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.

Naughty Kitty

This is another card from a quick batch.  I suspect my work schedule is going to be crazy come November, so I'm trying to get some extra cards made now so I have something to post (and so my Christmas cards are all ready in time).

The kitty on this card is from Stampendous' Fluffles the Cat set, which I've woefully underused.  I paired it with a CAS-ual Friday sentiment because that cat just looks guilty of something.  Which is why it's holding the little Christmas tree as a 'look, I'm good' ploy.  It's standing on a piece of glitter gold ribbon.  I used a bit of pink glitter pen on the berries on the tree and the cat's nose.

I'm submitting this to Simon Say's Stamp's Anything Goes challenge.

Lawn Fawn Deer

This is the first card I made yesterday for the CAS-ual Friday's Fall Colors and a Leaf challenge.  I thought this was too busy, but looking at it again, I don't think it is, so I'm submitting it after all.  I'm not generally a fan of brown, but I'm having fun playing with it lately.  I'm also submitting it to Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes challenge.

This card again uses the stuff I won from Lawn Fawn.  I love the maple leaf sequins.  And yes, I know, birch trees don't drop maple leaves, but that's what I had so...

I started by stamping the deer on white cardstock and colouring it with markers.

I used brown cardstock for the base, then cut a piece of patterned paper to go on top because I wanted something to wrap the brown and white hemp twine around.  I attached the paper to the base, then added the shimmery dark orange leaf sequins and the fussy cut deer to the card with pop dots.  Lastly I glued on the blue sequin.

I Love Fall

This is the second card I made for CAS-ual Friday's current challenge: Fall Colors and a Leaf.  I thought the first one turned out a bit too busy for a clean and simple card, though looking at some of the other entries, maybe it would have been ok.  Anyway, I'll post that card tomorrow.  For today, I've definitely got a CAS card.

Since it's a fall theme and I just won some fall oriented things from Lawn Fawn, I decided to play with them.

I started out by scoring three lines on the bottom of the cardstock for the ground.  I stamped the tree in brown and then the leaves in various colours.  I'd actually planned to put an animal next to the tree (either the racoon - which didn't end up fitting the colour scheme - or the fox - which would have) but in the end decided that the card looked fine without anything in the middle.  I stamped the sentiment to give the card a bit of balance.

Winter Wishes

This card is for the Some Odd Girl card challenge, which is a card sketch:

I tend to use these pretty literally, so here's my card.

I started with a piece of dark blue cardstock for the card base (it looks black in the picture, but it's really navy blue).  I die cut the circle out of the light blue cardstock and then embossed it with a snowflake folder.  I debated using a smaller circle for the inset piece, but it looked strange, so I used the same die to cut out a white circle which I then stamped and coloured with pencil crayons.  The winter wishes was carefully masked so I could separate the sentiment (which overlaps a bit), and the ends cut with scissors.

If you're interested in trying digital stamping but aren't sure how, or if you already use digital stamps but could use some pointers, Some Odd Girl has put out a free downloadable ebook with information.  You get an image to practice with too, which is pretty cool.