Textured Tissue Paper with Dry Embossing

This month the Group of Cardmakers is watercolouring tissue paper and dry embossing it for interesting textured backgrounds.  Full instructions are on our website.

I made three Christmas cards using the technique.  For the first two, I made green backgrounds and brayered over the raised sections with gold paint.

For the first card, I trimmed the panel and added a two-die sentiment (which perfectly covered up a blob of gold paint that wasn't on the raised part of the embossing).

For the second card, I die cut an ornament and the sentiment out of the panel and again out of scrap cs, and glued them together for more dimension.  I added gold cord to the top of the ornament, and embellished the card base with gold gemstones.

I then changed background and paint colours for this third card.

I used various blues and turquoises for this one (but I think there was a bit of green left on my craft mat!).  Then used a 3D snowflake folder and silver paint.  I added a snowflake / music die (cut three times for dimension - it needed that to make it really stand out), and a Let It Snow sentiment stamped in one of the ink colours and trimmed with a label die.

More examples over on the Group of Cardmakers' blog, as well as detailed instructions.  Be sure to read the information on different types of tissue paper!

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various green Distress inks
Paper - white tissue paper, white and gold cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold paint, SSS 3D greenery embossing folder, SSS Merry Christmas and shadow die 

Supplies for card 2:
Ink - various green Distress inks
Paper - white tissue paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold paint, SSS 3D greenery embossing folder, Spellbinders ornament die, Hero Arts noel die
 

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - various blue and turquoise Distress inks
Paper - white tissue paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - silver paint, SSS 3D snowflakes embossing folder, SSS Jingle Snowflakes die, Spellbinders label die

Inlaid Die Cuts

For September, the Group of Cardmakers is making cards using inlaid die cuts.  I love doing jigsaw puzzles, so I really enjoy this technique!

First up, a poinsettia:

I die cut the poinsettia twice, once out of gold cs and once out of white.  I painted the flower part of the white one with a couple of shades of red Distress inks.  I popped the flower petals out of the gold one, then glued the rest to a piece of white cs, and then glued the painted petals into their places.  Added a red sentiment, trimmed with a square die, and attached it to a red card base.

I went with an ornament die for my second card:

I used a two-part die for this one.  There is a solid ornament and an inner circle with the holly flourishes.  I cut the solid one out of blue shimmer cs and out of scrap cs.  I then laid the inner circle die over the blue shimmer one and cut out the flourishes.  I cut the inner circle die once more out of dp.  I glued the remaining border of the blue shimmer one onto the solid one cut from the scrap cs and then glued the dp filler pieces into the outline.  A bit of ribbon to hang the ornament and a blue shimmer "joy" finished it off.

I wanted to see the difference between inlaying the pieces flush with the outline (as in the ornament) and inlaying the pieces with the outline raised from them so I went on to make this third card.

I die cut the Star of David three times, once out of scrap cs, once out of silver cs, and once out of a pale blue / silver flecked dp.  I needed something to glue it all on to so cut a circle out of scrap cs.  I glued the Star of David outline from the scrap cs onto the solid circle, then inlaid the dp into it.  Then glue the silver cs outline on top.  Added it to a dry embossed panel, along with a heat embossed sentiment.

I like both the flush inlaid look and the one with the raised outline so will use both methods in future.  Check out some more examples and some links to instructional videos over at Group of Cardmakers!

My second card is also being linked up at Try It On Tuesday "Pretty Papers" - the paper I used for the inset part of the die is one of the prettiest I have.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - various red Distress inks
Paper - red, gold, and white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Spellbinders poinsettia die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white shimmer and blue shimmer cs, TPC dp, ribbon
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - ornament die, PB Joy die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - Versamark
Paper - white and silver cs, pale blue with silver flecks dp
Size - A2
Accessories - PTI star of David die, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stampendous Vintage Blue embossing tinsel, sentiment strip die, dimensionals

 

 

Aqua and Silver

As soon as I saw the Peace on Earth mood board (see at end of post), I was drawn to the bottom right image of the aqua-coloured ornaments with some silver in the background.  Here's my card:

I die cut the ornament three times, once out of aqua glitter cs and twice out of scrap cs.  I glued them together, threaded both aqua bakers twine and silver cord through the hole, then glued it to a silver matte card base.  I die cut the sentiment and glued it to the card base.

We'd love to have you join us with either a card inspired by the mood board or an "anything Christmas" card.  There's lots more inspiration from the Design Team over at Peace on Earth.  Here's our mood board:

Supplies:
Paper - silver matte cs, aqua glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - ornament die, Essentials by Ellen sentiment die, aqua bakers twine, silver cord

Glittered Ornament and Jingle Bells

First up, a very CAS card.  My Time to Craft Christmas wants to see glitter.  I used a technique I saw on SCS for using up glitter.  It's also for the Try It On Tuesday Challenge to keep it simple.

I covered a piece of packing tape with a Christmas glitter blend I have (but had never used!). Added a top layer of tape and die cut the ornament. I "hung" it on my centre panel and popped that panel up on fun foam on the card base, and added a sentiment.

I used some of my hammered cs - it adds some nice texture to a very CAS card.  Since I've had it for a couple of years but haven't used any of it yet (and had never used the Christmas glitter mix that I've had for at least 10 years!!!), I'm linking it up at the NBUS Challenge and the Neglected Stuff Challenge.

Now on to my second card for today.  The Jingle Belles Challenge is asking for jingle bells, the ABC Christmas Challenge is "j for jingle bells", and the Double D Challenge wants us to use designer paper.

I die cut the bells twice and glued them together for more dimension.  Added them to some starry designer paper.  Stamped and fussy cut the sentiment and added it.  

   

 
 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Gold
Paper - white hammered cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders ornament die and long rectangle die, Christmas glitter mix, packing tape, gold thread, gold embossing powder, sentiment strip die, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Dylusions sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Paper - white and gold cs, decorative paper
Size - A2
Accessories - Lil Inker bell dies

Watercoloured Winter, Peaceful Ornament, and Grungy Birthday

Two more Christmas cards and one birthday card today!  

First, for ABC Christmas Challenge "W is for Watercolouring", Stamping Sensations "Winter", and Four Seasons "Winter" (the top left image on their mood board inspired me to pull out an old stamp that has a rustic wooden cabin as part of it).

The image is stamped, watercoloured, and added to a kraft cardbase.  Then I went over the snow lines, the snow on the fences, trees, and roof with a quickie glue pen and added glitter.  I put the sentiment inside as I didn't want to cover up any of the lovely image.

Next up for Addicted to CAS "Ornament":

A friend and I regularly go for tea at a little French bakery / coffee shop and the pastries are served on gold cardboard holders that I carefully clean and recycle to make large ornaments for cards. In this case, I dripped a couple of shades of red alcohol inks on the round part of the pastry holder and spritzed with rubbing alcohol to get it to run and cover the round part. When dry, I added a dove die cut from white glitter cs and a branch cut from green shimmer cs. I embellished with three little stick-on gold glitter circles and some matching gold glitter strips for the ornament's hanger. I let it all take centre stage on a plain white card base with just an added stamped and heat embossed sentiment. 

A male friend has a birthday coming up so I had my usual struggle to make a masculine card.  I'm linking it up with Sweet Stampin' "It's our Birthday" - they are celebrating the 15th year of their challenge.  And also Seize the Birthday "Masculine".

I found the stencilled piece in my unused background box - it was very intensely orange and I didn't like it, so I watered down some gesso and painted over it to lighten it up.  I stamped the Tim Holtz image in black and edged around it with Tea Dye Distress ink.  Then cut a rectangle out of the stencilled piece and layered it over the stamped image as a frame.  Added a birthday sentiment to the top of the frame.

   

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Northwoods
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, kraft cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, quickie glue pen, glitter

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - A Muse sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Gold, red alcohol inks
Paper - white cs, white glitter cs, green shimmer cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Impression Obsession dove die, recycled pastry holder, gold embossing powder, Anita's Glitterations gold strips and dots

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Tim Holtz man, unknown sentiment
Ink - various orange Distress inks, Distress Tea Dye, Versfine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders rectangle die, clock stencil, gesso

A Tiny Snowman and A Recycled Ornament

Christmas Cards All Year Round wants snowmen.

I stamped the image and sentiment onto the centre of a piece of watercolour paper, and used watercolour paints to colour it.  Then I placed it in a snowflake frame embossing folder and ran it through my Cuttlebug.  It came out partly embossed normally and partly letterpress.  I really like the look so am going to check for more stamps that will fit in that centre section.

My other card today is for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's recycling challenge.  A friend and I regularly go out for tea and pastries at a lovely little French cafe.  I always save the foil cardboard thingies that the pastries come on as they look exactly like a Christmas ornament.  So that is the recycled item on my card.

I die cut the holly out of some smooshed green leftovers and the word joy out of some red glitter cs and glued both to the gold "ornament".  Because the foil is so slippery, the glue oozed out from under it in a lot of places.  There was no way to get it off so I sprinkled fine glitter all over the sticky sections.  It looks better in real life - quite sparkly - but in the photo it looks kind of splotchy.  I added red Stickles to the berries on the holly, and wrapped red twine around the top and through a hole I punched in the top of the ornament and through the card base.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Ultimate Crafts Snowflake Frame embossing folder, watercolour paints

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - white cs, leftover smooshed green scrap
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - holly die, Joy die, red Stickles, red metallic twine

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

Christmas Decorations, a Tiny Snowman, and Sympathy

Christmas Craft Creations wants to see Christmas Decorations on our cards.  Here's mine:

To create the background for the ornament, I followed the instructions for the first technique in this video - it's basically a smooshing technique with alcohol inks.  Once dry, I die cut the inner part of this bauble and the sentiment. I die cut the snowflake border out of white shimmer cs, put the ornament together, and added it to a mint blue card base with a bit of gold cord to hang it from the top of the card.

Next up, for the Inspired By "Snowman" challenge, I went with a very tiny snowman and the lovely shade of blue of the snowman's coat in the image.

I trimmed a leftover scrap from a gelli print with a deckle rectangle die, added it to my card base, stamped a sentiment, and topped it with a die cut that includes a very tiny snowman.

For a totally different theme, My Time to Craft wants to see sympathy cards.

I masked an oval on my focal panel and shaded with a lighter grey (Memento London Fog) and a darker grey (Vivid Cobblestone). I stamped the image and sentiment in the darker grey, bordered with grey cs, and popped up with fun foam on the card base.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Paper - coated cs, white shimmer cs, mint blue cs
Size - A2
Accessories - green and turquoise alchol inks, gold mixative, Memory Box snowflake ornament die, TH joy die, gold cord

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - various Distress blues for the gelli print, Distress Broken China
Paper - scrap from a gelli print
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders deckle rectangle die, unknown tiny snow scene die   

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - SU World of Dreams, unknown sentiment
Ink - Memento London Fog, Vivid Cobblestone
Paper - white and grey cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders oval die, masking paper, fun foam