Embossing!

Eek! Less than a week to go before Christmas! Thank goodness the challenge this week at Drunken Stampers is one of the best things about stamping, as far as I'm concerned... EMBOSSING! I still love the magic of watching embossing powder transform, with a little heat, into something amazing. Of course, you're not limited to heat embossing with this challenge: if you prefer to dry emboss, that counts, too. But since I'm all about the heat embossing anyway, how could I not? 

My inspiration comes from an older card by my talented friend Heather. (And now that I look at her blog, she recently posted one with a similar theme.) I started by stamping and embossing a snowflake background stamp on watercolour paper, then used a punch to get my three squares. These were sponged and edged with distress ink. I stamped a variety of other snowflake stamps on the blue patterned paper before adding it to the card base and popping the three squares on. And of course the sentiment is embossed, too. 
Being a Drunken Stamper, I thought I should also share a trio of other embossed projects:

Aren't these fun? I'm ready to provide a host/hostess gift should anyone just happen to invite me over. :D Each image is heat-embossed in some way. The wine tag die is from Avery Elle; if you want to know any of the other details, just ask. (This would be me, succumbing to the Christmas rush and avoiding listing all the supplies separately.) 
Remember to check out the other inspiring projects from my fellow Yellow Canaries! You'll see heat embossing, dry embossing... and maybe both at the same time! Then join our party with your own embossed creation.

Supplies: (card) white cardstock, Canson 140 lb watercolour paper, Echo Park Winter Wishes patterned paper, Local King Rubber Stamp, Hero Arts, Inkadinkado & Stampin' Up stamps, Versamark, Memento Paris Dusk & stormy sky & faded jeans distress inks, Wow white embossing powder, EK Success 1 1/4" square punch, pop-dot tape

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Anything Goes at Crafty Creations Challenges!

It's an Anything Goes challenge at Crafty Creations Challenges this week! And with just a week to go until a certain holiday... we're giving you two weeks to enter! You will see a variety of great inspiration projects from the design team this week. As for me, I'm still in the Christmas mode:

Usually I keep my colours fairly realistic, but I really like this fun green background! The kraft card base seems to set off the Christmas colours nicely, too. This is actually a remake of a card I made a couple of years ago, but don't seem to have ever posted:  

I should mention that it's worth checking my fellow design team members' blogs... there's a rumour that a few of them may be sharing special treats for lucky commenters. And of course there will be prizes up for grabs if you enter the challenge, too.
And finally... this is my last post as a member of Crafty Creations Challenges. It has been a fun two years working with my great teammates and images from our generous sponsors. 

Supplies: white, red & Stampin' Up kraft cardstock, Studio Calico Wonderland (green) & DCWV Holiday Stack (blue) patterned papers, Amuse Polar Bear Fun & Hero Arts Holiday Conversation & Get Merry stamps, Memories black & passion red & Stampin' Up real red inks, clear embossing powder, Sharpies, black Enamel Accents, Stardust clear glitter pen, dimensionals 

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12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2013 Challenge (Post 6 of 6)

Whew! My sixth and final tag inspired by 12 Days of Christmas with a Feminine Touch! My last tag is inspired by this one by Heather Campbell -- if you look at hers and then mine, I think you'll see exactly how I was inspired. 

While I don't have the same stamp set that Heather used, I do have these beautiful poinsettia stamps. Since the image is larger, I chose to centre my sentiment and stamp around it. I used the same gold ink to edge the white panel as I did to stamp the flower centres. A tag of textured red cardstock and gold cord finished everything off. 
My tags may outshine some of the gifts they label! Thanks for sharing a little time here with me. 

Supplies: white & Bazzill Basics textured red cardstock, WPlus9 Pretty Poinsettias stamps, Memento ladybug, Stampin' Up real red & Brilliance galaxy gold inks, gold cord

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12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2013 Challenge (Post 5 of 6)

My fifth tag for Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist may have been the easiest for me to CASE (copy and share everything). Teri Anderson has a fun, clean style that my own tendency toward card-making can relate to. ;)

My tag is, of course, still simpler to make than hers. Whereas she cut out the centre of her tag and backed it with vellum, I simply layered my music embossed cardstock on top of this bright red tag I found at a stamping store. I stamped and die cut the J and Y of joy, and die cut the bell from silver paper and backed it with red. I am ridiculously proud of how well the twine bow is tied. :D The cloth snowflake is spritzed with glimmer mist.
Next up, my final inspired tag! 

