Two Variations on Nativity

Christmas Cards All Year Round is asking for Angels or Nativity this time.  I went with nativity as I have a couple of friends who always want that theme at my Christmas card sale.

It's also for the Inspiration Challenge over at SCS where I was inspired by this Christmas ornament:

I used the same stamp for two cards but changed the layout.

In this one, I stamped the image once on white cs and once on gold cs, and fussy cut the star from the gold one and paper pieced it onto the white.  Added the gold circle border and the white die cut sentiment below the image.

In this one I didn't paper piece the star.  Added the same gold circle border.  Flipped the layout to have the sentiment die cut (a different one) at the top.  And added extra interest to the sentiment by cutting once out of white and once out of gold and offsetting one on top of the other.  Finished off with a tiny gold star for the dot above the letter "i".

Which layout do you prefer?  And do you prefer the paper pieced star or the plain one?

Supplies:

Stamps - unknown nativity scene stamp

Ink - Memento Nautical Blue

Paper - white cs, gold and blue shimmer cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Spellbinders circle dies, sentiment dies, fun foam

The Other Two CAS Challenges

Sneaking in under the wire with cards for the other two CAS challenges run by Loll and Bonnie.

First up, CAS Stencil "Patterned Paper":

The idea is to stencil over patterned paper - a great way to use up some of our stash.  I pulled out a piece of snowy patterned paper that looks like this:

I turned it into this card:

I took the mini Tim Holtz snowflake stencil and went over it with Snowflake Paste.  When dry, I framed it with SU glitter cs, and die cut my sentiment from the glitter cs and from navy blue cs - layered them together to have a bit of navy shadow to help set off the sentiment.  I added glitter dome embellishments to the centre of each snowflake and over the "i" of winter.

Here's a close-up of the centre panel:

There is sparkle in the paste but my camera isn't picking it up.

Then there is CAS Mix Up "Foiling":

I only recently got a foiling machine so I made this card that will go to one of my sisters who, like me, loves blue.

I foiled the flower, using the foiling transfer gel on the stamp, then adding the blue foil to the stamped image, and running it through the laminator.  Unfortunately the camera won't pick up the shine of the foil.

I added some text stamping and some sponged stenciling with a scrap of drywall tape over top, avoiding the foiled flower.

I die cut the panel, stamped the sentiment on vellum, added the panel to the card base with fun foam for dimension.

Phew, got them posted in time to link up!

Supplies for card 1:

Paper - ivory cardstock, SU glitter cs, scrap of patterned paper, scrap of navy cs

Size - 6x4.25"

Accessories - Tim Holtz mini snowflakes stencil, Arlene's Snow Glitter Paste, SSS winter die, glitter dome embellishments

Supplies for card 2:

Stamps - Magenta wildflower stamp, SU sentiment, unknown text stamp

Ink - Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon

Paper - white and blue cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Deco Foiling Transfer Gel, blue foil, dry wall tape, Sizzix label die, fun foam

Pink Poinsettia for the Cure

Lauren and Stephanie of the Jingle Belles challenge are generously donating $2 each to breast cancer research for each card entered in their "Pink Christmas...For the Cure" challenge.   It's such a wonderful idea so I had to quickly get a card made before I missed their deadline.

Penny Black and More are also recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month with their "Pretty in Pink" challenge.

I put a few drops of Ken Oliver's Rose Liquid Metallics onto a piece of mixed media cs and spritzed with a bit of water to get the colours to move until I'd covered enough space for my Penny Black poinsettia stamp.  I stamped, heat embossed and fussy cut.  I mounted it with the middle part taped flush to the white cs and the outer edges bent and curled, with bits of foam tape under them to give dimension.

I added black gemstones to the centre, a black sentiment, and a black border as I also want to enter it in the Penny Black Saturday Challenge "Black, White, and One Other Colour".

And it's being linked up at The Flower Challenge "CAS".

I rarely make a card that works for more than one or two challenges so I'm pretty amazed that this card works for four!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black poinsettia, Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - mixed media, white, black cs

Size - 5.25" square

Accessories - Ken Oliver Rose Liquid Metallics, black gemstones, Lil Inker stitched square die, foam tape, embossing powder

Glittering Winter Scene

A card to remind you to take part in our CAS Christmas "Winter Scene" challenge.

I went with a black and white card with glitter.

I stamped the image and sentiment in black archival ink, trimmed it, and mounted it on fun foam for dimension.

I went over all the snowy bits with glue and added SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter - probably the sparkliest glitter I have.

As usual, glitter is hard to photograph so here are a couple of close-ups that hopefully give you the sense of sparkle.

You've got until October 24th to get your CAS Winter Scene cards linked up.  There's lots more inspiration over at the CAS Christmas post!

While I had that stamp out, I decided to do another card with it:

This time I simply stamped it in black, covered the panel with a sheet of Sookwang double-sided tape, and then added Dazzling Diamonds to the whole panel.  I popped the panel up on fun foam on a textured cream card base.

I prefer the first one as the image is clearer and whiter.  Covering the whole image with glitter in the second one made it more cream-coloured.

Which one do you prefer?

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black landscape, unknown sentiment

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - white cs, cream textured cs

Size - A2

Accessories - SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter, fun foam

Autumn with Maple Leaves

Reminder time at CAS Watercolour!  How are you doing with autumn cards, specifically maple leaves?

I didn't think I had any maple leaf stamps and dies but just found the tiny maple leaf die I used on this card:

I used a leftover piece of smooshed Distress Oxide background (patting the inks on my craft sheet and spritzing with water, dabbing mixed media cs into it, and drying between layers).

Then stamped the definition of autumn on a scrap of cs and distressed the edges slightly.

I had a leftover piece of orange watercoloured cs that I'd been experimenting with ghost stamping (stamping with water with a fine-lined crackle background stamp on the solid orange watercolour wash).  I die cut the little maple leaves from that and tucked them around the definition.

And popped up the whole panel of fun foam for some dimension.

It's also a special month as it is CAS Watercolour's 3rd birthday...

 ...and to celebrate, we're offering two prizes:

$25 GC for SSS for Challenge Winner

$25 GC for SSS for one random draw of eligible entries

So it's a great month to enter!  You have until October 24th.


Because it used up so many bits and pieces, I'm taking it over to Pixie's Snippets Playground as well.

I hope all my Canadian friends had a great Thanksgiving!

Supplies:

Stamps - Purple Onion seasonal definitions

Ink - various brown Oxide inks for background, Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves for definition

Paper - mixed media and white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - unknown little maple leaf die, fun foam, TH distressing tool

Reindeer in Birch Trees

It's Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and I had a wonderful turkey dinner with a big group of friends yesterday.  Today I cleaned up my vegetable garden and put my garden furniture away - always sad to see summer truly at an end, but I'm looking forward to more crafty indoor time.  After the work in the garden, I hit the craft room and made this card:

The blue background is a piece of faux mother of pearl from my box of backgrounds.  I die cut the reindeer out of brown cs and sponged some light brown on his chest and belly, and some dark brown on his antlers.  It was a great chance to use my new birch trees die to layer over the background.

For two challenges:

Christmas Kickstart "Woodland Creatures"

52 Christmas Card Throwdown:

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment

Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa

Paper - white and brown cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Paper Rose birch trees die, Dee's Distinctively reindeer die