Two Holiday Cards

This is the fifth year for the Caring Hearts Card Drive, to collect cards to distribute to nursing home residents who might not otherwise get holiday cards. I made these cards to send in.

I began my first card by die cutting a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper with the smaller of Mama Elephant's "Femme Frames" dies. I stamped the cardinal and one of the greetings from this set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps on that. I taped the panel to a cutting board that I use for watercoloring, masking off the area around the faux stitching lines to create a mat. After coloring the image with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush, I blended Tumbled Glass Distress ink over the background, being careful not to go over the cardinal.

I die cut a piece of dark green cardstock using the scalloped frame die from the "Femme Frames" set. I blended Antique Linen Distress ink on the front of a white A2 card base, and finished by matting the focal panel and adhering that to the card base.

For my second card, I chose this sketch by Operation Write Home:

I created the focal image by combining the "Snowman Birdie Feeder" image from Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps with the "Snow Globe Gala" digital stamp set by Doodle Pantry. I colored the image with colored pencils, blending the colors in the base & topper of the snow globe with Gamsol on a paper stump. Finally, I inked around the edges of the panel with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.25x5.5", and adhered it to an A2 card base. I had to cut the 3 strips of navy cardstock slightly wider than indicated in the sketch, to accommodate the snowflake buttons. I adhered the strips and the focal panel to the card front, and glued the buttons down with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

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

Ho^3

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having another "Stella's Sketch" challenge. The only real requirement is that the sketch is obvious in the finished card. The sketch for this challenge is Sketch #219:

I decided to flip it horizontally. Since I used a patterned paper for my background, I also left off the 3 round embellishments under the focal panel. The tricky part for me about using sketches that don't have measurements is trying to work out proportions of the elements. So I turned to Photoshop to work out my measurements. I created a blank canvas at 4.25x5.5" (the size of a standard A2 card), and digitally drew my elements on that. I also added the image I used, to get it sized perfectly. After noting the size of each, I just had to print it out.

For my focal image, I used this one from Bugaboo Stamps. I printed it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. After this dried, I matted it on a piece of dark green cardstock, leaving a 1/16" border all around.

I die cut an oval from a piece of gingerbread man patterned paper (from my scrap stash), using one of Spellbinders' "Classic Ovals" dies. I glued it onto the same dark green cardstock, and trimmed around it to create an approximately 1/16" mat.

Unfortunately, I don't know who made the stamp set I got the greeting from. I've been wanting to used that Ho-cubed stamp for quite some time. Since this card is intended for a child, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. In case you're wondering, Ho^3 equals "ho ho ho" in mathematical terms. :) I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto a scrap of brown cardstock, and cut it into a banner shape.

After cutting another piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.25x5.5", I started assembling my card front. I glued the oval piece partially behind the focal panel, and glued that to the patterned paper panel. I glued the banner over top of everything, and finally adhered the completed card front to an A2 card base. I have already sent this card on to Send a Smile 4 Kids, hopefully to brighten the holiday for a hospitalized child.

Snowman Birthday

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is celebrating their November release with a blog hop & challenge to create a wintry birthday card. This is my creation for that challenge.

I used the following sketch from Operation Write Home for my design:

For once, I stayed exactly true to the sketch, with no alterations. :)

I combined 2 digital images for the focal panel on my card. I used Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Winter Friends" for the scene inside one of Doodle Pantry's "Snow Globe Gala" images. After printing it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, I colored it with watercolor pencils and a damp paintbrush to blend the colors. I wanted a softer look, since it is such a relatively small image, so I didn't use my Inktense pencils this time. After coloring in the globe part, I added snowflakes with a white gel pen. I also added some shimmer with a gold gel pen to the decorative detailing on the snow globe topper & base.

I created the greeting in Photoshop. I admit, the wording is probably a bit of a stretch, but I wanted to make this card as wintry--and cute--as possible! :) After getting everything formatted and sized, I printed it on a piece of white cardstock.

I chose two patterned papers from my scrap stash for the remaining 2 blocks on the card. I wanted to warm the card up just a bit, so I decided to use a pink cardstock for the background. I felt it tied in well with the pink retro snowflakes in the larger piece of patterned paper, as well as the pink birdhouse. This is definitely a feminine birthday card! After arranging and gluing down all the panels, I adhered the completed card front to a white A2-size card base. I will be sending this card to Operation Write Home.

Happy Day!

A friend of ours recently had a birthday, so I created this card for her. My inspiration came from a project that Yana Smakula did for Online Card Classes' "Watercolor for Card Makers" class earlier this year.

I first embossed the bicycle into a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, using Spellbinders' InSpire "Bicycle" die and the embossing sandwich for my Grand Calibur machine. I next wet the bottom of the paper with clear water, and painted it with green watercolor. After that dried, I wet the sky area, and used blue to paint that. For the bicycle, I wet each area separately, and dropped pigment onto the wet paper, letting the water help blend the color.

I die cut 3 balloons from patterned papers in my scrap stash using the smallest die from Simon Says Stamp's "Balloons" die set. I adhered them in place, popping the yellow balloon up on foam tape, and the blue one with a double layer of foam tape. I tied a piece of black thread in a bow around the bottom of each (not an easy task!). I added a small drop of Ranger Multi Medium in the matte finish to each knot, just to make sure it stayed in place. Finally, I pierced a hole through the paper under the bicycle saddle, and threaded the long end of each thread through that, and secured them on the back with a piece of tape.

I stamped the cloud image from this set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps onto a scrap of white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and die cut it with the coordinating die. I stamped the greeting from the same set on that piece. I also stamped & die cut the sun from yellow patterned paper, adding the smiley face to the center. I adhered the sun directly to the background, and popped the cloud up with foam tape.

I double-matted the watercolor panel with yellow & green cardstocks, before adhering it to a 5.5x8.5" card base. I felt the sun and balloons needed something extra, so I added some shimmer to the sun with my clear Wink of Stella brush pen, and a coat of Glossy Accents to each balloon. And, I might add, our friend really liked the card!

Peace & Joy

This card is my final entry in Hero Arts' Holiday Challenge ("Mad About Metallics" & "Anything Goes" categories). This time, I decided to create a card for us to send out to a friend or family member. I'm sadly behind on these cards!

I chose this Operation Write Home sketch as the basis for my design:

It so happened that I have a Spellbinders "Standard Circles SM" die that is exactly 3" diameter, so that worked out perfectly for this sketch!

I opened the dove from Hero Arts' "Swirl Christmas" digital set in Photoshop. After changing the color to a light blue, I added a digital patterned paper from Dreamees to it using a clipping mask, lowering the opacity of the pattern to let the blue show through a bit. I printed the image onto a sheet of copy paper, and temporarily adhered my die cut circle over it, getting it as centered as possible. Then I ran that through the printer again, printing the dove onto the white cardstock circle. Finally, I inked around the perimeter with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink.

For the background, I cut a piece of dark blue cardstock to 4.25x5.5". I also cut a piece of patterned paper to 2.5x5.5", and a strip of silver glitter paper to go behind the focal panel (sources of both papers unknown). I adhered the patterned paper to the top of the blue cardstock, and adhered the glitter paper strip in place.

I stamped a greeting from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message" set onto the lower right corner of the background, and heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. Finally, I glued my focal piece in place, and adhered the entire front to an A2 card base. And that finished off this card. Once I got the dove worked out, it really went pretty quickly. I think this card would be easy to make multiples of.

I'm also entering this in a2z Scrapbooking's November challenge: "Anything Goes."

Merry Christmas

Hero Arts is having a holiday challenge at their blog. I created this card with that challenge in mind. I'm entering it in 2 categories: "Mad About Metallics" & "Anything Goes."

I began by choosing this sketch by Operation Write Home:

I chose a patterned paper from my scrap stash, and die cut it with the scalloped frame from Mama Elephant's "Femme Frames" set. To create the mats, I cut pieces of white cardstock, inked around the edges with Versamark, and sprinkled on Ranger Gold embossing powder. After melting the powder with my heat tool, I had to apply more Versamark and embossing powder, since I'd missed some spots. I glued the patterned paper piece to the larger mat, and set that under a book to dry and flatten, since the heat from the heat tool had warped the cardstock significantly.

After printing the tree from this Hero Arts digital set onto white cardstock, I die cut it with one of Spellbinders' "Classic Ovals" dies. I inked the edges with Delicata Golden Glitz pigment ink, to tie in with the gold from the patterned paper and embossed mats.

I laid the die cut oval over the now-dry background, and positioned the green cardstock strip, without adhering anything down. I just wanted to see exactly where to stamp my greeting. I chose a greeting from Hero Arts "Merry Christmas Message" set, & stamped it in Versamark onto the green cardstock. I heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder.

Finally, I matted the green cardstock with the other gold embossed piece, and glued that to the card front. I glued the focal panel on top, & added dots of Christmas Red Stickles to the tree for ornaments. After inking a scrap of white cardstock with more Delicata ink and zapping it with my heat tool to set it, I die cut the star using one of My Favorite Things' "Blueprints 13" dies, and glued it to the top of the tree. I will be sending this to this year's Caring Hearts Card Drive.

I'm also entering this card in a2z Scrapbooking's November challenge: "Anything Goes."

Sweets for the Snowman

(This is my second post today. You can find my Guest DT post for Send a Smile 4 Kids here.)

The theme for the current challenge at Bugaboo Digi Stamp's challenge blog is "Show Us Your Food." I decided to use this cute marshmallow snowman with the giant candy cane.

I knew I wanted a large panel to showcase the image, and the following sketch from Operation Write Home fit the bill:

This sketch is not new to me, but I had never been able to figure out what to do with that 1" square on the right. It just seemed like an odd design element. But I finally decided to go for it and use this sketch for my card. I ended up using a snowflake button in place of the square.

I cut a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper to size, and printed the image on that. I colored it in with Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to blend the colors and add shading.

After I'd finished the coloring, I smooshed some Tumbled Glass Distress ink onto an acrylic block. I wet the are of the sky with clean water, and then applied a wash of Tumbled Glass to it, blending it out until I got the look I wanted. Then I set that panel aside to dry.

I used 2 patterned papers from my scrap stash for the background. I cut the blue stripe piece to 4.25x5.5", and added the 1.5x4.25" polka dot strip about 1" up from the bottom of the blue piece. When the focal panel had dried, I adhered that, centered on the background. I threaded blue embroidery floss through the button, tying it in a knot, and glued the button in place with a little Ranger Multi Medium (matte finish). And that finished off this card. Very simple design and coloring, but I think the relatively large image has impact. I will be donating this card to this year's Caring Hearts Card Drive, so it will hopefully cheer up a nursing home resident this holiday season!