Supplies: white & Recollections silver cardstock, red tag, Lil' Inkers Jingle Joy stamps, Memories passion red ink, Zing clear embossing powder, Sizzix music embossing folder, Studio Calico Mistables cloth snowflake sticker, Tattered Angels Santa Baby glimmer mist, red Divine Twine, paper raffia, dimensional

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12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2013 Challenge (Post 4 of 6)

On to my fourth tag inspired by the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist from the CLASSroom. This time I was inspired by Sharon Harnist.

My inspiration may not be immediately evident. I did try a few different ideas for making my own embossed background, but none wanted to play nicely with this reindeer image I decided I wanted to use. Finally I settled on patterned paper instead. The reindeer itself is a more obvious nod to Sharon's tag, but you will also notice I added a little extra to the bottom of my tag -- hers with ribbon, mine with a border punch backed by copper pearl paper. 
If you're sticking with me, thank you! Two tags left...

Supplies: Stampin' Up kraft & very vanilla cardstock, copper pearl paper, My Mind's Eye Merry and Bright patterned paper, Unity/Samantha Walker Greetings of Christmas stamps, Versamark ink, copper pearl embossing powder, Spellbinders scalloped circle die, EK Success holly border punch, pop-dot tape, Offray ivory ribbon

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12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2013 Challenge (Post 3 of 6)

For my third tag of Ellen Hutson's 12 Days of Christmas with a Feminine Twist challenge, I looked to this tag by Julia Stainton. Shabby chic? Not my usual style, so possibly the most challenging one for me to interpret. Here's what I came up with:

Inspired by her central Santa image and her neutral colour scheme, I used two die cut elements along with some neutral patterned paper. I added the stamped element in the corner in place of flowers or lace, I suppose. I can only carry this shabby chic idea so far, obviously. ;) 
I'm half way through my six inspired tags!

Supplies: manila tag, My Mind's Eye Merry and Bright patterned paper, Cavallini Vintage Christmas stamp, Adirondack ginger ink, Kaiser Craft Turtledove die cuts, Offray green ribbon

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12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2013 Challenge (Post 2 of 6)

For my second tag inspired by the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist from Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom, I drew my inspiration from Kittie Caracciolo and her blue and white tag.  

From her tag, I took the colour scheme and her wooded background. Rather than create my own, I used some treed patterned paper. My reindeer doesn't quite match the elegance of her sledder, but he is wearing a fine sweater, I think. Although hard to tell in the photo, he's standing on some very glittery snow. (I'm calling him a he; hope that's okay for a feminine tag challenge.) 
On to the third tag! 

Supplies: white & glitter white cardstock, Echo Park Winter Wishes patterned paper, Hero Arts Merry Reindeer & Holiday Conversation stamps, Colorbox espresso & Memento Paris dusk inks, clear & Wow white embossing powders, distress markers, EK Success 1" circle punch, May Arts navy jute twine

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12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist 2013 Challenge (Post 1 of 6)

This is not the first year I have admired the designers at Ellen Hutson as they celebrate the season with the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist. I was, however, a little surprised when I checked in on the challenge yesterday to discover the closing date is TONIGHT! I was determined to play along this year -- so yesterday and today I went to work and created tags for six of the 12 days. 
My first tag was inspired by this tag by Jennifer McGuire. I have few of the same supplies as Jennifer, but managed a fairly similar tag regardless.

I started by stamping and embossing the wreath on watercolour paper. Then, as Jennifer did, I outlined it with a distress marker and used a wet paintbrush to draw the colour out over the panel. I used the matching ink to stamp the snowflakes, stamping twice before reinking. That fun blue ribbon is actually a strip of material that my generous friend Jessi sent to me -- she mentioned it did fun things when heated, so I tried not to breathe in any fumes as I heated it with my heat gun and watched it crinkle. 
That's my first one... five more to show you! 

