Happy Little Stampers: Watercolour

Happy New Year's Eve (in my time zone) or perhaps, Happy New Year! 

Happy Little Stampers is back! After taking a six-month sabbatical, we are starting off 2021 with our watercolour challenge, and as long as it includes some kind of watercolouring, it's anything goes! 

I'm finding it hard to shift myself out of Christmas crafting, so had a false start with an ocean scene that quickly went nowhere. :D Instead, I went with this beautiful big floral image, and for an extra incentive for myself, finally tried my Daniel Smith watercolours. I've had them for ages, but felt, perhaps, a little intimidated by them! Now that I've used them, they'll be coming out more often. When I die cut the finished image, I also used the optional centre die to add some extra dimension to the flower petals. While trying different background ideas, I came across this patterned paper that matched the darker leaves perfectly. I added glue dots under the petals to make sure they keep that little bit of dimension, adhering the rest of the image flat. A simple sentiment was the only other addition. 

We are welcoming three new watercolour members to our team - Ashwini, Bhavya, and Penny! Be sure to head to the HLS blog to see their their beautiful designs, as well as those of my returning teammates Helen, Caz, Swapna, Barb, Susan and Sue. You have the month of January to add your own watercoloured creation!

Supplies: Bazzill marshmallow cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Jillibean Soup Garden Harvest patterned paper, Concord & 9th Vintage Flower stamp and dies, Concord & 9th Everyday Bouquet stamp, Simon Says Stamp intense black ink, Daniel Smith watercolours, Creative Memories corner-rounding punch

Pin It Now!

Inkspirational: Something in Your Home

Happy Boxing Day and happy Saturday! If you celebrated Christmas yesterday, I hope it was as good a Christmas as possible for this strange year. Inkspirational is back with a new challenge: Something in Your Home! 

Three things I immediately thought of that we have a lot of in our home are houseplants, books and tea. I decided to combine two of them: 

I found stamps of a tea cup and a pile of books that were of appropriate sizes to mask and combine as one image. They and the sentiment are stamped and embossed on watercolour paper. Some simple colouring and some sparkle on the heart was really all that was left to do for this CAS card. 

My teammates were inspired by all kinds of different things in their homes! I hope you will check out their great cards and then look to your home for the inspiration to join us!

Supplies: Hero Arts blue layering cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, PinkFresh Late Nights & WPlus9 Smart Kitty stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up real red ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Zig markers, MFT stitched rounded rectangle die, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle marker

Pin It Now!

Ellen Hutson Tags: Days 4, 5 and 6

The most amazing thing happened last night when I checked in on Instagram: Ellen Hutson had reposted one of my tags! Obviously this was a sign that I needed to make more for the 12 Tags of Christmas 2020! I didn't want to pick favourites, so I just continued along with the days. Here's Day 4, with the song inspiration Sleigh Ride: 

I thought I would give the Claus couple a date night sleigh ride. :D The tag base is blended with distress oxides, and all the images are from Lawn Fawn. 

Day 5's song is White Christmas, and I took it rather literally: 

I adhered some die cut snowflakes to a white tag base, then spritzed it liberally with sparkle mist. My original plan was to trim the snowflakes to the edges of the tag, but decided I liked the way they looked overhanging the edges. No sentiment, just sheer white ribbon so as not to spoil the aesthetic. ;) 

The last song I had time for today is Home for the Holidays, for Day 6: 

So many of us will be home for the holidays, rather than gathering in larger groups. I used a couple of homes from a Studio Katia stamp set along with an appropriate sentiment. I think I'll use this to deliver some Christmas baking to friends. 

I think this really should be it for me for Christmas tags this season! :D 

Supplies: (Day 4 tag) Neenah white cardstock, Lawn Fawn Ho-Ho-Holidays stamps & dies, Tiny Tag Sayings stamp, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & mermaid lagoon, faded jeans & wilted violet distress oxide inks, Wow clear gloss & white embossing powder, Copic markers, Neat & Tangled tag die, frosted lace Stickles, Glossy Accents, Offray ribbon, foam tape; (Day 5) Neenah white & Stampin' Up basic black cardstock, Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mini Paper Snowflake & CAS-ual Fridays Tag Buddies tag dies, Tsukineko sclear sparkle shimmer spray, Studio Katia icy sparkle crystals, May Arts ribbon; (Day 6) Neenah white cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Studio Katia Holiday Village stamps & dies, Versafine, Versamark onyx black & mermaid lagoon distress oxide ink, Wow clear sparkle & white embossing powder, Distress inks for watercolouring, Paper Smooches stitched tag die, scrap red ribbon

Pin It Now!

