Santa and a Lamp Post

I struggled a bit getting inspiration from the new Peace on Earth mood board (see it at the end of this post).  I couldn't come up with an idea for a Christmas card with a nautical or beach element in it.  So instead, I went with incorporating the blue lamp from the top left image and the Santa dressed in non-traditional colours from the bottom left image.

The lamp post was stamped and heat embossed with a metallic blue powder but came out too grey so I went over it with a blue alcohol ink marker and got it quite close to the blue of the lamp in the mood board.  The Santa is a really old SU stamp.  He's heat embossed, then watercoloured with pearlescent watercolour paints.  I painted a bit of rough ground at the bottom and splattered with a bit of blue and gold.  And bordered with a gold shimmer cs that matches the gold of Santa's stars.

Here's the mood board.  Head over to Peace on Earth to see how the rest of the Design Team interpreted it.

Supplies:
Stamps - SU Star Santa, Penny Black lamp post, Art Impressions sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - waterddolour paper, gold shimmer and off white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - clear embossing powder, metallic blue embossing powder, blue alcohol marker, Yasutomo pearlescent watercolour paints

CAS Christmas Bird

Great news!  My dear friend, Loll, has resurrected her CAS Christmas Challenge - one of my favourite challenges ever, since I love making Christmas cards and mostly my style is quite CAS!  I'm thrilled to be back on the Design Team.

Our first challenge is Birds.  And what better than a robin for a Christmas card?

The robin is stamped and watercoloured, then fussy cut.  I die cut the "joy" square out of copper shimmer cs.  I ran a narrow embossing folder across the front of the card base, then glued the "joy" square on top of it, and mounted the robin on top of the word "joy".

Please head over to CAS Christmas to see what our first Guest Designer (Bobby (bits and pieces) and the rest of the Design Team made to inspire you.  Then link up your CAS Christmas card featuring birds!

Supplies:
Stamps - Stampworkds Sheena Douglas robin
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white linen cs, copper shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Memory Box "joy" square, narrow mistletoe embossing folder

Cat in Knitwear, Pine in Circles, and Cocoa with Gingerbread Men

Three for Christmas today.  For the ABC Christmas Challenges "K is for Knitwear", I've got a cat all wrapped up in a knitted scarf.

Stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a deckle edged rectangle and popped up on fun foam on a colour matched background layer. And for Try It On Tuesday "Going Round in Circles" and Inkspirational "For the Guys", a masculine Christmas card: I put the pine branch and pine cone in my MISTI and inked them up with Tombow markers and gave them a light spritz before stamping.  I trimmed it with a stitched circle die, cut a dark brown circle to border it with, and added it to a kraft card base. And a third card for Time Out "A Favourite Beverage" and The Male Room "Food and / or Drink": Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, trimmed with a deckle rectangle die, popped up on fun foam on a background of dp featuring gingerbread men.

  

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Tim Holtz Christmas Snarky Cat
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and teal cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders deckle rectangle die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Ornamental Pine, unknown sentiment
Ink - gold ink
Paper - watercolour paper, dark brown and craft cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Tombow markers, Lil Inkers stitched circle die, Spellbinders circle die, sentiment banner die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - gingerbread man dp, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Spellbinders deckle rectangle die, fun foam

Direct to Paper Background

The Group of Cardmakers are playing with the "direct to paper" inking technique.  It made a wonderful background that I used for this card.

I followed the instructions for the second technique in this video to create the background.  I used three different blue Distress inks and blended them a bit more than Kristina did in the video.  Then splattered with white ink.  Instead of stamping on it like Kristina did, I die cut the trees and the sentiment.  Both were die cut twice and glued together to give more dimension.

Take a look at what else the Group of Cardmakers made, and if you're inspired, give the technique a try.

Supplies:
Ink - 3 different blue Distress inks
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz tree die, Penny Black winter cheer die, Dr. Phil Martin's Bleedproof White Ink

A Bird and a Birthday

For the Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Season's Tweetings", I used an image where it looks like the birds are tweeting at each other!  It's also going to Triple B "Birds, Blooms, or Butterflies" and to Rudolph Days "Anything Christmas".

Stamped and watercoloured with some Distress Antique Linen sponged around the edges and some glitter added to the snow on the branches.

And then a birthday card for my nephew for AAA Birthday "Anything Birthday Goes" and Inkspirational "For the Guys".

I die cut the globe out of a piece of cs sprayed with Lindy's sprays, then rubbed Versamark over it and heat embossed with UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel).  I added it to a background lightly sponged with blue where the globe is and a bit of Antique Linen around the edge.  It's then layred on a script dp and a sentiment added to the top.

   

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Nellie Snellen birds and musical score, Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Antique Linen
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, glitter

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown happy birthday
Ink - Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs, script dp
Size - A2
Accessories - Lindy's brown spray, globe die, UTEE

Musical Snow and a Simple Robin

Four challenges inspired this card - Time Out "Music" , Jingle Belles "Snow", Allsorts "Monochromatic", and Colorful Options "Black and White".

I made a background of snowflakes with silver glitter paste, a snowflake stencil, and black cs.  Trimmed it and added it to a white cardbase.  Die cut the snowflake / music score twice out of white cs and glued them together for more substance.  Stamped "let it snow" on a scrap of black cs, heat embossed in white, then rubbed ink around the edges and heat embossed the edges in white.

Christmas Kickstart "Seasons Tweetings", Simply CAS "Things that Fly", Sweet Stampin' "Things with Wings", Try It On Tuesday "Keep It Simple", and ABC Christmas Challenge "J is for Just Enough (Clean and Simple) - all inspired this card.

I stamped and watercoloured the image, and trimmed the panel into a square. Then using the SSS thin circle frame, I cut a thin circle out of my square. With the same die, I cut a thin circle frame out of red cs and inserted it into the gap in the square.

   

    

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Art Impressions sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SSS Jingle Snowflakes die, white embossing powder, silver glitter paste, Paper Rose snowflake stencil

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Nellie Snellen bird, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and off white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, SSS thin circle frame