Black Trees, Blue Sky

Peace on Earth has a lovely mood board of winter tree scenes.  I chose the top right image to inspire this card:

Rather than do a splattering of many tiny snowflakes, I did a few large snowflakes by using snowflakes masks on a gelli plate with a couple of shades of blue acrylic paint.  I die cut a line of evergreen trees twice out of black cs and glued them together for more dimension.  The sentiment is heat embossed in white on a banner die cut.

Here's the Peace on Earth mood board:

Please come and join us.  We'd love to see how you're inspired by the mood board (but if you're not, you can post an "anything Christmas" card.

 





Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - mixed media cs, black and white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - snowflake masks made on a cricut, evergreen tree die, white and various blue acrylic paints, stitched banner die, white embossing powder

A Winter Scene

It's time for a new CAS Christmas challenge.  This time Christine is our host and she wants to see a winter scene on your card.  Here's what I made:

I used up a scrap of a snowy background I'd made.  It just fit behind the Memory Box Evergreen Window die so I used that to die cut my front panel.  I added a matching blue heat embossed sentiment and popped the panel up on fun foam.

Head over to CAS Christmas to see more inspiration from our Design Team and this month's talented Guest Designer, Izzy (Izzy Scrap).  You have until February 24th to show us your CAS winter scenes.

Supplies:
Stamps - Stampabilities sentiment
Ink - ColorBox True Blue
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box Evergreen Window die, clear embossing powder, fun foam

A Masculine Landscape

The Male Room is asking for a card with a landscape suitable to give to a male recipient.

I went with a simple fir tree die over a blue background.

The background is blue alcohol inks on Yupo. The trees are die cut in white with a stamped and heat embossed sentiment on the snowbank.

It's bordered with a white deckle edged panel and mounted on a shimmery blue card base.

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Colonial Blue, blue alcohol inks
Paper - blue shimmer and white cs, Yupo
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box Alpine Trees die, clear embossing powder, Spellbinders deckle edge die

Snowflakes and a Tree

Two cards again today.

First up, for the Sparkles Christmas Challenge "It's Snowtime":

I created my background using a snowflake stencil cut for me by my dear friend, Loll Thompson, on her Silhouette, various blue Brushos, and watercolour paper. Love the colours I got!

I die cut the sentiment out of black shimmer cs, layered it over a strip of ivory cs, taped it to the snowflake background, then bordered the snowflake background with the same black shimmer cs, and used an ivory card base. A random scattering of dark grey gemstones finished it off.


And my second card, for Christmas Cards All Year Round "Add a Tree":

 

I made a piece of splashed / smooshed background with various green Distress inks on watercolour paper, then stamped the musical background with one of the greens. I die  cut the evergreen, mounted it on white cs, added a heat embossed sentiment, trimmed the panel with a deckle edge die, and popped it up on fun foam.

That's it for me for today - time to go to bed!

Supplies for Card 1:

Ink - Brushos

Paper - watercolour paper, black shimmer and ivory cs

Size - A2

Accessories - blue Brushos, snowflake stencil cut on a Silhouette, dark grey gemstones, Memory Box Let It Snow die

Supplies for Card 2:

Stamps - Impression Obsession musical background, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - various green Distress inks

Paper - watercolour paper, white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - evergreen tree die, Spellbinders deckle edge die, clear embossing powder, fun foam, foam tape

Monochromatic Sky with Winter Trees

There's still a bit of lingering snow so it's easy to make Christmas cards!

I pulled out a leftover snippet of shaving foam marbled background and used it as a wonderful monochromatic winter sky for my trees.  They are die cut from a snippet of white cs, as is the sentiment tag that I stamped in a dark aqua ink.  The panel with the trees is popped up on fun foam.  I went over the trees with a Quickie glue pen and added glitter to them.

Playing in three challenges with this card:

The Paper Players - Monochromatic

And 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Winter Trees

And Pixie's Snippets Playground, where you have to use up snippets of paper, ribbon, etc. - I always have plenty of those leftover!

Supplies:

Stamps - A Muse sentiment

Ink - dark aqua ink spot (unknown brand)

Paper - white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - stitched tree frame (unknown), fun foam

Watercoloured Sky

We're rapidly heading towards December (and that means Christmas is coming up fast and furious.  So don't forget that you only have until November 24th to link up a holiday card for CAS Watercolour - it always helps to have lots made by the end of November.

I went with a simple Brusho and water background for a die cut - an ideal method for coming up with a CAS card.

I sprinkled blue and mauve Brushos over coated cardstock and spritzed with water, letting the colours flow and blend.

I die cut the stitched tree die out of a piece of white cs and then trimmed it down with a stitched rectangle.  I added the sentiment, then put my layers together, and popped it up on the card base with fun foam.


We'd love to have you join us with a holiday card that is clean and simple and uses some kind of technique or product that produces the look of watercolouring.  For inspiration, check out the other reminder cards over at CAS Mix Up from the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Ina (Little Bits of Craft).

Supplies:

Stamps - Paper Smooches sentiment

Ink - Memento Paris Dusk

Paper - coated cs, white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Memory Box Evergreen Window die, Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle die, Brushos, fun foam

Villages and Odd-Sized Cards

Today I finished off my March quota of Christmas cards for the SCS Christmas Card Challenge - I do 10 a month.  I base some on the suggested theme (it was villages, windows, doors, houses, etc. for March) and do some on whatever theme I feel like or that fits another challenge I might choose to do.

