Two More Holly Holiday Stenciled Cards

Hi everyone - I'm back with one last entry for Just Us Girls' Anything Goes with Stencils - Challenge #715. Since I still need Christmas cards for the stash, I finished the other two stenciled images from yesterday's post.

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White;

My Favorite Things Very Merry 6x6"

Stencils - Taylored Expressions Triple Slim Layering Stencil - Holly Holiday

Dies - A Jillian Vance Design Mini Slimline Backdrop Set

Betterpress Plate with Die - Merry & Bright Sentiment Strips

Other - various Hero Arts inks; Betterpress Black ink; Hero Arts flower gem

The Taylored Expressions stencil set yields 3 mini slim images; you can see the 4-stencil process photos HERE, if you're interested. For this card, I decided to use the 3x5.5" die cut panel on an A2 card. A fun Christmas pattern from MFT in matching colors filled the balance of the card front. I used a Betterpress sentiment from the stash I created a couple weeks ago & added a flower gem as the "star" to this leafy "tree".

For the third of the images, I die cut using the next smaller of the AJVD mini slimline layers and added a green mat. Adhered to a mini slim card formed from 6x7" Paper Studio pastel heavyweight cardstock. I added Hero Arts honey lacquer to the flower centers & another Betterpress sentiment.

Here's the view of the stenciled panel I shared yesterday along with a group shot of the three finished cards:

You can see the 4-stencil process photos HERE, if you're interested. 

I'll also link up to the current Christmas Craft Creations Challenge to use Stencils or Embossing Folders. I haven't played there in quite a while but was inspired by my friend Jo (Jo Blogs) to join in.

Thanks for visiting!

A Christmas Eve scene for Day 10 Coloring

Hey everyone - TGIF!! I'm still coloring away for Kathy's (The Daily Marker) 30 Day Coloring Challenge! Back with today's coloring, some Christmas bits that I turned into a Christmas card for Christmas Craft Creations. Their theme this month is Christmas Characters - certainly Santa & his reindeer qualify!!

Supplies: Paper - DCWV black A2 card; 

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb

Stamps - Simon Says Stamp Falling Snow

Hero Arts CM100 Christmas Messages &

Hero Arts CM386 From the Vault Winter Joy (with matching dies)

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 21 (retired);

Hero Arts Nesting Circle Infinity Dies

Other - Hero Arts Intense Black Ink, Copic Markers,

Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky, Picket Fence; 

Ranger Seafoam White ep, colored pencils, foam tape

I first took a 4.25 x 5.5" piece of white card and stamped/white embossed with the falling snow. Some of my snow ended up more clear than white - didn't care! Applied a circle mask for the moon and sponged Distress Ink on the rest of the panel. Removed the mask. Die cut panel with the pierced rectangle. Cut a small strip of white scrap with the pierced rectangle and cut a small hill for the house. Die cut, stamped & colored the house, Santa and reindeer - note: I cut two Santa/reindeer and lopped off Santa on one. The image only comes with 4 reindeer and, hey, he has eight pulling the sleigh most of the time! Added diecuts to panel, adhered to card, stamped sentiment - done!!

Here's a glimpse of my crafty mess (well, part of it...). You can see the uncolored lopped off Santa to the side with some other images from that Winter Joy set.

Funny story - I bought the stamp set on sale at JoAnn last month but they don't carry many matching dies in store. Planned to order the dies with my next Hero Arts order - forgot!! Got an email from JoAnn about an online discount so went to their website and found the dies (and some other stuff); used my discount - yay!! Doesn't it drive you nuts when you want matching dies and they're not sold where you're shopping or out of stock? Hard to keep track of dies you still need! Or sometimes it's vice versa - I have an orphaned Lawn Fawn die set missing its matching stamps....

Besides the coloring challenge & Christmas Craft Creations, this also fits at Christmas Kickstart (Santa has his hat!). I'm also adding to Virginia's July Show & Share and the NBUS Challenge (the Christmas stamps and dies getting their first play). Also adding to Die Cut Diva's Christmas in July challenge. Thanks to all hosts and teams for fabulous challenges!!

Thanks to you for visiting and I hope you have a crafty weekend!! I'm off to the Hallmark Ornament Premiere to get my July wish list items - can't wait!

 

 

 

Bubbles Twofer!

Hey everyone - TGIF!! It's another beautiful day to enjoy - hope you have one too!

I'm sharing cards I made for the current Twofer Card Challenge whose theme is Circles/Bubbles. I chose a Christmas tree for one of my cards to fit the theme at Christmas Craft Creations. Here's my Twofer:

When I saw the Twofer theme I immediately thought of a Hero Arts turtle set - was sure it had bubbles on it. Nope - it was the goldfish set!! Luckily, I had that one too. ☺ I decided to use the goldfish for an underwater scene with the bubbles. Then I spotted Trina (Phamtastic Design) from the CAS Christmas team who is guest designing at Christmas Craft Creations, somewhere I'd never been. She inspired me to make the Christmas tree card with the bubbles for baubles (say that three times fast!). Their June challenge theme is Christmas Trees and it can be any type of Christmas craft. though mostly what I saw posted so far were cards. More inspiration for me and a chance to add to my Christmas card stash - yay! Here's a closer look, starting with the tree card:

Supplies: Paper - Paper Studio cardstock; Lawn Fawn Let's Bokeh in the Snow 6x6

Dies - Hero Arts Fir Trees and Nesting Ovals Infinity Dies;

My Favorite Things Blueprints (retired)

Stamps - Hero Arts Hero Greetings Christmas Messages and

Color Layering Goldfish

Other - Colored Pencils; Hero Arts lacquer pen & Intense Black ink;

Versamark ink & Ranger Princess Gold ep; foam tape

Ugh, I left my LF stitched hillside dies at my "satellite studio". My sisters want to craft when visiting this summer so I left them a spare die cutting machine and a box of dies. Guess I'll have to reclaim some when I visit my parents! I improvised and used an oval die (mostly off edge) to cut a little snowbank to ground my tree. I cut two trees, one green and one woodgrain. Trimmed the stump off the green one and layered to get the woodgrain stump. As I eyed my bare tree thinking how to add baubles, I spotted the seaweed in the fish set. Hmmmm, my mind went to those gorgeous trees you see in Hallmark movies with the ribbon wrapped around. Tried stamping seaweed on a "test tree" - loved it, so embossed with gold on the card's tree. Then I arranged the three bubble sizes on my MISTI and stamped them randomly, masking off when one of the bubbles ran into a "ribbon". Colored the bubbles with pencils and covered with lacquer. Very dull in the photo but lovely in real life! I also left my star gems for my sisters so recruited a Hero Arts five sided flower for the tree's star. Diecut a soft bokeh background, put it together and stamped the sentiment. Ooops - bit of a black dot by the C - no problem, added a few more dots. Done! Now to the fish card:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV A2 card; Momenta Watercolor 8x8

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Dies - Hero Arts Fir Trees and Nesting Ovals Infinity Dies;

My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 retired

Stamps - Hero Arts Hero Greetings Christmas Messages and

Color Layering Goldfish (with matching die)

Other - Hero Arts lacquer pen & Intense Black ink;

Memento Dew Drop inks - Pear Tart, Tangelo & Cantalope;

Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn & Pumice Stone;

foam tape & colored pencil for shading; black pen

I'm making weekly cards for a friend and thought she'd get a kick out of this one. Planning ahead I stamped some more fish for another card (not finished yet), one for a couple. I did a male & a female fish for that card, giving the female fish eyelashes. Decided that would be a great idea for this fishy too! I gave the fishy bubbles on this card some lacquer for a lovely glossy dimension. The MISTI worked great to repeatedly stamp the rocks and seaweed at the bottom edge of my stitched rectangle "fish tank".

That's it from here - thanks to Darnell and crew for inspiration & a fun challenge & same to the team at Christmas Craft Creations. Thanks for stopping & enjoy the weekend!!