Masculine Christmas and Poinsettias Embossed and Stamped

Cardz 4 Guyz wants a masculine Christmas card. 

I started with the background - used a circle die to cut a round mask for the moon and a hilly slopes die for the snowy ground (both cut out of masking paper). Then splattered masking fluid on the sky for snow. Then sponged with two shades of blue Distress ink, leaving it lighter around the moon. Once the ink was dry, I removed the paper masks and rubbed off the masking fluid. I die cut the buildings and trees out of black cs and added them to the background. Finished off by using white gouache on a fine paint brush to add snow to the roofs.

My second card today is for Can You Handle the Pressure (dry embossing with an optional theme of poinsettias - I went with this theme).

I stamped and watercoloured the candle / poinsettia image, trimmed it with a square die, popped it up on fun foam on a square of off white cs that I'd run through a floral embossing folder that could well be poinsettias.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Make an Impression sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - masking fluid, masking paper, SSS Winter Village dies, circle die, hilly slope die, Dr Phil Martin's bleed-proof white gouache

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stamplorations
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, square dies, Sizzix embossing folder

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

Stencilled Birthday and Starry Sympathy

A birthday card for my nephew using the Stencil Fun "Birthdays" challenge and the Cardz 4 Guyz "Anything Masculine Goes" challenge.

I made a globe stencil using my globe die and laid it down on white cs and sprayed over it with a couple of different brown sprays.  When dry, I stamped a sentiment on top of it.  Stamped the vertical Happy Birthday on another strip of cs and added both to a black panel.

The Double D challenge wants stars and Word Power wants the sentiment to be the focus of the card.

I stencilled the stars in gold ink so that they would curve around the sentiment, trimmed with a square die, bordered in dull gold shimmer cs, and popped it up on the card base with fun foam.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Peddler's Pack Happy Birthday, Tim Holtz sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - various Lindy's sprays, globe die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stampotique sentiment
Ink - Martha Stewart gold, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs, dull gold shimmer cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - Funky Fossil star stencil, Spellbinders square dies, fun foam

Blue / Purple Sky and a Birthday Cat

Sneaking in under the wire for Color Hues "Light Blue and Purple":

The background was done with blue and purple reinkers on mixed media cs, then covered in wrinkled cling wrap while it dried.  The snowy tree die is cut from white glitter cs, and it's mounted on a blue/grey card base that in real life matches the blue in the background better than it does in the photo.

As you probably know, I'm very focused on making Christmas cards right now, but friends do have birthdays coming up.  I used Seize the Birthday "Neutrals Only" to get me to make one for a guy friend.  He adores his black cat, Maisie, so I had to add her to the card!

I inked up the background stamp randomly with various Distress Oxide inks, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped onto mixed media cs.  Once dry, I stamped the cat in black (using my MISTI to get a good solid impression) and heat embossed it, then bordered in black cs, and added to an off-white card base.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Make an Impression sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Heliotrope, various blue and purple reinkers
Paper - blue / grey cs, white glitter cs, mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - cling wrap, Spellbinders circle die, Memory Box trees die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Savvy Stamps sentiment, Lavinia cat, Magenta (?) branches
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, various Distress Oxide inks
Paper - mixed media, black, and off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SU label punch, black embossing powder

Slimline Snowflakes

Just one card for you today.  I wanted to get it posted for a few challenges before they close.

I went over the TH snowflake stencil with embossing paste and then, while it was still wet, I added Speckled Egg embossing glaze to give it colour.  I heated it with my heat gun which caused some of the glaze to bubble a bit and then subside, adding even more texture to the snowflakes.

I added a very thin black cs border, stamped the sentiment in black on a small scrap and heat embossed it with clear powder, and added a thin black border to that piece as well.

Challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge "E is for Embossing" (I have both embossing paste and embossing glaze.)

Christmas Craft Creations "Slimline"

 

Cardz 4 Guyz - "Add Texture"

 

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocture
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 7x3.75"
Accessories - TH snowflakes stencil, embossing paste, TH Speckled Egg embossing glaze, clear embossing powder

A Horse, a Rabbit, and Some Chicks

An animal twofer today.

For The Male Room "Animals" challenge:

A simple stamped and heat embossed image, trimmed and set on an embossed rustic wood background.

And next up, for the Day of the Month Card Challenge "Poultry Day", some sweet chicks modelling the little sweaters the bunny is knitting for them:

I loved watercolouring this image - such fun to give all the little chicks different coloured sweaters.  I popped the panel up on some fun foam and added a Happy Easter sentiment.

The Male Room

Day of the Month Card Club

 

I'll be back with more of my endless Christmas cards next post!

