Friday -- Unity Friends with Flair time! As I was perusing blogs yesterday, a couple of challenges caught my eye. That and not having played in FWF for a couple of weeks led me to this card:
The colours are from this week's Play Date Café challenge, while the new CASology cue word encouraged me to add some sparkle. I'm still undecided about the snowflake embossing tinsel on this snowman; while I like how the glitter part of the embossing powder just decided to cascade from left to right, the nature of this powder means I lost some definition in the image. I cut the hills then edged them with a silver glitter marker. The rhinestones are my feeble attempt at adding a visual triangle to the design. :P Plus more sparkle! You can't really tell in the photo, but I sponged the edge of the kraft card base with white ink to lighten it a bit and add a little snowy mottling. Works in real life. ;)
It will be interesting to see how many of the projects on the Unity blog today are Christmas cards... probably the rest of the card-making world is ready to move on to valentines already! I'm in Christmas mode for a while yet. Have a great weekend!
Supplies: white, blue & Stampin' Up kraft & bashful blue cardstock, Unity snowbody warms my heart & August 2011 Kit of the Month (all seasons) stamps, Colorbox frost white & Memento Paris dusk inks, Ranger snowflake embossing tinsel, Spica silver glitter pen, Hodges & Lettau rhinestones
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It's Wednesday! Good, if you're looking towards the end of the week; less good if you're thinking about the dwindling days and all the things to get done before Christmas... :P
However, Wednesday also means a new challenge at Crafty Creations Challenges. This week, we are looking for a winter scene. Our generous sponsor this week is Whimsy Stamps.
I decided there were two ways to look at this challenge. First, you could find a ready-made scene:
There's a great old-fashioned feel to this little scene. After colouring it with watercolour pencils, it only needed a little patterned paper and a sentiment to finish it off.
The second, and perhaps more creative way to approach this challenge is to create your own scene.
I'm not done playing with these fun reindeer in their attractive sweaters yet! And this sweater has it all: polka dots, snowflakes AND glitter embossing! Back in October, I saw this card, and even then thought it was a great idea for a snowscape. And I hadn't used paint-chip trees yet this year! Everything came together in this little winter scene.
Hope you're inspired to create your own little scene and link up with us at Crafty Creations Challenges!
Supplies: (warm winter wishes) white & blue cardstock, Amber INK digital patterned paper, Stampin' Up Vintage Christmas stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento Paris dusk inks, watercolour pencils, Spellbinders oval die, pop-dot tape; (reindeer) white cardstock, Echo Park very merry Christmas & DCWV patterned paper, paint chips, Hero Arts Christmas reindeer stamp, Versafine onyx black ink, clear & glitter clear embossing powder Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, Spellbinders circle dies, Twinery maraschino twine, pop-dot tape
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Happy (?) Monday! I thought I'd share a Christmas card I made for Hero Arts' November contest.
I tried a new-to-me technique on this card... adding glitter glue to an embossed panel with a brayer. I really like the effect it creates. This Joy sentiment with the poinsettia "o" coordinates perfectly. I think I have yet to use it without adding a little bling to the centre. ;) The thin black mat pulls everything together.
Simon Says Stamp is having one of their "anything goes" challenge weeks, so this card will be there! See you Wednesday for a new Crafty Creations challenge.
Supplies: white, black & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Hero Arts joy stamp, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up real red inks, clear embossing powder, Spellbinders oval & scalloped oval dies, Cuttlebug poinsettia embossing folder, Studio G red glitter glue, Stampin' Up basic rhinestone, ribbon, pop-dot tape
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Back when I posted this card (the second one; scroll down), I actually had comments referring to the "ugly" sweater my little reindeer was wearing! Poor reindeer, he was so offended! I hope today's little guy isn't so harshly treated. :P
This is for Hero Arts' November contest, and I'm happy to say I worked all three of the contest themes into the card. Bling -- I used snowflake embossing tinsel on the reindeer's HANDSOME sweater, twinkling H2Os (with some salt) to create the snowy sky background, and glittery brads to embellish the sentiment banner. Colour -- the red, olive and blue represent three of the colour challenge colours. Dry embossing -- the snowflake panel. I'm also throwing this into the first Addicted to CAS challenge, where the code word is 'snow'. And, of course, Simon Says Stamp's 'Anything Goes' challenge.
I do like these happy sweatered reindeer! :D
Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red & old olive cardstock, watercolour paper, Hero Arts Reindeer Joy & Get Merry! stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Stampin' Up real red inks, clear & Ranger rich red embossing powders, Ranger snowflake embossing tinsel, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, Twinkling H2Os, Prismacolor pencils, Queen & Co. brads, pop-dot tape
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I don't make a lot of one-layer cards, despite being a clean and simple (plain and boring?) ;) cardmaker. For one thing, my biggest fan, most constructive critic, and co-sender of many of my creations thinks most one-layer cards look too 'simple'. But tags are another story -- they're TAGS! So they are a perfect chance to practice some one-layer techniques and use up some scraps.
Technique #1: faux layers
With some post-it notes to mask the edges, it's easy to create the impression of layers with stamping and/or sponging. The negative snowflake punch adds a bit of interest.
Technique #2: glitter!
Using a glittery embossing powder adds some fun!
Technique #3: colouring
You can't go wrong with a cute polar bear image! He's coloured with watercolour pencils.
Thanks, Heather, for the inspiration to make some one-layer tags with a little more to them then the tags I might make, say, on December 23 or so. :P I'm linking these up to this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge (OLW#115), hosted by Heather this week. And now that I've been back to the post to pick up the link, I realize that Heather's punched tags must have imprinted subliminally. ;)
Supplies: (snowflake) white cardstock, Local King Rubber Stamp snowflake background, Colorbox frost white & Brilliance pearlescent sky blue inks, WOW white embossing powder, Martha Stewart snowflake punch; (tree) white cardstock, Unity August 2011 Kit of the Month (All Seasons) & Paper Smooches birthday buddies stamps, Versamark, Memento tuxedo black & Versacolor green inks, Ranger green embossing tinsel; (polar bear) kraft cardstock, Stamp Barn & Inkadinkado stamps, Colorbox frost white ink, Wow white embossing powder, watercolour pencils, black sharpie; (all) ribbon and metallic cord scraps
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Christmas IS coming, particularly at Crafty Creations Challenges this week. Our generous sponsor is Beccy's Place, where some terrific holiday images and sentiments have been recently added to her inventory. I chose to work with one of her intricately-designed ornaments.
I started by making the background panel; I was aiming for a subtle Christmas tree background. After tearing my mask, I sponged peeled paint distress ink before stamping several tree boughs in iced spruce (off-stamping them first so they wouldn't be too obvious). Then I partially inked a music stamp in gold and stamped it along the left side. I edged the entire panel in gold and even sponged the corners with a bit of gold. (Rare for me; it's practically distressing my card!) The ornament is shimmery with Twinkling H2Os plus a bit of gold pen. The image actually comes with its own bow, but since I wanted it to "hang", I trimmed off the paper ribbon so I could add my own. ;) The entire panel is popped up on the green mat before adhering to the card base. I'm adding this card to the current Paper Players' challenge (PP#122) to create a CAS card featuring gold or silver.
Wait till you see what the other designers have for your inspiration this week! If you've been procrastinating about getting those Christmas cards done, this might just be the extra nudge you need. ;)
Supplies: white & Stampin' Up old olive cardstock, watercolour paper, Beccy's Place holly ornament, Hero Arts Decorate You, Local King Rubber Stamp music background & Unity/Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder stamps, peeled paint & iced spruce distress, Versamark & Colorbox gold inks, pirate's gold embossing powder, Twinkling H2Os, gold gel pen, red crochet cotton, pop-dot tape
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