Sparkling Pinecones

I love the look of watercoloured cards, but have not master this skill myself as of yet. I've seen many cards that have a watercolour look to it, and to my surprise were not actually watercoloured.
I would have never though that spritzing water onto an inked solid stamp before stamping would create a watercoloured look. The principal sounds simple, but I did find out it's not as easy as it looks to get just the right amount of water onto the stamp.

Here are two attempts at this technique.

I did use watercolour paper, and tried to not over saturate the stamp, but still ended up with a little warping.

Th smaller, A2 card was my first try. As I also sprayed the finished image with a little gold shimmer mist it's possible that's what caused the over saturation, although I did wait for the ink to dry before misting.

The gold shimmer mist is really hard to photograph, but if you click on the below close up for the large view you can see it a bit.

You can see that on my first card there is much more bleeding of the ink colours and my second card is a little more controlled.  I also skipped the shimmer mist on this one. Comparing the two  the watercolour look  is almost a little too light on my second attempt.

 I will have to practice this technique some more. I did purchase a large watercolour paper pad this weekend so hopefully I'll have another chance soon.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections ivory, Bazzill green, Watercolour paper - SU
Ink: Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke - SU
Stamps: Ornamental Pine - SU
Misc.: gold shimmer mist

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Copic Cardinal

Today I am sharing my second creation using SU's Joyful Season stamp set. This time I chose to colour the cardinal using alcohol markers. This created a more solid, saturated colour image.

I kept the card very clean and simple which resulted in my cardinal being the main focus of the card without any competing backgrounds.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white
Stamps: Joyful Season - SU
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Alcohol markers: Blendabilities Skin Tone - SU, Y35, R24, R29, R89 - Copic,
Embossing folder: Softly Falling - SU
Die: Labels Framelits - SU
Misc.: Cherry Cobbler 1" Sheer Ribbon - SU, various sizes of pearls, foam tape/mounting squares

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Cardinal Christmas

It never fails. Every year when SU brings out their Holiday Catty my wish list consists of half the items in it, and once I've seen some of the amazing creations others have come up with it tends to increase even more.
I am never able to actually purchase all the great new products, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as one can only create so many cards, but sometimes there is a set of stamps or a punch that I miss out on an later regret no buying.

Last year's cardinal stamp set, Beauty of the Season, was one of those sets. I hesitated on ordering as at the time I had not ventured into the colouring/alcohol marker territory. However when the set retired I wished I had bought it. As luck would have it though, SU came out with an even better set this year (in my opinion anyway). Joyful Season, not only does it offers a cardinal outline image but the option to colour with stamps. Of course this set made it onto my must have list and arrived with my last SU order.

I finally had a chance to give it a try the other week. For the first card I opted to use the stamps for colouring. This provides a soft, almost watercolour look.

Supplies used;
Cardstock: Recollections, Brushed silver - SU
Stamps: Joyful Season - SU
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight - SU
Dies: Labels Framelits - SU, Wonderful Wreath - SU, Banners Framelits - SU
Embossing folder: Petals-a-Plenty - SU
Misc.: black marker, rhinestones, 5/8" silver organza ribbon, foam tape/mounting squares

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Christmas Stars

I started this card some time ago and then put it aside as I found myself rather uninspired.
With having made a few Christmas cards in the last little bit I pulled it out and decided to try and finish it. It's not one of my favourites, but I have to say the longer I look at it the more it appeals to me.

I created the shaker by die cutting the star, then lining up the position with my background paper and stamping the same size star in that spot. I built my shaker box onto the back of my cut out layer and filled it with little pearlescent micro beads.

The greeting and small star on the fort were heat embossed in silver. I also added a few little silver punched stars that were popped with foam mounting squares. All was finished with a few hand drawn outlines and dots in white gel pen.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Bazzill - dark blue, Recollections white, Brushed silver - SU
Stamps: Bright & Beautiful - SU
Ink: Night of Navy - SU, Versamark
Dies: Star Framelits - SU
Punch: Itty Bitty Accents - SU
Misc.: silver embossing powder, acetate, silver micro beads, foam mounting squares, foam tape, white gel pen

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Double width Window scene

Many of you have probably seen several samples of using the window die to create a double width sized window. I came across it on Angela Lorenz' website.
I wanted to try this myself but didn't like the wider bar in the center of the window. So I played with the technique and was able to size the window better to make the panels look more even.

I like how the double sized window accommodates a larger, more detailed scene . It also fits a standard A2 card front really well and doesn't need a lot of extras added.

I opted for a few simple poinsettias that were shaped a bit with shaping tools.

Supplies used Cardstock: Recollections white, Bazzill
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree - SU, Holiday Home - SU, Happy Scenes - SU
Ink: Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Basic Black - all SU, Tuxedo black - Memento
Dies: Hearth & Home Thinlits - SU, Banner Thinlits - SU, Small Blooming Poinsettia (No 902) - Poppy Stamps
Punch: 1 3/8" circle - SU (for mask)

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Christmas Window Card

So many new Christmas themed toys and so little time to play.
This past week I finally had a chance to use the new SU window die. I did purchase the matching stamps but decided on using other stamps i already had with this particular card.

I wanted to create a night time scene in my window view so I started by masking my moon and then sponging the night sky around it. I opted for lighter blue around the moon, going darker further away from the light source creating a natural glow. I even touched up the edges around the moon a little with pearlescent ink but the shimmer is really hard to see in my photos. The close up shows it a little more.

The scene was created with the Santa sleight stamp from Holiday Home and the trees are from lovely as a Tree.

Supplies used:

Cardstock: Recollections white, Bazzill dark blue

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree - SU, Holiday Home - SU, Happy Scenes - SU

Ink: Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Wisteria Wonder, Strawberry Slush, Craft White - all SU, Tuxedo black - Memento, Pearl White - Club Scrap

Dies: Hearth & Home Thinlits - SU, Banner Thinlits - SU

Punch: 1 3/8" circle - SU (for mask)

Embossing Folders; Decorative Dots - SU, Brick - Tim Holtz

Misc.: 5/8" silver organza ribbon, foam mounting tape

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Frosty Winter Woods

One of my favourite artists is Robert Bateman. I particularly love his "Artic Wolf" and "Midnight Black Wolf".  Not sure if you've seen the latter (it should come up if you Google it). It is a forest scene at night with a wolf image hidden in the center. Having this image in mind I wanted to try and create something similar with the woodland embossing folder. But alas no matter how hard I tried I could not make it work well with the only wolf stamp set I own, SU's- Wolf stamps. If I ever come across a more suited stamp I may just purchase it and give this idea another try, but for now I decided to use the same principal and make a winter scene.

The background was inked directly onto the embossing folder in Soft Sky. Then I added the deer in Chocolate Chip and embossed my white cardstock. The snow drift is a torn piece of white attached with foam tape. I inked the edges of the front panel in Chocolate chip before attaching my ribbon.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white, strip of brown
Stamps: Warmth & Wonder - SU
Ink: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip - SU
Markers: Cherry Cobbler, Mossy meadow, Basic Black - SU
Embossing Folder - Woodlands - SU
Misc.: 5/8" decorative ribbon (Dollarama), white sequins, foam mounting tape
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Autumn Birch Trees

Behind our house we have a green belt going up the hill. It is a place were people can walk their dogs (off-leash if they like). The hills is scattered with wild grasses and several groupings of birch trees. One group of trees is right behind our house. Looking out my kitchen window as the sun set the beautiful birch trees almost looked like were on fire with their pretty golden leaves shinning brightly in the setting sun.

With this image in mind I made this pretty card.

I used the foliage stamp from Sheltering tree to stamp light green and golden leaves directly onto my embossing folder before I embossed the cardstock. I also added sparkly gold sequins to mimic the bright reflecting sunlight. The little bird is perched on a branch cut from the Tim Holtz branch tree die and placed in front of the embossed trees. I clipped a few "slits" into it to simulate the birch bark design.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white
Stamps: Sheltering tree - SU, everything Eleanor - SU
Ink: Pear pizzazz, Hello honey, Crushed Curry, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso - all SU
Embossing folder: Woodlands - SU
Die: Greetings Thinlits - SU, Branch Tree - Tim Holtz
Misc.: gold sequins, foam mounting tape

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Woodlands in Autumn

It's been a busy last few weeks and I haven't had as much time to play as I had hoped. I did get my SU order unpacked, cataloged and organized. And this past week I managed to squeeze in a few moments to play with the Woodlands embossing folder.

I created 2 fall inspired cards,, the first is A2 (4.25 x 5.5") in size:

I inked up the embossing folder with Mossy meadow for a rich green woodsy background colour and then proceeded to emboss my white paper.
My bird was coloured with alcohol markers and placed on the large branch in the front f the scene.
I also added some leaves and a silhouette bird behind my greeting. The veining on the leaves was created with a spider web embossing folder.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: white Recollections, scraps of brown and orange Bazzill
Stamps: Language of Friendship - SU, Morning Meadow - SU
Die; Autumn Accents Bigz - SU
Embossing folder: Woodland - SU, Spiderweb - SU
Ink: Mossy meadow - SU, Cajun Craze - SU, Basic Black - SU, Tuxedo black - Memento
Alcohol markers: Cherry Cobbler, Smokey Slate, Skintone - SU Blendabilities, Copic Y35
Misc.: Early Espresso stitched ribbon - SU, black marker, foam tape


my second creation with this great embossing folder is a 5.5 x 5.5" square card (love that this embossing folder accommodates larger cards):

In case you are wondering, I use a Cuttlebug and yes, these large square SU embossing folders will fit!
I sued the same technique, ink pad to embossing folder, to create the night sky background. I then added some green and brown with sponges to the lower area of the folder to create the illusion of soil and bushes. I did not (at least not yet) purchase the matching stamp set to this embossing folder. So I looked through my assortment of stamps and  found the Take Three set. I used the small birch leave and my tiny PB birch punch (not a perfect match but close enough).

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white, dark brown
Stamps: Take Three - SU
Embossing folder: Woodland - SU
Punches: Deco Label - SU, Mega oval (70 mm) - PB
Ink: Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Hello Honey, Pimpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy - all SU
Markers: Basic black, Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey, Cherry Cobbler - all SU
Misc.: 1" wide dark brown satin ribbon, foam mounting tape

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