JOY

I must admit, over the past couple of weeks, I really went to town making holiday cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids. I didn't finish as many as I would have liked, but I got several done any way.

For this card I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #163:

I didn't do the small squares, but just had my image take up the whole focal panel.

I used the "Penguin Joy" digi image from Bugaboo Stamps. I printed it on 140 lb. watercolor paper, and colored it with Inktense pencils & a damp paintbrush. I added Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique to the snow clumps on the letters, and heated that after it had dried to puff it up. I also added clear Wink of Stella to the letters, the little heart on the penguin, and the snow on the ground. For the sky, I applied a wash of Broken China Distress ink. Then I set that aside to dry.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to the size in the sketch, and adhered it to a piece of green cardstock I'd cut to cover the front of my white A2 card base. When my focal panel had dried, I adhered that in place. Very simple. The longest parts of the process were choosing my design & coloring the image.

Merry Christmas from Mimi

I have another card that I sent to Send a Smile 4 Kids. This one uses one of the images from "Mimi's Winter Friends" by Penny Black. I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #110 for my design:

I stamped Mimi on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper that I'd die cut with the Lawn Fawn "Stitched Journaling Card" die. Because I wanted to watercolor her, I used Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I colored her with my Inktense pencils and a damp paintbrush. Once I'd finished, I wet the area below her with clean water, and added a wash of Pumice Stone Distress ink. I did the same for the sky, using Broken China Distress ink.

I sat back & looked at it--and thought, this is supposed to be a winter card. In particular, a winter card that's going to a child up north, where it snows. It should have snow on the ground instead of dirt! (In my defense, here in Texas we don't get much snow. Dirt is very realistic for winter scenes!) I was not about to scrap it and start over completely, though. So I went over the Pumice Stone area with white gesso. The Pumice Stone reactivated enough to color the gesso, so it's not just stark white, but I think that looks better than just white. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! LOL) When the gesso dried, I stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message," with Archival Jet Black ink.

I cut a piece of green patterned paper from my scrap stash to 4.25x5.5", and adhered it to the front of a white A2 card base. I also cut 3 strips from a piece of pink paper from BoBunny's "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" pad. I punched 3 snowflakes from white glitter cardstock with an old EK Success punch, and glued them to the ends of my pink strips. I measured where to adhere my strips, and put them in place. Then I adhered my focal panel, and I was done!

Merry & Bright

I know I said I'm not a one-layer card kind of gal (layer withdrawal, anyone? LOL), but I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment sometimes. I decided to do one more for a2z Scrapbooking's challenge this month. Since I knew I wanted to do a bit of watercoloring, I created my card base from Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper.

I used 2 stamps from a new-to-me set by Hero Arts, "Joy to the World." I put my card base in my MISTI, and used my grid template overlay to help me line up my greeting & one of the "tree" stamps. Then I picked the stamps up with the door on my MISTI, and used Versamark ink to stamp them on the card. I sprinkled on Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and melted it with my heat gun. Then I masked off the tree. I stamped the second tree, and sprinkled on embossing powder. That's when I realized my mistake.

I wanted my third (right hand) tree to go in front of the middle tree, so I should have stamped & embossed that first. No big problem, though, since I realized this before I melted my embossing powder on the second tree. I just positioned my stamp, and stamped it in Versamark, overlapping the middle tree slightly. I brushed away the embossing powder from the middle tree where they overlapped, and sprinkled powder onto my third tree. Then I heat set both trees. You can't even tell I goofed--whew!

Once my embossing had cooled, I brushed clean water over the greeting & trees. Then I smooshed Evergreen Bough Distress ink onto an acrylic block, and picked it up with a wet paintbrush. I daubed it onto the wet areas of my paper, letting it bleed and blend. Then I dried that with my heat tool, and went over those areas with Pine Needles Distress ink and a wet brush. When I had the depth of color I wanted, I dried it again.

At this point, I felt the greeting & images looked a bit disconnected. So I added some splatters of Heidi Swapp Color Shine mist in the Tinsel color. This gives it added interest, and I think just helps to pull the design together. Once that had dried, I put my card under a book, since the watercoloring & heating had warped it a bit. I left it there for a few hours, and it flattened out nicely!

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

Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday: "Make a Holiday Card"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Anything Goes"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

You're Cool

I just wrapped up making holiday cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids. I have had the "Arctic Penguins" and "Jolly and Merry" stamp sets from Mama Elephant for several months, and haven't used them much, since I couldn't really come up with any ideas. Finally, I thought to do a search for "Arctic Penguins" on Pinterest (head slap!). I found lots of ideas there, including the one that inspired this card.

I used the "Stitched Film Strip" die from Pretty Pink Posh. Because the die isn't long enough for what I wanted to do, I had to do a little creative die cutting. I first cut all but one end from some black paper. Then I lined up the die with where I'd already cut, extending it up the paper more, and finished cutting the filmstrip. I didn't really cut both ends "closed," since my paper wasn't long enough, but I had to cut it a little shorter anyway, so it worked out.

I stamped 4 of the penguins on white cardstock with Versafine Onyx Black ink, cut them with the coordinating dies, and colored their beaks with an orange marker. I placed them behind the filmstrip frames, and marked where to cut them so they wouldn't stick out beyond the edges. After trimming them, I glued them to the back of the frame. Then I took a strip of patterned paper from BoBunny's "Candy Cane Lane" 6x6" pad and adhered it to the back of the filmstrip & penguins.

After I adhered the filmstrip in place, I placed the card in my MISTI. I used my grid template to line up the greeting, from "Jolly and Merry," and stamped it on my card in Versafine. All I had left to do was trim off the filmstrip where it hung over the edges, and another holiday card was done!

