Nordic Winter and Blinged Holly

For the ABC Christmas Challenge, I'm going with "D for Die Cuts".

I got out my Tim Holtz Nordic Winter die - it's so much fun to use.  I die cut it three times, once each out of white, green, and bronze shimmer cs, then made a blue shimmer card base, glued the negative piece from the white die cut over it, and then inlaid the green trees and bronze reindeer.  I added a sentiment on a narrow strip banner.

 

The problem with using this die (which I love) is that you always end up with many leftover little bits, and how many cards do I want to make to use them all up?!!   But it is fun doing the inlaying and coming up with colour combinations for it. 

I've also got a card today for the Jingle Belles challenge "Bring on the Bling".  Lots of gemstones on this card:

 

I laid a holly stencil over watercolour paper, spritzed generously with water, lifted off the stencil, and sprinkled with a few shades of green Brushos. After it was dry, I trimmed it down to the best section, stamped the sentiment, die cut a frame (twice so I could layer them together for more substance), added it all to a red card base, and added red gemstones to the berries in the image.

 

 

 

  

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - white, green, blue, and bronze shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TH Nordic Winter die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Memento Cottage Ivy
Paper - watercolour paper, dark red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz holly stencil, green Brushos, red gemstones, MFT pierced rectangle frame die

Christmas Tags and Shakespearian Words

I have a bunch of backgrounds and pieces of backgrounds sitting in a box so went through them for bits that would make good gift tags.  I also have a huge stash of snippets of ribbon.  I'm linking up to Sparkles Christmas Challenge "Add Ribbon or Twine" and the Snippets Challenge.

The two poinsettia ones are a TH stencil, sponged with Distress inks with clear embossing paste over the top. The star / holly one is stamped with a die cut Christmas star added to it. And the snowflake one is stencilled.

I die cut them with a stitched tag die, stamped a sentiment or added a die cut sentiment to the front, stamped "To / From" on the back, and added ribbon to the top. 

My second project is for Word Power - have the sentiment be the focus of the card:

It's my friend Gerald's birthday - he is very involved in the theatrical world so this quote from Shakespeare is a perfect birthday wish for him. He's also Dutch in origin so orange is an important colour for him so I sponged around the sentiment (stamped in sepia ink and heat embossed) with various shades of light brown and orange, and mounted it on a red / orange dp layer.

   

Supplies for the tags:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Supplies for the card:
Stamps - Rubber Soul ? Wordsworth ? sentiment
Ink - Versafine Vintage Sepia;  Distress light browns and oranges
Paper - off white cs, orange dp
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders label die, clear embossing powder

Stars for Guys, a Winter Sky, and Birthday Horses

I've been on a roll with making cards this week, mostly Christmas, but did have to do a birthday one.  Challenges really help inspire me so thank you to all the challenge organizers out there!

For 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Use a Stencil" and Cardz 4 Guys "Stars":

I stencilled the arc of stars with silver glitter embossing paste on black cs, then layered the white die cut on top once the paste was dry.  A very simple card to make!

For AAA Cards "Skies, Galaxies, Planet":

I created a wet on wet night sky with two shades of blue watercolour paint on watercolour paper that I first painted with just water. When dry, I splattered with white acrylic paint. I added a die cut of snowy trees (cut from white shimmer cs) and a stamped sentiment, then popped the panel up on fun foam on a matching white shimmer card base.

And last, AAA Birthday "Animals":

It's for a special friend who loves horses and the colour pink.  And the sunflowers are perfect for her autumn birthday!  Stamped and watercoloured, bordered with pink cs, a pink sentiment, and a few die cut pink stars.

 

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - PB sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - star stencil, reindeer deer

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Ranger Archival Cobalt
Paper - watercolour paper, white shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, white acrylic paint, tree die, fun foam

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Impression Obsession horses, A Muse sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves, Distress Picked Raspberry
Paper - watercolour paper, pink and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, SU tiny label die, tiny star die

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

Embossing Glazed Snowflakes

I buy so many great new products and then they languish on my shelves.  So I'm hoping to challenge myself to use something I rarely use at least once a week.  Here's a card using Embossing Glaze:

I went over the TH snowflake stencil with embossing paste and then, while it was still wet, I added Speckled Egg embossing glaze to give it colour. I heated it with my heat gun which caused some of the glaze to bubble a bit and then subside, adding even more texture to the snowflakes.

