Encre, papier, ciseaux

A Long List...

Inspiration: Global Design Project #197 + Little Red Wagon #505

Oh, how I like that beautiful colour combo! I've been trying really hard to stay away from Christmas and focus on summery projects, but with the new Tim Holtz dies coming out, the Little Red Wagon challenge with the Christmas theme and the beautiful combo which was perfectly suited for the little elf... Not saying, They made me do it, but, hey, they made me do it! ;)

I also realized when I saw the colours together that I had the perfect opal polish to go with the Pear Pizzazz and create a shimmery background - and it turns out the opal sheen is the perfect blue to match the Seaside Spray cardstock. (I'm so in love with that In Color!) I decided to work tone on tone and blended some Blue Parakeet Opal Polish on Pear Pizzazz cardstock, through the Classy & Fabulous stencil from Carta Bella. This made for a fun wallpaper-looking background. I then went on to prepare the elf and packages. Those Tim Holtz dies are not for the faint of heart. The amount of die-cutting and teeny tiny pieces is pretty extraordinary, So is the result, though - you just have to arm yourself with patience. I initially thought it would take forever, but I had a show playing on my laptop (just discovered a new Bell app that lets you play what you have on your recorder directly on your computer - neat li'l gadget!) and I got in the groove using my Sidekick. For the bows, you layer two pieces, which is what gives the shadow and depth. I cold have done two colors, but that would have meant die-cutting twice, so instead, I got my daubers out and simply inked the bottom piece with the same color of ink, darkening the cardstock. That worked out really well. I think the worst part was adding the stripes to the candy canes! While I initially thought I could create a candy cane fence behind him, after putting one together, I quickly retired that idea.

Last, I went looking for a sentiment, and I found one that says "Wishing you everything on your list..." from last year's Signs of Santa set, which was just perfect. I stamped it with Basic Black Archival ink and quickly pourred some clear embossing powder on it to emboss it. It made the sentiment much darker and crisper so I'm glad to added that step.

I then looked through my envelopes and found that the Avocado one goes really well with the Pear Pizzazz cardstock. It's slightly darker, which was perfect to add die-cut gifts and have them stand out. The elf was die-cut out of black glimmer cardstock, which adds a little bit of pizzazz to the overall design.

I love that little dude. The silhouette is so cool. I'm thinking next time I die-cut him, I might try paper piecing to give him colored clothes and see how he looks.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Panneaux de Noël (Signs of Santa - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, terracotta Tile, Seaside Spray, Thick Whisper White, Black Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Basic BLack Archival, Terracotta Tile, Pear Pizzazz, Seaside Spray (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Santa's Helper Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix); C;assyc & Fabulous Stencil (Carta Bella);
Blue Parakeet Opal Polish (Cosmic Shimmer); Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder (Stampin' Up!);
Outside In Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); A2 Avocado Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Ho Ho Ho

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Typography)

This is a little out of season, but I really wanted to use my new Ho Ho Ho die from My Favorite Things. My local store had a 12 Days of Christmas sale in December and if you weren't able to stop by the store, you could pay for an item over the phone and have it kept aside for you. That's what I did with this die and I've been to the store twice since and both times, forgot to ask for the die! It finally came back home with me and I was eager to see it used on a project. The typography challenge was just perfect as well.

I wanted something colorful and I found just what I was looking for in the Santa's Workshop paper pad from Carta Bella. There's this adorable checklist paper where a child can record his accomplishments and infractions throughout December (adorable!). It became a nice background for my sentiment. The paper is 6" wide and I didn't want to cut the header, so my card is actually 6" x 4-1/4". The sentiment die fills it out nicely, though. I added silver tinsel to stay with the retro vibe, and a button at the top to hide the hole in the paper. (Some 6" x 6" papers have a cut-off strip where the hole is, but this one had the pattern all to the way to the top, so in order to keep Santa's face and the full title, I had to work around the hole.) Because of the oversize format, I made a matching envelope out of red cardstock using the Envelope Punch Board.

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Call Me Clover (Stampin' Up!); Red Cardstock Stack (Craft Smith)
Patterned Papers: Santa's Workshop (Carta Bella)
Accessories: Silver Tinsel Trim, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer Buttons, Designer Washi Tape,
Faceted Vintage Buttons, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
Berry Mix Pearls (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)

Tree Farm Lot

Inspiration: Mojo Monday #501 + Simon Says Stamp Monday (Use Something New) + Global Design Project #171

I had a request for a New Year card, so I was looking at stamp options and I decided to ink my new Tree Farm stamp set from Essentials by Ellen. The hedgehog is holding a little sign and I figured I could probably stamp Happy New Year in it. I lucked out and found a sentiment that was exactly the right width to fit in there. The design is based off of the Mojo Monday sketch #501, but I did a mirror image because the trailer looked better placed on the left, with the hedgehog on the righté The design was feeling a little empty, so I grabbed the Christmas lights from the Light Parade stamp set and added this detail at the top of the panel. I also added washi to embellish a little. Initially, I had placed green washi on both sides of the back panel with the snowflakes, but it looked a little weird, so I gently lifted the bottom one off, tried it on the tree panel, liked the result, and when I layered the two panels, I decided I liked having one piece on the back panel and one piece of washi on the main panel - made the overall card design more dynamic that way.

I put a dab of Glossy Accent on the Christmas lights, and on the nose and eyes of the hedgehog, and added a few red pearls to the card as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Et bonne année (Making Spirits Bright - Stampin' Up!); Light Parade, Tree Farm (Essentials by Ellen)
Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, Very Vanilla
Patterned Papers: Merry & Bright (Simple Stories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Shaded Spruce, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Light Parade Dies (Essentials by Ellen);
Markers (Copic); Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Designer Washi Tape. Crumb Cake Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Glossy Accents (Ranger); Pearls - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Starry Watercolor (Gansai Tambi)

 

Star Light, Star Bright

Inspiration: Global Design Project #170 + SUO challenge #213

I wasn't sure how this card would turn out when I started shuffling supplies around, but I think the result is pretty cool. The beauty of this card is in the copper foil accents and the gorgeous shine it has in person. I started by embossing the Merry Merlot patterned paper (from the Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper pack) with the swirl and little stars from the Star of Light stamp set. I used the same stars with Tranquil Tide ink of matching cardstock to stamp a row, mimicking the sketch. I dried the ink with my heat tool before adding my sentiment in VersaMark and embossing it with Copper powder. The same stars were also stamped on Copper foil paper and die-cut so that I could pop them up on Mini Stampin' Dimensionals. The big intricate star was die-cut out of Copper foil paper as well and layered over Sahara Sand cardstock. I then looked for little embellishments to finish off the card and added pink Share What You Love Artisan Pearls and Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins. I stamped a matching envelope as well using the same stamp set.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Étoile lumineuse (Star of Light)
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Sahara Sand
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Joyous Noel
Ink: Tranquil Tide, Merry Merlot, Sahara Sand, VersaMark
Accessoires: Starlight Thinlits Dies, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals,
Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder, Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Ticket Corner Punch,
Share What You Love Artisan Pearls, White Medium Envelope

 

Christmas Packages

Inspiration: TGIF #191

I found this cool bark wrapping paper with gold foil on it at my local Indigo store and on sale, too, since it was the week before Christmas. I paired it with some red plaid metallic paper I already had and I pulled out the cookie tags I had done previously, to wrap my niece's gifts. Technically, I could have wrapped the gifts together, but because I know kids get a big kick out of unwrapping presents, I made sure to wrap everything separately. My oldest niece also thoroughly enjoys everything crafts-related, so I know she'll just love the beautiful packages.

