Season's greetings

This past year has brought both positive and negative experiences for me and my husband, especially on the health side, but creatively, 2016 has been an amazing year. I have created more cards than in any previous year and received wonderful recognition for various creations. The cards I enjoy making the most are Christmas card, so it is only fitting that I bring you another Christmas card for my 100th post of this year.

I created this card today for this month's Rerun challenge over at the Winnie & Walter blog. I love that they feature an older stamp set each month and inspire us to give this stamp set a little more love or to create something inspired by the creations from the design team.

I started by stamping the solid poinsettia image (In Bloom: Hollie's Festive Florals, Winnie & Walter) repeatedly using Altenew's Coral berry ink. I loosely followed this month's STAMPloration sketch (flipped). Next, I stamped the outline image using Grapevine ink, also by Altenew. After deciding where I wanted to stamp my sentiment (Winter Woodland, Winnie & Walter), I stamped the heart of the surrounding flowers using my new Tsukineko Delicata inks.

I thought I was being smart getting the Quartet set containing 4 mini ink pads, but I had no idea they were fixed in a single row and are therefore rather useless (or very inconvenient to say the least) to ink up larger stamps. However, for my tiny flower hearts they worked great. For the flowers, I used Celestial Copper, and then decided to stamp a few more to fill in the white gaps between my poinsettias. For this, I used both Celestial Copper and  Golden Glitz. And I can only confirm the findings of other card makers that they are deliciously shimmery in real life.

I stamped the sentiment in Archival black ink and mounted my panel onto an A2 card base of pearlescent off white cardstock. Lastly, I wrapped some Hemptique twine in cream & gold around my card and tied it into a bow.

Challenges:

Winnie & Walter Rerun No. 17 - In Bloom: Hollie's Festive Florals

Allsorts - 396 Something new (my new Delicata inks)

STAMPlorations December Theme & Sketch

CHNC - 314 Anything Christams goes

CHNC Extra - Always Anything Christmas goes

SSS Wednesday challenge - Anything goes

Joy - Christmas wreath

While I was creating my card from the previous blog post, I thought I might just as well finish one of cards I had started earlier this year. After stamping the wreath (In Bloom: Hollie's festive florals, Winnie & Walter), I added a little shading using coloured pencils. I then stamped the berries and the sentiments (Brushstroke Christmas, Essentials by Ellen). When I wanted to add sparkle to the berries, a big blob of sparkly landed on my panel when I took off the cap of my marker, so I turned it into a feature and added dots of varying sizes in various places. For what's Christmas without a little sparkle, right?

All that was left to do, was mount my panel onto some red paper and adhere this to the front of my card. And that completes my first Christmas card for 2017!

Challenges:

Winnie & Walter - Rerun No. 17 - In Bloom: Hollie's Festive Florals

HLS - December Christmas Challenge:Wreath

STAMPlorations - December CAS challenge: Red and green (optional twist)

Creative with Stamps - 9 Use Christmas stamps

SSS Wednesday challenge - Anything goes

Cards in Envy - Celebrate the season

CAS-ual Fridays - CFC164 Celebrations

Just because...

After a week of lazing about, I decided it was time to create a new card using some of the supplies from the Black Friday sales that arrived last week. I was inspired by a couple of challenges and a technique video by Jennifer McGuire that I watched again this week. The technique is about negative space colouring. So instead of colouring the image, I left the image blank and coloured only the outside, using distress ink blending.

I used my MISTI to stamp the beautiful flower image (You are enough, Concord & 9th) in a light ink colour and then stamped it again onto a piece of masking paper. I cut out the image and masked off the image on my white panel before blending various distress inks in wintry hues (tumbled glass, broken china, faded jeans and seedless preserves) using my Clarity brushes. After the ink had fully dried, I stamped the image again in Versamark ink and heat embossed it using Liquid platinum embossing powder. After cutting my panel to the desired size, I added the sentiment (Brushed blossom, Concord & 9th), which I also heat embossed in Liquid platinum.

