Dala Horses and Sheep in Blue Sweaters

Try It On Tuesday wants "Animals - Real or Imaginary" and Cut It Up wants "More than One Die".  I'm using three dies, two of which are Swedish Dala horses -  these are stylized and therefore kind of imaginary horses.  They have been symbols of strength and courage in Sweden for hundreds of years. Little handcrafted wooden versions are sold as gifts, as Christmas decorations, etc. 

I die cut the horses in white twice and glued them together for more substance and added them to a star stencilled background with a silver die cut tree and a silver sentiment.

Sticking with my animal theme and lots of blue, I've got sheep in sweaters for the Addicted to CAS Challenge "Sweaters".

I stamped and coloured the sheep and star, stencilled some snowflakes around them, trimmed the panel, and added it to a blue card base.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Savvy Stamps sentiment
Ink - Delicata silver, Distress Oxide Faded Jeans
Paper - white cs, blue shimmer cs, silver cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Charlie und Paulchen Skandi-Pferdchen dies, star stencil. Impression Obsession tree die, Ranger silver embossing powder

Supplies for card 2::
Stamps - Inky Doodle
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Memory Box snowflake stencil, Dreamweaver embossing paste

Nordic Houses and Black and White Horses

Jingle Belles Challenge wants to see houses on our Christmas cards.  I used a stamp I haven't used for many years (2018, in fact - I checked my blog) so I'm taking it to the Neglected Stuff Challenge as well.

Stamped and coloured (with coloured pencils), trimmed with a lacy-edged die, green shimmer cs placed behind it, and popped up on fun foam. Finished off by going over the snowy roofs and ground with a glue pen and adding glitter.

And for the Festive Friday Challenge (I chose horses, black, and white from their list of elements for National Chess Day).

Usually when I use this stamp, I colour the horses in but I left them black and white for the challenge.  I added red to their Santa hats, trimmed with a stitched rectangle die, and bordered with a matching red.  I added a bit of white fun flock to the brims and pom pom of their hats.

   

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Crafters Companion Nordic Christmas, SU sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, green shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Reverse Confetti Lacy Scallop Frame die, glitter

Supplies for card :
Stamps - Impression Obsession Santa horses, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - red marker, white fun flock

Stockings

I chose the bottom right image on the new Peace on Earth mood board (see at end of post).  I had the perfect stamp to go with it, and I used colours that match the mood board image.

The sentiment is part of the stamp so this makes for a very quick card.  Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils in colours to match the image on the mood board, trimmed with a stitched square die, bordered and put on a red card base.

We'd love to have you join us at Peace on Earth with either a card inspired by the mood board or an "anything Christmas" goes.

I'm also entering the card in the Word Power challenge where the sentiment has to be a focus point on the card and Sweet Stampin' "Feature a Sentiment".

  

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Clarity Stamps
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - red, greeny-yellow, and white cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Lil Inkers stitched square die

A Birthday Card and a Sympathy Card

Amazingly for me, I don't have a Christmas card today.  But I will have one tomorrow!!

For a friend who is an avid bird watcher.  I will be seeing her on her birthday so I could make something I can hand deliver.  It's for two challenges - Can You Handle the Pressure "Trees / Leaves" and The Sisterhood of Crafters "Birthdays".

I dry embossed the background and had a perfect vertical sentiment that would just fit in a section of the panel that had no embossing on it.  I added a die cut leafy wreath, a die cut bird that I smooshed in various Distress inks, and a piece of moss I found in my garden that was perfectly nest-shaped.

Shopping our Stash wants Sympathy cards - a good challenge to get me to make one for my stash as, at my age, sadly I seem to have need of sympathy cards fairly often.

I masked off a rectangle on my focal panel and sponged from three corners first with the lighter ink, then the darker. I stamped the leaves and text with second generation grey ink, and then stamped the sentiment with full strength grey ink. On top of it all, I stamped the cream leaves with white pigment ink and then heat embossed with cream embossing powder. It's popped up on fun foam on a dry embossed background.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow vertical sentiment
Ink - various green, yellow, orange Distress inks
Paper - white and grey-green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - moss from my garden, leafy wreath die, bird die, leafy branches embossing folder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Very Versailles, unknown sentiment
Ink - various aqua / turquoise Distress inks, Archival Watering Can, ColorBox white
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - textured embossing folder, cream embossing powder, fun foam

Mixed Media Reindeer and Stencilled Festive Leaves

Playing around to create a card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's "Mixed Media" challenge.  And since it has an animal on it, it's also going to Try It on Tuesday's "Animals - Real or Imaginary" challenge.

My mixed media are ink, embossing powder, Bister powder, and white acrylic paint.

The background is green Bister powder, sprinkled on the cs and then spritzed with water and allowed to dry naturally. Then I splattered with some white acrylic paint. The reindeer is stamped and heat embossed on the Bister background. Then a torn strip of white cs creates the snowy ground that he is walking through. I used a silver shimmer card base for a bit of contrast.

I was really happy with how this turned out but not so happy with the second card I'm posting today.  It's for Addicted to CAS "Leaves".

I stencilled with various Distress inks and small blending tools so that I could get the right colours in the right spots.  Then framed it with a white panel so that I could have more "white space".  Added a sentiment and bordered with green cs.  I'm not sure why I don't like it - maybe I'd have liked it better as a square card?  Or with a different frame?  Anyway, here it is for what it's worth!

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Studio Light reindeer, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, silver shimmer cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, green Bister powder, white acrylic paint

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - A Muse sentiment
Ink - various Distress inks
Paper - green shimmer, white, and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders square inverted scallop die, TH stencil

Inlaid Die Cuts

For September, the Group of Cardmakers is making cards using inlaid die cuts.  I love doing jigsaw puzzles, so I really enjoy this technique!

First up, a poinsettia:

I die cut the poinsettia twice, once out of gold cs and once out of white.  I painted the flower part of the white one with a couple of shades of red Distress inks.  I popped the flower petals out of the gold one, then glued the rest to a piece of white cs, and then glued the painted petals into their places.  Added a red sentiment, trimmed with a square die, and attached it to a red card base.

I went with an ornament die for my second card:

I used a two-part die for this one.  There is a solid ornament and an inner circle with the holly flourishes.  I cut the solid one out of blue shimmer cs and out of scrap cs.  I then laid the inner circle die over the blue shimmer one and cut out the flourishes.  I cut the inner circle die once more out of dp.  I glued the remaining border of the blue shimmer one onto the solid one cut from the scrap cs and then glued the dp filler pieces into the outline.  A bit of ribbon to hang the ornament and a blue shimmer "joy" finished it off.

I wanted to see the difference between inlaying the pieces flush with the outline (as in the ornament) and inlaying the pieces with the outline raised from them so I went on to make this third card.

I die cut the Star of David three times, once out of scrap cs, once out of silver cs, and once out of a pale blue / silver flecked dp.  I needed something to glue it all on to so cut a circle out of scrap cs.  I glued the Star of David outline from the scrap cs onto the solid circle, then inlaid the dp into it.  Then glue the silver cs outline on top.  Added it to a dry embossed panel, along with a heat embossed sentiment.

I like both the flush inlaid look and the one with the raised outline so will use both methods in future.  Check out some more examples and some links to instructional videos over at Group of Cardmakers!

My second card is also being linked up at Try It On Tuesday "Pretty Papers" - the paper I used for the inset part of the die is one of the prettiest I have.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - various red Distress inks
Paper - red, gold, and white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Spellbinders poinsettia die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white shimmer and blue shimmer cs, TPC dp, ribbon
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - ornament die, PB Joy die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - Versamark
Paper - white and silver cs, pale blue with silver flecks dp
Size - A2
Accessories - PTI star of David die, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stampendous Vintage Blue embossing tinsel, sentiment strip die, dimensionals