Blue and White Christmas Stepper Card

Hi Bloggers,

Today I have a Stepper Card to share -

I purchased a Hougie Board last weekend. The booklet that I got with it boasts that you can make the easiest stepper card with it. True! Making the blank for this card was easy peasy.

I stamped the Creative Expressions Tatty's Christmas Tree in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. I used a paint brush to draw some of the ink out around the edges of the layers of the tree, the pot and on some of the baubles. I used some Pearl Shine Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Ink on the garlands and the fairy.

I cut the image out using the largest of the Spellbinders Lattice Rectangles dies.

I cut some polka dot paper (from Polka Doodles Sundae of Seasons) to fit the large side panel and added my image with foam pads.

I cut a border using the Spellbinders Scalloped Edgeabilities dies and inked whilst still in the die with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. I added this to my front panel on the right.

I cut a panel to fit the middle section on the right of my card and popped it through my Cuttlebug with the Couture Creations Drink Me Embossing Folder. I inked the raised areas with Chipped Sapphire and added the panel to my card.

I added another piece of polka dot paper to my back panel. I stamped the sentiment from the Tatty Button Text 2 set using Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and cut it out using a Spellbinders Labels Two die. I inked around the edges with Chipped Sapphire and added it to my card as shown.

Hope you like the card.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges -
Make It Monday #65
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia.

Black & White plus One

Hi Bloggers.

Today I'm sharing a card which has the same layout as the Black & White Christmas Card in an earlier post. I had so many lovely comments that I thought I'd use the same layout for the Allsorts Challenge Week 129 - Black and White Plus One.

I've chosen red as my 'plus one'. Here's the card -

I stamped the Tatty Button Tree onto some white card using Jet Black Archival and embossed it with clear powder. I coloured in some of the buttons with Cosmic Shimmer Scarlet Flame Drawing Ink and then cut the image out using the largest of the Spellbinders Lattice Rectangles dies.

Next I stamped the button poinsettia stamp from the Tatty Button Poinsettias set randomly all over a 7" square piece of white card. I coloured in the buttons on the poinsettias with the Scarlet Flame Drawing Ink.

I put a piece of black card into the Creative Expressions Lattice Embossing Folder and ran it through my Cuttlebug.

I assembled these three pieces as shown. Then I ran a piece of Hi-Tack tape along the top and ruffled some Basque Red Vintage Ribbon along it. I then added the whole of the design to an 8" x 8" black card blank.

I made a bow from the Basque Red Vintage Ribbon. I cut 2 sets of the smallest 3 layers from the Spellbinders Layered Poinsettias die set in white card. I inked through the die with Black Soot Distress Ink. I assembled the poinsettia and added a red button. I glued it to the bow and added a couple of the Creative Expressions White Pearl Stick Pins.

Finally, I did a bit of fancy faux stitching around the edges of the black card with a white Inkssentials pen.

I'm also sharing this card at Make It Monday #63.

Hope you like the card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Julia

Very Sparkly Christmas Card!

Hi Bloggers,

Today I have a very sparkly card to share. I have made 2 versions of this card. I changed the main background and the nesties - let me know which you prefer.

Here's the first version -

I cut an ATC size piece of glossy white card (3 1/2" x 2 1/2"). I put a few drops of Pool, Stonewashed and Eggplant Adirondack Alcohol Inks on my non-stick craft sheet and added a couple of drops of Pearl Mixative. I quickly squished the glossy card into the ink and swirled around until it was completely covered. I put a few drops of silver mixative onto the corner of my craft sheet and used it to ink up my little background stamp which is from the Creative Expressions British Wild Flowers stamp set. I randomly stamped this over my alcohol ink background.

Next I wiped my background with an anti-static pad and stamped the Christmas Tree (from a Creative Expressions set - can't find title of set but will update this entry if I do) with Jet Black Archival ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.

