Color Hues #30

It's time for a new color another challenge at the Color Hues! I hope you join us for Color Hues #30! 

I have been waiting for just the right opportunity to use the Concrod & 9th Full of Joy Tri Fold dies and this colour duo is perfect. I cut the large die with a matt gold cardstock. Then I cut the bottom of the die off so that I could centre mount it on my card and not use it as a flip up. I cut the smaller detail letters with silver sparkle cardstock and glued them on--it look's so amazing! I wish you could see it, gold and silver are so hard to photograph! 

My background was made from the Concord & 9th Pinstripe Background stamp set. I added the Joy piece to the card with foam tape. The sentiment `To the World`is from the Full of Joy stamp set white embossed on black. I added the finished sentiment with a combination of liquid glue and foam tape so it would be flush with the large joy!

Can`t wait to see what you make for the challenge!

Where are the 25 Days of Christmas Tags...this year!

Hello my friends. I have received so many messages recently from many of you wondering if I was going to be hosting the event again this year.

After doing it for 10 wonderful and successful years I decided last December that it was a good time to wrap it up. That doesn't mean that I won't do it again, but it does mean that I needed a break. It was so much fun, but also very time consuming and by the time it was over and prizes were distributed I was scrambling to get my own Christmas cards and projects completed.

Yes, I could have started earlier on my own personal Christmas crafting but if you know me? I am a master pro-CRAFTINATOR! Over the course of this month I will be doing a few special posts because there is 10 amazing years of inspiration posts.

Any time you want to go back and have a look at all the blog posts with links to all 10 years click HERE, that is 250+ posts on my blog!

If that is a little too overwhelming for you, I have all the tags on individual Pinterest boards grouped by year HERE!

Now lets not forget all that you the readers contributed! I had a linkup for you to participate for prizes the last four years and they are still on my blog, all 

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Those can be found by reviewing the link up pages HERE! 

So I leave you with SO MUCH AMAZING INSPIRATION for Christmas Tags!

I hope it is all you need to get going on your own tags for this year!

Have a wonderful weekend and hope the weather is lovely where you are. Stay tuned for some more fun posts!!

Lawn Fawnatics Challenge #112

Happy Friday friends!

I have been busy working on lots of holiday crafty projects, but right now most the most important are Christmas/holiday cards. When I saw the new Lawn Fawnatics Challenge was Make the Sentiment the Star I knew I wanted to use the new Lawn Fawn Giant Let It Snow die.

I created an embossed background using one layer from the Lawn Fawn Snowflakes stencil and an watermark ink pad. I lay the stencil over a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"" panel of Bristol Smooth cardstock where I wanted my snowflakes to be. I flipped it over and taped the stencil to the back of the panel. Then I flipped it back so that the stencil is on top. It's not necessary to do it this way, this is just the way I prefer to do it.

I prepped the panel well before embossing  using an embossing buddy. Then I pressed the watermark ink pad right onto the stencil until I covered my whole panel. I carefully removed the stencil, because it is a bit juicy, and I was left with the snowflake images from the stencil embossed with watermark ink. I sprinkled the panel with white embossing powder leaving me with a panel I could ink blend. I used Distress Oxide inks--Salvaged Patina, Peacock Feathers and Chipped Sapphire. The panel was trimmed down to 5 1/4" x 4".

I cut the Lawn Fawn Let It Snow die 4 times from white heavyweight cardstock and once from Lawn Fawn Pixie Dust cardstock. I glued all the layers together and added it to the snowflake panel with liquid glue. I added the panel to a white top folding card base with foam tape.

Now you know I couldn't have a card with a tag!

I made the sentiment that same way--4 layers of white heavyweight cardstock and a Pixie Dust layer on top! The tag was cut using the Lawn Fawn Scalloped Gift Tag. I tied a cluster of silver bells--mat, shiny and sparkly with silver metallic cord.

Thanks so much for stopping in today, have a fabulous weekend!

 

 

Ellen Hutson Guest Design

Hi there friends! I'm really excited to be posting again over on the Ellen Hutson blog! I'll be revisiting products from the most recent Essentials by Ellen Winter and Christmas Release, which is available for purchase at Ellen Hutson!

One of my favourite things to do with a stamp set that contain individual images of foliage is make it work to create a wreath, regardless of the season! Today each of my cards will have a wreath that I made using different branches from the Holiday Sprigs stamp set and the co-ordinating Holiday Sprigs designer dies. The first card feels a little more traditional and elegant where the second is a bit more artsy!

 

I usually begin a design by drawing a quick sketch of what I want to do, or in the case for this card I made a sample to make sure that my idea would actually work. Some days the recycle bin is full, and some days it’s back to the drawing board. The sample is usually quite messy by the time I’m finished with it, and there have been occasions when my sample turns out better than the finished product. Does that ever happen to you? My sample usually becomes an integral part of the overall creative process and before it hits the recycle bin for the last time it’s usually covered with stamping, embossing, Copic marker, inks and most times illegible scrawls—lol!

 Once I knew that my design was going to work I went ahead and made my wreath base using the pine branch from the Holiday Sprigs stamp set. I cut a 5 ¼” x 4” panel of cardstock and used the Essentials by Ellen Circle Designer Dies to create a circle in pencil where I want to put my wreath. I used a 3” circle die and lightly traced around the outside of it with a pencil. The branches and embellishments typically cover the pencil lines pretty well so usually there isn’t a need to erase.

 With my magic bag I rubbed it over my panel well so that I didn’t end up with embossing powder where it’s not meant to be. Now this is where I go a little wild and I freehand stamp the wreath using a watermark ink pad and an acrylic block, no MISTI. I embossed the wreath with Hero Arts gold embossing powder.

A sentiment from the Holly Jolly Christmas stamp set was masked, stamped and embossed with WOW Bright White Opaque embossing powder on red cardstock and then added to the card with foam tape.

 TIP: Use your magic bag for more than just embossing powder to keep the surface slick. Your embossing bag helps prevent other powders and glitter from sticking to everything.

 I added a few gold sparkle jewels in various sizes on and around the wreath. Then I dotted a ZIG Squeeze & Roll 2 Way Pen around the outside of the wreath and sprinkled Studio Katia Gold Fever Glitter over the card. Just the right amount of sparkle!

 

 
For my second card I used the mistletoe branch from the Holiday Sprigs stamp set to create a die cut wreath.

 

Just like the first card I created a pencil circle for my wreath shape but this time a bit higher up on the panel. This was so I would have enough room to put a sentiment below the wreath. I stamped the outline mistletoe branch 8 times using black ink. Then I stamped the co-ordinating solid image over top using Concord & 9^th Evergreen ink. Using the Holiday Sprigs dies I cut the branches. The dies for this set are so easy to line up with the stamped images! That is such a game changer for me.

Working clockwise, I started building my wreath by adhering the mistletoe branches one at a time to the pencil line using my favourite Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive liquid glue. I tucked the stem of the next branch under to top leaf of the bough to give it a little dimension. I used 8 branches for my simple wreath but you could add as many branches as you would like for a fuller wreath.

 Once the wreath was complete I added some berries from Holiday Sprigs. They were stamped on white cardstock and cut with the Holiday Sprigs I tucked a few of them along the wreath and then added some of the elusive, clear ZIG Wink of Stella. over them. That is for the eye of the beholder.

 I used the same masked sentiment from Holly Jolly Christmas. This time I embossed it with Hero Arts gold embossing powder and then added it to the card with foam tape.

 A staple for me with my holiday card and tag making is May Arts metallic gold string and May Arts metallic silver string. I love having something so simple to make something a little more special. So I finished it with a simple bow and called it done!

Thanks so much for crafting with me and so much love to the team at Ellen Hutson for inviting me back to the blog today.

 ~Tracey

Color Hues #29

It's time for a new color another challenge at the Color Hues! I hope you join us for Color Hues #29!

I bought the Toadstool Garden and Mighty Oak dies from the Greetery when they were released last year but this is my first time using them! The new colour palette was the perfect time to get them out to play.

I made some really amazing background panels using Tim Holtz Mica Stain sprays! Talk about addictive! I sprayed a couple panels using the the colours Jack O Lantern and Crooked Broomstick. It was so fun to see the different variations in hues as the two ink colours blended together, not to mention the amazing metallic shine! Once they were dry I cut out some toadstools and leaves and arranged them on to a Shiplap background also from the Greetery.

The sentiment is from the Essentials by Ellen Pumpkin Season stamps and co-ordinating dies.

Thanks for popping in and if you haven't been there already, head over to the Color Hues blog to see what the rest of my awesome teammates have made with these two colours!