Sunday 30 December 2018

FS621 - Season's Greetings


Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper Barb (aka Amisjag). I chose this card as my inspiration:




I focused on Barb's:
-holly/berry theme
-Season's Greetings sentiment
-dots

I changed:
-technique (from stencil to faux watercolour)
-grey card base
-more white space
-fewer layers


I don't know whether to call this my last Christmas card of 2018 or my first one for 2019! lol! After Christmas, I rounded up all the stamp sets I bought this year that didn't get used on Christmas cards, so that I can be sure to use them first in 2019. This fabulous Layered Holly set from Stamplorations (along with Layered Mistletoe and Layered Poinsettia) was one. I love the artistic look of the simple shapes included in this set.

I used a faux-watercolour technique by placing the 3 holly leaves on the door of my MISTI before inking them up with Lime Rickey ink, spritzing with water and then pressing onto watercolour cardstock. I re-inked just the edges with Spruce ink to give some colour variation and depth.

Then I did a similar technique with the berries, using Rockin' Red and then Grape Crush ink.

I went back and forth about whether to use the outline stamps but decided in the end to leave it as is and get a similar look to my inspiration. I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink.

The cardbase is Slate, and I used the berry stamp to make my 'dots' around the edges with Black Jack ink. I think the tone-on-tone stamping adds some texture and interest, similar to Barb's polka dot ribbon and dry embossed background.

I used:


Thursday 27 December 2018

Thursday 20 December 2018

Sunday 16 December 2018

FS619 - Snowflake Noel

 

Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper, DiHere. I chose this card as my inspiration:


I focused on Di's:
-snowflake in a circle
-blue and white colours

I changed:
-added black
-no shaker
-added a sentiment

I cut a circle using the larger circle die from the Snow Globe die set, and blended Something Borrowed and Suede Shoes ink onto it. I cut a Delicate Snowflake from White cardstock and used my Lawn Fawn Gluetube to adhere it to the blue circle. I cut the NOEL from Midnight and White cardstock and inlaid the white letters into the black frame.

I used:


Friday 14 December 2018

Catherine Pooler Designs December Release - Blog Hop

 Good morning! Today is the Blog Hop celebrating the December release from Catherine Pooler Designs!


This release was split into 3 bundles, and I focused on the Snowy Day bundle.


First up, a festive thank you card using the new Thank You Layered die as well as the Geometric Flakes Cover Plate. I cut the coverplate from white cardstock and used a foam dauber to blend Rockin' Red ink on each flake. 

I cut the Thank You Layered die from white cardstock and then inked up the letters with Rockin' Red, fading it out to white on the bottoms. I love the frosty look this technique gives to the letters!



Next is a pair of cards that feature the Snowy Day Patterned Paper and the Delicate Snowflake die. I cut circles with the larger circle die from the Snow Globe die set from the  white cardstock, and then from two of the blue-based patterns. Then I cut the Delicate Snowflake from each one and pieced the patterned paper 'pizza slices' back into the snowflake.


Of course I ended up with a snowflake from each pattern, so it was really quick to offset them and create another card with the pale blue gingham pattern cut with a stitched rectangle from the Postage Stamp Dies. Both cards used the Merry & Bright sentiment from Peaceful Flakes. The first card uses it in a row (after some stamp surgery!) and the second one uses it in its original form.



Finally, I used Peaceful Flakes and the matching dies to create this simple but sparkly snowflake card. I stamped the small snowflakes with Black Jack ink randomly on my Smoke background panel. I stamped and coloured the largest snowflake on a circle cut with the larger circle die from Snow Globe die set. I used the matching die to cut it out, before coating it with Versamark ink and embossing with Wanderlust embossing powder. I popped it up on foam tape and turned it to offset it with the negative cut from the circle panel.


Here's the blog hop list - be sure to hop and comment for your chance to win! (Prize details on Catherine's blog)




Ardyth Percy-Robb << You are here >>


I used:

Thursday 13 December 2018

Two-Minute Tip - Confetti Flinger


I'm on the Ellen Hutson blog and YouTube channel today with a Two-minute Tip that includes this card plus a refresher on using the Confetti Flinger die along with lots of the new goodies from the December release (links below).


AJVD - Share the Light of Christmas


I'm on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today with this festive card and some no-line colouring.

Wednesday 12 December 2018

Catherine Pooler December Release - IG Hop


Today, the Catherine Pooler Designs Creative Team is having an Instagram hop to show you some of the new goodies from the December release. I used one of the new stamp sets from the Snowy Days bundle, called Joyful Snowflakes to make two similar cards.


Sunday 9 December 2018

Challenge Me a Christmas Card - Snow


I'm so excited that Michelle Lupton invited me to play along with her annual 'Challenge me a Christmas Card' series this year! 


Our theme is snow and I went for a dramatic, monochrome look with this big Birch Press snowflake and sentiment.

I started by cutting the 3 layers of the snowflake - white for the top and bottom and silver glitter for the middle layer. I glued them together with my Lawn Fawn Glue Tube and used an acrylic block to weigh it down as the glue set.

I used the new Joy die with white on the bottom and silver for the top layer. I love how the line width of the silver is about the same on each element. That gives the overall design some unity.

Then I struggled with the size of the card and the colour. In the end, it was clear that these elements required a larger, 5x7 card.

What wasn't as clear was the colour I should use. I wanted to try that tone-on-tone inkblending that I'm seeing everywhere, and I always think it looks so nice on red, but I was still drawn to the idea of monochrome, so I used some Ellen Hutson Slate cardstock, blended with Catherine Pooler Black Jack ink. I love the subtle depth it gives!

To finish the card, I added some of the new Essentials by Ellen Clear Droplets.


Essentials by Ellen December Release: High Five Birds


The December Essentials by Ellen release is now available!

I used the new High Five stamp set and coordinating dies to make this fun card. I turned the word bubble into love-birds by using the die to create stencils and blending ink onto my card panel.

Here's a video:


I used:

Saturday 8 December 2018

FS618 - Joy


Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper, Victoria (aka Hawaiian). I chose this card as my inspiration:



I focused on Victoria's:
-Santa (where you can't see his face)
-snowflakes
-winter/christmas pattern
-sequins

I changed:
-no shaker
-stamped pattern
-die cut sentiment

I started with this adorable Gnome (with matching die) from Picket Fence Studios. I am loving all the gnomes this year - I had no idea I liked them so much!

I stamped him with Catherine Pooler Twilight ink onto white cardstock. After I inked and before I stamped, I used my finger to remove most of the ink on the pattern that is on his hat - I wanted a solid red hat.

Then I did some no-line colouring. The red was pretty simple, but when it came to his 'white beard', I was concerned at how dark the Twilight outline was. I just kept filling in with darker and darker Warm Gray markers until it 'disappeared'.

For the background, I used Essentials by Ellen's Plaid Maker set  with red cardstock and Versafine Clair Nocturne ink to create a buffalo check. I made it bigger than I needed, so I could centre the pattern on the square (I'm picky like that!). I cut some snowflakes from Pop Up Mittens and my sentiment using the Classic Block Alphabet dies (you may recall that I lost my 'y', so I bought another set. I thought for sure that would 'help' me find the lost y, but not so far! lol!)

I added some Sparkling Clear Confetti sequins for a touch of sparkle.

Here's a quick video:



I used:



Thursday 6 December 2018

Monday 3 December 2018

Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist - Day 3


I am super-excited to be part of the 12 Tags of Christmas event today!  I'm partnering with Kelly from Lawn Fawn and we've chosen Sparkle and Shine as our theme. Be sure to check out Ellen's blog for Days 1 and 2 and for information about prizes!


I made a set of 4 sparkly tags using Tag You're It dies. I cut the larger die from Holiday Sparkle cardstock and blended ink onto it for an ombre look.

I used the smaller tag as a layer for writing a festive message. I coved the hole with a snowflake from Mini Snowflakes and then stamped a partial image from Simply Celebrate Winter on each tag before colouring it with Copics. I added some Stickles to each tag as well as one of the new Essentials by Ellen Crystal Clear Droplets.

Here's a video:


I used:



Sunday 2 December 2018

FS617 - Merry & (Rainbow) Bright


Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers Featured Stamper, Jessica (jexterra). I chose this card as my inspiration:


I focused on Jessica's:
-rainbow elements
-frame

I changed:
-season and occasion
-card base
-stamping instead of die cuts

I used:


Saturday 1 December 2018

Church Christmas Cards


Happy December! How did that happen?! The year has zoomed by and it's time to deliver my Church Christmas cards!




This is a project I have been doing for a number of years - click on the tab at the top of this page for more information and links to examples from past years.

This year I made 325 cards, in about 10 styles. When making multiples, the design has to be fairly simple and easy to replicate. Thank goodness for the MISTI!

Some of the products I used are retired but I hold onto them specifically for this annual project. I've provided links where I can:


Thursday 29 November 2018

Monday 26 November 2018

25 Days of Christmas Tags - Bonus Day (A Jillian Vance Design)


It's bonus day at Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags, and the sponsor is A Jillian Vance Design!
I made these two tags with a couple of die sets - Sam E Snowman and Santa Claus. I coloured them with Copics and added the to and from (from Poinsettia Greetings) to their big white spaces - perfect for festive additions to gifts.

Sunday 25 November 2018

FS616 - Very Merry Christmas


Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper,  (aka The Cow Whisperer)!

I chose this card as my inspiration:



I focused on:
-cute focal image with sparkly element
-on a layer
-patterned background

I changed:
-season/occasion
-die cut focal image


Saturday 24 November 2018

Ellen Hutson Anniversary - Essentials by Ellen Favourite


Happy Anniversary to Ellen Hutson LLC! Over the past couple of days, the Design Ambassadors have been showing cards made with our favourite EBE stamps and dies to celebrate Ellen's 12th year in this business.

I tried and tried, but there was just no way to narrow it down to one favourite. But I noticed as I flipped through my stamps that the Mondo flowers kept making it to the short list. I decided to go seasonal (still trying to get my Christmas cards done!) and try something new with this Mondo Poinsettia, which has been around for a couple of years.

I stamped it on watercolour cardstock with Catherine Pooler Twilight ink and then masked it to add some leaves.

Then I used more Catherine Pooler inks to no-line watercolour. This was actually a frightening process - I am in no way an expert at watercolour or at no-line colouring. But I kept going until I didn't think I could do much more. I wasn't happy with it at all, but I left it to dry and came back to it.

As is often the case with watercolour, it did look better once it was dry. But it needed something. I started with one of my favourite tricks for 'fixing' watercolours and spritzed it with water - these inks reactivate when water is added. This gave it some pretty texture and helped soften some hard lines I had gotten in the background.

Next, I got out my Faber Castel Polychromos pencils and added some definition back in with darker colours. I also added some grey shadows around the bottom edges.

Finally, I pulled out another favourite trick and simply cut the poinsettia out with the large circle die from Alpine Windows and popped it up. This is an easy way to add a bit of interest without any layers. I did add Stickles around the edges of both the watercolour panel and the popped up circle, as well as on the berries for some sparkle.

Here's a video:



I used:

Tuesday 20 November 2018

Ellen Hutson Surprise 12th Anniversary Insta-Hop


The Ellen Hutson LLC Design Ambassadors are having a 3 day Surprise Insta Hop to celebrate Ellen's 12th Anniversary in this business.


 There's lots of other anniversary fun coming this week, and some sales and gifts (hurry, they end tonight!)






I used: