CAS for Christmas (by Judith)

Hello everyone, it is my turn to post a project using the lovely new Christmas stamps. I love to mix and match old stamps with new, and this project is no exception. I have created a clean and simple card that will be great for making up in batches when you need to make lots of cards in a hurry.

I started my card by stamping the pine cone sprig three times across the top of a white card blank. I coloured the stamp with water based markers so that I could get the variety of colours on the stamp. I added a greeting from the Bold Christmas Words stamp set at the bottom of the card. Finally, I stamped and embossed a bauble from the Christmas Decorations stamp set onto scrapbook paper three times using a sparkly red embossing powder. You always need a bit of sparkle at Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Christmas Masterboard (posted by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you have been enjoying the fabulous artwork from the Design Team this month using the Rustic Fragments/Seasonal Fragments Multibuy stamp set. As we near the end of the month, I wanted to show you another great use for these very versatile stamps; creating masterboards. I have chosen one of the leafy designs and contemporary colours to make a masterboard, which I have then turned into a couple of Christmas cards, showing you that you can use the images all year round for lots of different purposes.

To create the masterboard, I covered a piece of smooth white card with Aqua Adirondack ink, and then stamped the leafy image using a deep red and dark green. I filled in the gaps using the aqua ink to create a softer backdrop for the stronger leafy images.

I covered a 5" x 7" card front with part of the masterboard. I chose a greeting from the Bold Christmas Words stamp set, and stamped this onto a die cut, using red ink. I hand cut a dark red layer to mat the sentiment onto. I made a couple of flowers using die cuts to complete the card.

I had plenty of the masterboard left over, and decided to make another card in a clean and simple style this time. I used a large white card blank, and cut a strip of dark red card, to which I added a strip of the masterboard, after I had inked the edges with Barn Door Distress Ink. I stamped a sentiment from the Warm Christmas Greetings stamp set on to the card. I stamped and embossed a large poinsettia from the Steampunk Christmas stamp set onto scrapbook papers a couple of times, and cut these out. I then stuck them to the card with some foliage die cuts as before.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Going around in Circles (posted by Judith)

Hello Folks, I have some samples on circular theme for you today, using the stamps of the month.

For my first sample, I created a watercolour background in shades of green and purple, and then added a circle mask in the centre. I stamped an image from the Harlequin Fragments stamp set around the edge of the mask, using green ink. I sponged a little bit of green ink around of the mask to add some shading, before removing the mask. I stamped and embossed the holly and bell images from the Holly Bells stamp plate using gold embossing powder. I also stamped another set of  images onto a spare piece of card. I coloured the spare images with water based markers and a water brush  and decoupaged them onto the background. I added some hand drawn 'string'. The sentiment is from the Christmas Magic stamp plate.

For a more detailed  explanation of how I made this card, you can hop over to My Blog

I have a couple of CAS cards that I would also like to show you. In these days of rising postage costs, flat cards are always useful to make, and these two cards would make good batch cards, that you could make in lots of different colour options as well. The first card was made using blue and lilac tones, and I simply created a reverse mask, sponging coloured ink through a circle aperture onto my card. I coloured the top and bottom circles first, and overlapped the middle one last. I then selected three baubles, taken from the Santa Baby/Holly Bells Multi-Buy stamp set, and stamped them in the same inks that I used to create the circles, giving a tone on tone effect. The sentiment was taken from the Christmas Sentiments Multibuy

The last card was made in much the same way, except that I created a single circle, blending yellow and green inks, and chose a stronger ink to stamp the bells. The sentiment comes from the Bold Christmas Words stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Blue Christmas (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.

I have two 'Blue' Christmas cards today featuring new stamps along with an older favourite:).   I used the new Reindeer Landscape set for the card below.

I used a favourite Dylusion ink combo (Calypso Teal, After Midnight & White Linen) on the background.  I stamped the trees from Reindeer Landscape with Deep Purple Archival Ink and added lots of glitter.    Believe also from Reindeer Landscape, was stamped with black Versafine Ink.   I used Memory Boxes Dies - Deer Trio & Snowflake Corner (they cut like a charm!) with black cardstock.    The Deer Trio is great as the bottom doesn't cut so you can cut to whatever shape you need for your design.    I added lots of glitter to the trees and snowflakes.

I used the new Fancy Flourishes clear set along with Christmas Flourish  and Bold Christmas Words for the card below.

The above background was created with the same three Dylusion Ink Sprays.    I spritzed a little water to blend, blotted with a paper towel roll and added a little sea salt before it was dry to create 'stars' in the ink.  When dry, I used TCW stencil - Star Fall with Picked Raspberry & Peacock Feathers Distress Inks and white Acrylic Paint.

I stamped the Flourish from the new Fancy Flourishes set with Salty Ocean Distress Ink around the border of the background.    The sentiment from Bold Christmas Words and the Christmas Tree from Christmas Flourish were stamped with Black ink.   I added stickles to the tree. 

Thanks for your visit and have a great day!
Shirley

Holly Flourishes (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, here is a quick little Christmas card using the new Fancy Flourishes clear stamp set. I used the holly flourish to create the impression of a tree branch, by repeatedly stamping the image along one edge of a piece of kraft card. I used a white pen to add a 'shadow' to look like snow on the branches. I stamped the word 'Joy' from the Bold Christmas Words clear stamp set in the top corner, using red ink.

I made a robin by die cutting a bird from dark brown foil and colouring the stomach area with red alcohol ink. I added a little gem for the eye. Finally, I added a red and green layer of card behind the design.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Merry Christmas (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a very quick and easy Christmas card using the beautiful new clear stamps, Fancy Flourishes

We always have so many cards to make for Christmas, so its nice to be able to get stamping and have a bit of a 'production line going with some simple but effective designs. The new Fancy Flourishes are fab for creating borders, backgrounds and frames so I thought they would be just the job for a a pretty Christmas design. I stamped the flourishes in Ladybug Memento Ink to create the frame, its so easy to line the clear stamps up. I added the sentiment from Bold Christmas Words and matted on some red card. To finish off I added a little red bow

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Pink Christmas Trees (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a card featuring the funky trees and snowflakes from Reindeer Landscape. 

I love pink and white for Christmas cards so I set to with an assortment of pink dye inkpads and a water mister and swooshed them around on my ink blending mat to create the background. Next I stamped the trees and the snowflakes with versamark and embossed with whit embossing powder. I added some colour to the trees with Sakura Glaze pens.

The sentiment is from Bold Christmas Words, again embossed with white embossing powder on pink cardstock and die cut with spellbinders dies. I added some little pearls to the snowflakes and a little white bow to the bauble sentiment. 

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Let it Snow by Clare

There's a little chill in the air at night, so I know that winter is right around the corner!  I wish it would snow!  I know you probably think, "She's nuts", but I can't help it!  haha

This card really makes me think of a snowy day in Colorado where I was born and raised.  We'd have some storms that would be blizzard-like, but my favorite is the heavy huge flakes that stick to everything, and are perfect for making a snowman!  The second photo shows the dimension of the snowflake flowers.  I layered some snowflake vellum over the blue cardstock, and stamped the snowflake edge from the new set, "Winter Edges" in glue, then added a lot of sparkly glitter.  The sentiment is from the set, "Bold Christmas Words".  I used a snowflake embossing folder, spread clue across the tops of the raised images from a glue pad, and added more sparkle.  I die cut snowflakes from white cardstock, shaped them with a stylus on a pad, tinted the edges of one with blue, and layered with dimensional dots.  The last touch was the blue rhinestones.  Very easy to make!



In this photo you can really see the sparkle, and the
dimension of the flowers.

Poinsettia Edges (by Shirley)

Hello everyone,  I hope you are doing well.   

We've been having a great time 'playing' with the new Christmas designs.   The following three cards all feature the Poinsettia Edge from Christmas Edges.   The new Edge stamps are fantastic, I love them (yes I know I say that about ALL of CB's designs, it's true I'm 'in Love').

I started with Distress Inks (Festive Berries & Fired Brick) using the Acrylic Block technique.   I over stamped the background using the Mistletoe fragment (another favourite from Pears & Baubles ) with Festive Berries Distress Ink.      I embossed the Poinsettia edge from Christmas Edges along with JOY from Bold Christmas Words on separate cardstock with deep purple powder and coloured with Festive Berries Distress Ink using water & a brush.   I decoupaged all three images and adhered along with purple ribbon onto the background.  I also added lots of stickles in the flower centers.


