Christmas cards part 3!

Still going strong on the whole Christmas card thing! I can hardly believe it! Like I've said before, usually I'm still making them *after* Christmas, but this year things are different! Somehow it always seems like 'cheating' if I make more than one of the same Christmas card - something I go to great lengths to avoid (including making a list of recipients in columns so that I know who will have a chance to see other cards I've made) (isn't that ridiculous?). Anyway, this year I don't think I'll have to worry about it at all. Am I crazy or what? :D
This first card is another inspiration from Kristina Werner's video series. I just loved the little ornaments she tied on with string! It's fairly simple, not a bit of stamping! I cut small circles from designer paper and edged them with a silver krylon pen. The letters are stickers (Making Memories I believe) and have a shimmery look to them in person. Not quite glitter they have more texture. I used Kristina's idea for tying them on with a strand of silver embroidery thread (two strands from a 6 strand piece). I did pop two of the circles up on pop dots - the J and the Y. A strip of the same designer paper across the top with some white and silver ribbon for edging completed the look. Oh, and if the blue base looks dirty or fuzzy - it's not. It has silvery/mica inclusions. Looks really pulled together IRL! :)
This next one is a little dark. The stamp on the main panel is from Katzelkraft (love them!). What you can't really tell from the picture is how that main panel was made. First I cut down a piece of white cs to a little bigger than the stamp. I used Broken China & Faded Jeans DI to color it. After it was dry I used Matte Mod Podge to adhere this really thin mulberry type paper (which has silver & gold metallic flakes in it) over the top. After that was dry I stamped with black (Staz On) but my pad was too dry so I stamped again with Memento. Because of the mulberry fibers it bled a little. After that was dry I went over the swirls and the trees with a clear glitter pen - unfortunately you can't really see that in the picture! I trimmed the image out, dabbed some glue around the edges and dipped them in glitter.
The next panel was a designer paper that I trimmed down and colored the edges with more Faded Jeans DI. Then I used Charcoal chalk ink and the grungy edges from Stempelglede to give it more interest. Of course the edges of this panel also had to be dipped in glitter! Some silver wired Christmas ribbon and a shimmery black base were all it took to finish it.
This next one looks far better in person. You can't really see the shimmer or texture in the picture - nor can you really see the lines of silver (around the letters, the sentiment panel and some of the background strips) that give it that 'WOW' look in person. *sigh*
This was a technique called Herringbone from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter. Basically strips of paper laid at angles, it took LOTS more time that I thought it would. The sentiment panel is popped up to allow the trim room to hang. I used the same letter stickers for the actual sentiment, but they faded into the background so I outlined them with a dark silver glitter pen. I sewed a border (using that same embroidery thread) around the panel for a little more texture. All in all I really like how this came out, but it's not something you want to make if you're in a hurry!

In other business, my friend Etha sent me an award a while back. Thanks Etha! It came with a list of questions that I'm supposed to answer with one word... let's see how I do!

The Rules are: Pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know you have left this award for them. And then answer a list of questions in one word!

1. Where is your mobile?…purse
2. Your hair?…obstinate
3. Your Mother?…gone
4. Your Father?… immaterial (if you asked about my dad - then healing)
5. Your favorite food?…carnitas
6. Your Dream last night?…surreal
7. Your Fav Drink?…Amante! (a brand of coffee)
8. Your Dream?…security
9. What room are you in?…living
10. Your Hobby?… stamping
11. Fear?…abandonment
12. Where do you want to be in 5 years?…here
13. Where were you last night?… out
14. Something that you aren’t?…fashionable
15. Muffins…chocolate
16. Wish List Item?…pencils
17. Where did you grow up?…Colorado
18. Last thing you did?…answer
19. What are you wearing?…jammies
20. Your TV?…off
21. Pets?…yup
22. Friends?…precious
23. Mood?…apprehensive
24. Life?…busy
25. Missing someone?…yes
26. Vehicle?…Xterra
27. Something you’re not wearing?…makeup
28. Fav store?…Borders
29. Fav Colour?…green
30. When was last time you laughed?…yesterday
31. Last time you cried?…worthwhile
32. Best Friend?…smart!
33. One place that I go to over n over? Target
34. Facebook?…nope
35. Fav place to eat? restaurant

Since most people I know have already answered these questions, I won't pass it on to any certain persons (I know, I'm a booger). However, if YOU want to answer them - feel free to snag the award/questions and fill them out! *IF* you would also be so kind as to leave me a link to come see your answers!
Thanks for dropping by!

