Christmas Tags Galore!

One of my favorite quick and simple gifts is a matching set of gift tags. These cute but useful gifts are great for the person in your life who has everything, since they are beautiful, personal, and totally consumable!

I created several sets of tags as little gifts for teachers, co-workers, and friends. Tuck tags in with a bar of scented soap, some Christmas goodies, or another small gift for a last minute Christmas surprise!

I created this set of adorable schnauzer tags for my boss, who is the owner of three adorable pups she loves! These open up to reveal space to write inside. She has two white dogs and one tan and white, so there are a few images for each pup!

For the next set, I created a watercolor wash with Distress ink and layered on some hand cut hearts. These turned out so cute!

I broke out my City Scenes stamp set from Papertrey Ink for this set of scene tags. The background on these was created with watercolor paper and Distress Ink. 

Tag sets are so simple and fun to create! I hope you find some inspiration for your gift giving here! 

Merry Christmas!

Watercolor Christmas with Purple Onion Designs

I absolutely ADORE the Stacy Yacula unmounted rubber stamps I ordered last year from Purple Onion Designs. I love creating miniature worlds on my cards, and Stacey's designs offer a thousand adorable combinations for scene building. Her designs are great for Christmas and beyond! I encourage you to check out the Purple Onion website here!

Now, sometimes you win in photography, and sometimes you lose big time. Sometimes you don't realized you've lost until you've already mailed the card you're photographing, and that was definitely the case this time. This picture is absolutely atrocious, and I'm only sharing it here because this is my first real attempt at creating a watercolor background. I loved how the original turned out!

I created the background on this card by stamping the house and tree image in Staz-On ink on watercolor paper. I painted the image, sky, and snow banks with my Gansai Tambi watercolors, and then I stamped my focal image on a second piece of watercolor paper, painted it, and cut it out. I popped the focal point up just a little with some dimensional adhesive and then covered the whole scene in snow with a white gel pen. (Remember, snow falls in the foreground and background!)

I finished this project off with a dark blue card base and a heat embossed greeting on a strip of vellum. Then off to Canada in time for Christmas! 

I had a blast creating this card, and I have tons of other design ideas using all of my Stacey Yacula stamps! Thanks for stopping by today, and thanks for tolerating this shaky photo!

Clean and Simple Santa

I do my very best to send handmade cards to everyone on my list at Christmas. After all, what could be sillier for an avid card maker than sending commercially printed Christmas cards? I finally tallied up my list of recipients, and I have about half of what I need. I tend to make pretty involved projects, so I needed a clean and simple card that will be quick to reproduce for the other half of my mailing list. Pinterest to the rescue!

I found a basic layout I liked and then set about adapting it with supplies I have on hand. I like how this quick and easy project turned out!

I stamped this vintage Santa image from Tim Holtz in Versamark ink and then heat embossed in detail black embossing powder. Using a Tim Holtz stencil, I created the plaid pattern over the top by sponging Barn Door and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks over part of the image. A sheet music paper envelope finished this 5 minute project off.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Feathers and Frost Pop Up

Greetings, crafty friends! 

Today I want to share another project using the adorable Feathers and Frost stamp set from Stampin' Up's 2018 holiday catalog. The little bird images in this set are just too cute, and I just received Papertrey Ink's Movers and Shakers sliders dies. I couldn't wait to try them out to see where a combo of these products might lead!

I started with a thick white A2 card base, and I layered a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Merry Mistletoe DSP in this lovely shaded spruce color over the top. The Slider die comes with both a vertical and horizontal orientation, so I cut the horizontal pocket in Shaded Spruce cardstock and stamped some Shaded Spruce poinsettias in the background.

Next I colored the leaf background and two birds with my copic markers on a square of white cardstock for the pop up element. I fussy cut the birds and centered a gold glitter heart between them. (They are SOOO cute!) I repeated the coloring inside and on the double slider portion that pops up at the top.

This die takes a little practice, but overall the process of putting this card together was fairly easy after a little experimentation. Now that I understand the construction, I know I will be using this die set a lot! How cute would this pop up be with balloons, animals, flowers, hot air balloons … any image for any occasion!

Thanks for stopping by today, and stay warm out there!

Winter Woods

The new bundle from Stampin' Up called Winter Woods has some absolutely lovely winter images that I couldn't wait to use on my Christmas projects. Having lived in Montana for most of my life, I find myself drawn to peaceful, snow covered scenes. They are so familiar!

For my first project, I wanted to create a soft, misty scene, and vellum is always perfect for the job! 

This clean and simple card was super easy to create! I started by stamping the pine tree in Shaded Spruce ink all over the background, with some images full strength and some stamped off for some color variation. This background needed a little life, so I grabbed a silhouette stamp from my Papertrey Ink In the Meadow stamp set and added this little bunny with black ink. 

I cut a piece of vellum slightly larger than my front card panel to avoid any adhesive showing through. After stamping this gorgeous swirly sentiment in Versamark and heat embossing it in gold, I folded the vellum over the top and bottom of my card panel and adhered it on the back side. (I found this lovely sentiment stamp at my local thrift store for less than $1.00!) I layered a stitched hillside die from Lawn Fawn over the base panel, along with a die cut pine tree in Shaded Spruce. This whole clean and simple project took less than 20 minutes to complete!

For my second project, I wanted to create something REALLY sparkly! I found a cool YouTube video created by Jan Brown with a great idea for making super sparkly cards, so I thought I would give it a try! (Check out Jan's video here.) 

I started this project exactly like the first, substituting the bare branch trees from Winter Woods stamped in Smoky Slate ink. I stamped a few pine trees over the top in Shaded Spruce, and I added a deer silhouette in black, again from Papertrey Ink's In the Meadow stamp set. I tore a strip of white card stock to serve as a snowy hillside and layered it over my background.

Then the magic happened! I cut a sheet of double sided adhesive paper about 1/4" larger on all sides than my card panel to make the whole front sticky. (Jan has great step by step instructions in her video!) I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds all over the front of the card, and WOW does it shine! My pictures can't quite do it justice.

This card does shed a little bit of glitter, but I found that layering the adhesive release paper back over the panel and running my brayer over the top made most of the glitter hold tight! I added some soft organza ribbon and a round sentiment to the lower left corner to finish this project off.

I hope that you are surrounded by warmth wherever you find yourself! Thanks for visiting today!

Feathers and Frost Luminary

Hello, crafty friends!

Today I'd like to share a fun project I will be teaching at my craft group's annual holiday gathering. We hold this event each year in December, and it is a chance for all of us to slow down and connect over some fun projects and more than a few snacks! I have been meeting with this wonderful group of ladies for about 8 years, and they have become like sisters to me. A few members have come and gone in that time but the relationships remain, and we have all made some amazing friendships over the years.

Feathers and Frost is one of my favorite sets in the new holiday catalog, and this year I wanted to create a gift item that could be given away as a bit of Christmas cheer. This bright and homey square luminary is easy to make, uses limited supplies, and looks lovely all lit up!

Supplies:

- Feathers and Frost Stamp Set or line art set of your choice

- One sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" Real Red card stock

- Real Red ink pad

- One 12" x 12" sheet of DSP or patterned paper

- One sheet of Thick White card stock

- One sheet of vellum

- Four small strips of gold glitter paper

- Stitched Shapes die (or other square and oval die set)

- Embossing supplies Gold embossing powder, Versamark pad, embossing buddy, and heat tool

- Real Red and Old Olive Stampin' Blends (light and dark of each color) or other coloring tools of your choice

- Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad

- Foliage die or punch

- Battery operated tea light

Instructions:

1) Cut one sheet of Real Red card stock into two pieces measuring 4 1/4" x 9". Score both pieces at 4 1/4" and 8 1/2" along the 9" side. Trim the corners of each 1/2" section as indicated by the black areas below. (Feel free to click the diagrams to enlarge: My blog loves to cut larger images off at the edges.)

