Winter Wonderland

 Good Morning

One more Christmas card that I didn't get time to post.

I just had to play with this new-to-me Merry stamp and die I got by Taylored Expressions and the newest release in the Distress ink line; Rustic Wilderness.

I added it over a bubble painted background....so fun and easy to do.

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock for my card front panel.  I put some Peacock Feathers Distress and Salty Ocean re-inker into a cup of water, then added some Dawn Dish Soap and mixed it up really well.  That was my bubble solution.
• Using a straw, I blew bubbles into the mixture and then placed my paper over the bubbles to create the bubble front of my card.  I repeated that process until I was happy with the coverage.  It looked a bit flat so I added some Evergreen Bough re-inker to the same mixture and made more bubbles.  I let the panel dry completely before moving onto the next step.
• I placed the piece into my Misti and stamped the snowflakes randomly around the outside edge using some Versamark ink.  I then white heat embossed them all.
• I stamped the 'Merry' over the bubble background in the center of the panel with some Rustic Wilderness ink and clear heat embossed it that gave it great shine.  The 'Merry' stamp comes with a die so I positioned that over the Merry and die cut it out in my Cuttlebug.
• Using the die again and some white cardstock, I cut it out 3 more times and glued them all together with the one I cut from the stamped panel.
• I glued the panel onto a heavy white card base, then I fit the die cuts back into the cut away area and glued them in place.  *by die cutting all the pieces and gluing them together, it raised up the sentiment to make it more prominent on my card front*
• To add interest, I glued some little white pearl dots onto the center of the snowflakes.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Supplies

Stamps- Merry (Taylored Expressions); Snowflakes (Recollections)

Inks- Versamark; Distress Re-inkers (listed above)

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook(

Accessories and Tool- Misti (My Sweet Petunia); clear eb powder; white eb powder; 

Dawn dish soap; straw; Cuttlebug

Oh Christmas Tree

Welcome

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas despite this nasty virus.

I'm in Ontario, Canada and we are in a lock down again although our numbers are not nearly what they are in the U.S.  I'm so thankful that our Government here has taken mandatory steps to help fight this.

I'm off work for awhile, so card making is on the agenda.

I did make this card a few weeks ago but never had time to post it.

So here's what I did to create this card.

• I began with a piece of paint roll off from my brayer when I was using my Gel Plate. (*to clarify:  when you are using a Gel Plate, you must brayer off paint from the plate to make it smooth before taking a print.  I always roll onto scrap paper and keep them for card fronts*) I keep all the roll offs to use as backgrounds or even to use for die-cutting.  This one just had a faint bit of greens on it so that was my starting point.
• I placed the piece into my Misti, then positioned the Evergreen from Darkroom Door, over the painted bkg.  Using my Tombow markers, I coloured directly onto my stamp, sprayed with water and pressed onto the paper.  I repeated that process a number of time using different shades of green inks.  It really does give the appearance of watercolouring.
• When the branches were dry, I used the end of my paintbrush to dot some red paint over the branches to look like berries.  (for some reason they would not photograph red!)
• I stamped the sentiment from SU with some Versafine Clair in the bottom corner and clear heat embossed it.
• To add more interest, I added the green lines using an old credit card rubbed onto my Peeled Paint Distress Oxide pad.  
• I mounted the piece onto some green cardstock, then onto a heavy white card base.
• Lastly, I added 3 little black gems under the sentiment.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Supplies

Stamps- Evergreen (Darkroom Door); Happy Holidays (SU)

Inks- Tombow markers; Versafine Clair; Distress Ox

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook)

Accessories and Tools- Misti (My Sweet Petunia); black gems; Mister (TH); old credit card;

clear eb powder; heat tool; brayer to paint the bkg.

Merry Christmas

 Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you a wonderful day filled with magic and loving memories.

Little Christmas Scene

Merry Christmas and Welcome

Meet today's card.

A simple one featuring a cute little die and this leftover piece of blue inked paper that I used for the sky.

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock that would become the base panel of my card front.  I found this piece of inked blue paper in my stash that would become the sky for my little winter scene.  I think???? I used Distress Oxides to ink it up but it's been sitting in my pile for so long I'm not sure.  (I need to get better at writing on the back of my leftover pieces what I actually did).  I glued that onto the white cardstock.  
• Next, I die cut the Houses on the Hill die from Your Next Stamp and glued that over the blue sky.
• To give the look of snow, I tore some more white cardstock and layered it over to look like little snowbanks.
• Using my white Posca pen, I added the white snow.
• I placed the piece into my Misti and stamped the sentiment from Penny Black with some Versafine Clair ink and clear heat embossed it.  I added 3 black gems under the sentiment.
• For the background blue panel, I took a piece of blue cardstock and scored some lines using my ScorPal.  It really made a difference and added a lot of interest.
• I rounded the corners with my Corner Rounder and then pop dot mounted it over the scored background.
• Lastly, I glued it all onto a heavy white card base.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Supplies

Stamps- Penny Black

Inks- Versafine Clair

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook); blue (Michaels)

Accessories and Tools- ScorPal; die (YNS); black gems; Cuttlebug; Misti (My Sweet Petunia);

clear eb powder; pop dots; Posca Pen

Christmas Snowflakes

Good Morning

Such a busy time of year for me.

My 5 little daycare kiddos have been creating like mad, lots of surprises for their parents.  They are so excited about the 'giving' that it makes my heart happy.

Needless to say, not a lot of time left for card making but I did manage a quick one.

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock.  Using some Weathered Wood Distress Oxide ink, I randomly stamped the snowflakes from the Penny Black set called All is Bright in my Misti, all over my card panel.
• When I was happy with the stamping, I got out the Merry Christmas die from SSS to die cut.  This die is a 2 part die; the wording and the shadow backing.  Using the shadow backing piece, I positioned it over the panel and die-cut it out in my Cuttlebug.  
• I took script part of the die and cut it out onto a piece of shiny silver paper and then glued it onto the first die cut piece.
• I repositioned the die cut piece over the front panel, matching it up with the background, then pop dotted it back into place.
• I added some silver sequins and glued it onto some more silver paper and then onto a heavy white card base.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Supplies

Stamps- All is Bright (PB)

Inks- DOX

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook); silver cs 

Accessories and Tools- Misti (My Sweet Petunia); Merry Christmas die (SSS); 

sequins; Tombow clear glue; Cuttlebug

Christmas Medallion

Welcome

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by as the big day gets closer.

I have all my cards mailed out, now I just need to finish a few to hand deliver.  

I have to let you in on a little secret of mine!  Once I start making Christmas cards, I find it hard to stop.  I don't know if it's creating while listening to Christmas music or just all the images that inspire me.

Anyways, here is what I did to create today's card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock and positioned the Lace Doily stencil from A Colorful Life Designs over to the side of my panel.
• Using some Gesso and a palette knife, I spread the paste over the stencil, then set it aside to dry completely.
• When the Gesso was dry, I rubbed on some Broken China, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky and Blueprint Sketch Distress inks using an inking tool.

• Using a baby wipe, I lifted some of the colour from the Gesso and splattered heavily with water to lift more of the ink.  
• I wanted to give more interest to the background, so using a script from the Faded Text stamp set by Tim Holtz (love!), I randomly stamped in the background with Blueprint Sketch. 
• I die-cut the sentiment from Creative Expressions with some silver paper and then glued that over the panel.
• The panel was dry so I splattered using my white Posca pen.  I just take a ruler and tap the pen over my panel to add droplets of paint.
• To help accentuate the silver, I rubbed some Versamark along the edges of the panel and silver heat embossed it.
• I glued it all together onto a heavy white card base and finally I added some white pearl dots.

Discount Code for A Colorful Life Designs

*Just use the code KarenFan10 to get a discount on stencils and masks.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Supplies

Stamps- Faded Text (Tim Holtz)

Inks- Distress (listed above); Versamark

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook); silver cs

Accessories and Tools- Gesso, Lace Doily stencil (A Colorful Life Designs);

palette knife; baby wipe; pearl dots; silver eb powder; heat tool; Merry Christmas (Creative Expressions)

Sweater Weather

Welcome

Need some last minute card ideas?  I have a simple card to show you today.

I made some plaid using my Copic Markers and a ruler.  Pretty simple but fun to try.

I love all the plaids we see for winter; so cozy and warm.

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock.  Using a red Copic marker, I drew in the lines of my plaid with a ruler.  When I was happy with that, I added a few black lines to add interest....simple so far, right?
• Next, using this 2 part 'Merry' die from The Stamp Market, I die-cut the letters from the panel and set that aside.
• I then die-cut the shadow for the die with some black and glued the lettering over the black shadow background die cut.
• I matched the plaid lettering to the background as best I could and glued it into place.
• I added some black gems for interest.
• Finally, I glued it onto a piece of white cardstock, then onto black and then onto a heavy white card base.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Adding my card to these challenges:

Simon Says Wed.- FUN WITH DIES

The Male Room- TARTAN, PLAID

Crafting Happiness- MOSTLY RED

Supplies

Stamps- none

Inks- Copic markers

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook); black (Michaels)

Accessories and Tools- Merry die (The Stamp Market); Cuttlebug; black gems

Christmas Reindeer

 

Good Morning and Welcome

Meet today's card.

I am so trying to use up some of my backgrounds and pieces that I have used to brayer off when using my Geli Plate.  

For those of you that are not familiar with using the Geli Plate, you add paint but then have to brayer it smooth.  Often that involves removing some paint onto a piece of paper.  I keep those to use as bkgs.

That's how this card started; as a piece that I brayered off blue acrylic paints.

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I took this piece of acrylic painted cardstock and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Cut and Stitch circle die from Penny Black.
• I used the leftover piece to die cut the reindeer from STAMPlorations and set it aside.
• I cut a piece of white cardstock and dry embossed it using a Distressed Stripes folder to give some interest.  I glued that onto my card front panel, then glued the blue die-cut piece over that.
• I added some pop dots to the back of the reindeer and mounted that into the center of the circle.
• I stamped the sentiment from Taylored Expressions and also pop dotted that under the deer. (the strip die is a part of that set)
• I added black gems all around the circle to add more interest and a bit of colour.
• Lastly, I mounted it onto a heavy white card base.

Thanks for looking.

Adding my card to these challenges:

Simon Says Wed.- FUN WITH DIES

We Love to Create Mixed Media- ANYTHING GOES

Supplies

Stamps- Christmas Sentiments (Taylored Expressions)

Inks- Versafine Clair

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook0

Accessories and Tools- acrylic paint; brayer; Cut and Stitch Circle (PB); Cuttlebug;

Distressed Stripes EB Folder (Provo); pop dots; black gems

Snow for Christmas

 

Hello and Welcome

Meet today's card.

Some simple inking with my Distress Oxide inks, stamping and embossing.

And of course, some water lifting which is such a fabulous way to add interest.

So here's what I did to create my card:

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock, then using a Ranger inking tool, I rubbed some Faded Jeans, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet, covering the whole panel.
• Using a stamp from the Tim Holtz Faded Text set, I stamped around the panel using water to left some of the colour, then redeposited it in other places.  The Oxide inks are so great for doing this as they are water reactive.
• I made sure the panel was totally dry, then rubbed it with an Anti-static bag.  I placed the panel into my Misti and stamped the Hand Drawn Snowflakes from Hero Arts with some Versamark ink.  I white heat embossed the flakes.
• I splattered the whole panel with my white Posca pen.
• Next, using a scrap of white cardstock, I stamped the sentiment from the Merry Flowers set by Avery Elle with Versamark Clair.
• I glued the inked panel onto a heavy white card base and pop dotted the sentiment over that. 
• To finish it off, I added some clear gems to the snowflake centers.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Adding my card to these challenges:

Shopping Our Stash- LET IT SNOW

Sweet Stampin- LET IT SNOW

Crazy 4 Challenges- BLUE

Supplies

Stamps- Faded Text (TH); Snowflakes (HA); Sentiment (AE)

Inks- DOX (listed above); Versafine Clair; Versamark

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook)

Accessories and Tools- Misti (My Sweet Petunia); white eb powder; heat tool; 

Posca pen; clear gems; pop dots; inking tool

Christmas Flurries

 Welcome

Meet today's card filled with snowflakes and fun.

I just played around with a few techniques and inks.  I was so happy with the results.

So here's what I did to create my card.

• As usual, I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock and my Distress Oxide ink (Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet and Seedless Preserves)
• Using an inking tool, I rubbed the ink over the card panel, blending the colours together.
• Next, I used a script stamp from Hero Arts, sprayed with water and pressed onto the panel.  Since the inks are water based, the water on the stamp lifted off some of the colour.  I repeated that process without adding more water, randomly depositing ink over the panel.  It gives a great 'ghosting' effect.
• Using a circle stencil from AALL and Create, I randomly placed the stencil onto the panel and pressed over with a baby wipe to remove the colour.  It just added a bit more interest.
• I splattered the panel with more water which lifted more of the ink.  
• I made sure to completely dry the panel before I moved onto the next steps.
• I rubbed the panel with my Anti-static bag, then stamped the snowflakes from the MFT set called Snowflake Flurry with some Versamark ink, then white heat embossed them.
• Next, using more snowflakes from that set, I stamped onto the background using the colours listed above.  Of course, I splattered with my white Posca pen to add a snowy effect.
• I stamped the sentiment from Studio G and then cut it into a banner.  I pop dotted that to the side of the panel.
• I glued the inked panel onto some purple that matched the background, then onto a heavy white card base.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Supplies

Stamps- Snowflake Flurry (MFT); Friend bkg (Hero Art); Merry Christmas (Studio G)

Inks- Distress Oxides; Versamark 

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook)

Accessories and Tools- white EB powder; Posca pen; Mister (TH); heat tool; pop dots;

Dotty Stencil (AALL and Create); inking tool (TH)

Nature's Greetings

Good Morning and Welcome

I hope you holiday preparations are going well.

Today's card was a fun card to create.  I played around with stencils and stamps and layering them.

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock, some Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink and 2 stencils.
• I positioned the Tim Holtz stencil called Countdown over my card panel and rubbed a bit of the ink over that as I wanted it to be faintly visible in the background.
• I removed that stencil and laid on the Circus Harlequin from A Colorful Life Designs over that and stenciled a bit heavier with the same ink.
• I removed the stencil and placed the piece into my Misti to stamp the Deer from Lavinia Stamps with some Verafine Clair ink.
• Next, I stamped the tree with more Versafine Clair, then did a second and third generation stamping behind the first tree.  I splattered with my white Posca pen.
• I stamped the sentiment from the Taylored Expressions in the top corner and added some black gems under that.
• I die cut a square frame and then pop dot mounted it over the card panel.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Discount Code for A Colorful Life Designs

*Just use the code KarenFan10 to get a discount on stencils and masks.

Adding my card to these challenges:

Simon Says Wed.- ANYTHING GOES

2 Crafty Critter Crazies- ADD A CRITTER

Sparkles- USE A STENCIL

Sweet Stampers- CHRISTMAS

Supplies

Stamps- Small Reindeer (Lavinia); Christmas Sentiments (Taylored Expressions);

Pine tree (Northwoods)

Inks- Distress Oxide; Versafine Clair

Paper- heavy white

Accessories and Tools- Circus Harlequin stencil (ACLD); Countdown stencil (TH);

inking tool; Misti; black gems, Posca pen