Be Merry

This is yet another card I did for Splitcoaststampers' Falliday Fest. The challenge was to make a card with an owl. I've had Hero Arts' "Curious Owl" stamp for at least a few years now, and I just get a hoot out of the expression on his face! Did you catch the pun there? :) I thought, since I'm in holiday card mode, it would be fun to put a Santa hat on him. He just has this "Good grief" expression--it seemed like a perfect combination! LOL

I stamped my owl onto a scrap of 140 lb. watercolor paper, with Hero Arts Cup o' Joe ink. I colored him with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick up & blend the color. When I finished, I let him dry, then fussy cut him out. I glued him to a red oval I'd cut with a Spellbinders "Classic Ovals SM" die. I also went over his pupils with a black glaze pen, and when that had dried, I added catch lights with a white gel pen, just to make his eyes pop.

I cut strips of patterned paper (from my scrap stash), and adhered them to a red card front, leaving a 1/8" mat on all sides. I stamped my greeting, from My Favorite Things' "Joyous Christmas Sentiments," in Versafine Onyx Black ink onto the dotted patterned paper. I figured, with such bold letters, it would stand out on the patterned paper, especially stamped in black. So I didn't bother adding another layer for the greeting. I then adhered my owl oval in place.

For the Santa hat, I just freehand cut one from red felt. I had to do a bit of fiddling to get the sizing right. I cut a brim from white felt, and glued it to the red with fabric glue. I glued the hat to my card, and added a white pompom, using fabric glue for everything to make sure it would stay stuck. I laid some acrylic blocks on top, to hold it down while the glue dried. After everything had dried for a few hours, I adhered the card front to a white A2 card base. I really love how this turned out, and hopefully whoever gets it will too! :)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday "Anything Goes"
a2z Scrapbooking's October Challenge: "Layer It"
Aud Sentiments: "Cute + a Sentiment"

Joy

This is another card I did for Falliday Fest at Splitcoaststampers.com. The theme was "Blue Christmas." I used Hero Arts' "Joy to the World" stamp set for the triangles, and My Favorite Things' "Joyous Christmas Sentiments" for the greeting.

I started by stamping my background. I traced a 4" circle onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. Using a hexagon template I got online & my MISTI, I stamped the triangle 6 times around the circle in Versamark. Then I heat embossed those with Ranger Silver embossing powder. I inked the circle with Faded Jeans Distress ink (in the center), and going out to Blueprint Sketch, & Chipped Sapphire around the edge. I used a water brush to "paint" some of the smaller triangles with plain water, and blotted up the water/ink to bleach the areas, just for some added interest.

For the greeting, I stamped the "Joy" onto another scrap of watercolor paper, and heat embossed it. I die cut that with a Spellbinders "Standard Circles LG" die, and inked it with Faded Jeans. I went around the edges with Blueprint Sketch, just to help tie it in with the background. I then popped it up over the center of my background. I die cut a silver shimmer paper mat with a "Nesting Scallop" die from Lifestyle Crafts, and adhered my inked circle to that. I die cut another scalloped circle, scored 1/2" from one edge, and adhered the top to the back of my card front to create the card base.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's October Challenge: "Layer It"
Die Cut Divas "October is the Time to Emboss"

Peace Cardinal

The past couple of weeks, I've been participating in Splitcoaststampers.com's Falliday Fest. It's a series of 30 card challenges & 10 tutorials, and has been a lot of fun. This is one of the cards I created for that.

I recently got Hero Arts' "Color Layering Cardinal" stamp set & dies. We had a friend some years ago who loved cardinals, and I guess she passed that love on to me. So when I saw this stamp set, I knew I had to have it!

For this card, I stamped the cardinal on white cardstock, using Hero Arts Fresh Peach ink for the base layer, and Memento Lady Bug & Rhubarb Stalk for the second and third layers, respectively. I stamped the face & eye in Versafine Onyx Black, and the feet in Rhubarb Stalk. I must say, not having much experience with color layering stamps, this one is not too hard to work with. The only part I messed up was the black, and mostly because I wasn't sure what to line it up with. Thankfully, I had stamped 3 birds, so I just "ignored" the one I messed up! :) After I'd finished stamping, I die cut the body & legs with the coordinating dies, and added a bit of white gel pen to emphasize the highlight in the eye.

To create the sky area, I blended Distress inks in Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, & Chipped Sapphire onto a panel of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper. I spritzed the panel with water from my Distress Sprayer, let it sit for several seconds, and blotted up the water. I dried that, inked over it again, & repeated the water "bleaching" process. I really like the effect doing this twice gave. I think it really adds more depth than just inking and bleaching once.

I cut a piece of white cardstock to A2 size, and die cut an oval from the center with the smallest of Spellbinders' "Grand Ovals Nestabilities" (no longer available) Then I ran it through my die cutting machine again, with the "Snowflakes" embossing folder from Darice.

For the greeting, I stamped the "peace" from the same stamp set in Rhubarb Stalk, and die cut it with one of the "Labels" dies from Sizzix/Tim Holtz. I inked the edges with Stormy Sky. I stamped & die cut the berry & small pine needle images with Memento Lady Bug & Cottage Ivy inks, and die cut them as well. I layered those behind the greeting, and added foam tape to the back.

I marked the position of the oval on my inked background, and used that as a guide to stamp the branch in Hero Arts Cup o' Joe ink. I adhered my frame to the background, and glued the cardinal on top, "sitting" on the branch. Finally, I added my greeting, and mounted the card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's October Challenge: "Layer It"
Die Cut Divas "October is the Time to Emboss"

Thoughts and Prayers

My mom recently learned that a member of her writers group passed away. So she asked me to make a sympathy card that the other members could sign to send to his widow.

I decided to do a white-on-white card. I cut a piece of white cardstock, and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. (Sorry, but it's not labeled & I don't know the name.) I then machine stitched around the perimeter with white thread.

For my greeting, I stamped the prayers & 2 coordinating greetings from Hero Arts' "Prayers" stamp & cut set onto vellum, using Versamark ink. I then heat embossed it with Ranger Silver embossing powder. I trimmed the vellum into a strip, and adhered the ends to the back of my dry-embossed panel.

I cut another piece of white cardstock to slightly smaller than A9 size. I used a Prima stencil (name unknown) and Golden Light Molding Paste to create a pattern at the top right & lower left corners. I let the paste layer kind of fade out, by leaving the edges ragged. After that had dried thoroughly, I adhered my focal panel to the center, and mounted the whole thing on a white card base.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

a2z Scrapbooking's October Challenge: "Layer It"
Die Cut Divas: "Time to Emboss"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

Merry Christmas Cardinal

The theme this week for the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge Blog is "Retro/Vintage." I just got the "Vintage Christmas Post" stamp set & dies, and figured they'd be perfect for this challenge! I also used one of the banners from the Avery Elle "Build a Banner" stamp set, as well as its coordinating die. I got the inspiration for the card design from Dawn Olchefske's tutorial for the Falliday Fest event at Splitcoaststampers.com.

I stamped my cardinal in Charcoal ink onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media Paper. I also stamped the greenery in Forever Green, the banner in Charcoal, the pine cones in Cup o' Joe, & the greeting in Red Royal (all Hero Arts shadow inks). I colored the cardinal with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to apply the color. I discovered, looking at a photo of a cardinal for reference, that the black area around his face wasn't large enough as drawn on the stamp, so I extended it with a black Inktense pencil. After I finished coloring, I let that dry, and then die cut all my images with their coordinating dies.

I created my card base, following Dawn's instructions, from burgundy cardstock. I cut my patterned paper from one of the "Christmas Carol" 6x6" papers by Graphic45. The paper is double-sided, so I just flipped it over for the other triangle panels. After I adhered my paper panels, I went ahead & glued on my elements, with the banner overlapping the opening in the card. I made sure not to apply glue to the point that I would adhere my card shut, however!

Inside of card

For the inside, I cut a panel from more Mixed Media Paper, and stamped a greeting from Hero Arts' "Joy to the World" set in Red Royal ink. I adhered that inside the card, and this was done!

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

a2z Scrapbooking's October Challenge: "Layer It"
Through the Craft Room Door: "Anything Goes"

Happy Birthday - with a Surprise!

Online Card Classes' "Wild Card" class is winding down this week, but I still found time to create a card inspired by Jennifer McGuire's lesson on Day 3.

I created my A2 card base from Simon Says Stamp's Fog cardstock. I placed it in my MISTI, and stamped the front with the "Painted Diamonds Background" stamp from Hero Arts. I then heat embossed that with Ranger Silver Pearl embossing powder, to give a subtle, shimmery tone-on-tone design.

I used Essentials by Ellen vellum for my belly band. I die cut a balloon with one of Lawn Fawn's "Party Balloons" dies, and attached that to the vellum strip with temporary adhesive. Then I stamped the greeting, from "Big Birthday Wishes" (Simon Says Stamp), in Versamark ink over both pieces, and heat embossed with Stampendous Sapphire PEARLustre embossing powder. Since the embossing powder didn't stick "cleanly" where the balloon overlapped the vellum, I removed the balloon, touched up the blank areas with a glue pen, applied more powder, and melted it. Finally, I glued the balloon in place permanently.

Inside of card

I die cut more balloons from paper scraps using another "Party Balloons" die. I adhered them to the inside, and tied lengths of crochet thread around the bottoms. To secure the thread, I added a dot of Perfect Paper Adhesive to each balloon, and after that dried, cut the strings. And that finished off this card!

Thank You Flower

My mom had a birthday recently, and received gifts from several people. So she asked me to create thank you cards that she could use to send to them. I have been taking Online Card Classes' "Wild Card" class, & decided to make a shaped thank you card, based on Debby Hughes' lesson on Day 1 of class.

I used the largest of DoCrafts' Xcut "Flower Bloom" dies to cut my card front & base pieces. I cut the front out of 140 lb. Strathmore watercolor paper. I then stamped the greeting (Stampabilities' "Thank You Circle Seal") in Versamark ink in the center of my flower, and heat embossed it with Recollections Snow embossing powder.

To color my flower, I used fingertip sponge daubers. I blended Crushed Olive Distress ink over the flower center first, spreading the color a little beyond the greeting. Then I blended Wild Honey Distress ink, starting from the outer edges with a heavier application, and getting lighter as I went towards the center. I had thought about spritzing it with water, but liked how it turned out so well that I just left it as is. Finally, I created my card base and adhered my main panel to the front of that.