Tractor card

 Just a quick card that I put together to create a fun scene for a little fella turning 3 (who likes tractors!).  I used the 5596 - Harvest Farm Truck Set from Art Impressions, masked it, and added a gnome from 5785 Gnomes Set as the driver.  Since I wanted to create a little scene, I added the barn, and fence from 5371 - WC Barn Set.  The rest was sketched in with a pencil.

These sets are typically part of the Watercolour line at Ai, but I wanted to be quick and simple, so used Copic markers.  I took a black fineline pen and outlined all of the features that I drew in to balance things out.  I stitched the scene to some black cardstock with my sewing machine, and mounted it to the bright background paper with some 3D foam adhesive.

Christmas Bouquet

Still working on Christmas cards!  I purchased a few sets from Pigment Craft Co. this fall, as I love their style, so made up 8 of these today.  This is Christmas Bouquet Outline stamp/stencil set.  I've used their unique ink colour palette, and added a little sparkle paper and a few gems for some bling.

 

Cooking Up Christmas

 Betsy Veldman creates the most amazing product suites, and the Cooking Up Christmas set from last year is just darling.  I love the slightly retro vibe that the graphic creates, and kept the overall card design pretty simple to show it off.  This is only a 3-part stencil!  But I used several different Distress Oxide Inks on each layer to create my scene.  The coordinating stamp set adds in all the wonderful details like the icing, jar shading and all the fun words.

After stencilling & stamping, I blended some warm brown tones around the edges to age things a little, and sewed my panel onto my card base with my sewing machine.  I'm debating on adding a little Distress Glitter... but will sit on that idea for a bit.  Happy to have 12 of these in my pile of holiday cards!

Merry Stitchmas

 I loved the Spellbinder's Advent calendar that they brought out last year, and when I saw that they'd created a Merry Stitchmas calendar this year, I thought it would be a great time to try stitching on some holiday projects.  I give away a lot of Christmas tags to friends and family with my holiday cards, so I knew this was the thing for me!

                                 

When I was first test cutting out all the dies, I somehow started with this funky colour combo, and just went with it - creating a coordinating set of tags in this teal/pink/kiwi colourway.

I learned pretty quickly that I loved how the metallic gold thread looked, and decided to go with just a single strand.

The ugly Christmas sweaters are one of my favourites in the collection!

I've got a few more of these in the works (I've got 72 tags assembled!), so will do another post soon.

Still more Coffee Cards

They are my favourite kind of card to make!  I loved using the Warm & Wonderful set from The Greetery, along with the Winter Farmhouse papers from Simple Stories, that I kept going, and made 6 more.  I had stamped multiples when I first used this set, so I had fun mixing and matching papers to get these put together.

Snowglobe Shaker Card

My second card for the Art Impressions Watercolour Weekend is a Snowglobe Shaker card!  These are so little and fun to make - and there are so many possibilities to use with the shaker shape. 

I chose the snowmen duo from 5846 - Mini Christmas Set, using Tombows #969/565, and stamping them on Bristol Smooth Cardstock.  I then traced around them using the dome as a guide.  I cut out a mask, and covered up the snowmen, then used the smallest pine tree from 5826 WC Large Tree Set 2, and stamped it three times in #249 to appear behind them.  I painted in #526/847 on their scarves and clothes, and used #N45 for his top hat, adding layers to darken it at the sides to appear rounded.  I used my #933 marker directly on the paper for their noses, and then painted a wash of #565 as the sky, and as shadows around my snowmen - shadows are the key to making the snowmen stand out against a snowy background!  After touching the trees with a damp paintbrush, I used Bleedproof White paint to add snow to the branches, around the base of the snowmen, and as a few falling snowflakes.  I used my Twintone Navy marker to add in a few of the lines that needed to be darker - especially their faces.

I decided on a 5" square card, and chose several papers from the 5853 - Christmas Magic Paper pack, using the circle die that comes with the 5791 - WC Snowglobe Set to cut the opening in the striped paper.  I glued the scene to my card base, added some glitter and snowflakes on top of it, then adhered the 5808 - Snowglobe Shaker Dome onto it, sealing in all the shaker bits.  I added the striped paper over top, then added the base of the snowglobe, which I had stamped, painted and fussy cut out to complete my globe!  *Don't forget to remove the plastic coating that covers the dome, before you put the paper over top (ask me how I know!!)  The sentiment is included in the Snowglobe set.  I used a few of the snowflakes from the 5782 - Snowflake Frame Set to glue around my globe.

Christmas Cars

I have two cards to share today for the Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog.  I've been having a great time painting with many of the new Ai Christmas stamp sets.  I may have squealed when I first saw 5823 - Christmas Cars Set... it's possibly my favourite set ever created by Bonnie - so I couldn't wait to ink it up.

I'm using Bristol Smooth Cardstock today, as it is a lovely bright white colour, and it works well for snowy scenes.  I first cut out the decorative oval die shape, so I'd have my painting area defined for me.  I inked up first the car, then the presents using Tombows #969/565 - purposely stamping the presents just a little askew, as though they were precariously stacked on the roof, with the help of my stamp positioner.  I picked the larger wreath from 5830 - WC Mini Wreath Set, coloured it with #249, and stamped it on the front of the car.

I picked my colour palette according to my background paper, so started painting the car with #526, using a watered down layer on the hood of the car, which would be lighter, and a more saturated shade for the front and undersides of the vehicle.  #N45 was used to paint in the tires, and all the chrome bits around the headlights and grill.  I used #126/703/847/249 to paint in the presents, adding some diagonal stripes on some of the wrapping paper.  I painted in a wash of #565 as the sky, trying to indicate some snowbanks at the side of the road, and used it to shade under the tires, and on the windshield.  I lightly touched the wreath with a damp paintbrush, and added dots of #847 as berries.  To create my snow, I used Bleedproof White Paint to add snow on the parcels, car and wreath, along with a few snowflakes in the sky.  My oval die is from Pinkfresh Studio, and the Poinsettia/holly are Spellbinders.

This was fairly quick and easy to paint - so I plan to make a bunch more to send this season.  To assemble my card, I cut out a slightly larger oval in the same warm pink shade as my present, and mounted it behind my scene.  I adhered it to my striped paper from the 5853 - Christmas Magic Paperpack

2023 Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

Today is the start of the 2023 Coffee Lover's Blog Hop - still happy to say that I've never missed one of the hops!  I have a card using products from The Greetery today:

This is the Warm & Wonderful stamp and die set.  I love that Betsy thinks of everything - all the little bits & pieces around my mug, including the straw are part of this stamp set, and it comes with a couple of great sentiments... although this one is from a classic Verve set.

My papers are Winter Farmhouse from Simple Stories (love these!)  They have a lovely, warm fall/winter vibe.

If you get a chance - check out the hop, Amy Tsurata does a great job putting together an amazing list of sponsors and some wonderful inspiration.  You can find it here.