Framed Cardinals and Framed Chocolate

Jingle Belles wants to see frames on our Christmas cards.  I framed some cardinals with a silver pierced rectangle frame.

The image is stamped and watercoloured. The sentiment is heat embossed. I went over the ornaments with Glossy Accents, and framed the image with a pierced dot die cut silver frame.

Festive Friday is celebrating World Chocolate Day.  It seemed a good opportunity to use a sentiment stamp I have that refers to chocolate.  I have these elements from the challenge list: a sweet sentiment, chocolates (in the sentiment), cream, and brown.

I sprinkled black and brown Brushos on cream cs and spritzed with water to let the colours run, then stamped the image in brown and heat embossed.   Since I had the pierced frame die out from the card above, I decided to create a frame for this card as well - this time in light brown - and then mounted it on a dark brown card base.

 

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black image, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, ColorBox silver
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs, silver shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, silver embossing powder, SU label punches, MFT pierced frame die, Glossy Accents

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Kay Foley
Ink - brown pigment ink
Paper - cream cs, light and dark brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - brown and black Brushos, MFT pierced frame die, clear embossing powder

Sympathy Card Using Generation Stamping with a Very Old Stamp

I'm part of the Group of Seven design team but shamefully failed to get my card done in time for their newest post.  I do have a good excuse - my sister and brother-in-law were visiting and we did a lot of work around my house and garden.  I had to make the most of the help while I had it.  My wonderful brother-in-law is the ultimate handyman and excellent gardener, and my sister is an amazing organizer and de-clutterer (though she refused to help me organize my craft room.

They've left now so I have crafty time again.  Sadly my dear friends just had to let their very old beloved black lab go so I decided to use this month's Group of Seven technique of "generation stamping" to make a sympathy card for them.

I created a background with the letterpress technique of rubbing black ink over the raised part of the paw print embossing folder and then running it through my Cuttlebug.

The focal panel is the dog stamp inked up once and then stamped three times in a row going off the edge of the panel as if it was the dog gently fading out of life.

I'm also adding the card to Stamping Sensations "Our Furry Friends", Can You Handle the Pressure? (Dog or Cat - I used my embossing folder for the letterpress technique), and The Neglected Stuff Challenge (this Stampin' Up set is many years old and I rarely use it).

For more ideas on using the generation stamping technique, head over to Group of Seven and feel free to give it a try and post your results.

   

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Stampin' Up
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Black Soot
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - unknown paw print embossing folder

Gelli Plate Snowflakes and a Reindeer

I had my sister and brother-in-law visiting for 10 days and we were so busy that I had no time for crafting or writing blog posts.  My sister bought 14 of the Christmas cards I'd already made this year for my fundraiser in November.  Happy to get advance money for my fundraiser but it's depleted my supply for the sale (I aim to have 100 Christmas cards made for it!).  So I have to get busy and make more (be prepared for lots of posts with Christmas cards!).

For The 12 Months of Christmas "One or Two Layers Only" and Colorful Options (blues from their mood board - see it at the end of my post).

The snowflake circle was done following the instructions on this video. I used a round gelli plate, various snowflake stamps, and various shades of blue ink.  I trimmed the panel with a round die and popped it up on fun foam on a coloured card base.

For the above card, I left off the gold snowflakes seen in the video but on this second card made at the same time, I did add them:

I trimmed my piece into a square and die cut "let it snow" out of the blue section.  I mounted it on a slightly larger square of gold cs that both borders it and puts gold behind the sentiment.

I carefully kept all of the letters die cut from this second card, and glued them onto the first card. 

And one more card for the Sparkles Christmas Challenge (Include the Word "Merry").

I smooshed a background with various blue oxide inks and then stamped and heat embossed the reindeer.  Trimmed the panel, mounted it on off-white, and added a sentiment. 

   

Supplies for card 1 and 2:
Stamps - various snowflake stampes
Ink - various blues and a gold
Paper - white cs, dark aqua cs (card 1), gold cs (card 2)
Size - 4.75" square (card 1), 5.5" square (card  2)
Accessories - gold embossing powder, Let It Snow die, gelli plate, fun foam

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Studio Light reindeer, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, blue Oxide inks
Paper - mixed media cs, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder

Non-traditional Forest for Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth's new mood board inspired me to step outside my comfort zone and go with very non-traditional colours.  I chose the top right hand picture of the non-traditional coloured Christmas tree decorations.  And the little turquoise reindeer on the right hand side of that image inspired the reindeer in my card.

I smooshed a bunch of scraps of mixed media cs in colours close to the mood board image.  Then die cut the trees from them.  I arranged them on the card base and layered the reindeer circle die cut over them.

There's lots of other inspiration from our Peace on Earth design team.  We'd love to have you join us.

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Art Impression sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Pine Needles, Peeled Paint, Picked Raspberry, and Mermaid Lagoon
Paper - white linen cs, mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Impression Obsession tree dies, Memory Box deer circle die

Joy with Cardinals and Poinsettias

I'm not good at using large dies but having seen so many great cards using the Penny Black Joy die, I broke down and bought it a while ago and am finally getting around to using it.

I  stamped the image of the cardinals and coloured with coloured pencils, then trimmed it to fit behind the "o" of the die cut which I cut out of green cs.  I used a stitched rectangle die to add interest to the edges of the card.

I'm linking it up with Try It on Tuesday ("Things with Wings") and Word Power (the sentiment is the focus of the card).

I had enough of the sheet of green cs left from cutting out "Joy" to make an A2 card base - I don't very often use coloured card bases so it was fun to think of what to add to it.  

I put the poinsettia stamp in my MISTI and inked it up with various mini Distress inks and Memento Dew Drop inks, spritzing, stamping, and reinking until   I was happy with the results.  I trimmed it with a Sizzix die, added it to the green card base, and added a green TH Christmas sentiment sticker and some gemstones.

I'm linking it up to Addicted to CAS ("Florals") and Twelve Months of Christmas ("Only One or Two Layers"),

  

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Serendipity cardinals
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Penny Black Joy die, coloured pencils, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black poinsettia
Ink - various mini Distress inks and Memento Dew Drop inks
Paper - green cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - TH Christmas sentiment sticker, Sizzix die, gemstones

Recycled Dog, Grateful Horse, and Die Cut Swag

The Paper Players challenge is to recycle something on our cards.  As a dog lover, I often receive store-bought cards with dogs on them.  I received one on my last birthday with a beautiful black lab on it.  Good friends of mine have a black lab so I decided to recycle the lab to make a Christmas card for them.  

I have some old double-sided stick-on flourishes.  I arranged them in the corners of the card and added multi-coloured glitter to them.  Finished off with a die cut sentiment "joyful" - exactly how I would describe my friends' lab!

Cardz 4 Guyz wants to see a masculine card in blue.

I sponged a background with various blue Distress inks and layered my die cut over it, popping the body of the horse up a bit with foam tape. The whole panel is popped up on the card base with fun foam.

And a "threefer" today.  52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants us to use dies or punches.  I made a card with lots of greenery die cuts that I cut out of small scraps of various green cs - therefore I'm also entering it at the Snippets challenge.  And linking up with Cut It Up - anything goes with die cuts.

I die cut several different pieces of greenery out of various scraps of green cs.  I splattered them with white acrylic paint and arranged them on white cs dry embossed with a pine sprig embossing folder.  I wrapped bakers twine around my focal panel and made a bow from it.  The sentiment is stamped and die cut with a narrow banner die.

    

  

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - dog off of a store bought card, double-sided stick-on flourishes, multi-coloured glitter

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Memory Box sentiment
Ink - various Distress blue inks
Paper - white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - StarLit Studio Horse Country die, fun foam, foam tape

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs, scraps of different green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix embossing folder, TH greenery dies, sentiment label die, red/white baker's twine, white acrylic paint