I have to say, they look quite cool laid out underneath the Christmas tree.

 

 

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Trimmings

Inspiration: Little red Wagon #473 + Freshly Made #368

I had put the Christmas in the Making stamp set aside to use on something this season and when I found the Evergreen Fir specialty papers, I thought they would look great with the set. The Freshly Made sketch was perfect inspiration and I knew I wanted plaid paper to go with this, so I pulled out the Christmas stack from Tim Holtz for Idea-ology. The image was colored with alcohol markers and I added glitter gloss on the black bow to make it sparkly.

I was looking at holiday sets to find a French sentiment and the "Christmas joy" banner from Stitched with Cheer was perfect, but I didn't want to hide my colored image too much, so I embossed it with red glitter powder on vellum. The plaid rectangle seemed a little bare to me, so I added gold glitter paste with a zig zag stencil and a couple of red pearls. The left rectangle was embelilshed with red tinsel trim.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Cousu avec joie (Stitched with Cheer), Christmas in the Making (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Vellum
Patterned Papers: Christmas 2018 (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology); Evergreen Fir Specialty Paper (Tonic)
Ink: VersaMark, Tuxedo Black Memento
Accessories: Bunch of Banners Framelits, Red Tinsel Trim, Stampin' Blends Markers,
Palette Knife, Red Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Oval Stackables, Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Dotted Rectangke Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
A2 Jupiter Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Markers (Copic); Silver and Gold Gel Pens;
Golden Crystal Glimmer Paste (Nuvo); Zig Zag Dots Stencil (Simon Says Stamp);
Pearls - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things by Lucy's Cards)

 

Peace on Earth Boxwood

Inspiration: Global Design Project #169 + Paper Craft Crew Sketch #319

The Feathers & Frost stamp set has definitely been my go-to set from the Holidays Catalogue this year. The set I use the most is not always the one I expect to from the start. This was one set that really appealed to me but that I almost talked myself out of buying when going through my wish list and putting together an actual order. I'm so grateful I bought it! I managed to make card that turned out pretty different but always really pretty. This time, I pulled it out because the color combo seemed perfect for watercoloring it and I figured the three stars from the sketch could be poinsettias. Because the flowers were colored red, I did white berries to balance the design out, and I did a Pool Party watercolor wash in the background to make the white berries stand out. The whole thing looks so crisp and pretty! I used Shimmery White cardstock to do my watercoloring on, with a blending pen for the small details and an Aqua Painter brush for the background.

I wanted an embossed background so I looked through my folders and decided to use Woodland, which I hadn't used in a long time. I made sure to stamp my sentiment before embossing, and I dabbed a bit of ink on the raised portions of the design to make it stand out more. The wreath was die-cut with the Layering Square dies and matted with Silver Foil Paper. A few basic adhesive sequins were added as well.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Plumes et givre (Feathers & Frost)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Silver Foil
Ink: Basic Black Archival, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party
Accessories: Layering Square Framelits, Stampin' Dimensionals, Woodland Embossing Folder,
basic Adhesive-backed Sequins; A2 Mirror Envelope (envelopes.com)

 

Bright Holidays

Inspiration: Try Stampin' On Tuesday #387 + SUO challenge #213

I'm catching up on downline cards and using challenge sketches as inspiration. The simple TSOT sketch was perfect to go with the Making Christmas Bright stamp set. The sentiment reads, "May your Holidays be bright." I used some of my favorite Designer Series Paper, the All is Bright collection. I had previously embossed some red paper with the Curls & Twirls embossing folder, but had not used the pieces on my cards because the paper had cracked. For this design, I didn't mind the cracking too much and decided to reuse the leftover pieces. A lot of scraps were used for this project: I was able to get a lot of lightbulbs out of a strip of white cardstock, and also a strip of gold foil paper (the lightbulb tops and the thin strip at the bottom of the red paper).

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Illuminez les Fêtes (Making Christmas Bright)
Cardstock: Spruce Shadow, Call Me Clover, Whisper White, Gold Foil Paper
Designer Series Paper: All is Bright
Ink: Spruce Shadow, Call Me Clover, Real Red, VersaMark
Accessories: Christmas Bulb Builder Punch, Layering Circle Framelits Dies, Curls & Swirls Embossing Folder,
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Simple Seasonal Joys

Inspiration: Inspired By challenge #50 + Fab Friday #152 + Freshly Made Sketch #367

I really loved the picture from the Inspired By challenge. The greenery and pinecones on the mailbox screamed of the Christmas Pines bundle. It came out last year and is still a personal favorite. I noticed that the Fab Friday colours were also perfect since they included a mix of greens and Soft Suede, for the pinecones. The Freshly Made sketch was also perfect since I wanted a greenery bow coming out of the right corner. 

I tried to pick a large sentiment to fill out the remaining space on the card. Using the frame from the same stamp set helped set it up so it wouldn't look too lost. I added two holly images on each side and added red rhinestones (they're on sale in the year-end sale, by the way). I stamped the lovely stars and dots image all around the frame and added basic adhesive-backed rhinestones to the card to make it more festive.

The Shaded Spruce piece is actually a rectangle frame, that I cut out with the Stampin' Paper Cutter. I used the matching Stampin' Write marker to add stitching around it.

 

 

   

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Sapins de Noël (Christmas Pines)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Shaded Spruce, Pool Party, Soft Suede, Mossy Meadow
Ink: Soft Suede, Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow
Accessories: Pretty Pines Framelits, Red Basic Jewels Rhinestones, White Medium Envelope,
Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins, Shaded Spruce Stampin' Write Marker

 

Rainbow Snowmen

Inspiration: Lawn Fawnatics #42 + October 2018 Card Maps Sketch

I got the idea for this card when I spotted the Card Maps sketch with the row of snowmen. It was simply perfect to highlight the Simply Celebrate Winter stamp set from Lawn Fawn, so I got going on a design. I pulled out the Really Rainbow Christmas papers for a colorful look, and a touch of Perfectly Plaid Christmas paper for the center piece. The row of snowman was too small to fit the space properly, so I decided to use the row of trees behind them to fill out the space. For the peeking tab, I decided to use the Flirty Frames and I found a French sentiment that was the perfect size and fit in it in the Jingle All the Way stamp set from last year's Holidays catalogue.

