I chose this beautiful image from Alpaca Pals and coloured it in with promarkers.
I chose some bright spring like colours and then fussy cut the image out. I then had a little look through the pre-prepared backgrounds folder and found this glossy paper one which had been done with mop up inks after ink smooshing and I thought it worked well with the colours I had chosen.
I wrapped some paper twine around it and then added it to the vellum I had embossed with the wood grain folder as a soft background.
I decided to add it to the soft green cardstock I had found for the card blank. Then had a hunt in the die cuts folder where I have precut die cuts using scraps and it makes it easy for quick cards.
I found one with the soft teal birthday and some white backgrounds … I stacked them a couple of times to give it strength. I added this to the floral image and then added the floral image to the card using foam tabs to raise it above the paper twine.
I added the stamped happy above and then added the sequins for some shine.
So this weekend has been busy … working! Yes I had a day off work on Friday but because of being poorly the week before I had so much to catch up on so I chose to work this weekend. Not full days but a few hours each day to get caught up a little on what I had missed with being ill.
But I did manage to do a bit of crafting too and made this card.
It was made in stages usually in 10 minute sessions and in some cases grabbing hits already die cut etc to build it up.
It started with the background I had actually started on Thursday using distress oxides and the Peace and Joy stamps.
I then chose to add some wreaths to it but to make it into a pretty birthday card rather than a Christmas card.
I die cut two wreathes from white and offset them to fill out the foliage a little. Then I chose flowers that had already been die cut from scraps and some embellishment flowers too.
I used the sentiment die cuts I had done whilst poorly and stacked them up for dimension. I inked the shadow layer as wanted it to blend but also give some definition between the word and the background.
I chose a die cut bow from another set of scrap die cuts I had. Again I stacked this for dimension.
I added the little Happy stamp from the Peace and Joy and then raised the whole panel up on foam before adding it to the patterned paper (leftover from making James’ card I shared on my blog on Friday).
Well I may have been AWOL from the blog all week but I did actually manage to finish this years Christmas challenge … Yes I did!
Today’s theme is Peace and Joy … so of course I went to the Peace and Joy stamp set that I still adore.
I grabbed some retired colour cardstock (Fresh Freesia) and added the background pattern using a Waffle flower background die that gives that lovely pierced look.
Then I stamped and embossed the large sentiments and then die cut them. I decided to add some inking to the background and then had fun stamping and fussy cutting the foliage images from the stamp set in some fun pinks and purples to go with the Freesia cardstock.
I decided they needed a base to sit on so added the die cut square in black which I die cut twice to stack. I had also stacked the sentiment die cuts too so they had some sturdy dimension.
I also decided to add the laser cut snowflake for some shimmer and contrast. And then the pearl gems in the purple colour to embellish.
This card was actually smaller than an standard 6×4 but will still work fine in a standard envelope I think.
I then had some more of the cardstock left so went with another card using the other large sentiment from the set.
This one I also added the die cut poinsettia from a magazine kit. I decided to set the large word back on this one rather than adding the dimension to the word. I stacked the die cut ‘hole’ a few layers deep so the stamped and embossed word was set back.
I went for a Rich Razzleberry card base for this one which framed the stacked panel nicely.
Love how these two cards came out.
So there you go … finished my 10 week challenge just in time for Christmas …. impressed I managed it!
Would love to see any cards you make using my challenge as the starting point. Please let me know in the comments here or over on Instagram.
Now I think I am done with what I can blog between now and Christmas so will take this opportunity to wish all my blog readers a very merry Christmas!
I fancied playing with vellum so I made a vellum card and then die cut a lot of the large panels to make the central part of the card and disguise glue etc. Some of these were in smoky slate rather than white but I think it all worked together.
On the front of the card I stamped the tress from Merry Moose a few times and then embossed them in white. Then used a blending tool and dark grey ink to blend over the top and then wiped the trees clean.
Next I asked the Joy word with a vellum shadow and white embossing onto the grey word. I decided to sandwich underneath the word and on top of the embossing the black and white ribbon to give some contrast and texture.
Then added the gems to finish off.
You can really see how the vellum is see through when the card is stood up albeit only semi-transparent.
