Christmas Tree and Vellum Sky

Christmas is fast approaching and it's time to really work on those Christmas cards!  Collen is hosting CAS Christmas and is asking for Christmas trees this month.

I was looking through my paper stash and found a lovely piece of dark blue vellum with silver stars on it and decided to use it as a background for my Christmas tree.

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment and die cut a circle in my top panel and attached the vellum to the back of it and then popped it up on foam tape - in real life the delicacy of the vellum is more appealing than in the photo.

I die cut the tree three times and glued them together for dimension.  After adding it to the card, I die cut a small silver star to add to the top of the tree.

Please come and join us with your CAS cards featuring a Christmas tree.  You have until September 24th to link up.  There is lots of inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Steph (My Paper Corner) over at CAS Christmas.

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Royal Blue
Paper - white cs, dark blue vellum printed with silver stars
Size - A2
Accessories - unknown Christmas tree die, small star die, Spellbinders circle die, clear embossing powder, foam tape

Zoomed Snowflakes

Darnell and Loll organized a Zoom get together for a few of us recently and Loll led us through a new technique of creating a background by printing with die cut shapes.

I went with snowflakes as I really need to work on my Christmas card stash.

We were inspired by the technique shown in this video by Kathy of The Daily Marker.

I die cut three snowflakes, inked them up by spritzing them with water and then smooshing them into various blue distress inks that I'd pressed onto my craft mat.  I pressed them onto watercolour paper repeatedly to create the background.

I let the three die cuts dry and then glued them to a second set of the same die cuts to give them more substance and added them to the background.

I stamped a sentiment and trimmed the panel into a square, bordered it with navy cs, and popped it up on a piece of fun foam.

We decided to do a mini blog hop so that you could see what each of us made.  Here are the links to the others' cards:

Bonnie

Brenda

Christine

Darnell

Loll

I hope you enjoy seeing what each of us created while zooming together!

Supplies:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper - white and navy cs, watercolour paper
Size -
Accessories -

Penny Black Irises

The August Penny Black and More Challenge is "Say It with Flowers".  I've gone with irises, one of my favourite flowers and made two variations using the same stamp.

For this one, I stamped and watercoloured the iris, then split it diagonally and cut out a small section of it, lined it up on the card base and stamped the sentiment, and then mounted the two sections on fun foam.

Here's the other variation:

Again, it's stamped and watercoloured but with quite different colours and popped up on fun foam on a coloured card base.  I added a bit of black splatter for interest.

Same image, two cards - which one do you prefer?

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black iris, unknown sentiments
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - mixed media, white, and blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam

Embossing Glaze on Snowflakes

I got together with Christine (in her large craft room where two of us can socially distance) and Loll joined us via Zoom.  The three of us played with our new Distress Embossing Glazes, following the steps in this Jennifer Maguire video.

Here's my card:

I started by sponging my background with different shades of blue Distress inks.  I then stamped the text over it with a grey-blue ink.

I stamped the Visible Image snowflake with Versamark and then heat embossed with the Weathered Wood Embossing Glaze - it adds some colour and shine but allows the text stamping to show through.  The tint in the embossing glaze adds a bit of colour and makes the snowflakes stand out more than a clear embossing powder.

I stamped the sentiment in navy pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. 

I popped the panel up on fun foam on the card base and added a few blue sequins.

This was a great technique that I'll definitely use again.  

If you want to see what Loll and Christine created go to these pages on their blogs:

Stamping with Loll

It's a Card Day's Night (Christine)

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Visible Image snowflake and sentiment, Wendy Vecchi script stamp
Ink - various blue Distress inks, grey-blue dye ink, Versamark
Paper - white cs
Size - 5.75" square
Accessories - Distress Weathered Wood embossing glaze, clear embossing powder, blue sequins, fun foam

Four Calling Birds

Hello All,

It's time to remind you that you only have until August 24th to get a card in for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge, where this month's theme is The Twelve Days of Christmas.

For my original card, I used "a partridge in a pear tree".  For this one, I've jumped a few verses ahead and I've got "4 calling birds".

I stamped and heat embossed the image in gold, typed my sentiment on the computer and printed it on lightweight cardstock, popped my image up on it with fun foam, bordered with gold cs, and added it to a matching cream card base.

While I had the stamp out and computer sentiment in front of me, I made a second version.

For this one, I coloured the stamp with Tombow markers while it was in my MISTI, colouring and stamping until I was happy with the results, popped it up on fun foam on the sentiment panel, bordered with green cs, and popped that up on a white card base.

Head over to CAS Christmas for more inspiration from the Design Team and come and join us with your clean and simple card using something inspired by The Twelve Days of Christmas!

Supplies:
Stamps - Old Island Stamping Co. "Four Calling Birds"
Ink - ColorBox Gold (the first card only)
Paper - Gina K Pure Ivory and gold cs (first card), white and green cs (second card)
Size - A2
Accessories - Tombow markers (second card), fun foam

My True Love Sent to Me

It's my turn to host the CAS Christmas Challenge and I've chosen The Twelve Days of Christmas as the August theme.

I used a new stamp that I really like - perfect for the challenge.

I stamped the image, watercolored it, trimmed it and bordered it with a matching green cs, and popped it up on a copper card base.  Truly a CAS card as the image includes the sentiment so it was very quick and easy to make.

Head on over to the CAS Christmas blog and check out the rest of the samples by the Design Team and August's Guest Designer, Meg (Bits and Pieces).  There are also some parameters for the theme, including options for those who don't have a stamp or die that seems totally suitable to The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Hoping to see your entries!

Supplies:
Stamps - ?
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, green cs, copper shimmer cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam