Hey You!

In my continuing quest for more Christmas cards, I am entering the current challenge at My Favorite Things, with this sketch: 

There are not enough polar bear cards in my life this year, so out came MFT's Cool Day stamp set:  

I stamped my bear, masked him, and added the ice floe from the same set. His sweater and hat are paper pieced, with just a little bit of Copic shading. For the background, I blended some distress inks, then splattered both Perfect Pearls solution and water. A vellum strip gives the ice floe some ocean to float on. My bear's "who, me?" expression seemed perfect for the Hey, You sentiment from another MFT bear set, Bitty Bears. 

I'm also adding this to the current Creative with Stamps challenge, Polar Bear. Another Christmas card down, only ??? left to make and send! ;) 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, vellum, Echo Park Winter Wished patterned paper, MFT Cool Day & Bitty Bears stamps, Versafine onyx black, Memento Luxe Danube blue, Brilliance pearlescent sky blue & blueprint sketch, chipped sapphire, shaded lilac & mermaid lagoon distress inks, Wow clear glaze embossing powder, white confetti Perfect Pearls, Copic markers, foam tape

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Happy Little Stampers ATC: Bling

Welcome to the December Happy Little Stampers ATC Challenge! I'm ending my six-month design term with this post - I have loved being on the team, but I've never fully convinced myself that my CAS style is really suited to ARTIST trading cards and coins. ;)

This month our theme is 💠BLING💠. I'm not an overly blingy person - not a lot of jewellery, rarely are there sequins on my sweaters, you get the idea. But when it comes to Christmas, all bets are off, so it seemed the natural way to go. Here is my set of four: 

The smallest size of Tim Holtz's Blueprint stamps are much easier to use on ATCs than full size cards! I picked my patterned papers, stamped them both on that and on white cardstock, and coloured in the latter. When I went to fussy cut them, I quickly realized that was not going to happen with the snowflake. So I coloured it right on the patterned paper with a white glaze pen. 

Here's a closer look at each one: 

Bling: rhinestones on the snowflake centres

Bling: snowflake sequins

Bling: gold glitter sentiment & gold Smooch on the hat

Bling: gold star on the tree & Glossy Accents on the ornaments. 

Since all my ATCs have sparkle of some kind on them, I'm adding them to the current Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, Let's Sparkle. 
While December can be a busy month, I hope you'll have time to join us! 

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Frosty the Snowman

Frosty the Snowman is the theme for the almost over challenge at the Paper Players. I'm finding challenges handy this week as I catch up on Christmas card making after a month of mostly tags. ;) So a prompt, sketch, or theme can give me a head start on getting more cards made. I also had a new snowman image to try: 

He's a much more rustic snowman than my usual, more cute ones, and I tried to keep the setting for him a bit rustic as well. At first I was going to colour him with Copics, but my markers and I weren't getting along, so I switched to stamping and embossing him on watercolour paper instead, and that seemed to suit my abilities and his looks much better. :D For the background, I cut a stitched panel also from watercolour paper (so the snow would match) added a stitched hillside, and blended a little distress ink for the sky. The joy and love sentiment seemed to suit the tone of the card and the space it needed to fit into. ;) I dry embossed a woodgrain pattern into my olive panel before putting the card together. 

This card was also made with the current Shopping our Stash challenge, Happy Holidays, in mind. 

Fair warning: there will (I hope!) be more Christmas card posts soon!

Supplies: Bazzill marshmallow & Stampin' Up old olive cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Picket Fence On a Christmas Walk stamps & dies, Simon Says Stamp Furry Christmas stamps, Versafine smoky grey & tumbled glass distress ink, Wow clear gloss & Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, Zig markers, MFT stitched rounded rectangle & blueprints 24 stitched rectangle & Paper Smooches stitched dies, PTI woodgrain texture plate, foam tape

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ABC Christmas Challenge: Y & Z

It's the first Wednesday in December, and the last month of the year - and that means the final two letters in the alphabet for ABC Christmas Challenge! This month our two themes are Y for Yuletide and Z for Zigzag. 

I knew exactly what I wanted to do for Y is for Yuletide - and could NOT believe that in my, um, large collection of Christmas stamps I did not have a single sentiment with "yule" or "yuletide" in it! So with a computer-generated sentiment, here's my card: 

I thought this chill snowman was perfect for a cool yule sentiment. He's coloured in Copics. I considered making a sky background, but with the minimal colouring of snow guy, I liked the way this grey snowy background patterned paper looked. I used an edge die to cut the snowy base of the card. 

My Z for Zigzag card: 

I confined my zigzags to the panel backing the festive feline family. They are watercoloured and fussy cut, with a sentiment from the same set added to the card base. 

These two prompts are ideal to get your Christmas card creativity going! Lots more inspiration on the ABC blog, as well. Hope you can join us! 

Supplies: (yuletide) Neenah white cardstock, Memory Box grey card base, Doodlebug Frosty Friends patterned paper, Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdudes stamp, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Paper Smooches borders 1 & MFT wonky stitched rectangle dies, black icicle Stickles; (zigzag) Bazzill marshmallow & Stampin' Up pear pizazz cardstock, Canson watercolour paper, Newton's Nook Newtons Christmas Family stamps, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & Memento bamboo leaves ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, Spellbinders Page Maps Potpourri die, foam tape

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Happy Little Stampers: Christmas

I'm welcoming December with the Happy Little Stampers watercolour challenge! Our optional theme for this last month of the year is, not too surprisingly, Christmas. After making so many tags through November, it was almost a challenge to go back to the larger canvas of a card! I chose a large image to help me: 

My poinsettia is heat embossed on watercolour paper. The line style of the artwork meant there would be lots of nooks and crannies for watercolour powder to show off its different shades and colours. While it was drying, I added a wash of bundled sage distress ink to the back panel, speeding up its drying time with my heat tool. Then, by flicking water, I was able to add some of the same embossing powder to the mat and heat emboss the spatters. I also added some spatters of the same distress ink. Once the flower was dry, I cut it close to the edge, and added it and the sentiment to the green panel. A green card base was my last step. I thought about adding some dimension to the centre of the poinsettia, but nothing I had would have matched the embossing, so I left it alone. 

There are beautiful inspiration cards on the HLS blog today, in a variety of styles! If you aren't in need of Christmas cards, we'd love to see any new watercolour project added to the monthly gallery. I have thoroughly enjoyed this first year of bringing watercolour inspiration to you with Happy Little Stampers!  

Supplies: Canson watercolour paper, Craft Smith textured green card base, Altenew Modern Poinsettia stamps, Versamark & bundled sage distress ink, moonstone embossing powder, Magenta Nuance red watercolour powder

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The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: Yummy

Happy Saturday! We are ready to begin a new challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: Y is for Yummy! Edna obviously thinks a lot of different "things" are yummy, as do I, but I went for a perhaps obvious choice: 

Dessert is always yummy, right? :D A chocotini seemed like the closest martini to dessert. To offset the choice of brown ink for my drink, I embossed it in sparkle embossing powder and gave it a colourful backdrop using a Concord & 9th turnabout stamp. 

So many interpretations of our theme on the Snarky blog today, by my sisters and our current reigning Queen of Snark and guest designer, Helen! Hope to see you playing along! 

Supplies: Neenah white & Papertrey Ink smoky shadow cardstock, MFT Martini Time stamps & dies, MFT A Toast TO You & Concord & 9th Mosaic turnabout stamps, Versamark, Memento rich cocoa, dandelion, lilac posies, Paris dusk & Stampin' Up real red inks, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder

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