Merry Christmas to You

Yes, it's the Christmas card creating time of year for me again! This week's challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is "Flower/Flourish." I actually made use of both on this card, with some foiling in the background using the Prima "Flourish" stencil (discontinued) to jazz things up a bit.

I decided to go with a mini slimline card size for this. I actually had an inside sentiment panel left over from last year that I had not yet used, so I kind of built this card around that. Hey, whatever gets things used, right? :)

I cut a panel of Bazzill Dark Seas cardstock to 3-1/4x6-1/4". I stamped the smaller poinsettia flower from Honey Bee's "Pretty Poinsettias" set (discontinued) in 2 opposite corners. I wanted to color them with my colored pencils, but wanted to heat emboss in gold as well. To make it easier, I first stamped (using my MISTI stamp positioning tool) with Lawn Fawn's Hippo ink, to give me the coloring outlines. I left the stamp in my MISTI, & colored the images with my Prismacolor pencils. When I finished coloring, I put my panel back into the corner of my MISTI, & restamped with embossing ink over each flower. I heat embossed with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold embossing powder.

To do the foiling on the background, I first cut a mask for each of the poinsettia images. I lined up the masks over the flowers, & laid my stencil over the panel. I pounced leafing glue through the stencil with a makeup wedge. I removed the stencil & flower masks, & let the glue dry for about half an hour until it was tacky. Then I cut a piece of Opal DecoFoil to size & laid it over my panel. To transfer the foil, I put the panel between the plates for my die cutting machine, covered it with a piece of copy paper to keep the plate from marking it up, & ran it through my machine. Much to my delight, it worked like a charm! I love how the opal foil adds interest, but doesn't overwhelm the poinsettias.

I used a greeting from Gina K's "Holiday Wreath Builder" stamp set. I heat embossed it with Antique Gold onto a scrap of the Dark Seas cardstock, & die cut it with a Spellbinders "Lacey Circles" die (discontinued). And I hated it! I just didn't like the way the die cut blended in with the background too much. So I tried again with a lighter blue cardstock, & liked that much better. To give it a bit of dimension, I die cut another circle from the lighter blue, & then layered those & the Dark Seas die cut together. Finally, I glued it centered onto my panel. I adhered my panel to a white card base, & that wrapped this up! I am so happy with this card, AND the fact that I finally got that inside panel into a card. :)

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

613 Avenue Create: September "Anything Goes" (not playing the optional twist)

Paper Funday Challenge #69: "Anything Goes" (playing the make your own background twist)

Double Trouble #175: "Any Way You Punch It"

Oh Holy Night

For this week at Christmas Card Throwdown, they have had a sketch challenge. I kept to the sketch pretty literally, but made a square card instead of rectangular.

I have not done Distress Oxide ink smooshing on photo paper for a long time. So I decided to do that for my background. I used a few blues & a purple, and applied the inks to my non-stick craft mat, 1 or 2 colors at a time. After I spritzed the ink with water, I smooshed my glossy photo paper face down into the puddles & droplets of ink. I repeated this process several times, drying the ink between layers with a hair dryer. By drying each layer of ink before adding more, you can layer the colors rather than having everything just mush together into one overall color.

After I had added several layers of ink, I dried it one last time. It always looks like a chalky hot mess at this point in the technique. To make the magic happen, I dampened a cloth with water & wiped it over the paper surface. That removes the chalkiness & reveals the beautiful colors that you built up. Once I had removed all the chalkiness, I set that aside to dry while I worked on the rest of my card.

I stamped the Magi silhouette image from Paper Smooches' "A Blessed Christmas" set (discontinued) onto white cardstock with clear embossing ink. I sprinkled on Stampendous Marcasite embossing powder & used my heat tool to melt that. I used a craft knife to cut out the few "inner" negative portions of the image, then fussy cut around the perimeter with my scissors. I then "painted" the edges of the cardstock with a dark grey marker, so the white cardstock core didn't show. For the ground, I added embossing ink to a 1/2" strip of cardstock, & heat embossed with more of the Marcasite powder.

To add some interest to my background panel, I splattered some White Gold shimmery watercolor from the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set over the paper. I dried that with my hair dryer, & then glued the heat embossed pieces to the panel. I stamped my greeting, from the same set as the image, with Cotton White StazOn ink.

I cut 2 triangles from a scrap of silver handmade paper from my stash. I adhered those to the corners of a panel of teal cardstock that I'd mounted to a 4-1/4" square card base, & then adhered my main panel on top.

