CAS Christmas Nov. 2018 - SANTA

Hello friends.  Playing along with this month's CAS Christmas challenge which is to add a SANTA to your Christmas card.

I have many Santa stamp images, but my favorite has always been Flourishes Santa I Believe.  Sadly this company is no longer in business, but I still use this image every year!  I had wanted to try the new (to me) technique of inking up your stamp with Versamark and then using a damp paintbrush to "paint" on Lindy's Magicals powder (or any other powder form of paint like Brusho's) and then lightly spritzing with water before stamping onto your cardstock.  One of my favorite colors of Magicals is the Cattail Copper Brown and I thought the shimmery copper would look so cool on this vintage Santa stamp but I wasn't real impressed with my results, so I ended up just using Soft Suede ink...

Isn't that just the sweetest vintage Santa image?!!  I just kept it very CAS so as not to take away from the image, and matted it with some Soft Suede cardstock and attached to a white card base.  I stamped the "Believe" sentiment from the stamp set in Early Espresso ink and then finished with some baker's twine and a wooden snowflake.

I did make a card from the Lindy's Magicals, but again, not real impressed with it.  I think because once you add the water (and I didn't add much!) you don't get a real clear image and you lose a lot of the details.

You can still tell it's Santa, and there is quite a bit of shimmer that is part of the Lindy's Magicals, but it just didn't thrill me!

Oh well, you have to experiment sometimes, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't!!  But either way, the process is FUN!!

Check out all the FABULOUS Santa cards from the DT and be inspired to play along!  You have until the 24th to play in this challenge and you can check it all out right HERE. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

25 Days of Christmas Tags - Days, 10, 11, & 12

Hello friends.  Here are tags from Days, 10, 11, & 12 of the 25 Days of Christmas Tags.

Day 10 was sponsored by Studio Katia and I was inspired by ALL of Tracey's DT and their sweet, sweet little snowy village tags!!

I do not own any Studio Katia stamps, but I did have Lawn Fawn's Winter Village that worked beautifully for this challenge.  I used PTI's Tag Sale #8 to die cut my tags and Copic markers to color all the little houses.

Day 11 is sponsored by Winnie & Walter and I was totally inspired by Shay and Joyce Mehrberg's lovely kraft tags with the all over floral design.

I have several Winnie & Walter stamp sets but nothing with tiny Christmas florals, so I substituted a couple Catherine Pooler Christmas sets (Festive Trimmings & Tis The Season) to come up with these.  The joy die cuts are from PTI's Wet Paint Holiday Collection.  I also added Pale Gold Nuvo Drops to the centers of the Poinsettias.

Day 12 is sponsored by Pretty pink Posh and I was inspired by Nicky Meek's adorable pastel tags.

I adored all the sweet little critters on Nicky's tags, but the only Christmas Pretty Pink Posh set I have is the Happy Snowman set, and I think he looks just as cute on these pastel tags!  I embossed with white an older snowflake background stamp on my Gina Marie Designs square scalloped tags and then fussy cut out my little snowmen with their matching scarves.  Simple but they'll look great on the grandbabies Christmas gifts!

Still lots more inspiration to come, so check it all out and play along (HERE) for the chance to win one of the MANY prizes being offered!

 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Twelve Tags of Christmas - More Tags

Hello friends.  Hope you're not tired of seeing Christmas tags as I'm still cranking them out!  I do sell a good portion of my tags though, so no worries that I'm buying hundreds of gifts so that I have tags to attach to them!

I got a couple new stamp sets from Stamplorations thanks to Nancy who is so good at enabling, and made up a couple of tags and a card using one of the stamp sets called Layered Poinsettia's.

I used a couple of PTI's Bookmark Dies (#2 & #3) to cut my tags...one in a rustic kraft and one in white.  I used SU!'s Sheet Music background stamp with Tea Dye distress ink and then got out my Lindy's Magicals and tried the technique where ink your stamp with Versamark ink and then use a damp paintbrush to add the Lindy's Magicals powder over the Versamark.  I spritzed lightly with water and then stamped on my tags...the shimmer and shine is incredible!!  Now if I could just figure out how to capture it on my photos!!  I used Autumn Maple Crimson and Ponderosa Pines Olive for the Poinsettia and leaves.  Next I stamped the outlines and then embossed my sentiment from PB's Yuletide Wishes in black.

And because I still had all my supplies out I made a card too...

LOVE this stamp set...it really makes me look good!  Hahaha!!  I used just regular ink (Gina K's Red Velvet, Cherry Red, & Fresh Asparagus inks) to stamp the flower and leaves this time.  After stamping my sentiment (again from PB's Yuletide Wishes) I layered to a piece of Real Red cs and then adhered that to a white card base.  A few iridescent sequins finished off my CAS card.

You can check out Loll's tag event right HERE and be totally inspired and then play along too!  This tag event is open till this Friday the 16th.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Twelve Tags of Christmas - Day 6

Hello friends.  I was delighted to be asked by Loll to once again guest design for her Twelve Tags Of Christmas challenge.

This is a Mixed Media challenge, so just remember to add 2 or 3 (or more) different techniques to your tags.  You can find a list of all the different techniques available to use on the CAS Mix Up  site on the side bar.

I used PTI's Basic Bookmark #2 die as my starting point for my tag and came up with this:

I used SU!'s Sheet Music background stamp with kraft ink to stamp my tag, and then stamped over that with another SU! favorite of mine called Ornamental Pine.  I did put the pine branch in my MISTI and then inked it up using markers and then spritzing with water before stamping on the tag, to give the water colored look.  Next I stamped 3 snowflakes from Penny Black's Winter Joy stamp set in Cocoa Bean ink and then used a liberal dose of WOS on them.

Next I added a pair of birds from my beloved PTI Brushed Birds stamp set using Pure Poppy, Scarlet Jewel, & Cocoa Bean inks.  The smallest bird is pop dotted for some dimension.  I finished with a die cut sentiment from Penny Black called Rejoice, some Rainstones (PTI), and a little bit of sponging around the edges using Vintage Photo DI.  Oh, and tied the top with some brown & white gingham ribbon and a piece of rustic twine.

Make sure you check out all the GORGEOUS inspiration from Loll and all her special guest designers, and then play along.  It's a perfect way to get in the Christmas spirit and plus have some lovely tags made ahead of time to use on your packages.  Check it all out right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

25 Days Of Tags 2018 - Days 7, 8, & 9

Hello friends.  Still playing along with the 25 Days Of Christmas Tags and today I'm sharing tags from days 7, 8, & 9.

Day 7 is sponsored by Birch Press Design and I was inspired by Desiree Kuemmerle and her gorgeous gold and cream colored die cut ornaments.

I used a Gina Marie Designs die to make my tags and after finishing these 2, I made a bunch more and left the "joy" die cut off...it hides all the detail of these elegant dies, plus they're very small and the joy kind of takes it over.  But anyway, without the joy they're very delicate and pretty looking!!

Day 8 is sponsored by UNIKO and I was inspired by 2 different tags from Tracey McNealy and Carol Mayne.

I loved Tracey's simple pine branch, acorn, and sentiment in red, so I used an older SU! set called Ornamental Pine and a sentiment from PTI's O'Tannenbaum to come up with these simple little tags.

I was also inspired by Carol Mayne's sweet little Poinsettia tags in red & green.  I used the same MFT tag die and then stamped the Poinsettia's from Catherine Pooler's Cozy Borders stamp set.  Couldn't seem to capture the glitter from the Rockin' Red WOW embossing glitter that I added after stamping, but IRL they really sparkle!  The little Merry Christmas sentiment is from a SSS set that I stamped in green.  Again, simple but really liked the design!!

Day 9 is sponsored by Pink & Main and once again I was inspired by Carol Mayne and her adorable critters tag!

My critters came from 2 different MFT sets...Cool Day and Polar Pals.  I colored them with Copics and then added them to a MFT tag.  The DSP at the top is from PB's Festive & Frosty 6 x 6 pad.

Still lots more inspiration to come, so check it all out HERE and then play along...there's some great prizes up for grabs!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Make It Monday #342 - Envelope Bags with Patterned Paper

Hello friends.  Lexi is doing this week's Make It Monday challenge with a technique that I did years and years ago with envelopes, but back then we called it "bagalopes"!  I never thought to do it with patterned paper though and they sure are pretty!!

I used the Pure Poppy Bitty Big plaid paper to make my gift bag and had to do it twice!  I think I scored too hard the first time and the paper was ripping in the seams...grrrr!  Did a lighter touch the 2nd time and came up with this:

I still had a tag I'd made last year using the Dash Away All die and the Snowflake Medallion die and it fit beautifully on the front of my bag!  Here's a closer up so you can see the detail:

The Snowflake Medallion die is just done with plain white cs, and then the next layer is a black snowflake (part of the Medallion die) that I added red glitter to the tips of.  The Dash Away All deer was die cut from some plaid I made with Pure Poppy cs and Pure Poppy and black inks.  A little drop of black Nuvo Drops made the eye and then I also added a Tiny Tag and attached with a mini clothespin at the top of the bag to keep it closed.  Pretty quick project as I already had the snowflake/deer tag made, but I love how it turned out and will make a great presentation for a small gift!  :0)

You can check out Lexi's beautiful gift bags and great video for how to's right HERE and then play along!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

12 Tags of Christmas

Hello friends.  I'm in full tag mode right now and have a couple to share that I made for Loll's 12 Tags Of Christmas event.

This is a mixed media tag event, and I had fun last night making some Stencil Monoprints with DOX inks and turned them into the following 2 tags and a card.

I used Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, Shaded Lilac, & Peacock Feathers on my snowflake stencil (PTI), and then when it was dry I added my die cut polar bears (PB) and a torn snow hill along with an embossed silver sentiment (PTI).  Very simple but I love the way it turned out!!

This tag used the same colors of ink and snowflake stencil, but after it was dry I used a background script stamp (SU!) and white embossing powder.  I added a tree (SSS) that I die cut 5 times to give it some dimension and then added a black banner that I embossed in white.

I also had just enough of the piece left to make this card:

I used a Memory Box die (Evergreen Window) to die cut the image and then die cut again in the center of a white layer and inlaid the monoprint piece and attached to a white card base.  Thought about adding a sentiment but in the end decided to leave it plain...I like it just as it is!!

Here's a few of the pieces I didn't use:

I think anyone who's ever done stencil mono printing knows you can't just make one and quit!  And now I have more for another day!!  :0)

Make sure you check out all Loll's beautiful tags and all her GD every day through the 16th and then play along right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!