To be honest this project has taken me weeks as the current heatwave in the UK has well and truly zonked me out! I’m not really built for this kind of weather and my craft space is the hottest room in the house! Anyway… it started as playtime for the new Colorado Craft Company stamps and coordinating dies I bought …
and then I wanted to use 12×12 sheet of dsp slightly differently as a OSW!
So I started by cutting the paper into 9 4×4 squares and then played with diecutting using the Stitched Framelits to create different shapes and designs for 6 of them and then the Pine Woods dies for the other three. I did end up with a few circle frames od dsp left at the end but otherwise very little waste from the dsp.
The main feature of course is the word stamps and dies which I am very happy with. Might try embossing them next time as I love the size of these words.
I then decided to do them in batches of three to make them similar but clearly each one different.
For the circles I made them all using the Christmas word and chose to add Merry from the Christmas to Remember set. I stamped and die cut a few trees from the In the Pines set and then the leftover bits of green dsp I die cut the filigree tree and added this to a white die cut.
I added die cut stars from the speciality paper I still have a few sheets of left from last year.
This final one I added more dimension to with foam under the frame element and then the tree and word were floating across the lower circle. These yellow stars are also old embellishments but I thought they made a nice contrast.
Now onto squares…
These ones I chose to use non Christmas stamps and dies to add decoration … the Nature’s Prints bundle. I thought the leaf worked well with the Peace word. I blended the ink on the stamp to give a more interesting stamped image.
My sending word was from the Peace and Joy set as I felt it just needed something simple with that large leaf and the glimmer paper die cuts.
As with the circles I added more dimension as I went along. This one had foam and triple layered squares to give some texture to the background.
And finally the trees…
I love these Pine Woods dies. Especially the one that just cuts out the inside and not the outside edge so it creates a frame. This one I added black card behind and then foam to raise up the panel. Very funky!
The large solid shape die cuts out the full frame for the tree and so I die cut it from the dsp and then white for the filigree and this I could then inlay into the dsp. Behind it I added the glimmer paper for some bling.
This one I kept as an element on my base of dsp … probably the most simple to end on! But can you see the dimension on this and on most of the die cuts I used? I stacked most of them two or three high by diecutting extra trees or leaves and then adhering them together. It gives them dimension without squish like the foam would add and makes them strong so they don’t bend or warp.
So pleased with how they all turned out… now off for another ice-cream to try and cool down!
I knew I wanted to use the snowflake stencil but I wasn’t entirely sure where to start but decided to emboss through it and then ink smoosh with my distress oxides. As always when ink smooshing I mopped up the ink with some glossy card stock. Love the effect this has on glossy cardstock and it is always fun to end up with two different pieces to choose from. I ended up using the same stencil to also add some ink through onto the glossy card.
I decided to make both into similar cards so cut the panels down into 4×4 (think the darker one is 4.15×4.15) and then set them aside.
I had black cardstock die cut squares on the desk already so I used them to ground the focal image and chose to add a laser cut snowflake, and then the Joy from Peace and Joy (still an absolute favourite stamp set).
I did die cut the bottom layer of Joy from a scrap of the Soft Succulent vellum I had to hand so that has a slight colour to it but it works with the colours of distress oxides I had used.
I chose to stamp the to the world sentiment in the oxide Blueprint Sketch as I had used that in both of the backgrounds and it seemed the right level of brightness.
I then finished them both off with gems, silver for the dark card and these funky blue ones for the other.
Wanted to share these close ups so you can see both the shine of the glossy cardstock on the top one, and also the texture of the embossing on the bottom. Both so pretty especially the way the oxides work when they have reacted with water.
Lots of pics there… hope you like both projects. I can’t decided which of the cards is my favourite… how about you?
Yesterday I shared cards made for a swap … well I made 8 in total but these ones I kept to a more traditional look.
I decided to use patterned paper, to add some ink blending and splatters and then stamping and fussy cutting to create the focal images.
I’ve been using the Christmas Season set a lot for foliage recently so decided to change it up for these and used the foliage from the retired Peace and Joy which has been a favourite set for quite a while but mainly for the words. So decided to give the other stamps a little more attention!
I stamped each leaf 4 times and chose a different ink for each leaf type (the Holly stamp is a pair of leaves so I ended up with 8 in total!).
I blended ink on the white panels in a slightly different way for each and then splattered with a darker ink. Then I made my little clusters of leaves.
I decided to raise each topper panel up on foam and then add strips of paper underneath the sentiment (from the In the Pines) set. I then added pearls to the images along with a little more stamping using the accent type stamp from the Peace and Joy set.
The patterned paper is from the stash and I love how these coordinating packs work well together. I then chose to use Cherry Cobbler as the base for the card blank.
I also added some twine to these two to add a different texture.
Hopefully the recipient in the swap likes the two different styles I chose to make up the 8 cards.
So the lovely Martin’s Mayhem shared this card on his blog and on his socials and I fell in love with it… then he also did a YouTube video showing how he made it. I absolutely wanted a go and realised that the dies in the In the Pines set might work in creating some landscapes.
So I went for Basic White and cut out lots of circles and then cut some of those circles with the landscape/ snowscape dies and started layering them up along with some of the tree die cuts.
I did ink the edges of my snowscapes but only lightly using a fairly dry Night of Navy. I inked the trees using Old Olive and Night of Navy to give them a shadowy muted look.
Once I was happy with my circle landscape I decided that the Snow Crystal background stamp might make a nice background for the moons first I blended the Night of Navy for the sky and then stamped the Snow Crystal using the Pale blue ink (Soft Sky). When I then added the circle die cut for the moon (which I had also inked a little) it looks like the moon beams are snowflake shards!
I then added the circle element to the card front panel with some foam for dimension and then decided it needed another tree so again the pine trees set came out and I did a few die cuts and inked and stacked them to make this a sturdy and chunky tree with the more delicate one on top.
I was a little stuck on sentiments as the ones I kept trying were all too big and covered too much of the circle landscape… then remembered these little stamps in the Peace and Joy set and I think they work perfectly.
So this was absolutely inspired by the incredibly talented Martin, but I am pleased with how my version finished up.
Entering into the Anything Goes Christmas challenge at CHNC.
Howdy! Stumbled across a template for making 6 cards using 3 pieces of 6×6… #sheetloadsofcards by CALL ME (CRAFTY) AL … and I had to play along… so here are another 6 Christmas cards done and dusted!
Used the fabulous Creative Stamping magazine stamps I’ve had for ages but LOVE! Lots of colouring in done! Lovely and chilled.
I chose to cut down some of the Heartwarming Hugs dsp into 6×6 and then teamed it with Mossy Meadow cardstock and real red. Chose to mix a Claritystamps sentiment with the Peace and Joy stamps to finish off.
Added either glossy accents or some stickles to finish off.
I enjoyed making the cards for challenge #6 so decided to make another set using an older template… template #2.
I chose the Tidings and Trimmings papers and stamps and dies for the main focus… but ended up adding other bits and pieces in too like the shimmery vellum and the sparkly speciality paper… I can never resist going a little mad with those fab Peace and Joy stamps and dies either and felt a big word was perfect as the focus of a few of the cards.
Here they all are…
I make the cards in stages…. cutting, then putting the pieces into labelled envelopes, next the layers of cardstock are cut and added to the envelopes. Then I stamp and cut lots of embellishment pieces so I have a little pile to use. Then I start to assemble but not always finish the card topper (I make these as card toppers first before I add to card blanks/make card blanks). Sometimes I just add layers to the paper pieces and add a few bits into the envelope and come back as I know I want an additional element like a ribbon, or sometimes it comes together immediately with everything to hand. But at least this way I get to just do them a bit at a time and 14 cards isn’t too overwhelming to deal with!
As the template is for US sized cards I did have to fiddle a little with the sizing of the final layers to make it fit the UK size cards but it worked fine. I made the card blanks out of Cherry Cobbler cardstock as I had loads of it and then inside added a white panel and some more dsp strips or panels and a little stamping. They were all different but only took one pic of the inside…
Envelopes again I kept simple with some little banners of dsp leftover from the inside panels and that was all!
So another 14 Christmas cards made. Must admit these were a little heavy because of all the extra cardstock so maybe need to remember this and try to gut the layers a little next time.
Inkyfingeredcat 