I added a very thin black cs border, stamped the sentiment in black on a small scrap and heat embossed it with clear powder, and added a thin black border to that piece as well.

Sneaking in just in time for:

52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Snowflakes"

 

And I don't think aqua-coloured snowflakes are very traditional so it's also going to:

Sparkles Christmas Challenge "Non-traditional Christmas Colours"

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 7x3.75"
Accessories - TH snowflakes stencil, embossing paste, TH Speckled Egg embossing glaze, clear embossing powder

Tic Tac Toe Snowflakes

The latest Tic Tac Toe challenge has a line "snow, free, and blue".  And the Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge has shades of blue with snow.   I made this card:

First I made the background by sprinkling various blue Brushos on a snowflake stencil and spritzing with water, then pressing the stencil onto mixed media cs to create a stencil monoprint.

I trimmed the panel, made a frame for it with a regular rectangle die and a stitched rectangle die, die cut some snowflakes out of various blue glitter cs, and added a white heat embossed sentiment on a strip of navy cs.

Off it goes to Tic Tac Toe for the centre vertical line:

And the Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge:

And Diane and Darlene have a new challenge - Stencil Fun - anything goes as long as you use a stencil.

Supplies:
Stamps - Northwoods sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - mixed media, cream cs, scrap of navy cs, scraps of various blue glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - snowflake stencil (made by a friend for me from a Cricut), blue Brushos, small snowflake dies, white embossing powder, Spellbinders rectangle die, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Rustic Background for a Tree

Peace on Earth has a great mood board for their new challenge.  I chose the image on the bottom left to inspire me.  I didn't have any gingham or plaid dp but created something using the red and black for my background.

Using a stencil, I sponged Black Soot ink over it, leaving a lighter area at the bottom for my sentiment.  I really like the irregular edges on the other three sides.  The sentiment is heat embossed in a darker black.

I die cut the tree three times and glued them together for dimension.  The top one is cut from mixed media cs and smooshed in various green Distress inks.  Finished off with red gemstones to match the red baubles on the tree in the mood board image.

We'd love to have you join us at Peace on Earth.  It's an "anything Christmas goes" challenge but here's the mood board if you need some inspiration.  Check out what it inspired the rest of the Design Team to create!

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Distress Black Soot, Iced Spruce, Pine Needles, Evergreen Bough;  Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - red, white, and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box Textured Mesh stencil, black embossing powder, Impression Obsession tree die

White Trees, Gold Stars

The Christmas Craft Creations challenge "Trees" is ending soon and I want to get a card in for it.  And two challenges are calling for stars - Jingle Belles and Sparkles Christmas Challenge.

For the background, I used a leftover piece of black cs that had some gold spray on it. I added gold stars with gold embossing paste through a stencil. Then die cut the line of trees - they were just the right size for my scrap of background. Popped it up on fun foam and left it without a sentiment. In this case I prefer to just have a sentiment inside, rather than cluttering up my design.

Christmas Craft Creations

Jingle Belles "Stars or Stripes"

Sparkles Christmas Challenge "Stars"

Supplies:
Paper - black and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - star stencil, gold embossing paste, gold spray, tree line die, fun foam

Blue and Yellow

The Color Hues challenge is asking for either blue and yellow (in support of Ukraine) or green and gold.  I posted a green and gold one a few days ago, and today I'm here with a blue and yellow one.

For the butterfly, I smooshed on a piece of cs with three Distress Oxide inks. Then I stamped the butterfly on it (and heat embossed it), and then fussy cut it.

I used embossing paste through a stencil for a background for the butterfly.

Color Hues

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black butterfly, SU sentiment
Ink - Distress Oxide Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed; Versafine Clair Nocturne, ColorBox white
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Dreamweaver Pearlescent paste, Donna Downey Flower Bed stencil, white and clear embossing powders

Red and Black Valentine

I've been busy making some Valentine cards that a friend of mine orders every year.  Here's another one of them:

I used a red glitter paste through a stencil on black cs. I trimmed it down and popped it up on fun foam, and added a die cut "Love You" sentiment.

It's going off to these challenges:

Color Hues "Red and Black"

 

Double D "Hearts" 

 

The Paper Players "Love and Friendship"

 

Supplies:
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - hearts stencil, red glitter paste, "Love You" die, fun foam