Back to Christmas Cards

After the recent flurry of Valentine cards, I'm now back to Christmas ones.

First of two for today is for the ABC Christmas Challenge "D for Die Cuts" and the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Black, White, and Gold".

I die cut the stars out of a square of black cs and layered it over a gold card base. The Santa and sleigh is die cut twice and glued together for extra dimension. The trees are only die cut once.

Today's other card is for Cardz 4 Guyz "Clean and Simple".

I used the Heated Copper Accents technique shown in this video by my friend Loll to create my copper Christmas tree. I glued it to a piece of blue smooshed background, tore little strips of white cs to layer for snowy ground, stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in copper embossing powder.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - black, white, and gold cs
Size - 5.75" square
Accessories - Sizzix Dash Away All stars and Santa, Spellbinders square die, evergreen tree die

Supplies for card :
Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versamark, various blue Distress inks
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - thin copper sheet, tree die, copper embossing powder

Christmas Twofer - Scandinavian and Humour

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants to see something Scandinavian style.  I thought it was the perfect chance to use my Nordic Frames dies and also a stamp of a Scandinavian reindeer.

I stamped the reindeer with Versamark on navy cs (it looks black in the photo but it is really navy) and heat embossed in white.  Then trimmed the panel with one of the Nordic Frames dies, cut one of the other frames out of off-white cs, layered it all on another piece of navy cs, and then finally on an off-white card base.  I added a small sentiment stamped in navy on a little strip of off-white cs.

My second card is for the "Lots of Laughs" challenge at The Paper Players.

I embossed a piece of green cs with pine tree branches to represent the tree mentioned in the stamp.  I stamped the image of the cat on watercolour paper and lightly watercoloured it.  I die cut the three tiny ornaments and put them on the card as if they'd fallen off the branches.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Studio Light reindeer, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versamark, Distress Chipped Sapphire
Paper - navy and off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Greetery Nordic Frames, white embossing powder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Technique Junkies
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - green, gold, and white cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix embossing folder, mini ornament dies, grey watercolour paint

Kraft with a Christmas Tree, a Jolly Owl, and Forget-Me-Nots

Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants to see "kraft card". And the Christmas Kickstart Challenge is "Out on a Limb" - something you find on a limb of a tree.  I have created a snowy effect on all the limbs of my tree.

In keeping with the rustic look of kraft, I wrapped a piece of burlap around my top layer of kraft (which I'd trimmed with a wonky stitched rectangle die) and topped it with a Christmas tree die cut once out of green cs and once out of white, layered so that the white shows as if it were snow on the tree branches.  I embellished the tree with a few tiny die cut stars.

Jingle Belles challenge is "Text Me" - I picked the option of having the sentiment be the star. Stamping Sensations wants "Animals, Birds, and Creatures" - I have an owl.

I stamped the owl / sentiment (they are all on one stamp), coloured everything but the crown with coloured pencils, and coloured the crown with a gold glitter gel pen. Trimmed the panel with a square hemstitch die, added it to a red card base, and embellished with three tiny red gemstones on the holly sprig.

Just to balance out the Christmas cards, here's a non-Christmas one.  Festive Friday is celebrating International Women's Day.  I made a birthday card for a close girlfriend who loves blue and flowers.  It uses three things from the challenge list - blue, white, and a bouquet.

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, die cut with a stitched rectangle die, and bordered with blue cs. The sentiment is on a vellum strip wrapped around the focal panel.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - TH sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - kraft, green, and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Christmas tree die, tiny star die, burlap, wonky stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Crafty Individuals
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Paper - bristol and red cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, gold glitter gel pen, Spellbinders square hemstitch die, small red gemstones

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Memory Box sentiment, Penny Black forget-me-nots collag
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Paper - white and blue cs, vellum
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Decorating the Tree / Happy New Year

I'm a big fan of the original Penny Black Christmas stamps with the adorable animals in them.  So chose one of them for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge "Christmas".  I'm also adding it to ABC Christmas Challenge "Y is for Your Choice" and Sweet Stampin' "Christmas".

