Mom's Tree

Some of you may know my mom is completely blind in her left eye and has very limited sight in her right eye.  Since she no longer decorates for the holidays, I decided to make her a tree she could essentially keep up all year long.  And, since this tree is embossed, she can literally run her fingers over it.

What I Used Making my Project:
8" x 8" Panel
Watercolor Paper
Oxide Inks in Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet and Cracked Pistachio
Embossing Ink
Simon Says Stamp White Detail Embossing Powder
Indigo Blu Baroque Christmas Tree Stamp

Clear Embossing Powder

White Embossing Powder

I used an entire sheet of watercolor paper to make this.  The first step is to emboss your focal point using white embossing powder.  I did a test; I did one design in clear powder and one using white powder.  These pictures don't do it justice, but the white powder was bright and clear while the clear powder just sort of faded into the background.  The tree on the right was embossed with clear powder and the tree on the left with white embossing powder.  Now they do look sort of similar but, once the inks dry, that white powder POPS as you can see by the tree I made.  Of course, in the spirit of full disclosure I used a lot more of the Oxide inks on the "white" tree since I knew that one was going to be the one I was going to give Mom.  I guess the bottom line is use whichever you prefer to get the look you are trying to achieve.  

I inked and spritzed the tree a lot.  I wanted it to be vibrant enough so my Mom could see the colors if nothing else.  I was positive the ink would stain the embossing powder but it didn't.   Once I was pleased with the colors, I trimmed the piece of watercolor paper down and mounted it onto the panel.  I tried to frame it but the bulk of the panel made that difficult, so I just gave her the panel.  And she loved it, of course, but she's a bit biased. That's it! The project took me about 3 days, but I am sure it would have gone much faster if I hadn't fiddled around with the Oxide Inks so much. I really do love the white popping out of the colors. I only have a few more holiday posts that I want to get published; so I hope you haven't lost your holiday spirit! Thanks, Christi

I am entering my Mom's Tree in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Inkspirational Challenge - Just Stamping
Stamping Sensations - Winter Trees & Flowers 
Rhedd's Creative Spirit  (running til 1/31/18) Altered Art/Etc
The Rubber Buggy - #8, Christmas/Winter
Altered Eclectics - (running til 1/31/18) Altered Art/Etc
Eclectic Ellapu - (running til 1/31/18) Anything Goes Altered Art
Inspiration Destination - #140 (running til 1/2/18) Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' - Anything NEW {first time I have used this stamp}

Christmas Has Gone to the Dogs

Settle in, dear readers, this is a slightly long story, but it is a story of miracles and things happening at just the right time.  As some of you may recall, my next door neighbor has an adorable dog named Lolly.  Well, Lolly now has a boyfriend, Bear.  Bear literally showed up next door, matted, hungry, & thirsty.  My neighbor was going out, so I took Bear into my fenced-in backyard.  I looked him up, found a rabies tag, and tried to find his owner.  The local animal shelters attempted to make contact with the information they had but, no one contacted me or the shelters.  It began to get dark and I couldn't have Bear come to my house, not knowing if he was ill and could possibly infect, or attack, the Fabulous Feline Four, so I called my good friend, Tom, to come and take Bear until his owner could be found.  Fast forward a week and no one was looking for Bear.  The Man and I even drove around the neighborhood where Bear used to live to see if there were lost dog signs.  Tom and Bear fell head over heels for each other and have been inseparable.  Tom was going through a very lonely time and Bear couldn't have showed up at a better time.  It's been about nine months and Bear is healthy, happy, and has a fabulous owner.  Bear and Lola are medium, mixed-breed dogs, but they appear to be mixes of the same breeds.  They are almost exactly the same size and they LOVE to play when Bear comes over.  They run around the yard like little race cars, yipping, following each other and sharing treats.  Both dogs have been introduced to the Fabulous Feline Four with only small squabbles, mostly due to Sylvester's temper. To celebrate how happy everyone is, for Christmas this year I made Helen, Lolly's mom, and Tom, Bear's dad the exact same cards with just a few differences.

What I Used to Make my Cards:
Blue Card Base
White Card
Vanilla Card
Gold Card
Tim Holtz Mini Cats & Dogs Stamps, CMS272
Tim Holtz Framelits Mini Cats & Dogs Dies, #661594
Newton's Nook Newton's Curious Christmas
Spellbinders Petite Labels One, #S3-205
Tim Holtz Scribbly Christmas Stamps, CMS249
Wendy Vecchi Ink in Potting Soil & Fern Green
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Derwent Inktense Pencils
Word Bubbles made with Silhouette Cameo
Tim Holtz Boneyard, TH93596
Ranger Glossy Accents
Various Gel Pens
Gold Star Sequins
Tissue Paper {Dollar Tree}
Blue Ribbon
Dimensional Dots

Bear has a silver skull charm hanging from his collar; Lolly has a festive red acrylic bow.

I had already colored and die cut the two dogs; Bear is a darker grey, with one white leg, whereas Lolly is all grey and white.  Each of their noses got a dot of Glossy Accents and they were set aside.  The cats were also pre-colored and I chose the two I did due to the similarity to my cats.

Bear's Card

I designed and cut out the word bubbles using my Silhouette Cameo and stamped the sentiments in the bubbles.    I then used the Labels die to cut out the "Dear Santa, define good" sentiment and the gold paper. I glued them together and set them aside.

To begin my scene, I stamped the tree, which I inked with the Wendy Vecchi inks, slightly off the edge of the card.  I wanted to ensure I had enough room, plus I wanted the dogs to be the focal point. I colored in the baubles with various gel pens and attached a gold sequin star to each tree.  I "wrapped" each bone with tissue paper and ripped the sides to make it seem like the dog had done it.  I used dimensional dots to pop out the dogs, adding little pieces of the tissue paper to each dog; Bear has it in his mouth while Lolly got some on her head during her ravaging of the bone.  I made sure there was enough space

Lolly's Card

between the dog and the tree so I had room to add some more tissue paper scraps.  

I attached the gold and white card sentiments above each dog's head, while using the word bubble sentiment off to the right side of the card so it appeared that someone out of the scene was telling the dog not to peek.  That little warning came a bit too late.  Now, neither dog lives with any cats, but, knowing how curious cats are, I decided to add a cat to the side of the card, with a wide eyed look.  I wanted it to seem like the cats were both amazed and appalled at what the dog was doing, and quite possibly, might tattle. 

I had a great time figuring out how I was going to get my message across; and everyone loved the cards.  You can bet you will be seeing these two rascals in more of my creations. Thank you so much for reading this post; I know it was long :) Hugs!! Christi

I am entering my Christmas has Gone to the Dogs cards in the following challenges:
Fussy & Fancy - #202, Christmas Challenge
Stamplorations - December Challenge, Stamps & Gold
Stamplorations Anything Goes - Ongoing
Kraftin' Kimmie - Anything Goes or Sketch
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - #100, N is for Naughty Christmas
Sweet Stampin' Christmas - Anything Goes Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
The Merry Christmas Challenge - #49, Anything Goes & Christmas

Serene Winter Scene

For those celebrating Christmas, tonight is the BIG night.  You only have about 6 hours until the children wake up & you had better have put everything together! My parents used to hold a HUGE open house on Christmas Eve - upwards of 200 people in, out, and around the house.  I woke up many a Christmas Day with strange people sleeping on the living room couch - it might sound weird but it was fun.  My family always collected strays - be it people or animals.  My mother tells of the time I woke up at 6 am to get my gifts and she had literally laid her head down 15 minutes prior - hehehehehehe! Enough nostalgia; but that is what this card brings out in me.  A feeling of times before the insanity of social media, the craziness of Black Friday and before everything became a contest to keep up with the Jones'.  I hope you & yours have a splendid holiday season! So, on to my card:

 

