Together For Christmas

When I see a gorgeous patterned paper like this one, I just have to buy it...  I loved the colours, and the pretty botanical/holiday illustration.  It is "Together For Christmas" by Pink Paislee, and when I was shopping at the Papercrafter's Workshop, I spied this Blue Obsidian Mirror Cardstock by Tonic Studios not far away, and knew that I had to pair the two together.

Scroll down to see how pretty this mettalic blue cardstock is... I put it on a white tag that I sponged with Worn Lipstick and Candied Apple Distress Oxide inks, keeping the center white to give it the illusion of being a round ornament.  I added a few sprigs of greenery and a knot of navy/white Baker's twine to finish it off. 

Six more in my stash!

Freshly Made Sketches #404

A few more simple Christmas cards using this week's Freshly Made Sketch.  They are lovely and flat for mailing!

 I edged each of the branch layers with a little glue and sprinkled liberally with chunky glitter:

Four more for my stash!

Patterned paper is Kringle & Co. by Photoplay.  Stamp is Close To My Heart. Tree die is Dee's Distinctively.

Watercolour class, anyone?

I am teaching a Beginner's Ai Watercolour class on October 20th at The Papercrafter's Workshop in Stouffville, Ontario - and would love to have you come and play with these fun stamps!

If you've never tried them before - or if you own a few, but don't know how to start, this class is for you.  Art Impressions line of watercolour stamps is based around flowers & greenery, and they have a wide range of different containers to choose from.  Here are the two cards we'll be making:

There will be an advanced class happening in the afternoon... more on that in a day or two.  Check out The Papercrafter's Workshop website here for more details.

Just Mason Around

Such a cute name!  Love this stamp set, and can hardly wait to try filling it with different blooms and sprigs of greenery.  I made up a couple of these this week, leaving off the sentiment so that I can use them for just about any occasion (one was a good luck card... and I think the other will be a get well soon card).  I like having basic cards on hand, and adding the sentiments when I need them:

The Greetery Birthday card

I am in love with everything by The Greetery, and was lucky enough to play with several of their sets this summer with my niece!  I used a couple of sprigs that I stamped with Distress Oxide inks and die cut out, and layered them onto a background that I softly stencilled in Broken China ink.  I used my embossing tool to add a raised border line around the edge.

Watercolor Weekend Fall Wreath

A few weeks ago, I posted a summery wreath using my Art Impressions Watercolor stamps, and as soon as the leaves started turning, I created a fall version:

 I began by tracing a 2 1/4" circle onto my Canson Watercolor paper with a pencil to use as a guideline.  I picked my colour palette of softer, faded colours of Tombow Markers.  Using #098 Avocado, I coloured up the leafy branch from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4, stamping it in first and second generation in four clusters around the circle.  Using both of the vine stamps from the same set, I coloured them both up in #992 Sand and tucked them around the greenery (I love it that there are two vines bending in different directions - they make great filler stamps on a wreath!)

Now I wanted to add in the pumpkin elements before my wreath got too full, so I started with the cluster of tiny flowers from 4868 WC Flower Set 2.  Using #533 Peacock Blue I stamped them 3 times in a circle in the lower left corner of my wreath, and then tucked them in three other places around the perimeter.  Starting with the smaller pumpkin from 5059 - WC Harvest Set, I coloured the body in #946 Gold Ochre, and the stem in #098 Avocado.  I masked it, and stamped the larger pumpkin behind it.  I softened the lines with a damp #4 paintbrush, pulling out the colour - leaving the top edges white as the highlight.  I picked up some #879 Brown from my palette adding shadows to the lower sections of the pumpkins, and in their crevices.  I took the wheat image from 5008 - WC Flower Set 3 (I think it's supposed to be lavender, but today they are wheat stalks!) and colouring it with #991 Light Ochre - I stamped them repeatedly behind the pumpkins, and cascading below them.  And finally I used one of the berry images from 4963 - WC Fall Set coloured in #879 Brown and #837 Wine Red for the berries, and tucked them in and around the wreath where I could.  I only dabbed lightly with my damp brush, as I don't want the lines of the images to deteriorate with the addition of too much water.  I picked up #098 from my palette, and wherever I had white space, I hand painted in a few extra leaves.

The sentiment is from the 4205 - Harvest TF Set, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I die cut my panel with the 5063 Double Stitched Rectangle Die, matted it with black cardstock, and used 3D pop dots to adhere it to my kraft paper base.  I added a few amber coloured tiny sparkles to finish it off.  Be sure to visit the Art Impressions blog to see what Dot & Tricia have come up with!

Buffalo Plaid Christmas cards

I just adore this classic buffalo plaid paper from Photoplay's Kringle & Co. line... and got four of these made up this weekend:

 I've been using this older CTMH sentiment a lot on my cards this year!  Partly because I love how it fits so nicely in the Stitched Hexagon die from Art Impressions.  I die cut the bough and berries from a new Crafter's Companion die set called Seasonal Sprigs, and added a Baker's twine bow.

Snowmen holiday cards

Two more simple cards for my holiday card bin, using these cute snowmen papers from My Mind's Eye:

 I have a real love of non-traditional colours for Christmas cards, which means you'll often see a blue or green snowflake on my projects!  Once again, I let the patterned paper shine, and added a few snowflake and greenery die cuts.

Have a Holly Jolly

Labour Day was the start of a productive run of Christmas card making for me!  And I've managed to make multiples, so I got 6 of each of these made:

I give out a LOT of Christmas cards!  So I'm focusing on reasonably simple designs, taking advantage of the wonderful dies I have in my craft room, and I let my love of patterned paper do a lot of the talking.

I love the softer grey paired with these Falala papers from Crate Paper, and I added my trademark zigzag stitching to both cards.

Stitched hexagon dies are Art Impressions, Pine bough is Your Next Stamp.

How You Bean?

Oh, how I love this stamp set.  I had some time to pull out my Copics and colour up a few jelly beans today, and made a trio of cards for my daughter.  The stamp set is How You Bean? from Lawn Fawn, and papers are Perfectly Plaid Rainbow & Watercolor Wishes also by LF:

 All of them have been stitched to their mats with my sewing machine, and adhered to the base with pop dots.

I'm going to enter all of them into the SSS Stamptember Lawn Fawn giveaway.

Ai Bible Journaling Release

Time for another release by Art Impressions!  This week the Design Team are helping to launch 5 new Bible Journaling stamp sets.  I love using them for cards, so today I am using 5200 - Butterfly Set:

I was aiming for something a little mystical to show off this wonderful sentiment, so I created an ink blended background using five colours of Distress Oxide Inks. 

I kept the lightest shade in the middle where the sentiment would be, then worked with the two pink/blush shades and finally using the purple and blue around the outside. 

Using my Misti, I arranged the butterfly stamps around the sentiment, testing out my positioning on some scrap paper.  With just the butterflies in the Misti - I dampened all the images and stamped them onto my ink blended background.  The nature of Distress Oxide inks is that when you add water, the inks oxidize, so I was left with chalky white butterflies - a bit of an ethereal effect.  I then spattered the cardstock with water using a wet paintbrush, which gave it a wonderful speckled look.

Positioning the sentiment in the center of my piece, I stamped it in Onyx Black Versafine ink.  I used my Hemstitch Rectangle die to cut out the pattern around the rectangle, and mounted it onto black cardstock before adhering it to my card.

Building the Christmas stash

I had three days on my own this weekend (gasp!) and was determined to get a good kick start on my Christmas card stash, so I managed to get 6 of these done! 

I really love this paper from Crate Paper's Falala collection - the purpley/blue shade is just gorgeous!  I picked out some melon cardstock that matched the berries on the paper, die cut a large snowflake and a little circle that I stamped my ampersand onto.  I cut out my Echo Park "bright" word die in some silver paper and actually added a rhinestone as the i (after the photo was taken!).  Happy to have 6 frosty cards in my bin ready for the holidays!

Freshly Made Sketches #400

So happy to use the final sketch for the Freshly Made Sketches #400 celebration!  And even better, I made a Christmas card to add to my stash:

I bought two sheets of these Colourful Christmas papers from My Mind's Eye during a Christmas in July sale, and thought they'd work perfectly with the sketch.  I used my sewing machine to stitch the snowman panel onto a grey mat, and zigzagged the polka dot paper onto my card base.  A few colourful snowflakes & some bubble gems and it's done.  Congrats to FMS!  Love this challenge blog.