Color Hues: Green and Blue

Time for a new Color Hues challenge! Our latest colours to inspire you are GREEN and BLUE. I seem to have put myself into a bit of a Color Hues rut, as this is my third bear card in a row... 

I really was going to use a snowman this time, until I realized... I didn't really want a green or blue carrot for a nose. :D So another polar bear it is. But I like polar bears, so there's that. ;) One of my favourite ways to make a frosty winter sky is using the plastic wrap technique, and I used it here with three hues of blue reinkers and some smooshing. The snowy foreground is made with a border punch, and I used my smallest ink blender brush to add some green to the trees off on the horizon. My bear's scarf and some simple shading is done with Copic markers. 

I'm adding this to the current Simon Says Monday challenge, Ice Cold. 

Beautiful green and blue inspiration from the rest of the Color Hues design team as well as our current guest designer, Stef! It is a busy time of year for many, but I hope you will have time to join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, MFT Polar Bear Pals stamp & die, STAMPlorations Christmas Reindeer stamp, Versafine onyx black, Memento tuxedo black & garden green distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder,  Stampin' Up bashful blue, ballet blue & tempting turquoise reinkers, Copic markers, EK Success alpine trail edge punch, Sugar Pea Designs card builder elements die

Pin It Now!

The Snarky Sisters Do Christmas

It is time for the last Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge for 2020! And that MUST mean we're close to the end of this whacko year. Our final challenge is  festive one of course: L is for LEWD CHRISTMAS! Here's mine: 

Gingerbread and holly, that's certainly festive! :D I usually die cut this cute gingerbread man out of kraft cardstock, but to change things up a bit, I ink-blended his baked goodness instead. The blended panel behind him happened to be already coloured and hanging out in my work space - perfect size, too. A few, um, decorations and a computer-generated sentiment finished the card. All the main layers are adhered with glue dots to add a hint of dimension. So to speak. 

Queen Cornelia is our guest designer, and you can see her creation, as well as those of my snarky sisters, by visiting the blog! To give the sisters a little time to rest up and recover after this crazy year, the challenge will run for four weeks instead of the usual two. So you have lots of time to release some of that pent up snarkiness on a card and join us!  

Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up real red & garden green cardstock, Craft Smith textured red card base, Adirondack ginger & bundled sage, mowed lawn, antique linen & vintage photo distress ink, A Jillian Vance Design Sweet Gingerbread Add On & Studio Katia elegant scallop oval dies

Pin It Now!

Inkspirational: Snow

Happy Saturday! Here we are, getting closer and closer to Christmas (and the end of 2020, woo hoo!) and the new Inkspirational challenge is perfect for those last few Christmas cards - or for other winter themes. Our word prompt is SNOW. I decided on a snowy night scene: 

The background panel is blended with blue and purple distress inks, and when dry, I added the snowflakes with a stencil and white paper glaze. While that dried, I cut two hillsides (for just that tiny bit of extra dimension), coloured the window with a pale yellow Copic, and inset it back into the house. A simple sentiment and a die cut snowflake were the only other additions.

I'm adding this card to two December STAMPlorations challenges: Clean and Simple Cards (without the optional colours, obviously) and the Stencil challenge. I'm also linking up to my friend Jo's Christmas Kickstart challenge: Peace on Earth. 

Beautiful snowy inspiration from the Inkspirational team as always! I hope you will be inspired to join us. 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Technique Tuesday Jingle All the Way stamp, Simon Says Stamp intense black, Catherine Pooler juniper mist & shaded lilac, faded jeans & chipped sapphire distress ink, Simon Says Stamp falling snow stencil, Picket Fence snowdrop white paper glaze, CUTplorations winter stitched landscape & Sunny Studio Stamps snowflake die, Copic marker

 

Pin It Now!

12 Tags of Christmas: Here Comes Santa Claus

Christmas tags. Obviously, I'm obsessed. :D Anyway, here I am with a tag for Day 3 of Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas 2020, Day 3's song is Here Comes Santa Claus. Since I have a stamp set called Santa Claus Lane, it seemed an obvious choice:

I decided to make an interactive tag. To start, I ink-blended my tag base with distress inks, and after it was dry, added some white-embossed snowflakes. Santa and his sleigh are stamped, embossed, coloured with Copic markers, and die cut. I thought it would be fun to make Santa a separate tag that could come out of his sleigh. 

For even more fun, I stamped a sentiment on the reverse: 

That's it for this tag! There may still be more... 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Sunny Studio Stamps Santa Claus Lane stamps & dies, Stampin' Up Visions of Santa & Concord & 9th Stocking Stuffers stamps, Versafine onyx black, Memento tuxedo black, & broken china, blueprint sketch & chipped sapphire distress inks, Wow clear gloss & white embossing powder, Copic markers, silver metallic Sharpie, Sugar Pea Designs beautiful Bauble die, Michaels ribbon, Twinery maraschino twine

Pin It Now!

12 Tags of Christmas: The Little Drummer Boy

Another tag for Ellen Hutson's The 12 Tags of Christmas challenge! Day 2 features the song The Little Drummer Boy. I knew right away what I would use! 

Since I had already used this image for the 25 Days of Christmas Tags, I wanted to make a completely different tag this time. I embossed the drum set in gold on black cardstock. The two patterned paper circles are from an ancient Echo Park patterned paper pad - this drum might be a little truer to the song. ;) Since I like things clean and simple, the only other addition is the gold cord. 

Supplies: Recollections black cardstock, Echo Park This & That patterned paper, Essentials by Ellen Twelve Days stamp, Versamark ink, pirate's gold embossing powder, Technique Tuesday This Is tag die, circle punch, scrap gold cord

Pin It Now!

Ellen Hutson's 12 Days of Christmas... Tags?!

Hey! It's been an entire week since I last posted a tag! And while you would think I would have had my fill of tags in November, I couldn't resist making a tag for Day One of Ellen Hutson’s 12 Tags of Christmas 2020 Challenge. Each day, there will be a Christmas carol or song to prompt tag-making, along with inspiration from EH designers. Day 1's song is "Silver Bells". I went for both the title bells and the "Christmas time in the city" lyric: 

I had already made a cityscape mask for this card earlier, so I used it again to blend a city glow and night sky on a circle tag. Some homemade Perfect Pearls mist dots added snow to the sky. The sentiment is from one of the first Essentials by Ellen sets! My jingle bells are trying to look gold in the photos, but they really are silver bells. ;) 

Will I make more tags? Time will tell... :D 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Essentials by Ellen Tis the Season stamp, Memento tuxedo black & Catherine Pooler sauna, stone blue & juniper mist ink, Avery Elle circle tag & MFT skyline border dies, white confetti Perfect Pearls mist, Offray navy ribbon, American Crafts white twine, $ store jingle bells

Pin It Now!

ABC Christmas Challenge: Y and Z!

This is it! December has arrived, and that means we are at the last two letters of the ABC Christmas Challenge alphabet: Y and Z. Let's begin with Y for Your Favourite Things: 

I picked a couple of real life favourite things - the colour red, cats, and two favourite cardmaking things - heat embossing and watercolouring. This Penny Black stamp is an oldie but goodie, and provided a large Santa hat for my red. I used an alphabet stamp set for my ho ho ho - much easier than trying to mask a one piece ho ho ho stamp! 

Our second prompt this month is Z for Zzzzz... This seemed like the perfect theme to combine with the current Christmas Kickstart challenge: Twas the Night Before Christmas! 

Oh look, another cat! I did actually consider a sleeping dog, but he was a little too big for the rest of the scene.  The scene is made up of stamps from two different MFT sets, and the background and sentiment are patterned paper. A little Copic colouring and everything came together quite easily. 

I'm also entering this into the current The Library Challenge - it's The Night Before Christmas, but I'm inspired by the theme, not the book cover. (And we librarians know it's really called A Visit From St. Nicholas...) ;) 

Perhaps the two letter prompts and the beautiful work of the rest of the ABC design team will be just what you need to get those last few cards done! You have right until the end of the year to join us. 

Supplies: (ho ho ho) Stampin' Up garden green cardstock, Ranger distress watercolour paper, Penny Black Jolly Xmas Kitty & Lawn Fawn Claire's ABC stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento Luxe love letter ink, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen, Glossy Accents; (twas the night before) Neenah white & Recollections dark red cardstock, Pink Paisley Snow Village & Teresa Collins Santa's List patterned papers, MFT Merry Christmoose & I Knead You stamps & dies, Memento tuxedo black ink, Copic markers, icicle Stickles, Spectrum Noir sparkle marker, foam tape

Pin It Now!

Color Hues: Blue and Magenta

Welcome to a new Color Hues challenge! Our latest colour duo is BLUE and MAGENTA. I'm finding this challenge is quite educational! I know what colour I think of as magenta, but when it came time to plan my card, I decided to double check, and magenta can be quite lighter in hue than I would normally think it, and also darker, closer to a purple. But then I discovered I had an ink called magenta, and I was all set! 

Since my magenta ink was a Colorbox pigment ink, I now also know how nicely pigment inks blend! I used magenta and peony, along with two blue distress inks for my sky. Originally I was going to make a birch tree scene, but then at the last minute totally changed my mind and created this paper-pieced, hot-beverage-drinking bear. (His cheeks and ears aren't pink, they're just a really pale shade of magenta... :D) Even the not-blue stripe in my plaid paper worked! 

There is a gorgeous array of blue and magenta creations on the Color Hues blog - some are Christmas (it is December now, after all) but there are a few other occasions represented, too. Feast your eyes, and then I hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Koh-In-Oor smooth Bristol paper, Echo Park Winter Wishes patterned paper,  MFT Cool Day & Bitty Bears stamps, Versafine onyx black, Simon Says Stamp extreme black, Colorbox magenta & peony, & faded jeans & chipped sapphire distress inks, Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powder, MFT diagonal stitched rectangle die, icicle Stickles, foam tape

Pin It Now!

The Snarky Sisters are Elfish

Happy Saturday! No tags from me today, since it's time for a new Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge: E is for ELVES! I dug deep in my stash, found an elf, and this card resulted: 

This elf is stamped on a light grey cardstock. Why? I don't know, because it was originally stamped by my friend Emily, and when she didn't use it, passed it on to me. So colouring was a bit of a challenge, but I think he looks okay. Sparkle never hurts, so I sparkled the present as well as the holly leaves I added to his hat, along with glitter cardstock berries. Some patterned paper, a sentiment, and I've added another Christmas card to the box! 

Lots of elves over on the Snarky blog, from my Sistahs and our guest designer and current Queen of Snark, Natalie! Be elfish and join us! 

Supplies: Papertrey Ink (?) cardstock, scrap red glitter cardstock, Craft Smith red card base, Studio Calico Magical patterned paper, Paper Smooches Enchanted Elves stamp & die, MFT Sassy Pants Holiday stamp, Versafine onyx black & Memento tuxedo black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic & Winsor & Newton pigment markers, MFT blueprints 29 stitched rectangle & Memory Box small holly dies, Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen, Gelly Roll white & silver gel pen, frosted lace Stickles, foam tape

Pin It Now!

Inkspirational: Photo

Happy Saturday! It's time for a brand new Inkspirational - and look at this sweet photo we have for you! Lots of elements you can take as inspiration. Since I happen to have a grey cat, oh look, my card features a grey cat: 

I knew I wanted to use this cat, and I wanted him on a box - and it took a bit of searching to find one that was the right size! I stamped the cat, masked him, and then stamped the box. For the frame panel, I blended a couple of colours of distress ink, added some pine boughs, then die cut the window. So that the fussy cutting "halo" wasn't the only white on the card, I stamped and embossed the sentiment on white. 

As always, it's fun to see all the different directions the rest of the Inkspirational team went after looking at this photo. Check out their designs, and then I hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Stampin' Up garden green cardstock, Hero Arts Decorate You, Lawn Fawn Holiday Helpers, Sunny Studio Stamps Christmas Trimmings & Studio Katia Happy Snowmen stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black, Stampin' Up garden green, bundled sage & mowed lawn distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Studio Katia elegant scallop oval die

Pin It Now!