Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils

It's time for a new Addicted to Stamps and More challenge, and this time around, we're looking for Die Cuts and Stencils! I took a look at some of my seasonal dies, and came up with this sadly neglected snowman: 

He is definitely a cutie, but a little finickety to piece in all those small hat pieces! And I may reconsider inlaying his facial features next time. :D This die set is a hand-me-down from a crafting friend, and the first time I've used him, so he'll be off to visit Darnell's December NBUS gallery. For the background, I simply used the inks left on my blue and purple blending brushes to create a daytime sky, then spritzed it with some sparkle mist. The snowy tree horizon is actually a border punch! (I'm feeling very retro here.) I added the large "merry" die cut sentiment and a couple of die cut snowflakes to complete the card. 

I'm also adding this card to the new Shopping Our Stash challenge, Do You Want to Build a Snowman? and The Paper Players Winter Wonderland challenge. 

Lots of die cut and stencil inspiration from my ATSM teammates - I hope you'll check out their creations and then join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white, Stampin' Up basic black & real red, Concord & 9th graphite glitter & scrap orange, brown & green cardstock, various distress inks, Paper Smooches snowman 2, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Merry, MFT stitched rounded rectangle & Sunny Studio Holiday Helpers snowflake dies, EK Success Alpine border punch, Avery Elle clear shimmer spray

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Happy Little Stampers: Stencils

We are up to the Stencil Challenge at Happy Little Stampers! As always, it's anything goes as long as a stencil has been used. I used a stencil two ways for my Christmas tag: 

For the big bold sentiment, I added transfer gel through a stencil. This was the first time experimenting to see if heat-transfer foil would work with the gel, and I am happy to report it did! (Unlike the other way around - foils made for laminating or gel transfer do not react to heat foiling, sadly.) Once the transfer gel had dried, I added the red foil with my die cutting machine. For the tag base, I used the holly part of the same stencil to blend green ink onto the kraft cardstock. To tie everything together, I added a few die cut holly leaves and berries. This angled photo gives a better indication of the sentiment's shine: 

The HLS Stencil design team have used their stencils in a variety of ways that is sure to inspire you! I hope you'll join us. 

Supplies: Neenah white & desert storm, scrap green & red glitter cardstock, mowed lawn distress ink, Creative Expressions Merry Christmas stencil, Deco Foil transfer gel duo, Icraft red deco foil, Memory Box mini holly leaves die, Cutplorations manila tag die, Offray red ribbon, red Divine Twine, $ store jingle bells  

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Wrap It Up with Scrap 'n Stamp!

Welcome to the December Scrap 'n Stamp Inspiration Hop, where this month our theme is WRAP IT UP! We have a mix of blogs, Instagram posts and Youtube videos for your hopping pleasure - leave a comment at each stop along the way for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate! Perfect for treating yourself to a little Christmas present. ;) 

I made gift tags for the hop. Fun fact: I was on a Christmas tag design team for three years! (Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event - it's no longer running, but still a terrific source of inspiration.) I decided to pick one stamp set and create three different styles of tags using it. Here they are: 

I am using My Favorite Things Meowy Christmas stamps and dies for these. Here's a closer look at each one starting, of course, with the cat: 

I watercoloured the kitty and his ornament, and added lots of sparkle to the ball using Lawn Fawn Liquid Stardust. If you haven't tried this... you really should! One drop painted over my ornament, and you can even see it in a photograph!

My next tag uses the beautiful tree in the set: 

This time I used Copic markers to colour my tree. The sentiments in the Meowy Christmas set, not surprisingly, are all cat-related, so I foiled a sentiment from the Spellbinders Mini Christmas Sentiment Strips and red foil. 

My third tag uses just the two snowflakes included in the stamp set: 

A little emboss-resist this time. After embossing the snowflakes in white, I blended wilted violet and chipped sapphire distress inks for the sky. I added a few spritzes of Avery Elle white ink spray. 

Are you ready to hop? Here is the complete hop list: 

SNS Blog

Kia

Deborah

Lindsey ---> me!

Allison ---> our guest designer!

Tara

Susan

Jessica

And when you are finished hopping, might as well check out the latest Scrap 'n Stamp sale! 

Happy hopping, and have a great weekend! 

