Christmas Card Multiples - Pastel Snowflakes

Hi there

Last weekend I counted up how many Christmas cards I had ready to go, and how many I still needed to send.  Whoops....I appeared to be around 40 short!  So I played around and created a card that I was happy with, then I recreated it and made 40 in 3 hours!

The MISTI was an absolute godsend for the multiple stamping but I didn't make things easy for myself, I included masking, ink blending and heat embossing too!  And as all of these were being sent in the mail I made these one layer too!

I'm really pleased with how these turned out so this post is a bit photo-heavy!  I took a few lol

Ok, so here's what I did...

I started by cutting and scoring all my cardstock then laid a piece of masking tape across each card in the same position.  Next I ink blended it the pale green, blending up and down from the masking tape and fading it out.  I then used the MISTI to position the first three snowflakes which were stamped in pink and stamped these on each card.  I then positioned the next three snowflakes and repeated the process with the green ink.  The masking tape was then removed and I used the MISTI once again to stamp the sentiment across the previously masked strip.  The final two snowflakes were then stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed using some clear sparkly embossing powder.  The cards did warp a little but after a little time under a heavy box they were good to go :)

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio; Altenew - Rose Quartz and Mountain Mist; VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes; Clearly Besotted - Most Wonderful
• Embossing Powder: All Night Media - Crystal Sparkle

I'd like to enter this design at the following challenges:

My Time to Craft - Challenge #336 - Christmas Non-Traditional Colours
Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #456 - Snowflakes
CAS-ual Fridays - Challenge #163 - Christmas & Hanukkah
Addicted to Stamps and More - Challene #224 - CAS
Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #179 - Christmas with a Twist ( I used non-traditional colours)
A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #184 - Anything Christmas Goes
Dream Valley - Challenge #146 - Christmas
AAA Cards - CAS Game #79 - Christmas



And another challenge has now appeared at Merry Monday #228 were we can submit our favourite Christmas card of 2016 so I'm popping this one in over there too :)




Thanks so much for visiting today and I'd love to hear what you think of these.  I have a few more cards to share here on my blog, including another set of multiples.  I just wanted to give these a little more time to arrive overseas before sharing with you.

I hope to see you again very soon :)

Less is More Week #307 and #308

Hi there

A new challenge is starting at Less is More today and it will run for two weeks to cover the Christmas holidays.  And we have a Theme challenge for you which is...

Children

Due to the pre-Christmas craziness I've only had time to make one card for you for this challenge.  And while trawling through my stash I realised I have very little to fit this challenge.  But I did find this cute ballerina image from one of the very first Clearly Besotted stamp sets, Twinkle Toes.

I started by stamping the ballerina image using my MISTI by repeatedly stamping with pink and lilac ink, overlapping in the centre until I had an even ombre blend.  The image was then die cut with the stitched rectangle.  I stamped the sentiment onto the card base in VersaMark and heat embossed in silver.  The die cut panel was adhered using fun foam and the gems and stars were adhered to add a finishing touch of sparkle.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Twinkle Toes
• Ink: Altenew - Rose Quartz, Soft Lilac; VersaMark
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Inside and Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangles
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver
• Accents: Smooth silver gems and stars from shaker selection - From stash

Challenge entry:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #224 - CAS

Thanks so much for your visit today, and to all of you that have participated at Less is More throughout the year.  My teamies and I love seeing how you interpret our challenges each week.  As this is a two week challenge hopefully you will be able to find some crafty time over the Christmas break.  The next challenge at Less is More will be on New Years Eve.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cards Challenge with Kylie and Friends!

Hi there

Today I'm excited to be sharing a card as part of Kylie's Twelve Days of Christmas Cards Challenge.  

For twelve days Kylie is sharing a different handcrafted Christmas card and has some friends from blogland joining her each day along the way.  I'm delighted to have been asked to join her today, which is Day 11.  So please do click back through Kylie's posts if you've missed the previous posts with some wonderful inspiration.

Kylie is my 'boss lady' at Happy Little Stampers (and also at Addicted to Stamps and More where I was previously a DT member).  I also had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful lady back in July at the Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat, she's an absolute star.

Ok, back to the challenge, you can enter as many times as you like and there are prizes up for grabs too! The linky tool will be open until 12pm on the 17th of December (AEST).

$20 Gift Certificate

$20 Gift Certificate

20€ Gift Certificate

So, onto my card, and I've used one of the new sets from the latest Happy Little Stampers release, Christmas Joy...

On a panel of white cardstock I masked off the top half and firstly stamped my holly images in VersaMark before heat embossing in white.  I then used the emboss resist technique to blend over three different green shades of Distress Ink before removing the mask.  I then used the watercolour lift technique by adding water to the leaves and lifting the colour away with a paper towel.  I stamped the sentiment in black and adhered the panel onto the card base using 3D foam.  I then added some Stickles in pink....after looking for red Stickles which I don't actually own! lol

Materials used:

• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Joy
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Forest Moss, Pine Needles, Lucky Clover; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White
• Accents: Stickles - Pink

Challenge entries:

A Gem of a Challenge - Challenge #184 - Anything Christmas Goes
Dream Valley - Challenge #146 - Christmas
Fantasy Stampers - Challenge #77 - CAS Christmas
AAA Cards - Game #79 - Christmas
Inkspirational - Challenge #123 - CAS with Sparkle

Thanks so much for joining me today.  I hope you'll play along by linking up your Christmas creations.  We would love to see them and you might even win one of the fantastic prizes up for grabs.

Bye for now

Less is More Week #306

Good morning

At Less is More this week can you believe it's time for another One Layer challenge?!  And we have an interesting one for your one layers this week...

Outlines

I should have been using this as an opportunity to make more Christmas cards as I'm still way behind with the amount that I need, but no, I went with a Thank You and an Anniversary!  I'm so helpful to myself, lol!

Anyhow, here goes with card number one where I used an outline style font...

I used some watercolour cardstock as my card base here and watercoloured a central area with three colours of Distress Ink.  Once completely dry and prepped with my anti-static powder tool I stamped the Thanks in VersaMark and heat embossed in white.  That was it for this one.  The card is a little warped from the water and the heat embossing so I'll need to place it under something heavy for a while longer.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch; VersaMark
• Stamp: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #6
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entry

CASology - Challenge #227 - Space

And now for my second card which has a few outlines..

I started by embossing my card base using a stitched heart die.  I then stamped the pebble couple before masking and then stamping the bench.  Next I chose a 'happy' in a shadow outline font which I stamped in red to match the enamel heart I added above, and then finished off the rest of the sentiment in black.  So I have the outline image, the heart outline and the outlined 'happy'.

Materials used:

• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Heart Stax
• Stamps: Inkwell Stamps - Pebbles Allsorts; Wplus9 - Whole Lotta Happy; Clearly Besotted - Happy Everything (anniversary sentiment)
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versa Color - Camelia
• Accents: Enamel heart from stash

Challenge entry:

Penny Black & More - December Challenge - Black and White Plus One

My teamies and I would love for you to join in and play along this week.  They have also created some wonderful cards this week so please do take a minute to visit their personal blogs if you can, in between the madness of the Christmas preparations!

Hope to see you again soon :)

Muse #195 - Butterfly Ribbon Birthday

Good afternoon, Crafters

As we're back to the first Monday of the month it's my turn to be your designer for this week's challenge over at Muse.

Hopefully you'll be able to take inspiration from some elements of my card this week, eg. the layout, the horizontal curve, the ombre colouring, the butterfly, inliad die cut, scripty sentiment.  Although it's very CAS hopefully you can draw some ideas from it.

I was itching to use this new die that I bought from the Sincerely Yours Papercraft Show last weekend.  As much as I desperately need to get more Christmas cards made this was a welcome break from the festive creations, and we always need birthday cards in our stash!

I started by die cutting the butterfly ribbon from a panel of white cardstock.  I then also die cut it from a panel that I'd blended with three Distress Inks.  I then just needed to slot them together.  I wanted to pop my panel up for some dimension which would mean the inlaid die would be floating so I slotted the three pieces together and used some sticky tape on the reverse to adhere the butterfly section to the white parts above and below.  Next I manipulated my sentiment stamp to follow the curve before stamping in black then used some 3D foam strips to adhere the panel to the card base.

Materials used:

• Die: Poppy Stamps - Bellina Butterfly Ribbon
• Ink: Distress Ink - Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Sweet Little Sentiments

Challenge entries:

Allsorts Challenge - Week #392 - CAS
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  If you have a chance between Christmas crafting and preparing for the big day I'd love for you to join in this week...or perhaps even change this up to suit a festive creation!

Less is More Week #305

Hi guys

It's 8am on a Saturday morning which marks new challenge day over at Less is More.  And the first Saturday of the month means we're back with a Colour challenge for you.  This week we would like to see...

Primary Colours

We have a new Challenge Sponsor for the month of December...

Bev from Uniko is joining us as a Guestie this week, as is our October Winner, Kathy K of Purple Princess Diaries.  Please do pop over to their personal blogs and show them some love.

I'm desperately trying to get my Christmas cards made as I was very late last year.  And this year I'm even later getting started!  So, if I can make a challenge fit, it calls for another card to add to the stack that is slowly getting taller.  So here's card number one...

A bit more emboss resist after last week's challenge!  I embossed the snow and stars in clear embossing powder and then inked over in blue.  I then die cut a section of my inking using a stitched circle die.  I die cut another circle in white and die cut again using a stitched landscape die to create the snow.  Before adhering together I stamped the sentiment.  The little polar bear's hat was stamped first, then masked before stamping the bear.  I coloured with ProMarkers and then fussy cut him out and adhered him to the scene. This was then popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Snowy Backdrops; Clearly Besotted - Arctic Animals
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Clear Gloss
• Ink: VersaMark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress Ink - Broken China
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Double Stitched Circle Stax; Mama Elephant - Landscape Trio
• Coloured with ProMarkers

Challenge entries:

CAS on Sunday - Challenge #97 - Christmas
Time Out - Challenge #71 - Christmas
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #34 - Anything Goes with Christmas

Dream Valley - Challenge #145 - Winter Animals

I decided to make a gender neutral birthday card too...

I die cut the stitched rectangle first and then stamped the sentiment using the MISTI to ensure I got a good impression.  I die cut two balloons from scraps of patterned paper and added some hand drawn strings before adhering the balloons off the top edge. The panel was then adhered using 3D foam, with a little under the balloons too.  Super easy!

Materials used:

• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Wonky Stitched Rectangles; Clearly Besotted - Laugh Out Loud
• Stamps: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #2
• Ink: Versa Color - Cyan and Royal Blue

Thanks so much for popping by today.  My teamies have created some wonderful cards this week so please pay them a visit if you have time.  I know they will appreciate it.

Happy Little Stampers December 2016 CAS Challenge

Hi there

And welcome to a new CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  For this challenge we would like you to revisit your favourite technique or product from any of the previous 2016 CAS Challenges.

This challenge is sponsored by Happy Little Stampers and as always there's a prize for one lucky winner...

Over on the main challenge blog, here, we have included a list of all the previous challenges to refresh your memory, together with links if you need help with the techniques.

One of my favourite techniques is Ghosting.  Stencils are inexpensive so are great to add to your stash without breaking the bank. Here's my DT card, I decided to add another to my Christmas card collection and used one of the stamp sets from the lastest HLS release, Christmas Joy... 

On a piece of white cardstock I blended an area with Distress Ink in Festive Berries.  I then laid the holly stencil over it, spritzed with water, removed the stencil before leaving for a few moments and blotting away the colour with the paper towel.  I then flicked some splatters over it with a mix of perfect pearls and water.  Once completely dry I die cut a section of the red panel with a stitched tag die.  I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in silver.  I stamped the holly images onto the card base in silver pigment ink and coloured the berries with a coloured pencil.  Finally, I tied some ribbon and thread through the tag before adhering the tag using some fun foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Festive Berries; VersaMark; Versa Color - Silver
• Stencil: Tim Holtz - Festive
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Traditional Tag Stax
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Joy
• Accents: Perfect Pearls - Pewter; Derwent Coloursoft pencils; ribbon and thread from stash

Challenge entries:

Time Out - Challenge #71 - Christmas with Optional twist of Glitter/Shimmer
Moving Along with the Times - Challenge #34 - Anything Christmas

Uniko - Challenge #38 - Christmas
Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #222 - Make Your Mark (sponging and stencilling)
Creative Inspirations - Challenge #263 - Christmas Creations
The Crafter's Cafe - Challenge #162 - Christmas and/or Birthday

I'm looking forward to seeing lots of these great techniques in the gallery, so why not join in!  The challenge will run until the end of December, and don't forget to check out the rest of the HLS challenges, all starting in the next few days.