I mounted my panel onto a dry embossed (Starry night, Sizzix) A2 card front using foam tape and added a few sequins as a finishing touch.

Challenges:

Where Creativity Meets C9 - 4 Winter

Allsorts - 394/395 Blue Bingo
(3rd row horizontal - masking, dry embossing, blue and purple)

SSS Wednesday challenge - Anything goes

AAA Cards - #80 Silver

Last-minute Christmas cards

I still have a few more Christmas cards to share with you all, and then I will simply start on my Christmas cards for next year lol. I still have several unfinished projects and am hoping to finish at least some of them in the upcoming weeks.

Since I had been a good girl this year, creating my Christmas cards throughout the year, I only needed to make about 20 extra last-minute cards. I made 10 extra of this design. And I thought I was going to make 10 more of this design, but after stamping the sentiment (Clearly Besotted), I decided to go a different route.

I used the images of the stamp set to finish my one-layer design. For a festive look, I added clear Wink of Stella on the green elements and red stickles to the holly berries.

Challenges:

ABC Christmas - Y for Yikes: 10 identical cards

Cards in Envy - Celebrate the season

STAMPlorations CAS December - Red and green

Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

Holly Jolly - 86 Create a card OR anything but a card

Creative with Stamps - 9 Use Christmas stamps

Naughty or nice

This is my second post today, with a card for the current Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop.

I stamped the mug twice using distress ink and then masked the image to stamp the presents. I coloured the presents and my hot beverage using coloured pencils and then stamped the steam using Memento elderberry ink. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder (Simon Says Stamp). I grounded my images by blending Pumice Stone DI using a Clarity stencil brush and blended some Shaded Lilac DI at the top end. These images are from a fun set by Clear Impressions and came as a free gift with a stamping magazine from the UK. For the inside, I used one of the freebies provided for the current Coffee Lovers blog hop by Verve Stamps.

I'm linking my card up at:

Jingle Belles - Christmas linky party

CAS Mix Up - Stamping + sponging + die cutting & heat embossing & coloured pencils

LIM and CoffeeLovers

To start, I have a super quick card for this week's challenge at Less is More, #306 One layer - Outlines

I stamped the alphabet border stamp by Hero Arts onto Neenah desert storm cardstock using Versafine sepia ink, and then coloured in the h and i using a blue glitter gel pen. To finish off, I rounded one of the corners using my corner chomper.

Next up, I have a tag for 2 recurring events: the 2016 Winter Coffee Lovers blog hop and Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags for Christmas with a Feminine Twist. My tag was inspired by the theme of day 5 (Frozen) and the sketch of day 7.

Using a die from Lil' Inker Design, I cut the tag from white cardstock (Neenah) and striped vellum (Papertrey Ink). I used a Copic marker to colour my white tag and the cups, which is from a digital set by Verve Stamps, provided for free for the current CoffeeLovers blog hop. I fussy cut the cups and layered them on my vellum tag. The sentiment (by Clear Impressions from a set that came as a free gift with a stamping magazine) was stamped using black archival ink, and silver fibres came from my stash. As a finishing touch, I added a little festive sparkle to my cups using a Spectrum Noir clear glitter marker.

I'm also linking my tag up at Sparkles Christmas Challenges - 71 Anything but a card

Quick and easy Christmas card

Today's Christmas card was quick and easy to make and was inspired by Kylie's card for day 5 of her Twelve Days of Christnas Cards Challenge.

After stamping the holly and stamping and heat embossing the circle element (all from the Happy Christmas set by Winnie & Walter) using sparkling irridescent ep (JudiKins), I added a red frame, which was die cut using the Stitched Scallop edge frame Die-namics (My Favorite Things). To finish off, I added some subtle sparkle to the holly and frame with a Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen.

Challenges:

Kylie's 12 Days of Christmas cards

Stamplorations CAS challenge - Red and green

ATSM - 224 CAS

HLS - December anything goes with dies

I'm also linking this card up at AAA Cards, where I have been the Guest Designer for the current challenge, Game #79 Christmas. There's still a few days left to link up your cards.

And last but not least, I'm linking it up at the Jingle Belles Christmas linky party to wrap up another year of Christmas card making. 

AAA Cards #79 Christmas

I'm delighted to be making a guest appearance on the AAA Cards blog for Game #79, which is all about Christmas.

This fortnight's challenge graphic inspired me to create a card featuring the traditional green, red and silver using stamps from a set that came as a free gift with a crafting magazine from the UK.

I 'inked' up my stamp using Letraset Aquamarkers and gave a light spritz with water before stamping. I worked from light to dark, spritzing more water for my lighter colours in the background and spritzing less water for my darker foreground image. After heat embossing my ornament in liquid platinum embossing powder (Ranger), I coloured the image by scribbling on an acrylic block with a red marker and picking up the colour with a damp brush. I stamped the red bow using pigment ink and used some silver thread to 'hang' my ornament. The sentiment was stamped in Archival black ink. I also heat embossed the edges of my panel using liquid platinum ep and adhered my panel to a red card base (Schoolhouse red, SSS). As a finishing touch, I added a little clear Wink of Stella to the ornament and the bow.

Have you finished creating your Christmas cards for this year? If not, why don't you go and check out the AAA Cards blog for more inspiration? I would love to see you play along.

I'm also linking my card up at:

CAS on Sunday - 97 Christmas

Allsorts - 392 CAS

52CCT - Pick a previous - April theme #49: Christmas foliage

Passing on the bug...

Back in October, I gifted my sister with a set of Colorista markers and colouring books (both by Crafter's Companion), and she has taken to them like a duck to water. She sent me the following card, where she has used her new markers to 'paint' in the stamped images. With her permission, I am posting her card here on my blog and linking it to Kathy Racoosin's 30 day colouring challenge.

She does not have a blog herself, so please give her some love here.

25 Days of Christmas Tags - Day 10

I have one last tag to share for Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.

This tag was heavily inspired by Tracey's own tag for day 10. I thought I owned the stamp set that she used, but my trendy tree is a set by Neat & Tangled (Bright Baubles), which was included in last year's Stamp of Approval box. The sentiment stamp is from the Ornaments set by Simon Says Stamp. The twine is by Hemptique. The die is from a set of dies by Studio Calico.

25 Days of Christmas Tags - Day 11

Just popping in quickly to post another tag that I created for Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.

Today's tag was heavily inspired by Teri Anderson's tag for Day 11.

Materials used:

Most of the products were included in previous Stamp of Approval collections (large label die - Neat & Tangled; snowflake dies - CAS-ual Fridays; sentiment stamp - Neat & Tangled).

Cardstock - Neenah solar white and Core'dinations

Small label die - Simon Says Stamp

Twine - Hemptique

Another MCV71 Christmas tag

Here's the second tag that I created for the current MCV challenge and Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event (Day 16).

This time, I focused on Lesley's snowflake tag, but instead of using heat embossing, I used an embossing folder to create my snowflake vellum. I finshed my tag off with a few Kaiserkraft pearls and some fun ribbon from my (very old) stash.

Lindsey's tag:

MCV71 Christmas tag

Last night, I managed to create two tags for the current Muse:Christmas Visions challenge, which is collaborating with Tracey's annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags event.

The inspiration for my first tag came from Stephanie's pretty and soft creation below:

Instead of using a big word die, I heat-embossed the Peace stamp by Winnie & Walter in liquid platinum ep (Ranger) and then heat embossed again in irridescent sparkle ep (Judi Kins). I was going for some sparkle but ended up with a holographic look. I do like how it turned out, though.

Challenges:
Muse:Christmas Visions 71
25 Tags of Christmas Tags - Day 16