For the large background I applied Perfect Medium to the Button Mask from That Special Touch. I popped that onto a 5" square piece of white card and put it through the Cuttlebug machine. The Perfect Medium on the mask transferred to the cardstock. I added silver embossing powder and heat set it. Next I applied some Faded Jeans Distress Ink to the area and added Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Sparkle Embossing Powder. I heated it with a heat gun. Beware - if you try this at home, the glitter in the embossing powders goes everywhere!! Less so if you heat it from underneath.

I cut a frame using a circle nestie and the largest of the Spellbinders Teardrop Circles. I made some snowflakes with the Spellbinders Create-a-Flake die set. I inked the ones made from the light blue card with Faded Jeans Distress Ink while still in the die.

I assembled the card as per the IC Sketches 139 challenge this week.

This is the second version -

So here, the topper was made in the same way as before. The background was stamped in Perfect Medium with a small star stamp which has 'Merry Christmas' in it (I think it's from the same Creative Expressions set as the tree). This was embossed with silver embossing powder, Faded Jeans distress ink added and embossed with Aurora Sparkle embossing powder as before. The circle frame was cut from a circle nestie and the largest of the Spellbinders Picot Edge Circles.

So, which do you prefer? Leave a comment and let me know.

I'm also sharing this card at Make It Monday #62

Thanks for stopping by today.

Julia

Black & White Christmas Card

Hi Bloggers,

Today I have a black and white Christmas Card to share with you.

Using Shimmerlux White card (from Creative Expressions), I stamped the reindeer from the Creative Expressions Traditional Christmas Designs 3 stamp set in Perfect Medium and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Black Sparkle embossing powder. This powder is so lovely - it sparkles in many different colours (you can see better in the close-up). I cut the image out using the largest of the Spellbinders Fleur De Lys Squares dies.

I put a piece of black card through the Cuttlebug with the Creative Expressions Lattice embossing folder.

I cut a larger piece of the Shimmerlux card and randomly stamped the snowflake from the Creative Expressions Christmas Swirl stamp set using Jet Black Archival Ink.

I assembled these three pieces and then ran a strip of Super Sticky tape along the top. I ruffled some Black Vintage Ribbon along the tape and then added some Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear Glue to make sure the ribbon would stay in place.

I cut the first 3 layers of the Spellbinders Layered Poinsettias out using the Shimmerlux card and inked through the die with black Adirondack ink. I repeated this so I had 2 sets. I assembled the poinsettia and added a black button in the centre.

I tied a bow with the Black Vintage Ribbon, added it to the ribbon border, glued the poinsettia to the bow and added a couple of Creative Expressions White Pearl Stick Pins.

The design was then secured to a black 8" x 8" card. Finally, I did a bit of faux stitching around the edges of the black card.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges -
Sweet Sketch Wednesday
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Buttons
Penny Black and More - November Challenge
Make it Monday #62

Hope you like the card.
Thanks for stopping by.
Julia.

Poinsettias Christmas Card

Hi Bloggers.

I have another card for you this evening. I'm entering this card into Sweet Sketch Wednesday 124 Challenge this week.

I used a Craftwork Cards 6" x 6" card blank. The papers are from the Wild Rose Studio Christmas Milton Paper Pack. The images are from the Creative Expressions Tatty Button Poinsettias stamp set. They were stamped in Jet Black Archival and quickly embossed with clear powder. They were coloured using Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks - I used some matt ones and some with mica.

I used the 'out of the box' technique to cut the oval nestie around the image. The two panels were embossed using the Creative Expressions Lattice embossing folder.

The card was assembled as per the sketch.

Hope you like it.
Julia.

Lili of the Valley Challenge 116 - Warm and Cozy

Hi.

This is my entry for Lili of the Valley Challenge 116 - Warm and Cozy.

I love polar bears and this Lili of the Valley stamp is so cute!

I used the Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Snowflakes set. The snowy backing paper is from a Polka Doodles CD. I coloured the image with Promarkers, cut it out using Spellbinders Label Two and edged it with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. I made a faux nestie and mounted the image onto it.

I added some blue & white Bakers Twine around the bottom 2 layers and mounted the image with foam pads. The large snowflake is from the Cuttlebug Snowflake Punch & Emboss Set (which I believe is no longer available) and the smaller dark blue snowflake is cut from the Spellbinders Create A Flake die set. I topped it with a blue Glass Glintz.

The sentiment is from Creative Expressions (an odd one bought at Ally Pally) and I've cut it out using the Spellbinders Double-Ended Tags die. I inked around the edges using the Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and added a couple of pearls.

Finally, I did some paper piercing all around the edge of the blue card.

Hope you like it. Please leave a comment.
Thanks for stopping by.
Julia.

Christmas Swirl

Hi,

Last week I was lucky enough to win the draw on Sue Wilson's blog. I hardly ever win anything so image how I felt when I was at Ally Pally on Sunday and Sue asked me why I hadn't been in touch to claim my prize! It was great -I got to choose 2 stamp sets from the Particraft Stand. I chose the stamp sets below. The first one is called Falling Leaves and the second is Christmas Swirl.

I just love the trees on both of these sets. If you pop over to the Particraft blog you will find a stunning card that Sue has made with the Falling Leaves stamp set.

I've only had time for a little play this week and would like to share this card with you that I made from the Christmas Swirl stamp set.

For this card I used a really cool technique which the lovely Karen Lines showed me on Sunday. This technique was used to make the diagonal stripe background. I ran a Perfect Medium Ink pad over the raised areas of one side of the Cuttlebug Candy Cane embossing folder. I then placed a piece of white card in the folder and ran it through the Cuttlebug. I added metallic silver embossing powder to the side of the card which had been on the side that received the ink - the debossed lines held the powder. I then heat set the powder and covered the whole area with Faded Jeans Distress ink using cut & dry foam. I then added Cosmic Shimmer Aurora Crystal embossing powder which stuck to the distress ink. I then heat set it. BEWARE - the glitter from the embossing powder flies everywhere! Anyway, what you're left with is a textured glitter card. Really cool, eh? Give it a go. Some embossing folders work better than others. It's fun trying them all out (you'll be covered in glitter by the end of it!).

Here's a bit more of a close-up.

The background for the fancy tree was made using Eco Green acrylic paints. Many of you may have see Julia Andrus on Create & Craft last year demonstrating the range of Eco Green Crafts but here's a re-cap of this technique.

I used a piece of packing material board 3" x 4". I painted a based layer with the Blueberry paint. When dry (it dries really quickly), I covered the area with a slightly watered down layer of Eco Green Glue. I left this for a few minutes to dry a little but remain tacky and then I painted over it with a layer of Eco Green white paint. I then dried it with a heat gun and it crackled! Be careful not to be too close or for too long or the paint may bubble (this is a different effect which you may not want on this piece). I then buffed the area up with a piece of kitchen roll. I added some Chipped Sapphire distress ink using cut & dry foam to tone down the white.

I made sure the Distress Ink was dry and then I wiped the surface with an anti-static pad. I stamped the tree from the Christmas Swirl stamp set using Perfect Medium, added Cosmic Shimmer Black Sparkle embossing powder and heat set. To do the edges, I swiped each edge along the Perfect Medium Ink Pad and added Metallic Silver embossing powder and heat set. It's a good idea to do one side at a time.

The greeting is from the Christmas Swirl stamp set and is on the second size up of Spellbinders Labels 20. I made a faux nestie by drawing around the outside of the same die and cutting out.

I layered all the pieces up, added ribbon and 3 blue Eco-Green glass glintz (yeh, I know they look black in the photo but they are blue in the flesh!).

Hope you've enjoyed reading - do have a play with the techniques.
Julia