A Gilded Reindeer, Red Ornaments, and a Horse and Sleigh

I'm working very hard on Christmas cards as my fundraiser (where I sell my Christmas cards and those kindly donated by Loll and Christine) is this Sunday.  Thank goodness for challenges that spark ideas in me!  I've got three cards today.

Fiirst up for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Just Add Antlers", I've got a reindeer with some very impressive antlers.

I sponged Cosmic Shimmer glue through a reindeer stencil, removed the stencil (and washed it immediately), and applied copper flakes to the glue.  Trimmed the panel with a hemstitch square die, layered over copper shimmer cs, and added a die cut sentiment out of the same copper cs. 

Colorful Options wants to see mostly red.

I stamped and heat embossed the ornaments in red sparkly embossing powder, and the sentiment in black embossing powder.  To make the border layer match the sentiment, I ran ink around the edges of the border layer of cs and heat embossed in the same black embossing powder.

The 12 Months of Christmas want to see a sleigh.  

The background is from my UFO box (a stencil monoprint created after making another background where I sprinkled Magicals through a stencil and spritzed with water - the leftover wet Magicals powder on the stencil was then used to create this background print - trees don't really come in this colour but it makes a lovely shimmery background!).  I tore a strip of white shimmer cs for the snowy ground, and added a gold die cut sleigh and horse, and a gold sentiment die cut with a banner die. The card base is white shimmer cs.

   

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - off white cs, copper shimmer cs
Size - 5.5" square
Accessories - reindeer stencil, copper foil flakes, Tim Holtz noel die, Spellbinders hemstitch square die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Indigo Blu ornaments, Paper Smooches sentiment
Ink - ColorBox red, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - 5.75" square
Accessories - Old Island Red Dragon embossing powder, black embossing powder, Spellbinders square dies

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - gold
Paper - mixed media cs, white shimmer cs, gold shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TCW birch trees stencil, Magicals, sentiment banner die, Memory Box horse and sleigh dies

 

Stencilled Poinsettias and Tower Bridge

Sneaking in under the wire for the Flower Challenge "Add a Stencil"!  I used a poinsettia stencil and let it be the focus of the card.

I used FineTec Pearlescent watercolour paints applied with small sponge daubers through the stencil.  Make sure the paint isn't too watery - you don't want it to seep out under the stencil.  You want more of a paste kind of texture than a really watery watercolour paint.  They give a wonderful shimmer - much better in real life.  I trimmed the panel, bordered it with red and green shimmery cs, wrapped cream coloured ribbon around it, added a sentiment to the top of the ribbon, and added the whole lot to a cream shimmer card base.

For a change of pace, I've made a card for a friend who loves travelling - he's heading off to England.  I'm entering it at Cardz 4 Guyz  "T is for ....".  I went with travel and Tower Bridge.

The focal panel was made by smooshing with blue Distress Oxide inks, then stamping the image of Tower Bridge and the London text stamp on it, bordering with black cs, and popping it up on fun foam on a background of blue speckled dp.

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - gold ink
Paper - cream cs, cream shimmer cs, light red and light green shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz poinsettia stencil, cream ribbon, sentiment banner die, FineTec pearlescent watercolours

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unbranded stamps
Ink - various blue Distress Oxide inks, Archival Jet Black
Paper - white and black cs, blue dp
Size - A2
Accessories - fun foam

Too Many Reindeer and a Lot of Sweet Peas

Shopping our Stash's challenge is called "Don't Really Need Another One" - use something that is our weakness and we buy too many of.  I really do have too many reindeer dies!

I created a background by sprinkling blue and green Magicals powders on photo paper, spritzing with water, and letting the colours run and dry naturally. When dry, I trimmed the panel, added a torn white cs snowy ground and two die cut reindeer. The panel is matted with black cs and the sentiment is made with a wax seal kit. It might be hard to read in the photo but it says Merry Christmas.  Here's a close-up of the seal:

The Flower Challenge wants a stamped flower.

