Holiday Cheer: Cutting Down the Christmas Tree

I’m back with another take on the Impression Obsession truck – this time on a holiday-themed card. For my scene, I’ve imagined a family gathering their Christmas trees in a snowy forest.

HolidayTruck

I used white embossing paste on a Simon Says Stamp stencil to create the softly falling snow. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set from a few years ago. I like the informal font for this style of card.

The Online Card Classes Copic Markers class starts tomorrow – looking forward to several weeks of coloring!

Supplies: Simon Says Stamp stencil, Hero Arts Holiday Cheer stamp set

Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas Stencil + Embossing Paste

Today, I’m sharing two cards using the Birds & Leaves stencil from the Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas 2014 Catalog.

EmbossedChristmas

For the first card, I used gold Ferro paint (so not technically embossing paste) through the stencil and finished the card with a sentiment from “Very Merry Christmas,” one of my favorite holiday sentiment sets from Hero Arts. I used a double frame to showcase the stenciled image.

EmbossedColoredBird

For the second card, I applied Ranger’s texture paste through the stencil, which I “water” colored with Distress markers after the paste was dry. This was a much more ambitious card than the first one! My first try was a mess as the watercolor seeped through. I was much more careful the second go round, although there’s still room for improvement.

Supplies:

Hero Arts Guest Artist – Handmade for Christmas

I’m delighted to be a guest artist on the Hero Arts blog today with a holiday card featuring stamps from the Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas 2014 Catalog.

FamilyFriendsCard

Please head on over to the Hero Arts blog for details about the card and to watch a video in which I describe how I chose the ink colors for the trees. I also go step-by-step through the construction process of the card.

Spooky Halloween

Today, I’m sharing a Halloween card featuring die cuts. Yes, it is still August, but I can feel the weather changing! So I’ve been looking at fall crafts and foods (did someone say pumpkin bread?!) on Pinterest and thinking about autumn! I’m eagerly awaiting new product releases featuring fall and winter items, so while I wait, I’m playing with some of my favorites from previous seasons.

Spooky Halloween

I have several Memory Box patterned paper pads (now discontinued) with fall patterns. The Memory Box weather fence die cut was attached directly to the patterned paper panel, and the cat was adhered with dimensional adhesive. The sentiment is from one of my favorite Hero Arts Halloween sets released last year.

Supplies: Poppystamps Large Walking Cat; Memory Box Weathered Fence; Hero Arts Ghostly Greetings

Stretch Your Stamps 2: CASE of Jennifer McGuire’s card

I was away for a week and I’m now catching up with the Online Card Classes Stretch Your Stamps 2 homework. I’m sharing the first card I’ve made from the class, a CASE of one created by Jennifer McGuire.

Stretch Your Stamps 2: CASE

I made a few changes to Jennifer’s amazing design given my supplies. The Hero Arts damask background stamp is intended to be used for a portrait, rather than landscape, card (the pattern isn’t symmetrical in this orientation), but I don’t own the Tim Holtz stamp she used and I wanted to get going on the card. 🙂 I used silver ink whereas Jennifer used a gorgeous combination of Perfect Pearls.

For this card, I followed Jennifer’s instructions to apply VersaMark to the die cut sentiment and heat emboss it will clear powder. Jennifer did the process three times; I stopped after two. I will definitely use that technique in the future as it gives the die cut extra depth and great shine.

Supplies: Encore silver ink; Stampin’ Up black cardstock; Hero Arts Large Fabric Design; IO Thin Stripes; Paper Smooches Quote Tag; MFT STAX Heart