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Happy Little Stampers CAS: Christmas Characters

It's time for the last CAS challenge of 2021 at Happy Little Stampers! For December, we are looking for clean and simple cards featuring Christmas Characters. 🦌 🧸 🐧  For my character, I used that iconic jolly old elf himself: 

That's right, it's Santa! I have lots of Santa stamps, but for this card decided to use this sweet die cut. Sometimes I colour his face and give him rosy cheeks and nose, but for this card just gave him his classic red hat and a little circle of felt for the pompom. I added texture to the main panel with a cover plate, and matched Santa's hat with a red sentiment banner embossed in white. Quick and easy to put together, but still a lot of fun. 

With gold glasses and red as my colour, I am adding my Santa to the CAS challenge at STAMPlorations as well as the Wednesday Happy Holidays/Christmas challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

The HLS design team's cards always have lots of character, but now there are characters, too! Check out the inspiration, and then I hope you'll join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white, Stampin' Up real red & Sizzix gold foil cardstock, Simon Says Stamp Coolest Yulest stamp, Versamark, Wow white embossing powder, A Jillian Vance Design Santa and Friends dies, CUTplorations circles all over texture cover plate, foam tape

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Color Hues: Red and Green

December is upon us! Time for a new Color Hues challenge, and how appropriate for the beginning of December - our colours are RED and GREEN! Of course red and green can be used for more than just Christmas cards, but that's certainly what I need right now, so that's the direction I took: 

I love this big poinsettia frame stamp - especially the fact that the design work is done for you! ;) After stamping and embossing it, I coloured the poinsettias with Copics. I considered adding some green to the evergreen elements as well, but decided to leave the focus on the flowers. The sentiment can be left as is, but I decided to die cut the letters out of the panel and inlay with black glitter paper instead. The secondary sentiments are stamped in red and embossed. The only other colour I added is small dots of gold Smooch paint in the poinsettia centres. The card base is lightly coloured with distress ink.

This challenge will be open until December 29th - this gives the design team a bit of a break, and you more time to join us! 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, Concord & 9th graphite glitter cardstock, Concord & 9th Christmas Florals stamps & dies, Versamark, Versafine onyx black, Catherine Pooler rouge & twisted citron distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, Smooch gold paint

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ABC Christmas Challenge: Y and Z

It's December - not exactly sure how that happened, but the calendar tells me it is - and so we are onto the last two letters of the alphabet at ABC Christmas Challenge! And sadly, it is also my last post as part of the design team. The past three years have been a delight, and I will miss the great team there, but life has been getting a little hectic lately and I had to let some things go. We are also saying goodbye to one of the founders of the challenge, Samantha. Samantha gave me the opportunity to become part of the team, and is an inspiration both with her cards and her behind-the-scenes work. 

The loss of some team members means there is a design team call! I highly recommend this as a great way to build up your stash of holiday cards through the year. All the details are on the ABC blag. 

At last, onto this month's challenge! Our first theme is Y for YUMMY. I made a card with the yumminess implied: 

Of course anything from Mrs. Claus herself is going to be yummy! She and her bakery are stamped, embossed, coloured with Copics and die cut. For the background, I stamped the chimney smoke in grey ink, plus a second one onto a sticky note to cut out and use as a mask. I blended distress oxide ink for the sky and spritzed it with water for a little extra interest. I adhered the bakery directly to the background then popped up the frame and Mrs Claus. 

And finally, at the end of the alphabet, we have Z for Zigzags. 

For this card, I went for a vintage look with a minimum of stamping. The zigzag paper and the fishtail banner are from a patterned paper pad, while the other ephemera are from a Tim Holtz pack. I'm sure I could have found a pre-printed sentiment as well, but I do like to add a little stamping, so embossed the sentiment on the same kraft cardstock as the card base. I also added a trio of enamel dots. 

I hope the letter prompts, and the great inspiration from my ABC teammates, will help get those December holiday cards made! 

Supplies: (sweet Christmas) Neenah white cardstock, Heffy Doodle Santa's Village stamps & dies, Pink & Main Sweet Christmas sentiment stamp, Versafine onyx black & mermaid lagoon distress oxide ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Copic markers, MFT diagonal stitched rectangle die, foam tape; (Christmas greetings) Neenah desert storm cardstock,  My Mind's Eye All is Bright patterned paper, Cavallini Vintage Christmas stamp, Versamark & Catherine Pooler rouge ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Christmas Ephemera, FT diagonal stitched rectangle die, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas enamel dots

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