More Christmas cards and a Black Friday tale...

So, did you shop on Black Friday? For the first time ever I went shopping at 5am. Target was my destination (giant Lego set for $$ off) and it was an amazing experience! I had no idea that it would be so hugely crowded here in my sleepy town! The most amazing part of the experience was what happened at the end. When I finally got into the store I found that I had missed the ONE thing I was there for - totally bummed I decided to walk around and see if there was anything else worth buying. Sure enough, a little here and a doodad there - by the time I got to the registers it was a ZOO. I got in line, talked to a nice couple ahead of me, moved around a couple of times (when those little lights on top start flashing - move over!). Finally I ended up behind some women. Then it happened. One of the women in front of me decided not to buy one of the things in her cart... it was the Lego set! When she asked if I wanted it I could have fallen down out of shock! In the end I got what I came for (thanks to that lovely woman) and was in and out in less than an hour. Woo Hoo! Can't beat that!
Enough with the Black Friday story - how 'bout some cards?!
This first one is steadily growing on me. At first I wasn't sure that I really liked it that much, but I'm really liking the window. First I eyeballed where to put the snowflake border (Hampton Art) on the card base & stamped with Colorbox Frost White. Then I tore the bottom piece off followed by the middle piece. Using a piece of acetate I made a window between the top of the card & the bottom. You can't see the glue I used since I adhered it on the inside - but it looked awful in there!. So, using some scraps of white shimmer paper I covered the inside of the card and left a little distressed edge showing through the window. The sentiment (Stampendous) was also stamped in Frost White - positioned so that you could see it through the window. Some Katzelkraft snowflakes & flourishes were stamped with VersaMark Frost on the inside as well.

Next up is this CAS beauty - perfect for mailing! I used my nesties to emboss a rectangle design on the front of the card to frame the sentiment (Imaginisce) which was stamped with Peeled Paint distress ink (the snowflake is part of the sentiment and was inked with Broken China). The holly (Stampendous) was stamped around the frame with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters DI, then colored in with pencils. I also stamped the Christmas balls (Recollections) with Peeled Paint then colored them in with pencils. Just a dab of OMS made everything look a little smoother. Finally a dab of stickles on the Christmas balls & snowflake made everything more festive! Since there is no bulk to this card it would be perfect for mailing.

Finally I'll show off my favorite card of the year (so far). This gorgeous angel image is from Crafty Secrets. She was stamped on white paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored in with a mix of Frayed Burlap, Dried Marigold, Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed Distress Inks. The background was lightly colored in with a light blue pencil and dabbed with OMS. Over her robe I used a Spica pen in Sand - unfortunately you can't see the shimmer in the picture. I used sketch challenge WSC105 from SCS for the background. These two papers were *perfect* to match the colors used in the angel panel. The one with the glittery swirl is from K & Co and the other is from Basic Grey. The sentiment (from the same package as the angel) was stamped first with black, then with Brilliance Cosmic Copper. Isn't she lovely?! :D

So, back to the crafty table to make more cards. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend and excellent shopping!
Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas cards, pt. 1

Well, honestly, if I didn't know that I haven't experienced any unexplained fevers or desperate desires to howl at the moon I would be very worried! Why? My Christmas mojo has exploded! :) I don't think I've *ever* had this kind of mojo for one theme! And for me to be so early with my Christmas cards?! Unheard of!
Since I have too many to put into one post I thought I should break it up. Hopefully it won't take too long for the next installation, especially since I've already edited the photos. That is what really takes me so long between posts - the editing. Between my lack of skill and the fact that I don't do it everyday (so of course I forget what I've learned between sessions) I take way too long to edit each photo. It can take me upwards of an hour to edit one photo - how sad is that?
I digress.

