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

Happy Autumn!

Living in Colorado, I am blessed to be able to see the leaves change from my own yard to the top of the mountain range.  This is my absolute favorite time of year; the brutal heat is gone, the crisp air is invigorating, and the sleeping is the best! 

What I Used to Make my Card:
Kraft Card Base
Authentique Paper, Harvest, 6 x 6 pad, #HVT008 {retired but available}
Die-Versions Holiday 1 "Complements", #DVC-4x6-206
Die-Versions Whispers Leafy Frame Panel, #DV-667
Frantic Stamper Fall Words, # FRA-DIE-10271
Impression Obsession Dies, Small Leaf Set, #DIE095
Fall Colors Cardstock 

I die cut the frame from the Authentique paper and attached it to my card base.  Then, for the words, I used Fall Words for "autumn" and Holiday for "happy" - cutting happy out of red card and autumn out of dark brown card.  The leaves are cut from various autumnal colors and scattered about. The leaves actually have life-like patterns on them that are spectacular but I used 

Another Look

card with texture, so you can't see the patterns that well. 

The leaf colors bring out the colors in the panel wonderfully!  I hope you enjoyed my card and will consider entering the Dies R Us Challenge.  And don't forget, if you need inspiration, you can find it daily at the Dies R Us Inspiration Blog.  Have a great day! Christi


Don't forget to play along at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog for your chance to win a gift voucher to the Dies R Us Store.  A new challenge begins on the first and fifteenth of every month.  

Be sure to Follow Us on FACEBOOK too. 

click below for:

STORE

CHALLENGE BLOG
FACEBOOK
INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

I am entering my Happy Autumn card in the following challenges:

Allsorts - #441, Colors of Autumn

Quick Quotes - #81, Fall Colors

Double D Challenges - Feeling "Fallish"/Mood Board

Thankful with Stinkin' Inkers!

This  month's theme at Stinkin' Inkers is "Thankful".  With so many tragedies happening, it's the perfect time to try and remember what, and who, you are grateful for. I know my gratitude list would be miles long. And if no one told you today, let me be the one to tell you that I'm grateful you're here.

I decided to challenge myself a bit and use nothing but my CAMEO to make a card.  I hope you like it:

What I used to Make my Card:
White Square Card Base
Silhouette CAMEO Designs: Leaf Wreath, by Dresden Carrie, #225912 & 225903
Various Brown Card
Green Card Panel
Authentique 6x6 Paper Pad, Harvest, #HVT008 {retired but available}

After I cut all the pieces out, using the CAMEO, in different shades of brown, I wove the large leaf through the wreath in various places.  I lightly glued the wreath to the green panel - just enough to stick it to the paper, but leaving lots of places open so I could tuck the little leaves around.  I began to tuck the small leaves around the wreath and I decided I needed just one more color.  So I pulled dark brown card out of my stash and just cut the smaller leaves - one of my favorite things about the Silhouette is the ability to pick and chose what to cut, and that you can cut as many as you want with the touch of a button.

After I was happy with the leaves, I took my cutout of the word "Thankful", which was cut from the Authentique patterned paper and them attached to the wreath.  Easy card to male and send to someone your thankful for. I hope to see your creation at the Stinkin' Inkers Thankful Challenge! Thank you for reading my tutorial ~ hugs, Christi

I am entering my Thankful card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Crafty Cardmakers - #199, Thankful
Dragonfly Journey - #104, Attitude of Gratitude 
Just Us Girls - #418, Thankful

Winner of the Costume Party :)

WINNER, WINNER!!

(sorry, no chicken dinner as I don't eat meat LOL)

Thank you all for playing along with my Costume Party Giveaway! I had the man choose a random number for me & he chose 17, which was this comment:

 D.Ann COctober 23, 2017 at 11:58 AM

I NEVER would've thought to put a dress on one of the Crazy Cats, but Ms Cat's turned out so well, I'm for sure going to try it!! I'm already a subscriber, just a poor excuse for a visitor... only popping in once in a while... life!

HUGE congrats D.Ann!! I'm going to email you to get all the details :)

I hope you all enjoyed the card I made & choosing your favorite costume - the best costume, due to votes, is absolutely Ms. Cat in her lovely red dress, with Little Tongue Out Dog, in his rose costume, as second and Shy Orange Cat, with her bat wings, as third.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Hugs!
Christi