Encre, papier, ciseaux

Holiday Angel

Inspiration: July 2021 Card Maps sketch + Tic Tac Toe #141 (Stitching [on the tag] + Wreath + Sparkle [tinsel])

I combined the Angels of Peace stamp set from Stampin' Up! with the Holiday Magic collection from Pinkfresh. I hadn't watercolored with inks in a long time, so I stamped my angel on watercolor paper with black ink and used an Aqua Painter brush with ink from my inkpads, then I fussy cut the image.

I drew inspiration for the design from a July 2021 Card Maps sketch. I cut the largest tag from the Tailor Made Tags set out of aqua paper, added a yellow topper and I decided to layer the tag on the cool multicolor wreath a paper (which ended up getting covered quite a lot in the end). I played with different ideas for card format and finally decided to cut part of the wreath off and go with a 4½" x 6" card. I also had the ephemera pack from the collection at the ready, so I layered two of the pieces over my tag. I had to go to the craft store today to grab some needlepoint floss and I found some really cool silver tinsel yarn by the cash register, which I included at the bottom of the card.

On my tag, I layered a die-cut snowflake over one that was die-cut out of silver metallic paper using the Snowflake Impresslit released this fall by Tim Holtz. I added tiny snowflake and star sequins that were recycled from a card I received where the sender had put sequins inside the card. I added silver emamel dots from Pinkfresh to the center of the snowflakes and a green enamel dot to the top of the playlist die-cut. I added a double bow of open weave ribbon to the top of the tag and a few puffy stickers as well. Finally,I added a few drops of Rudolph's Nose Dream Drops from Nuvo as little berries around the wreath.

I made my own envelope out of thin white cardstock (I purchased this pack online to make the backing in the clear envelopes I use for organizing my stamps and dies, but I found out when I received the cardstock that it wasn't the same weight I had previously purchased, so now I'm trying to find other uses when I can to get this cardstock used. The weight is perfect for an envelope and it did take the ink fairly well.) 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Anges de paix (Angels of Peace - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Just Jade, Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper (Stampin' Up!); White Cardstock (Neenah);
Metallic Cardstock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Patterned Papers, Ephemera, Puffy Stickers, Enamel Dots: Holiday Magic (Pinkfresh)
Ink: Jet Black (Lawn Fawn); Petal Pink, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate, Polished Pink,
Cinnamon Cider, Evening Evergreen (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Snowflake Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Polished Pink 3/8" Open Weave Ribbon,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Tailor Made Tags Dies, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Silver Tinsel Yarn (Craft Smart); Rudolph Nose Dream Drops (Nuvo)

 

Christmas Sweater Trio

Inspiration: Inspired By #197 + Festive Friday #98 (jumper + jingle bells + red/green/gold)

I have wanted an ugly sweater stamp set for the longest time and I kept seeing some that were close but not quite what I wanted. When I saw the Ugly Sweater Party set from Photoplay, I decided this most closely resembled what I was hoping to find. I had been looking forward to pulling this set out, so the Festive Friday list was perfect timing with "jumper" being on it.

I stamped and colored my three sweaters with Copic markers, using colors that match the Ugly Christmas Sweater collection from Simple Stories. I cut a piece of heart-pattern paper for the card base using the Dotted Rectangle Stackables dies from Lawn Fawn. As I was looking through papers, I found a handmade envelope I had done a few weeks ago for another card and where I somehow had messed up the dimensions so the envelope was not the correct size for the card. I knew I could reuse it for another card, so I left it in my paper pack. I checked to see if it would work for this design and it seems like it would, so I made a 3¾" x 5¼" card base, added my patterned paper panel and then I was inspired to dig through my scraps to find my leftover gold frames from the Fine Frame cover die from Altenew.

I die-cut a cross stitched circle to mat one of the sweater, similar to the sketch and to break up the design a bit. I used a knit snowflake sticker for one of the smaller circles and the elf hat for the other smaller element and I added a sentiment banner at the top (that reads "our best wishes").

