Aspiring to Creativity: December 2015

Silent Night

Delayed Post

For my grandparents, I wanted to create a more religiously-themed card.

Stefanie got a steal-of-a-deal on these kraft cards from Michaels and gave me one to experiment with. I die cut masks and then sprayed the card with Mister Huey's Opaque White.

The lace came with adhesive already applied, somewhat crookedly.

The sentiment was stamped on a die cut from the Fabulous Frames collection.

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: factory-made kraft card base, Vintage Cream
Stamps: Star of Wonder
Ink: Dark Chocolate
Dies: Fabulous Frames, Nativity Silhouettes
Accessories: adhesive lace (Hero Arts)
Other Tools: Mister Huey's Opaque White spray (Studio Calico)

Noel Again

This was my final completed Christmas card. I have multiple elements that could make up 2 or 3 more cards - will have to see if I get around to it before next Christmas. ;)

I used the cut outs from this card for the sentiment on the layered tag. I sewed a few borders on and paired the kraft with gingham for a folksy feel. The tag base was inked a bit with Vintage Cream and threaded through some ribbon and adhered to the card. Some twine and a snowflake brad were added for embellishment.

It also appears that I inked around the edges of the patterned paper on the card base. :)

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: Kraft
Patterned Paper: unknown
Ink: Vintage Cream, Tim Holtz Vintage Photo (or Walnut Stain?) Distress Ink (Ranger)
Dies: Tag Sale #7, Alpha-whimsy (Paper Smooches)
Accessories: button twine, ribbon from 2014 Christmas Make It Market Kit, snowflake brad (Recollections?)
Other Tools: sewing machine

Happy Holidays

This card was a fixer-upper from several years ago. I removed the main embellishment and added a new one. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!

I'm a sucker for vintage!

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: Classic Kraft, Vintage Cream
Patterned Paper: some Tim Holtz, some other
Stamps: Holiday Lights
Ink: Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Weathered Wood, and Old Paper Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Ranger)
Dies: Tattered Banners (Tim Holtz), Half & Half, In the Meadow
Accessories: Kraft button twine
Other Tools: Mister Huey's Opaque White spray (Studio Calico)

Very Merry

I'm particularly pleased with how this card turned out.

The wooden snowflake embellishment was given to me by Stefanie. I sprayed it with a bit of her white Heidi Swapp Color Shine spray (not very evident - I had difficulty with application for some reason). I added a Tinier Tag (PTI Stamp-a-fair 2015 kit) with a sentiment from the Tiny Tags stamp set. The tiny holly image is from the PTI Make It Market Kit All Through the House. I threaded the tag with red and white baker's twine and added a teeny bell.

I affixed the snowflake embellishment on a kraft die cut Snowflake Medallion (from MFT) that I spritzed with Mister Huey's Opaque White spray.

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Kraft, Stamper's Select White
Patterned Paper: Dark Chocolate Bitty Dots
Stamps: All Through the House, Tiny Tags
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pinefeather, Pure Poppy
Dies: Tinier Tags, Snowflake Medallion (MFT)
Accessories: wooden snowflake (unknown), red & white baker's twine, mini bell (dollar store?)
Other Tools: Mister Huey's Opaque White spray (Studio Calico), white Color Shine (Heidi Swapp)

Warm Winter Wishes

This card has a similar theme to this one. A scrap of patterned paper used to create a CAS "masterpiece."

I sewed around the paper scrap to add some homey detail and used dimensional adhesive when applying it to the card base.

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White
Patterned Paper: unknown
Stamps: In the Meadow, Stocking Prints
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Accessories: rhinestone (Imaginisce)
Other Tools: iRock (Imaginisce)

Christmas Lights

Christmas card #4 started out funky - I created the Christmas light borders. I wasn't sure where to go from there and am not entirely sure I like the result.

I heat embossed a sentiment and then masked the borders before spraying the card with Silver Glimmermist. The masking paper left it's own mark on the card, but I think it actually looks kinda neat. To make the sentiment more apparent, I inked over it with silver ink.

For the final touch, I added the sparkle stamps from PTI's Shakers & Sprinkles Make It Market Kit.

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White
Stamps: Holiday Lights, Shakers and Sprinkles
Ink: (all Tsukinko) Versamark, Brilliance Silver Starlite, Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid, Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue, Brilliance Pearlescent Thyme, Memento Dandelion, Memento Tuxedo Black
Other Tools: clear embossing powder (Filigree), ink blending tool (Ranger)

Birch Trees

I love CAS cards so Christmas card #3 is one of my favorites:

I got the strip of patterned paper from Stefanie's scraps. I just love birch trees!

The bird stamps are from the In the Meadow stamp set from PTI, and the sentiment is from Stocking Prints (also PTI).

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White
Patterned Paper: unknown
Stamps: In the Meadow, Stocking Prints
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Accessories: rhinestone (Imaginisce)
Other Tools: iRock (Imaginisce)

Noel

The second Christmas card I made a few days ago uses PTI's recent String Frames die in order to create a border for the sentiment (letters from Paper Smooches Alphawhimsy die).

Stef and I got together again last night to make even more cards! She has made 27 + 6 cards (the +6 cards being from a kit) in total and shows no signs of stopping!! I made a paltry 3 cards.
;)

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White
Patterned Paper: ?? (from Stef)
Stamps: none!
Ink: none!
Dies: String Frames, Alphawhimsy (Paper Smooches)
Accessories: baker's twine
Other Tools: Lipstick Red Copic

Christmas Comeback

After many years apart (papercrafting-wise), my friend (and former blog contributor), Stefanie, and I got together yesterday evening to make Christmas cards! As usual, Stefanie produced an astonishing number of cards in comparison to my paltry few (15 to 4, to be exact). Out of fairness to myself, I did also attach tags to some gifts, and there was a fair bit of orienting to craft tools and their location. ;) We started crafting at about 9 p.m. and finished just before 3 a.m.!!

My first card of the evening is probably my favorite:

I tried achieving the background by inking a sheet of acetate with Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Distress Ink, spritzing some water, and then inking my stamp on the acetate, but the result was a bit sparse. I just inked my stamp directly and stamped right over top--problem solved.

I'll be posting the remaining cards over the next few days.

It was such a joy to be crafting with someone again. :) The best part is that Stefanie really enjoyed getting back into card-making! She's coming back over today for more. :D

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}