While I was working with the Poinsettia Edge, I kept seeing leaves from the Bold Bloom and Tangled Garden sets in the petals.   I thought I would try to make a poinsettia from the leaves and below is what I came up with :)

 

For the card above I started with Evergreen Bough and Pine Needles Distress Ink using the Acrylic Block technique.  I stamped around all the edges using the Poinsettia edge with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.   Merry Christmas is from the fabulous Bold Christmas Words set.    The Holly Flourish die cut is Cheery Lynn B148.   I embossed the leaves from Bold Bloom & Tangled Garden with gold along with the flower center from one of the flowers from Tangled garden.  I painted the flower petals & leaves with Tom Bow markers and used lots of stickles on the petals & liquid pearls in the center.


This next card was a quick make as I used some glittery designer paper from my stash.

 

I stamped the Poinsettia Edge from Christmas Edges and Sentiment from Bold Christmas Words onto white cardstock with Memento Rhubarb Stalk Dye Ink.   I layered as shown and added a bow & stickles. 

We have lots more to show you in October so I hope you can visit often.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Shirleyx

Blue Winter Wonderland (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope your week is going well.

I have a design today that takes a little break from "Spooky Creations".    I had a 'play' with the new fabulous Bold Christmas Words clear stamp set, the fonts are beautiful and the sizes are great to use as a focal point.   

I created the background using Dylusions Spray Inks - Teal, Midnight, Turquoise & White (spritzed with water & blotted with a paper towel roll).   I stamped the Big Bold Background - Snowflake Shadow with Salty Ocean & Seedless Preserves Distress Inks.    Winter Wonderland  from Bold Christmas Words was stamped on a 'mop up' piece of watercolour paper and I used Spellbinder S5-015 to mat. 

Please keep come back often as we have lots more to show you this month :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Shirley

Bewitching new stamps - with a tempting giveaway!

We have just brought out some new stamps including some larger Christmas sentiments and some Halloween stamps.  I'm also doing a giveaway this month - details below.

The Bold Christmas Words are proving to be SO useful - they're big enough to be the focal point for a card which is great if you need to produce a batch of cards in a hurry (which I inevitably will, despite the best of intentions to have a stack of cards made in plenty of time!).

 

 

 

 

 

All of the words are available as individual stamps, or you can save money and buy them as a full set.

Here's a super quick card featuring the Big Bold Holly background and one of the new greetings.

This is a super simple card - the holly background is stamped in Versafine Olympia Green and layered onto red card.  The sentiment was stamped onto a die cut with a mix of Versafine Crimson Red and Satin Red.  I swirled the same reds around the edges too with a stencil brush.  A little ribbon and three crystals finish it off - super quick, job done.

For all you Halloween fans, we have two new rubber sets too.

These are both A5 sets and are both our featured Stamps of the Month, on special offer until the end of September.  Again, you can save money when you buy them both together as a multi-buy.

This Halloween card features a background I made with an acrylic block and Splash inks - a technique I covered in Monday Mojo issue 17.  I stamped the tree and bats and embossed with black embossing powder, then drew a horizon line and painted beneath it with black Golden Fluid Acrylic.  I stamped the toadstools and raven along the bottom with orange ink, then sanded the black paint lightly to make it more matte. 

I stamped the sentiment with Brilliance Moonlight white and embossed with white powder.  The witch is an old Martha Stewart punch which actually has a cauldron on, but I cut it into a broomstick shape instead.  There's also a punched railing along the bottom, but the camera struggled to pick up the black on black there so you'll have to take my word for it.

I've got a few of the words and a set each of the Halloween stamps to give away this month, so please leave me a comment here or on Facebook if you'd like to be entered into the draw.  Let me know if you are a fan of Halloween or not, as I'd hate to send out an unwelcome prize to anyone.

I think the girls have been particularly inventive with these Halloween stamps, showing that they can be used for other occasions too.  The Christmas stamps have been rushed out (as so many of you have told us you need them NOW) so most of the DT girls haven't had a chance to work with them yet.  But stay tuned for some glorious artwork heading your way soon.