Peace Crystals

a2z Scrapbooking is having a "One Layer Holiday Card" challenge at their blog. I will be the first to admit, I am not a one-layer kind of girl. It's not that I find them overly difficult; I just love my layers! But I decided to give it a go for this challenge. I really should probably do more cards like this, since it came together super quick.

I used Hero Arts' "Christmas Crystals" stamp set for my card. After creating a card base from Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper, I placed it in my MISTI and positioned my stamps. Once I had them where I wanted them--and STRAIGHT!--I picked them up with the door of my MISTI, and inked them with Versamark. I stamped the images & greeting, and then heat embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder.

Once the embossing had cooled, I used 3 of my Zig Clean Color pens to color the crystals. I basically traced around the embossed lines, and then used a damp paintbrush to pull the color out into the center of each facet.

When the color had dried, I drew a line with a fine-tip black pen from each crystal up to the top of my card front. I tied 3 little bows with crochet thread, and glued them to the tops of the crystals. And that finished this card. Like I said, quick & easy. But oh, that layer withdrawal...! LOL

Thinking of You at Christmas

Ellen Hutson is currently having their November Pin-Sights challenge. They posted the following mood board, as inspiration for participants' projects:

I decided, due to my need for holiday cards, and despite the lack of "regular" Christmas colors in the photos, to make a Christmas card.

I used one of the lessons in May Flaum's "Tried & True Card Designs" class as the inspiration for my design. Basically, the idea is to create a wreath. When I saw the lesson in class, I knew almost immediately which set I wanted to try: Essentials by Ellen's "Bokeh Dots." I've seen holiday wreaths made entirely of ornament balls, and wanted to recreate that look on my card.

I used 3 of the solid dots in the set, with Distress inks in Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, and Tea Dye, as well as Delicata Silvery Shimmer pigment ink. I cut a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper to 3.75x5", and lightly drew a circle on it, using a Spellbinders circle die as a template. I had initially thought, since May did in her lesson, that I would use water during the coloring of my wreath, which is why I used watercolor paper. In the end, I didn't do any watercoloring, but there was no harm done from my paper choice anyway. I stamped the dots around my circle outline, trying to keep a balance of colors & sizes, and keep a fairly circular shape. It's really not quite as easy as you might think!

When I had finished stamping the wreath, I turned to the greeting. So that I wouldn't cover up my wreath too much, I decided to use a vellum strip. I stamped my greeting, from Hero Arts' "Merry Christmas Message," in Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with Ranger Silver embossing powder.

I positioned the strip in place, and folded the ends to the back of my panel, without applying any adhesive. Once I had the placement worked out, I applied tiny dots of glue to the back of the strip, hiding them behind the embossed words, and adhered it to my panel. I also added glue to the ends behind my panel, and stuck them down. I then created a "faux bow," as demonstrated in this tutorial.

For the mat, I was again inspired by the look of a mat on one of May's cards. I cut a piece of white cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and painted along all 4 sides with a paintbrush and clean water. Then I tore the cardstock where I'd wet it, giving me a controlled ragged edge. Finally, I dried the cardstock with my heat tool, inked around the perimeter with Tumbled Glass, and adhered my main panel to it. I inked around the edges of another piece of white cardstock, cut to A2 size, with the Silvery Shimmer Delicata ink, and when that had dried, mounted my matted panel to that. I adhered that to a white A2 card base, and another holiday card is finished!

Send a Smile 4 Kids Holiday Cards

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog is having their "Stella Says Sketch #318" challenge. I actually ended up making 3 holiday cards based on the sketch, to send to Send a Smile 4 Kids:

My first card uses the "Teddy--Present" digi image from Bugaboo Stamps. I printed him on Strathmore smooth bristol paper, and die cut that with one of the tags in Mama Elephant's "Tags a Lot" set. I then colored him in with my Zig Clean Color pens, adding white dots to the box with a gel pen. I inked the edges with Aged Mahogany Distress ink, and added a reinforcer I'd cut from brown cardstock, using a die from "Tags a Lot." I punched a hole through the top, and added some baker's twine.

For the background, I cut a piece of red cardstock to 4.25x5.5", and printed my greeting, from Doodle Pantry, directly on it. I cut a strip of paper from The Paper Studio's "Christmas Candyland" patterned paper pad, and punched one long edge with Fiskars' "Threading Water" border punch. I adhered that under the greeting, and added my tag. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2 card base, and added 3 dots of Silver Stickles next to the greeting.

My second card uses the "Candycane Stocking" image. I printed this on bristol as well, and colored it with my Clean Color pens. I die cut it with one of Lawn Fawn's "Small Stitched Rectangle" dies, and inked the edges with Aged Mahogany. I printed the greeting on my red background panel, and added a punched strip of paper from Echo Park's "Home for the Holidays" 6x6" pad. After adhering my focal panel, I mounted it on a white A2 card base, and added my Stickle dots.

My final card uses the "Christmas Window--Santa" digi image (discontinued). I again printed this on Bristol, and die cut it with the same "Tags a Lot" die as in my first card. I colored it with my Clean Color pens, adding stars/snowflakes with my white gel pen, and inked the edges of the tag with Aged Mahogany. I cut the hole reinforcer from the same cardstock as the background, punched a hole, and threaded baker's twine through. I printed my greeting, added a strip of paper from The Paper Studio's "Woodland Wonderland" 6x6" pad, glued on my tag, and adhered the panel to a white A2 card base. I added Silver Stickles, and my trio of cards is done!