Merry Monday Guest Designer

I am very honored to be a Guest Designer for the Merry Monday Challenge Blog today. Their theme this week is "White on White with a Neutral Color as the Sentiment."

I chose Sketch #90 from Operation Write Home as the basis for my design. I began by cutting a piece of white cardstock to 3.25x4". I adhered it to my non-stick craft sheet, and taped the "Holiday Knit" stencil by Tim Holtz over it. I spread Golden Light Molding Paste over the stencil, and when I had a good, smooth coverage, removed the stencil. I made sure to clean the stencil, sheet, and palette knife immediately, so the paste wouldn't dry on them. I sprinkled white glitter over the paste, and set that aside to air dry. (I just wish the sparkle showed up in the photo, but I just couldn't capture it. It looks very pretty in real life, though!)

For my greeting, I die cut the "Merry Christmas" from Simon Says Stamp 5 times from white cardstock, and once from grey. I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to adhere the die cuts together, topping the white ones with the grey. It definitely was NOT easy, since the die cuts are so delicate, but I think it helped give the greeting a better presence with all that is going on in the background.

While the greeting dried, I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4x5.25". I ran it through my die cutting machine with the "Argyle" embossing folder from Darice. By this time, my stenciled panel had dried. I shook off the excess glitter, using a Swiffer dusting cloth to clean up the mess. I cut the panel into two pieces, and adhered a piece of transparency behind them, leaving a 3/4" gap. Then I cut fun foam pieces, and used Be Creative tape to adhere them to the backs of my stenciled panels. I mounted them to my argyle piece, and used a micro brush to add tiny dots of Multi Medium to the backs of my die cuts. I glued the words down, overlapping the transparency. I used my 1/16" hole punch to punch a dot for the "i" in Christmas, and glued that to the transparency with Multi Medium. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2 card base.

Happy Birthday

I have been working on 2 sets of note cards to give to my counselor and his receptionist as a late Christmas gift. I am making 10 cards for each of them. I figure, at least for me, birthday cards are the most-needed, so I'm including about 4 or 5 birthday cards in the mix for each of them. I created this one for that project, inspired by the "Anything Goes with ODBD Stamps" at Our Daily Bread Designs' blog this week.

I have been in love with this sketch from Splitcoaststampers.com for some time now, and never have really figured out what to do with it. It is really for a square card, which I rarely make. I decided to adapt it to an A2 size for this card, basically by elongating the background panels.

I also didn't have an oval die that would work with the measurements I figured out for this sketch. I even tried my Fiskars oval cutter, but the resulting oval was still proportionately too wide across the middle. So I decided to get creative and do some partial die cutting. I used one of the dies from Spellbinders' "Classic Ovals LG" set, that was the right width. After marking the centers on each end & each side of the die, I drew some guidelines to form a box on my white cardstock, to help me know where to place the die. I taped it to my paper, centered from side to side & lined up with the guideline at one end, and placed it between the cutting plates so only the top half of the die would cut. Then I repositioned it at the other end of my box, and die cut that half. Then I just penciled in slightly curved lines connecting the end points on each side, and cut that with my scissors. It may not be a "true" oval shape, but it works for my image and purposes!

After cutting my oval, I stamped the "Cattails" image from Our Daily Bread Designs on it, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored it with colored pencils, and set that aside while I worked on the rest of my card.

I stamped the greeting, from the "Birthday Blueprint" stamp/die set by Tim Holtz, onto a piece of light tan cardstock, again using Tuxedo Black. It was at this point that I wished I'd stamped my image onto cream cardstock, but I wasn't about to start over with cutting another oval. So I inked my focal image piece with Antique Linen Distress ink. I cut the greeting strip into a banner, and matted it with another banner I cut from kraft cardstock.

I cut my blue patterned paper (all papers are from Fancy Pants Designs' "Burlap & Bouquets 6x6" pad) to the approximate width I wanted, by 5.25" long. I die cut the top with one of the "Stitched Borders 2" dies from Pretty Pink Posh, centering the die side-to-side and making sure it was "level." I also die cut the scalloped strips from green cardstock using one of Pretty Pink Posh's "Stitched Borders 1" dies. I cut my burlap patterned paper to size, and positioned the scalloped borders behind each side. The sketch had called for the scalloped middle piece to be wider than the panel behind (burlap, in this case), but I decided I didn't like it overlapping the border strips so much. So I trimmed off about 3/16" from each side of the blue piece, to make it the same width as the burlap. I cut the burlap piece shorter, since it only had to show a little bit, and adhered it to the back of my blue panel. Then I cut that whole piece down to 5.25" long, & adhered the border strips to each side.

I cut two .5x5.25" strips from another of the patterned papers, and adhered them on either side of my main background panel. I mounted all that to a brown cardstock piece that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5". I glued my greeting banner to the bottom of my focal image piece, to help me with placement on my background. Finally, I adhered the image/greeting to my card front, and mounted that to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering my card in Through the Craft Room Door's "Anything Goes" challenge.

Two Thank You Cards

Now that Christmas is over, it's time to think about thank you cards. Coincidentally, Live Love Cards' challenge this month has been to create thank you cards. These are 2 of mine.

I found this post through Pinterest, and used one of the cards there for inspiration for my first card. I die cut 5 tags using three of the "Mini Tags" dies by Pretty Pink Posh, from various colors of cardstock. I also die cut the "thank" letters from white cardstock with Hero Arts' "Alphabet Uppercase" dies. I glued the tags in rainbow order onto a piece of kraft cardstock that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5", and then adhered the letters onto them.

For the "you," I used an old set of alphabet stamps by The Paper Studio (no longer available). I placed the card front in my MISTI, and used a clear plastic grid sheet to help me position the letters. I then stamped in Versamark ink, and heat embossed the word with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. I added 3 rows of dashed lines with a white gel pen, both to ground the "you" & fill in the left side of the card front a bit. Finally, I adhered the panel to a white A2 card base and rounded the top corners with my 1/2" Corner Chomper.

I got the inspiration for my second card also through Pinterest. I began by cutting 2 pieces of kraft cardstock to 4.25" wide. I taped them together, overlapping them about an inch, and die cut through both layers with one of the "Snow Drifts" dies from My Favorite Things. I then separated the panels and trimmed them down to fit an A2 card, with a 1.25" gap in between.

I cut a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to 4.25x5.5". I used my kraft panels as a guide to mark where the gap would be between them. I stamped my flowers & leaves, using 2 of the stamps in "Bold Blooms" from Essentials by Ellen, in that gap, using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I colored over the images with my Zig Clean Color pens, and blended the color out a bit with my water brush. Then I set that aside to dry.

I used my sewing machine to stitch around both kraft panels with black thread. Then I used my MISTI to help me position the greeting, from Technique Tuesday's "A Million and One" mini stamp set, on the lower panel. I stamped that in Versafine Onyx Black ink, to be sure to get a nice crisp impression.

To finish my card, I applied foam tape to the back of each kraft panel, and adhered them to my bristol piece, lining up the sides evenly. I felt the card needed a little something more, so I sponged over the kraft with Antique Linen Distress ink. This gave it a bit of soft, subtle texture, without competing with the stamping. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2 card base.

Christmas Over???

Christmas Day 2015 may be in the history books now, but the time for making holiday cards is not. Even though I got ours done earlier this year than last (we sent them out on the 21st, rather than Christmas Eve), I'd like to be done with them even earlier next year! In the spirit of that, I made this one for Merry Monday Challenge Blog's Challenge #185: "Boots."

I must admit, this theme had me stumped. I just don't have many holiday stamps or digi images with boots. But I took a cue from this card by Nina, the hostess of this week's challenge. She used 2 panels from some holiday patterned paper, one of which shows a little girl wearing boots. I had the same paper, but had already used that particular panel. But I found the one I used for this card, featuring a Santa wearing--yes--boots!

I also had 3 greeting labels on my desk, that I'd made for other cards using Simon Says Stamp's "Christmas" set & Spellbinders "Grommet Tags" die. But they hadn't fit those designs. So I pulled one out and decided it would be perfect for this one. I created my card base for a 4.5x7.25" card, to accommodate the focal panel & greeting label. (It's a bit of an odd size, I know, but I have several envelopes that fit that size card, so I'm trying to use them up.)

I cut a panel of dark blue cardstock to 4.25x7", and added snow to the background, by sponging Ranger Adirondack Snow Cap pigment ink over Simon Says Stamp's "Falling Snow" stencil. The stencil isn't large enough for this background, so I fudged a bit by moving it around. I just had to be careful to mask off at the top edge, so I wouldn't get ink where I didn't want it! I rounded the corners with the 1/4" side of my Corner Chomper, and stitched around the perimeter 3 times with my sewing machine.

I rounded the corners of my focal panel with the 1/8" Corner Chomper, and adhered that in place. I threaded 3 lengths of white crochet thread through the holes in the label, and adhered the label to the background, centered below the image. I ran some ATG adhesive on the back of the blue panel, and stuck the ends of my thread on that, being sure to spread them out evenly. Finally, I rounded the corners of my white card base with the 1/4" Corner Chomper, and mounted my card front to that.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Monday: "Winter Wonderland"
Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Holiday Cards"
Pile It On #98: "Anything Christmas/Winter"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

Sending Hugs and Prayers

Now that I have finished(!) all of our Christmas cards for this year, I can turn my attention to other cards. I recently learned that the brother of a friend of mine passed away, so I decided to make this card for her as a sympathy card. Our Daily Bread Designs is having a sketch challenge this week, which I used as inspiration for my design, so I'm also entering it in that.

I first die cut the bird with the coordinating "Chickadee" die (by ODBD) from white cardstock. I used my MISTI and quite a bit of fiddling to get the stamp lined up. (It's a rubber stamp, so not all that easy. It does come with registration points on the stamp, to help line it up with the die, but I cut them off so I could also use it without the die.) Finally, when I got my die cut in place, I stamped the "Chickadee" image, also by ODBD, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then colored in the berries, branch, and a bit on the bird with colored pencils. (I used a photo I found online for color reference on the chickadee itself.) Then I set that aside.

Because of the space my bird & greeting were going to take up, I decided to rotate the background of the sketch 90 degrees, keeping the other elements oriented the same as in the sketch. I cut a piece of pale blue cardstock to 2x5", and matted that with a darker blue, leaving a 1/16" border on 3 sides. I also die cut the "prayers" from the "Prayers" stamp/die set by Simon Says Stamp & Hero Arts from white cardstock. I lined up the stamp with the die cut, again using my MISTI, and stamped it 3 times in Tuxedo Black, just to get a good dark impression. For my background, I chose one of the patterned papers from Authentique's "Seasons Essentials" 6x6" pad, and cut it to 4-1/8x5-3/8".

I glued a white doily to the right side of my background panel, and adhered the blue strip over that, lining it up with the right edge as well. After working out the placement, I glued down my chickadee, and then the greeting, overlapping the bird slightly with the "prayers." At this point, I realized I'd forgotten to glue down my ribbon piece, so I carefully peeled up the focal/greeting panel, and stuck a short piece of white satin ribbon underneath. I wrapped the other end around the background panel, and adhered it to the back. Finally, I stamped "Sending hugs and," also from the "Prayers" set, on the blue panel. I matted the whole piece with a pale blue cardstock, added 3 silver heart-shaped brads to the upper left corner, and mounted it to a white A2 card base.

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

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday "Die Crazy"
Through the Craft Room Door "Anything Goes"

A Pair of Holiday Tags

Ellen Hutson has been having a "12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist" series at their CLASSroom blog. I'm not sure if they have in the past, but this year they've invited anyone to play along, and create one or more tags inspired by something their designers and/or guest designers have done for this series. These are 2 that I created.

My first tag was inspired by one that Dawn Woleslagle created for Day 12, using a stamp that she created by die cutting some fun foam. I used one of the dies from the Essentials by Ellen "Poinsettia & Pine" set to die cut my foam stamp. I adhered it to an acrylic block, and colored it with Marvy Uchida LePlume II water-based markers. After I colored the die cut, I daubed it with my water brush to activate the color more. Then I stamped that on a tag I'd created by die cutting some white cardstock with the "Stitched Duo 3" die by Pretty Pink Posh. I did both first- and second-generation stamping, about 5 or 6 times total. Dawn had used a Heidi Swapp toner pen to outline her images and then foil them. I don't have that pen (yet!), so I sketched around mine with a silver gel pen.

I die cut a circle from the center with a Simon Says Stamp "Stitched Circles" die. I also die cut a piece of plain white cardstock with that same die, and cut my letters with dies from the Hero Arts "Alphabet Uppercase" set. For the letters, I did one set out of white and a second out of black. I ran them through my Xyron Sticker Maker, and adhered them to my white circle, offsetting the white from the black to create a drop shadow effect. I cut a second tag from white, and adhered it to the back of the first, to provide a place to adhere my word panel. Finally, I cut a circle of white fun foam, and used double-sided tape to adhere it between my die cut greeting circle & the tag. I die cut a tag reinforcer from some silver shimmer cardstock using one of the Mama Elephant "Tags a Lot" dies, and glued that in place. After punching the hole in the tag, I knotted some white & silver ribbon through that.

Carolyn Peeler's tag on Day 1 inspired my second creation. I used the "Stitched Duo 1" die by Pretty Pink Posh to cut a tag from some kraft cardstock. Because I wanted the tag longer than the die, I used some partial die cutting. I cut all but the bottom part first, then lined the die up with the cut lines, and cut all but the top, thus creating a longer tag. I stamped a greeting, from Mama Elephant's "Jolly and Merry" set, on the tag in Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder.

For my watercolor piece, I die cut a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with the same tag die. I stamped one of the snowflakes from My Favorite Things' "Sophisticated Snowflake" set twice with Versamark, and white heat embossed them.

I spritzed that panel with water, and used my water brush to dilute & pick up Distress inks in Cracked Pistachio, Picked Raspberry, and Mermaid Lagoon, which I daubed over and around the embossed snowflakes. The Cracked Pistachio ended up not showing up very well, but I think it turned out fine anyway. Once I had the panel covered in color, I sprayed it generously with my homemade Perfect Pearls mist to add some shimmer. I used a paper towel to pick up some of the color that was pooling on the snowflakes, and then left the panel to air dry.

Once my watercolor piece had dried, I trimmed it shorter. I cut a piece of lace trim, and glued that towards the bottom of my tag with Perfect Paper Adhesive. I adhered the panel over the top of the lace, and used my sewing machine to do a zigzag stitch along the top & bottom of the panel. I also did 2 rows of straight stitching above the greeting.

I die cut a tag reinforcer from some pink cardstock, using another die from "Tags a Lot." After gluing it in place, I punched the hole, and threaded some white ribbon, pink & white baker's twine, jute twine, and silver thread through the hole. I tied all that in a bow, and this tag is done!

I'm also entering these tags in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Tag It" challenge.

Catch the Bug Christmas Chaos--Final!

The "Christmas Chaos" challenge series at Catch the Bug Challenge Blog ends today. Thankfully, I got the final 2 days' projects D-O-N-E!

The theme for Day 6 was "Gift Wrap." I created a gift card holder, using the instructions from this article. I used a patterned paper from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Basics" 6x6" pad to create my "gift box." I adhered a piece of red ribbon to the front of both the base & lid.

Gift card holder "box" open with gift card inside

After cutting a tag from white cardstock with a die from Mama Elephant's "Tags a Lot" set, I printed the "Little Penguin Winter - Decorate Tree" image from Bugaboo Stamps onto that. I colored it with colored pencils, glued the red tag reinforcer (also from a "Tags a Lot" die) to the tag, adhered another red tag to the back, and punched a hole. I threaded 2 pieces of red & green baker's twine through the hole & knotted them. I inserted the twine into a bow I tied from the same red ribbon, and glued that to the top of the lid. That finished this relatively quick & easy project.

My card for Day 7--a bingo challenge--was also fairly quick & easy. For my elements, I used the first column--snowflake, embossing, & pink and teal. I used this week's Friday Freebie image from Bugaboo--"AKV Winter - Snow Shoe." After flipping the image in Photoshop & sizing it, I printed it on a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper.

I used my Inktense pencils to color the image, picking up the colors from the pencils with a damp paintbrush & applying them to the paper. After the image had dried, I painted the sky area with a wash of Tumbled Glass Distress ink, then set that panel aside to dry completely.

I cut 2 pieces of patterned paper from the BoBunny "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" pad to size. I stamped 3 of the images from the "Sophisticated Snowflake" stamp set by My Favorite Things on the teal piece with Versamark ink. Then I heat embossed those with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder.

After double-matting my focal image with teal & pale pink cardstocks, I adhered it to the pink patterned paper piece, then adhered that to my teal background panel. Finally, I matted that with a pink cardstock panel that I'd cut to 4.25x5.5".

I die cut one of the "Mini Tags" by Pretty Pink Posh from white cardstock. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink to stamp the "Merry Christmas" greeting from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message" on that. I then heat embossed it with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder. For my snowflake element, I die cut one with a Spellbinders "Banner & Trees" die from hot pink cardstock. I adhered it peeking out from under the tag, which I popped up with foam tape. All that was left was to mount the card front onto a white A2 card base.

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

Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenge: "Holly Jolly Stamping"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
Craft Your Passion Challenge #291: "Anything Goes"
Pile It On #98: "Anything Christmas/Winter"

I'm entering my first project only in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge: "Tag It."