Direct to Paper Background

The Group of Cardmakers are playing with the "direct to paper" inking technique.  It made a wonderful background that I used for this card.

I followed the instructions for the second technique in this video to create the background.  I used three different blue Distress inks and blended them a bit more than Kristina did in the video.  Then splattered with white ink.  Instead of stamping on it like Kristina did, I die cut the trees and the sentiment.  Both were die cut twice and glued together to give more dimension.

Take a look at what else the Group of Cardmakers made, and if you're inspired, give the technique a try.

Supplies:
Ink - 3 different blue Distress inks
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz tree die, Penny Black winter cheer die, Dr. Phil Martin's Bleedproof White Ink

Red Farm Buildings

The new Peace on Earth mood board is four images of red barns.  It made me think of a stamp I've had for years.

I coloured it with coloured pencils, trimmed it, popped it up on fun foam on a pre-made dark green card base.

Here's the mood board.  Head over to the Peace on Earth blog to see how the rest of the Design Team interpreted it.

Supplies:
Stamps - Serendipity Winter Farm, SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, pre-made dark green card base
Size - 5x4.5"
Accessories - coloured pencils, fun foam

Festive Bear, Red and Kraft Valentine, and Snowy Horses

Three cards again today - I was home all day (that's rare for me) so spent the afternoon making a few cards to enter in challenges before they close.

First up for Festive Friday "National Winnie the Pooh Day".  My card has nothing to do with Winnie the Pooh but it uses five of the elements from Festive Friday's list - brown, yellow, red, bear, and colouring techniques (I used coloured pencils with Gamsol).  It's also for The Twelve Months of Christmas "Polar Bears".

I stamped the image in dark brown then coloured with coloured pencils, using lots of red, yellow, and brown.  I blended the shading on the bear with Gamsol and blending stumps.  I trimmed it with a stitched square, bordered with brown cs, and added it to a square card base.

Next up the first of the Valentines I make every year for my best friend (she orders 10 every year).  She loves seeing text on the background of the cards.  It's for The Color Hues Challenge "Red and Kraft".

The background is a kraft dp printed with old fashioned script.  I topped it with a die cut heart duo and die cut sentiment, and added it to a matching red card base.

And back to Christmas cards, for Jingle Belles "Something Old, Something New" and Simply Clean and Simple "Something New".  I used a new horse stamp I hadn't yet used (so I'm also linking it up with the NBUS Challenge) and a snowflake background stamp I've had for many years.

I stamped snowflake background in pale blue, then stamped the horses below it. Added a sentiment, trimmed the panel with a square die, bordered with black cs, and used a quickie glue pen and glitter along all the snowy lines on the fence.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - SU Bearing Gifts
Ink - Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves
Paper - white and brown cs
Size - 4.5" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Gamsol, Lil Inkers stitched square die

Supplies for card 2:
Paper - red cs, kraft script dp
Size - 6.25x3.25"
Accessories - Tim Holtz love die, Poppy Stamps Heart String die

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Cardio horses, Penny Black sentiment, Impression Obsession snowflake background
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Broken China
Paper - white and black cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - square dies, glitter

 

Icy Polar Bears and Cosy Winter

ABC Christmas Challenge is "Y for Your Favourite Colours and / or Z is for Zoo Animals".  My favourite colours are blue and white, and I love them for snowy winter Christmas cards.  And polar bears are sometimes found in zoos.

 

 

I used a few shades of blue Distress inks, tapped them on my craft mat, added a bit of white shimmer paint and a bit of iridescent medium, spritzed all with water, and smooshed and dragged my watercolour paper in it. I die cut the polar bears twice out of white cs and glued them together before adding them to the smooshed panel. I die cut the sentiment, leaving the letters inside their outer section (much easier than gluing on each individual letter!).

 

Can You Handle the Pressure? wants an embossing folder and the theme of winter.  Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants "warm and cosy".

Stamped, watercoloured, popped up on fun foam on a background run through a snowflake embossing folder.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various blue Distress inks
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tsukineko Frost White liquid paint, Windsor & Newton Iridescent Medium, polar bear die, sentiment die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Stamplorations
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, fun foam

Holly, a Winter Cabin, and Ornaments

Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants us to feature a Christmas carol or song.  I chose "Deck the Halls".  Rudolph Days and 12 Months of Christmas are both "anything Christmas".

I put the holly stamp in my Misti and inked it up with various Oxide inks and Memento Dew Drop inks, stamping and reinking until I was happy.  I added some lightly stamped text and postmarks to the background.  Then sponged around the edges.  I finished with a Tim Holtz clippings sticker with the line from Deck the Halls, and added Wink of Stella to the berries.

Christmas Crafts All Year Round wants bows, gifts, or decorations.  I went with decorations.

I created a dry embossed background that creates a three-sided border of ornaments, leaving space in the middle for my die cut ornaments to hang.  I did one each out of red, green, and silver mirror card, and hung them with silver thread.

Stamping Sensations wants to see "Winter".

I love this winter scene.  I stamped it in black and heat embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder (it's very sparkly in real life).  I bordered it with black shimmer cs.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black holly, unknown Christmas script stamp
Ink - various Oxide and Memento Dew Drops, Adirondack Lake Mist
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Wink of Stella, Tim Holtz clippings sticker

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Delicata Copper Glitz
Paper - white cs; red, green, and silver mirror cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Crafts Too embossing folder, Spellbinders ornament die, silver thread

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Crafty Individuals winter cabin, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - chalk cs, black shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SU Iridescent Ice embossing powder

Ombre Sky, Trees, and Stars

This month the Group of Seven Cardmakers is showcasing Ombre as our Design Element.  For my first example, I used ink blending to create a blue sky.  This is the method I've typically used when I think of creating an ombre effect.

I blended various blue Distress inks from light up to dark on coated cs (easier to get a nice blend than on regular cs).  When dry, I stamped the image in archival ink, then coloured the berries with a white gel pen.  I did a little bit of splattering with a white Posca paint pen to give the effect of a few lazy snowflakes drifting down on a cold winter day.  I added a sentiment die cut with an oval die.

On our Group of Seven website we have a couple of videos showing different ways of doing ombre.  I followed the technique in this video for my next card.

I die cut the trees from three shades of green cs and layered them over a dry embossed background, using bits of foam tape to raise each layer off the previous layer.  Then I added a black die cut Santa and sleigh and a black border.

I made one more using the stacked die cuts ombre method.

For this one I used three shades of copper glitter cs and die cut stars out of it and stacked them on top of each other, and then on top of a star embossed background.  In hindsight, I wish I'd cut each word out of a different shade of the cs - but too late!

I'm adding this third card to My Time to Craft's "New" challenge (one of the options is a New Year's card).

Please check out the cards by the rest of the Group of Seven Design Team.  We'd love to have you link up cards using an ombre technique.  It's not a challenge but we all love seeing your ideas or interpretations.  

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Archival Jet Black, Distress Tattered Glass, Broken China, Stormy Sky, Salty Ocean
Paper - white cs, coated cs
Size - A2
Accessories - white gel pen, white Posca paint pen

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SSS sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - white, black, 3 shades of green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - CuttleBug snowfall embossing folder, Frantic Stamper Santa / sleigh die, unknown trees die, foam tape

Supplies for card 3:
Paper - white cs, 3 shades of copper glitter cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - star embossing folder, Spellbinders star dies, Tattered Lace sentiment die

Christmas and Winter

My Time to Craft Christmas challenge's theme is Lights (candles, lamps, etc.).

A simple stamped and watercoloured image, bordered in red, popped up on fun foam on a panel embossed with stars.

Shopping our Stash wants to see "Winter not Christmas", My Time to Craft wants "Something Snow Related", and Stamping Sensations  wants "Winter".

I stamped a large snowflake background stamp in Versamark and then went over it with a couple of shades of Pan Pastels (a product I rarely use).  I trimmed the panel, popped it up on fun foam on a cream card base, and stamped and heat embossed a sentiment on a strip of the same cream card stock and popped it up on the panel.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown candle stamp, Stampendous sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, square dies, Sizzix stars embossing folder, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown snowflake background stamp
Ink - Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - cream cs, mixed media cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Pan Pastels, embossing powder, fun foam, rectangle 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