Skating on Dazzling Diamonds

I have another confession to make. I hate glitter. Well, I should qualify that. I hate the mess that glitter makes--I like the effect on a card, but hate the clean up afterward (I always end up looking like a Twilight vampire in the sun after making a card with glitter). But I saw this card by Krista Williams on splitcoast and had to give it a go. I love the way the glitter makes snow for the couple to skate on, even if it was a tad messy! The photo doesn't really do it justice--it is so much more sparkly and snow-like in person.

Supplies:
Red Riding Hood, Night of Navy, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla cs
Soft Suede, Always Artichoke ink
Winter Post stamp set
Red Riding Hood taffeta ribbon
designer label punch, hodgepodge hardware (designer label)
dazzling diamonds and two way glue pen

Simple Patterened Pines

I have to say, the Patterned Pines hostess set in the Holiday Mini didn't immediately catch my eye; I was quite indifferent to it until I started to see the nifty and creative things other people were making with it, and suddenly, I decided I wanted to have it! (Lucky for me, I had a qualifying order in October, so I could play to my heart's content with this set!)

These two cards are based on cards by a splitcoast stamper called "carol~ish". I didn't change much, only swapped in Kiwi Kiss (because I have a bunch of it) for Old Olive and Red Riding Hood for Real Red.

Be Merry

This card is copied from Brenda Miller and I like the vintage feel of it.

Supplies:
Real Red, Very Vanilla cs, Christmas Cocoa dsp
Warm Words, Winter Post stamps
Real Red, Soft Suede ink
silver brads
sponges
5/8" red stitched grosgrain ribbon (non-SU)

Happy Holidays to everyone

This card was copied from a design by another demonstrator in my group, Melissa Chadwick Levay. Hers used Garden green instead of Always Artichoke and she texturized her brown piece instead of stamping it, but otherwise, I kept the design exactly the same. I'm even using it for some of my own Christmas cards this year!

Supplies:
Whisper White, Real Red, Soft Suede Cs
Delightful Decorations, Four the Holidays stamps
Real Red, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede ink
Gold brad
dimensionals
ornament punch

On a Starry Night

This is the card I submitted to "Aunt" Karen Barber's black magic contest in October. I didn't win this time (boo-hoo), but I had to save the card until the winner was announced. So forgive the double post for today, but I wanted to share the card. I've been experimenting a bunch with black magic the last few weeks and have learned a thing or two since I made this card, so look for those creations in the early weeks of January.

One extra thing that I tried on this card is a lacquer technique where you smear the whole paper with versamark and clear emboss it twice. I thought it gave this card a nice look to it. The only thing is for some reason, the clear emboss powder that I have, from day one, has always left white speckles on whatever I'm embossing, so who knows what that is about. I did think it made the card look like a starry night, so I left it be. Hopefully my next container of emboss powder won't have that problem.

Direct from the mini catalog

This card was copied from a swap I received at Tina Rosenkranz Fall Fest back in September, but I realized later that it was copied almost wholesale from the mini catalog. Whatever you want to call it, it's not my original design, but I do like it. Were it not for the embossing and cutting out tiny pieces bit, I'd probably do it as a mass produced design because it is easy on the supplies (except for the filagree brad).

Supplies:
Soft Suede, Whisper White, Real Red, Old Olive cs, Christmas Cocoa dsp
Four the Holidays, Patterened Pines stamps
Whisper White craft ink, Soft Suede classic ink
5/8" Red grosgrain ribbon
White emboss powder, heat gun, paper snips
dimensionals
filagree brad

A winter landscape

Happy Pearl Harbor Day. Oh wait, maybe that is macabre to say. In any case, a day of remembrance for those who died in World War II.

I mentioned a few days ago that the real reason I got the Winter Post stamp set was for the skating couple--I've seen so many landscape cards featuring them (not least to say a fabulous brayered card by La Zindorf) that I wanted to play around a bit with them. I had a pine tree stamp from a craft store that I wanted to use for my background, and I tried it first in Old Olive, with the couple in Soft Suede, but the color composition looked off. So I flipped over my paper (that's the wonderful thing about stamping--two sides to every sheet!) and started over with a monochromatic scheme of Soft Suede (more by accident than anything) and masked the couple, which created a bit of a halo. I have since learned that to avoid said halo, one must use a very thin piece of paper for the mask. Live and learn...and then get Luvs. Oh wait, wrong commerical. :)

I also wanted this card to be on kraft cardstock with blue layers, so I sponged a bit of blue on the bottom of the scene and a bit in the sky to tie in the colors. I'm pretty pleased with the result, if I do say so myself. YILM!, as Jan Tink would say (yes, I love myself!)

Supplies:
Kraft, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla cs
Winter Post stamp set, pine stamp (non-SU)
Soft Suede, Bashful blue ink, bashful blue marker (to make the water line)
Sponges, mask, aqua painter (to blend the line of the water)
vintage brads (antique brass)
kraft taffeta ribbon