Supplies: blue & green cardstock, Canson 140 lb watercolour paper, Gourmet Rubber Stamps Circles of Christmas & Hero Arts Merry Reindeer stamps, Versamark & broken china distress inks, Personal Stamp Exchange verdigris embossing powder, broken china distress marker, cream ribbon, blue material

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Double Inspiration

I have to admit, Paper Smooches SPARKS has me all confused -- they've messed around with their dates! And you know I tend to get my SPARKS challenge cards in the last evening. But not this week... I'm posting it today, so there! 
This week is a "picture perfect" inspiration challenge:

Right away, I liked the red and white colour scheme and all the white space. I also liked the ornaments, but how to incorporate that? I went for a little browse, and found this on my Pinterest Christmas board. Here's how my brain put everything together: 

Lots of clean white space, some sweet Paper Smooches images and a bright red sentiment. It's very clean and simple, but I've decided I like it that way. ;)

Supplies: white cardstock, Echo Park Holly Jolly patterned paper, Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdudes, Warm Hearts & Woofers and Tweeters & Unity/Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder stamps, Memories black & Stampin' Up real red inks, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, Spica atyou silver marker, Spellbinders circle die, EK Success 1" circle punch, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape

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One More...

One more card for the current Simon Says Stamp challenge, that is! 

A snowy, blustery night sky with a silvery embossed reindeer and a simple banner sentiment. The sky was surprisingly simple to make, with drops of masking fluid allowed to dry on watercolour paper before sponging with distress ink and blending with a damp paintbrush. 
That's more than enough blogging for me tonight, but I just might be back tomorrow! ☺

Supplies: white & Recollections silver cardstock, Canson 140 lb watercolour paper, Hero Arts dashing reindeer stamp, Versamark & Memento Paris Dusk inks, silver embossing powder, Simon Says Stamp small folded banner die

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Furry Christmas

Here I am with another card for the (ending tonight) Simon Says Stamp challenge to make your own background! 

I bought this cute Simon Says Stamp set last year too late to use on any of my Christmas cards, so it's about time it saw ink. After I stamped and embossed the trio, I watercoloured them with distress inks. Iridescent medium provides the shimmer on the snow and the hat. The background sparkle is Perfect Pearls over the dry embossing. 
I'll be back soon with one last DIY background card! 

Supplies: white, blue & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Simon Says Stamp Furry Christmas stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, clear embossing powder, distress markers, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, confetti white Perfect Pearls, pop-dot tape

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Another Background...

Here I am with today's installment for Simon Says Stamp's current challenge, to make your own background. 

I *think* this counts as a homemade background, even though it doesn't cover the entire card. I started with the negative of a large oval mask and stamped a music background stamp in white. Before removing the mask, I also sponged the edges with the same ink. While that was drying (pigment ink...), I stamped and embossed red cardstock with my Joy stamp, again in white. I then die cut the word with its matching die, as well as a couple in white cardstock so I could adhere them all together. (I've seen a few other stampers do that lately -- certainly easier than trying to add teeny tiny pieces of pop-dot tape!) Before putting everything together, I stamped and embossed the small Christmas over the background. 
I'm also adding this card to CAS on Sunday's current Christmas challenge as well as Paper Crafts December Gallery challenge. 
I'm not done yet! I may have some more DIY backgrounds to show you soon. 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red & garden green cardstock, Papertrey Ink Wonderful Words: Joy mini stamp set & die, Local King Rubber Stamp Notes (1) stamp, Colorbox frost white ink, Wow white embossing powder, Spellbinders oval die

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Simon Says... Make Your Own Background

This week, the challenge at Simon Says Stamp is to make your own background... and luckily, I quite like doing that for Christmas cards! So here is the first of what I hope will be a few for this challenge: 

I kind of threw everything at this background. ☺I started by spritzing the watercolour paper with water then masking the lower portion -- which didn't totally work, but left a nice soft horizon that I kind of like anyway. Then I painted with Twinkling H2Os. Didn't really like the finished colour, so sponged some distress ink in from the edges till I did. I took some dilute Twinkling H2Os and flicked it onto the paper for a sparkly snowy look. Then it was just a matter of stamping Dasher, embossing in silver and matting onto the card base. I'm also linking this card up to CAS on Sunday's Christmas challenge. 
Since I'm still behind on festive card production, I hope I'll have more to show you soon! 

Supplies: white, navy & Recollections silver cardstock, Canson 140 lb watercolour paper, Stampin' Up Dasher stamp, Versamark & chipped sapphire distress inks, silver embossing powder, Twinkling H2Os

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Drunken Stampers, Ho Ho Ho

Here we are, the first Saturday in December! And the holiday deadlines just keep getting closer and closer. So why not ignore the pressure, grab a festive beverage and see what the Drunken Stampers are up to this week? 

This week the Yellow Canary team has a person challenge, and that person is the jolly old elf himself, SANTA! The alternate challenge is anything related to December holidays. 
I have yet to find the perfect Santa stamp -- but that doesn't mean I can't do Santa! First up, a tag:

Tim Holtz has little to worry about from me, but I still really like how this simple tag looks, vintage and fun. While I was in the vintage mode, I made a card, too!

This card combines a Kaiser Craft die cut -- and look, it's actually the same shape of oval as my Nesties die!! -- with a sentiment from the same Cavallini set I used for the tag -- the font seemed just right for the Victorian scene. You can't see them in the photo, but I scored the left end of the sentiment strip for a bit of texture. 
Check out the Drunken Stampers blog to see just how diverse Santa can be! The Yellow Canaries have been very creative as always! 

Supplies (tag) Stampin' Up kraft & very vanilla cardstock, Cavallini Vintage Christmas stamps, Stampin' Up bravo burgundy & Colorbox evergreen inks, Paper Smooches cinnamon twine, Offray green ribbon; (card) Stampin' Up naturals ivory & old olive cardstock, Stampin' Up patterned paper, Cavallini Vintage Christmas stamp, Stampin' Up old olive ink, clear embossing powder, Kaiser Craft Turtle Dove die cut, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape

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Festive Friends with Flair!

It was an afternoon of Christmas cardmaking here at my house -- and I made sure to ink up some Unity stamps so I could link up with this week's Friends with Flair. 

Last time I used this Samantha Walker tree, it was all blue, but today it's sparkly green! I didn't want too much other *stuff* on my card to compete with the bold image, so a buttery yellow cardbase, a little patterned paper, and a sparkly sentiment was all I added. I'm also going to enter this in CAS-ual Fridays latest challenge (CFC#122), Out on a Limb.
Now, if I can just ignore this week's Unity sale... 
Enjoy your weekend! 

Supplies: white, American Crafts butter & Stampin' Up glorious green cardstock, Echo Park Christmas This & That patterned paper, Unity/Samantha Walker Greetings of Christmas stamps, Versamark ink, Ranger green embossing tinsel, pop-dot tape

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It's Not Christmas at Crafty Creations Challenges

Not only are we into December, but it's already Wednesday! No idea how these things happen. At least this means a new challenge at Crafty Creations Challenges. This week we are ignoring the fact that it's the first week of December, and challenging you to make something that's Anything But Christmas. Our sponsor this week is Oak Pond Creations. I decided to get as far away from Christmas and winter as I could:

I printed this beautiful sunflower image on watercolour paper and broke out my watercolour pencils. This Basic Grey paper seemed to bring out the flower's colours without overwhelming the image. 
Are you ready for a break from all the holiday crafting? Why not check out the rest of the design team creations then join us! 

Supplies: white & Recollections dark green linen cardstock, Aquarelle 90 lb watercolour paper, Basic Grey PB&J patterned paper, Oak Pond Creations Baxley's Sunflower image, watercolour pencils, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch

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Wanna Sketch?

For the longest time, I've been meaning to play along with Wanna Sketch on Lisa Arana's blog. And here it is, Sketch #11, and I'm finally ready! Here's Lisa's latest sketch:

And here is my reasonably faithful interpretation of it:

It is possible that I started this card when CASology had the cue word "bell". It may even be possible that the card was done and just didn't get blogged in time. Oh well. I am going to link this up to Simon Says Stamp's current Anything Goes challenge. And there's more than a week to go for this great sketch! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up naturals white & real red & Recollections gold cardstock, Echo Park Christmas This & That patterned paper, Lil' Inkers Jingle Joy dies, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch, pop-dot tape

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