B is for Butterfly and Blue Challenges

Stamping Sensations has a fun challenge - "I Spy something beginning with B".  I've got lots of "Bs" on this card - butterfly, blue, birthday, background technique.  I'm also entering it in the Neglected Stuff challenge as this is one of my favourite butterfly stamps and I haven't used it for ages.

The background is a stencil monoprint, using a stencil with tiny square openings, rubbed with several colours of Distress inks, spritzed with water, and then laid onto a watercolour panel.  When dry, I stamped some very faint text and postal stamps for added texture.  I stamped the butterfly and watercoloured it with the same colours as the background, then fussy cut it, glued its body down but popped up its wings with bits of dimensional tape. 

 

There seem to be a lot of challenges calling for blue this month!  Colorful Options "Blue and White", Inkspirational "Shades of Blue", and Color Hues "Blue and White".  So of course, I had to make a card for them!  And because it uses a leftover snippet from another card, it's going to the Snippets Playground.

Back in September, the Group of Cardmakers played with inlaid die cuts.  The piece I used on this card is the leftovers after die cutting and inlaying the centre of it into an ornament - see the second card on this post.

I simply took this leftover piece, trimmed it with a square die, and added it to a shimmery white card base and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.

 

   

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black butterfly, unknown sentiment, text, and postmark
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various blue Distress inks
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs, 
Size - A2
Accessories - tiny squares stencil

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - ColorBox blue
Paper - white shimmer cs, TCP dp 
Size - 4.5" square
Accessories - Spellbinders square die, ornament die (for the inner circle of the dp), clear embossing powder

A Gilded Reindeer, Red Ornaments, and a Horse and Sleigh

I'm working very hard on Christmas cards as my fundraiser (where I sell my Christmas cards and those kindly donated by Loll and Christine) is this Sunday.  Thank goodness for challenges that spark ideas in me!  I've got three cards today.

Fiirst up for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Just Add Antlers", I've got a reindeer with some very impressive antlers.

I sponged Cosmic Shimmer glue through a reindeer stencil, removed the stencil (and washed it immediately), and applied copper flakes to the glue.  Trimmed the panel with a hemstitch square die, layered over copper shimmer cs, and added a die cut sentiment out of the same copper cs. 

Colorful Options wants to see mostly red.

I stamped and heat embossed the ornaments in red sparkly embossing powder, and the sentiment in black embossing powder.  To make the border layer match the sentiment, I ran ink around the edges of the border layer of cs and heat embossed in the same black embossing powder.

The 12 Months of Christmas want to see a sleigh.  

The background is from my UFO box (a stencil monoprint created after making another background where I sprinkled Magicals through a stencil and spritzed with water - the leftover wet Magicals powder on the stencil was then used to create this background print - trees don't really come in this colour but it makes a lovely shimmery background!).  I tore a strip of white shimmer cs for the snowy ground, and added a gold die cut sleigh and horse, and a gold sentiment die cut with a banner die. The card base is white shimmer cs.

   

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - off white cs, copper shimmer cs
Size - 5.5" square
Accessories - reindeer stencil, copper foil flakes, Tim Holtz noel die, Spellbinders hemstitch square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Indigo Blu ornaments, Paper Smooches sentiment
Ink - ColorBox red, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - 5.75" square
Accessories - Old Island Red Dragon embossing powder, black embossing powder, Spellbinders square dies

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - gold
Paper - mixed media cs, white shimmer cs, gold shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TCW birch trees stencil, Magicals, sentiment banner die, Memory Box horse and sleigh dies

 

Snowfall and a Shopping Teddy Bear

A few of my favourite Christmas challenges are asking for snow.  The Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Snow Alert", The 12 Months of Christmas "Snowfall", and Jingle Belles "Dashing Through the Snow".

I masked the snowy foreground, then did a stencil monoprint to create the snowy sky above it.  Then stamped and heat embossed the horses / fence image.  Trimmed the panel, bordered in black, and used a Quickie glue pen to add glitter to the tops of the fence rails.

The Penny Black Saturday Challenge is "Too Cute to Spook".  I don't need Halloween cards so made a Christmas card with a very cute teddy bear who looks so confident I'm sure nothing would spook him.

Stamped and watercoloured, trimmed with a stitched rectangle die, bordered with dp.

  

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Cardio horses / fence, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Clair, Distress Weathered Wood and Faded Jeans 
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, clear glitter, snowflake stencil

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black bear, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs, DCWV dp
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Glitter Snowflakes and A Dog with Gifts

It's still colder than normal here in Vancouver so I'm inspired to do another snowflake card (though we don't have any snow on the ground).  Snowflakes are perfect for Shopping our Stash "Glitter Me Happy" challenge.  It's also going to the Sisterhood of Crafters challenge "Snowflakes".  And to the Inkspirational Challenge "Word Prompt: Snow".

I made a stencil monoprint for the background by spraying a snowflake stencil and then pressing it down onto my cs.  Then layered it with white cs on which I stamped the sentiment and trimmed with a stitched rectangle.  And topped that with two snowflakes die cut out of glitter cs.

For Stamping Sensations "Hand Coloured Image", Penny Black Saturday Challenge "anything Penny Black", and the NBUS Challenge (I'd never used this stamp before):

A very basic card - the image is coloured with coloured pencils, then it's trimmed and popped up on fun foam on a snowflake embossed panel.

     

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Art Impressions sentiment
Ink - Distress Broken China
Paper - white cs, blue glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - PaperArtsy snowflake stencil, Mr. Huey's Sky spray, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, snowflake dies

Supplies for card:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils, snowflake embossing folder, fun foam

Group of Seven Stencil Monoprints

The Group of Seven Cardmakers are playing with the stencil monoprint technique this month.  I tried it with two different mediums - ink pads and mica sprays.

First up using Distress ink pads:

I patted various shades of blue and purple mini Distress ink pads on my star stencil, spritzed with water, and laid it down on watercolour paper, pressing lightly with a rag.  I removed the stencil and patted up any excess watery ink.  I had some areas around the edges without any colour so I sponged the same inks around all the blank edges.

I die cut the Santa and reindeer twice from black cs and glued them together, then added them to the stencil monoprint, along with a sentiment banner.

I wasn't 100% happy with the monoprint as there were some blotchy sections, especially around where the reindeer are - the result of not enough water when I spritzed.  So I decided to try doing one using TH mica sprays, thinking I'd get better coverage on the stencil:

I still got some blotchy sections over on the right but I trimmed the panel down and got rid of most of them.  I used three different colours of mica sprays and got a nice blend of colours.  I added a snow bank and sentiment (die cut from white glitter cs) and two reindeer (die cut from copper shimmer cs and from scrap cs and glued together for more substance).  The card base is the same copper cs as the reindeer.

There are two good videos on the technique here:

Stencil Monoprint by Lee-Ann Cross (6:50)

Stenciling with Brushos by Loll Thompson (2:29)

 

And please head over to the Group of Seven blog to see more samples by the rest of the group.  If you give it a try, we'd love to have you link your card up as inspiration for us and others. 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - TH Distress inks (Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky)
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - star stencil, Santa die,

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - watercolour paper, copper shimmer cs, white glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TH mica sprays (Winter Frost, Fresh Balsam, Frosted Juniper), TCW tree stencil, SSS stitched slopes die, TH reindeer and joy die

A Tag with Poinsettias and a Green, Brown, and Blue Christmas Card

My first card is for three challenges - AAA Card Challenges "Add a Tag", ABC Christmas Challenge "T is for Three of a Kind", and the Snippets Playground Challenge (to use up little scraps).

I used the Tim Holtz tag die that has raised ridges that you can rub over with ink (red, in my case) and then when you die cut it, the colour transfers to the cs and makes the coloured border on the tag.

I die cut three poinsettias from snippets of white and red shimmer cs, and some holly sprigs from a leftover bit of cs that I'd smooshed with various green Distress inks.  Put it all together on the tag, added gold pearls to the centres of the poinsettias, and tied a bit of red and green twine through the hold.  I left the card base completely plain as the AAA Card Challenge is a clean and simple challenge.

My second card today is for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Green, Brown, and Blue".  Perfect colours for an outdoor winter scene.

The background is blue Magicals sprinkled on a stencil, spritzed with water, and monoprinted on mixed media cs.  I die cut the evergreen tree from green cs, the deciduous tree from dark brown cs, and the two deer from lighter brown cs.  I also die cut two snow banks with a slopes die.  Then assembled my scene.  I stamped the sentiment in blue but smudged it so restamped it on a scrap and die cut it to layer over the smudged one.

    

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - various green Distress inks, Distress Fired Brick
Paper - white cs, red shimmer and white shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz tag die, Dee's Distinctively poinsettia dies, red and green twine, gold adhesive pearls

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Make an Impression sentiment
Ink - Encore Metallic Blue
Paper - white, green, dark brown, medium brown cs; mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box Twiggy Tree die, Impression Obsession evergreen tree die, Memory Box deer dies, SSS slopes dies, Spellbinders tag die, snowflake stencil, blue Magicals

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

Two More Valentines

Two more Valentine cards from me.  The first one has the centre horizontal line from the Tic Tac Toe challenge - stencil, pink, and heart.  And also has Stencil Fun's theme of hearts, Colorful Options challenge to use pink, Inkspirational "Use Stencils", and The Sisterhood of Crafters' theme of hearts.

I created a stencil monoprint for the background - basically a negative version of stenciling.  I sprinkled pink Brushos on a stencil of little hearts, spritzed with water, and flipped it over onto a piece of mixed media cs.  I trimmed it down and popped the panel up on fun foam on the card base, and added a white heart and a sentiment die cut out of the trimmed off section of the stencil panel.

The second card is for Cardz for Guyz - a Valentine for a Guy:

 

 

Stamped, watercoloured, a bit of splattering, a black border, and fun foam for some dimension.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

 

 

Stencil Fun - theme is "hearts"

 

Colorful Options - pink 

 

  

 

Inkspirational "Use Stencils"

 

 

The Sisterhood of Crafters - theme is "hearts"

 

Cardz for Guyz - Valentine for a Guy

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -