Jolly St. Nick

I picked up a few wonderful new-to-me items at The Papercrafter's Workshop Crafty Destash sale yesterday!  I was actually a vendor... but of course you have to check out what others are selling.  Here is the Jolly St. Nick stamp/stencil/die set that was released last fall by Concord & 9th:

I used Distress Oxide inks on a white, A2 panel, and used five of the stencils to put him together.  There are several sentiment stamps that fit on his beard, so I picked one of them, and stamped it in Hickory Smoke ink.

I also stamped and die cut several of the holly & leaf bits, then used the coordinating dies to cut them out and added them around him.  I cut then entire image with a stitched edge die.  I may add a little glitter before I mail this one out?

Warm painted background

This card is the warm version of the blue watercolour card I posted recently.  I painted them at the same time, doing the same wet-on-wet technique to move the colour around.  I painted both the card base, and a large scrap strip that I used to cut out the bits and pieces.

I hot foiled the grid plate from the March Betterpress Society set, Teardrop Mosaic onto my background using Rose Gold foil - and it's stunning!  The Floral Spray die set from Spellbinders was used to cut the flowers and foliage from my painted scraps.  I had a little metallic rose gold cardstock, so cut the small leaves and flower centers from it for a little shimmer.

After creating my floral grouping, I used the You Are Everything Sentiments plate to press my sentiment in Lisa Horton Copper Pot metallic ink on watercolour paper, and added it with some foam adhesive.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Bridal Shower card

 I had these bits and pieces on my craft desk from another project, and needed a bridal shower card - so they were perfect!  

This is the Arch Pierce and Press plate, Fresh Picked Buttercups and Serenade Sentiments.

I used the Essential Arches dies to cut the card base into the arch shape.  All dies are Spellbinders.

The outer and inner arches are popped up with 3D foam adhesive.  I added a little ink blending to the flowers and to the peach arch shape.

Foiled Lotus Field

I tried hot foiling the gorgeous Lotus Field press plate from Hero Arts - and it turned out beautifully!

I am using Aura hot foil from Spellbinders, which is actually a pale gold in real life, with a subtle glimmer of colour - it's not nearly as rainbowy as the photos show!  Still, it is absolutely gorgeous.

This one was pressed on white Hammermill cardstock, with only some very slight imperfections.  I wanted to keep most of the image, so the card is a little larger than A2 size.  I matted it with black, and adhered it onto a panel of Concord & 9th's Bluebell cardstock.

I used my Pinkfresh Studio reverse foiling plate to use the negative, which gave me the foiled flowers.  The image foiled really well with just a few imperfections.  My most successful reverse foil so far!

Here's a slightly better representation of the colour!  I used a hot foiled sentiment on black, and added a few black jewels.  Below shows the two foiled images.

Floral Mosaic

My second card with the March Betterpress Society plate, Teardrop Mosaic, was done using just two of the teardrop shapes.

I pressed the two floral teardrops on six different pastel colours of regular cardstock, using Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink for a softer look (it was Easter, so I reached for pastels!).  I was originally going to put them in a floral shape, but decide to split them, and add a sentiment across the middle.

 

The sentiment is from the Inkspired Wishes plate set from a few months ago - pressed in Lisa Horton Silver Shine metallic ink, and adhered with 3d foam adhesive.  I matted my white rectangle with a matte silver cardstock, and mounted it all on Art Impressions patterned paper.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop!

Teardrop Mosaic

For my first project with the March Betterpress Society plate set, Teardrop Mosaic, I did some painting!

This set includes the all-over grid pattern press plate, three sentiments, and four patterned designs in the teardrop shape.  I wanted to do a card featuring just the grid background, so I started off by painting a watercolour piece.

Using my set of Gansai Tambei paints, I did a pale turquiose wash on the entire piece, then with the panel still very wet, I started dropping colour around the outside, allowing it to bleed softly.  I made sure to keep the colour random, and made some areas darker than others - then added more of a navy shade in several places.

I also painted the same colours on a scrap strip of watercolour paper, along with a couple of complimentary colours.  I allowed the pieces to dry, and placed them under a heavy book overnight to flatten them.

Using Betterpress Black ink, I pressed the grid and one of the sentiments onto my panel.  *I had intentionally kept the center lighter, as I knew I'd be placing the sentiment there.

I used the Spring Florals stamp set from Pigment Craft Co. to stamp all the flowers and foliage onto my scrap piece, then fussy cut them all out.  The base was trimmed a little, then mounted on a piece of black cardstock.

I arranged all the pieces in opposite corners, then added a few silver pearls as the flower centers.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Lilac Poise

 Another Unity Stamp Co. image today - this is Lilac Poise.  I coloured it with my niece, and got to borrow her Olo markers!  Really great to try them, but I will be sticking with my Copics for now.

A bit of a different image for me - I loved being able to colour outside the lines a bit, and used a bunch of different colours both around the image, and on the blooms.

I used a hot foiled sentiment from the I Adore You sentiments from Spellbinders, and added a few champagne pearls.  the image and sentiment are both popped up with 3D foam adhesive.