Faux-Mother-of-Pearl Ornament

Time to remind you to join in the December CAS Mix Up challenge!  You have until December 24th to link up a card.

I did a combination of plain sponging and some faux-mother-of pearl.

I die cut the ornament out of some shimmery white cs and out of a scrap of sponged faux-mother-of-pearl (see this video by Loll Thompson for the technique).  I took the internal bit from the faux-mother-of-pearl one and set it inside the white one.  I'll use the rest of it on another card.

I cut a panel of the same shimmery cs and sponged a random patch with the same ink colours - I didn't want to sponge the whole panel, but just enough for a contrasting background for the ornament.  It's interesting how different the same sponged ink colours look on the shimmery cs and on the regular cs that was used for the faux-mother-of-pearl piece.

I originally stamped my sentiment directly onto the panel but it smudged (the problem with shimmery cs), so did it on a scrap and punched it out.

Looking forward to seeing what you link up at the CAS Mix Up challenge!  Please remember to keep your card clean and simple.

Supplies:

Stamps - A Muse sentiment

Ink - Staz-on black; Distress Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Broken China, and Faded Jeans

Paper - scrap from previous faux-mother-of-pearl, shimmery white cs

Size - A2

Accessories -Tsukineko Frost White paint, Memory Box ornament die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle, SU narrow oval punch, white ribbon

Snowy Peace

This week's Technique Lovers' Challenge over at SCS is "Let It Snow".  It calls for creating snow in some way (other than a stamped image of snow).

One of my favourite ways is using the chunky white Frantage embossing powder - sprinkling it on and then heating from underneath so that you don't blow it off the cardstock.

I started by stamping the tree in Versamark and heat embossing in white. Then I created a mask for the snowy ground and sponged around the tree with three shades of Distress inks. I removed the mask from the horizon and added it lower down so that I could lightly sponge a bit of a snowdrift.

Then used the chunky white frantage all over the panel.

I finished off by added die cut doves and a die cut sentiment, and popped the panel up on fun foam.

It's for my best friend who loves blue and white, and only likes Christmas cards that have a theme of "peace".

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Solemn Stillness tree

Ink - Distress Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, and Dusty Concord; Versamark

Paper - white cs, pale blue glitter cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Memory Box small dove dies, Impression Obsession Peace die, Frantage Chunky White embossing powder, white embossing powder, fun foam

Shaking in the New Year

This week's CAS challenge on SCS is "Bringing in the New Year" - and the card has to have some kind of explosion theme - explosion of colour, explosion of fireworks, explosion of sparkle, etc.

I thought a shaker card works well as an explosion of sequins and glitter when you shake it.

I stamped and heat embossed a starry background for the shaker and a sentiment for the card front, filled it with sequins and tiny stars, and set it in a white card front. I added the sentiment and a scattering of the sequins and stars to the card front. The card base is gold shimmer cs.

I don't make many shaker cards but this was fun to make so must try a few more!

Supplies:

Stamps - Serendipity Happy New Year, Stamp Oasis star background

Ink - ColorBox gold

Paper - white and gold cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Impression Obsession shaker window, sequins and star glitter, Stampendous Pirate Gold embossing powder

Cling Wrap Background with Stars

Lydia (aka "UnderstandBlue") posted a great Mixability challenge over at SCS - "Feeling Clingy?".  She included a video and instructions for creating a great background using cling wrap and wet pigment.

Here's what I created:

I followed her instructions and sprinkled blue and black brushos on cling wrap, then spritzed with water, and laid a piece of watercolour paper on top of it. Scrunched up the cling wrap and left it to dry. I don't think I got as much nice texture as Lydia did but I like my panel.

When dry, I stencilled stars and the word "Dream" (using two different TCW stencils) with gold embossing paste. And left that to dry (this card took a long time to make because of all the drying time).

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a small piece of white cs, and sponged it with a bit of blue ink so it didn't look so stark on the background.

I added the panel to fun foam for dimension and used a white card base.

I also had the Mixed Media December challenge in mind:

I've got both the gold and the optional element of "star" so I'm entering it over there.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps - Impression Obsession sentiment

Ink - ColorBox Gold, Distress Faded Jeans

Paper - white cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - blue and black brushos, TCW stencils, Dreamweaver gold embossing paste, clear embossing powder, fun foam

Chickadee by the Light of the Moon

Audrie (aka girlgeek101) over on SCS chose a beautiful website for her Inspiration Challenge.  It features art by Rachelle Levingston.  I was inspired by this lovely watercolour:

I chose the chickadee stamp from the SU Beautiful Season set and created this card:

I like to keep practicing my watercolour wash backgrounds (still not really happy with them but I'll keep trying).

I stamped and watercoloured the chickadee image, then masked over it for the moon. I did the watercolour wash background, trying to get it like the inspiration. I added some salt to the right hand side but I think my paint was too dry as I didn't get much effect from it.

When the background was dry, I stamped the sentiment and splattered a bit of orange paint like the inspiration image.

I debated between a white cardbase and a red one and went with the red for more contrast. The watercoloured panel is popped up on fun foam. As a final touch, I added a bit of white gel pen to the berries and then coated them with glossy accents.

I'll keep working on my watercolouring - they do say practice makes perfect, though I'm not aiming for perfection!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Beautiful Season, Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, red cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, white gel pen, Glossy Accents, fun foam, kosher salt

CASEing Loll's Tag

My good friend, Loll Thompson, is the Featured Artist at Tag You're It.  Here's her tag:

The challenge is to CASE her tag.  Here's what I made:

I changed Loll's sponged sky to a sprayed sky, using blue and green Lindy's sprays (quite sparkly IRL).  I used my Tim Holtz tree line die, and stamped and heat embossed the sentiment at the bottom.  I went over the trees and the snow line with a Quickie glue pen and sprinkled with glitter.  It's very CAS and I keep thinking it needs something more but not sure what.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies:

Stamps -  Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - ColorBox aqua

Paper - mixed media and white cs

Accessories - Die-namics tag die, aqua ribbon, Tim Holtz tree line die, Lindy's blue and green sprays, clear embossing powder