What I Used to Make This Card:
White Card Base
Stitched Circle Trees, Memory Box, #99843 {or, Stitched Circle Cabin}
Stitched Village, Memory Box, #99891 {or Stitched Cabin, Stitched Tree}
Nesting Circle, Darice, #2014-74 {Tutti has plenty of Nesting Circles}
"Cloudy" Vellum
White Glitter Card
Pale Blue Card

The card is very easy to make, not so easy to photograph, but carry on.  The first thing I did was cut the Stitched Circle Tree out of white glitter card.  I then cut it out again using the Nested circles, so I had an actual circle instead of just a die cut on paper.  After putting the cut on my card blank, I really felt it needed just a smidge more something.  I think the cloudy vellum adds a softness to the card; of course, you can use anything you choose - I just didn't want the background to compete in any way with the trees.  The vellum was cut with the same circle I used to cut the stitched die out of the glitter white card.

If you click this pic, you can see the
dimension and the sparkle

I attached the vellum to the cut and,  while it certainly looked serene {the look I was going for - after all, it is Christmas Eve!},  I still felt it was too blah.  I love white on white cards and I just don't seem to able to mix whites effectively.  My cards never look like their cards do! Ah, maybe someday - I'll keep at it! Back to my card.  To add just a weeny little something, I cut out the three houses from the Stitched Village die; first I used white card, too dull, then Kraft card, too obvious, then this very pale blue I found.  Perfect! The little house nestled perfectly where I wanted it.  I truly adore this little CAS card, I hope you like it as well.

Another Look

Here is another look - just click on the image and it should pop open to full size {please let me know if it doesn't!} 

I hope you and yours are having a WONDERFUL Holiday Season and all of us here wish you continued health & happiness ~ 

Fondly, Christi

Don't forget to join in on all the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.  

There's  a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month

 and one lucky  randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to 

the Dies R Us Store.  For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us 

links are provided below.

click below for:

STORE
CHALLENGE BLOG
FACEBOOK
INSPIRATION BLOG

                          FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

I am entering my Serene Winter Scene card in the following challenges:
Double D Challenges - Baby, it's Cold Outside! {Winter} - mood board below
Scrappy Land - #80, Anything Goes {second entry}
CAS-ual Fridays - CFC #189, I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
Die Cuttin' Divas - #348, Christmas
Die Cut Diva's - Winter Time {second entry}
CropStop - #35

Double D Mood Board

~*~*~* HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE *~*~*~

Copper, Gold and Sparkle!

This card is the twin of my Clean and Simple card - but I used different colors.  Honestly, I like this card better; the sparkle is amazing!  Very simple to make, which is good since time is FLYING by - only four more days! Let's get to it!

You can't really see the sparkle in this picture; the one below shows the sparkle better.  

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Gold Layering Paper
Delicata Ink in Golden Glitz
Delicata Ink in Celestial Copper
So Suzy Stamps, Ornament Star Dangle, #A00509
So Suzy Stamps, Ornament Dangle, #A00508
Tim Holtz Gilded Holidays Remnant Rubs, Gold, #TH93636
Gold Gel Pen
Gold Sequins
MISTI

Click to see the sparkle!

I wanted the ornaments to be spaced evenly so I used my MISTI to stamp them, beginning with the Celestial Copper, then the Golden Glitz, alternating the ornaments and the ink colors. These are my first Delicata ink pads and I am in LOVE!  They truly are the most vibrant and sparkly inks I have ever used; and trust me, I've used a lot of metallic inks!  I definitely have decided I need more colors, specifically the white and the black - I think they'd be very cool!  Now, back to the card, I then trimmed the white panel and attached it to the gold panel (I used a thin gold cardstock), and lastly, attached that to the card base.  I added the sentiment using the Gilded Holiday Remnant Rubs (I've had these for a year and just found them again!) and then I hand drew a square using a gold gel pen around the sentiment. I purposely made the square wonky; it's easier than trying to be perfect!  Finally, I added a few sequins and the card is done!  Quick and easy! You could use all sorts of elements in this style, make your own string and hang some hearts, make your own ornaments with some small circles, let your imagination go wild!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm trying to get my holiday cards done; I typically have a few left after the holiday to blog about.  Makes the festivities last longer, right?  I hope you & yours are enjoying your holiday! Christi

I am entering my Copper & Gold card in the following challenges:
CAS on Friday - #123, Christmas
Addicted to CAS - #126, Sparkle
AAA Cards - #105, Sparkle
CAS-ual Fridays - #189, Dreaming of a White Christmas

Simple Snowflake Cards

Hello everyone, I hope this post finds you and yours doing well.  I have a confession.  I'm am addicted to Oxide Inks.  I find myself designing cards around the inks, saying "how can I use them"?, "will they look good in this application"? - I'm just glad there are so many ways to use them and that the palette has SO many cool colors! These cards are a remake of an oldie but goodie technique.  There are numerous ways we used embossing powder and various inks and techniques on our cards; just do a google search on embossing powder techniques and you will find enough information to keep you busy for a while.  I honestly never put much stock in white embossing powder; it NEVER worked for me, always leaving white spots on my cardstock, but this year I decided to try it again.  I started using a quality embossing powder and it made all the difference!  Anyway, this card was SO easy to make, you get a twofer!  Enjoy!

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper, half a sheet
Oxide Inks in Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Peacock Feathers & Wilted Violet
Mini Swirly Snowflakes, CMS320
Sentiment from Scribbly Christmas, CMS249
Distress Ink in Blueprint Sketch
Simon Says Stamp White Embossing Powder, Fine
Embossing Ink
MISTI
Mini Blending Tool
Ranger Distress Sprayer

I used almost the whole half a sheet of the watercolor paper.  My first intention was to stamp the snowflakes randomly, but each of them are truly works of art on their own, so I just used the six smallest in the set.  I stamped all six on one end of the paper, with the help of my MISTI {watercolor paper sucks up ink so fast, I always re-stamp my image a few times}.  I turned the paper around and did the same thing on the other end.  There was about 3/4" to an inch of paper in the middle, between the two designs.  I proceeded to emboss all the flakes

Onefer :)

with the white embossing powder {and FYI, I have used clear embossing powder on another project and it just doesn't give me the crispness I like}.  Once my flakes were embossed and cooled, I went to town with the Oxides.

I smooshed, dotted and generally went nutty with the Oxides and my blending tool.  I spritzed water, mopped it up, inked, spritzed a gazillion times until I liked the colors.  Your white embossing may look a bit faded, but once the Oxides dry, your embossing will pop right out.  I trimmed each snowflake panel and adhered them to white card bases.  Lastly, I used Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink and the sentiment, which I stamped in the lower right hand corner.  

The freshness of the pastel colors and the pop of the white snowflakes really appeal to my sense of being festive.  I adore trying to make cards and such without using traditional holiday colors and I think these will brighten someone's day; essential once the weather causes those dreary wintry grey days.  Thank you so much for visiting and I hope your holiday season is fabulous! Christi

I am entering my Simple Snowflake Cards in the following challenges:
Moo-Mania - Christmas
Muse: Christmas Visions - Any Holiday Card
Stampavie - #296, Christmas 
Addicted to Stamps - #159, Christmas
Delicious Doodles - Christmas - Non-Traditional Colors
Just For Fun Rubber Stamps - Happy Everything!

Clean and Simple Holiday Card

This is another CAS card. I was inspired when I found the stamps; yes, I had forgotten I had them!  I was looking through the binders where I keep my unmounted stamps and there they were! Seemed like a great time to break them out and ink them up!

What I Used to Make my Card:
Blue Card Base - Core'dinations Premium Cardstock in Sea Glass
White Card
Oxide Inks in Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers & Faded Jeans
So Suzy Stamps, Ornament Star Dangle, #A00509
So Suzy Stamps, Ornament Dangle, #A00508
Sentiment from Scribbly Christmas, CMS249
Distress Ink in Blueprint Sketch
MISTI

This was a very simple card to make. I used a white card panel to begin the card, trimmed to A2 size.  I used my MISTI to ensure each ornament was positioned properly; they are about an inch apart.   I inked up the first stamp, the Ornament Star Dangle, in Salty Ocean Oxide Ink, followed that with the Ornament Dangle, inked in Peacock Feathers Oxide and continued to alternate

Another Look

the two stamps, the middle stamp is inked in the Oxide inks Faded Jeans, then Peacock Feathers and finally Salty Ocean.

