Catch the Bug Challenge Blog was a recipe challenge. Use an image from Bugaboo Stamps, a one-word greeting, two embellishments, and three layers of paper. (I assume the focal panel & base don't count as layers.) I used Sketch #177 from Operation Write Home for my design.

I chose Bugaboo's newest image, the "Christmas Moose Ornaments." After flipping & sizing the image in Photoshop, I printed him on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored him with my Inktense pencils & a damp paintbrush.

I used patterned papers from 2 different collections from The Paper Studio: "Christmas Candyland" (red plaid) & "Woodland Wonderland" (banner & woodgrain pieces). I cut them all to size, and inked around the edges with Walnut Stain Distress ink. I also inked the edges of the focal panel. Then I adhered all my layers together.

I die cut my greeting using the "Scripty Joy" die by Lawn Fawn, from some dark green cardstock. I glued it in place with Ranger Multi Medium Matte, and added a coat of clear Wink of Stella shimmer, followed by a coat of Glossy Accents. I also coated the ornaments with Wink of Stella & Glossy Accents. I used Multi Medium to glue down 2 buttons, and when that had dried, I poked holes through the buttons & the paper underneath and threaded some black embroidery floss through. I knotted the floss in each button, and finally matted the panel with some pale teal green cardstock, before mounting it to a white A2 card base.

My second card, inspired by the Day 5 challenge, is also from a recipe of sorts. They posted several "treat" recipes, and said to pick one and make it funny. I chose the "Sugar Cookie with Sprinkles": make your card a shape other than a rectangle or square, and use 3 pieces of bling & ribbon.

I added a greeting from Doodle Pantry to the "Marshmallow Snowman - Candycane" image, and printed that onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper. Then I die cut that with a Spellbinders "Grand Ovals" die (discontinued). Since this is a holiday card from us here in Texas, I decided to "toast" the marshmallows. It doesn't show up in the photo that well, but I used a brown Inktense pencil and a wet paintbrush to paint around the edges of each marshmallow. This is probably the closest thing we'd get to a snowman for the most part here! I also colored the candy cane, scarf, earmuffs, and arms with Inktense pencils, blending with a damp brush. For the sky, I added a wash of Stormy Sky Distress ink.

I die cut another, larger piece of blue cardstock with another "Grand Ovals" die, and stamped it with the Hero Arts "Irregular Arrow Bold Prints" background stamp and Hero Arts Pool ink. I created my card base by die cutting 2 pieces of 110 lb. white cardstock with a "Grand Scalloped Ovals" die (discontinued), also from Spellbinders. I scored the end of one piece about 1/2" from the edge, and adhered the other to that above the fold. This created a top fold, scalloped oval card. To help the card stand up, I trimmed off about 1/2" from the bottom of the back panel, leaving a straight edge. I also die cut a scalloped oval from cream cardstock, and adhered that to the front of my card base.

To assemble my card, I adhered the stamped oval to the card base, and adhered the focal panel to that, centering both. I tied a bow from some red & white gingham ribbon, and used Perfect Paper Adhesive to glue that & three clear gems to the front of my card. And another card is DONE! I figure by now I'm probably about 5/8 of the way through with our holiday cards. Stressed? Me? Nooooo...! LOL

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

Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Holly Jolly Stamping"

Pile It On #98: "Anything Christmas/Winter"

I'm also entering my second card only in the following challenges:

Merry Monday Challenge #183: "Candy Canes"

Doodle Pantry Ants in My Pants Digital Challenge #12: "Anything Goes"

Joy Joy Joy

I am still working frantically on our holiday cards for this year. Yes, I know--it's getting close to Christmas. Yes, I know--I should have done more earlier. But what fun would the holidays be without stress & pressure??? LOL Thankfully, Catch the Bug Challenge Blog's "Christmas Chaos" series this week is helping with my efforts. Day 3 was a color challenge. They posted this photo, with candy cane colors, to use as a palette for your card:

I chose the "Girl Gingerbread - Cocoa" image for my card. I printed her on a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper, punched with a 2" circle punch, and painted her with my Inktense pencils & a damp paintbrush. Then I went around the perimeter with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink, just to provide some contrast & definition.

I printed the "Joy" from Doodle Pantry's "Holiday Greetings" 3 times onto a strip of pink cardstock, spacing them so they connected to each other & the focal circle. The patterned paper panels come from Echo Park's "Home for the Holidays" 6x6" pad. I cut them to size, matted them with kraft cardstock, and adhered them to a white A2 card base. Finally, I adhered my greeting strip & focal piece, and my card was done!

Two Holiday Cards

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having their 3rd Annual "Christmas Chaos" challenge series this week. Initially, I had no intention of participating, mostly because I'd totally forgotten about this event. But I can never pass up a challenge, especially when it serves the dual purpose of getting Christmas cards done this time of year! :) (Yes, I'm still working on those.) These are my first two entries.

The first day's challenge theme is "Anything Goes with 'Here Comes Santa Claus'." I used the "Stocking Santa Ornament" image by Bugaboo Stamps. I printed him on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and die cut that with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals SM" die. I colored Santa & the ornament with my Inktense pencils & a damp brush. After that dried, I coated the ornament ball with Glossy Accents, and the topper with Silver Stickles. I also added some Star Dust Stickles to the star on Santa's hat.

Following Sketch #61 from Operation Write Home, I cut a piece of patterned paper from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Candyland" pad, and matted it with cream cardstock. I also used Versamark ink to stamp a piece of lavender cardstock with Hero Arts "Irregular Arrow Bold Prints" background stamp, and heat embossed it with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder. I matted that with another piece of cream, and adhered my patterned paper and focal panels in place.

I punched 2 stars from yellow cardstock with a 5/8" star punch by Recollections. I glued them in place, and coated them with Star Dust Stickles. I also went around the perimeter of the oval with Star Dust, and this card was done.

For my second card, I used the sketch provided for the second day of the challenge:

I used one of the images from Bugaboo's "Christmas Doodles." I printed it out on a piece of Strathmore Bristol paper, and colored it with my Zig Clean Color pens. I also traced over the bow and the sparkles in the background with a white gel pen, and colored the ornament topper with a silver gel pen. Since the image is not exactly a perfect circle, I had to fussy cut it. Then I went around the edge with a black brush-tip marker, to conceal the white core. I matted it with yellow, and cut around it with my scissors, leaving about a 1/16" mat. Even though the cutting is not exactly perfect, I figure it goes with the sketchy look of the ornament.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye's "Cozy Christmas" 6x6" pad to 2x4", and printed the greeting, from Doodle Pantry's "Holiday Greetings" set, on that. I cut 2 more panels, from one of the papers in BoBunny's "Dear Santa" 6x6" pad, and adhered everything to a light blue panel. Finally, I mounted my card front to a white A2 card base, and coated the ornament with Crystal Stickles.

I'm also entering both cards in Virginia's View Challenge #21: "All About Glitter."

I'm entering my second card as well in the following challenges:

Through the Craft Room Door "Anything Goes"
Pile It On #98: "Anything Christmas/Winter"

Two Hanukkah Cards

With Hanukkah starting today, I decided to make 2 cards for some friends of ours. This first one is a spinner card.

For my card front, I temporarily adhered my blue panel to the front of a white card base, and die cut a window (just in the blue and front of my card base) with a Spellbinders "Standard Circles SM" die. I also cut a frame with that same die and a "Lacey Circles" die, also by Spellbinders, from white cardstock. I glued the frame around the window on the blue panel, then separated the blue from the card base.

I downloaded a clip art image of a dreidel off the Internet, and sized it for my card window in Photoshop. I copied it, so I had 2 images, and flipped the second image so it was in reverse. Then I printed those onto the back of some cherry wood paper from Simon Says Stamp (no longer available). I fussy cut them, and drew the lines for the edges on the front of each with a brown marker. I cut a length of thin fishing line, doubled it, then adhered it between my dreidel pieces, using Be Creative double-sided tape. I used more double-sided tape to adhere the fishing line to the back of the blue panel, centered within the window. Finally, I added more adhesive with my ATG, and mounted the blue panel back onto the card base, lining up the window in each piece.

After die cutting & embossing a piece of white cardstock with a Spellbinders "Grommet Tags" die, I inked the center portion with Tumbled Glass Distress ink. I scanned it into my computer, and used that image to size my greeting, which I then printed onto the tag. I adhered the tag in place on my card front, and filled in the holes with Silver Pearl Liquid Pearls.

I got the inspiration for my second card from this card that I found through Pinterest. I created a blank canvas in Photoshop, and typed "Happy Hanukkah" 8 times. (I did do all this horizontally, just to make it easier!) After spacing those lines of text out, I typed the larger greeting in the middle. I added a Star of David clip art image to the canvas, and reduced the opacity of that layer so it would print in a very light grey. Then I printed all that onto a piece of white cardstock.

I traced over the Star of David with a blue glitter gel pen, using my ruler to help keep the lines clean & straight. I then die cut 8 candle flames from gold paper using a die from a Tim Holtz "Birthday Blueprint" stamp/die set. After gluing them in place, I drew the rays from the Star of David with a gold gel pen. Finally, I matted that panel with a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash, and mounted that onto a white card base.

Christmas Blessings

Merry Monday Christmas Challenge Blog theme this week is "Birds." I decided to use one of the birds from Hero Arts' "Feathered Friends" digi set for my card.

I used Sketch #SC552 from Splitcoaststampers.com for my card design. I die cut a piece of scrap cardstock with a We R Memory Keepers "Nesting Scallops" circle die, to use as a pattern, and scanned that into my computer. I opened it in Photoshop, and sized my bird to fit. I printed the bird out 3 times: once on blue cardstock for the background, and once each onto pink & blue patterned papers from BoBunny's "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" pad. I die cut the background piece with my circle die, and fussy cut the patterned paper pieces. After I'd "painted" the edges of the patterned paper pieces with a black brush-tip marker, I glued them in place on the die cut circle.

For the background, I embossed a piece of blue cardstock with the "A2 Tiny Polka Dot" embossing folder from The Paper Studio. I went over the raised portion with a foam ink blending pad and Ranger Adirondack Snow Cap pigment ink, just to provide a bit of highlighting. I cut my background papers, from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Candyland" & Echo Park's "Home for the Holidays" 6x6" pad. I then inked around the edges of each piece, and my focal panel, with Stormy Sky Distress ink, and glued everything to the background.

I stamped one of the greetings from Hero Arts' "Joy to the World" set onto a scrap of the pink patterned paper I'd used for the bird's wings, in Versafine Onyx Black ink. Then I heat embossed it with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder, and cut it into a banner. I glued that down, and set my card front under an acrylic block until the glue dried, just so everything would stick well. Finally, I mounted it to a white A2 card base.

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

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Holiday Cards"
Pile It On: "Cards Using Red & Green"

Fleas Navidad!

Every year for Christmas, my mom & I send a gift card for Petsmart to Northeast Animal Shelter in Massachusetts. This is a no-kill shelter that we've supported for several years now. To make it a little more special, I always make them a card to put the gift card in.

I started by using a "Triple Step" card template from Hot off the Press to create my card base from red shimmer cardstock by Die Cuts with a View. Once I'd finished that, I stamped my images, from Hampton Art's "Furry Christmas" set, onto white cardstock, & colored them in with colored pencils. I colored in the dots and the middle of the star on the dog's present with a gold gel pen, & used a white gel pen to go over the dots on the cat's present box. Then I used the HOTP template to trace the cut lines for each panel. After cutting them out, I adhered them to their respective panels.

I traced the pattern for the main front panel on a piece of patterned paper from The Paper Studio's "Woodland Wonderland" 6x6" pad. I then cut that out and adhered it to my card base.

One of the greeting stamps in "Furry Christmas" was too small, and the other one was too big, so I had to get creative. The small greeting in the set says "Fleas on Earth." I took that and mentally ran with it, and finally came up with "Fleas Navidad." (A play on words for the Spanish greeting, "Feliz Navidad.") I die cut white cardstock with one of the "Labels Four" dies by Spellbinders, and scanned that into my computer. I opened that image in Photoshop, and used it to size & place my greeting, which I typed using a font on the computer.

I played around with what to put above & below the greeting, to fill up the empty space and balance the greeting a little better. I started by drawing paw prints with the Custom Shape tool in Photoshop, but that just wasn't doing it for me. I tried a bone & a fish, but that didn't seem right, either. So finally, I drew a dog and a cat, also with the Custom Shape tool. I copied each image layer, and flipped them horizontally so I had 2 dogs & 2 cats facing each other. I lined them up on the label image, and reduced the opacity so they didn't compete with the greeting. Finally, I printed all that directly onto my die cut label, and adhered it to the card front.

As a final touch, I added a couple of coats of clear Wink of Stella to the bow on the cat's present and the star on the dog's present. I also coated the star with Glossy Accents. Hopefully, the staff at the shelter will get a kick out of this. I'm sure they'll appreciate the gift card!

Christmas Kitty & Elephant Cards

One of my new acquisitions from Bugaboo Stamps is this cute "Christmas Cat." I decided to use him on a card for Send a Smile 4 Kids. I took my design inspiration from Operation Write Home's Sketch #2.

I printed the kitty onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, then colored him in with my Inktense pencils to look like our youngest, Barney. For the sky, I used a wash of Broken China Distress ink, and Pumice Stone Distress ink for the ground. I added some shimmer to his bell with a gold gel pen, and applied Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique to the hat brim & pompom. Once that had dried, I used my heat tool to puff it.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 2x5.5", and tied a length of metallic embroidery floss around it in a bow. I adhered it to a red card front panel, and added a dot of Perfect Paper Adhesive Matte to the knot on my bow, both to hold it in place and keep it from untying. Finally, I adhered my focal panel, and mounted the finished card front to a white A2 card base.

For my second card, I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #B-29 for my design. I used the "Elephant Christmas Tree," also from Bugaboo, as my focal image. I reduced the opacity of the image to 7% in Photoshop, then printed it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. The reduced opacity virtually eliminated the outlines, allowing me to do some no-line coloring with my Inktense pencils.

After I'd colored the image, I added Liquid Applique to the cuffs on the stockings, and the brim & pompom on the elephant's hat. As with the kitty, when that had dried (I left it for several hours), I puffed it with my heat tool. I added details to some of the ornaments and the left-most stocking with a white gel pen. Then I applied clear Wink of Stella to the ornaments, and coated them in Glossy Accents. I colored the stars with a gold gel pen for a base coat of color, then added Gold Stickles on top. I also traced the "glow lines" from the star on top of the tree with my gold gel pen. I used a silver gel pen to draw the wires/ornaments on the mantle between the stockings.

I cut a strip of patterned paper from my scrap stash to .5x4.25", as indicated in the sketch. I adhered my focal panel to a piece of green cardstock, and then glued my patterned paper below it. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering both cards in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.