…we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds

I’m sharing a CAS Christmas card today featuring Angel 2, a stencil from Nellie Snellen.

Over at Winter Wonderland they are running a tribute challenge for Eileen, the founder of the challenge who sadly passed away recently.  Given this is a tribute challenge I thought it would be fitting to make a Christmas card featuring an angel, something CAS but elegant in mostly white.

I’ve had the stencil for some time, it’s a metal one so embossed nicely.  I ran it through my Crossover and then rubbed embossing ink over the raised bits (with the stencil still in place) and then sprinkled on my Fran-tage.  After heat setting the Fran-tage I painted the debossed sections with Twinkling H2Os to complete the angel and give her a lovely heavenly shine.  The embossed image and Fran-tage add two kinds of dimension to my card, the Bitty Gems a third so I am entering it in the current ABC Christmas challenge using the D is for Dimension option.

The layout of my card follows the current sketch at Less is More.  I took some liberties with the size of the circular element (swapped out for the angel).  Despite my seemingly endless supply of Christmas stamps I didn’t actually have a one word sentiment, which I thought this card needed so I printed the ‘Noel’ and then doused it in clear embossing powder to give it some dimension and shine.  I added in the three lines with Bitty Gems and tied it together with the angel by placing some in her halo.

A final framing with gold metallic cardstock for a simple and elegant card that looks beautiful in real life but was a nightmare to try and photograph!  The Twinkling H2Os looking more like a water stain than the shimmery ever so pale gold colour it really is.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Fran-tage Embossing Enamel ~ Shabby White

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Nellie Snellen Stencil Christmas in Jugendstil ~ 500000/2172 Angel 2 (retired)

Embellishments

Close To My Heart ~ Bitty Gems

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Embossing

Twinkling H2Os ~ Pearl Gold

Papers

Bazzill Criss Cross Cardstock ~ Lily White

Core’dinations Kraft Core Tim Holtz Collection Metallics ~ Gold

White Cardstock from stash

Challenges

ABC Christmas ~ D is for Dimension

Less is More #317 ~ Sketch 19

 

Winter Wonderland ~ Anything Christmas Goes Tribute Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

…nothing more nor less than a mask

The card I’m sharing today features stamps and dies from Verve Stamps and their Masquerade and Mask sets.

I needed to make a birthday card for a friend and was a bit stumped on what to do until I found inspiration from the current challenge at Creative Friday where the theme is masks.  The Verve stamps and dies were perfect for the theme, about time they got some use too.

Over at Words 2 Craft By they have a quote from Mark Twain as inspiration:

It has been said that a Scotchman has not seen the world until he has seen Edinburgh; and I think that I may say that an American has not seen the United States until he has seen Mardi-Gras in New Orleans.

I had to check out the challenge as it’s also Mardi-Gras in Sydney this weekend and this card is going out to a friend in the US.  I discovered the traditional colours of Mardi-Gras in New Orleans are green, purple and gold so I used them on my card.  I tend to think of Mardi-Gras as a time of costumes and masks, a bit like Venice’s Carnevale, so I think my mask works well for the theme.

For my layout I followed the sketch at Fusion.  I didn’t do a complete fusion though as the inspiration picture was in shades of pink with hearts but I did select my background paper to match the stripes on one of the teacups.  It was a serendipitous moment when I found the paper in my stash and it was the right colours including the patterned hot air balloon on the reverse side, which was another match to a Mardi-Gras theme, especially when combined with some music.

I printed my sentiment (diva) on a piece of old transparency and set with clear embossing powder.  I chose this sentiment as the recipient goes by the nickname of Dark Diva.  For a bit of extra fun I had to make one of the circle elements into a shaker.  To finish off the card I added pearls around the shaker circle and glued down the acetate with some gems for a touch more Mardi-Gras style bling.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Stampendous! Embossing Powder ~ Detail Clear

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies ~ S4-114 Standard Circles Large & S4-116 Standard Circles Small

Verve Stamps Dies ~ vsdc-065 Mask

Embellishments

Close To My Heart Bitty Pearls ~ Pearl (coloured with Posca Metallic Gold Pen)

Flourish with a Bling Pearls ~ Purple

Little Things from Lucy’s Cards Shaker Selections ~ Viola

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink ~ Alcohol Blending Solution, Gold Mixative, Purple Twilight & Wild Plum

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Peeled Paint & Wilted Violet

Tsukineko Encore! Ultimate Metallic Ink ~ Gold

Papers

Acetate Transparency from stash

Bazzill Classic Cardstock ~ Licorice

Bazzill Criss Cross Cardstock ~ Lily White

Creative Memories Cardstock ~ Green Metallic

FabScraps Victoria’s Collection ~ Balloon

Stamps

Verve Stamps ~ vs-0225 Masquerade

Challenges

Creative Friday #173 ~ Masks

Fusion ~ Pretty in Pink

Words 2 Craft By #38 ~ Celebrations

Thanks for stopping by!

Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog

I’m sharing a card today featuring one of Tim Holtz’s Crazy Dog stamps.

Sometimes a simple shaker card is not enough and sometimes it’s not enough to have a slider element.  When that’s the case you need a shaker with slider that kinda spins madly too!  In all seriousness, this card ended up a slider and shaker from the current sketch at Sketch Saturday.  I thought the layout worked perfectly for a shaker but when I fussy cut my dog for the star element and placed it on the card for positioning I thought, he really needs to slide.  So I added in the slide die cut.  Wasn’t till I glued down the top that I noticed I left the green behind the slider showing, oops!  My sentiment die cut didn’t quite fill all the space of the top element of the layout so I added in the bone die cut too and popped that off the page with some silicon to give it a 3D effect.

My sentiment has been inlaid die cut as that is the current “topping” option at Seize the Birthday.  I love the effect created especially as I used Elizabeth Crafts Shimmer Sheetz for the die cut so the words have a lovely shine.  The colour is echoed in the background for the shaker made with alcohol inks.  I die cut some extra bones and tennis balls from more Shimmer Sheetz to add to my green shaker mix so my little dog looks like he is running in the grass after some balls and ready to bury some bones.

I’ve made this card for a male, hence the dog and CAS style so I am entering it in the current challenge at Moving Along With the Times.

Ingredients:

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Lawn Fawn Lawn Cuts ~ LF1202 Slide on Over

Simon Says Stamps Dies ~ SSSD111345 Happy Birthday

Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits ~ 661593 Crazy Dogs & 661594 Mini Crazy Cats & Dogs

Embellishments

Little Things from Lucy’s Cards Lucky Dip ~ Luck o’ the Irish

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks ~ Alcohol Blending Solution, Citrus, Gold Mixative, Lettuce, Silver Mixative & Sunshine Yellow 

Tim Holtz Distress Reinker ~ Black Soot, Candied Apple, Gathered Twigs & Tea Dye 

Papers 

Bazzill Criss Cross Cardstock ~ Lily White 

Elizabeth Crafts Shimmer Sheetz ~ Green Iridescent & White Iridescent

Pion Design Palette Cardstock ~ White I 

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Cucumber Crush 

Yupo ~ 200gsm White 

Stamps 
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection ~ CMS272 Mini Cats & Dogs 
Challenges 
Moving Along With the Times ~ For a Man

Seize the Birthday ~ “Toppings” option: inlay die-cutting

 

Sketch Saturday ~ Sketch #451

 

Thanks for stopping by!

The very word brings joy to our hearts

I’m sharing a Christmas card today featuring a die from Paper Rose called Stitched Holly.

The inspiration for this card came from Muse: Christmas Visions and the beautiful card made by Chriss Blagrave.  I’ve taken the ‘joy’ word and the flora background as my inspiration as well as the gold outline.  The Kraft background was chosen to fit the current theme at Sparkles Christmas.

I started by printing my sentiment on my laser printer and then foiling it in gold.  I then cut the die shape and used glue to also add a gold outline to the holly and berry.  Keeping with my shaker theme for the year I turned the die cut into a shaker with some acetate and sequins, which means this card also fits the current challenge at Jingle Belles to use something clear.

Although it is very CAS I do love how this turned out.  I am especially enjoying seeing how I can add a shaker element to all my cards in different ways and even in very small elements like the berries.

Ingredients:

Dies, SVGs & Templates etc

Paper Rose Dies ~ 16670 Stitched Holly Small

Embellishments

Little Things from Lucy’s Cards Shaker Selections ~ Rainforest & Reindeer Games

Papers

Bazzill Criss Cross Cardstock ~ Lily White

Core’dinations Smooth Cardstock ~ Kraft

iCraft Deco Foil ~ Gold

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Deco Sheets ~ Holiday

Challenges

Jingle Belles ~ It Came Upon a Midnight... CLEAR

Muse: Christmas Visions #77 ~ Joy card

Sparkles Christmas #73 ~ A Krafty Christmas

Thanks for stopping by!