I am also entering this card in the following challenges:

Ellibelle's Corner Crafty Wednesday August Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Paper Funday Challenges #68: "Anything Goes"

Orchid Happy Birthday

I created this card to send to a woman whose birthday is this month. She is battling cancer, so needs all the good vibes she can get.

I used Sketch #SC641 from Splitcoaststampers.com as the basis for my design. I began by die cutting the pieces for the Hero Arts "Color Layering Orchid in a Pot" stamp set (discontinued). The stem & flowers are especially fiddly, so by die cutting first I could make sure to have everything lined up with the die properly. I taped the pieces on the back into the negative space, to make it easier to stamp on them. I decided to go with purple for the flowers, & used a light brown for the stem pieces. I stamped the pot with teal ink, then - without moving the stamp or cardstock in my MISTI stamp positioner tool - added Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink with a sponge dauber to one side of the stamp. It took a couple of stampings to achieve the look I wanted, but this added a bit of shading to the pot.

I die cut a pink panel with Spellbinders' "Grateful Lattice" die (discontinued), & layered it on top of another panel cut from the same cardstock. I cut the curved edge with Simon Says Stamp's "A2 Card Curved Edge" die. I added that panel with a couple of other strips to my A2-size card base.

For the greeting, I pulled out the Hero Arts "Year Round Sentiments" stamp set (discontinued) - an oldie but a goodie. I stamped the Happy Birthday onto a strip of white cardstock with one of the purple inks I'd used for the flowers. To mirror the curve on the pink panel, I used an oval die to trace a curve onto the end of my greeting strip, then cut it with scissors. I adhered the strip to my card, and then glued down the die cut pieces to build my orchid. I am really happy with how this card turned out, & hopefully the recipient will be, too.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero April 2024 Challenge: "Anniversary/Birthday"

Double Trouble: "SomeThing, AnyThing, EveryThing"

Have an Ex-STRAW-dinary Birthday

The theme for the current Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero challenge is "Happy Anniversary." (Birthday-themed cards are also allowed.) I needed a birthday card for a friend of mine. She loves gardening, so I thought the "Strawberries Line Art" stamp set by Hero Arts would be perfect. I think she'll also get a kick out of the greeting!

I used Sketch #SC939 from Splitcoaststampers.com to guide the design for my card. I began by die cutting a circle from 140 lb. watercolor paper, then measured & cut off a portion, as per the sketch. I temporarily adhered the semi-circle onto my card background to make it easier to stamp on, & used my MISTI stamp positioner to stamp the image. While I had the image adhered to the navy panel, I went ahead & heat embossed the greeting, from the same stamp set, with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold embossing powder. Finally, I removed the watercolor paper from my background, painted the strawberries with my watercolors, & used a white gel pen to highlight the seeds.

I adhered the image panel permanently to the background. I added a length of red-&-white checked ribbon as indicated in the sketch. For the 3 dots in the upper left corner, I punched circles from a scrap of white cardstock & glued them to my panel as a guide. I made a puddle of glue over each circle, then sprinkled on more Antique Gold embossing powder. After I let the glue dry, I melted the powder with my heat gun. To finish the card, I mounted the panel to a white A2-size card base.

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

Ellibelle's Corner/Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday: "Anything Goes" (in conjunction with Double Trouble)

Double Trouble Challenge #165: "SomeThing, AnyThing, EveryThing"

Happy Holidays Shaker Card

The current theme for Christmas Card Throwdown's challenge is shaker cards. I decided to challenge myself further & make a shaker card using 4 stamps from Hero Arts' "North Pole Express" set & their coordinating dies to make one window. I'm happy to report I succeeded! :)

I did a test run for the image stamping & die cutting on scrap cardstock to make sure my idea would work before going to my "good" paper. This also gave me a template to help me line up my images on my card panels. I cut 2 pieces of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to 5-1/2x4-1/4". I positioned the first in my MISTI stamp positioning tool, & lined up my test run guide with that to place the first stamp. I stamped that in Versafine Onyx Black ink, and without moving my stamp, repeated on the second piece of bristol paper. I did this for each of the other stamps to create my train. Stamping both panels at the same time ensured that my images on the background would line up with the window on the front panel.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my stash to the same size as my bristol panels, & used low-tack painter's tape to attach it temporarily to the back of one of my bristol panels. I lined up one of the coordinating dies over the stamped image on the bristol, & die cut it through both the bristol & patterned paper panels. I did this process for each of the other images, and then removed the tape attaching the two panels. I adhered the patterned paper panel to the front of the bristol panel, making sure the die cut openings lined up. I adhered a piece of acetate to the back of this panel, & added 2 layers of foam tape to create the well for my clear seed beads. I added the beads into the well, and adhered a second piece of acetate to the back to seal my shaker. This is a tip I got from Nina-Marie Trapani, which both helps shaker bits move more freely & makes it easier to line up the shaker over an image panel.

On my other bristol panel, I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color the images. I adhered my shaker panel over that, making sure to line up the window opening with the images. I used liquid glue to stick the "inner" pieces of patterned paper from the die cuts to the shaker window. I stamped my greeting, also from "North Pole Express," in Lawn Fawn's Guava ink onto a scrap of white cardstock & cut that into a banner. Finally, I adhered my banner in place & added my card front to a white A2-size card base. I am so happy with how this card came out, & as a bonus, I have 4 more of these images that I can color & add to another card!

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

Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero October challenge: "Holiday/Celebrate"

Send a Smile 4 Kids: "Holiday/Celebration Cards 4 Kids"

My Favorite Things: "Ready, Set, Christmas"

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

Merry Christmas Mouse

This week's challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown is "Christmas Cup." I have had this panel with the "Sweet Cocoa" digital image from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps on my desk for at least a year or 2, waiting for me to color it & make a card around it. This challenge inspired me finally to do just that!

To create the original focal panel, I opened the image in Photoshop & resized it to fit a panel as per an old Operation Write Home sketch. I typed the Merry Christmas words along the rim of the cup, making sure to delete the text where Cocoa's paws covered it, just to increase the realism. Then I printed it onto a piece of Canson XL Mixed Media paper. And, as I said, it has sat on my desk ever since.

I used my Prismacolor pencils to color the image, & then matted it with red cardstock. I adhered 2 scraps of patterned paper from my stash to a panel of the same red cardstock, & adhered my focal panel. I glued 3 buttons to my card front, let the glue dry (well, mostly - I did get impatient!), & then pierced holes through the buttons into my background and stitched through the buttons with white crochet twine. I had to squirt a little more glue under the buttons, just to anchor them further. (I did let that dry thoroughly!) Finally, I added my card front to a white A2 card base.

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

My Favorite Things: "Ready, Set, Christmas"

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

Send a Smile 4 Kids "Holiday/Celebration Cards 4 Kids"

Merry Christmas Wreath

I am so happy & excited to be the guest designer for Christmas Card Throwdown! The challenge this week is to use red & brown on your card. So get out those inks, stamps, dies, & papers and get making!

This color scheme made me think of a rustic look. Which led me to kraft cardstock. I wanted to try stamping a wreath with Distress Oxide inks, using Gina K Designs "Holiday Wreath Builder" set & her Wreath Builder template. I die cut a 4" square of kraft, & stamped the flowers, berries, & berry branches with different red inks. I also brought in Vintage Photo ink for the pinecones. I had to stamp the red elements 2-3 times each, but I was just glad that it worked out. Then I had to decide what to do with my panel!

I didn't want just to slap the square on a card, add a greeting, & call it done. So I die cut the wreath out with circle dies. I didn't like the doughnut look of it, so I figured I'd try fussy cutting. I took a cue from Kristina Werner, & penciled an cutting line around the inside & outside of my wreath first. If you make an errant pencil line, it's easy to erase. An errant cut with scissors is impossible to fix. I fussy cut the inside first, which wasn't easy! But I took my time, & it worked. The outside perimeter was much easier. After I finished cutting, I erased any pencil lines that still showed.

I stamped my background panel with Altenew's "Wood Pallet Background" (discontinued) & Gina K Charcoal Brown ink. Then I blended over that with Walnut Stain Distress ink. I wanted a bit more shading around the edges, so I brought in a bit of Black Soot Distress ink.

For the greeting, I stamped the Merry Christmas from Hero Arts' "Color Layering Gingerbread House" set (discontinued) onto a scrap of kraft cardstock with Lumberjack Plaid Distress Oxide ink. I added clear embossing powder over that, & melted it with my heat tool so I could do a bit of emboss resist. I cut the greeting out with a Spellbinders "Grommet Tags" die (discontinued). I put the die cut back in the die, & inked through the opening with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink, just to provide a bit of contrast.

I adhered my wreath to my background with foam tape, & glued the greeting label down flat. After I matted my panel with red cardstock that I'd adhered to a white A2-size card base, I added Bright Gold Nuvo Crystal drops to the label to look like decorative nail heads. I went over the berries on the wreath with Rhubarb Crumble Nuvo Crystal drops for a bit of added shine & interest. And that finished off this card! I am happy with how the card came out in the end. Now it's your turn to make a red & brown Christmas card (or more than 1!) and enter it in this week's challenge. Have fun!