Sleigh Ride on Music

The bottom right image on the new Peace on Earth mood board immediately gave me the idea for this card.

 

I had a perfect piece of patterned paper for the background.  I put it in my MISTI and stamped the silhouette sleigh image a few times directly onto the patterned paper until I got a perfect impression, then heat embossed it.  I went around the edges of the panel with a black marker.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, sponged a bit of Antique Linen ink on it to give it the same slightly aged look as the patterned paper, and also went around the edges of it with a black marker.

 

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

 

 

I'm also entering the card at the Jingle Belles' "Vintage" challenge.

 

 

  

Supplies:
Stamps - Tim Holtz
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Antique Linen
Paper - off-white cs, Paper Studio dp
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders rectangle dies, black marker, clear embossing powder

Designer Paper Christmas and Wildflower Birthday

I'm trying to make sure I make at least two cards a month using up some of my stash of designer paper.  The latest Double D challenge is "Designer Paper" so it prompted me to get this one made.  It's also for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Red and Green".

I used some old Graphic 45 dp that has images for the 12 Days of Christmas. The 12 drummers drumming panel is mostly red and green so I added it to a card base and then to make it more interesting, I die cut the snowflake / music die in dark red (and twice more in scrap cs, so that glued together they have some substance and dimension) and also the Joy sentiment die.

Seize the Birthday wants to see "Flowers", AAA Birthday is anything birthday, and Triple B is always any combination of Birds, Blooms, Butterflies" - I've got blooms and butterflies today.

The image is stamped and watercoloured. The tiny butterflies are die cut from a scrap of smooshed cs.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - cream and red cs, Graphic 45 dp
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - SSS Jingle Snowflakes die, Spellbinders Joy die

Supplies:
Stamps - Indigo Blu wildflowers, SU sentiment
Ink - Versafine Smokey Grey
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, SU sentiment punch, Poppy Stamps Butterfly Sprinkles dies
 

Carollers for Peace on Earth

The new Peace on Earth challenge's mood board includes an image of a group of carollers (see top left image on the mood board at the end of my post).  It inspired me to get out a stamp I hadn't yet inked up.

I stamped and watercoloured the group of mice, keeping the clothing muted like the image, and then sponged around them with Distress inks similar to the sky and ground in the image.  I splattered with opaque white watercolour for snow.

I had done an earlier version where I made the colours of the mice's clothing brighter than in the mood board image, but wasn't as happy with it so redid it for the one above.  This is the earlier version:

It's fine but it didn't capture the mood board image the way I wanted, hence the redo for the card at the beginning of my post.

We'd love to have you join us, whether you're inspired by the mood board or prefer to link up an "anything Christmas" card.  There's more inspiration from the Design Team over at Peace on Earth.

I'm also linking my card up at NBUS since I'd never used the stamp before.  And to the ABC Christmas Challenge "Q is for Quartet (four of something - my quartet of singers).

     

Supplies:
Stamps - Pink Ink Designs "A Christmas Carol", PTI sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, various green, brown, and grey Distress inks
Paper - watercolour paper
Size - 6.25x4.75"
Accessories - watercolour paints, Dr. Ph Martin's bleed proof opaque white watercolour

A Musical Angel and a Hexagonal Card

The ABC Christmas Challenge wants "M for Music" and My Time to Craft Christmas wants "Music for Christmas".  I've gone with an angel playing a trumpet.

I stamped and heat embossed the image in gold, fussy cut it, layered it over some DP, and added a die cut sentiment.

My twofer today is for Jingle Belles "Shaped Card" (anything other than a square or rectangle) and 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Color an Image".  I went with a hexagonal card and coloured the robin with markers.  This card is a CASE of something I saw elsewhere so cannot take credit for the overall idea.

To create the card base, I used stitched hexagon dies and joined them at the top with a cs hinge.  

I cut a third large hexagon to create my design on.  To create the outer border, I stamped the holly branches with green ink, using first, second, and third generation stamping.  Then added the pine branches with brown ink.  I coloured the holly berries with a red Posca paint pen marker.

I stamped the robin image in the centre and coloured it with markers.  Then with a smaller stitched hexagon die, I die cut the centre out.  Then glued the remaining part of the large hexagon to the front layer of the card base I'd created earlier.  I used the same small die to cut another small hexagon from scrap cs, set that one in the opening, and then added the one with the robin on the top of it.  This gave it a bit of dimension.

I finished by going over all the holly berries with Glossy Accents.

    

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Deep Red
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - off white cs, unknown dp
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - gold embossing powder, Penny Black joy die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Lavinia holly branch and pine branch stamps, Nellie Snellen robin
Ink - Versafine Clair Shady Lane and Pine Cone
Paper - white cs
Size - to fit in a 6" envelope
Accessories - hexagonal stitched dies, markers, Glossy Accents

Quick Heat Embossed Cards and a Mixed Media Tag

I made a couple of quick and CAS cards for last minute challenge entries today.