A simple stamped and watercoloured image, with a vertical sentiment. It's larger than my usual A2 as it's a big image.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - white and black cs, photo paper
Size - A2
Accessories - blue and green Magicals, reindeer dies, sealing wax set

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stamps Happen Sweet Peas, Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - 6.25x4.75"
Accessories - watercolour paints

Rainy Day Christmas

Vancouver is having a chilly rainy spell so what better time to work on Christmas cards?

Christmas Craft Creations wants Non-Traditional Colours so I went with blue and violet for the background for this card.

I sprinkled the blue and violet Magicals on watercolour paper, spritzed with water and let the colours run.  When dry I trimmed the panel with a deckle edged rectangle die, popped it up on fun foam on a white shimmer card base, and added the die cut ornament and sentiment, cut out of the same white shimmer cs.

52 Christmas Card Throwdown wants "Old Fashioned Christmas".  I used a never inked up Tim Holtz stamp so I'm linking up at the NBUS Challenge.

Stamped with a bit of colouring with coloured pencils, bordered in black, and added to a white mini slimline card base.

Then The 12 Months of Christmas wants Christmas Candy.  And it's time for the Rudolph Days Challenge too - any Christmas card made between the 25th and the end of the month.

Stamped and watercoloured, with metallic gold paint used on the ornaments and ribbon.  It was trimmed with a rectangle die, then I used the SSS thin frame die to cut a thin rectangle out of it.  I painted the thin rectangle frame with the same metallic gold paint I'd used on the image, let it dry, and then inserted it back into the gap.  Put it all on fun foam onto the card base.

     

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - watercolour paper, white shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue and violet Magicals, Spellbinders deckled edge rectangle die, Memory Box snowflake ornament die, Spellbinders Joy die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Tim Holtz
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 6x3.25"
Accessories - coloured pencils

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Stampendous candy canes, unknown joy
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - off white cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, gold metallic paint, SSS thin frames die, Spellbinders rectangle die, fun foam

One More Valentine and Winter Wishes

Still trying to get my Valentines posted.  This one is for Sisterhood of Crafters "Love".

I cut a rectangle of very pale silver shimmer cs that is the same colour as the silver hearts in the piece of ribbon I found in my scrap box. I attached the ribbon down the left side. I die cut the heart cluster and the love sentiment out of red cs, and popped out the interior hearts and set them aside for a future project. I glued the outline hearts to the panel. Then I cut the heart cluster out of white glitter cs and popped out the interior hearts and added them to the interiors of the outline hearts. For some dimension, I popped the panel up on fun foam on a white card base.

For The Four Seasons Challenge "Winter" and Word Power "The Sentiment as Focus".

I made a background with light blue Magicals sprinkled on mixed media cs and spritzed with water. The snowflakes are die cut from glitter cs; the sentiment from blue shimmer cs.

   

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - white and red cs, very pale silver shimmer cs, white glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - ribbon, TH love die, unknown cluster of hearts die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - off white glitter cs, off white cs, blue shimmer cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue Magicals, Penny Black sentiment die, Cheery Lynn snowflake dies

Smooshing with Cling Wrap

The Group of Seven Cardmakers are using cling wrap with smooshing this month.  Here's my first card:

For this one I used Magicals on black mixed media cs.  Love the sparkle and the texture I got.

I die cut a reindeer out of silver glitter cs and had him leaping off a sentiment die.

Up next:

This card uses Magicals on watercolour paper.  I didn't get as much texture with this one but I do love the colours.  I had to use quite a lot of Magicals and a lot of water to stop the colour getting absorbed too quickly into the watercolour paper.  Loll kindly lent me her reindeer stamp that I've been trying to buy for ages and I stamped and heat embossed it in black.  Luckily I was using my MISTI as it took a lot of repeat inking and stamping to get a good impression on the watercolour paper.  

I wanted to border it in black but all my black cs looked dull next to the shine of the black heat embossing and the sparkly streaks from the Magicals, so I ran Versamark around the edges of a die cut rectangle of cs and then heat embossed with black embossing powder.  It's much more effective as a border.  To continue the shine I used a white shimmer cs for the card base.

Head on over to Group of Seven Cardmakers if you want to see more examples of this technique using different papers and different products.  And feel free to add an example of your own to the linky!

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - black mixed media cs, white cs, silver glitter cs
Size - 7x3.75"
Accessories - aqua Magicals, Penny Black reindeer die, Memory Box sentiment die

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Studio Light
Ink - Versamark, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, white shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - black and clear embossing powders, blue and mauve Magicals

Pink Christmas

I always like to enter the Jingle Belles "Pink Christmas" challenge as they donate money to breast cancer research for each card that's entered.  I'm really squeaking in under the wire this time as the challenge is about to close.

I found a piece of background I'd sprinkled with pink Magicals (and then spritzed with water) in my UFO box and thought it was perfect for a poinsettia die cut.  It worked well for a mini slimline.  I heat embossed the sentiment in pink, added a narrow strip of the Magicals piece to balance out the panel, popped it up on fun foam on the card base, and added sparkly pink embellishments.

Jingle Belles

I'm also adding it to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge "Poinsettias and Posies".

And ABC Christmas Challenge "U for Unusual Christmas Colours"

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - ColorBox pink
Paper - white cs
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - Penny Black poinsettia die, pink Magicals, fun foam, clear embossing powder, pink sparkly embellishments

Christmas Thoughts

Playing around making some Christmas cards and thought about making one for my nephew.  His father (my ex-brother-in-law) passed away from Covid a month or so ago (he was immune-compromised because of the cancer treatment he was going through) so it will be a hard Christmas for my nephew.  I didn't want a card that says "Merry Christmas" as I don't think it will be very merry for him.

I made the blue background by sprinkling a couple of shades of blue Magicals on mixed media cs and spritzing with water.  When dry, I topped it with the die cut of trees and reindeer, added a heat embossed blue sentiment, and popped it up on fun foam.

I'm linking up with these challenges:

The Male Room "Christmas in July"

Christmas Kickstart "Woolly, Fluffy, or Furry" - the reindeer are furry.
 

July Rudolph Days Challenge 

Cardz 4 Guyz "Shades of Blue" 

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Royal Blue
Paper - white and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - unknown die, blue Magicals, fun foam

Birthday Flowers

Everything in my garden is ahead of schedule because of the heat wave we've had.  My hydrangea is starting to bloom!  It inspired today's card.

I took a smooshed background (probably Oxide inks) from my UFO box stamped and heat embossed the collage image on top.

I sprinkled and spritzed blue, pink, mauve, and purple Magicals on a piece of mixed media, going for much denser colours than in the background.  When dry, I punched out hydrangea petals with the old Martha Stewart punch I've had for years and glued them onto the stamped flower.

I bordered with white and then with black shimmer cs (to echo the shimmer of the Magicals) and added a heat embossed sentiment below.

It's hard to photograph and capture the shimmer but here's a close-up where you can see some of it:

I'm linking up with the AAA Birthday Card Challenge.

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Inkadinkado hydrangea collage, Memory Box sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - black shimmer, white, and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Magicals, Martha Stewart hydrangea punch, clear embossing powder

A Die Cut Bird and a Circle

Playing along with the Tic Tac Toe Challenge and CAS Mix Up, and getting a friend's birthday card made.

I started out by creating my background - green and blue Magicals sprinkled on mixed media cs and spritzed with water.  I stamped a foliage stamp on it with black ink.

I stamped and heat embossed the bird, then die cut it.  

On a white panel, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, trimmed it with a stitched rectangle die, and die cut a circle out of the upper centre.

I layered the panel over the background using foam tape for dimension, added it to the card base, and added the die cut bird to the top, popping up its head on foam tape where it goes over the background.

I chose the centre vertical row - "die cut - circle - bird" from the Tic Tac Toe Challenge.

CAS Mix-Up - anything that flies with watercolour as a main element - my Magicals are my watercolour element.

Supplies:
Stamps - Local King Stamp Co. bird, Hero Arts sentiment, Magenta foliage
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white and mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - blue and green Magicals, Local King Stamp Co. bird die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, Spellbinders circle die, foam tape