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

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

Using Up Scraps

It's always good to use up some of my scraps (instead of tossing them in recycling).  And that's exactly what Snippets Pixie Playground and 52 Christmas Card Throwdown want us to do.  My Time to Craft Christmas wants branches or greenery.  And I'm using a new die so it's going to the NBUS Challenge.

The tag was in my leftovers box - I'd cut it out to test out a new die.  It 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.

Then I die cut some greenery from leftovers.  One piece is die cut from a piece of coated cs coloured with green alcohol inks and the other pieces are cut from scraps of two shades of green shimmer cs. The sentiment is stamped in green and a scrap of red ribbon is added to the tag.

The background is a bit of leftover dry embossed cs (embossed with the Sizzix pine branch embossing folder).

      

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul Joy
Ink - Distress Fired Brick, Archival Library Green
Paper - white cs, two shades of green shimmer cs, coated cs
Size - 7.25x3.75"
Accessories - TH tag and greenery dies, Sizzix embossing folder, red ribbon, green alcohol inks

Resisting Snowflakes and a Bleached Bird

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants a card using the Emboss Resist Technique.  I used a snowflake stencil to create my resist:

I pressed my Versamark pad through the snowflake stencil and then heat embossed the snowflakes with clear ep.  I then sponged various blue Distress inks over the panel and when finished, wiped off the snowflakes with a damp cloth.

I cut it with a tag die thinking I'd enter it in Cardz 4 Guyz "Tag" challenge but just missed the deadline.  Because I wanted to be sure it looked masculine, I added a metal token (attaching it with a brad) and a dark silver die cut sentiment.  The tag is added to an embossed background panel.

I'm also cutting it fine to enter The Paper Players "Birds" challenge but at least I'm in time for this one.  Here's my card:

I created the green Brusho background by sprinkling the Brusho powders on watercolour paper and then spritzing with water. When dry, I stamped the image and heat set it. Then I used bleach and a paint brush to lift the green colour from the bird.

I stamped the sentiment that came with the image across the bottom and a Happy Retirement sentiment up at the top.

I added gold gel pen to all the tiny berries in the image and bordered with a matching gold cs. I found a blue grey cs that matched the colour of the bird (the bleach never seems to take enough colour out to go right back to white) and used it for the card base. The panel is popped up on fun foam.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

The Paper Players

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - Distress Broken China, Stormy Skies, Faded Jeans; Versamark
Paper - white cs, dark silver cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Paper Roses snowflake stencil, clear embossing powder, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Tim Holtz token, Dee's Distinctively "Merry" die, stitched tag die, dark silver brad

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Carabelle "Dream Wings", SU "Happy Retirement"
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, gold shimmer cs, pale blue grey cs
Size - A2
Accessories - two shades of green Brushos, gold gel pen, bleach, fun foam

Winter Snow

For the Tic Tac Toe Challenge, I picked "Snowflakes, Free, and Winter" for this card:

The tag was an experiment in doing a gesso resist - I spread gesso through a snowflake stencil onto a tag and then smooshed the tag into blue Distress oxide inks. I didn't get a clear snowflake pattern as the inks coloured some of the gesso, but I like the splotchy look of the tag.

I added a glitter cs snowflake flourish and two word die cuts to the tag, and added it to an embossed background. Finishing touch - a little blue bow.

Tic Tac Toe Challenge - I chose the vertical centre row - Snowflakes, Free, Winter.

Supplies:
Paper - white cs, tag, blue glitter cs
Size - 6x4.25"
Accessories - Embossalicious snowflake embossing folder, white gesso, snowflake flourish die (Memory Box?), Tattered Lace word dies, blue ribbon, snowflake stencil

A Metal Disc and a Single Dog

A couple of other challenges are about to end so more last minute cards.

For Cardz 4 Guyz "Use Some Metal", I used one of my Tim Holtz metal Christmas quote tokens.  And for Jingle Belles "Include Some Snow", I have dry and wet embossed snowflakes.

I created the tag by smooshing with Distress inks, stamping some script over it, stencilling some snowflakes with white embossing paste, and attaching the metal token with a brad

I added some ribbon to the top and looped it over a dry embossed background, and added a ribbon knot.

Here's a close-up of the token so that you can read the lovely quote:

And a second card, this one for CASology "One".  I have one dog on a very CAS thank you card:

I stamped, heat embossed, and fussy cut the dog (who looks much like mine). I mounted it t on the white card base, taping the feet right to the card and the head popped up a bit with foam tape.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, die cut the frame die and popped it up on foam tape.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - script stamp
Ink - various Distress inks
Paper - white cs, tag
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz sentiment token, brad, ribbon, TH snowflake stencil, white embossing paste, Cuttlebug embossing folder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stamp Gallery dog, unknown sentiment
Ink - Distress ozide browns
Paper - white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - MFT pierced square frame die, clear embossing powder, foam tape

Kraft Tag, Red Poinsettias

Mid month already so time to remind you to enter the March CAS Christmas challenge.  Loll is asking for kraft, red, and white as your colour theme.  Here's my reminder card:

I started by getting out a couple of shades of red Glimmer Mist sprays and spraying them on white cs.  When it was dry, I die cut the poinsettias and layered them together.  I added them to a kraft corrugated tag, tied some red and white baker's twine to the top, and layered it on the card base.  I heat embossed the sentiment on a scrap of kraft cs and added red gemstones to both the sentiment strip and the poinsettias.

Head over to CAS Christmas to see more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's fabulous Guest Designer, Gundi (papierelle).  Please come and join us - and help us celebrate our third birthday.  Because of this milestone, there will be prizes this month!!

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - white and kraft cs, corrugated kraft tag
Size - A2
Accessories - Dee's Distinctively poinsettia dies, red and white baker's twine, red gemstones, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Black Cherry and Oriental Poppy), white embossing powder

Joy of a Little Dog

The CAS Christmas Challenge is asking for "Joy" this month.  One of the great joys in my life is Tessa, my sweet English Cocker Spaniel.

Penny Black makes some lovely stamps that have a very spaniel-like dog that reminds me of Tessa.  One of them is a very tiny stamp, with the dog wearing a collar with a star.  The star, in my mind, makes it suitable for a Christmas card.

I have a great little tag die that has "joy" as part of it.  And the dog fits right on it perfectly.  I stamped the dog, coloured the collar and star with sparkly gel pens, and die cut it with the matching die. 

I die cut the "joy" tag three times and glued them together to give it dimension, stamped a few little stars on the top in gold, and added the die cut dog to it.

I added it to a gold shimmer stitched rectangle die cut and popped that up on fun foam.  I'd meant to put a brad through the tag's hole but forgot so added a red gemstone instead.

I'm also linking it up to the Less is More Less (Tiny and Few) challenge where they want you to see how small you can go with your images.  My dog and the stars are pretty tiny!  And there's only one dog and three stars.

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black dog, Stampendous star stamp
Ink - Delicata Gold Glitz, Archival Vintage Photo
Paper - gold shimmer and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Penny Black matching dog die, Impression Obsession joy tag die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, red and gold glitter pens, fun foam

A Tiny Tag

A card for CAS Christmas "Tag" - your card must have a tag on it.

 

Unlike my card (see here) for the challenge launch where the tag was the whole focal point of the card, this one has a very tiny tag that just carries the sentiment.  

And, because I used a punch for the tag, I'm also linking up with the Double D Challenge "Punch".

I started by stamping the dove in metallic blue ink on a scrap of denim blue cs, heat embossed it, and then coloured the dove's body and wings with a white coloured pencil. I laid my tiny snowflake stencil over it and used the same metallic blue ink with one of my stencil brushes, getting the stencil around, but not on, the dove.

I trimmed the piece to fit behind a white die cut frame. The sentiment is stamped and heat embossed on white, punched out with a tiny tag punch, and attached to the dove with silver thread. The panel and frame are popped up on fun foam on a matching denim blue card base.

Supplies:
Stamps - SU Dove, Simon Says Stamp tiny sentiment
Ink - Encore Metallic Blue
Paper - white and denim blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box tiny snowflakes stencil, white coloured pencil, tiny tag punch, sparkly embossing powder, MFT stitched rectangle frame, fun foam, silver thread

Sprayed and Glittered Holly Tag

Christmas is only just over and away we go with a new series of CAS Christmas Card Challenges!  Christine is our host this month and she has challenged us to put a tag on our cards.

Here's my card:

I had more trouble making the tag than I'd expected.  I wanted to use some of my sprays and get a rich shimmery background for the gold embossing.  The first time I sprayed, I left it to dry, and came back to a blobby mess as the cs warped and the colours pooled horribly.  So I tried again and weighted down the cs to keep it flat while it dried.  Once dry I used my Dreamweaver gold embossing paste over the holly stencil and left it to dry.   I came back to discover that the gold embossing paste had dried the colour of the background - it had obviously absorbed the pigment from the sprays!

So I then placed the stencil back over the embossing paste and went over it again with Bo Bunny gold glitter embossing paste, hoping that would dry gold - it's not as gold as it should be but at least it has more contrast to the background than the Dreamweaver gold paste had!  I trimmed the piece down and created the tag top with a SU punch.

I die cut a wonky stitched background panel and sentiment, flicked some of the spray over the background panel, found a piece of gold ribbon that matched quite well, and was glad to call it done!

You have until January 24th to make and post a Christmas card with a tag on it.  If you need more inspiration, head over to CAS Christmas and see what the rest of the Design Team and this month's wonderful Guest Designer, Jane (Onions and Paper) made.

Happy New Year to all who join in with CAS Christmas challenges!

Supplies:
Paper - mixed media and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SU tag punch, Tim Holtz holly stencil, Dreamweaver gold embossing paste, Bo Bunny gold glitter embossing paste, gold ribbon