25 Days of Christmas Tags- Day 16

On Day 16 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags, there were sweet designs from Waffle Flower! I
was inspired by Carol Mayne's sweet bear tag with the navy plaid background...

I colored Waffle Flower's adorable "Bear Hugs" image with Zig Clear Color and Tombow markers and placed it over a background made with Hero Art's "Star Light Star Bright" background. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

I cut the whole scene out with a scalloped square die from Nestabilities, then added Stardust Stickles on each and every little star! 😊🎇

25 Days of Christmas Tags- Day 25

Day 25 at Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags brought designs from Honey Bee Stamps.I loved Bobbi Lemanski's winter foliage tags so much that I made two...one inspired by her pine cone tag and the other by her greenery tag.

I loved Bobbi's black woodgrain background, so I made mine with Stampin Up's 3D Woodgrain embossing folder, brushed with white ink. The pine cone and bough were made with The Greetery's new "BotaniCuts Pine Bough" die set. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

The second tag is made with The Greetery's "Winter Sketches" pine bough and the older Gingham Backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms. The sentiment is from The Greetery's "Christmas Eve" set. One of my favorite things I learned from Bobbi's blog is that she colored a stamped woodgrain background from Honey Bee Stamps with Copic markers! I had never done that before, so I stamped a Hero Arts background with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it with brown Copics. I love how it looks!

25 Days of Christmas Tags- Day 18

Day 18 of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags featured designs by Neat & Tangled! I was inspired by Carol Mayne's red bokeh tag, so I made a tag with a background to match...

I made the background using a Hero Arts stencil called "Bubble Confetti." I linked the tag with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks. The first layer was Barn Door all over the tag with Barn Door circles over the top, I then added more circles with the stencil in Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany. I finished with a few white pigment ink circles.

I cut houses in white using Neat and Tangled's "Warm Winter Scene Cover Plate" die and lined then up partially off the tag, cutting the excess off of the bottom. The sentiment from PTI's Pen & Ink:Christmas" is heat embossed with white powder. Added a little red heart with Glossy Accents, too. This card was fun to make...bur there was red ink everywhere! 😄

Tiny Town

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge blog, the theme was "Art Journaling." I don't have one, and researched a little about them so that I could make a Christmas card inspired by journaling techniques. I love how this card turned out and had so much fun making it!

I decided an art journaling card needed these things...lots of ink, a cool background, acrylic paint,  book prints, collage type sentiments, texture, and some tiny "hand-drawn" looking houses and trees would be good in the mix, too! Check, double check! I used Neat and Tangled's "Warm Winter Scene Cover Plate"die and Hero arts "Star Light" cling stamp for my tiny town...

I used a mix of charcoal gray, red, and pink pigment and oxide inks on the background. I cut the houses and trees from Authentique's "Latest and Greatest" collection and roughed them up with some white acrylic paint snow. Added hills cut with a Lawn Fawn "Stitched Hillside Borders" dies and added white texture paste through Kaisercraft's "Snowy" stencil over the top.

Stamped a typed sentiment from Hello Bluebird's "Christmas is Coming" set in Versamark ink and heat embossed with white powder. Added a few Stardust Stickles and Wink of Stella pen on the moon. Popped up the houses and my winter village journaling style card is complete!

Thanks for stopping by!

Gnome Throwdown

This week at the Color Throwdown was a unique color combination to play with...orange, gray, and cream!

Those funny pumpkin faces made me think of another funny face...on the Gnomes Stencil from Simon Says Stamp!

I inked the gnome with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks using a combination of Carved Pumpkin, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Weathered Wood, and Hickory Smoke. The fun forest background is also
a stencil called "Into the Woods" from Hero Arts. I inked it with the same combination of inks.

I added white whisker details with a gel pen and some Wink of Stella pen. There are mini cream colored stars and "Diamond" Stickles. His nose has Glossy Accents and there are tiny Nuvo Drops on his robe and in the forest background. I added one teeny heart to match the sentiment.

The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps' "Compact Sentiments." I thought it was perfect since his face smile is invisible, ha! Thanks for stopping by!

Terrarium Sketch

They are celebrating 400 Sketches this month at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week, a look back at Sketch 300...

I chose The Greetery's Terrarium Small die and BotaniCuts Succulents dies for my sketch card...

 I brushed Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks in shades of blue-green (Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, and Mermaid Lagoon)  over a Hero Arts stencil, going darker over where the rectangular portion of the sketch would be.

Shaded the small succulent from the set with a waterbrush and Zig Clear Color markers. Added some Nuvo Glitter Paste in Moonglow to the tips. Stamped a sentiment from The Greetery's Simple Things set and die cut the main portion.

The fun hanger is cut with The Greetery's BotaniCuts Bamboo die, and also shaded with the Zig markers and waterbrush.

Congratulations to Freshly Made Sketches on their 400 amazing sketches! Here's to 400 more, as they are so much fun to create with each week! ❤

12 Kits of Occasions with Jeanne Jachna

I was thrilled when Jeanne Jachna asked if I would like to be a guest at the The 12 Kits of Occasions this month! Of course, she sent the most AMAZING kit called "Good Fortune" with gorgeous papers, images, dies cuts, and embellishments inspired by Asian culture, architecture, food, and design!

Up first are the adorable ladies from Julie Ebersole's "So Matcha" set, available at Ellen Hutson.

I colored the ladies with Copics, then added some Wink of Stella accents and gems to their hair.

Also, some Glossy Accents to the teapot and Stickles to the fan. For the background, I used the lovely Chinese Landscape die cut and patterned paper from the PhotoPlay "Paper Crane" collection.

Next up, is a sweet, little guy from My Favorite Things "Ninja--mazing" set.

I colored him with Copics and added Papertrey Ink's Sunshine stencil in the background, coated in Stickles.

Loved how Little Ninja's Chinese star matched that PhotoPlay patterned paper!

My last card was created using a fun technique that Betsy Veldman posted on her blog this week called Watercolor & Salt Backgrounds.

I didn't know this lovely die was a moon (thought it was a tree scene!), but it ended up working perfectly for the sentiment from PTI's Guiding Light set that I had stamped! The die is from Hero Arts, and it's called "Cloudy Moon."

The background is made by coloring Kosher salt (I colored them with liquid watercolors), dropping the salt on a piece of watercolor paper that's already painted with watercolors (and still wet), then brushing it off when it's all dry. Fun texture and colored speckles are left behind!

I adhered sparkly gems to a Kaisercraft wood veneer lantern, and used gold thread to hang it from the clouds 🙂!

This gorgeous thick, textured paper that Jeanne sent was perfect for this technique. This might be my favorite card of the set.

Thanks SO MUCH to Jeanne and the 12 Kits Design Team for letting me play along! Always inspired by this team of incredibly kind, generous, and talented ladies! 💗

25 Days of Christmas Tags: Day 6 Inspiration

Day 6 of Tracey's Tags was all about Paper Sweeties! I was inspired by Debbie Marcinkiewicz's lovely black tag with the embossed white sentiment, holly, and perfect black gingham ribbon bow!

I used Lawn Fawn's Milo's Alphabet set to created a whimsical chalkboard greeting...with just the right number of fa las in a verse of Deck the Halls! 😋 Stamped then heat embossed in white. 

I stamped over the entire tag with Hero Arts chalkboard background with PTI's Fresh Snow ink. .

I added the holly and mini snowflakes from Waltzingmouse Stamps' Very Vintage Christmas. A jingle bell seemed appropriate for the singing sure to accompany this tag.  So fun!

25 Days of Christmas Tags: Day 25 Inspiration

Tracey has reached Day 25 of her celebration, but lucky for us, she has a bonus day tomorrow so we won't be sad!

Tracey featured sweet designs from Hello Bluebird, and again, I was drawn to
Francesca Vignoli's adorable tags...loved the penguins and her sweet mini scenes all colored in soft citrus pastels...with white pom pom snowballs!

I used Reverse Confetti's S'more Love set, it's so cute! Colored with Copics and added some white gel pen details.

 Added some Stickles to the flames of the campfire, and Liquid Pearls to toast the marshmallow...and a mini white pom pom for her hat!

The background was made with the Hero Arts Bubble Confetti stencil for a bokeh like effect.  Used a water brush and Wink of Stella glitter brush to fade the spots a bit, and add some shimmer. Added a few stamped mini dots, and a sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps. This tag is ready for my sweet great niece who likes pink and some sparkle 💗.

25 Days of Christmas Tags: Day 24 Inspiration

Day 24 at Tracey's blog featured Sunny Studio Stamps! I just loved Francesca Vignoli's sweet baking supplies all stacked on a sleigh, with a touch of red plaid at the top of her tag

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I got out some oldie but goodie sets for my tag, Made with Love by Hero Arts and a gingham set from Waltzingmouse Stamps. I didn't have a sleigh, so I piled my bakery items on a heart cut with the Primitive Hearts die from Sizzix.

I colored the images with Copics and fussy cut them. Francesca's coloring always inspires! Hope to color like she does one day 😉!

25 Days of Christmas Tags: Day 10 Inspiration

Day 10 of Tracey's tags featured inspiration from Studio Katia! I loved Laura Volpes' sweet penguin tag with its arched window and snowy sky!

I stamped Hero Arts Woodgrain background, cut a tag, then cut another shaped tag (from Verve) out of the center. Used PTI's Celestial Sky for the snow and heat embossed in white.

The penguin and greenery are from PTI's Holiday Folk set. The sentiment is also from Verve Stamps.

 Love how this CAS tag turned out

...always so glad to see one make it to the other side unsmudged 😃!

25 Days of Christmas Tags-Day 2 Inspiration

Next a tag for Tracey's Day 2, sponsored by Altenew. I was inspired by designer Svitlana Shayevich's amazing offset wreath!

For my tag, I used two wreaths cut from green paper and sponged with Distress inks. Cut them with  PTI's Rustic Wreath die and stamped and embossed a sentiment from AMuse Studio. The background is stamped with the Hero Arts Chalkboard background, and the paper bow is cut with a Lil Inkers die.

Grapes Throwdown

Some fun colors with a St. Patrick's Day theme for the Color Throwdown Challenge Blog this week.  I actually don't have any shamrock images, so I went with some "grapes..."

Used PTI's "Beautiful Berries" set to make my "grapes."  The sponged background was created by using PTI's "Brushed Rectangles" die, cutting it out, then using the negative image as a stencil. 

Stamped a main branch that I die cut, then added some berries to the cardfront itself, and dotted on some Glossy Accents.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts clear set called "You're So Lovely."

I should stamp with purple ink more often, it's so pretty!  It's not a color I reach for, which is weird because my childhood room was purple and yellow (my fave colors :)).