Let's start with this one! Fairly simple, the Inkadinkado tree was stamped with Pine Ancient Page ink on white cardstock. Using Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain distress inks I colored the edges. You can just barely see some light flourishes (Katzelkraft) in the background - those were stamped with water (yes, water!) over the distress inks for a very subtle background. The white card base was also colored with distress inks, as were the edges of the green paper (Deja Views). Can you see the silvery looking dots on that green paper? That was just a glitter pen dotted over the background for interest. Some rounded corners, a little ribbon - et voila!

Up next we have this fun (and glittery!) card. I've been watching the Christmas card videos over on Kristina Werner's blog (awesome cards, btw) and was inspired by her clean graphic style to do this. First I adhered a piece of designer paper (MME Organic) to the base. The trees (Recollections) were stamped with Peeled Paint on a large piece of white paper. I sized the paper (after much trial and error) to cover the edge of the striped paper, be punched and still have the trees attached. Once I did all of those things I used a glue pen and covered all the white area with some Martha Stewart glitter. Then, just for grins, I added some to the sides of the trees! :) Ran the whole thing through the xyron and stuck it down. Finally I added the sentiment (also Recollections) in Frost White ink.

Now for something entirely different! This was CASEd from Mel's absolutely stunning creation. Really, you have no idea how much I love it. All I can say is that it's lucky that she lives so far away, otherwise I'd probably be caught digging through her goodies looking for it! (plus it could take me a while, cause that Mel? she's got goodies!) Anyway! I really tried to keep as true to the original as I could, given that I don't have the exact same supplies (or really cool mojo). My sky is a blue textured paper, but even though I love them I just couldn't convince myself to add all those knots. I'm all about instant gratification! Once again, the quickie glue pen and Martha glitter to the rescue! The hills, trees and ribbon tag were all from one sheet of 8x8 scrapbook paper. Torn (and cut) creatively it was just enough paper for this project (the card is a larger 5x7 size). Just like Mel I painted gesso on the trees. Unlike Mel I couldn't imagine beading the hills - so (yup, you guessed it) I ran my glue pen along the edges and glittered them up! Some on the sides of the trees too. The tag was cut and embossed with my nesties (but the paper was too thin to get a good impression) then painted with gesso too. A little ribbon, a sentiment and a star completed the CASE. Thank you Mel for inspiring me with your gorgeous original!

That's it for tonight. I promise there are more coming - including my very favorite on of the season (so far)! Thanks for visiting!

Playing with gesso

Recently I saw something about watering down gesso and putting it in a spray bottle. I really thought that was an awesome idea - completely new to me, but apparently painters have known about this trick for a while!
It certainly wasn't as easy as I thought it would be - plus it was a *lot* more messy - but I did have fun with it.
First I brayered Creole Spice Kaleidacolor pad on a piece of watercolor paper, then sprayed (and dipped) the edges once it was dry. I stamped the tree in Charcoal chalk ink, then went over some of the dots with both a white pen and a silvery glitter pen (which was also used on parts of the trunk).
The sentiment was stamped on a leftover piece of the original watercolor paper in Charcoal ink - then went over with the same silvery pen.
I really like the final product, but it will be a while before I pull out that spray bottle again! (there are *still* gesso spots on all my pens and pencils!)
Now, back to Christmas cards! :)
Thanks for visiting!

Circle card - Kristina Werner's challenge

Do you ever go check out the KWerner Design blog? She seems like the queen of CAS to me! Recently she had a circle card challenge on her blog and I just couldn't help myself! Usually I don't make too many circle cards, maybe it's because mailing them seems difficult? This time I made the card so that it would fit in a 5 1/2 square envelope. The challenging part will be if I actually *mail* it! lol
I used my curvy cutter from EK Success to cut the circle card out of a sheet of regular card stock. Then used the same tool to cut a window and the frame for the outside. I've had that gorgeous scrapbook paper from Hot Off the Press for a very long time - it's just so beautiful that I a) hate to use it and b) bought a whole bunch! I cut an acetate window and adhered it to the base.
On the inside of the card I used one of the small Tim Holtz masks (a floral one, sorry can't remember the name now) and went over it with Ranger's white ink. Once the ink was in place I felt like it needed some umpf - so I hand drew lines with my brown spica pen - just doodles! Then stamped the quote from Hellen Keller in Walnut Stain distress ink.
Since the frame paper didn't have much (if any) white on it, I stamped over it with Ranger's white ink using the Tattered Angels tree stamp (the branches portion). Once I glued it down over the window I realized that the circles weren't a perfect match - especially on the inside! To cover that mistake I ran white stickles around the outside of the window, let it dry, then ran Frayed Burlap distress stickles around the inside of the window.
I always like to add a few flowers around the edge of a circular opening - this card was no different. Because I was trying to match the color of the flowers and paper in the frame I had to do a little magic with different paints. I finally ended up using a couple of different colors of Radiant Pearls, let them dry & then spritzed with Graphite Glimmer Mist. Hah! Then I only used ONE of the flowers I had colored! :) But I did spritz the white ones with some more 'clear' Glimmer Mist. A couple of Latte half pearls from Kaiser and a little ribbon and called it done!
Yup, this was actually a very involved process! But I really like the final card.
Enjoy your day!

My first digistamp!

I finally broke the seal! :)
Although there have been some interesting moments trying to print it (Vista *still* does not play well with others on the network) and some frustration with printing in black & white *only*, I finally got my first digi printed and made into a card. Woohoo!
The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil Too shop. I just *adore* this little angel. There are a few (ok, a lot) more images that I want to try, but Michael was my first.
A few of the details:
Michael was printed on our HP deskjet printer (it's pretty old) on Georgia Pacific white card stock. I wasn't sure that actual card stock would go through, but there was no problem with that.
Coloring was mostly done with colored pencils - Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor (I like these way better than prismacolors) - and OMS. The cloud that he's resting on was colored with some gray pencil along the bottom & then gone over with white Smooch. Sorry, I just couldn't seem to get a good picture of the shine! The other thing I learned is that my printer ink does not do well with Copics. If you look close at the bottom of the cloud you can see where I tried to add some sky color - and it made the black ink run a little. So, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good for a first try!
The cloud background was done with a scalloped circle and Distress Inks in Weathered Wood and Broken China. You can see that I went over the cloud tops with more Smooch - it gives you an idea of what Michael's cloud looks like IRL.
The edges were punched with a punch from paper studio, I wanted to go all around but I couldn't get it to line up nicely. Instead I used some of the star punched pieces and glued them around the edges of the layer. Those were given a little Smooch too! :)
Thanks for visiting, hope you enjoyed your stay!

An altered tin

Ok, I'll admit it. I don't do very many altered projects. Mostly because I have *no* idea what to do with them when they're done. Nor do I have space in which to keep them! :) Plus I HATE to dust.
Every once in a while I get bitten by the bug of altering. I fight it, really I do, but it sneaks up on me and I end up altering like a madwoman (while muttering in my head). Really, I can only keep so many, and friends and family only *want* so many before they start avoiding you - especially when you're carrying something! lol
I digress. (an aftereffect of altering, I swear)
I saw this adorable little tin last time I was at Archiver's and it ended up in my basket before I could say no. What's a girl to do?
First I decided to cover all that white. After much rummaging I found some brown mulberry paper that looked fabulous pounced with my Mission Bells Brown Starburst Stain. I let it dry and covered the edges of the top and the base of the tin. Then some delicious green paper from GCD and a little red from Basic Grey. I used nesties for the oval & ribbon tag - everything else was cut by hand.
The silver edges seemed to stick out too much so I ran my Pale Gold Krylon pen around any silver edges I could see (and some edges of the paper). I used some white rubons that my friend got for me some time ago (sorry, don't know where they're from). Brown ribbon (also from that same trip to Archiver's) tied the ribbon tag on to the front. (anyone got pointers for getting those on - easily?)
But it was still missing something. More ribbon! :)
As you can see, I went a little wild with the ribbon at that point.
All of those pieces were tied to a length of the original brown ribbon (what?? I have a lot of ribbon!) then glued down. No, I don't imagine that they're on there permanently, but it should hold up to casual use.
So. Now what? What do *you* do with all those nifty altered items? Any ideas will be gratefully considered! :)
Thanks for dropping by!