Golden Peace

Hi everyone.  I bought this new-to-me stencil a few months back, and wanted to make sure I got some cards done for this Christmas.  So I spent one day a few weeks back and made four cards ... two each of two designs.

I started by adding embossing paste over the stencil to my card front.  Once dry, I placed my stencil back over top and sponged in gold ink.  The picture doesn't do the gold justice, it is very metallic looking in real life.

I tried sponging some of the Delicata Gold ink (used on the embossing paste), onto a piece of card stock so that I could cut the curved strip.  But for some reason, the sponged gold was splotchy, so instead, I used some Lumiere Gold Acrylic paint, adding two coats on to card stock to get this beautiful finish.  I used snow drift dies to cut out my curved strip.  Turned out really well.  Then just a stamped sentiment in gold to finish.

Here's another version of the card with a different layout.  Everything was done the same way as the card above ...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! :)

Stamps:  Peace (Anita's); Beautiful Season (SU!)

Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Delicata Gold (Tsuikineko)
Accessories & Tools:  Festive Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz); Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver), palette knife, sponge, Lumiere Gold Acrylic Paint, paint brush, Snow drifts die (My Favorite Things)

Beary Merry Christmas

Hi everyone.  Here's a very special card I made for this year.  My dear friend Lee-Anne (Creatively LA) sent me this adorable stamp.  She thought of Cooper when she saw it, so she wanted me to have it. :)  Thank you so much Lee-Anne!  I just love this sweet image, and it was perfect to make this card for Evan, Nikki and Cooper this year. :)  They have received it in the mail, so it's safe to post. :)

I coloured with my Zig Watercolour pens, added some sparkle to the bear's bow, along with Santa's hat cuff and pompom; and then added a simple popped up sentiment.  I wanted the image to be the star of the card, so just added a little twine to finish things off. :)

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! :)

Stamps:  Beary Merry (Penny Black)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Black Archival (Ranger); Real Red (SU!); Zig watercolour pens
Accessories & Tools:  waterbrush, dazzling diamonds glitter blue, maraschino twine (the twinery)

Gilded Reindeer

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing my first time using gilding flakes.  Boy, they are MESSY! :)  But a fun messy. :)  I actually did this reindeer twice.  The first time it ripped and I lost one of the antlers.  Note to self ... maybe don't use a die with thin pieces for my first attempt with a new product. :)  I tried to be very careful the second go around, and I don't think I burnished the flakes as much as I would like, but at that point, I just didn't want to have to make a third. :)  In the end, I'm happy with it and I learned some things along the way.

I die-cut the reindeer using sookwang tape.  The gilding flakes stick to it really well and I didn't have a glue-y mess on my hands - bonus!  I brushed away a lot of the excess, and then used some Cut-n-dry foam, rubbing in a circular fashion, to clean off the rest.  The foam works great and it's not expensive, so definitely worth buying for this technique.

I wanted to use black from my card base, so used a piece of corrugated black card stock from my friend Christine.  Thanks Christine!  It's hard to see in the photo above, but it has a subtle stripe to it.  The sentiment and the dotty background are heat embossed in gold.  I love how this card turned out and think I'll be making a lot of gilded cards for next Christmas. :)

I'm enter this into ATS&M Challenge #174 - CAS, and Inkspriational Challenge #97 - Word Prompt:  Flake

Stamps:  Peace (Anita); Gorgeous Grunge (SU!)

Paper:  Black Corrugated card front (Spicer's); Black card base (SU!), White (Neenah) for reindeer
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Leap of Joy die (Penny Black), Sookwang Tape, Warm Sunrise Gilding Flakes (Cosmic Shimmer), Cut-n-Dry Foam, gold embossing powder (Hero Arts)

Challenges:
ATS&M #174 - CAS
Inkspirational #97 - Flake

Geometric Dimension

I got this hexagonal background die-cut from Poppy Stamps a little while ago and thought I'd have some fun. :)  I smooshed a piece of mixed media paper with watercolour liquid concentrate (yellow, orange, magenta), which had been diluted with water.  I LOVE the saturated colours.  Die-cut the hexagons from my smooshed paper and layered up the shapes with white card stock, gluing them together to create thick die-cuts.  I added them to my card front, gluing some flat, and popping up the others for added dimension.  A simple stamped sentiment and the card was done. :)

Speaking of Smooshing, I just launched my latest video tutorial on Smooshing with Inks.  I show how you can Smoosh with just about any ink (or other art products) as long as you can dilute them and have the colours flowing.  You can click HERE to watch it on YouTube or click below.

If you watch it on YouTube, please give me a thumbs up to let me know you found it helpful.  Thank you!


This is also a reminder that Happy Little Stampers December CAS challenge is Favourite Technique.  My most favourite one right now is smooshing. :)  So I'm sharing today's card over at HLS.  Come join the fun and share a CAS card with your favourite technique.

Stamps:  Chit Chat (Paper Smooches)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Mixed Media (Strathmore)
Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Yellow, Orange and Pink Watercolour concentrate (Dick Blick), water mister, Mod Hex Background Die (Poppy Stamps)