It's Purple Really

This week my friend Linda challenged me to make a card using the emboss resist technique. It's been a bit of a hectic week so I only got around to making my card today.

I just love this technique - nothing like doing a bit of embossing and then getting inky!

Unfortunately my camera seems to be having a problem distinguishing purple from blue today so even though my card is very purple having used shaded lilac and dusty concord distress inks, my card and tag look more blue in the photos.

I started by clear embossing snowflakes from a number of Hero Arts sets (will add names tomorrow) on white card. After applying the distress inks I sprinkled water on the panel using Tim Holtz's Splatter Brush which Linda recently gave me - thanks again, Linda:) Once the panel was panel was dry I adhered it to a card base, added the embossed sentiment and finished it off with some gems.

I repeated the process on a tag I had die cut.

Another two items ready to go into my stash for Christmas.

Christmas Hogs & Kisses

I recently got Simon Says Stamp's Birthday Farm Animals set and since I love the images and am still in full Christmas card making mode thought I'd use one of the funny farm animals on a Christmas card.

Stamps - Birthday Farm Animals (Simon Says Stamp), Trim the Tree & Sweet Christmas (Lawn Fawn) and Happy Holidays & Designer Snowflakes (Hero Arts)

To start with I clear embossed snowflakes on kraft card, added some white card at the bottom and cut this background out using one of the dies from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes set. Then I had some fun with the little hog. After cutting him out and colouring him with Promarkers, I changed his party hat into a Santa hat and gave him a present and candy cane to hold from Lawn Fawn's Trim the Tree set. Then I die cut a speech bubble from Clearly Besotted's You Said It die set and used a mix of sentiments from Simon Says Stamp (Birthday Farm Animals) and Lawn Fawn (Sweet Christmas). To finish I added a tiny pom pom to the Santa hat and frosted lace stickles to the brim of the hat and on the ground. It's really foggy here today so unfortunately I didn't manage to capture any of the subtle shimmer in my photo.

I'm submitting this card into a few Simon Says Challenges - the Flickr Challenge #6 (die cutting), the Anything Goes Challenge and the Work it Wednesday Challenge (anything goes). I'm also submitting the card into The Die Cut Diva's Any Holiday Challenge.

Secret Santa

Over at the Hero Arts group on Flickr we have a little Secret Santa fun going on. Each Secret Santa is sending a Christmas card, a Christmas ATC and a little present to someone else who is taking part in the exchange. We'll only find out who our Secret Santa is when the package pops in through the letterbox.

I was playing Secret Santa to Laura and now that Laura has received her parcel I can show photos here. Well this Secret Santa was a forgetful Santa and forgot to take a photo of the little pressie but I did take photos of the ATC and card.

I just love the happy reindeer in the Christmas Reindeer set and pulled out one of them for the ATC.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Christmas Reindeer, Tiny Star Background, Designer Snowflakes
and Special Delivery

The reindeer was coloured with ProMarkers and layered in places for some dimension. To make the background, I applied distress inks (broken china, faded jeans & tumbled glass) to white card, spritzed water on the star background and stamped the panel. Then I stamped some snowflakes using faded jeans distress ink and embossed the sentiment. I wanted lots of sparkle on the ATC so added stickles to the snowy ground and white dots on the reindeer's jumper (sweater). In case it wasn't sparkly enough I also added a glittery red frame.

Next up is the card.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes and Special Delivery

For this one I embossed snowflakes on a panel of kraft card, inked the edges with white ink and did a bit of distressing. After stamping the sentiment and adding some gems, I layered the sentiment circle on a glittery die cut. To finish I just added a strip of ribbon and a bow.

I really enjoyed making the ATC and card for Laura and needless to say a trip to my lss to buy some little bits and pieces for her was fun too:) Hope you are having a fun and inky weekend:)

Snowy Hearts

I wanted to incorporate hearts into my hubby's Christmas card and needless to say I was back to the snowflakes again too!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes, Very Merry Christmas & Christmas Reindeer

I die cut a heart from a square of red card and embossed lots of snowflakes all over the panel. Then I applied some white ink to the edges and did a bit of distressing. After dry embossing a panel of white card, I placed it behind the heart window and then embossed the sentiment on another die cut heart. All of the pieces are popped up on foam pads and to finish I just added some gems.

As I had bits and pieces left over from making the card, I decided to use them to make a small card to act as a gift card holder.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes, Very Merry Christmas, Christmas Reindeer & Sew Artsy)

Again I just embossed snowflakes on the large heart left over from making the first card. This time I added a bit of silver embossing on the sentiment and stitched line holding the heart ornament. To finish I added a gem, a bow and a little pocket on the inside to hold the gift card.



I'm submitting these cards into Simons Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge and the current Hero Arts challenge (A Few of My Favourite Things category, as I love stamping and embossing and also love using individual stamps to make a background).

Tonight we'll be watching one of our favourite programmes that really signals the start of the Christmas season for us here - The Late Late Toy Show . So we'll be setting down with a big bowl of popcorn, hot chocolate and will make some s'mores by the fire - ah bliss! Hope your weekend gets off to a great start too:)

Joy in the Snow

I love ribbon and have a big drawer packed with the stuff, so I thought it was time to start adding some to my Christmas cards to try to eat into my stash.

It was out with the Designer Snowflakes set again and surprise, surprise I'm back with a red, kraft and white combination again - I can't seem to leave that colour combo alone this year!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes & Joy Burst

I started by embossing the snowflakes on a panel of kraft card, inked the edges with white ink and attached a strip of ribbon for my bauble. Then I added a border of red glitter card before sticking the panel to the card base using foam pads. Next up was the bauble. I die cut the picot edged circle and cut a circle from the same glitter card I had already used. Thanks to my friend Linda, I had the lovely Joy Burst image - thanks again, Linda:) On this card I just used the sentiment from that image, and to try to give it a snowy look covered it with a layer of frosted lace stickles and sprinkled on some powdery white glitter.



After layered everything using foam pads, I just added a bow to finish. I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge and the current Hero Arts Challenge - A Few of my Favourite Things category as I used one of my favourite techniques, stamping and embossing.

With all these snowflakes I'm dreaming of a white Christmas - are you?

Prancing Through the Snow

One of my favourite cute Christmas stamp sets is Hero Arts’ Christmas Reindeer set - I love the sweet reindeer in their adorable little jumpers (sweaters) so much. I seem to be using kraft card over and over again on my Christmas bits and pieces so I took a big, deep breath and stepped away from it for this card!



Stamps (Hero Arts) – Christmas Reindeer, Very Merry Christmas and Designer Snowflakes.

I stamped the reindeer a number of times and after cutting them out coloured them with ProMarkers. The heads and jumpers are on foam pads for a little dimension. Maureen sent me the pretty glitter domes that I used for the reindeer’s noses – thanks again, Maureen:) I save these pretties for any reindeer cards I make. Our sons were looking at the card after I made it, one said I should have only one Rudolph on my card but the other one said I could use artistic licence - so that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

To make the background I put a mix of distress inks (broken china, tumbled glass and faded jeans) on a piece of tinfoil and spritzed with a water and perfect pearls mix. Then I pressed a panel of watercolour card over the ink and kept repeating the process until I was happy with the background. As usual, I'm finding it hard to capture the shimmer in a photo but here's a little glimpse of it in this photo.

Once the panel was dry, I stamped snowflakes using broken china and faded jeans distress ink. To finish I added some machine stitching and the sentiment stamped in barn door distress ink.

I’m submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge, A Few of My Favourite Things category as I enjoying creating a scene with stamping.

Colourful Christmas

I love Hero Arts' cute New England Winter stamp and this time wanted to make a colourful winter scene with it.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - New England Winter, Very Merry Christmas, Designer Snowflakes & Christmas Reindeer

I started by embossing snowflakes on kraft and inked the edges with white ink. Then I added some snow banks on foam pads. The little houses were stamped in various colours using either markers or distress ink. After cutting them out and adding them to the scene I added loads of stickles and some rhinestones for some sparkle.



I wish I could capture in a photo all of the shimmer from the stickles. I'm submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge (A Few of My Favourite Things category as I used a couple of my favourite stamping techniques - embossing and creating a scene with stamps).

All wrapped up - well first one anyway!

I have to admit I have barely started my Christmas shopping, yet here I am thinking about how I'm going to wrap and tag pressies!

The other day I used Spellbinders' picot edge circles as the base for my tags and as I love the pretty edging, I took them out again for my next set of gift tags.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes, Christmas Ornament set & Christmas Tags set

This time I also went with a white/kraft colour combination but threw in some red too. I die cut the various layers and stamped the sentiments and snowflakes using barn door distress ink. After that I put the tags together using foam pads for some dimension and added some embroidery floss.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes, Christmas Ornament set & Christmas Tags set

When it came to taking photos of the tags they were slipping and sliding all over the place. But then I spotted these little guys who made the perfect props to keep my tags upright!



I made quite a few of these tags in no time at all, and with a slight change in colour used one on a pressie I was wrapping.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes & Christmas Tags set

To make the wrapping paper I stamped a number of snowflakes (again using barn door distress ink) over a piece of paper taken from a plain roll of parcel paper. After adding ribbon I topped the present off with a tag. I can't believe I have my first Christmas present wrapped already - lol I'm never that organised!! I'm submitting these into the current Hero Arts Challenge (A Few of My Favorite Things category as I stamped sentiment frames and also made my own wrapping paper by stamping on plain parcel wrap) as well as the Die Cut Divas' Let's Celebrate Challenge.

Hope you have a fun and inky weekend:)

Snowflake Gift Tags

After making my last card I still had kraft card on my table, so when I wanted to make some snowflake gift tags this morning, I went with a kraft and white colour combination. I love the very pretty snowflakes from Hero Arts' Designer Snowflakes set and used these on all of the tags.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes & Very Merry Christmas

I started by die cutting the tag bases and added some string. Then I die cut some kraft card, embossed the snowflakes & sentiment and added gems. To try to add an even more snowy look to the tags I inked the edges with white ink. The snowflake pieces were added to the bases using foam pads. These tags are so easy and simple to make and put together, I think I'll make a batch of them over the weekend.



I'm submitting these tags into the current Hero Arts challenge (A Few of my Favourite Things category, as I used one of my favourite stamping techniques - stamping and embossing) as well as the Die Cut Divas' Let's Celebrate challenge.