My Front Door at Christmas

Merry Monday has a great challenge this week:

My house has white wooden siding with a blue front door.  I always put a wreath on the door - lots of greenery and lots of holly berries.  So I made a card to represent that:

I did a background using a striped embossing folder, then die cut a blue front door. 

The wreath is made with bits of various green dps using the Martha Stewart pine branch die, with each punched piece cut in half as I needed to make a very small wreath.  I used a circle die cut with two Nesties as the base to glue the punched pieces to. 

I used some whole punched pieces for the swag above the door.  Lots of red gemstones were added to represent holly berries, and a larger pale gold gemstone is the door handle.

A banner die cut with a red vertical sentiment finishes it off.

Thanks, Bonnie, for a great Merry Monday challenge that was a lot of fun to do!

Supplies:

Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow sentiment

Ink - SU Real Red

Paper - white and blue cs, scraps of various green dps

Size - A2

Accessories - Sizzix striped embossing folder, Martha Stewart pine branch punch, Memory Box door die and Banners die, Nesties small circle dies, red and pale gemstones 

A Better Bird for Merry Monday

Two days ago I made this card for the Merry Monday challenge:

I was not that happy with the card as it is in my old style of card making.  I'm no longer enjoying using my stash of dp - much prefer to make my own backgrounds.  So I decided to do another bird card using a piece of Inka Gold background that was sitting on my desk.

To make the background, I put some blue and silver Inka Gold on my craft sheet and spritzed it with some water and some homemade silver spray.   I smooshed a piece of mixed media cs into it (watercolour paper can also be used for this technique). 

I like to use a simple black heat embossed silhouette image on this kind of background, and then border with black cs.

Because the Inka Gold leaves a bit of texture on the background, it's best to stamp with the MISTI to be sure to get a good impression.

Thanks, Merry Monday people, for a challenge using one of my favourite themes for Christmas cards!

Supplies:

Stamps - Inkadinkado bird

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - cream and black cs, mixed media cs

Size - 4.25" square

Accessories - blue and silver Inka gold, homemade silver spray, embossing powder

Starch and Brushos

I had fun with some friends recently using spray starch with brushos to make backgrounds.

Here's a card using the technique:

It's pretty easy to do the background - spray some starch on watercolour paper, sprinkle with brushos, cover with slightly scrunched cling wrap and let dry.

I added two diecut mistletoe sprays (double layered for more dimension), a bow to tie the sprays together, pearls for the berries, and a sentiment.

Another for my Christmas card stash and for the SCS Ways to Use It challenge "Oh Ribbon"!

Supplies:

Stamps - Impression Obsession sentiment

Ink - Memento Cottage Ivy

Paper - white cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - green ribbon, fun foam, green brushos, spray starch, cling wrap

A Bird for Merry Monday

I'm trying to get back into doing my favourite challenges.  Merry Monday is one of them.  This week they want a bird on a Christmas card:

I had set myself a goal in January of making one card a week that uses some dp on it as I'd love to get rid of some of my stash.  I've failed miserably in this goal!!  But I made myself go through my dp for this card and found something I liked with the bird stamp I wanted to use.

I inked up the bird with little red and green ink spots I've had for ages so that I could get the two different colours.  Die cut the image and a piece of green cs with inverted scallop dies that make me think of holly, and mounted on the dp and a green card base.  The gemstones on the bird really are red, but for some reason look black in the photo.

I feel like this card is a throwback to my old style of cardmaking - not sure it's really me any more.  So maybe I need to bite the bullet and get rid of a lot of my dp!!!

Supplies:

Stamps - Inkadinkado

Ink - red and green ink spots (unknown brand)

Paper - green and cream cs, Heidi Swapp dp

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - red gemstones, foam tape, Nesties inverted scallop dies

Autumn Berries

I've done one more watercolour card for the new CAS Watercolour challenge and am squeaking in before the deadline tonight.

I love the way leaves turn colour and, on some plants, berries appear in the place of flowers in the autumn.  Here's my card:

 

It's a very traditional way to use watercolour - simply painting the image with watercolour pan paints!  As much as I love playing with all the new watercolour mediums (like Brushos and Bister) and all the new techniques, I do still love just colouring my image with paints.

Enjoy the last of autumn!

Supplies:

Stamps - Magenta leaves and berries, unknown sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - watercolour paper, PTI Vintage Cream

Size - A2

Accessories - Sizzix die, twine, foam tape, watercolour paints

Christmas with a Bit of Orange

The October challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Round is "use a little or a lot of orange on your Holiday project".

Here's my entry:

I dropped bits of red, orange, yellow, and green alcohol inks onto Yupo paper, and then added a bit of silver mixative.

I die cut "merry" out of silver cs and twice more out of scrap cs, gluing them together to give dimension, then added a matching border, and stamped and heat embossed "Christmas" underneath.

It was hard to photograph - there is actually a bit more silver in the background than it seems as some of it photographed as if it were just grey.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Christmas

Ink - ColorBox silver, various alcohol inks

Paper - white and silver cs, Yupo

Size - A2

Accessories - silver mixative, silver embossing powder, PTI "merry" die