AWH Blog Hop: Christmas In July

Hi!

Today some of the Art with Heart Stampin' Up! team girls are presenting some fabulous Christmas projects to inspire you. This year we already have new Christmas sets to play with in the 2015 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue, and some old favourites too. We also have a brand new 2015 Holiday catalogue coming soon. If you would like a copy of any of our catalogues, to attend a Stampin' Up! class or join a large fabulous group of crafty women by becoming part of the team (hobby demonstrators welcome), be sure to contact me.

So I decided to go with some old favourite stamp sets for this Blog Hop. I'm pairing them with the new Thick Whisper White cardstock.  I really love this new cardstock - it's perfect for making single layer white cards as it holds its weight well.I decided to make a pair of window cards, firstly with the Festival Of Trees stamp set and the matching Tree punch.

I started by punching the Tree shape in the front of the card.  I then masked off the bottom of the card using sticky notes that I trimmed to a curve. I then sponged over the top with Soft Sky ink and a sponge.  Finally I stamped a sentiment and the snowflakes using the spotty stamp in the Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set.

I then stamped the tree through the window I'd created earlier.  It was a little tricky to line up, but the photopolymer stamps make the job a lot easier! When the card is closed you get the full effect of the window.

And that's how the inside looks.

Next I decided to use another old favourite, Wondrous Wreath, to make a second window card. This time I used the coordinating Wonderful Wreath Framelits to create my window.

I actually used a few of the Framelits on the front of this card!

I really struggled with what image to use on this inside that could be seen from the front.  The obvious answer is the flower stamp but I didn't think it would work, so in the end I just opted to stamp a sentiment that wouldn't be visible though the window unless you look at it from an angle, as it the photo.

That's it for me for this month's Blog Hop. Next you're off to Kayleen McLean's blog for lots more Christmas in July fabulousness.

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

1. Ros Davidson
2. Rachel Woollard
3. Tina Gillespie
4. Kayleen McLean
5. Claire Daly
6. Kathryn Ruddick
7. Judy May
8. Kathryn Mangelsdorf
9. Kate Morgan 

Bye for now,

Tina

Some Embossed Kissing

Hi!

I'll bet you're thinking 'huh?' over the post title right? My stamping ladies did the same thing when I introduced them to the technique a couple of months ago.

In this card it is the focal tree that is Embossed Kissed. It's a pretty simple technique really. You just ink up a solid stamp in one colour and a fairly closed design embossing folder in another colour and then smooch the two together.

The ink on the embossing folder transfers to the stamp so then you can stamp on cardstock and get a really cool effect.  The only downside is that you need to clean both the stamp and the embossing folder each time you stamp - so not a great technique for mass produced cards!

Why don't you give Embossed Kissing a go? It's a lot of fun trying out different stamp/embossing folder combinations.  I used Festival of Trees, Decorative Dots, Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler.

Bye for now,

Tina

JAI #244: Just Add A Sketch

Hi!

Here we are again on another Friday, so it must be time for another Just Add Ink Challenge.  This time it's my turn to provide the challenge and I have designed a sketch to follow.

Now, just remember that a sketch doesn't need to be followed exactly - you can have a lot of fun and play with it a bit.  Having said that, I did follow the sketch exactly!

Just for a change I decided to go with a neutral colour palette. The DSP is from the Trim The Tree DSP Stack.  I'm not usually a snowflake person, but I thought the pattern on this DSP was sweet.

The trees were stamped and then the tinsel was heat embossed in Gold over the top.  I love how easy the photopolymer Festival Of Trees stamps are to line up perfectly!

I stamped and embossed a fourth tree to finish off the inside of my card, along with a little strip of the DSP from the front.

Why don't you pop on over the the Just Add Ink blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have done with the sketch? Make sure you take some time out from the Christmas madness to play along with us, we all love to see the cards you make for our challenges.

Bye for now,

Tina

Festival Of Trees in Lost Lagoon

Hi!

Here's another Christmas card for you.  I'm really loving the new stamp set, Festival Of Trees.  The stamp and the matching punch make Christmas cards a breeze!

The Lucky Stars Embossing Folder is a fantastic addition to most Christmas cards, adding a lovely textural element to the card.

The new Lost Lagoon ribbon is gorgeous - so soft and pretty

I really love the sentiments in the Festival of Trees set, perfect for both the inside and outside of the card!

Bye for now,

Tina

Happy Wonderful Christmas

Hi!

Today I have another Christmas card for you in Gold and Purple.  I used the lovely, rich Blackberry Bliss with Rich Razzleberry and Brushed Gold for this card.  I'm not usually a gold person, but I love this combination for a luxurious looking Christmas card.

This card is a CASE of one I found on Splitcoast Stampers.  You can see the original card here.  While the original creator went for more traditional colours I wanted to try the richer colour combination to see how it worked.  I was pleased with the result.

I also changed the main sentiment - I really love the Happy Wonderful Christmas saying. It's very cheerful and perfect for Christmas!  I used Crumb Cake ink to stamp the background stars.  It's a lovely subtle colour and it echoes the Brushed Gold nicely.

I hope this has given you a bit of inspiration for your Christmas cards this year.

Bye for now,

Tina

A Holiday Catalogue CASE

Hi!

I have another Christmas card for you today, and it may be one that you've seen a lot of.  It's CASEd from a card in the new Holiday Catalogue and it's obviously a popular card because I've seen it CASEd heaps!

Do you recognise the card? It's so pretty!  I changed the colour scheme and went with the All Is Calm Washi colours of Lost Lagoon, Soft Sky, Basic Grey and Silver.

The Festival Of Trees stamp set and matching punch have been a very popular item from the Holidays Catalogue,  I know it was at the top of my list!

I've seen lots of lovely cards using this set.  My eye has been caught by a few that have curved the sentiment so guess what I will be trying next!  I love that you can do this with photopolymer stamps, it really adds to their versatility.

Bye for now,

Tina

All Is Calm Washi Tape

Hi!

How's your day?  It's a case of another day, another sick child for me.  Bring on the school holidays I say - only 2 more school days to go!  In the meantime, here's a Christmas card using the new All Is Calm Washi Tape.

This was a card I was making as a sample for my upcoming Christmas Cards Class.  I quite like it, but I ended up not using it for the class

The All Is Calm washi tape is in the new Occasions Catalogue.  It's a little different to usual in that the pack comes with not three designs, but five different rolls of tape.  The colours used are lovely, soft blues and green with a hint of silver.

Not long now until Christmas - less than 100 days!  Time to get cracking on those Christmas cards!

Bye for now,

Tina