Encre, papier, ciseaux

Christmas Cascade

I have been trying to find inspiration to use my Doodlebug Design stamps and when I spotted the Flippin' Awesome dies in my stash, I realized it would be a great way to use the various small images from the Christmas Magic stamp set. I looked for my matching patterned paper but it looks like it has grown legs and walked away to hide somewhere, so I pulled out the Milk & Cookies papers instead. I stamped and colored all of the images to match the papers, used the dies to cut out the images and I started putting together the individual blocks and assembling the mechanism. This card has a lot of little elements on it, so it took a while to finish. I sat down three different times at my desk before I got it done.

(Probably took longer because I was watching Christmas movies on my laptop while i was crafting. As I side note, I started streaming shows on my laptop a couple of years ago, which was a good way to catch up on TV shows I wanted to watch while crafting, even though I don't have a TV in that room. I was not liking how only certain shows are available on the channel websites and the fact that they include ads that you cannot skip was driving me up the wall. Then, recently, a technician came to my place to update my modem and he mentioned at the same time I could access all of my recordings from the Bell app and also the website. I realize this is probably old news for a lot of people, but once I realized I could access most of what I have on my recorder and even away from home, that blew my mind. LIke, a couple of weeks ago, I babysat for my niece and after they were down for the night, I was able to watch shows I had recorded at home, from my sister's living room. I also love that the ads are the actual ones from TV and that I get to skip them if I want. It's much better for my sanity, but it also cuts down on viewing time. Anyway, all that to say that I've been watching my Countdown to Christmas movies while making my Christmas cards. I think it takes me a little while longer to craft when I'm watching TV than when I just have music on in the background, though - as proven by how long this card took to finish!) 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Christmas Magic (Doodlebug Design); Voeux nombreux et joyeux (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Real Red, Pretty in PInk, Gumball Green, Lost Lagoon, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Milk & Cookies (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Lost Lagoon Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Flippin' Awesome, Flippin' Awesome Add-On (Lawn Fawn);
Wonky Stitched Rectangles Stax, Stitched Domes (My Favorite Things);
Christmas Magic (Doodlebug Design)
Accessories: Washi Tape (Michaels); Markers (Copic);
Golden Ochre Glitter Marker (Nuvo); July and August Crystals (Studio Katia);
Candy Carnival Shape Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design); White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll);
A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Emerald Envy Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!)

 

Holiday Ornament

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #526

This card was inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch. I pulled out of the Stitched Ornaments dies from Lawn Fawn and paired them with the gorgeous Snowflake collection from Crate Paper. The big sentiment is from Stampin' Up! and I like how it filles the space when adding at an angle over the other elements. I added a few sequins and a faceted dot in the center of the ornament.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Champagne Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Snowflake (Crate Paper)
Dies: Joyeux Noël (Stampin' Up!); Stitched Ornaments, Dotted Rectangles,
Outside In Stitched Rectangles (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Envelope Punch Board, 2019-2021 In Color Faceted Dots,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)

Winter Mitten

After I found felt at my local dollar store, which you've seen me use on my Cocoa Stand card, I thought I would pull out the Plush Frosty Mitten dies from Memory Box and make some mittens with it. I wasn't feeling all that inspired until I started wondering how the die would look paired with patterned papers intead. So I went to the patterned paper I've put aside to work on upcoming projects and I found some old Basic Grey holiday collections. I selected a few scraps and die-cut the pieces I needed. I used some new DMC étoile I found at my local craft store. I really like it because it's sparkly, but much softer than metallic thread, so it made stitching much easier and faster. To make life easier for myself, I stitched the mitten first and then the cuffs separately and I used adhesive strip to add the cuffs in place.

I had initially planned on having patterns on both sides of the mittens, but I messed up when I die-cut the pieces, forgetting that I had to use the backside of the paper for the second piece, in order to have the pattern I wanted out on the outside of the mitten once I put the two pieces together. Instead of wasting paper, I used the aqua piece and decided to decorate it with a die-cut snowflake and to add a pompom in the center. I found those at the same place I found the felt, and I like them because they have metallic flecks in them (silver on the white pompoms, and the assortment also includes red and green). I used my glue gun to add the pompom, the buttons and the loop for hanging the ornament.

The initial idea for the mittens was to prepare holiday gifts for the office, with a few treats stuck in them. What I found is that the felt version will let you slip stuff inside easily. The patterned paper version - not so much. It's too stiff. I was able to slide a candy cane in, but I don't think it'd accomodate much more. That being said, it makes a cute ornament.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Blitzen (Basic Grey)
Dies: Plush Frosty Mitten (Memory Box); Christmas Day Snow (Echo Park)
Buttons: Autumn Leaves
Pompoms: Dollar Store
Floss: DMC étoile (C816, C699)

 

En Route to a Monster Bash

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #569

Funny how the Color Throwdown challenge post talks about purple being a challenging colour. I don't hate purple, but I don't gravitate towards it. When having a conversation about color with my mom, she mentioned she didn't like purple herself. And then I noticed that when she comes home and she she looks at my handmade cards, she'll point out some that she really loves and then I'll tease her that for someone who doesn't love purple, she sure selects a lot of card showcasing purple as her favorite! We always have a good laugh about it and she'll say, Well, I guess it's all about purple is used, really.

I think that sums it best. For me as well, it's all about how purple is used. Most of the cards I've made with purple I end up liking, but it's just about finding the inspiration to include purple in the first place. Greens and blues will get me instantly inspired; purple shades take a little bit more work. I don't know that I necessarily would have jumped on this color combo, but I had already pulled out the Peek-a-Boo Car and the Peek-a-Boo Scary Pals stamp sets to pair  together, and when I started looking for colour inspiration, I knew the green and purple combo would fit a little monster well. I also have some purple Distress Oxide sprays, so I knew I could pull those out to make a background. (See, this is where my creative logic can sometimes be hard to follow: I only have a handful of Distress sprays right now and yet, two of those bottles are purple shades. I've also only bought three icing paste jars and one of them is purple. Go figure... I guess I like what I like and there's not always a rime or reason behind it.) 

So I sprayed a piece of watercolor paper with Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide spray and I already knew I wanted to add texture paste using the Bubble layering stencil. I was initially thinking of dying white paste with a purple reinker but as I was reaching for my white paste, I noticed my icing paste jars and remembered I had a gorgeous amethyst one in there. It's the most gorgeous shade that will turn even the most dubious purple lover into one.

While this was drying, I started working on my images, coloring them with Copic markers. At first, I was unsure of the result, but I decided to die-cut the images to get a better sense of whether I liked the result of not. Once I layered the images, I thought it was really cute and decided the card was a-go. Then I looked at sentiment options. I have to admit: I barely ever plan an exact sentiment into a design. There's a few exceptions here and there, but most of the time, I work on the card and once my elements are in place, I go hunting in my stamps for something of the right size that has the right saying and font to fit the feel of the card. In a way, it's like playing with fire, as I'm just working with whatever space I have left and assuming I'll find something that fits. My stamp collection is so extensive at this point that most of the time, it's not an issue, but there have been some instances where the sentiment hunting ended up being quite the lengthy endeavour. Today's was not bad, but I did find out that some of the sentiments I might have liked couldn't be worked in there because I couldn't stamp over the embossing paste and had to make sure I either stamped something narrow or layered another piece over the paste. This is what I ended up doing. I'm not sure how I feel about the ink blending on the sentiment strip. I was picturing a soft ombre effect from the center out and it didn't quite turn out like I had envisioned, but it worked well enough to please me, at the time. (This is a case of me second-guessing the result now that the card is done. Who knows, though, I might go back to loving it tomorrow after sleeping on it.) 

I added a few sequins and gems to embellish a bit and I added some Lime embossing powder on a purple envelope to complete the set. It's funny, this purple envelope is a sample that I added to my last envelope order. The website allows up to five samples with an order. At $1 a sample, that makes for a pricey envelope, but because the minimum order of a colour is 50, I sometimes feel like it's a worthy investment to buy a $1 envelope before deciding if you're willing to commit to 50. As you can imagine, because purple is not my most used shade, I felt a sample was needed. This one is Purple Flower Metallic. When I received it, I was not convinced I liked the colours enough to get some. But today when I looked through envelopes to find one to go with the card, the purple one went so well with the card that I couldn't pick anything else. (The company puts a sticker with the item info on the sample, but luckily, they use the kind of stickers that peels off easily without leaving any glue behind, so I was able to use the envelope without a problem.)

By the way, I couldn't resist getting some more Peek-a-Boo stamps from Avery Elle. You've seen me use the polar pals last Christmas (here and here)  and the fun swimming animals this summer, and the little bear at his cocoa stand last week. I also decided to add the car and the monsters to my collection. They'll be great for Halloween projects next year (got them too late for this year's Halloween), but they're generic enough to work for masculine cards, birthday cards, etc. There's just something about the adorable faces and the cute little paws that gets me every time. I've loved every single cards I've made with those stamps. They're just plain ol' fun!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Peek-a-Boo Scary Pals, Peek-a-Boo Car (Avery Elle); 
Ballons à l'aventure (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Purple Power Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com);
Lime Mixed Media Powder, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Spray (Ranger);
Amethyst Magic Icing Paste (Finnabair); Bubble Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz);
Sequins, Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Blends Markers,
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!); Glitter Gloss Aqua
Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Wonky Stitch Rectangles Dies (My Favorite Things);
Let's Be Mermaid Sequins (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)

 

Something Old, Something New...

No, I'm not sharing anything wedding-related today, but I did pair a very old die with some new patterned papers and Tim Holtz dies to make the cute little Christmas basket I'll be sharing today. Case in point to prove how old the basket die is: is what part of the original Big Shot flyer when Stampin' Up! added the die-cutting machine to its offering in 2008. (Wow, I didn't realize I've had my Big Shot and this die for this long before I did the math, but I remember the announcement was made at the first convention I ever attended, which is how I remember the exact year.) The reason I remembered about this die today is that Stampin' Up! announced this week that they won't be doing their Stampin' Success magazine anymore. This is a bummer since this was a staple of the company for a very long time, but people tend to get their information online nowadays so I can see how they felt that the magazine was maybe not the best medium to make information accessible anymore. Anyway, I was going through some old magazines and when I found the Stampin' Sucess, I leafed through them to reminisce. I jotted a few notes of stuff I was seeing that could spark inspiration for upcoming projects and one of those notes was to pull out the basket die again, which I hadn't used in ages. 

For patterned papers, I pulled out the Winter Wonderland paper from Heidi Swapp. I was so in love when I saw it online - and then when I got the actual pack, I was really bummed at how washed out the colors were. While I love the patterns, they're really faded in person so I wasn't sure how exciting they would turn out on project. I had planned to buy single sheets initially, and I quickly figured out that the paper pad was definitely more economical, so now I have this big stack that I'll try and use best as possible. I figured I'd pair them with the basket die. I started die-cutting the pieces for the basket and as I was putting it together, I realized that the paper are one-sided and that the inside of the basket is therefore left blank, which is a little boring. I hesitated for a moment - do I stamp the backside of the pieces? Ink them? Do I switch to another paper collection altogether?

What saved the original basket was the fact that I spotted the Deck the Halls - Colorize dies on my desk and  realized that the colors of the papers would work well with the die-cut pieces, so I got working on them. My first idea was to simply add a bow to the top of the basket handle. It looked a little empty, so I decided I would do two leaves on each side. But because we die-cut by colors, I also had the other twigs and berries, so I added those as well and then I decided the pinecones would look really cute.

I was then debating about adding a piece of fuzzy trim at the bottom of the basket, but at that point, I got curious about how adding the strings from the same die kit would look. I tried just one to start and found out it's the perfect length to go from one side of the basket to the other. I kid you not, it reaches the seam precisely. So I die-cut a few more, added the smaller bows which were already die-cut from my first pass anyway, and I picked red tinsel to add to the bottom of the basket. I was then wondering if I should do a tag or sentiment somewhere. I looked in the paper pad for something neutral to stamp on and I realized that the papers have a strip that you can cut away, but it has some patterns on it. The one I picked had a tag that said "from:" on it. I thought it would look great if I signed my name on it and then when I give the basket away, the person will know who it came from. I added a punched border to make it prettier, punched a little tree from a sheet of patterned paper and added two gold pearls, plus an extra bow at the top that I had leftover from die-cutting a green string.

Considering how uninspired I was when I started the basket, I'm really happy with where I landed. I love this die set from Tim Holtz, I think that the individual small pieces will be really easy to incorporate in various designs. I'm especially looking forward to using those strings some more!

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Bazzill, Craft Smith
Patterned Paper: Winter Wonderland (Heidi Swapp)
Dies: Basket & Blooms Bigz XL (Stampin' Up!/Sizzix)); 
Deck the Halls - Colorize (Tim Holtz for Sizzix)
Accessories: Metallic Pearls, Border Punch, Circle Punch, Stampin' DImensionals, 
Stampin' Write Marker, Red Tinsel Trim (Stampin' Up!)

 

Hot Cocoa Stand

Inspiration: Color Throwdown #568

The Color Throwdown colors this week would have made a fantastic fall card, but I was in Christmas mode and I looked for a way to make it work. I had the Cocoa Stand stamp set from Avery Elle I wanted to use and I realized the brown would work great for the wooden stand, the blue for the sky and snow and that I could probably get away with working in orange details and just a touch of green for the greenery. 

Since it was my first project using the stamps, I didn't know how much of a card front they would cover, so I started by stamping and coloring the images with Copic markers and die-cutting them to see the space I had to work with for the design.I had heard a lot of great things about the Glitter Markers from Nuvo, so I tried out a set of three from my local store. The Crushed Papaya matched my coloring perfectly, so I added a touch of shimmer with the marker to the orange part of the design. I love how it looks - gorgeous shimmer without being too much.