Finally, I stamped the sentiment with Blueprint Sketch ink, trimmed the white panel down and attached it to the blue card base.  Here is a bit of enabling - right now at Consumer Crafts the Core'dinations cardstock pack, sea glass, I used is 50% off!! Seems to be a heck of a sale going on there! Also, stay tuned for a sparkly version of this card - showing as soon as I get a second to write up the post :)

I hope you are having a fabulous holiday season! Thank you SO much for stopping by ~ Christi

I am entering my CAS Holiday Card in the following challenges:
Double D Challenges - Baby, it's COLD outside (Inspiration Image) 

CropStop Challenge - #35, Anything Goes (I used Oxide Inks)
Dragonfly Dreams - Non-Traditional Christmas
Through the Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes
Use Your Stuff - #293, Holiday Stamp

Merry Christmas Wreath

One of my favorite things is when I can stretch my crafting supplies - I love it when I can make something intended for something else, another holiday or project and shape it into something entirely different.  Today I am sharing a card I made with what I'd call a spring die, after I turned it into a holiday die.

What I Used to Make my Card:
Red Card Base
Small Fairytale Oval, Memory Box, #99172 {Calla Oval Wreath will work also!}
Poinsettia Mini, PoppyStamps, #1971 {could use this poinsettia set}
Stitched Oval Stax, MFT/Die-Namics, #MFT-521
Sentiment, Merry Christmas, My Sentiments Exactly! #G545
Wendy Vecchi Ink in Red Geranium
White and Green Card
Red Glitter Card
Stickles in Gold

I got the idea for this card after I spied the Poinsettia dies in the Dies R Us store.  I had to have them and the flower is so tiny and cute, I hope to be able to incorporate it into some other projects.  First, I cut the Small Fairytale Oval out of green card.  Then I set to work on the poinsettias.  I cut each layer out of red glitter card {there are three layers to each flower}, glued them together, then added the gold stamen.  The gold Stickles came out really dark and I was thinking I might have to make the flowers all over again, but once it dried it was fine. 

Once the poinsettia flowers were dry, I added them to the Small Fairytale Oval.  I trimmed some of the green flora to accommodate the flowers and also the

sentiment. The sentiment I chose fit just so even after I trimmed the inside of the oval a bit, so in order to ensure that I'd get the Merry Christmas in the right spot I taped the oval with washi tape around the sentiment while I glued it.  You can see the washi tape right under the ink; I used a scrap piece of white card since I knew I was going to cut the entire design out again.  Before I go further, I have to gush about the Red Geranium Wendy Vecchi ink.  In my opinion, it is the truest red ink I've found.  You may not be able to tell with the sentiment being so thin, but it is the only ink I use on my holiday projects that call for red ink.  Plus, it's archival so it dries permanent on most surfaces and it's waterproof.  I don't care for tomato red or orange reds when I need a true deep red.  Enough about the ink. 

When the oval dried around my sentiment, I cut it out using one of the Stitched Oval Stax dies and adhered it to a red card base.  This is all part of my attempt to be a bit more clean and simple with my card designs.  I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and are enjoying the holiday season! 

I do hope you will continue to join us at the Dies R Us Inspiration blog - we are there through the holidays with tons of brilliant inspiration! Fondly, Christi

Don't forget to join in on all the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.  

There's  a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month

 and one lucky  randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to 

the Dies R Us Store.  For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us 

links are provided below.

click below for:

STORE
CHALLENGE BLOG
FACEBOOK
INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

I am entering my Merry Christmas Wreath card in the following challenges:

Muse:Christmas Visions - ANY Holiday Card, #90

Happy Little Stampers Christmas - Anything Goes

Outlaws Twisted Thursday - Anything Goes, Twist: Poinsettia 

Die Cut Diva's -Winter Time

The Artistic Stamper - Christmas

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity - #43, Christmas/Winter

Incy Wincy - Red & Green

Hero Arts ~ Christmas Village

I love getting My Monthly Hero Kit each month from Hero Arts.  Not only do I get introduced to new products, but it is truly like Christmas every month! I haven't had a chance to play with December's kit, yet, but I made this cute little village scene using November's kit.  I hope you enjoy it :)

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Watercolor Paper
My Monthly Hero, October, 2017
Hero Arts Intense Black Ink
Distress Markers
Derwent Inktense Colored Pencils
MISTI
Wink of Stella in Clear
Oxide Inks in Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves, Broken China and Faded Jeans
Stickles in Christmas Red and Green
White Glitter Paper
Silver Gel Pen
Red Glitter Gel Pen
Dimensional Dots

I began this card by making the sky using the Oxide Inks.  I am stunned every time I use them and they work to give me a beautiful sky! I honestly never thought I could make a scene with a truly amazing sky and I am thrilled I can do it now! 

Some Parts

As the Oxide Ink sky dried, I stamped my images on watercolor paper, using Intense Black ink and my MISTI.  I stamped a few of the images a couple of times so that if I ruined one {or two} with my coloring, or die cutting, I'd have other choices to use.  I used the pencils to do the bulk of the coloring, accenting the images with Stickles, gel pens and Wink of Stella.  

Once everything was dry, colored and cut out, I cut the mountain range out of

Another Look

white glitter cardstock.  I attached that to the sky panel, then placed my buildings, and Mr. & Mrs. Claus, onto the mountain, occasionally using dimensional dots for some of the buildings.  I debated for a while if I should have put something in the sky, a sentiment or something, but then decided to leave it as is.  I'm fairly sure you can tell it is a Christmas Card.

I would love to know if you get the My Monthly Hero Kits, or any subscribed kit for that matter and your opinion of them.  I hope to be able to see some of your creations and if you've made a village scene, please leave me your blog address in the comments so I can go leave you some blogger love.  I hope you & yours are having a healthy, happy and safe holiday season ~ Hugs, Christi

I am entering my Christmas Village card in the following challenges:
A Blog Named Hero - M, Winter Holiday
The Artistic Stamper - M, Christmas
Christmas Cards All Year Round - M, Anything Goes
Die Cut Diva's - M, Winter Cards 
Emerald Creek - M, Happy Holidays
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Christmas/Winter Holidays

Celebrating the Holidays at Stinkin' Inkers

Hello friends! I hope this post finds you well; personally, I am struggling with a huge cold, so please bear with me as this post might be a bit disjointed. The theme this month at Stinkin' Inkers is the seasonally appropriate Celebrate the  Holidays.  I hope you like my card!

What I Used to Make my Card
White Card Base
Distress Oxides Inks Background - Salty Ocean,  Faded Jeans, Broken China & Seedless Preserves
Ranger Watercolor Paper
Quietfire Designs Flourished Ornament (no longer available as a stamp, but it is a digital file, #107611)
Small Snowflake
Piccolo Siam Silver Embossing Enamel
Wow! Silent Night Embossing Power, #WS101R
Distress Ink in Blueprint
Amuse 4mm Sequins
MISTI
Silver Glitter Gel Pen

I made the Distress Oxide background first and once it was dry I began stamping.  I stamped the ornament using embossing ink and heat embossed it

using the Siam Silver embossing enamel.  I stamped the center using Distress Ink in Blueprint.  I colored around the ornament, and the "ribbon", using a silver glitter gel pen.

I then stamped a small snowflake in various places, using embossing ink again, and heat embossed those using the Wow! embossing powder. I fished trough my sequin stash and found some blue ones that I think accent the card beautifully, so I glued on three sequins.  Lastly, I trimmed the panel and attached it to a white card.

Thanks for bearing with me while I battle this cold! I do hope to see you join in at the Stinkin' Inkers challenge.  Have a wonderful day! Christi

I am entering my Holiday card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp, Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp, Monday Challenge - Icy Inspiration 

Retro Rubber - #77, Christmas (stamp set is so old it's discontinued)

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round - M, Anything Goes
Make my Monday - #60, Happy Christmas/Happy Holidays
Stamps + Fun = Creativity - #313, Blue & Silver
The Crafter's Cafe - #186, Embossing (wet or dry)

Shaker Stars of the Season

My favorite part of the winter holiday season is all the lights, sparkle, and bling! Because I have the Fabulous Feline Four, it's been ages since I've put out any decorations; this year I've decided to make my cards extra festive!  This card not only sparkles, it uses nesting dies to make a very easy shaker card.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
White Card 
Authentique Paper, Wintery, 12 x 12, #WIN011
Die-Versions Whispers Stitched Nesting Stars, #DV-571
Die-Versions Sweet Wordlets, Season's Greetings, #DVSW-013
White Glitter Paper
Silver Glitter Paper
Acetate 
Sequins - Darice Clear-Crystal, 5 mm, #10043-8
              Darice Iridescent White, 5 mm, #10043-17
Twinklets Diamond Dust {manufactured by FloraCraft}
Thin Cardboard {if desired}
Krylon Leafing Pen in Silver {if desired}

I had gotten the Authentique paper a while back and I am so glad I did! There are all kinds of frosty patterned papers and I couldn't resist using one of them for this card.  I glued the paper on to my card base and set it under my drying tile for overnight.  

Meanwhile, I set about making the shaker.  I use temporary tape on many of my cutting dies as I don't have the magnetic platform that is supposed to make the dies stay where you put them {do you have one? Does it work? Please leave me a comment!} so I just set the nesting stars up so I'd get a "frame."  The only thing I have to watch is the tape un-sticking which can result in the dies moving.  That can cause an uneven frame, but in this case, even when the I had to line the dies up again, the margin of error is fairly tiny.  Once the die was run through the machine, I used a toothpick to poke out the frame. 

I die cut a bunch of frames out of white card and added a few cardboard frames as well,  to get the frame higher faster. It's not a must, but the cardboard also gives the design a bit more sturdiness than using plain card.  I layered a few of the card frames, then added a cardboard one and repeated the sequence a few times, leaving out one white frame.  Since I did use cardboard, once the frame was dry, I edged the sides with a silver leafing pen to cover up the cardboard.  

Finally, I used the two stars not used in making the frame, {using white glitter

card} cut them out and placed them on the card.  I used silver glitter card to die cut the sentiment.  I cut the window out of some acetate packaging, attached that to the frame tower and adhered the frame of white card I had set aside.  I didn't want the shaker to be too full, so I carefully added some sequins and Twinklets Diamond Dust.  Honestly, that Diamond Dust has got to be 15 years old and I had forgotten I even had it! I was surprised to see they still made it; the cool thing is that the dust is shard shaped {and according to the website has actual glass in it, but I didn't have any issue using my fingers} and that just makes it sparkle like crazy!

Another Look

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and may you find some forgotten goodies in your stash! 

Don't forget to join in on all the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.  

There's  a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month

 and one lucky  randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to 

the Dies R Us Store.  For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us 

links are provided below.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Fondly,

Christi

click below for:

STORE
CHALLENGE BLOG
FACEBOOK
INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

I am entering my Shaker Stars of the Season card in the following challenges:

Crafty Girlz Challenges - M, Nov, Anything Goes - optional Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Always Anything Christmas Goes

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge - M, Anything Goes - optional Tag

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes w/ Dies - M, Anything Goes

Stemplegartden - #67, It's Almost Christmas

Allsorts - #442, Glitter (card)

Modsquad - Merry & Bright

The Sisterhood of Crafters - M, Let the Sparkle Fly!

a2z Scrapbooking - M, Winter

Creative Inspiration Blog - #283, Sparkle