Here are two village-themed cards and one that uses up a bit more of my Inka Gold background from my UFO box.

First up a standard-sized card:

I used a starry dp for the background and added glitter to the village.  I like it framed in the circle, but also like using the whole village die spread across a card like this one:

Every so often if I'm in a stationery store, I pick up some single envelopes in different sizes.  And occasionally they work better for a certain image.  The full Memory Box village die will barely fit on a standard A2 card and I wanted to use its proportions in a way that I found more visually appealing so I made my card 6"x4" as I had a stray envelope that would fit that size of card.  It worked perfectly for the full village die, allowing for good proportions of die cut area to sky.  A long ago boyfriend of mine was an excellent photographer and he taught me that photos of landscapes should never have the horizon in the middle - it should always be one third / two thirds. 

The sky is the polished stone technique using various shades of blue alcohol ink and silver mixative on glossy cs.

It's popped up on foam foam to give it dimension from the card base.

I used the same size envelope and card base for this next card, but in a vertical orientation:

I made it for today's SCS Inspiration Challenge.  The inspiration I chose was from this journal entry with its photos and sketches of tall pine or cedar trees in the mountains like the left hand side of this one:

It appealed because the journal entry was about traveling in Washington and British Columbia (where I live).  And it made me think of my Tim Holtz stamp of tall trees.  I used a leftover piece of smooshed Inka Gold background from my UFO box, embossed in green the tall Tim Holtz trees and sentiment, and popped it up on fun foam.

The 6"x4" dimensions of the card really emphasized the tallness of the trees.

That's it for crafting for today!  I'm now heading out into the garden to do some spring tidy-up as it's a gorgeous afternoon.

Supplies:

Village in Round Circle:

Stamps: Paper Smooches sentiment
Paper: white cs, Paper Co. dp
Paper Size: A2
Ink: ColorBox Colonial blue
Accessories: Memory Box village die, Spellbinders circle die, embossing powder, Quickie glue pen, white glitter

Village against Polished Stone:

Stamps: Rubber Soul sentiment

Paper: white and glossy cs

Paper Size: 6"x4"

Ink: Archival Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue

Accessories: various blue alcohol inks, silver mixative, fun foam, clear embossing powder, Memory Box village die

Techniques: Polished Stone

Tall Trees:

Stamps: Tim Holtz trees, PTI sentiment

Paper: white cs

Paper Size: 6"x4"

Ink: ColorBox Evergreen

Accessories: blues and silver Inka Gold, green embossing powder, fun foam

Techniques: smooshed inka gold

Inspired Trees and Christmas Friends

Here are two cards I made this morning, each for a different challenge.  First up is one done for this week's SCS Inspiration Challenge.  Audrie chose her own Pinterest inspiration board and asked us to base a card on one the images.  The reason I chose this image was because I had just bought the Deep Red Winter Pines stamp and the Memory Box little cardinals die so it was the perfect opportunity to use them for the first time.

A very CAS card (which suits the inspiration image) - stamped and heat embossed the trees, used the same ink with a water brush for a bit of grounding, added a fine glitter to the snow parts of the trees, and glued on the cardinals.

The next card is for today's SCS CAS challenge "Holiday / Winter Critters", and this week's 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Friends and Family" challenge.

So I chose this Penny Black image as I love the way the dog and cat look like such good friends, giving each other Christmas gifts!

I stamped it and then watercoloured it with my Zig brush markers. I started out by also painting the background around the whole image but really disliked it, so fussy cut all around the image and popped it up on ivory cs - I'm much happier with it!

I added the fine version of Flower Soft to the hats, red pearl pen to the ornaments or lights among the evergreen garland, and stickles to the candle flames.

Thanks for dropping by!

Supplies for Card 1:

Stamps: Deep Red Winter Pines

Paper: white and red cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Versamagic Ocean Depths chalk ink

Accessories: Memory Box Cheery Cardinals dies, fine glitter, clear embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, foam tape

Supplies for Card 2:

Stamps: Penny Black

Paper: ivory and red cs, watercolour paper

Paper Size: 4.75" square

Ink: Ranger Archival black

Accessories: Zig brush markers, Flower Soft, stickles, red pearl pen, foam tape

Winter Window

I haven't been very creative this week as I've been worrying about my Mum who has been in hospital with heart issues.  But thankfully they figured out the problem - and have gone in and done as much repair work as possible for an 89 year old who's health is compromised.  She's doing well and will get to go home next week sometime.  Thank you to those of you who added encouraging comments on my last post.  She love receiving that card I made for her.

Now it's back to Christmas cards.  This week's SCS CAS challenge is to make a Christmas card using acetate on the card in some way.  I love making cards with windows on them, and acetate is perfect for them.

I used a scrap of glossy cs that I'd coloured with alcohol inks, layered two hills of white cs, used a glue pen to add some glitter to the hills, and then added two die cut trees.

I cut three window dies and glued them together, with the acetate glued in between two of the layers. On the back, I added some glitter along the edges of the window frame.

The window is attached to a background made using a striped embossing folder to look like wood panelling with a scored strip across it for a chair rail.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Paper: white cs, dark green shimmer cs, coated cs

Paper Size: A2

Accessories: blue alcohol inks, Memory Box window die, Impression Obsession tree dies, scrap of acetate packaging, glitter, foam tape, SU embossing folder