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Serendipity Mustang, PTI sentiment
Ink - Versafine Vintage Sepia
Paper - white and brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Cuttlebug embossing folder, clear embossing powder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - House Mouse "Will Knit for Friends", unknown sentiment
Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black
Paper - white cs, watercolour paper
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam

Reindeer for a Guy

Cardz 4 Guyz wants a masculine card featuring any animal.  I'm trying to get lots of Christmas cards made so went with reindeer.

I kept to shades of brown as that suits a masculine theme.  I created the background by sprinkling three shades of Bister powders on mixed media cs and spritzing with water. When dry, I stamped a small holly stamp in Tea Dye ink across the top.

I then stamped the two reindeer with Walnut Stain ink and heat embossed them. I added a die cut sentiment, bordered with dark brown, and used a white card base.

It's great when I can adapt a challenge to a Christmas card as I really need to work on my stash for my sale at the end of November!

Supplies:
Stamps - Studio Light reindeer, Art Impressions holly
Ink - Distress Tea Dye and Walnut Stain
Paper - white, dark brown, and mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Brown, Natural, and Yellow Bister; clear embossing powder, Tattered Lace sentiment die

Masculine CAS Sympathy Card

A friend's father passed away so I made this sympathy card for him.

I masked off a rectangle on the main panel, sponged it with two shades of Distress inks, then stamped the branches while masked with solid ink and stamped off ink. After I removed the mask, I stamped the sentiment and one more branch in a dark brown.  I trimmed it with a white border and popped it up on fun foam.

While I had everything out, I made a variation on it as it's always good to have sympathy cards on hand and the ones I make are usually more feminine than these ones.

I flicked a bit of water on the sponged background, did a slightly different layout with the stamps and sentiment, and added a dark brown border.

I'm linking up to three challenges:

Cardz for Guyz - "A Masculine CAS Card"

Krafty Chicks Challenge - "A CAS Card"

Less is More - "Color Challenge - Chocolate"  (it can include chocolate caramel which is what I think my background is, with milk chocolate and dark chocolate stamping)

Supplies:
Stamps - SU Just Believe, PTI sympathy
Ink - Distress Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap, Memento Rich Cocoa
Paper - white and brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - masking tape, fun foam

A Masculine Thank You Card

 

The Cardz 4 Guys challenge wants a masculine thank you or Thanksgiving card.  Since Canadian Thanksgiving has already passed, I went with a thank you card.

 

 

I used a Dreamweaver stencil and started by colouring the horses in different colours of Distress inks. Then I cleaned the stencil and replaced it, going over it this time with translucent embossing paste.

I sponged the ground underneath their hooves, trimmed the panel, and popped it up on some rustic-looking decorative paper, and added a simple sentiment.

 

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - various Distress inks, Archival Jet Black
Paper - white cs, unknown dp
Size - A2
Accessories - Stampendous Dreamweaver horse stencil, Dreamweaver translucent embossing paste, fun foam

A Masculine Heart

My friend who buys several Valentine cards from me each year likes at least one of them to be quite masculine - not my favourite thing to create and I find it challenging.  So I went grunge, thinking that would be pretty masculine!

The image and background are all one stamp.  I stamped it on masking paper and cut out the heart so that I two separate masks.  Using my MISTI, I put the heart mask on watercolour paper, inked up the background of the stamp with Distress Black Soot, spritzed with water, and stamped.  Let it dry, then removed the heart mask, and put the background mask down.  Inked up the heart with Distress Candied Apple, spritzed, and stamped.  I got a little bit of red seepage under the masking paper but not too bad.  I used a red marker to define the edges of the heart where needed.

Stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, bordered with black cs, and popped it up on cream cs.

It's for the following challenges:
 
The Male Room Challenge "Love You"
 

Double D Challenge "Hearts"

CAS Watercolour Challenge "Red and Black"
 

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day!

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment, Impression Obsession heart
Ink - Distress Black Soot and Candied Apple
Paper - cream and black cs, watercolour paper
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - clear embossing powder, masking paper, fun foam

Flying Dove

The Male Room has a challenge that lent itself to creating another Christmas card.

I chose a dove in flight, with muted masculine colours.

I stamped the dove with Versamark on navy cs, then added Heat and Stick powder so that I could add Pearl Ex - white on the dove, green on the leaf. The sentiment is heat embossed in silver. I bordered with green shimmer cs, and mounted on a white card base.

While I had everything out, I made a second one - this time a square card with the image trimmed tighter. 

I'd love to know which one you like best.

Supplies:

Stamps - SU Calm Christmas, Tim Holtz sentiment

Ink - ColorBox silver, Versamark

Paper - green shimmer, white, and navy cs

Size - A2 and 4.75" square

Accessories - silver embossing powder, Heat & Stick powder, Pearl Ex (Interference Green and Pearl White)