2) Cut four 4" x 4" squares of designer series paper.

3) Cut four 3 1/2" squares of vellum.

4) Prep all four pieces of vellum with your embossing buddy, stamp the square bird and feathers image from the Feathers and Frost set (or another image of your choice) in Versamark ink, and heat emboss with gold embossing powder.

5) Run a small strip of adhesive in only a small center section of each 4" square of DSP and affix the DSP squares inside each Real Red panel. This will keep the two layers in place while you die cut a square window from the center of each.

6) Choose a square die slightly larger than the image stamped on the vellum pieces and die cut a window from each square section of the luminary. Cutting through both the card stock and DSP allows you to easily cut the same window on each panel. (Tip: Number each panel and the DSP that fits it lightly in pencil as you go. No matter how much we try to center our cuts, no one is perfect!) Set the DSP pieces aside.

7) Center the gold embossed image in the center of each window and adhere to the outward-facing side of each Real Red panel. (It will not matter if the vellum is straight as the edges will be hidden!)

8) Adhere the DSP squares over the vellum on the outward-facing side of each Real Red panel, making sure the inside edges are flush with the windows cut in the base and that the border around each piece of DSP is even.

Note: If you are using a different stamp in your window which requires cutting your square opening a different size, you may need to trim down your 1/2" tabs to be sure they don't show when the box is assembled in the next step.

9) Assemble! Fold along score lines. Orient both base pieces so that the 1/2" score faces the same direction. Apply strong adhesive to the outward-facing portion of tab C and adhere it to the back side of panel D. Apply strong adhesive to the outward-facing portion of tab F, and wrap it around to adhere it to the back side of panel A. This will form a box with an opening in the center for your tea light.

10) Decorate! This is the fun part! I used a strip of gold glitter paper cut in a banner shape at the base of each window and layered the Joy sentiment stamped in red and cut with the smallest stitched oval die over the top. For the upper left corner of each window, I fussy cut the poinsettia and leaf stamp colored with Stampin' Blends, and I layered them over some punched evergreen boughs.

Now that I have made one of these, I have plans to make them in all kinds of color combinations! What combo will you try? 

Thanks for stopping by today, my friends! Happy crafting!

Christmas Critters!

I ADORE creating scene cards, but winter scenes are absolutely 100% my favorite! I have had these cute critter cards in my stash waiting to be photographed forever, and now that it's finally the Christmas season it's time to dust them off!

The first card uses an adorable stamp set from Mama Elephant called A Beary Christmas. These little bears are SO adorable, and I had so much fun creating this cute scene!

The scene background was created with distress ink painted onto watercolor paper with an aqua painter. I splattered and dabbed off some drops of water for interest, and then got to work building my scene with the Lawn Fawn stitched hillside dies, some cute little trees from Purple Onion Designs, and my cute little bear family. I used shades of various soft brown Copics for these cuties and then hand cut them out to avoid the white border dies can leave.

My second project was created using the same adorable bears and some more trees from Purple Onion Designs. (Stacey Yacula has some AMAZING scene building stamps if you like to create scenes like I do!) 

After my background was dry, I heat embossed my sentiment and some snowflakes, and I swiped some embossing paste over the lower section of the card and sprinkled it with glitter and faux snow. Of course my little bears create all the magic here!

If you love critters as much as I do, Winter Woodland Wonders by Avery Elle might be right up your alley too! This set features cute animals, along with birch trees and an adorable snowman. 

I had so much fun creating this card background with painted on distress inks! Before the ink was dry, I sprinkled salt all over the surface and let it dry completely. This technique gives watercolor such a neat texture! Then I die cut some stars out and ran the background through my Big Shot with a snowy embossing folder. I layered the background over silver glitter paper and then layered my stitched hillside over the top, along with my polar bear and trees. I love how this sweet card turned out!

My last critter card today is a case from a beautiful card designed by Melania Deasy. Sometimes I just want to pull out my supplies and get to work, and the day I created this card was one of those days! 

I made my version with a distress ink painted background and some brighter pastel colors because that is just who I am! :) The little rabbit in this stamp set is just about the cutest thing EVER!

I am so excited to share tons of Christmas projects using old and new products over the coming weeks. Stay warm out there!

The Last of Day of Autumn

For me, Thanksgiving marks the end of autumn and the beginning of winter - even though it has been snowing here since before Halloween! I am back today to share a couple of final fall projects before the Christmas crafting officially begins. My favorite! 

I recently impulse purchased the new Fa La Llama layering set from Hero Arts, so that set will be among the first I use for Christmas projects. It is so hilarious - I can't wait to try it out! Of course, I have a couple of the gorgeous new sets from Stampin' Up too!

BUT, first I wanted to share a couple of autumn cards I've had hanging around my desk waiting to be photographed for a while! When I saw that Echo Park had a new set of stamps last year to accompany their fall scrapbooking collection with THIS FOX:

How could I resist? He went on my birthday list right away. This sweet little fella will be a staple in my collection from now on!

This stamp set came with so many cute critters, and I couldn't wait to color them all. For the second project, I tinted some embossing paste with burnt orange reinker and spread it through a Prima background stencil. How cute is this little bear? I layered the owl on a Papertrey Ink bookmark die as a cute fall gift for one of my piano students who always has a book with her when she comes to lessons. 

While I had my Copics and tinted embossing paste out, I decided to color this cute digital fall fairy stamp from my stash and create another stenciled textured background. I wish I could remember the source of this adorable free digital stamp, but I have had it so long the site escapes me. I am very grateful to the artist!

I made the shaker element for this card by creating a pocket with my Fuse Tool and filling it with colorful confetti. A little bit of gold thread and a strip of card stock with a white heat embossed sentiment finished this fun thank you card off!

Thanks for stopping by today! Next on the agenda - Christmas crafts. Woohoo!

An Old Technique Worth Sharing!

I am on an extra long card kick right now, and the lovely fall colors outside my piano studio window inspired today's card. While I love using all of the new products that are always coming out in the paper crafting world, I also love the stuff I already have. (That's why I bought it after all!) 

These fall leaves from years ago were perfect for the technique I had in mind for this card. I wanted to create some beautiful fall colors with lots of variety and an interesting background.

I created the card base to fit a long envelope - about 9 1/2" by 4 1/4" or so - and stamped a background with a large woodgrain stamp. Then I got to work on the main panel, sponging heavy coats of several shades of yellow, orange, red, and violet all over white card stock. Then I clear embossed my leaf and swirl pattern over the top. I inked the heck out of the whole panel in dark brown to achieve the final result. Here is a photo of the work in progress:

I finished VERY inky but very happy with the final result: a not-too-feminine birthday card for my darling hubby. I will definitely be recreating this design again! It was so much fun!

Thanks for stopping by today! We are now into freezing temps here as usual by Thanksgiving. That means Christmas crafting is right around the corner! My favorite!

Another Fall Birthday

Pretty much ALL of my family members have birthdays in the fall, so I spend a lot of time each autumn creating special birthday cards for each of them. I have a wonderful family, and all of them live nearby, so we usually gather for one mega-giant birthday party around Halloween. This year my duties with the music teachers non-profit I have been working with kept us from having our party on schedule, but I still wanted to create some special cards.

This Painted Harvest stamp from Stampin' Up creates the MOST beautiful sunflowers, leaves, and acorns quickly and easily, so I paired some DSP I had left over from last fall with another extra long card base (9 1/2" x 4 1/4").

I added a crinkled seam binding bow, a little touch of gold glitter paper, and some gold thread, nestled around this lovely birthday sentiment from Butterfly Basics. This card fit (rather snugly) in a long coin envelope.

Sometimes I get one card design stuck in my head for a while, and I have to play with it over and over! I'll be back to share one more long and tall birthday card soon using a technique I had long forgotten about!