Birds and Berries

I could make nothing but bird-themed Christmas cards as I love them so much.  So I was very happy to see the new Peace on Earth mood board.  I was inspired by the top left image of the birds with the berries.

The image is stamped and watercoloured.  I used gold watercolour paint for the oval border that is part of the stamp to reflect the lovely golden light in the mood board image.  Then I fussy cut around the border, popped it up on fun foam on the card base, and added a sentiment die cut with a banner die.

Here's the Peace on Earth mood board:

Please go to Peace on Earth and check out the beautiful bird-themed cards by the rest of the Design Team.

Supplies:
Stamps - Northwoods birds, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam

Summer Cottage Garden and Dove Flying High

A card for Shopping Our Stash's "Summertime" challenge and Allsorts "Garden" challenge:

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, trimmed with a pierced dot rectangle die and layered over a pink rectangle so that the pink shows through the pierced dots.  Then bordered with some floral dp, and added to a yellow card base.

I used the same floral dp to line an envelope:

 

 

It's going to a friend who just bought a new house.

 

Try It On Tuesday's challenge is "Flying High" - something that flies high in the sky.  I made a peace-themed Christmas card with a dove flying high among the stars.

 

I sponged silver ink through a star die, leaving space on the bottom right corner for a stamped heat embossed sentiment.  I covered a piece of scrap cs with double sided tape and added blue / silver gilding flakes.  Then die cut the dove out of it.
 

     

 

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - silver
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix Delicate Wings dove die, Cosmic Shimmer Blue Ice gilding flakes, star stencil, silver embossing powder

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