Christmas Series 2016 | Card 6 ft. Simon Says and the MISTI

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Merry Christmas everyone! It's the final day for my 2016 Christmas series, and though it wasn't as extensive as last year, I think it went quite well overall. I'm very much looking forward to 2017 and all the creative inspiration that is waiting for us.

In recent years the tradition of ugly sweaters has become popular for Christmas Day, so what better for a Christmas Day post, than an Ugly Sweater card?

Shockingly, this card required exactly zero colouring. I cannot remember the last time I did a card that didn't require colouring in some way. Instead, this card uses the MISTI (which if you haven't checked out yet, you totally need to.)

The ugly sweater boarder stamp is from Simon Says (I think it's Christmas Boarders) which I stamped using CTMH Topiary ink. The MISTI was fantastic because I was able to just reink the stamp and not worry about having to line it up perfectly to restamp. The MISTI just does it for you.

The greeting is from Hero Arts, and stamped with Lawn Fawn's Black Licorice ink, which is one of my favourite inks to stamp greetings with because it is so unbelievably crisp.

I mounted the panel on a piece of holiday red cardstock and then mounted both on a standard A2 sized card base. To finish it off I added a few red gems, just to tie it together.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss out on any future posts, and toss me a line in the comments section below. I love to hear from you!

Christmas Series 2016 | Card 5 Under the Mistletoe

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Only two more sleeps until Christmas Day, which according to my four year old means it will take another hundred years. I remember being that excited about Christmas. It seems so long ago. She's so full of energy. I wish I could be half as excited about pretty much anything as she is about almost everything that doesn't happen today.

It's also my son's birthday today. So while he is out with his grandmother, we're here staying warm and relaxing before the craziness that is the next couple days begins.

To begin today's card, I stamped the bow on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I also stamped a mask on a post-it note and fussy cut it out.

I masked off the bow and stamped the mistletoe. Both stamps and the greeting are from a set that I have long since lost the packaging for. But I believe it is a Hero Arts set.

I then removed the mask from the bow and coloured the images using Copic markers. I wanted to keep the card simple, yet with every intention of adding a bunch of glitter and bling, y'know, because it's the holidays and because that's just the kind of person I am.

The glitter and bling didn't happen, the hubby saw it and was super impressed with how clean it was, so in the end I left it as it was. I mounted the panel on a standard A2 sized card base and that was that.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss out on any future posts and toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I love to hear from you!

Christmas Series 2016 | Card 4 ft. Lawn Fawn

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

I know that Christmas is supposed to be full of fun and good cheer, but sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's filled with not happy thoughts and feelings of loss and sadness. The trick is moving past those feelings and the things causing them and moving on to see the brighter side of things.

The Lawnscaping Challenge, created by Laurel, was the first challenge I ever entered. Way back last year with Caroling Critters. (Which won Honorable Gnome, btw)

Laurel helped me out with figuring out how to link my card to the challenge. She was timely and friendly, and no matter how many questions I asked (questions I'm sure she answered dozens and dozens of times before) she always remained patient and helpful and super quick to respond.

I think we all owe a lot to Laurel, it was your support and encouragement that has helped so many of us grow in our craft and expand in our art. Thank you so much for all that you have done, and we wish you all the best in the future. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

All the images and the greeting were stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly paper, then coloured in with Copics.

I then used 1/8" red ribbon to make the panel look gift wrapped. Then mounted on a piece of Holiday Green cardstock and adhered to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss out on any future posts and toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you.

This card is for:

Lawnscaping Challenge #144

Christmas Themed and a Heartfelt Goodbye

and

the CLASSroom
December Pin-Sights Challenge

Christmas Series 2016 | Card 3 ft. MFT Stamps

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

For the challenge today, I had thought about creating a card that was covered in presents with bows and wrapping and glitter and toys, but then I thought I would do something a little bit different. Christmas, generally, is for the kids, and what greater gift is there than the children? I know some of you can think of many. There are days when I can also think of many other things, but the picture of their faces when they wake up to the lights and the stockings and the feeling in the air on Christmas morning really is the best gift ever.

My youngest is four and all she says she wants on Christmas morning is to be the one to hand out the gifts. We're just learning the letters so this will certainly be an experience.

To begin, I stamped this girl from MFT on Copic-friendly paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I coloured her in with copics to look like a little Santa, fussy cut her out and set her aside.

Next I used a couple of the Stitched Snowflake dies from Lawn Fawn and die cut some glittery snowflakes.

I used a snowflake embossing folder on my white panel piece and then adhered down the glittery snowflakes.

I then mounted this panel on a piece of red cardstock to pull the card together and then adhered both to a standard A2 sided card base. I then attached my little Santa girl.

Finally I used my black gel pen to go over her eyes and the buttons on her coat to make them stand out.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss out any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below, I love to hear from you.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Gift It

Christmas Series 2016 | Card 2 Spinning Snowflake

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Believe it or not, I've never made a spinner card. Last year there were some beautiful cards with spinning reindeer and spinning snowmen and I was blown away. So this year, I thought I would give it a go, and while there are a couple things I would do differently, I think my first attempt turned out pretty well.

Took the above picture at an angle, while it didn't pick up the shine as well as I would have liked, I love shadows that the snowflake made on the inside panel.

To begin, I placed my circle die on the panel where I wanted the opening to be and ran that through my die cut machine. I then prepped the panel with my powder tool and heat embossed the greeting using silver embossing powder.

I then cut two snowflakes from some glitter paper. I used a length of stretch bracelet thread and adhered the two snowflakes together.

I lined up the front panel with a top folding A2 sized card base and ran it through the die cut machine a second time to cut the hole in the base itself.

I used Skor tape on the back of the front panel to secure the ends of the bracelet thread in place. I used 1/4" sparkle ribbon for the bow at the top. I then lined up the panel with the base and adhered the two together.

Unfortunately my camera just didn't pick up the amount of shine this card has. Everything shines. The ribbon catches the light, the panel is a shimmering cardstock, the snowflake glitters and the embossed greeting is metallic.

I tried to take the picture from a couple angles to try and catch it, but they just don't do justice to the card.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss out on future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you!

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Let There Be Snow

and

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Ice Inspiration

Christmas Series 2016 | Card 1 ft. Lawn Fawn

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by, I hope you are having a great day.

This year I'm behind. Behind in my card making, behind in my Christmas shopping, behind in the decorating and behind in my blog posting. Just behind.

I'd like to tell you that it's because I have some amazing things coming, or that it's because I've been super busy with family stuff or holiday stuff or any sort of stuff at all, but really it's not. Don't get me wrong the posts I have coming are pretty good (at least I think so), but mostly it's my hands.

I was injured in high school playing rugby, I had no movement in my right wrist for over a year and was told that I would have arthritis at a very young age. And while I usually have to put my pencil crayons away during the winter months for the past couple years; this year in particular has been exceptionally trying.

So enough of that, because really it isn't all that fun to think about or talk about. Thank you for being patient and for sticking with me. I really appreciate every click, like, comment and view.

To begin, I stamped the hat from Lawn Fawn's Toboggan Together set and masked that off. I then stamped the penguin and masked him off, and then stamped the ice from Critters in the Arctic and masked that off.

I used Tumbled Glass Distress ink to sponge a soft cool halo around the images. I then removed the masks and coloured the images with Copics. The greeting is stamped from #MFTstamps.

The next panel was embossed using a super fun penguin embossing folder that my Mom had in her stash. Had I known she had that last year I'm sure we would have seen far more penguins. I trimmed this panel down to 4x5 1/4".

I cut a piece of red cardstock to match the hat as my matting layer and then mounted everything on a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you.

This card is for:

Lawnccaping Challenge #143

Let it Snow

and

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Ice Inspiration

I {heart} Autumn Series 2016 | ft. Lawn Fawn and the Positive Die Cut

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today is one of those weird days where I'm all alone. The older kids are at school, the little one is at Grandma's house and the hubby is at work. So I have the whole house to my very own self. All by my self. I don't even know what to do with my time.

LOL.

Yes, I do.

So a couple posts ago, I showed you all a use for the negative space when die cutting. You can see that post here. As promised, today I have a piece that uses the positive space, or the pieces that were actually cut using the dies. Not only that but the pieces I used today are the same ones that I had set aside in that post.

And while Autumn is technically over, a promise is a promise and I would be remiss if I didn't keep my word to you guys.

To begin, I used the tattered die cut for the panel, and then stamped the greeting using Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink.

I then used Forest Moss, Gathered Twigs and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks to give the leaves the look of fall. Once those where dry, I ran them through the Xyron X (1.5") sticker maker. I adhered the leaves down the way I wanted and used some plain twine to tie the piece together, (see what I did there?).

I then cut a piece of dark brown cardstock to fit the front of a standard A2 sized card and used foam tape to mount the front panel.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss out on any new posts, and toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I love to hear from you!