Have a Sweet Holiday Card

This is a card I made last year but wasn't entirely happy with and so didn't hand out.  I stamped the scene (without masking), coloured in the shapes and stamped snowflakes and the sentiment.

Simply Jane Frame

I haven't had time to craft in a while (and I won't have much again until Christmas and New Year's are over - welcome to retail) so again, this is an older card.

I started out by die cutting the frame and adding a light ink to the edges.  I then stamped and embossed the Jane images (from Papertrey Ink's Simply Jane stamp set).  I glued it to the card back and it looked empty, so I added the corner frame stamps.

Penguin on an Ice Floe Card Finished

Some time ago I did this Penguin on an Ice Floe interactive card.  But I never finished it.  So I decided it was time I did.

I added some white gel pen to the penguin's body and orange to its beak and flippers.  I used a green gel pen to give the fish scales.  I stamped winter wishes on the pull tab, some waved below the ice floe and some snowflakes.

Voila.  Now it's ready to give as a Christmas card.

Penguin Wishes

I'm submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp's Christmas/Happy Holiday challenge.

I started by die cutting 2 circles and stamping the penguin in the smaller one.  I coloured it with pencil crayons and glued them together.

The light blue panel was embossed and glued on the card.  Then I die cut and inked the label and stamped the sentiment on it.  I added a piece of dark silver glitter ribbon to the card and put the label on top.

Flipped Butterflies

I've wanted this embossing folder ever since I first saw a project using it, but didn't think I'd ever get my hands on it as it's been discontinued.  Well, I found a site in the U.S. that had atrocious shipping costs but that folder in stock, so I placed an order.

And now it's mine. :D

The concept I had in mind to put gold ink on the raised parts of the embossing folder and letter press them didn't quite work.  I always got residue on the unraised parts, making the final card look pretty bad.  So I finally just embossed the whole thing in black and used a gold pen on the raised parts for the contrast I wanted.

I then added the punched butterflies.  The ink pad was a truer, brighter gold than my pen, but it still looks good.  I matted the embossed panel on a gold panel to aid the contrast, then mounted that on the black card base.

Wreath Greetings

I made this card for Simon Says Stamp's weekly challenge, use a rubber or a clear stamp.  I used 2 rubber stamps.  For the wreath I used Versamark ink and heat embossed a sparkly dark green embossing powder.  I then coloured the bow with a red gel pen.  Then I stamped the sentiment with red dye ink.  Voila.  Easy peasy.

White on White Christmas Card

I made this card for a clean and simple challenge, but I don't think there's enough 'white space' as it were, so I'm not submitting it after all.

I started out with the white embossed angel idea and went from there.  I wanted something more visible, so I got an embossing folder that had an edge, and cut out the element.  I then stamped and embossed the image (I waited for the embossed part to be sure where to add the angel).  Instead of using my fine white powder, I used a sparkly one.  It may have been clear rather than white (they both look white in powder form), which could be why it doesn't show up as well as it should.  It's not particularly sparkly either, which sucks.

After the angel was embossed I used a tape runner to glue the dry embossed panel to the card.  For the sentiment at the top I used the fine white, which turned out nicely.  If I did this again I'd use the fine white powder for the angel too.

The paper warped a bit because I wasn't sure if the angel had embossed properly (it ended up a bit grainy).  On the other hand, the warp made the heat embossed parts show up better in the photograph.

Ink 'Painted' Christmas Card

I discovered this site for stampscapes a while back.  While I love their stuff, their shipping charges are too much for me, so before taking the plunge and buying a bunch of stamps (to justify the shipping fee) I tried their paper saturation / 'painting' techniques to make a card and then use stamps I already own.

I used make up sponges to apply the many layers of ink on glossy paper, then stamped over it all with the closest silhouette stamps I had.  It didn't quite work (and I tried using a marker to increase the silhouettes, which was a mistake - the lines show up darker than the stamp ink, so it looks strange) but I can see myself trying this again when I have more time.  I haven't mounted it on cardstock yet, but I except I'll do so on black or dark blue.

Birthday Rays

I'll be posting mostly Christmas cards from here on out, as I've made a ton of them (that I haven't posted yet).  Since my time is becoming more limited, I'll be concentrating on the rest of the Christmas cards I need.

But for today I've got a masculine birthday card for you.  It was a very easy card to put together, but uses an unconventional crafting product.  I don't do nail art.  Though I think it's lovely my nails break too easily (and often) for me to bother.  But I saw thin strips of metallic tape on sale for nail art and thought it would look great on a card.

I started with a piece of black cardstock, stamped 'Happy Birthday' in gold, then made some rays with the tape. The only thing to be aware of is the tape's not particularly sticky.  I suspect it's designed to have nail polish applied on top to keep it in place.  It works well enough though and is so shiny!  I finished the card by slapping the cardstock on a cream base.