The background seemed a little bare, so I pulled out the Mini Snowflakes dies and cut snowflakes out of glitter paper, which really made the whole card come to life. The center piece seemed a little bare as well, so I added scalloped edges using the Lacy Borders dies. Finally, the bow from the Mini Wreath dies was added at the top, and covered with Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer, which I also used on the end of the tree branches to make glistening snow.

The last touch was adding clear gems between the snowflakes and in the center of the tag.

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Simply Celebrate Winter, Flirty Frames (Lawn Fawn); Ode à Noël (Jingle All the Way - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Highland Heather, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Perfectly Plaid Christmas, Really Rainbow, Really Rainbow Christmas (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria Wonder (Stampin' Up!); Tuxedo Black (Mememto)
Accessories: Simply Celebrate Winter, Dies Flirty Frames Dies, Lacy Borders, Mini Snowflakes, Mini Wreath (Lawn Fawn);
White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, White Medium Envelope (Stampin' Up!);
Gems (Studio Katia); Markers (Copic)

 

'Tis the Season to be Jolly

Inspiration: Lasting Memory Layout challenge #425 (Wreaths) + Global Design Project #167

The starting point of this page was the gorgeous chipboard frames from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Christmas collection I had bought earlier this fall. My initial idea was to frame pictures of me with my niece, add ribbon or twine and turn the frames into ornaments. Turn out they are way bigger than I had envisioned, but upon looking through Christmas pictures, I found one of me and my nioece that I love and decided to make a scrapbook page with it instead. My style is usual more cutesy than vintage, but I have to say that I really love this Simple Stories collection. The papers and elements are just gorgeous.

I pulled out a ton of older embellishments from my stash for this one: the beveled windows, the glimmer brads, the lace trim, the decorative brads and the felt accents. It just happens that one of those felt accents was a wreath and the colors worked nicely with the papers, so it was perfect for this week's Lasting Memory Layout challenge. The stickers from the collection even include little circle images that were the exact size to fit inside the wreath.

Another embellishment that had been sitting in my stash for a while was the scissors charm and green beads, Those were part of a Santa cross stitch kit, actually, but I didn't think they really fit the piece, so I had put the embellishments in my scrapbook stash instead, figuring I might be able to work them into a project at some point. Because of the vintage style, the little metal charm worked nicely, and I hung the scissors from the scripty work. The green beads were added with Multi Medium Matte adhesive to frame the sentiment.

This was quick to put together since the chipboard frame and stickers did most of the job for me, for a pretty result.

 

Supplies
Stamps: Type Strips Number (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Papers, Stickers and Chipboard Frames: Simple Vintage Christmas (Simple Stories)
Ink: Basic Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Beads and Scissors Charm (Lizzie Kate); Type Strips Die (Papertrey Ink);
Lace Trim, Beveled Windowpanes, Decorative Brads, Felt Ornaments, Natural Trim Ribbon,
Brights Glimmer Brads, Vanilla Twine (Stampin' Up!); Cloud Decorative Scissors (Fiskar); Glossy Accents (Ranger)

 

Santa's Coming to Town

Inspiration: Stamp Ink Paper #179 (Holidays)

Earlier this Fall, I made some little 3" x 3" notecards for my sister to slip into my niece's lunchbox. It is my understanding that she reserves those notes for special occasions, so I figured I'd make one for Christmas. I found some old stamps from Doodlebug Design called Believe and paired them with some paper scraps from the Milk & Cookies collection. I used the Peek-a-Boo die from Pretty Pink Posh to create the burst in the paper, and I added a piece of brick paper in the background and green gems on the points. The ho ho ho tag comes from the same stamp set. The Santa image was colored with Polychromos pencils.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Believe (Doodlebug Design)
Cardstock: Green Galore, Whisper White
Patterned Papers: Milk & Cookies (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Call Me Clover (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Peek-a-Boo Die (Pretty Pink Posh); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell);
Eyelet, Stampin' Dimensionals, Envelope Punch Board (Stampin' Up!); August Crystals (Studio Katia);
Pink Ribbon (unknown source); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo)

 

Comfort & Joy Poinsettia

Inspiration: Hand Stamped Sentiments #304 + Colour Inkspiration #45

This colorful Holidays card came together really quickly. I used the Stylish Christmas stamp set from the poinsettia and flourish images, and drew from the Christmas Pines stamp set from the sentiment, since I wanted something in French. The Buffalo Check background stamp was used on the card base and I added a couple touches of Designer Series Paper to complete the card.

I wanted my sentiment to have dimension but since I don't own the In Color embossing powders, I used a stamping platform to stamp the sentiment in Blueberry Bushel ink first, cleaned the stamp in the platform and then stamped it again in VersaMark, then used clear embossing powder on top.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Stylish Christmas, Buffalo Check, Sapins de Noël (Christmas Pines)
Casrdstock: Lovely Lipstick, Whisper White, Balmy Blue, Blueberry Bushel
Designer Series Paper Stacks: Brights, Subtles
Ink: Lovely Lipstick, Granny Apple Green, Blueberry Bushel, VersaMark
Accessories: White Medium Envelope, Pearl Basic Jewels, Circle Punch,
Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Gorgeous Grape Striped Ribbon

 

May Your Holidays Be Filled with Joy and Laughter

Inspiration: Festive Friday #22 (Christmas and Snowflakes) + Sunday Stamps #193

So a few years ago, the Clarity Stamps stipple brushes were the new "in" thing and when I was able to get them on sale (because they are really pricey), I purchased them and gave them a try. I remember being really underwhelmed with the result and thinking maybe I'd get more into them after using them more. That never happened as they remained on the back of my desk, forgotten, and I keep reaching for other tools whenever I am using stencils on projects.

Enter the Picket Fence Studios blender brushes. I saw those recently in craft videos on YouTube and my interest was piqued. The crafters were raving about them, but I could see in the video that the resulting blended ink was really smooth. Again, when a Black Friday sale come on, I decided to give them a try. And here's my take on it: they are an instant favorite!! They are really soft, so they can be used with delicate stencils (like the Knitted Sweater one from Echo Park I used here) and the blending is smooth and seamless. That ombre effect? Done with one colour of ink. I simply started blending at the top of the cardstock after tapping the brush on my ink pad and I went down the cardstock without reinking. And it took less than two minutes - the transfer was really fast as well. What also impressed me is that they can be used to ink edges as well (which is where they differ from the Clarity Stamps brushes). They come in a variety of sizes - I went for the 4-brush set. I cannot wait to test them out some more, but as of now, I am thrilled with them!

So basically, the starting point of this card was trying out the brushes. I looked for a stencil that I could easily work into a design after, which I why I picked the wool design, and I looked at online challenges to see if there was a combo I could use. The one from Sunday Stamps is gorgeous and was just calling out my name. After I was done playing with the brushes, I wasn't sure what to use the stenciled piece for. I rumaged through my things for a while and kept going back and forth between a few ideas - and finally went a whole other direction entirely. I spotted the Woodland Critter Huggers and since I've only used them for gift card pockets so far, I thought I would like to see one done on a card, and doing that allowed me to not cover the background too much (which the other ideas did, and I wanted the beautiful background to shine).

I dressed my deer up with the Woodland Critter Huggers Winter Add-On elements and instead of die-cutting the mittens, I used some felt ones I found in my stash recently. (Those were sold by Stampin' Up! many catalogues ago.) Die-cut snowflakes were added to fill out the space a bit and I added some to an envelope to match as well. Considering this started out as me playing with a new tool to test it out, I'm really happy with the end result.

 

 

   

Colour Combo: Raspberry Ripple + Mint Macaron + Powder Pink + Early Espresso

 

Supplies
Stamps: Parfum de Noël (Christmas Messages - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Powder Pink, Very Vanilla, Raspberry Ripple, Mint Macaron, Crumb Cake,
Early Espresso
Designer Series Paper Stack: Subtles
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder, Crumb Cake Medium Envelope, Glitter Dots,
Myths & Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Felt Embellishments, Pinewoood Planks 3D Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!);
Blender Brushes (Picket Fence Studios); Marisa Snowflake Die (Simon Says Stamp);
Woodland Critter Huggers Dies, Woodland Critter Huggers Winter Add-On Dies,
Dotted Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Rectangle Stackables,
Mini Snowflakes Dies (Lawn Fawn); Knitted Sweater Stencil (Echo Park)

 

Christmas Treats

Inspiration: Clean & Simple #99 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + Little Red Wagon #474 (Leftovers)

I would consider this card a "leftover" contender because it started with one of the images I had previously colored two weeks ago when my folks visited. It was lying on my desk, waiting to be turned into a finished project. The papers used on the card are paper scraps from a 6" x 6" pad

The "Happy Holidays" sentiment was embossed in Real Red glitter embossing powder. I handdrew stitching around the main image to fill out the space a bit, added Garden Green twine and black rhinestones and I was pretty much done. The main image was colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Those Littles images from Stamping Bella are adorable, and I like that they are smaller than the usual Bella images, making them faster to color.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Ensemble à Noël Hearts (Come Home - Stampin' Up!); The Littles Gingerbread Girl (Stamping Bella)
Cardstock: Resl Red, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Christmas Delivery (Carta Bella)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark
Accessories: Pencils (Prismacolor); White Coin Envelope (envelopes.com); Black Journaling Pen,
Black Rhinestones, Garden Green Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch,
Real Red Glitter Embossing Powder (Stampin' Up!); Decorative Scissors

 

Joyful Wreath

Inspiration: The Paper Players #420 + SUO challenge #211 (Delightfully Die-Cut)

I was inspired to pull out my Holidays Catalogue supplies to make a card based on the Paper Players sketch. I figured I could use the long rectangle from the Stitched Labels Framelits to make one of the rectangles from the sketch, but when I pulled out the dies, I realized the rectangle was much smaller than from my memory! To solve my problem, I simply cut it twice to elongate it behind my main image.

I was going through stamp options for the main image and when I spotted Feathers & Frost, I decided I wanted to use the wreath again and that it would pair beautifully with the Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper. (This one already sold out, and I'm not surprised - it's so gorgeous and elegant!) I stamped and embossed the wreath on watercolor paper using Copper embossing powder and I colored the image using Tranquil Tide, Merry Merlot amd a soft wash of Sahara Sand in the background. I stamped "Joy" from the same stamp set in the center.

The green rectangle looked a little too solid on my card so on a whim, I reached out for the Curvy Corner Trio punch, and I was very happy with the result - and then remembered that this punch is long retired. Not a big deal, but I'll be sending this card to a downline member so I was trying to use current stuff. I wanted to have something poking out from behind the main image and I tried out the Sprig punch but I was not liking the result, so I tried out the Pretty Pines Framelits instead, which I liked better. (I did end up using the punched Sprigs as well, but I snipped them in two, to keep only one branch, which worked better.) Because the Pretty Pines Framelits were out, I thought I could top my image with a die-cut bow as well, and I was looking for something dimensional to put in the center of the bow. I finally found what I was looking for in the Faceted Dots embellishment pack - the dot is Blackberry Bliss, but it suits the Merry Merlot cardstock very nicely. By the way, I wanted the bow to be a little higher than my stamped piece but I didn't have the patience to trim little mini Dimensionals to this small of a size, so to make my life easier, I just die-cut three bows out of cardstock and stacked them with precision glue. This makes the bow stand out without having any Dimensionals showing.

This card is better enjoyed in person, as you can fully appreciate the gold accents on the paper and the watercolored piece. Very elegant!

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Plumes et givre (Feathers & Frost)
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Watercolor Paper
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Joyous Noel
Ink: VersaMark, Merry Merlot, Tranquil Tide, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Pretty Pines Framelits, Stitched Labels Framelits, Faceted Dots,
White Medium Envelope, Sprig Punch, Copper Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Aqua Painter Brush, Curvy Corner Trio Punch, Circle Punch

 

Let It Snow

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Baby It's Cold Outside) + Sketch Saturday #541

Black Friday 25% sale = new set of 36-color Gansai Tambi watercolor coming home with me. I really wanted to test them out, so I looked for something I could do watercolor with. The Cute Snowflakes stamp set from Simon Says Stamp had been set aside in the hope that it could be used for holiday stamping this year, and doing an emboss-resist technique seemed like an easy, fool-proof way to test the watercolors out. I was inspired to use snowflakes dies peeking out of the main panel to mimick the doily from the sketch, and I wanted my panel to have a central sentiment with snowflakes around it. I found a sentiment that comes from a Christmas song and that refers to the wind. Seemed appropriate to go with the snowflakes, so the sentiment was embossed in Platinum powder, and the snowflakes in clear powder on watercolor paper. I needed colour inspiration so I did my usual trick of picking from an old ColourQ combo. I mixed the watercolors on a plastic sheet to match the combo as closely as possible and I added touches of white gold for shimmer.

The snowflakes were die-cut out of Orchid glimmer paper that I've had for over a decade. I embossed the background with the Winter Snowflakes 3D embossing folder from Sizzix and matted my main panel with Certainly Celery cardstock. I was liking where the design was going but then I remembered that the sketch had three diagonal lines on it. I started playing with ribbons and fibers and found three in purple hues that matched the combo. I put them in place, glued the embossed cardstock on the card base and the panel with Dimensionals.

Then I looked at the result and I couldn't help but keep thinking the fibers were distracting and that I liked the card better before I had added them. After a bit of internal debating I decided I wanted a card I enjoyed, so I gently pulled the main panel up and ripped the fibers off of the card. I'm much happier now. Vintage Drops were added in a few spots and Fresh Snowfall Glitter Drops all around the embossed background like falling snow.

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Parfum de Noël (Christmas Messages - Stampin' Up!); Cute Snowflakes (Simon Says Stamp)
Cardstock: Thick Whisper White, Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaMark, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Highland Heather (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Snow Crystals Dies (KaiserCraft); Glimmer Cardstock (Unknown Source);
Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix); Bonnie Blue, Bohemian Teal, Pioneer Green Vintage Drops,
Fresh Snowfall Glitter Drops (Nuvo); Gansai Tambi Watercolors (Kuretake); Liquid Platinum Embossing Powder (Ranger);
Aqua Painter Brush, White Medium Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Put a Bow on It

Inspiration: Just Us Girls #468 + Sunday Stamps #192 (sketch)

A little while ago, I figured out that the Picture Perfect Birthday stamp set had a bow image in it that could be used on Christmas projects to make a Christmas present bow. I got really excited about this idea, pulled out the stamp set from my stash - and realized that the bow image is quite small. Somehow, it was bigger in my mind, so the idea of doing a gift on a whole card front was not working because the scale was off. So I put this idea to the side and worked on other projects instead.

Enters this week's Just Us Girls challenge, with a little cart filled with present bows. When I saw the pile, I realized I could recycle my bow idea, but stamp a whole bunch instead of just one. That got the inspiration going again, so I pulled out the stamp set, paired it with the All is Bright Designer Series Paper and the Sunday Stamps sketch and in no time, I was going on my project. I need cards for my downline members, so I decided to make two of the same design at once.

For the sentiment strip, I was looking for a long sentiment to stamp on Crumb Cake cardstock, but then I spotted the brushstroke Noël in the Christmas Pines stamp set and I decided to stamp and handcut it, then layer over a strip embossed with my beloved Corrugated embossing folder. I initially planned on doing two sentiments differently, just because I sometimes like to test out two options when I do duplicate cards, but I really liked the handcut Noël so I stuck with that idea for both cards. The only difference is that I glued everything in place on the first card and realized I could have put something beside the word, so on the second card, I added a galvanized button on the strip before adding the word. I didn't have enough room on the first card, so I added a piece of plaid washi tape instead.

The main image was matted with green glimmer paper die-cut with a scallop square die, and I added red rhinestones between the bows to fill up the space and add a bit of pizzazz. The red strip of paper is embossed with the Swirls & Curls embossing folder (although it's hard to tell once everything else has been added on top) and I added a piece of white polka dot tulle ribbon as well (probably my favorite current ribbon - so delicate, goes with everything and ties very nicely).

I stamped the bow in a row in all three colours to decorate my envelope.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Anniversaire idéal (Picture Perfect Birthday)
Cardstock: Call Me Clover, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Designer Series Paper: All is Bright
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Shaded Spruce, Call Me Clover, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede
Accessories: Corrugated 3D Embossing Folder, Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder, White Medium Envelope,
Joyous Noel 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Layering Squares Framelits Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels,
White Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, Galvanized Buttons, White Baker's Twine, Suite Season Specialty Washi Tape

 

Christmas Cookie Tags

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #473 (No Cards Allowed) + Inspired By #47

This project started as a joke. My mom loves cooking now that she is retired, especially cookies and treats. She would love for me to share this interest, but I have zero interest in cooking of any type. She was hoping that I might pick it up so that I can bake cookies with my niece and she's even purchased a few things for me in the hope of sparking the interest, but to no avail. Because it's something that she's mentioned a few times, when I purchased the Fresh Baked #1 dies from Tim Holtz, I quickly put together a set of cookies one weekend my mom was visiting and put them on a little plate, on the table. When she came to the kitchen, I told her, "Since you were hoping I would make some cookies, I've made some for you." This cracked both of my parents up.

They've remained in the little plate on my counter, decorating since, but today I decided I would turn them into a project. I was hesitating between tags or cards, but tags won. I'd like to try selling some at the office for the first time, but I'm not sure what the interest will be. (My guess? People will think they are awfully cute, but will not want to necessary pay for them. We'll see.)

I think they turned out better than I initially envisioned. The list of supplies is quite long considering I've only made five tags, mainly because I looked through various stamp sets to find sentiments that fit the images and space available. Those would have taken forever to finish had I made the cookies today as well (they're adorable, but there's a lot of small details to die-cut and glue!), but since that part was taken care of previously, it seemed less daunting. That's the part that affects pricing, though: You can make those tags out of a few tiny scraps of cardstock, but assembling the die-cuts can easily take a couple of hours.

Fun detail: I used fun foam for the snowman, Santa's beard and hat trim and the mitten trim. It gives the images dimension and it looks just like fondant!

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Souhaits en rafale (Snowflake Sentiments), Sourire de fin d'année (Jolly Christmas),
Cousu avec joie (Stitched with Cheer), Coffret d'étiquettes (Tin of Tags),
Joyeuses petites étiquettes (Merry Little Labels - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!), cardstock scraps (unknown source)
Ink: Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
Accessories: Blending Tool (Ranger); White Fun Foam; Eyelets, White 1/8" Organza Ribbon,
Bigz Two Tags, Subtles Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!); Gansai Tambi Starry Colors (Kuretake);
Winter Snowflakes 3D Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

 

Fold-Up Christmas Tags

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #473 (No Cards Allowed)

I was eager to try out the new Fold-Up Tags Die-namics from MFT. I liked the size and the idea of having a fold to hide a message inside. I pulled out some paper scraps (Merry & Bright from Carta Collection, a 6" x 6" pad I've had and used for years and that still have quite a bit of paper left in) and tested the dies out.

The next day, I started looking for images that could be added to them. I spotted an older Stampin' Up! set called Color Me Christmas and decided the bold images would look great on tags AND be fun to color with my newly-acquired Polychromos pencil set.

I stamped To: and From: inside the tag using the Signs of Santa stamp set, and I added some gems (including some clear gems over the ornaments in the Christmas tree), twine, ribbon and a mini jingle bell. I also put some highlights on my colored images using some Copic Opaque White paint.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Panneaux de Noël (Signs of Santa), Color Me Christmas (Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Merry & Bright (Carta Bella)
Ink: Basic Black Archival Ink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Fold-up Tags Die-namics (My Favorite Things); Polychromos Pencils (Faber-Castell);
Ribbon, Cotton Twine, Baker's Twine, Mini Jingle Bell (Stampin' Up!);
Opaque White Paint (Copic); August Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Handmade in North Pole

Inspiration: Try Stampin' on Tuesday #385 + Stamping Bella November challenge (Festive or Winter)

This is a second image that I colored during my parents' visit. I started my design using the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch, although it's not necessarily super clear when you first look at the result. I didn't want to cut my elf image apart, but the fact that there are three elves reminded me of the three boxes on the sketch. So I used a Nestabilities die instead to cut out the existing image, and I did the trick of handcutting the little pompons by hand and tucking them out of the die before running through my Big Shot to have those details hanging out of the frame. This is a trick I've always loved doing to give a card a little extra something.

For the last card I finished with the colored images, I had used patterned papers that had some olive green in them, so they weren't a perfect match to my coloring. This time around, I wanted something with more of a apple green in it, so I left my 6" x 6" paper pads and went looking through my 12" x 12" papers instead. I found some Doodlebug papers from the North Pole collection that were just perfect. The way I did the papers is true to the sketch. But then I needed to add a sentiment, so I went looking for options and found "Handmade in North Pole" in last year's set from Stampin' Up! called Merry Little Labels. I embossed the sentiment on grey cardstock using the red sparkly embossing powder Stampin' Up! also carried last year. The strange thing is that this stamp set is meant to be paired with the Everyday Label, but when I pulled it out, I felt it was too much of a tight squeeze for the two end letters. Out of curiosity, I pulled out the Tailored Tag and I liked the result much better. (Look, the little flourish even fits in the point perfectly!!) So I used that one instead, but I layered it over a punched Every Label to make it stand out more on my design. Four little green gems were added in the corners, and because the top right corner of the image felt really bare, I pulled out the Mini Snowflakes dies and added two Brushed Silver snowflakes, topped with red rhinestones.

As a last touch, I pulled out the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set and added White Gold watercolor over the fur parts of the hats, for a bit of shimmer.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: The Littles Christmas Collection Elves with Treats (Stamping Bella);
Joyeuses petites étiquettes (Merry Little Labels - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Call Me Clover, Whisper White, Brushed Silver (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: North Pole (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, VersaMark
Accessories: Nestabilities Dies (Spellbinders); August Crystals (Studio Katia);
White Medium Envelope, Real Red Glitter Embossing Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Tailored Tag Punch, Everyday Label Punch, Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Banner Triple Punch (Stampin' Up!);
Mini Snowflakes Dies, Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Pencils (Prismacolor)

 

Waiting for Santa

Inspiration: As You See It #189 + The Paper Players #419 (Sweet Treats)

My parents visited last weekend and on Sunday night, we had a bit of free time, so I lent my mom a coloring book and I stamped myself a few Stamping Bella images and we sat down to color. While I've always thought I could sit down to color in front of the TV, it's something that I've never ended up doing. It seems I always color in my craft room, where I have all of my supplies handy and good lighting. I never randomly pick colors - I always have a color combo in mind or keep the patterned papers I plan to use nearby as reference to try and match as nicely as possible. This time, though, I quickly looked at possible papers, decided on red, green and grey and went from there. I ended up with four finished images in one sitting, so you should see more finished cards coming up soon. This is the first one I mounted on a card, based on the As You See It sketch (which I modified without meaning to - I didn't realize there was four panels on the original sketch and ended up with three patterns on my card!). Coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils. The cookie and milk detail was perfect for the Sweet Treats challenge as well.

 

 

 

  

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: The Littles Christmas Collection Waiting for Santa (Stamping Bella);
Étoile lumineuse (Star of Light - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Brushed Silver
Patterned Papers: Mad 4 Plaid Christmas (Photoplay)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); VersaMark; Basic Grey, Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Narrow White Envelope, Stampin' Dimensionals, Slit Punch,
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder, Cherry Cobbler Chevron Ribbon, Lace Trim Border Punch (Stampin' Up!);
July Crystals (Studio Katia); Labels Ten Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Pencils (Prismacolor);
Wood Snowflakes (Omer DeSerres)

 

Bits of Holiday Magic

Inspiration: Freshly Made Sketch #363

I had this idea of doing a long sentiment and adding two elves on each side, and the Freshly Made sketch was perfect for that. Initially, I was planning on using the elves from the Signs of Santa stamp set, but then I found two elves in the printed cardstock shapes from Pebbles' Cozy & Bright. Since I also have the matching paper, this made for an easy creation.

Coincidentally, I had pulled out the Two Feet Deep stamp set from Papertrey Ink, which I hadn't used in a while and was hoping to ink before Christmas, and I noticed it does contain a couple of big, bold sentiments. The one that reads "Let it snow and scatter bits of holiday magic everywhere" seemed perfect, so I embossed it in white on one of the red patterned papers. I then added my two elves and added little styrofoam balls in the hand of the left one and on the ground beside him. (Those styrofoam balls are meant to be added to slime. Not sure how popular this idea is, but to me, they looked they the perfect size to add tiny snowballs to cards or to make shaker cards with.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Two Feet Deep
Patterned Paper: Cozy & Bright (American Crafts)
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Wooden Snowflakes (Omer De Serres); July Crystals (Studio Katia);
Pearls - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Slime Ballz (FloraCraft);
A2 Jupiter Metallic Envelope (envelopes.com); Dotted Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn);
White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Ribbon (unknown)

 

Tiny Car Snowglobe

Inspiration: CAS(E) This Sketch #298 + The Card Concept #102 (drew inspiration from the colours, the plaid and the car with the tree on top)

Some cards come together easily. This was not one of them. I wanted to take the new Tim Holtz domes out for a spin, so I decided to use the CAS(E) This Sketch as inspiration. The domes were a little smaller than I expected, so the card seemed really bare with just the snowglobe at the top right of it. So I added the scalloped circle mat around it, and the whole thing still felt empty, then I decided to add the big die-cut sentiment, and the layout already felt much better.

The card was pretty much finished and I decided to add Crystal Drops around the snowglobe. Big mistakes. The first drops were so pointy, they looked like Hershey Kisses. No amount of tapping was flatting them out, so I decided to use a strip of cardstock to take them out and the red smeared all over the patterned paper! I tried covering it up with bigger drops, which looked like a mess, so I added more glaze to do a line instead. Urgh - the line was all wonky and messy-looking so I tore the paper off the card, used a baby wipe to wipe the dome clean (which fortunately worked) and I redid the whole die-cut circle and snowglobe base (using a wood sheet). I did the Crystal Drops around the sentiment instead and was able to salvage the card, which for a minute there I thought I had totally messed up.

Lastly, I made an oversized envelope using a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. The domes are quite high, so this will be something that is harder to mail. I might prefer to use those on tags instead. I'd also like to try gluing two back to back to make a Christmas ornament. So many ideas, never enough time to do them all.

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Merry Merlot, Gold Foil Paper, Wood Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Winterberry (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Tiny Snowglobes Dies, Dimensional Domes (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
Envelope Punch Board, Joyeux Noël Thinlits, Layering Circle Framelits (Stampin' Up!);
Crystal Drops (Nuvo); Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn)

 

Making It on Santa's List

Inspiration: Sketch Saturday #539 + The Paper Players #418 (Poppy Parade + Smoky Slate + So Saffron)

I wanted to use the Signs of Santa stamp set some more so I pulled it out with the matching Santa's Workshop Designer Series Paper. I then noticed that if I only pulled out the red papers from the pack, I could use this week's Paper Players color combo. Red. yellow and grey is an unusual color combo for Christmas, but by keeping red the main colour and using the other two as touches, I find that it works out pretty well. I used the Swirls & Curls embossing folder behind Santa for a windy night king of look, and I used the adorable Santa crest in the top corner to fill in the space. matching enamel shapes were also used (snowflakes and little bow). The images were colored using the Stampin' Blends markers. I'm really excited that we're starting to have a more complete range of colours, which offers more creative freedom. For the circle, I used vellum, which allowed me to mimick the sketch without distracting from the design and adding more colour.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Panneaux de Noël (Signs of Santa)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Basic Grey, So Saffron, Whisper White, Vellum
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Santa's Workshop
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, VersaMark, So Saffron, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Stampin' Blends Markers, White Medium Envelope,
Galvanized Buttons, White Baker's Twine, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Santa's Workshop Enamel Shapes, Blending Pen, Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder,
Poppy Parade Ribbon, Curls & Swirls Embossing Folder, Santa's Signpost Framelits

 

Merry Christmas and Crafty New Year

Inspiration: Clean&Simple Sketch #97 + ColourQ #169

This project evolved into something much more complicated than I first intended for it to be. I had seen the Clean&Simple sketch previously and when I woke up, I had this idea that I could use the Crafty dies as the three elements from the sketch and Crafty Turnabout stamp to make a background. And then I got this idea to turn it into a Holidays card by stamping something like "Have a crafty Christmas."

So I went looking at past ColourQ combos for inspiration and picked something Christmas-y. I stamped the turnabout, die-cut the scissors, stamp and paintbrush and assembled everything. And then I realized that the die-cuts were getting totally lost in the background! Not good. So I pulled out a sheet of vellum to solve the problem and die-cut it to A2 size using the Stitched Rectangle Stackables dies from Lawn Fawn.

Then I went hunting for Christmas stamps in English. Now, I mostly stamp in French so I tend to favour French sets whenever I can. That being said, most companies offer only English sets and when I like the images enough, I will purchase the set no matter what the language is. Which means that I have a lot of English sentiments lying around. Because I am always looking for the perfect sentiment, I have compiled all of the sentiments from the sets I own into an Excel spreadsheet so I can look for specific keywords. This works out WAY better than my old method of stamping images in a binder. So today I went to my trusty spreadsheet and started looking up "have a merry Christmas" and "happy new year." I was shocked to find out how little options I had. Especially with all the Lawn Fawn sets I own, I would have expected more results to come out! Anyway, the closest hit was "Merry Christmas and happy new year" from a Papertrey Ink set, so I pulled it out, and using a marker, I crossed happy out and handwrote crafty underneath. I looked at the result and was not too happy, so I decided to use alphabet dies instead.

Initially, I had planned on making an A2 card. But the more I was looking at the card, the more I wanted the wider sentiment strip and I liked having the background peek out from underneath the vellum, so I made a 5-1/4" x 5-1/4" card base. While looking for sentiment stamps, I had also stumbled unto the Stitched Rectangle Frames and decided they would look nice framing the vellum. So with all of those new ideas colliding, I started assembling the card.

I was practically finished and the die-cut letters were bugging me. Too big and taking away from the visual triangle. So I carefully lifted them up and used a small alphabet stamp set instead to add crafty back in. I added a bit of red washi tape at the top because I couldn't use glue underneath the vellum without it showing and the vellum was poking up, so washi was a pretty way to solve the problem. I then added a die-cut button, a silver brad on the scissors, a couple of red gems, Crystal Effects on the little heart, button and paint, and I decided I was done.

I kept thinking it was a shame to waste the die-cut letters so I recycled them as embellishment for the card. I added the little thread loop and needle from the same die set, and used the stamp rectangle for the address box. A couple of sequins from the stamp set were added as well. When you look at the final result, it's not clean and simple no more, but you can still recognize the sentiment banner and three main elements that were the starting point.

 

 

 

 

 

Colour Combo: Real Red + Basic Grey + Pear Pizzazz + Bermuda Bay + White

 

Supplies
Stamps: Crafty Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Tree Trimming Trio (papertrey Ink); Alphabet (Studio G)
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Grey, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz, Brushed Silver, Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Real Red, Basic Grey, Bermuda Bay, Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Crafty Dies (Concord & 9th); Glossy Accents (Ranger); 
Stitched Rectangle Stackables, Stitched Scalloped Rectangle Frames (Lawn Fawn);
White Square Envelope, Silver Brad (Stampin' Up!); July Crystals (Studio Katia)

 

Retro Ride

Inspiration: Fab Friday #150 + Fusion (sketch, turned 90 degrees)

The Fusion sketch was perfect to take the Home for the Holidays dies out for a spin (!). I found some old wood sheets Stampin' Up! used to sell, which was perfect to add the car paneling. I did a bit of sponging on the edges of the snowbanks so that they would be more defined, but the rest of pretty straightforward die-cutting. I like the Fab Friday colour combo - makes for a different Christmas card, and goes well with the retro vibe of the die set.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Tranquil Tide, Cajun Craze, Blackberry Bliss, Mint Macaron, Basic Black, Whisper White,
Galvanized Metallic Paper, Wood Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Designer Series Paper: Subtles
Ink: Weathered Wood Distress Oxide (Ranger)
Accessories: Home for the Holidays Dies (Tim Holtz for Sizzix);
White Medium Envelope, Blackberry Bliss Ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

 

Peeking Walrus

Inspiration: Try Stampin' on Tuesday #383 (stamping + red + plaid) + CAS(E) This Sketch #297

I wanted to play with my Polar Peek-a-Boo Pals stamp set (which I absolutely love!) and I decided to pair it with the Christmas 8" x 8" papers from Tim Holtz. The initial idea was pretty simple: use the Rectangle Peek-a-Boo Window die from MFT to create a shaker card and have one of the polar pals peeking from it. I had a hard time deciding which critter to choose, but I decided the walrus worked well with the plaid paper. The paper pad includes snowflake-patterned window sheet, which was perfect for the shaker.

I was looking for a French sentiment and I decided to use a tag from the Tags & Tidings bundle, the circle one that reads "Do not open before Christmas." I threaded three ribbons (black, white, silver) in it for added texture. I added two wooden snowflakes, topped with red pearls. Initially, I was planning to use my Vintage Drops from Nuvo somewhere on the card, but because the red pearls were out, on a whim, I tried out adding the small ones all around the frame. I liked the effect, so I glued them in place with Stampin' Up!'s fine-tip glue. For the final touch, I used the Frosty Sparkle Glitter Kiss all around the edge of the card for a frosted look.

I used the leftover piece from the window to decorate a red envelope to match.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Polar Peek-a-Boo Pals (Avery Elle); Étiquettes des Fêtes (Tags & Tidings - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Christmas (Tim Holtz)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Lost Lagoon (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Jupiter Metallic A2 Envelope (envelopes.com); Rectangle Peek-a-Boo Window Die-namics (My Favorite Things);
Pearls Berry Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards); Markers (Copic); White Gelly Roll Pen (Sakura);
Dotted Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn); Frosty Sparkle Glitter Kiss (Cosmic Shimmer);
Stampin' Dimensionals, Christmas Tags Thinlits (Stampin' Up!)

 

Snowy Village

Inspiration: Little Red Wagon #471 (Just a Sentiment)

I have a few new things put aside to play with and I was looking through current challenges for inspiration on where to start. My Winterberry paper pad had a gorgeous paper with a snowy village scene that screamed to be paired with the gorgeous script sentiments from the Joyeux Noel Thinlits set from Stampin' Up! (2018 Holidays Catalogue). It was perfect for the Little Red Wagon challenge, which calls for a card that focuses on the sentiment. I knew I wanted to use either metallic or glimmer paper for the sentiment, and I decided on the Black Foil sheets from the Holidays Catalogue (they're hidden in the Halloween section, but they can be used for way more, as evidenced here. I also had sheets of black fun foam that I used to back with foil die-cuts for dimension. (Not-so-fun fact: a couple of years ago, I bought a pack of black and white fun foam sheets to add dimension to die-cuts and projects. I put them away when I got home and later couldn't for the life of me remember where they were. When I cleaned out the closet this summer, I found them and thought I should be very careful when putting them away again so that I would know where they are this time. What do you know, I still cannot remember. I live in a condo, it's not like there's a million places they could be. So a new pack of fun foam came home with me this week. Praying that those will not get lost!!)

Because the paper does most of the work, I knew I wouldn't need much else to finish the card, but I did want to embellish a little to make sure it was not too bare. I used my beloved Dotted Scalloped Rectangles dies for the patterned paper and added white fine glitter to the roofs and landscape. (This is the same fine glitter I recently raved about because it is snow white and does not have colour in it - perfect here to add shine without distracting from the sentiment and scene.) Sparkling clear confetti were added as snow and two wooden snowflakes found at my local Omer DeSerres (the pack includes natural wood, green and brown). Candy Dots were added to the center of the snowflakes, and little red pearls to the houses. Because the paper was a 6" x 6" page and I used almost the full width (scalloped rectangle measures 5-1/2" x 4-1/4"), I went oversize with the card base and made it 6" x 4-3/4". I used a larger envelope for it as well. (Those were given to me years ago, when a company I was working for did some Spring cleaning and we had some envelopes for Christmas cards we were not going to use anymore. The assistant knew I was a crafter, so they were gifted to me. I've used them sporadically over the years for oversized cards, but they're huge - 7-1/2" x 5-3/4" - so too large for most cards.)

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Black, Going Grey, Merry Merlot, Black Foil Sheets (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Paper: Winterberry (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Wooden Snowflakes, Black Fun Foam (Omer DeSerres); White Fine Glitter (Martha Stewart);
Dotted Scalloped Rectangles Dies (Elizabeth Craft Designs); White Envelope (unknown);
Joyeux Noel Thinlits Dies, Regals Candy Dots (Stampin' Up!); Sparkling Clear Confetti Mix (Pretty Pink Posh);
Pearls - Glossy Berry Mix (Little Things from Lucy's Cards)

 

Falling Snow

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Make your own background) + Try Stampin' on Tuesday Tic-Tac-Toe #6 (glitter + trees + winter) + Mix It Up challenge #49 (colours)

The starting point of this card was a video I spotted on YouTube of an artist sketching with watercolor pencils and it made me wonder if I could get an equally cool background using my Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils (she was using Faber Castell watercolor pencils). So I pulled out a piece of watercolor paper, masked the edges and scribbled colours on the paper using Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Flirty Flamingo, Night of Navy and Balmy Blue. It took a few layers before I achieved this saturated look. The result is not bad, but the watercolor pencils are still not my favorite medium to use. I did find that by rubbing my Aqua Painter brush on the tip of the pencil until I built up a nice amount of pigment on the brush, I was able to transfer more colour to the page and get nice saturated colour without getting pencil marks (which tend to remain even when using a very light touch when putting pencil to paper). Based on the result I was seeing in the video, I would think there are different qualities of watercolor pencils (as with every colour medium) and because the Stampin' Up! pencils are affordable, the pigment is not as rich and blendable as some others. They are a great options for beginners to discover watercolor, but as of now, they are still not a preferred option of coloring.

Another fun tip I discovered, though, is that you can get a nice splatter effect easily by flicking your Aqua Painter brush directly on the tip of the pencil over the paper! This might be the easiest way of getting colored speckles I've found so far.

The branch and snowflake dies come from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits dies set. I used Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper for the snowflakes and adhesive sheets on the back to simplify gluing them in place. I used a white gel pen to add snow to the top of my die-cut branch. The sentiment comes from the Making Christmas Bright stamp set and reads something like "May these Holidays be sparkling with joy," which goes well with the shimmery snowflakes. I'm a little mad that I got a smear on the bottom sentiment. I should have known - purple inks are always more pigmented and tend to smear more than other Classic inks, and they don't dry as fast on watercolor paper, so this is made worse. I stamped my sentiment and then cut my paper to size and that's when I smeared the ink while manipulating the paper. I decided I could live with it, so I finished the card as is.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Illuminez les Fêtes (Making Christmas Bright)
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies, White Gel Pen