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

Copper Leaves

 
Love the Color Throwdown challenge - black, copper, and white:

A while back, Loll Thompson shared her heated copper technique at one of our get togethers.  See her video tutorial here.  I made some wonderful pieces of copper so took one of them and die cut the leaves for this card.  The heating changes the colour of the copper sheeting.  Here's a close up to show it better:

I die cut a white deckled edge rectangle, layered it over a black panel on which I'd stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, and used a white card base.  It makes a great masculine birthday card and I have a couple of male friends with birthdays in September so it's great to have a card ready for one of them.

I'm also linking up to:

Addicted to CAS - Masculine

The Male Room - Birthday

Supplies:

Stamps - Chocolate Baroque sentiment

Ink - ColorBox White

Paper - white and black cs

Size - A2

Accessories - thin copper sheet, Memory Box Fresh Foliage die, Spellbinders deckle edge die, white embossing powder

Metal and Rust

Some fun with mixed media!

The latest SCS Mixability challenge is "Petals to the Metal" - a mixed media project with flowers or petals made of metal of some sort.  And the SCS Ways to Use It challenge is "Shape Up" - make a shaped card - any shape except for the typical squares or rectangles.  I came up with this card to meet both challenges:

I chose a hexagon for my shape and created a poinsettia out of heated metal. I die cut it twice, shaped it, and then attached both layers to the top hexagon with a brad.

The top layer was created with a holly stencil and green spray, and then when the spray was dry, I splattered with some liquid copper paint and added a sentiment.


On Sunday, Christine (calex on SCS) of It's a Card Day's Night and I spent the day with Loll Thompson, experimenting with various new supplies and techniques.  One of the things we tried was rusting powder.  While none of us were too thrilled with our results (or with the bad smell it creates when you add the vinegar), I decided that I'd use a small piece as a frame for a sentiment on this card for SCS CAS challenge "I Love Chocolate":

It has a chocolatey colour so seemed perfect for the Kay Foley sentiment about Belgian chocolates.

The rusting powder was done on kraft cs by painting gesso around the edges, then sprinkling on the rusting powder, letting the gesso dry, then spritzing with vinegar, letting it dry, and repeating the vinegar a couple more times.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, popped the panel up on fun foam, and placed it on a background layer of white cs.  I twisted dark brown and copper ribbon together and added it to the side of the background layer.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Supplies for card 1:

Stamps - Penny Black sentiment

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - white cs

Size - 4.25" across the points of the hexagon

Accessories - copper, Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die, Penny Black stencil, Mr. Huey's green spray, liquid copper paint, Spellbinders hexagon dies, black brad

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Kay Foley sentiment

Ink - Versafine Vintage Sepia

Paper - white and kraft cs

Size - A2

Accessories - gesso, rusting powder, vinegar, clear embossing powder, copper and dark brown ribbon, fun foam

Copper Die Cut for Happy Little Stampers

Happy Little Stampers' April Christmas challenge is "die cut/s".

I was at Loll Thompson's recently and she generously shared her copper sheets with us and had us heating the copper to get beautiful colour tones in it.  It works really well with the Sizzix Bigz dies so I ended up with this lovely die cut reindeer that takes centre stage on my card for the HLS Design Team.

I kept the card very CAS as I didn't want to detract from the reindeer.  I made a faux mother-of-pearl background with various green and brown Distress inks and some pearlescent paint.  I sponged a bit around the edges for definition and added a vertical heat embossed sentiment.

The card base is textured shimmery cream cs with a simple piece of knotted copper cord to balance the focal panel.

Come and join us at HLS and show us some Christmas die cuts!  There are great prizes - a $30 gift certificate to the winner and a $10 gift certificate to each of our Favourites, to spend at the Happy Little Stampers' shop.

Supplies:

Stamps - Northwoods sentiment

Ink - Versafine Vintage Sepia, various green and brown Distress inks

Paper - white cs, shimmery textured cream cs

Size - A2

Accessories - copper sheet, embossing powder, copper twine, pearlescent paint, Sizzix reindeer bigz die

Mixed Media with Copper Tree

When I was at Loll Thompson's house recently, she generously shared her wonderful copper technique and supplies with us.  One of the pieces I made was the heated copper tree that I've used on this card for The Mixed Media Card Challenge "Trees":

My media are sprays, embossing paste, copper, ink, and embossing powder.

The copper was die cut with a Sissix die (the heavier duty dies are best with the copper) and then it was heated to get the colour variation you see.  I die cut two more trees out of scrap cs and glued the three together to raise it off the background a bit more.

The background is a piece of mixed media cs sprayed with various blue and green spray.  When dry, I used a star stencil and gold embossing paste on the blue part.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment and added the tree.  The whole panel is popped up off the card base with a piece of fun foam.

Thanks for dropping by!

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