Neutral Christmas

Today's card was one that I did on the weekend - inspired by the current challenge over at the Card Concept to use neutral colours:



I found a panel of a snowflake wreath (Hampton Arts) white embossed on kraft paper when I was cleaning my desk and I decided that it would be a perfect base for my card. Here is how I finished it off:

I added some wood veneer snowflakes and some dark brown liquid pearls to the wreath, wrapped some Hemptique twine around the panel, and layered two Penny Black "Merry" die cuts to the centre of the wreath. For the card base, I used some kraft paper and I stamped the Penny Black "Christmas" background stamp onto it using some SSS Fog ink - I wanted a really subtle tone-on-tone effect but I think that it may have come out to subtle...

I will link this card to the Card Concept Challenge where I think it fits in the clean and layered category and also to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it is a winter inspired theme.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

Cleaning My Desk

This morning when I woke up, I knew that I wanted to make a few cards but I didn't have a specific plan. I browsed the challenge blogs for a while and headed down to my craft room - I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I started out with my usual form of procrastination - cleaning my desk. I have to say that it has been a while since I have done this - I have a really big desk so the mess doesn't usually get in the way. One of things that I cleaned up was a die-cut from a Kelly Purkey die that I had done from black cardstock a couple of months ago but never used, and it immediately mede me think of the current photo challenge at Inkspirational:



What a gorgeous photo! Perfect for a New Years' card - using that die-cut! Here is my card:

I started by coating the black die-cut with some black Wink of Stella (it doesn't show up in the picture); I then die-cut the Kelly Purkey die again from from some silver metallic cardstock which I used to inlay the little dots into the black die-cut (I now have a silver die-cut on my desk - so much for the clean up ;) ). I heat embossed the fireworks bursts using the Simon Says Stamp (July 2013) kit stamp. I created a custom embossing powder by combining two different purple Zing powders with a little bit of microfine glitter. Once embossed, I used Distress Inks on the background to create the night sky  - Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord, Chipped Saphire and Black soot. I finished off by adding a few Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins. I'm super happy with how this card turned out - I couldn't photograph it to do it justice. I will link it to the Inkspirational Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Jill

Giant Snowflakes

One of the stamps that I was playing with on the weekend was a giant snowflake stamp from Tattered Angels. I bought this 12x12 sheet of clear stamps several years ago on sale but I have never actually used them - I always get distracted by my "new toys" instead. This giant snowflake stamp is so big that it can't actually fit on a card -and I had to go and but a new stamping block just to be able to use it.

Here is the first card:

This card was inspired by Virginia's View Challenge to get out my Distress Inks. The card itself is very simple - the white embossed snowflake sponged over with some Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Evergreen Bough ink. I then splattered the card with some Perfect Pearls, Picket Fence Distress Stain, and Brushed Pewter Distress Stain. The card was finished of with a silver embossed MFT greeting on a piece of  vellum and a few clear Pretty Pink Posh sequins. A very simple card but so much fun to make! I will link it to the following:

• Virginia's View challenge to use Distress Inks - lots of amazing cards in the gallery there - great inspiration!
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to bling it on!

For my second card, I decided that I wanted a little bit more white space so I knew that I would cut a panel. I used the sketch from CASe this Sketch as inspiration for the layout.

I white embossed the snowflake onto a piece of watercolour paper, and then I watercoloured the piece with Twinkling H2Os - I love these! They sit in the back of one of my drawers, and every time I take them out, I always think about how I should use them more often but I seem to forget. They blend so well and they leave a shimmer when they are done (it is not really captured in the picture but it is really pretty!)

I die cut the panel using a MFT die and I adhered it to a regular white card base. I used a Jillian Vance stamp set to silver emboss the Feliz Navidad on the card front. As a side note, I often try to make my greetings in the recipient's mother tongue - I think that it makes the card more personal. My husband is Danish and I am desperately looking for some Danish greeting stamps to use on the cards I send to his family - no success so far so I would appreciate any information anyone has on where I can order some! I will link this card to a couple of challenges:

• CASE This Sketch for the layout inspiration
• CASology where the key word is SNOW

Thanks for stopping by!!!!

Jill

Merry Monday Guest Designer

It was really a weekend of using some of my crafty supplies that I haven't used before and this card for the Merry Monday Challenge was no exception. The inspiration photo this week is all about a winter scene:

There is a lot to work with in this picture but my mind immediately thought of trees being weighed down by heavy snow, and I had the perfect (not yet used!) die for the task. The Dee's Distinctively die comes in 5 sections so that you can add some foam between the layers to create some dimension and that is what I did. Here is my card:

I die cut the 5 piece tree from some cardstock covered with some Be Creative tape, and then I applied two different colours of Glitter Ritz glitter (Latte and Diamonds). I also cut the snow banks and trees from the same cardstock and applied some Diamonds glitter to them. The background was sponged with some Distress Inks (Chipped Sapphire, Black Soot, and Dusty Concord), stamped with some first and second generation snowflakes in Chipped Sapphire, and splattered with some Perfect Pearls and Picket Fence Stain. The Season's Greetings was die cut using my new Memory Box Die from some SSS Blue Violet cardstock that was also sponged with some Chipped Sapphire ink and misted with shimmer spray. I wanted to keep the sentiment very tone-on-tone so that the focus would be on the tree. 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Christmas Stockings

The challenge at TIME OUT this fortnight is all about case-ing Amy Wanford (I love her work!) - and the inspiration card is this:



There are lots of great design elements in this card but I was really drawn to the white on white and the simple greeting. I don't quite know how made the leap in my mind but somehow I thought of Christmas stockings on a fireplace - it might have been the desperation of trying to finish off my Christmas cards :). Here is what I came up with:

I die cut the white panel using a MFT die and I added some Ranger Texture Paste through a brick stencil to create the white-on-white chimney. For the stockings, I covered some cardstock with BeCreative tape and then die cut them with some MFT dies. I used an Exacto knife to cut the designs into the protective layer of the BeCreative so I could pull sections away bit by bit to apply two different colours of glitter - silver and gold. I used some American Craft glitter which is a little bit coarser than the microfine glitter that I usually use but it still worked well. To finish the card, I added a little bit of Lawn Fawn twine which I shaped with some Multi-Medium, and I stamped a Hero Arts greeting in Cup O Joe. I am really happy with how this card turned out - so much so that I may even make another one (which is something I almost never do).

I will link this card to a few places:

• Time Out Challenge is where I drew the inspiration (they always have great challenges!)
• Merry Monday - the challenge is to use white, silver, gold, and one other colour - hence the colour choice for my stockings!!
• Inkspirational has a challenge to use gold (it goes with anything - so true!)
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to Bling It On - I am not sure that glittery stockings really count as bling but they do in my book ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

Season's Greetings

The challenge this week at Merry Monday is all about feathered friends - and the inspiration photo features cardinals - one of my winter favourites. We used to get a lot of them on our feeder in Montreal but I haven't seen as many around our new house - most likely since we are in a newer development with smaller trees.




I did a card with red birds a few weeks back so I decided do create something similar. This was the card from last time:

The elements that I decided to use again were the colour scheme, the die cut birds, and the background stamp. Here is what I came up with:

I used a SSS Smoke cardstock base and I stamped the Penny Black Christmas Story in the same clour ink. I then trimmed a piece of SSS Fog cardstock for the front panel. I used the My Favorite Things Out On A Limb die to cut the tree. Same as last time, I die cut the Penny Black Birds on a Wire from SSS Schoolhouse Red cardstock, covered them in Xmas Red Stickles. The music notes and greeting are from a mini Lawn Fawn stamp set, and the twine is also from Lawn Fawn.

It is really amazing how cards made from very similar elements can end up completely different! I think that I prefer the original but my husband prefers the second card. What do you think?

I will link up with Merry Monday challenge and also to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Holidays.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Joyous Noel

It has been ages since my last post - it is amazing how quickly the last few weeks have just flown by and I've really gotten very little crafty time in.

This is a card that I made on the weekend for the latest (and almost closed!) TIME OUT Challenge. The challenge is embossing with an optional twist of sparkle - so I wanted to make a card that featured three different types of embossing - and lots of sparkle!

I started out by using some embossing paste through a Memory Box stencil on the card panel. When the paste was still wet, I added some Distress Rock Candy glitter to it for some sparkle. I then die cut the Simon Says Stamp snowflakes and coated them in silver embossing powder which I heat embossed. For the greeting, I used part of an embossing folder but before I embossed the paper, I applied some Distress Ink to the folder and I sprayed it with some shimmer spray (more sparkle!). The result is that the raised part of the greeting remained white while the depressed part was watercoloured. To assemble the card, I glued the snowflakes to the card panel and then I wrapped a piece of ribbon around it (I love ribbon on Christmas cards) and glued the greeting on top. I then used foam tape to put the panel on the card base.
I will link this card to TIME OUT Challenge and also to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the challenge is anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill