More Christmas Leftovers

Hello everyone, have just about finished my Christmas cards for this year and also have just about used up all of my leftover bits and bobs so it's a win win!  Here are four more I finished up over the last couple of days.

I used stamps old and new and die cuts that had been hanging about for quite literally years!  Read on for some quick leftover 'recipes' 😉

Merry Christmas Prancing Deer Card

Matte:
Classic Kraft Stock
Background:
Frayed Burlap Distress Ink
Music stamp with Vintage Photo Distress Archival ink
Embellishments:
Prancing Deer Bigz die coloured with Distress Oxides (Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap) and Vintage Platinum Distress Glitter Dust on antlers
'Merry Christmas' Festive Sketch stamp on crackled cardstock (Ground Espresso Distress Paint, Weathered Wood Crackle, Picket Fence Distress Paint, Vintage Distress Collage Medium)
Spattered with Picket Fence Distress Paint

Season's Greetings Christmas Tree Card

Background:
Classic Kraft Stock
Great Outdoors star stamp embossed with Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder
Embellishments:
Woodlands die cuts from green Christmas Deco Sheet with white craftstock pieced in
Festive Overlay 'Season's Greetings' stamp onto white card, edged with Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder and popped up on foam squares.

Peace & Joy Christmas Card

Matte:
Classic Kraft Stock
Background:
Old Paper Distress Ink
Scribble Woodland bough stamp with Peeled Paint and Christmas Red Stickles Glitter glue berries
Scribble Woodland snowflakes stamped with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and embossed with Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder
Flurry stamp embossed with Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder
Spattered with Picket Fence Distress Paint.
Embellishments:
Winter Wonderland deer die cut from gold Metallic Kraft Stock
Woodland 'Peace & Joy' sentiment stamped onto crackled card (from Merry Christmas Prancing Deer card) popped up on foam squares.

Holly Jolly Christmas Card

Matte:
Classic Kraft Stock
Backround:
Antique Linen Distress Ink
Embellishments:
Snowcap Layering stencil embossed with white sparkle embossing powder
Mini Retro Ornaments Movers & Shapers dies cut from silver and gold Metallic Kraft Stock, Mini Holiday Greens holly die cuts from Classic Kraft Stock with Christmas Red Stickles Glitter glue berries and line of Platinum Stickles Glitter glue
Carved Christmas 3 sleigh stamped with Ground Espresso Distress Archival ink and clear embossed
Card front edged with Star Dust Stickles Glitter glue.

Thanks as always for stopping by today, I'm off to get these cards into the mail and then I have to get to work on some Christmas gifts for family and friends.  Won't be able to share those with you until they have been gifted so you will get a break from me for a while which I am sure you will be thankful for LOL!  Happy Christmas crafting everyone,

Deb xo

Christmas Leftovers Cards

Hi everyone, back with some more Christmas cards and this time I've made them with some of the leftover bits and bobs on my craft table (not the leftovers on the dining room table LOL!).

A couple of Tim Holtz's Holiday Hacks (http://timholtz.com/2018-holiday-hacks/) did appear on the Christmas greetings card too, read on for a quick how to.

Happy Holidays Card

I've had these Ice Skates die cut in my stash forever, I made them ages ago for another project and didn't end up using them so figured it was high time they came out to play.

White card for the skates, sanded brown Classic Kraft Stock for the heels and silver Metallic Kraft Stock for the blades with black button thread for the laces.  So glad that this die was re-released, I love it!  The background is sanded tan Classic Kraft Stock stamped with the Pine background stamp and Hickory Smoke Distress Archival with Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder sprinkled here and there.

A Christmas Quote Chip and a snowflake charm embossed with white sparkle embossing powder were added to the top right corner, a sentiment was stamped inside (Doodle Greetings 1 again) and that was it.

Christmas Greetings Card

The leftovers used on this card were the stamped matting in the background and the die cut foiled snowflake.  I also used a version of Tim's watercolour tags technique on this card with something else that was sitting on my table, the Arch Embossing Diffuser set.

I stamped the Arch insert with Ice Spruce Distress Ink and the diffuser plate with Frayed Burlap DI (just inked up the back of the pieces, spritzed them with water to activate the ink and stamped them onto some Distress Mixed Media Heavystock).

I made a mask for the central arch and then used the Shifter Stars stencil with more Frayed Burlap DI for a tone on tone design (the small Shifter stencil pictured below came in the Stamptember 2018 stamp set but it is probably the same size as the mini Shifter Stars stencil?)

The deer from the Woodland stamp set was stamped with Ground Espresso Distress Archival in the central arch and clear embossed and then his antlers were further embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder.  Platinum Stickles Glitter glue was added around the arch and the edges of the script stamped background.

The Christmas Greetings sentiment from the Yuletide stamp set was stamped onto Heavystock coloured with Iced Spruce DI and then cut out, edged with more Platinum Stickles and popped up on some of Gina K. Designs new BLACK Foam Squares (so excited that she has black foam squares and foam tape, I don't like seeing the white when I am using foam to pop up elements on my vintage or distressed makes.  I always coloured the edges of the white foam with a black felt pen so now I don't have to walk around with black fingertips LOL!).

The snowflake was in my stash and think it was die cut with the Mini Paper Snowflakes die from some Deco Foil Silver Shattered Glass foil on PeelNStick Toner Sheet.

A Doodle Greetings sentiment stamped inside and this card was also done.

Just about finished the cards that I have to send off in the mail this week so will be back with the last few shortly, thanks as always for stopping by today and happy creating!

Deb xo

Shifter Stenciled And Stamped Christmas Cards Inspired By Tim Holtz's 2018 Holiday Hacks

Hello everyone, back again with more Christmas cards inspired by Tim Holtz's 2018 Holiday Hacks (click here to see his videos) and this time I used his shifter stencils along with his wonderful Christmas stamps.

Sanded Classic Kraft Stock was used to matte my cards again (it's so quick and easy to get a lovely worn look with a few swipes of the sanding block) and this time I used some patterned scrapbook paper from my stash for the Merry and Bright card blank.

Peace & Joy Card

For the background of this card, I dipped Distress Mixed Media Heavystock into puddles of Weathered Wood Distress Ink and then stenciled it through the Shifter Mint stencil with Peeled Paint and Evergreen Distress Inks (hint: using the Sticky Grid that Tim suggested in his Holiday Hack made the stenciling a breeze!).

More Heavystock was coloured with puddles of Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky DI and then the card was stamped with a Swirly Snowflakes stamp and Chipped Sapphire DI, embossing it with Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder.  The snowflake was die cut with the coordinating Swirly Snowflakes die, popped up on another layer of thick chipboard for some dimension and adhered to the stenciled background.

The camera doesn't like to pick up the iridescent colours from the embossing powder but it's quite lovely IRL!

The sentiment from the Stamptember 2018 set was stamped with Black Soot Distress Archival ink and clear embossed.

And that was it, quick and easy so onto card #2!

Merry and Bright Card

The background on this card was stenciled with the Shifter Tree stencil onto more Distress Mixed Media Heavystock that had been dipped into Antique Linen DI.  I used Peeled Paint, Iced Spruce and a touch of Forest Moss and Gathered Twigs DI to stencil the trees; it takes a few more seconds to add multiple colours but adds so much depth to your stenciled designs as Tim demonstrated in his Holiday Hack video.

For the focal image, I die cut a Stitched Oval from more Antique Linen DI coloured Heavystock and then stamped the Santa from the Festive Overlay set with Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany DI.  The sentiment from the same set was stamped with Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink and clear embossed.

And once again that was it, shifter stencil card number two done!  (I did stamp some sentiments on the inside of each card with the Doodle Greetings 1 and 2 stamp sets but that just took a couple of more minutes, honest!).

Off to make some more, I am hoping to get my Christmas cards into the mail by mid-week at the latest and all of Tim's Holiday Hacks are helping to make that possible, thank you Tim!  Be back soon with a few more, happy creating!

Deb xo

Christmas By Nature Cards Inspired By Tim Holtz's Holiday Hacks

Hi everyone, I'm having so much fun playing around with variations of Tim Holtz's 2018 Holiday Hacks ( http://timholtz.com/2018-holiday-hacks/) and here are a couple more cards I whipped up yesterday.

This time I used his Festive Overlay stamps for the greetings but combined them with images from the Stamptember 2018 stamp set (it was a limited release from Simon Says Stamp, the stamps are a little bit bigger than the ones in the Festive Overlay stamp set).

I used the same process that I shared in yesterday's post (click here to see it) but on this card I used the oval diffuser from the Embossing Diffuser #1 set with the Flourish Texture Fades embossing folder.

Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink was added around the edges of the oval rather than Distress Ink this time and I also did a light spray of Brushed Pewter Distress Mica Spray.  Sanded blue Classic Kraft Stock was used to matte this card.

A rectangular diffuser from the Embossing Diffuser #2 set was used on this card with the Holly Ribbon Texture Fades embossing folder.

Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide Ink was added around the edges of the watercolour stamped rectangle and I added a line of stitching and a border of Platinum Stickles Glitter glue to this card.

Off to make some more cards, I've got a bunch of backgrounds, card blanks and Classic Kraft Stock cut to size and raring to go so will be back soon!

Happy creating,

Deb xo

Peace And Joy Christmas Card Inspired By Tim Holtz's Holiday Hacks

Hi everyone, I've been playing with around with some of the techniques that Tim Holtz shared during his 2018 Holiday Hacks Part One and Part Two and came up with this Peace And Joy Christmas card using his Festive Overlay stamp set.

I did a take on his watercolour stamped tags technique combined with his Festive Overlay cards technique and then added some embossing with one of his Texture Fades embossing folders and an Embossing Diffuser.

No step outs I'm afraid as I was just playing around but here's a brief explanation of what I did.  I used the round insert from the Embossing Diffuser to stamp the watercolour circular background (I don't have Tim's Brushstrokes stamps but the Diffuser insert worked well) and then overstamped the deer from Festive Overlay and the Peace & Joy sentiment.

The deer was stamped with brown DI and the sentiment with Black Soot Archival and then clear embossed.

I then masked off the circle and inked the outside with Tattered Rose DI and then embossed it with the Birch Texture Fades embossing folder with the Circle #1 Embossing Diffuser over top.

Some Ground Espresso DI over the raised embossed areas, a sanded piece of brown Classic Kraft Stock behind as a matte and then Distress Resist Spray was sprayed onto the card front with Rock Candy Distress Glitter sprinkled on top (I masked off the circular area again before spraying it with the Distress Resist Spray).

Everything was mounted onto a white card blank, a sentiment stamped inside and voila, a Holiday Hacks inspired Christmas card, thanks Tim!

If you haven't seen Tim's two Holiday Hacks videos, head on over to take a peek, lots of great ideas for the upcoming holiday season!  Hope you enjoyed seeing my card and happy creating,

Deb xo

Christmas Tag Cards For A Vintage Journey

Hello everyone and welcome.  It's time for another Tag Friday over at A Vintage Journey (which occurs in every month that has five Fridays) and I decided to do something a little bit different this month with my tags.  With the holidays soon to be upon us (how in the heck did that happen by the way??!) I incorporated my hang tags into Christmas cards.

The tags are very simple - just some stamping, colouring and embossing - and I've added them to the Christmas cards in such a way so that if the recipient chooses to use the tags for Christmas gifts or to decorate their tree with them, the cards will still look complete by themselves.

I had a lot of fun designing these cards, read on for my how to.

Holly Jolly Tag Card

For the Holly Jolly tag card, I started out by die cutting a tag from white cardstock and then lightly stamped it with Music & Advert stamp and Hickory Smoke Distress Archival ink.  The 'holly jolly' sentiment from the Festive Overlay stamp set was then stamped with Black Soot Archival and clear embossed and the holly image from the same stamp set was stamped with Peeled Paint Distress ink, clear embossed and then watercoloured with more Peeled Paint DI.  The holly berries were given a dot of Christmas Red Stickles Glitter glue and the tag hole reinforcers were die cut from kraft cardstock.

The card front (cards are A2 size) was cut from kraft cardstock and stamped with the Music & Advert stamp and Ground Espresso Archival ink.  The card front was then die cut with two of the dies from the Mixed Media Christmas die set and backed with Deco Foil Red Transfer Foil that was heat laminated onto Deco Foil Toner Sheet.

To make a pocket for the tag to sit in, kraft cardstock was die cut with one of the Holiday Knit dies and backed with white cardstock.

The kraft card front was then adhered onto a white card blank and the die cut pocket for the tag adhered along the bottom edge, only adding adhesive along the bottom and sides of the pocket to leave the top open to receive the tag.

The words 'holly jolly' were die cut from white cardstock with the Holiday Words 2: Script dies (actually I die cut two 'jolly' words and the letter h from 'happy' and then cobbled them together to form holly jolly!)

The words were then adhered to the front of the card, centering them so that they would not be visible when the hang tag was inserted in the pocket.

A sentiment was stamped on the inside of the card with Black Soot Archival ink and a stamp from Doodle Greetings 2 and clear embossed (have to tell you, I LOVE my new Tim Holtz stamping platform, it is the bomb!)

A piece of red satin ribbon was added to the hang tag for a tie and then the tag was inserted into the pocket on the front of the card.

Done!  On to tag card number two.

Winter Wishes Tag Card

For the Winter Wishes tag card, a tag was die cut from white cardstock and then stamped with Distress Embossing ink and the Flurry stamp and embossed with Emerald Creek Craft Supplies Iridescent Shimmer Embossing powder.  The 'winter wishes' sentiment, pine tree and deer from the Great Outdoors stamp set were then stamped overtop with Ground Espresso Archival ink and clear embossed.  Tag hole reinforcers were die cut from some Christmas Paper Stash scrapbook paper and a Linen Ribbon tie added as a hanger.

For the card front, I layered scrapbook papers from Tim Holtz's Christmas Paper Stash onto an A2 size white card blank, leaving a pocket open at the top of the card front for the tag.  The outside edges of all the papers were distressed before adhering them in place.

A line of Platinum Stickles Glitter glue was added top and bottom to frame the middle panel on the card front.

Several snowflakes were die cut from sanded silver Metallic Kraft Stock with the Mini Paper Snowflakes dies.

The snowflakes were adhered randomly to the two top panels on the card front.

A 'let it snow' sentiment was die cut from brown sanded Classic Kraft Stock with the Holiday Words 2: Script dies and a deer die cut from the same card stock with a Memory Craft Leaping Deer die.  I actually die cut two deer and layered them together to give his antlers some stability.

The deer was adhered to the middle panel overtop of the snowflakes with his antlers running wild over the top edge (don't adhere his antlers though or you won't be able to insert your hang tag LOL!).

The 'let it snow' sentiment was adhered to the bottom panel along with a foil confetti snowflake from my stash.

A sentiment was stamped on the inside of the card from the Doodle Greetings 1 stamp set and Ground Espresso Archival ink and clear embossed.

And finally the tag was inserted into the pocket on front of the card and card number 2 was done.

Here are some closeups of the completed cards.

Hope that you have enjoyed seeing how my tag cards came together and that you've been inspired to maybe incorporate some of your own tags into your Christmas cards this year.

And make sure to head on over to A Vintage Journey to what the other Creative Guides have made to inspire you this Tag Friday and if you have any tags of your own please share them with us in our Tag Friday link up!  Hope to see you there and happy creating,

Deb xo