Christmas Bells

Peace on Earth has a heart-themed Christmas mood board in honour of Valentine's Day.  I chose the bottom right image of the bells but added a heart frame to reflect the rest of the mood board.

I stamped the image of the bells and coloured it with a mix of regular coloured pencils and metallic pencils.  I die cut a stitched heart opening out of a piece of red shimmer cs and layered it over the image.  My only sentiment stamps that relate to bells just say things like "jingle bells" or "jingle all the way" and I wanted something that said a bit more so I created the sentiment on the computer, using the first line of a Christmas carol.  I trimmed it with a stitched sentiment die.

Please join us at Peace on Earth.  Here's the mood board that inspired our Design Team's cards.  Will it inspire you?

Supplies:
Stamps - Stampin' Up Bells and Boughs
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - off white cs, red shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, metallic coloured pencils, Memory Box stitched heart die, stitched sentiment die

Die Cut Heart and Three Little Robins

I make a few Valentine cards for my best friend each year.  Here's one for Shopping our Stash "Love Me Do" and Cut It Up "My Heart".

This card is perfect for the Cut It Up challenge as it uses nothing but die cuts.  I have this lovely swirly IO die with hearts in it so thought it would be perfect for the background. I die cut it in gold and added it to a cream card base. Then die cut a heart out of a scrap of Yupo coloured with red alcohol ink and gold foil pressed into the wet sections of the alcohol ink. The sentiment is inside as I thought it would spoil the look of the card if I put it on the outside.

And here's a Christmas card for the ABC Christmas Challenge "A is for Anything Christmas / B is for Bright" (it qualifies for both letters as I have the word "bright" in my sentiment), Christmas Cards All Year Round "Things Starting with A and / or B" (I have birds and the word "bright"), Sweet Stampin' "Bright and Beautiful" (my little birds are so bright and beautiful in their Santa hats, and I have the word "bright" in the sentiment), and AAA Cards Challenge (CASE Francesca's card - I have the same layout with three objects going across a narrow strip).

I had a leftover little strip embossed with a narrow mistletoe embossing folder and thought it would work with the AAA Card Challenge.  I used it to ground three little robins in Santa hats - stamped and watercoloured and fussy cut.  

     

    

  

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - cream and gold cs, scrap of yupo with alcohol inks and foil
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Memory Box heart die, Impression Obsession background die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black birds, Art Impressions sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, white linen cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, narrow mistletoe embossing folder

Favourite Blue / A Card for a Child

Sweet Stampin' wants us to use our favourite colour.  Mine is blue.

My best friend also loves blue and she asked me to make an anniversary card for her to give to her partner.  

Stamped in royal blue ink, heat embossed with shimmery embossing powder, trimmed with a stitched square die, and bordered with royal blue cs.

Try It on Tuesday challenge wants to see a card aimed at children or featuring children.  I stayed with my favourite colour and did a variation of a card I've done before, featuring a child and also suitable to give to a child.  It's also for the We Love Stamping "Make It Cute" challenge.

I created a background by inking up an embossing folder and stamping with it.  I then stamped the tree, child and pony, and sentiment (created by combining two different stamps) in black, trimmed it and bordered it in a matching blue.  

 

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Visible Image
Ink -  ColorBox Royal Blue
Paper - white shimmer and royal blue cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - SU Irridescent Ice embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Isobel Craft Collection Thelwell stamps, Penny Black and Simon Says Stamp sentiments
Ink - Archival Jet Black, Distress Broken China                                                                            Paper - white and blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder

Neglected Dragonfly, Smooshed Birthday, and a Blue Heart

Diane and Darlene have started another new challenge - The Neglected Stuff Challenge.  A great way for me to dig out something I haven't used for years.  This month I went with a Tim Holtz dragonfly stamp that I've always really liked.  Why, then, did it sit unused for 10 years!!?  I actually did a search on my blog and the last time I used it was in 2015!

I started by smooshing a piece of mixed media cs with two Distress colours. Using the same colours I stamped a bit of subtle harlequin and mesh stamps to add interest and texture. Then I stamped the dragonfly stamp in black on top. And stamped it again on a scrap so that I could watercolour the wings (using the same two ink colours with Glimmer Spray in the place of water). I fussy cut the wings and popped them up with foam tape on top of the original stamping. I stamped a sentiment, die cut it with a banner die, smooshed it in the inks a bit, and popped it up with foam tape.

And a bit more smooshing on this card, for the AAA Birthday Challenge "Ink Smooshing".

I started by smooshing white cs into two shades of blue Distress ink and when dry, stamped some text on it.  Then cut out sections with two sizes of octagon dies and arranged them on an embossed background.  I die cut a leaf out of a green smooshed leftover background scrap and layered it on the octagon.  I spritzed two shades of Distress Mica spray on my craft mat and smooshed another piece of cs and cut the butterfly out of that.  I stamped the sentiment on bit of blue smooshed leftover scrap.

And a third card for today, so that I can enter it into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge "Hearts" before it closes.  A very quick CAS card compared to my first two cards on this post.

The image is stamped in royal blue ink and heat embossed.  Then trimmed with a stitched square die, and mounted on the card base.  It's such a lovely stamp I didn't want anything to detract from it.

 

Supplies for card:
Stamps - Tim Holtz dragonfly, Savvy Stamps sentiment, unknown little harlequin stamp and mesh stamp
Ink - Distress Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutters, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - mixed media cs, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Glimmer Spray, banner die, foam tape

Supplies for card:
Stamps - Inkadinkado text stamp, AMuse sentiment stamp
Ink - Distress Broken China and Tumbled Glass, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders octagon dies, Memory Box leaf die, Tim Holtz butterfly die, Altenew embossing folder, Winter Frost and Fresh Balsam Distress Mica spray

Supplies for card:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - ColorBox Royal Blue
Paper - white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - clear embossing powder, Lil Inker stitched square die

A Sleigh Ride and a Bird in a Heart

A card for the Twelve Months of Christmas challenge "Couples" (I've got the man and woman, and a couple of horses), Christmas Cards All Year Round "Inspired by Jingle Bells", and Sweet Stampin' "Masculine Makes":

I stamped the snowflake background in light blue and the sleigh in black, trimmed the panel and dabbed on some Snow-tex paste for the snowy ground.  I bordered with black cs and added a sentiment on a stitched die cut sentiment banner.

For the Tic Tac Toe challenge (heart, die cut, love sentiment), Simply Clean and Simple (love and / or hearts), and Triple B (at least one of birds, blossoms, or butterflies, inspired by an all red mood board:

I die cut a red heart and red sentiment.  Then die cut a circular opening in the heart.  The bird is cut from a scrap of smooshed cs and glued into the circular opening.  

   
 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Tim Holtz sleigh, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Distress Tumbled Glass, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - Impression Obsession snowflake background stamp, Snow-tex embossing paste, stitched sentiment banner die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - rustic cs, red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box heart die, Poppy Stamps sentiment die, TH bird die, Spellbinders circle die, Lil Inker's stitched rectangle die

Valentines 3

You all know that making Christmas cards is my first love, but I have to say I've really enjoyed making a bunch of Valentine cards for my best friend's special order.

This first one is for Penny Black Saturday Challenge "Hearts".

The image is stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a square die, bordered with red cs, and on a kraft cardbase.

And here's today's Twofer.  My friend who ordered the cards always wants one or two with birds on them.  This is going off to Stamping Sensations "Valentines", My Time to Craft "Hearts", Cardz 4 Guyz "Clean and Simple", and Simply Clean and Simple "Hearts".

The heart is stamped with Versamark on burgundy cs and then brushed gold Pearl Ex over it (and sealed it with a fixative).  I fussy cut the heart, put foam tape on the back, and added it to a rectangle trimmed with a stitched die.  I added a sentiment die cut from gold shimmer cs.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black image, SU sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and kraft cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - watercolour paints

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown stamp
Ink - Versamark
Paper - burgundy and white cs, gold shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold Pearl Ex, Poppy Stamp sentiment die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die

Two Non-Christmas Cards

You all know how my main focus is Christmas cards but I've just made a bunch of them for SCS Falliday Fest challenges as I'm hosting one of the challenges coming up Oct 17 and also made samples for some of the other challenges.  So if you're a SCS member, be sure to head over and check out the challenges - four new ones posted each day from Oct 10 - 19.

So I decided to take a break and make two non-Christmas cards.  There are a bunch of great autumn-themed challenges out on blogland so I made this card for these ones: Try It On Tuesday "Autumn Magic", Stamping Sensations "Autumn Colours", My Time to Craft "Autumn Season Colors", The Four Seasons Challenge "Fall", and AAA Card Challenge "Autumn".  I'm also linking up to Addicted to CAS "Masculine".

Stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a label die, and popped up on fun foam on a kraft card base.  I went over the berries with Glossy Accents.

The Paper Players' challenge is "Love is in the Air" so I'm entering this card:

The heart was done in a hot foiling machine and was not totally successful - it's missing quite a lot of the gold foil.  But I quite like it anyway as it has kind of a distressed look.  I popped it up on fun foam on a square I embossed with the SU Subtle folder.  Added it to a white card base and die cut the word "love" from red glitter paper.

 

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Magenta leaves and berries, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - kraft cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - Sizzix die, foam tape, watercolour paints, Glossy Accents

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white cs, red glitter cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Glimmer gold foil, SU Subtle embossing folder, Great Expressions Decorative Heart die, Tim Holtz sentiment die