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Voeux sincères (Stampin' Up!); Ugly Sweater Party (Photoplay)
Cardstock: Garden Green, Very Vanilla, Gold Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Ugly Christmas Sweater (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Fine Frame Cover Die (Altenew); Dotted Rectangle Stackables,
Cross Stitched Circle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Ugly Sweater Party (Photoplay);
Tailor Made Tags (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Mini Jingle Bells, Stampin' Dimensionals, 
Envelope Punch Board  (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic);
Christmas Fairy Crystals (Memory Box)

 

Trimming the Tree

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #113

My local scrapbook store owner offered a really nice sale on Black Friday, so I was able to put my hands on a few stamp sets from the Lawn Fawn fall release. I decided to pull out Merry Mice today. I didn't have much of a plan when I started, I just stamped all of the images, then I pulled out the Let It Shine Snowflakes 12" x 12" papers. I pulled my 6" x 6" Lawn Fawn papers to see which papers could make an interesting colour combo and I coloured my images accordingly. I die-cut the images and placed them on an oval die-cut out of the B side from the white snowflake paper.

The sketch was inspired by a Mojo Monday sketch I hadn't used yet. I used papers from Let's Bokeh in the Snow and Knit Picky. On the soft grey knit pattern, I stamped and embossed my sentiment in green embossing powder. I added mint lace and silver trim, then I created a bow out of the soft peach bokeh paper, topped with a snowflake sequin and fairy crystal. I still felt the card was too bare, so I reached for my beloved Stitched Snowflakes and Mini Snowflakes dies and filled in the space at left. I also added a piece of washi tape on top of the sentiment. I did a large stitched snowflake on my matching envelope as well.

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Merry Mice (Lawn Fawn); Voeux sincères (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Petal Pink, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Let It Shine Snowflakes, Let's Bokeh in the Snow, Knit Picky (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Dies: Merry Mice, Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Oval Stackables,
Put a Bow on It, Mini Snowflakes, Stitched Snowflakes (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Christmas Fairy Crystals (Memory Box); Markers (Copic);
A2 Lagoon Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com); Gumball Green Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Washi Tape, Mint Macaron Lace Trim, Silver Trim, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Ice Ice Baby Gumdrops (Your Next Stamps); Aquas Hero Hues Enamel Dots (Hero Arts);
Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

 

Bringing the Christmas Tree Home

Inspiration: In[k]spire Me #463

I was inspired by the pretty colour combo from the challenge, so I pulled out cardstock pieces and started prepping different pieces with different embossing folders, background stamps and stencils. Then I looked for which stamps I would use and selected the Seasons of Fun hostess set from the current minicatalogue. I love when Stampin' Up! does characters, which is a nice break from flowers.

For the Misty Moonlight cardstock panel, I used the Frosty Snowflakes stencil on it and covered the images with Transfer Gel Duo. I left aside to dry and in the meantime, I used the Knit Together background stamp on the Polished Pink cardstock. (I love that realistic-looking knit pattern, I expect this one to remain a seasonal favorite for years to come.) Between the two panels, I added washi tape from the new Feelin' Frosty collection by Simple Stories, plus a strand of Silver tinsel yarn for texture. Once the gel was dry, I ran the panel through my laminating machine with a holographic foil sheet. The result is really pretty! I had purchased the gel duo because it can be used with a die-cutting machine to transfer foil, but I will say that the result if much more even using the laminating machine instead. (My current laminating machine is hit and miss, though. I've spent more time unclogging paper from it than anything else, so it hasn't always been a joy to work with, but when it does work, the results are a lot of fun.)

Because the colour combo includes Crumb Cake, I decided I wanted to get my colored pencils out to color the image. I used a white gel pen to add falling snow over the image, and glued on a couple of silver stars that I had on my desk (confetti from a card I received in a card exchange).

I was trying to use the sketch from the challenge as well to put the card together and I was struggling. I had also colored the little dog catching flakes and couldn't make it work in the design. I finally decided to keep the dog for the inside of the card and flipped the card to landscape mode instead of portrait and it immediately worked much better better.

Sitting on my desk were a few pieces die-cut with the awesome Seasonal Seals Switchlits from Sizzix, so I picked the silver snowflake seal and used it as the second piece from the sketch. I then looked for sentiment options and layered a die-cut "merry Christmas" over the seal. While going through dies, I spotted the Streetlights dies from MFT and decided to see if this would make a nice addition to the card. I masked some portions of the streetlight and made the colour darker with matching ink to give it a big of dimension. I dabbed So Saffron ink on Very Vanilla cardstock with a dauber and masked the inside the light with it. I added Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer to the light.

I used the dog image inside the card and repeated the same colors and elements on my matching card.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Seasons of Fun (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Polished Pink, Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!);
Metallic Kraft-stock (Tim Holtz for idea-ology)
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Polished Pink, Mint Macaron (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Feelin' Frosty Washi Tape, Frosty Snowflakes Stencil (Simple Stories);
A2 Metallic Sapphire Envelope (Envelopes.com); Joyeux Dies (DIY & Cie);
Silver Tinsel Yarn (Craft Smart); Seasonal Seals Switchlits (Sizzix); 
Streelights Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Polychromos Pencils (Fäber-Castell);
Joyeux Noël Dies (Les ateliers de Karine); Stitched Oval Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
White Gel Pen (Gelly Roll); Holographic Foil Sheets (Recollections)

 

Christmas Shopping

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes)

I have been meaning to use the 3D Shopping Cart and matching Shopping Bags dies for a while and I finally got around to assembling them tonight. I wasn't sure what I would make exactly, but I ended up grabbing the Winter Farmhouse collection that was lying around nearby to make the shopping bags with and I kept going with the collection for embellish the card as well. I had a few silver snowflakes made with the Tim Holtz Impresslits lying on my desk and while I didn't want to do silver on silver, I got curious how it would look if I colored it with my Copic markers. I was happy with the result, so I tied ribbon around the cart and added the snowflake with a Stampin' Dimensionals, then I added a snowflake from the sticker book and a gem in the center. I used the tiny tag die from the die set to add to one of the bag, and the wording on it comes from the sticker book - I cut the sticker in half to fit it on the tag.

For the background, I stamped a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock in Sahara Sand ink using the Knit Together background stamp from Stampin' Up! I added floral paper on the left side and a piece of striped ribbon between the two blocks. I was initially going to keep only those two sections, but the plans changed when I started trying to work a sentiment in my design. I stamped and embossed a sentiment from the Merry Mistletoe set in Platinum embossing powder. I wanted to do a side banner layered over the cart, but it was not working well, so I decided instead to stamp the little banner image a couple of times on the edge of the knit pattern and add my sentiment strip vertically. The handle of the cart was going right over the sentiment, so placement was good, and I added another snowflake sticker at the top to fill in the space.

I rounded the corners of the background paper and added it to a Thick Very Vanilla card base. I have yet to make a matching envelope (which I usually do right after I finished my card), but with the dimensional cart, this card is quite thick, so I will need to be creative if I plan to send this card out by mail. 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Knit Together, Sous le gui (Merry Mistletoe - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Basic Grey, Basic Black, Silver Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper, Sticker Elements, Sticker Book: Winter Farmhouse (Simple Stories)
Ink: Sahara Sand, Evening Evergreen, VersaMark (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Soft Succulent Open Weave Ribbon, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Silver Elastic Cord, Genial Gems, Delightful Dijon Striped Ribbon (Stampin' Up!);
Snowflake Impresslits (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); Markers (Copic); Platinum Embossing Powder (Ranger);
Shopping Bags and 3D Shopping Cart Dies (Spellbinders)

 

Keeping Warm

Inspiration: July 2021 Card Maps Sketch + Lawn Fawnatics #113

After finishing a page with the Ugly Christmas Sweater collection from Simple Stories, I wanted to create a card as well, and it seemed like a good time to pull out the Say What? Holiday Critters set. Aren't those animals adorable in their Christmas attire? I liked that one of the sketches from the July Card Maps selection had three squares, which allowed me to fit all of the images from the set, and I was happy to do a mini slimline cards, as 3¼" x 6½" has been one of my favorite card size for many years. I created my background with two knitted patterns and I used a leftover scalloped edge I had not used on my scrapbook page (die-cut with the Stitched Scalloped Borders dies from Lawn Fawn). 

The scalloped squares were die-cut using Nestabilities dies, and I layered squares in the same Very Vanilla cardstock embossed with the Cable Knit embossing folder from Sunny Studio. At the bottom of the patterned paper, I added a piece of Cherry Cobbler curly ribbon for texture. In the now retired Cozy Christmas set, I found a sentiment that reads "Warm and Cozy Christmas" which fit the theme perfectly and fit nicely in the Everyday Sentiment Banners dies (although I did have to run it through a second time to shorten the banner a bit). To finish the card, I embellished the squares with a few silver gems.

I made a matching envelope out of patterned paper using the Envelope Punch Board and I used the Tailor Made Tags dies from Stampin' Up! to create an address block. I added a sweater sticker from the collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Say What? Holiday Critters (Lawn Fawn); Noël au chaud (Cozy Christmas - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Very Vanilla, Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers: Ugly Christmas Sweater (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Basic Grey (Stampin' Up!)
Dies: Stitched Scalloped Borders, Everyday Sentiment Banners (Lawn Fawn);
Tailor Made Tags (Stampin' Up!); Scalloped Squares Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Cable Knit Embossing Folder (Sunny Studio); Markers (Copic);
Cherry Cobbler Curly Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!);
Silver Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Christmas ATC

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday

My local scrapbook store has been encouraging her clients to try out ATCs in the past year and she has set up an exchange box at the store, where you can come in with your creations and exchange them for other crafters' ATCs. When I saw the Simon Says Stamp challenge, I thought it would be a good time to finally bite the bullet and make at least one. What's mostly been holding me back is that I have a ton of Christmas crafting that I want to get done before the end of the year, so I am trying to prioritize that, but I had this leftover piece from a previous project that had not quite worked out to my liking that I figured make actually make a nice ATC background.

I had basically die-cut the hanging ornaments image from an Elizabeth Crafts Planner Essentials die set out of green glitter paper and glued it on a piece of paper from the Jingle All the Way collection (back when I was making a card series with that collection). It wasn't quite what I needed so it has remained in a scraps box since. I had also some embossed wax seals leftover from testing out a new Switchlits set, so after cutting my ATC to size, I added that to the empty spot. I wanted to add a little sentiment, so I went digging for my Jingle All the Way stickers and while I was looking at the content, I also found a foam sticker of holly leaves that I added to the wax seal. I then used various colours of Nuvo drops to fill in the elements of the die-cut. This made a huge difference on the finished result. Had I thought to do that on the original piece, I might have been more inspired to turn it into a card. I rounded the corners and inked the edges and here is my very first ATC card! Hoping to make more after the Holidays.

 

 

 

Supplies
Glimmer Paper: Dark Green (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Foam Stickers, Sticker Book: Jingle All the Way (Simple Stories)
Dies: Planner Essentials (Elizabeth Crafts Design); Wax Seals Switchlits (Sizzix)
Ink: Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Blending Daubers (i-Crafter); Distress Crayon (Tim Holtz for Ranger);
Crystal and Dream Drops (Nuvo); Corner Chomper (We R Memory Makers)

 

 

Ugly Christmas Sweater

Inspiration: October 2021 Page Maps Sketch

I was looking forward to scrapbooking this picture of my brother-in-law wearing his ugly Christmas vest, but I kept the picture aside after seeing a preview of the upcoming Ugly Christmas Sweater collection from Simple Stories, which was totally perfect for this picture. I made sure to purchase the Page Pieces as well, which made putting this page together really easy. I used one of the cut-aparts to add my handwritten journaling, and I fussy cut another image from a cut-apart, the "ugliest sweater ever" ribbon. The three sweaters, the title, the aqua tag, the knitted hearts and the "so ugly it's cute!" tag all come from the Page Pieces kit (and I've got a few leftovers for future projects). I borrowed a couple of brads and chipboard sticker from the Make It Merry decorative brads pack and I used a few stickers from the collection sticker sheet. This was a pretty fast and easy page for a fun Holidays memory.

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers, Stickers, Page Pieces: Ugly Christmas Sweater (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Gold Sparkle Crystals (Studio Katia); Make It Merry Decorative Brads (Simple Stories)
Glossy Berry Mix Pearls (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Green Velvet Ric Rac, Taupe Ribbon (American Crafts);
Aqua Enamel Dots (Hero Arts); Mini Hearts - Cotton Candy Gossies (Pure & Simple);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

Delivering Cheer

Inspiration: Tuesday Morning Sketches #631

I was going through my recent purchases to see what would spark inspiration and I decided to pair a Stampin' Up! set from the Holidays minicatalogue with the Joyful collection from Cocoa Vanilla. I started by stamping the lady with gift image in grey ink (to fit the pastel colors of the papers) and I used the collection as inspiration to color the image with alcohol markers. Once I was done, I fussy cut the image.

I used the floral pattern for the background and I was not liking the look of a patterned paper for the banner as my stamped image was getting lost on it. On a whim, I pulled out the Gold Rush cardstock from Lawn Fawn (which I really love) and it matched the golden yellow flowers beautifully, so I cut a banner out of it and I embossed it with one of the Wintry embossing folders from the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue. Using my Perfect Layers tool, I matted the banner using the coral patterned paper.

The backside of that same paper had stars on it, so I fussy cut a couple and placed them underneath the lady. The top felt bare, so I pulled out a roll of gold washi tape. While looking for the tape, I found the Wonderful Snowflakes (also sold in the Holidays minicatalogue). I added one underneath my layers, and I added genial gems in the center of both stars.

I used the Everyday Sentiment Banners dies to cut a banner like in the sketch, and ran it through the Big Shot twice to shorten it. The sticker sheet from the Joyful collection includes a bunch of gold-foil sentiment strips, so I picked a short one and added it with dimensional adhesive over the image. I also used a banner sticker at the top as well.

For the envelope, I used a journaling card on my matching envelope for the address block. This will be a fun collection to create with!

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Delivering Cheer (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Powder Pink (Stampin' Up!); Gold Rush (Lawn Fawn)
Patterned Papers, Stickers, Journaling Cards: Joyful (Cocoa Vanilla Studio)
Ink: River Rock (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories: Wintry 3D Embossing Folders, Wonderful Snowflakes, Genial Gems,
Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); A2 Rose Quartz Metallic Envelope (Envelopes.com);
Gold Washi Tape (Unknown); Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn);
Markers (Copic); Lemon Drizzle Glitter Marker, Midas Touch Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Comfort and Joy - Snowflakes

Inspiration: October 2021 Card Maps Sketch

And with this card, I have fully completed all October Card Maps sketches. This is one of the designs that first caught my eye, but I kept it until the very end so that I could work with paper scraps, since I was planning to punch small circles and scalloped circles. I tested a couple of colours for the snowflakes and ended up choosing silver glitter paper. The background was embossed with the Timber 3D embossing folder (currently sold in the Holidays minicatalogue). I am going to like this one. It's very detailed and quite flat, despite the 3D aspect, so I think it will be easy to incorporate into various designs. The pattern is also small enough that I will be able to work it into smaller die-cuts like mini houses, door frames, etc.

I think the stitching detail from the sketch makes a big difference on the card's finished look, so I pulled out the Roughly Sewn rub-ons from 49 and Market and added a line of stitching to each row. For the sentiment, since the design allowed me to layer a larger sentiment block, I took the opportunity to pick a more wordy sentiment, which is not always easy to incorporate into busier designs. I repeated the circles and stitching on my matching envelope.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Tourbillon de flocons (Beautiful Blizzard - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Comfort and Joy (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, 1" Circle Punch, 7/8" Scalloped
Circle Punch, Timber 3D Embossing Folder, White Medium Envelope, Stitched Snowflakes Dies,
Clear Faceted Gems (Stampin' Up!);  Black Roughly Sewn Rub-Ons (49 and Market);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)