Two Christmas Cards

The current challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is to make a card using a black & white color scheme. Not my usual style, but I'm always open to a challenge. I even ended up creating not just one, but two!

A card I saw on Pinterest kind of inspired the design for my first card. I knew I wanted to use Hero Arts' "Vintage Christmas Post" set (apparently discontinued), but needed some fresh ideas, especially since I wouldn't color the images. I liked the small squares forming a grid in the middle of that card. I decided to do things a little differently, though. So I pulled out my Hero Arts "Postage Stamps" die set to make 3 small panels.

I stamped my images onto a scrap of white cardstock with Hero Arts Black dye ink, leaving enough room between for the die to fit. I then used the third die from the smallest to cut out each image.

I added a panel of black cardstock across my white card base, and stamped my greeting (from Hero Arts "Merry Christmas Messages"--also discontinued) in black in the bottom right corner of my card. Finally, I added my die cut "postage stamps" across the middle strip with foam tape.

For my second card, I used the "Oh Holy Night" stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I cut a strip of black cardstock, and die cut a circle in the upper part. I laid that in the center of a 4.25x5.5" panel of white cardstock, and traced lightly around the circle. I used that as a guide for positioning my image. It took quite a bit of fiddling, but I finally got the stamp centered in my MISTI. I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink, and heat embossed with Ranger Clear Super Fine Detail embossing powder.

I stamped my greeting, from the same set, in Versamark on the black panel, & heat embossed with Ranger White Super Fine Detail embossing powder. I adhered the black onto my white panel with foam tape, and mounted the card front to a white card base. Two pretty easy cards to make--in fact, I finished them both in less than a couple of hours!

I'm also entering the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking: "Anything Goes" (first card only)
Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Monochrome" (both cards)

Yappy Birthday!

My sister-in-law's birthday is coming up soon. She & my brother have 2 dogs, so he always wants me to make a card for her from them. I used Bugaboo's "Birthday Pup 1" & "Birthday Pup 3" digital images (both apparently discontinued) for this card, inspired by the current Stella Says Sketch challenge at Catch the Bug's challenge blog.

I created a landscape A2 size digital canvas in Photoshop. After setting the margins to determine how large my focal panel would be, I drew a rectangle within those margins. Since I knew I wanted the end of the noisemaker to hang off the edge of the panel, I extended that side of the rectangle by 1/2". I opened the 2 images, & dragged them to my blank canvas. I positioned & sized them, & then printed the composite image onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I painted the scene, let it dry, & then cut off the right side, cutting around the noisemaker with my scissors. I finished by "painting" the raw edges of just the noisemaker end with a black felt tip marker, just to cover the white core of the paper so it blended in with the printed lines. I also went over the eyes of the pups with a black glaze pen, adding in catch lights with a white gel pen.

For the greeting, I created 2 canvases in Photoshop the same size as the focal panel. After setting 1/8" margins on each, I typed the "Yappy" on the top left of one, & "Birthday!" on the bottom right of the other. I used a patterned paper from the Echo Park "Happy Birthday" 6x6" pad, cut 2 pieces to size, & printed the greeting on those.

I chose a pink cardstock panel for my background. I added the stars using the "Stars" stencil from Tim Holtz. Because the stencil is narrower than a landscape A2 card, I had to do one side, with the right side of the panel masked off, and then shift the stencil over, line up the stars, & stencil the rest. I used Picked Raspberry Distress ink for the stars, to get a more subtle tone-on-tone look. Finally, I adhered that to my white card base, & adhered the greeting and image panels in place.

I'm also entering this card in Catch the Bug's September "Anything Goes" challenge.

Floral Sympathy Card

The husband of one of my mom's friends recently passed away, so she asked me to make a sympathy card to send to her. My background was inspired by a tutorial by Lydia Fiedler on faux verdigris. I decided to try that for this card.

I stamped the "Wood Plank Background" from My Favorite Things onto a panel of 140 lb. watercolor paper with Lawn Fawn Doe ink. I used my MISTI stamp positioning tool so I could stamp in the same place again. Without removing the stamp or my paper, I cleaned the stamp & then inked it with Peacock Feathers Distress ink. I stamped that directly over the brown. I removed the panel from my MISTI, and used a wet paintbrush to wet the paper, which activated the Peacock Feathers and tinted the panel. I didn't feel it was quite dark enough, so I smooshed some more Peacock Feathers ink onto an acrylic block & then used my paintbrush to paint it over the whole panel. That deepened the teal without overpowering the wood image.

For the flowers and leaves, I used Altenew's "Vintage Flowers" & "Vintage Roses" stamp sets.I stamped all 3 base layers for the flowers with Memento Angel Pink ink. I used Lawn Fawn's Ballet Slippers & Wild Rose, and Hero Arts Bubble Gum & Pale Tomato inks for the remaining layers. I stamped the leaves with Hero Arts Lime Green & Moss inks, and Ranger Leaf Green Archival ink for the final layer. After I'd finished stamping, I die cut all the images with the coordinating dies.

I die cut the main part of the greeting with Avery Elle's "With Sympathy" die. I used a dark green cardstock first, but felt that got lost on the background. So I die cut another layer from white, and added that as a "shadow" layer. I glued all the flowers & leaves in place, tucking everything into an arrangement. I glued the "sympathy" down, overlapping the flower arrangement. I stamped the "with" from the coordinating Avery Elle "With Sympathy" set in Leaf Green ink onto white cardstock. I cut that into a label, & adhered it above the sympathy die cut. Finally, I adhered the whole panel to a white card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Dies R Us Challenge #128: "Nature"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Stamp It"
613 Avenue Create Challenge #225: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Be Merry

The current My Favorite Things Color Challenge is to use Lush Lagoon, Smooth White, Limelight, and After Midnight. I don't have those exact colors, so I substituted Distress inks in Mermaid Lagoon, Twisted Citron, & Chipped Sapphire. I used white cardstock for my greeting for the white, and added in Black Soot Distress ink as a neutral.

I got the inspiration for my card from Christmas Card Throwdown's current challenge, which is to use the Joseph's Coat technique. For the design, I used Sketch #SC606 at Splitcoaststampers.com.

I began by inking a panel of Strathmore Mixed Media paper with my Distress inks (minus Black Soot). I just kind of splotched the color on, making sure to get plenty of each hue on my panel. I did go a little lighter with the Chipped Sapphire, after I discovered it created kind of a muddy grey when it overlapped the Twisted Citron.

After I had fully inked my panel, I let it air dry for several hours. Then I used My Favorite Things "Sophisticated Snowflakes" stamp set (discontinued) to stamp several snowflakes in Versamark ink over the panel. Since I couldn't see the stamping, with Versamark being a clear ink, as I went I sprinkled on Ranger Clear Super Fine Detail embossing powder on each image. After I had stamped all the snowflakes, I melted the powder with my heat tool.

I inked over the whole panel with Black Soot. Wherever I had stamped & heat embossed the snowflakes resisted the ink, basically preserving the color underneath. After I had added a few "coats" of Black Soot, I buffed over the panel with a dry paper towel, to remove the excess ink off the embossed snowflakes.

To cut the curve in my panel, I used a flexible ruler & pencil to sketch out the curve on the back side. To keep the snowflake design looking continuous, I made sure to draw two parallel curves so I could cut a slice out. Then I used scissors to cut along the lines.

For the greeting, I used the long "be merry" from Lawn Fawn's "Peace Joy Love" stamp set (discontinued). I traced the curved line from one of my main panel pieces onto a piece of white cardstock. I used that as a guide to help me curve my greeting onto the door of my MISTI stamping tool. Finally, I stamped it in Ranger Cobalt Archival ink (another substitute for After Midnight) and erased my pencil line.

I adhered my greeting panel to a white A2-size card base. I used craft foam & double-sided tape to pop up my snowflake pieces above & below the greeting, and this card was done! A fairly easy card to pull together overall, but with a lot of impact.

Happy Birthday Ferris Wheel

A woman I'm acquainted with has been having a rough go with medical issues. Her birthday is next month, so I decided to make her an extra special card. I followed the tutorial for the "Floral Ferris Wheel Card" at Mixed Up Craft.