Stamped, watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched square die, bordered with gold cs, and added to an off-white card base.

My Time to Craft Christmas wants a Happy New Year card.  Here's mine:

I started with my top layer.  I die cut the large star and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, then trimmed with a stitched square die, and then dry embossed with a little narrow star embossing folder.  I taped a small square of starry holographic paper on the card base and then popped up the top panel on foam tape over top of it.

It's also going to the NBUS challenge as I've never used the narrow star embossing folder or the holographic star dp before. 

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black, unknown "joy"
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - off white cs, watercolour paper, gold cs
Size - 5.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, Glossy Accents, Lil Inker stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - white cs, Hot off the Press holographic star paper
Size - 5" square
Accessories - gold embossing powder, MFT star die, Kokorosa narrow star embossing folder

A Christmas Tree with Holly Background and a Stencilled Snowflake

Vancouver has watering restrictions as we've had such a dry summer - we are no longer allowed to water our lawns so I have a very brown lawn.  I'm making up for that lack of green with a very green card today.

I went with a green card base, a focal panel background created with a stencil monoprint of holly, and a smooshed green die cut tree.  I also die cut the tree out of white cardstock and glued them together for more dimension and slightly offset to give a bit of a line of snow on the branches.  Embellished with a silver star on top and off it goes to Jingle Belles and My Time to Craft Christmas who both want to see Christmas trees.  

My Time to Craft Christmas has a sister challenge, My Time to Craft, and it wants stencilling on a card.  So I kept going with Christmas cards and stencilled a snowflake on this card:

I started by using gesso to stencil the snowflake on black cs to create a resist for my stamping, then stamped the text background stamp over it.  I replaced the snowflake stencil and sponged Distress Speckled Egg ink over it to add colour to the snowflake.  I die cut the pierced frame die twice and stacked them for more dimension and embellished with stick-on pearls.
 

     

 

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various green Distress inks
Paper - white and dark green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix holly embossing folder, unknown tree die, silver star

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown text stamp
Ink - Distress Speckled Egg
Paper - black and cream cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - snowflake stencil, gesso, MFT pierced square frame die, blue pearls

Shades of Green

At Peace on Earth we have a mood board all in shades of green, no doubt because we have St. Patrick's Day within the dates of this challenge.  The green trees and the holly inspired this card:

I created a background by using the embossing folder stamping technique - inking up one side of an embossing folder, spritzing a little, and then stamping it onto either watercolour paper or mixed media cs. I cut the piece in two as I wanted this to be a CAS card so needed to leave lots of white space (and then I'll get two cards out of the one background).

The tree is die cut from a piece of cardstock smooshed with a couple of different green Magicals. I also die cut two others from scrap cs and glued them together to give some dimension.  I added a small heat embossed sentiment, and then added a stitched rectangle layer for more interest.

There's lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team over at Peace on Earth.  You can either be inspired by our mood board or create an "anything Christmas goes" card.

Supplies:
Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Distress Pine Needles, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper  off-white and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix holly embossing folder, unknown tree die, green Magicals, clear embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

A Snowglobe, Flowers, and a Bird

It's been cold and snowy (unusual for Vancouver at this time of year) so I've spent more time in my craft room than usual, so today I've got three cards.

A snowglobe for Jingle Belles ("a holiday card with a see-through element") and 52 Christmas Card Throwdown ("acetate).

I die cut the snowglobe out of white cs and out of two layers of fun foam.  I glued a circle of acetate between the white cs and the top layer of fun foam.  I die cut a tree out of a scrap of green smooshed background and the deer out of a scrap of textured gold cs, and tore a scrap of white cs for snowy ground.  I glued them all to the navy card base, sprinkled a little bit of Stampendous "Spoonful of Snow" on top and then added the snowglobe to the top of that.  The sentiment is die cut from the same scrap of gold as the reindeer.

Here's another photo, taken flat (rather than standing up) so that you can see the snow sprinkles better.

 

Next up, for Penny Black Saturday Challenge ("hearts and / or flowers") and Beautiful Blossoms ("focus on flowers / florals").

A very CAS card - flowers coloured with coloured pencils and the colouring blended with Gamsol, a heat embossed blue sentiment, trimmed with a stitched rectangle die, bordered in blue, and popped up on fun foam for some dimension.

 

And finally, for AAA Card Challenge ("a CAS card with a circle").

The background is coated cs sprinkled with bister and then spritzed with water. I stamped the little bird collage image on it in brown archival ink and then thought it would stand out more if it was heat embossed - luckily it was in my MISTI so I was able to stamp with Versamark on top of the brown archival ink, and then heat emboss with clear embossing powder. I added it behind a die cut circle opening in a cream shimmer card base.  I put an insert inside the card to cover the mess of taping the image piece on the inside - and also to write on as it's hard to write on the shimmery cardstock.)

Challenges:

Jingle Belles

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Beautiful Blossoms

AAA Cards Challenge

 

 

Supplies for Card 1:
Ink - green Distress inks
Paper - navy and white cs, gold textured cs
Size - A2
Accessories - small deer die, snowglobe die, Christmas tree die, Stampendous Spoonful of Snow, fun foam

Supplies for Card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white and blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Gamsol, clear embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Supplies for Card 3:
Stamps - Carabelle Studio bird collage
Ink - Archival Acorn, Versamark
Paper - coated cardstock, cream shimmer c
Size - A2
Accessories - green and brown bister, clear embossing powder, Spellbinders circle die

One Tree and a Recycled Owl

Christmas Cards All Year Round wants one of something or a tree.  I decided to do one tree.

I inked up the tree stamp with green Distress mini inkpads, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped on watercolour paper. When dry, I stamped the stars and sentiment. I popped that panel up on fun foam on gold shimmer cs and added that to a red shimmer card base.

My second card is one I made to welcome home one of my closest friends who has been away for two months.  She gets back January 31st - can't wait to see her!  It times perfectly with the Inkspirational challenge "Welcome".  My friend loves owls and she is also really adamant about recycling and reusing as much as possible.  I received the most beautiful owl card at Christmas so decided I'd recycle it into this card for her.  The card also has stars on it and my friend runs Southlands Therapeutic Riding Society, more commonly known as STARS, the program where I volunteer a few days a week, so an owl plus stars just couldn't be passed up!

I used a square die to cut out the main image of the owl and to cut out a piece of silver mirror cs that matches the shiny silver leaves and stars in the image. I also die cut some tiny silver stars from the same cs.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on the bottom of the card, attached the mirror cs at an angle, layered the owl image over it, and glued on the silver stars in random places around the edge.

p.s. Cards with mirror cs on them are so hard to photograph - apologies for the reflections in the angled silver sections!

Christmas Cards All Year Round - "A Partridge in a Pear Tree - use one of something or a tree"

Inkspirational Challenge - "New and / or Welcome"

Supplies for Card 1:
Stamps - Art Impressions tree, PTI sentiment, SU star cluster
Ink - Distress Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough, Delicata Golden Glitz, Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - watercolour paper, gold and red shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - fun foam

Supplies for Card 2:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - ColorBox silver
Paper - white cs, silver mirror cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - commercial Christmas card, Spellbinders square dies, silver detail embossing powder, tiny star die

Stars and a Tree, and a Dog and a Present

A couple of simple Christmas cards today.

I inked up the tree stamp with green Distress mini inkpads, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped on watercolour paper. When dry, I stamped the stars and sentiment. I popped that panel up on fun foam on gold shimmer cs and added that to a red shimmer card base.

Stamped and watercoloured, matted with red cs, and popped up on fun foam on the card base.

Challenge for card 1:

Christmas Kickstart "Trees, Trees, Trees"

Challenges for card 2:

Addicted to CAS "Present"

Do-All Kreatives "Animals and Christmas"

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Art Impressions tree, PTI sentiment, SU star cluster
Ink - Distress Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough, Delicata Golden Glitz, Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - watercolour paper, gold and red shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SSS sentiment, ? dog
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, red and cream cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam