The last of the Christmas tags

Supplies; Stamps - Holiday tags 2010, Wreath for all seasons, Paper - Aqua mist, Enchanted evening, Pure poppy, Kraft, cream, white, Other - copics, ribbons (new leaf twill, hawaiian shores twill, spring rain satin, red bakers twine, crochet trim), glitter glue, tag sale #2, limitless layers, 1 1/4'' circle punch.

THE Christmas card

That is going out this year.  It's challenging to make 'flat' cards to send out, but I'm happy with how they turned out.

Made half with rustic white, the other with rustic cream.

Added some glitter berries on the wreaths.  There are a couple of scored lines above the greeting.

Supplies; Stamps - Wreath for all seasons, Paper - Pure poppy, rustic cream, rustic white, Ink - Real red, chocolate, vintage cream, mushroom for sponging, Other - Mat stack #4 die, red glitter glue, score pal.

Cards for little people

I made some little cards for my daughter's friends.

I made an A2 card that has a fold on the 5 1/2'' side, then cut it in half through the fold, so the dimensions are 2 3/4 x 2 1/8''.  There's just enough room for a little message inside.  I attached a tag onto the front, and put into a glassine bag.  Quick and cute.  I wanted to put some treats inside with it, but still too much of a choking hazard at this age.

Supplies - Stamps; TT: Christmas, Paper; Pure poppy, kraft, cream, Ink; Real red, copics, Other; red glitter, candy cane bakers twine, glassine bags.

Meaning of Christmas

Here's a traditional card I made for my parents.  I'm really excited about this one, because I love the image, and there are several new techniques that I tried. 

First I stamped the image on vellum and heat embossed with gold powder.  Then I coloured the underside with copics, which was a bit tricky in that they don't fix permanently, so the ink keeps getting moved around.  I added some glitter to the Babe's clothes with a two way glue pen.

Then I applied glossy accents over the front of the image, working in between the sections of embossing.  It looks really cool in real life - like a stained glass window. 

Unfortunately the glossy accents really warped the vellum!!!  I tried to straighten it by putting it between old heavy textbooks (yeah - stamping instead of studying at night!  woo hoo!!) for a couple of days, but it only worked a little.

And then I couldn't attach the vellum using glue of any sort (because it was warped), so I had to use brads which I'm not crazy about. 

And THEN I was so worried that all that work would be ruined by a misaligned greeting (...because the vellum is warped), that I can't bring myself to do it.  I want to put it in the upper right corner.  So it might just stay like this. 

Next time, I'll do a double sided sheet of vellum (wrapping to the back) so that I can just tie a ribbon through the spine and not have to glue it, and I'll stamp the greeting early on.

Supplies - Stamps;  ?numerical name (Stamp barn), Paper - Scarlet jewel, vellum, white, Ink - versamark, copics (Scarlet jewel, Lemon tart, Spring rain), Other - yellow brads, gold embossing powder, glossy accents, glitter.  

Congrats on license

Quick 4 1/2'' square card I made for a friend who passed her driving test.

I added the buttons for the wheels to spotlight one of the car images.  I thought the green ribbon was symbolic - green means go.  :)

Supplies; Ink - white gel pen, Paper - Patterned (?), Spring Moss, Other - New leaf twill ribbon, Chocolate buttons, Labels #1 die

Card + Gift bag

I found this stunningly gorgeous card here.  I tried to recreate it, but my proportions were all off.  I started down the wrong path because of using a very large greeting font, then I couldn't place the trim on the same side of the bow...  But I like the results anyways.

My mom requested a card for a friend's birthday; the person loves soft greens and browns.   I also decorated a small kraft gift bag;

Supplies; Stamps - Giga Guidelines, Vintage Labels, free set from SU, Ink - Brown, Spring Moss, Crumb Cake, versamark, Paper - Rustic cream, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate, Other - Dark Chocolate satin, Spring Moss satin, Cream grossgrain ribbons, 1/8'' silk thread,Victorian crochet trim, Spring Moss button, Mat Stack 4 die, In Bloom impression plate, pearls.

Who lives in this snowy winter house?

I CASEd this from last year's Christmas card series from Kristina Werner.

My alterations - made a larger card, dotted the perimeter instead of slashes, and added a thick ribbon of 'snow' underneath the snowman.  The ribbon has a wire edge which made it easy to fold over for added dimension.

 

Supplies: Paper - kraft, Ink - white gel pen, Other - cream buttons (PTI), red saddlestitch ribbon, wire edged ribbon.

Playful Christmas

This was my first ever Copic-coloured image.  Back in July!  I took one look at the stamp, and decided to take the Copic plunge.  I didn't actually complete the card until now.  I just can't get into Christmas themed things before December.

Supplies; Stamps - Penny Black, Ink - Black (Memento), Tea Dye (Tim Holtz), Copics (Old Avocado, Real Red and New Leaf), Paper - Ripe Avocado and Ripe Avocado distressed dots PP (PTI), Other - dark chocolate baker's twine.

PTI blog hop - tags!

So I went a little overboard.  But I couldn't help it - it's my first time doing tags, and once I started a few days ago, I couldn't stop.  Click on any photo to see larger.

First is the Green series;

Paper - Ripe Avocado, Fine linen, cream, chocolate, Simply Chartreuse bitty dots, Jovial PP

Ink - Dark chocolate stamped off once, crumb cake, colorbox lime pastel, versamark

Accents - cream grossgrain, chocolate bakers twine, fine linen satin, chartreuse and cream buttons

Then, the Scarlet series;

Paper - Scarlet Jewel, Fine Linen and Scarlet Jewel distressed dots, Jovial PP, cream

Ink - cream, chocolate, cranberry

Accents - 1/8'' silk thread, scarlet jewel grossgrain, twine, Spring Moss and Scarlet Jewel buttons

Then the Red and Cream series;

Paper - Pure Poppy, cream, kraft, kraft bitty dots

Ink - real red, white, copics

Accents - cream felt, cream grosgrain, pure poppy bakers twine, rhinestones, silver glitter


And last, the colourful series.  Big thank you to Derby for this post and giving me the idea of stamping a whole bunch of little images in a row to create a patterned paper of sorts.

Paper - cream and white

Ink - black, brown, copics

Accents - Spring Moss satin ribbon, Aqua Mist satin ribbon, red glitter

Stamps - Tiny Treats: Christmas, 2010 Holiday Tags, Wreath for All Seasons (PTI), BB: Retro.

Stamped Desktop Calendar

For a Christmas gift. 

I stamped the little swirly frames on this one to decrease the white space of the mini calendar page.  It's challenging to keep straight!  Tried to coordinate colour schemes with occasions within the month.

January - Hawaiian Shores paper, snowflake from Tiny Treats Christmas,Versamagic Aquatic Splash and White inks.

February - Damask stamp on white cardstock with Real Red and Black inks.

March - BB: Retro heat embossed with gold powder, on Simply Chartreurse paper, with same ink.

April - BB: Retro stamped on So Saffron paper, with Sweet Blush ink.

May - Just Believe stamp on Hibiscus Burst paper with versamark.  Sweet blush ink for frame.



June - Polka Dot Basics 2 stamped on Aqua mist paper.  Versamagic Turquoise Gem and Aquatic Splash inks.

July - 5th Ave Floral stamp on Rose Red paper with Colorbox Mango Tango ink.  Raspberry Fizz ink for frame.

August - Fancy Flourish stamp embossed with white powder on Soft Stone.

September - Nursery Necessities stampin around wheel on So Saffron, stamped with cream ink.  Colorbox Topaz ink for frame.

October - Giga Guidelines stamp with Dark chocolate ink, onto Rose Red paper.  Raspberry Fizz ink for frame.

November - BB: Retro stamped onto Fine Linen cardstock, Cranberry (Adriondrak) ink.

December - holly image from Tiny Treats Christmas stamped onto Simply Chartreuse paper.  Real Red ink and Red glitter (Martha Stewart).

Ran out of inspiration for cover, so used a sheet of patterned paper (Memorybox).

Quilt-y Cards

I saw this technique on Kristina Werner's blog.  Basically cut 4 pieces of paper on the diagonal, and when you assemble them side by side you have 4 different cards.

I used some patterned paper, made some patterned paper (the brown and kraft panels), and scored a plain sheet for some texture.  I didn't know what occasion these would be, so I didn't stamp a sentiment on all.  I added faux stitching with a white pen.  And made matching envelopes.

Supplies; Paper - Cream, Kraft, Chocolate, Rose Red and PP (SU), Stamps - Polka Dots 2 (PTI), SU free set, Ink - Versamark and Chocolate, Other - chocolate grosgrain ribbon (SU), Chocolate and Cream buttons (PTI), white pen.

Autumn Thanks

I saw a similar card on a magazine cover, but not sure which one.

I cut three panels of paper and adhered them to a patterned paper base, then stamped an image with Versamark and embossed with clear powder. 

Supplies; Stamps - Turning a New Leaf (PTI), Paper - Lemon tart, Summer sunrise, Orange zest and Terracotta tile (PTI), patterned (SU), Ink - Versamark, Other - Clear embossing powder, Summer sunrise satin ribbon (PTI).

All Patterned Paper Hallowe'en

What do you do when you don't have any Hallowe'en stamps?  Use patterned paper!  I went into a paper share of the newest SU! papers, and this is the result of some of them.  The dimensions are 5'' square.

Supplies; Paper - Going grey and DSPs (SU)

Pink and Vellum and Layers

A try at a more layered card.  I have such a hard time layering patterns and shapes.  I can't help it, my mind cannot derail from clean and simple on most days.

This is a 4 1/2'' square card.  The flowers were cut out from a piece of vellum that I stamped with versamark and heat embossed with clear powder for a little more texture.

I wanted to make a soft card, but decided it needed some darker accent so it wouldn't get too washed out. 

Supplies; Stamps - Background Basics: Polka Dot Basics 2 and Fancy Flourishes (PTI), Paper - Scarlet Jewel, vellum, cream (PTI) and PP (?), Ink - Sweet Blush (PTI), versamark, Other - Nestabilities Label 1 die, Beautiful Blooms #3 die and Fillable Frames #1 die (PTI), scarlet jewel buttons (PTI), 1/8 '' silk ribbon (PTI).

PTI blog hop - holiday

This month's theme was to create a card for a winter holiday that is not Christmas, in order to celebrate diversity.  I chose to do a card for Chinese New Year for a dear friend.

I used a red panel, as the colour red is thought to ward off bad luck.  The paper has flecks of gold and silver and looks very festive.  I embossed an image from BB: Retro with gold powder as this sort of reminded me of lanterns, and the colour gold also plays prominently in the festivities, and symbolizes posterity. 

Looking at it now it looks like the layout needs something in the right side - will have to address that.

I die cut shapes for the sentiment in cream and fine linen, stamped a flourish in versamark, sponged some distress ink on the outer cream die cut to soften, and popped the whole thing up on dimensionals.  I'm excited to send this one out!

Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Supplies - Stamps; Background Basics: Retro, Giga Guidelines, Fancy Flourishes (PTI), Paper; Fine Linen and cream (PTI), Japanese PP (Paper Ya, Vancouver), Ink; Versamark, Black, Antique linen (Tim Holtz), Other - Tie die ribbon (Paper Ya, Vancouver), Limitless Layers dies (PTI), gold embossing powder, dimensionals (SU).

Desktop Calendar for Me

I was beyond excited when PTI launched the calendars stamp set and die. This is my first project; a desktop calendar just for me! 

The first thing I did was to pull some of my favourite patterned paper, and matching cardstock.  I knew I wanted to do more patterned papers versus stamping.

I picked patterns from Library Ledger and Green Boutique, and aqua mist, ocean tides, dark chocolate, enchanted evening, kraft and cream.  First I created the bases by cutting the solid cardstock at 5.5'' on the short side.

Then I ran the mini calendar die through the Big Shot.  Two die cuts were created from each 5.5 x 11 '' piece.

And then I just played; putting various items together.  I didn't want to take too much time, so the embelishments were minimal. 

For January I rounded the corners of both the PP mat and the calendar.  I adhered the PP onto aqua mist and decided not to run it though the Big Shot again (and therefore not use the tabs created by the die) as this gave me more options of where to mount the actual calendar.  The buttons are hawaiian shores, the ribbon cream satin.

For February I added a small bow with the 1/8'' silk ribbon.  After I did I thought, shoot, I should have made a line with my copics like Nichole does!  This is an ocean tides base.

For March I stamped a leaf from Turning a New Leaf onto enchanted evening with versamark and heat embossed with clear powder, then added some pearls. 

April is my favourite - I matted the PP on cream and dark chocolate, then used a Beautiful Blooms die with kraft paper, stamped text in brown, and added a melon berry button.

May I went out on a limb - PP on kraft cardstock, with a gold heat embossed flourish, lace trim and a scarlet jewel mat made with the label 1 die.  I rounded the corners again on the calendar.

And June using In Bloom ocean mist PP, with aqua mist and spring moss satin ribbons.

I decided since this one is for me, and I like the way these turned out, I will probably just adhere the next 6 months (July - Dec) mini calendars overtop of the (Jan - June) existing ones at the end of June.  Or, if I get bored of them, then I'll make 6 additional pages - that's the beauty of making my own, I get to choose!  And this way I can get a head start on other's Christmas presents.  :)  Now that I have the measurements in front of me for the various layouts, it shouldn't be very time consuming. 

Although some of the pages were a little bulky, all 6 fit into a calendar CD case that I purchased from PTI.