I began by die cutting a 5.5" diameter circle from Grafix Dura-Lar acetate, so it's kind of a "floating" ferris wheel. I had to run it through my die cutting machine a few times, as the die didn't want to cut through the acetate. Even at that, I had to finish the cut in a couple of spots with my scissors. But it turned out well.

For all the flowers & leaves, I used My Favorite Things' "Watercolor Flowers" stamp set & coordinating dies (discontinued). The dies for that are solid, so I had to cut the flowers first from Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper. I made sure to save one of the negative panels I die cut from, to use as a template for stamping my images. I also die cut an extra set of flowers & leaves that I didn't stamp, to go on the back side & hide the adhesive on the front ones.

After I'd die cut all the flowers & leaves, I placed the negative panel in my MISTI stamp positioning tool. I had added delicate surface Frog tape to the back, so the adhesive showed through the die cut openings. Then it was just a matter of popping my die cuts in the openings, lining up my stamps, and stamping. I used a trick from one of Jennifer McGuire's videos to help me line them up well.

I used Hero Arts Bubble Gum, Altenew Coral Berry, & Lawn Fawn Guava inks to stamp the pink flowers. For the orange ones I chose Lawn Fawn Apricot with Hero Arts Orange Soda & Fresh Peach. I used Lawn Fawn Freshly Cut Grass & Ranger Leaf Green Archival inks for the leaves, adding Lawn Fawn Noble Fir for the third layer on the larger leaves. For the flower centers on the pink blooms, I stamped with Delicata Golden Glitz ink, & used Delicata Brown Shimmer ink on the orange flowers.

I cut the card base from Bazzill Candy Hearts cardstock, using the measurements in the tutorial. After I poked a hole through the center of the acetate circle, I attached it to the front of the card base with a mini brad. I ended up having to remove the circle after I'd adhered the flowers, since it got hung up on the base & wouldn't turn properly. But I solved the problem by adding 2 layers of foam tape between the acetate & card base, which "lifted" the circle away from the base slightly. I left the release paper on the second layer of tape in place, so the acetate would turn freely. Then I replaced the brad & reattached the circle to the base.

After I'd stamped all the flowers & leaves, I ran them through my Xyron Creative Station to add adhesive to the backs. I also ran the unstamped die cuts through. I positioned the stamped flowers & leaves around the acetate circle, just placing them lightly at first. I made sure that nothing went over the edge of the acetate so much that it went past the bottom of the card base. When I had everything how I wanted it, I pressed them down securely. Then I added the plain die cuts to the back, sandwiching the acetate between.

For the greeting, I used a stamp from Winnie & Walter's "The Party." I stamped it on a scrap of Candy Hearts, heat embossed with Ranger White Super Fine Detail embossing powder, and die cut it with a circle die. I also die cut a slightly larger scalloped circle from white cardstock. I glued the two circles together, & adhered them over the brad on my acetate. And that finished this card. Hopefully the woman I send this to will get a kick out of this!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

My Favorite Things Birthday Project Challenge: "Birthday Bouquet"
613 Avenue Create #224: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)
Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Happy Birthday"
Dies R Us #126: "Bright Colors"

One Sketch, Two Cards

The current challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is a triptych sketch. I created two cards based on that sketch.

For my first card, I turned the sketch 90 degrees, enlarged the 3 panels to taller rectangles, & centered the design. I first stamped my image, "Lovely as a Tree" from Stampin' Up, onto a panel of white cardstock. I used Lawn Fawn's Moonstone ink, since I wanted kind of a wintry feel, and double-stamped just to make the image stand out a tad more. I die cut the panel with a Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangle" die, and cut it into 3 pieces by trimming a slice from between each section. (Taking out a slice, rather than just cutting the panel apart & spreading the sections, keeps the image looking cohesive.) I tried to keep the middle evergreen tree as centered as possible, which wasn't easy since it is not exactly centered in the full image. I also cut the middle panel slightly narrower than the outer 2.

I inked all three panels with Stormy Sky Distress ink and a makeup blender brush. I got a little more heavy-handed than I had originally intended, but I think it turned out OK. I also added "baubles" to the middle tree with a silver paint pen, just to dress it up and give it a more holiday look.

I didn't want the greeting just on one panel, so I took the peace, joy, & love words from Hero Arts' "Color Layering Cardinal" stamp set and stamped each one centered on a different panel. I used Moonstone ink again, & triple-stamped this time. I'm not sure that extra impression really mattered in the end, but at least it's readable without being over the top.

I die cut a silver mat with the next larger die. I adhered each panel in place, starting with the ends & finally centering the middle panel between them. I adhered that to a navy blue panel that I'd mounted to a white A2 card base. Finally, I added clear gems as per the sketch, 3 at the top left & an additional 3 more at the bottom right for balance.

For my second card, I rotated the sketch again, but otherwise kept pretty true to it. I used the image & one of the greetings from Doodle Pantry's "Mini Bethlehem" (discontinued). I sized the image to fit on a 2x5.25" panel, and printed it onto a strip of Strathmore Mixed Media paper. I colored it with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick up the color from each pencil & apply it to the paper. I also added Gansai Tambi Starry Colors in Light Gold for the baby Jesus' halo & White Gold for around the star. It's subtle & hard to photograph, but it does add some shimmer in real life. Finally, I added lots of stars with a white gel pen.

I cut the piece into 3 sections, trimming out a 1/8" gap between each, as I'd done in my first card. I adhered all three panels to a strip of kraft cardstock, leaving the 1/8" space between each, and a 1/8" border on all sides.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from graphic 45's "Christmas Carol" 6x6" pad to 4x6". I ran that through my printer to print the greeting, then trimmed the length to 5.5". I cut about 1" off the top of that panel, added 3 black mini brads to one corner, & adhered my matted image panel along the bottom edge of that strip. I adhered my greeting section to the front of a white A2 card base, lining up the bottom edges. Finally, I mounted my image panel/top strip piece to the card base, lining up the top edges. The patterned paper does have a gap between the two pieces, but the image strip covers it nicely.

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

Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"
613 Avenue Create #224: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist)

Really Fantastic Fox

Creative Knockouts' current challenge theme is "Sew It Up." I admit I probably went kind of overboard by stitching an image. But I do love how this came out!

I used the "Fantastic Mr. Fox" digital set (discontinued) from Just ME Digital Stamps for both my image & greeting. For my design, I turned to Sketch #SC705 from Splitcoaststampers.com. I sized the fox & greeting in Photoshop to fit with the sketch dimensions. I printed the greeting in black onto a piece of green cardstock I'd cut to size, and printed the fox in a pale tan color on a panel of cream cardstock. (In case any of the lines showed through the stitching, I didn't want them to be obvious, hence the light color.)

To stitch the fox, I used 4 colors of DMC embroidery floss. First, I pierced holes around the image with my paper piercer. One key I discovered is to make sure you poke holes wherever 2 lines intersect, so you get a smoother result with your stitching. Also, make sure you space your holes about 1/8" or so apart, so as not to rip the cardstock when you're stitching. If the cardstock should tear (as mine did in one small spot), just reinforce it on the back with a piece of Scotch tape & resume stitching.

I began with the tree trunk, which I stitched with dark brown floss. (I used the full 6 plies of floss.) I stitched the fox with a cream and a reddish brown. On the parts where those 2 colors would meet, like the bottom of the face & the tail, I separated the plies of the cream & reddish brown, then combined 3 of each to make 6 plies. That way, the two colors blended more easily than if I'd stitched each line with both individually. Finally, I added black stitching to the nose & mouth, and black French knots for the eyes.

I cut a piece of star patterned paper I found in my scrap stash to A2 size. I also cut 2 pink strips 1/2" wide. I mounted the patterned paper to a white card base, and adhered my greeting panel in place. I added foam tape around the back of my image panel, making sure not to overlap the stitching lines so it would lie flat on my card. I then adhered that in place. For the strips, I used a combination of foam tape (where they didn't overlap the image panel) & liquid glue to make sure they lay flat as well. Finally, I added Midnight Blue Nuvo Crystal Drops to the end of each strip where they (almost) met. I will send this card to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

I'm also entering this card in 613 Avenue Create's Challenge #223: "Anything Goes" (not playing the twist).