First up for Christmas Craft Creations "Metallics" , Inkspirational "Clean and Simple", and  My Time to Craft Christmas "Joy to the World":

I think gold heat embossing on cream cs is so elegant!  And this was so quick to make - sentiment and image stamped and heat embossed in gold, trimmed into a square, popped up on fun foam on the card base.  I put the sentiment right under the trumpet, thinking that maybe the angel is playing Joy to the World.

Next card, for The Twelve Months of Christmas "Christmas Baubles" and for NBUS as I used a stamp I'd never used before:

It's a large stamp that fills up most of the card and has some solid areas so I stamped it in my MISTI.  I used a beautiful blue metallic ink and heat embossed with a sparkly embossing powder.  Trimmed it, added it to the cardbase, and ran a sentiment strip across at an angle so that I could cover a bit over on the right where the heat embossing didn't cover it very well.

And finally for Sweet Stampin' "Tags":

I had great fun playing with a lot of mixed media products (quite out of my comfort zone) to create some backgrounds using Jennifer McGuire's recent video "Background Magic".

On a large piece of heavy cs, I brayered different shades of blue ink and sprayed with some mica spray, stamped with a snowflakes background stamp in darker blue, stamped a few bits of tiny stars in gold, stamped a few tiny Christmas words in blue and gold, and stenciled some larger stars and snowflakes with grit paste. Then trimmed the panel into a few different pieces.

I cut a tag out of part of it, added a couple of die cut snowflakes, a TH label sticker, and some ribbon printed with snowflakes.

You'll be seeing more cards that use pieces of my background soon.

  

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Deep Red angel, PTI sentiment
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - cream cs
Size - 4.25" square
Accessories - gold embossing powder, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Local King ornaments, Mama Elephant sentiment
Ink - Encore Metallic Blue, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SU Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Mama Elephant sentiment strip die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SSS small sentiments, Impression Obsession snowflakes and stars background stamps
Ink - Versafine Clair Twilight, various blue Distress inks, Delicata gold
Paper - mixed media cs
Size -5.25x3"
Accessories - Distress mica stain Frosted Juniper, TH grit paste, TH star stencil, Carta Bella snowflake stencil, tag die, TH snowflake dies, TH label stick-on, blue snowflake ribbon

Poppies on Music

A birthday card for a friend who  and loves the colour red, made for Seize the Birthday "Make It Musical" and Can You Handle the Pressure "Embossing Folder with a Twist of Poppies".

A musical embossing folder for the background since my friend plays the ukulele and is in a choir.  And red poppies were a perfect choice as red is her favourite colour and she's a keen gardener.  I die cut the poppies out of watercolour paper and then wet just the flowers and sprinkled red brushos on them, and then watercoloured the stems in dark green.  I cut them twice more out of scrap cs and glued them together for substance.  I sprinkled the same red brushos on a scrap of watercolour paper and die cut the sentiment from that.

I'm also linking it to My Time to Craft Challenge "Using Die Cuts", to AAA Birthday "Anything Birthday Goes", and to Beautiful Blossoms "Anything Goes Flowers".

   

Supplies:
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Penny Black Bodacious die, Gummipan Happy Birthday die, red and green Brushos, Darice music embossing folder

Music for Guys and a Simple Pet Sympathy Card

I've been away for a few days so no crafting or blogging.  Here's a Twofer to make up for it.

Cardz 4 Guyz wants to see "Music" so I did a notecard with a bird against a musical background:

The image is stamped and heat embossed, then trimmed and layered on green and red cardstock, popped up on fun foam on a square card base, and added red stick-on dots to the berries on the leaves.   

The second card is for The Sisterhood of Crafters "Keep It Simple".

A very simple card - stamped the sentiment and pawprint in navy on the card base, die cut a heart out of navy cs, and layered it over the base.  I like to have a few dog sympathy cards on hand as well as people sympathy cards.

  

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Magenta
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - cream cs, red and green cs
Size - 4.25" square
Accessories - gold embossing powder, Spellbinders square dies, red Stampendous dot stickers, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Technique Junkies sentiment, SU paw print
Ink - Memento
Paper - white and navy cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - Memory Box heart die

A Bird with an Embossed Background

I've been very busy with a friend visiting me and trying to catch up on my gardening after being away.  But I must try and keep up with my Christmas cards so here's one:

 

The collage stamp is stamped and coloured with coloured pencils, then die cut with an oval die and layered on the dry embossed background.

Challenges:

The Sisterhood of Crafters - "Birds"

Can You Handle the Pressure - "Dry Embossing with a Twist of Birds"

Sweet Stampin' - "Things with Wings"

NBUS - I've never used the collage stamp before

Supplies:
Stamps - Viva Decor bird collage
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, script embossing folder, Spellbinders oval die

Christmas Music and Three Kings

A couple of Christmas cards today, both very basic and simple to make.  First for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Music":

The image is stamped and heat embossed in gold, die cut with a fancy edged die, and bordered with gold shimmer cs.

And for My Time to Craft Christmas "We Three Kings":

The image is stamped and watercoloured, bordered with black, and added to a kraft card base.

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Old Island Stamp Co.
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - cream cs, gold shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold embossing powder, Spellbinders die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Flourishes
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, kraft and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints