It's beginning to look a lot like Winter

Ha, ha, ha. I know you were expecting to read, Christmas. I must admit, it is beginning to resemble that time of the year. Especially since my tree is up and decorated. No presents as of yet. Just to keep myself in the mood, I am posting a card I did for our November Challenge and a submission entry for a design team call. 


Without further ado, here is the card:

Merry Christmas, Deer

This card was created using the deer cut at 3 inches (images 3& 4) from the Christmas Solutions cart, Martha Stewart snowflake punch--Echo Park Christmas pack, and the Spellbinder Beaded oval die--also Echo Park paper. Red pearls are Kaiser Kraft. The creamy ones, not sure, but their quality is not that great. Might have grabbed them from a discount barrel. You get what you pay for. Antlers and hooves are colored using a Sakura metallic brown pen. Spritzed the card with Peach Delights Glimmer Mist and the label with Red Velvet Glimmer Mist. The stamp is Studio G stamped with black ink and embossed. I know I could have jazzed this up with lots of other embellishments, but kinda like the simplicity. And from another angle.

Merry Christmas, Deer

And then last but not least is a layout I submitted as one of my design team entries. I think I submitted four in all.

The base paper is Fancy Pants  Spring Fling (circles) and Holly Jolly (green) with the ivy embossed panel done with a Sizzix plate and brought out with the Shabby Shutters and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. Also used the Martha Stewart deep edge Presents punch. I know I said to someone else that I did not need this one since I had the smaller version. Famous last words. The Looky, Looky was done on the computer using the Snowdrift font. The circles (Spellbinder) are Fancy Pants Holly Jolly line and overstamped with a Fancy Pants writing acrylic stamp and edged with Adirondack inks: Oregano, Lettuce and Ginger.  The photo doesn't show it, but the Outlines Rubber stamp trees are all glistening from Sakura stardust pens. Have I mentioned before how much I love those pens? The presents are the circles that I cut away from the Outlines tree background and used a Fiskars punch and reassembled on a white base. Fiskars has some super cute Christmas ones this year.

I will spill the beans on which company when I hear from them---one way or the other.

Have been spending more time with my son. Hope to get some projects completed and posted in the next few days. All with lots of ink. I should change my name to inky fingers. Nah, too close to icky...lol.

Until then.

Cuttlebug Holiday Folder: Hanging Ornaments

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We put up our tree Thanksgiving weekend and burn the lights constantly. It does not matter that not one present is under the tree; it is beautiful on its own. I so love this time of the year. People are kinder and more considerate. If we could only have the Christmas spirit year round.

Somewhere along the line, I decided to put together a series of videos showcasing the HSN exclusive Cuttlebug folders from Provo Craft. I will be the first to admit that I ordered them as soon as they were available on the website and I am so glad that I did. I absolutely adore my CB and am glad that the ladies on the QVC Craft Community Forum convinced me that the CB was the die cutter that I needed. That was about two years ago, and I have not regretted the purchase. My only problem now is that I have added to my list of must have items a whole host of CB folders and Spellbinder dies. Yes, just about every die or folder or embossing plate out there will work in this machine. If you search the internet there are a lot of sites which will provide the sandwich formulas for you.

This post takes a look at the Hanging Ornaments Folder. I had the best time playing with this folder and figuring out all of my options. The one that I settled on creating for this video is this lovely blue one. I knew that I wanted a larger card and used my Scor-pal to create lines across the bottom which were folded and allowed me to emboss the card without losing the height. I am still apologizing for the picture quality. These are scanned and in no way show the true beauty of the card. Hopefully, Santa will bring a new camera to me for Christmas, afterall, I have been a good girl. Mostly.

This Denim Blue Distress Ink from Tim Holtz is very serene on this card and the depth that is created just from using the Cut 'n Dry Foam is incredible. I used a Sizzix tree die to cut the aperture in the center. You can achieve the same by folding the card in half and tracing half of the image on the back of your card and then using a craft knife to remove the tree. Save that embossed tree to be used on another card or incorporated into this one as I did.


I used blue pastel glitter on the top of the ornaments and selected every other hanging line to emboss with Ranger snowflake glitter tinsel. I used some of the Flower Soft glue underneath and got a very different effect. I like it.

Inkadinkado stamps was incorporated for my greeting. I used an archival black dye based ink.

Both cards were sprayed with Glacier Glimmer Mist. I hope you can see the difference here.

I am also posting some of the other things I created in the video starting with the Pearlescent Chalks.

I did try chalking the folder itself, but the chalk was not strong enough. Maybe if I used a binder or solution, but I was not willing to risk staining my folder.

It is a bit light due to the scan, but these are the two images that were inked inside of the folder.

Next comes my UTEE card. That one turned out as well as expected. I love using UTEE, but it gets VERY hot because you need the powder to become molten. While it is still liquid you pour on your next layer and heat some more. I think the results you can get are worth the extra effort. Heating from underneath keeps the powder from taking flight.

This is how the card looks embossed in black. The white card did not show up. This is such a cute folder. I will finish out this post by showing the two cards where I played around with some of the Sakura, Fiskars, and American Crafts glitter markers.

Yes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. As I type this post the lovely white stuff is falling and it is beautiful.

It is hard for me to look at a white canvass and not want to ink it. I think if I could, I would take the scene I see outside of my window and take some of the Distressed Broken China, ink the edges and then hit spots with the Black Soot. Then apply an even coat of the Glacier Glimmer Mist over the picture. It will give it that etheral look of mystique to the entire scene. Yeah, I like that.

Please keep Inking in the Name of Love.

Until then.

Extended Spellbinder Dies

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoyed spending time with your family and friends or some quiet alone reflection time for yourself. We have much for which to be THANKFUL.

For this latest creation all I can say is WOW! When I began with this card I had no idea it would transform into what it did.

After cutting the initial backing, I realized that if I wanted to mat that piece to a larger version I needed a bigger die. Then it occured to me that if I used my red rubber I could make that piece as large as I wanted it to be.

 












The picture to the left shows just how much I extended the square. The one just above shows the longer rectangle created from the square die.

That sequed into the idea to create 12 inch border strips for my scrapbook pages. Now, I am realizing an unlimited possibility for these dies. Maybe I will do an entire video devoted to that concept.

Here is the bare card placed on the extended large scalloped square die. In the video the card is turned the other direction and the black pearlized card covers the edges. I could have extended it width wise by using the same process.

The other thing I loved about this card was using the Pearl Ex Pigment Powders. I like how the interference shows up on the dark card. Again, use a fixative on this to prevent the powder from rubbing off onto other things.

Some people use the inexpensive hair spray, but I use the Blair matte fixative. It is low odor--there is a no odor version.

The Tim Holtz Distress Inks are incredible. I orginally stamped the tree using the distress inks and embossed with a tinsel powder also from Ranger. The look was really nice. Much softer than the one in the video. I am posting the picture I was playing around with for effect. You can definitely see the difference.

After returning to it a few times, I think I will try the Distress Inks again but maybe in blue for a wonderful winter scene with lots of snow on the ground and smaller trees in the background or peeking into the foreground around the edges. Truly a winter wonderland.

While I was having fun, I also created an oval version of the tree.

I am not sure about anyone else but I had the dickens of a time trying to keep the oval die from moving while embossing. Yes, I tried taping it down. I knew I should have purchased that magnetic spacer mat when I had the chance. Oh, well, next time.

 

Lab Equipment used:

Nestabilities:

Classic squares large (used the largest)

Classic scalloped square large (used the largest)

Classic oval large (used the largest)

Classic scalloped oval large (used the largest)

Cuttlebug:

Flourish and Snowflake folder

Distress Inks:

Black Soot and Dusty Concord

Stamp:

Rubber Stampede Pine Tree

Watermark Cat's Eye

Ranger:

Cut and Dry Foam stamp pad

Jacquard:

Pearl Ex Inteference Violet

Fine Glitter:

Pastel Party Mix/ Lavender

Silver tinsel embossing powder that I mixed myself.

Ribbon from Michaels

DCWV:

White card stock

Green card stock

Flower Soft:

Glue

Polar White

I am busy playing around with my HSN Cuttlebug holiday folders. That was to be my next series of videos, but this one happened to fall into place. All of the prep work has been done for the videos, I just simply need to film them. If my lovely son will allow it, I will start this week and see how far I can progress.

Thanks for stopping by and please keep inking in the name of love.

Until then.