My first idea was to use only the stand on the card front and use the sleigh and elements for the envelope. I then changed my mind and decided to keep them on the card to create a scene. My first idea was to go horizontal, but once I overlapped the sleigh over the side of the stand, I decided to go vertical instead. To create the sky, I inked a piece of white cardstock with a mix of Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide inks. I spritzed with water, then added speckles of diluted white gouache, and I stenciled the stars from the Sparkle layering stencil from Tim Holtz using Red Bronze metallic gilding polish from Cosmic Shimmer. It was hard to get the fine lines from the stars with a sponge, so I finished the details using a fine paintbrush. (Once I was finished, I realized I should have added the white snow afterwards so that some of it was in front of the stars, but that's really just me splitting hairs.)

Because I love the Wonky Scalloped Frames dies, I decided to frame my scene with the largest one. I also happened to stop at what I call my "fancy dollar store" on Friday (if Walmart and the Dollar Store had a baby, that'd be the result - it's really big and they have everything under the sun at very affordable prices) and I found 8½ x 11 felt sheets. I now there are different qualities of felt and not all of it die-cut nicely, but among their vast choice of colors, they had a nice steel blue that caught my attention and I decided to grab it to give it a try. Not only does it die-cut beautifully and neatly, but I also found out when I checked the receipt that they sell for 33 cents (Canadian) a sheet. That is a real steal for felt. Now, I want to go back and have a closer look at the colors they have available. It so happened that the blue felt matched my design perfectly, so I used it for my scalloped frame (and backed it with cardstock because the felt was too soft to handle while trying to glue it down, so adding the cardstock back made it easier to work with it.

Because I had so much blue on the design, I wanted my card base to be orange. It felt a little bare when I placed the design on it, so I tried embossing a piece of copper cardstock cut to 4" x 5-1/4" and embossed with the Woodgrain embossing folder. The resulting embossed piece was gorgeous but it was barely showing underneath the scalloped frame, which felt like a waste of foil paper, so I embossed a piece of 4-1/4" x 5½" Cajun Craze cardstock with the Woodgrain folder, used Soft Suede ink to highlight the embossing using a dauber and I finished it off with a soft brushing of the same red bronze gilding polish around the edges. What a difference to the card adding that texture made! 

For the envelope, I picked a Sapphire metallic envelope and simply added a piece of narrow orange washi tape. I absolutely love how this card turned out. One of my faves this season!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Cocoa Stand (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Bordering Blue, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire
Distress Oxide Inks (Ranger); Soft Suede Classic Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Cocoa Stand Dies, Wonky Scalloped Frames Dies (Avery Elle); 
Sparkle Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz); Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing Folder,
Washi Tape, Stampin' DImensionals (Stampin' Up!); Opaque White (Copic);
Red Bronze Metallic Gilding Polish (Cosmic Shimmer); Markers (Copic);
Ember Glow Glitter Marker Set (Nuvo); A2 Sapphire Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

The Little Mermaid

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout challenge #471 (Polka Dots) + Fusion Challenge (Mermaid) + Page Maps November 2019 sketch

I finally got around to making a page for this cute picture of my niece in her mermaid fin costume, which had been put aside for some time now. I have this fish scale paper from Stampin' Up! from years ago that is clear-embossed and that resist ink when you color it, that I had put aside along with the picture, knowing that they would work great together,

I looked for patterned oaoers in the right colors to go with it and found what I was looking for in the Let's Be Mermaid collection from Echo Park. The bubble paper was my favorite, so I used it for the page background. I also pulled out the fish scale ornements from the Let's Be Mermaids embellishments from LIttle Things from Lucy's Cards, and to fill out the bottom a bit, I die-cut the Bayou Backdrop from Lawn Fawn out of green glitter paper to create seaweed. I thought I would only use the strands, but I liked the partial frame and decided to keep it. I thought a few fish in there would look nice, so I went back to the Mermaid for Each Other stamp set, which I had already pulled out to add an image underneath my title block. 

Speaking of which, I found an older embellishment kit from Stampin' Up! that included some gold-foiled die-cut. They are pretty, but they are vanilla, which are easier to incorporate in designs because most patterned papers are white-based. This was the case here so the vanilla clashed a bit. I went around the problem by ink-blending the die-cut green. Problem solved! 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mermaid for Each Other (My Favorite Things)
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Let's Be Mermaid (Echo Park); Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Mermaid for Each Other Dies (My Favorite Things);
Bayou Backdrop Dies (Lawn Fawn); Iridescent Bubbles (Studio Katia);
Deco Alphabet BIgz Die, Alphanumeric Label Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Swimming Pool Mini Doily (Doodlebug Design); Markers (Copic);
Let's Be Mermaid Embellishments (Little Things from Lucy's Cards);
Sequins, Stampin' DImensionals, Wisteria Wonder Seam Binding (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios)