Snowflake in a Night Sky

 

Viewed straight on:

Viewed when you tip it in the light:

I am in well into Christmas card making madness.  Snowflakes are one for my favorite design elements, and of course this Freshly Made Sketch screamed snowflake to me.

I have been playing with embossing folders and ink lately, so I went straight to my favorite snowflake embossing folder, Snowflake Swirls by Darice, for the background.  I started with black watercolor paper, embossed it and sprayed it with Juniper Berry mica spray by Tim Holtz, and Balmy Night shimmer spray by Dylusions plus water and let it dry naturally.  Once it was totally dry I embossed it again because all that ink and water flattened the design a bit.  Next I used a brayer to apply metallic pigment ink from Color Box to bring out the snowflakes and swirls. 

For the snowflake I used the Sizzix 3D Impresslits Snowflake folder by Tim Holtz  to cut one from silver and one from white 110 lb white cardstock and stacked them.  I topped it with two snowflakes cut using the Beautiful Blizzard die from Stampin' Up which I stacked and embellished it with a blue sparkle.  I heat embossed a sentiment from the Very Merry Christmas stamp set by Close to My Heart and edged the strip with more of the Color Box silver metallic ink.  I finished the card with some bitty sparkles from Close to My Heart in the centers of the background snowflakes.

I addition to the Freshly Made Sketches challenge, I plan to enter this card in the Cut It Up Add Embellishments,  Can You Handle the Pressure Anything Goes With A Twist Of Fall (optional), and BYSH (Build Your Stash Holiday) Cardmakers Falling for the Holidays 2025 Linky Party challenges.  Why not check out the other entries in these challenges and maybe be inspired to enter yourself? 

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Simple Quick(ish) Christmas Card

 

'Tis the season for stepping up my Christmas card making.  To make it easier I have an 8 x 14 lucite bin that I store all my Christmas themed dies, embossing folders, stencils, and leftover die cuts.  I keep the stamps separately "filed" in a drawer by theme such as sentiments, snowflakes, trees, religious, etc.    Because snowflakes are my favorite design element, I get out all my snowflake dies early in the year and cut multiples of each and keep them sorted in clear "flip flop" pockets.  If I need a quick Christmas card I can get out a card base, pick a background from my stash or a trimming from one, add a large snowflake or several small ones, a leftover sentiment or quickly stamp one, add a sparkle in the center of the snowflakes and I have a card.  If I have time I can add a few more touches like an extra layer or embossing.  

Towards the end of summer I go through my other stencils, embossing folders, and dies and add any that might be useful to my Christmas bin to have handy,  Let's face it.  Most of the cards I will be making for the next few months will be holiday cards.  Last week when I was looking through my embossing folders I found a Sizzix 3D Impresslits Snowflake folder by Tim Holtz hiding in the back which was easy for it to do given that it's only @ 3 x 4.5 inches.  It cuts and embosses a 2.75 and 1.75 inch snowflake in one step.  Talk about a time saver!  I bought it as part of the 2021 release and forgot all about it.  It has now lost it's status as a NBUS (Never Been Used Stuff).  I used it and the sketch below from CAS Colours and Sketches for the Alphabet K for Keep it Simple Challenge.

I followed the "add a few more touches" version of my quick(ish) formula.  I picked a strip left over after trimming a background I made, I don't know how long ago, and swiped the edges with ColorBox silver metallic pigment ink.  I put a small scrap of silver foil into the newly rediscovered embossing folder, ran it through my die cut machine and had a 3D snowflake to use now and a small one for my stash.  I looked through my snowflake stash and selected one cut using the retired Beautiful Blizzard die from Stampin' Up to layer on the silver one and finished my focal point with a sparkle.  I cut a 4 x 5.25 piece of white to add a layer for interest and heat embossed a sentiment from Close to My Heart's Snow Flurries set in silver.  All that was left to do is attach everything to the card base and stamp a sentiment inside.  In less than half an hour I had a card.

I also plan to enter this in the NBUS, Jingle Belles Cardstock Christmas (no patterned paper), Can You Handle the Pressure Anything  Goes Using an Embossing Folder, and Peace on Earth Anything Christmas Goes Challenges.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Winter Snowflakes

 

It is Christmas in July at the Just Add Ink challenge blog, and it is always Christmas at Peace on Earth Christmas.  Although the Peace on Earth challenge is always anything Christmas/winter holiday goes they put up an optional mood board which this time features snowmen.  The current challenge at Cut It Up is something monochromatic.  After thinking about all three challenges I had my concept. 

I embossed a piece of watercolor paper using the Sizzex Winter Snowflakes 3D embossing folder and sprayed it with Tim Holtz Distress mica sprays in Snow Flurries, Juniper Berry, and Brushed Pewter along with water to move the inks around.  Once it was dry I ran it through in the embossing folder again to crisp up the impression because all that liquid flattened it out a bit.  I used my finger to lightly rub Color Box Silver metallic ink on the raised parts to bring out the snowflakes.  Holding the panel vertically I pressed the edges into a Versamark inkpad and then Ranger Super Fine embossing powder and heated them.  I put a slightly smaller piece of heavy cardstock behind the panel to give it some lift and attached it to the card base.  I used a die from Paper Rose to cut Merry Christmas three times and stacked them for the sentiment.  I finished the card with clear sparkles in the center of some of the snowflakes.  

I now have two Christmas cards which I can repeat in other colors.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A is For Anything Christmas, S is for Snowflake, Sparkle, and Spray

 

I have some cardmaking goals for this year:

1. Use more of my stash and old supplies rather than just "collect" them.

2. Make at least four Christmas cards a month to avoid the December crush.

3. Learn how to use and experiment with my gel press.

This card furthers two out of three.  The current theme for Shopping Our Stash is Something That Starts with S and the theme for the ABC Christmas Challenge is A is for Anything Christmas and B is for Baubles, hence the title of this post.  

I have a never ending stash of backgrounds because I can never make just one when I get going.  This background is part of a play session with sprays in which I used mostly 9x12 sheets of bristol paper and watercolor paper.  For this particular one I sprayed water and then Bubble Gum Pink Shimmer, Periwinkle Blue, and Vibrant Turquoise Dylusions inks on bristol paper and then smooshed a second sheet flat on it.  When I picked up the top sheet there was still a lot of ink pooling on the bottom sheet, so rather then blot it up with a paper towel I grabbed the first sheet of cardstock I could lay my hands on, Sea Glass from Close to my Heart, and smooshed it on in different spots until I had blotted up the pools of ink.

I used an old Hero Arts Cut Out Christmas Fancy die to cut the top of 4.25 x 4.50 piece which left me with a beautiful, blue and turquoise script Christmas die cut that I could use somewhere else.  Once I attached the panel to a white card base I didn't really like the look of the white showing through the opening so I used the same die to cut the top of a white panel the same size as the first to have a white Christmas die cut to inlay in the opening to give the card a more finished look.   I finished the card off with a silver foil snowflake cut using an old Close to My Heart die, a sparkle, and a strip of silver foil.

If you are keeping track, I had a white twin of the blue and turquoise panel and that blue/turquoise Christmas die cut which I couldn't let go to waste, so I made a second card:

I just love a two for one, don't you?  I also plan to enter this card in the Holly and Ivy Christmas Anything Christmas Goes challenge.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

 

More Fun With My New Toy

 

The Jingle Belles want to see what goodies either Santa brought, or we treated ourselves to in the pre or post holiday sales.  I happily obliged while having fun playing with my new 8x10 Gel Press, experimenting and getting a feel for applying acrylic paint to it.   The colors I used for this background are actually pretty bright, not pastels.  After rolling out the paint, I continued to brayer off paint until I had a thin coat, let it dry, and then rolled on a thin coat of white to pull it.  I used part of the print to back a die cut made using the Hero Arts Snowflake Pattern Cover Plate die.  I used a die set from Pink and Main to cut the sentiment from the darkest sheet from Stampin' Up's Silver Foil Specialty pack.  I love the purple cast and lined texture of it.  Although it showed against the background, the snowflakes were a little distracting, so I cut the shadow from some vellum which muted the snowflakes just enough to lift the sentiment from the background.  I finished my card with some light purple sparkles.

I also plan to enter this in the {PIN}spirational Winter Challenge and Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes With Dies challenge.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Snowflakes Along the Edge

To me, a clean and simple card is more than clean lines and white space, it should be fairly quick to make.  One of my ways of making quick(er) cards that don't look thrown together is to keep a stash of backgrounds.  Whenever I am playing with a new technique, I make lots of backgrounds and keep them all including the ones I am not pleased with.  There is usually a part that can be used to back a cut out window or to die cut a shape or sentiment.  I didn't like the one I used for this card, but the part along one side was pretty which was fortuitous because the AAA Cards challenge is to create a clean and simple card with the design along one edge and an optional twist of snow.  

First I used the Hero Arts Snowflake Edge die to cut a border on the front of the card.  Then I attached the background in question that I made had by smooshing ink spritzed with Hero Arts White Iridescent  Shimmer Mist onto watercolor paper behind the front of the card.  I embossed a sentiment from the Ornamental Christmas set by CZ Design for Simon Says Stamp in silver and added a strip of silver foil  cardstock from my scraps to compliment it.  I figured I was pushing the limits of CAS with layers, so I resisted the urge to put clear sparkles in the centers of the snowflakes. I also plan to enter this in the CAS on Friday Christmas Challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More Die Cut or Stencils Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Cool "Burnt Wood" Technique

 

I had been pondering all week how I would use the Paper Players sketch below when I saw this video by Gina K Design. 

Essentially you score a piece of cardstock, lightly swipe ink over it, set up the sandwich for embossing a die on your die cut machine, place the panel face down on the rubber mat and the stencil on top, emboss the stencil (which actually debosses it), and then swipe more ink over it.  Being in full Christmas card mode, I used a snowflake stencil from Stampin' Up.  Rather than use the colored pencil and Gamsol technique Gina used, I lightly colored the snowflake impressions with a colored pencil.  I cut 1.5 x 3.75 inch panels, swiped more ink round the edges, and stacked each on two layers of heavy Very Vanilla cardstock for dimension.  I attached the outer two panels first and then lined up the middle panel evenly between them.  HINT:  Pay attention to how the design lines up.  I had to perform a card-ectomy because I attached the middle panel upside down.

I had sort of an antiqued brass embellishment I wanted to use to anchor the sentiment, but it did not show well.  I tried coating it in gold embossing powder, but it still didn't show, so I tried platinum powder from Ranger which worked, but I did have to sacrifice some of the detail.  I like to think it evokes the look of old worn hardware on a wooden cupboard.  I used the same powder to emboss the sentiment and gild the edges.

This technique would work well for any masculine card.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until nexy time, Hansi

Retro Christmas

 

This card was designed for the Aud Sentiments Christmas Sentiment, Christmas 24 Simply Snowflakes, and C.R.E.A.T.E. Christmas Non Traditional Colours Challenges.  I also plan to enter this into the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge which is a new anything goes Christmas challenge that posts a mood board for inspiration if you choose to use it ,which I did for this card.

 

I started with a 9x12 sheet of bristol paper and sprayed it with Dina Wakely Ocean, Turquiose, and Night acrylic gloss sprays and Tim Holtz Brushed Pewter Distress spray until I liked the look.  Then I cut off a piece for this card and edged it with Majestic Violet Archival ink from Ranger.  I cut the sentiment from silver foil cardstock using the Tim Holtz Retro Merry Christmas die and the snowflakes from white and silver foil cardstocks using dies from Stampin' Up's Snowfall set.  I popped the panel up on a white card base and finished the card of with a purple sparkle.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Scrap Happy Snowflakes

 

I made this card for the ABC Christmas Challenge, V is for Vocabulary, Christmas 24 Challenge, Simply Snowflakes, and the Stinkin' Inkers Challenge, Scrap Happy, using one of the scraps that were left after making this card and others like it.  Please excuse the photo quality as it was taken with my phone under a strong overhead light.  It does, however, show the metallic shine that is not as obvious in the photos of the card taken in my usual set up with a bounce flash.  I used the other two scraps to make cards which I am not entering.   You can see them at the end of this post.

To make the backgrounds that I cut the ornaments from I put drops of Hero Arts Glimmer Metallic Inks on my craft sheet, misted them with water and smooshed them onto watercolor paper.  To get a second card from each scrap I placed a Hero Arts Snowflake Edge Fancy Die at a diagonal across a 4 x 5 inch piece of white cardstock, taped it in place, made my die cut sandwich with the edge of the top cutting plate so that the plate only covered the part of the paper I wanted cut and then ran it though the machine.  You can see this partial die cut technique in action in this Jennifer McGuire video.  Because the watercolor paper is so thick, if I backed the snowflakes with a scrap, you would see a ridge in the white cardstock, so I cut a 4 x 5.25 piece of printer paper to use as a backing, attached a 2.25 x 4 inch piece cut from scrap at the top edge to back the snowflakes and a 3 x 4 inch piece of watercolor paper below it to create a level surface and then put the white cardstock with the snowflake edge on top.

I used the die from the Hero Arts Stamp and Cut set  to cut the word Peace twice from white cardstock and once from Galvanized Metal cardstock from Stampin' Up and then stacked them.  I also cut a 1/8 inch strip and glued it along the bottom of the snow flakes.  I embossed a sentiment from the set in silver and underlined it with a very narrow strip cut from the scrap.  Lastly, I attached the panel to a white card base and embellished the center of each snowflake with a bitty sparkle.

Here are the other two cards which I am not entering.

And then I found the remaining scraps from the ornament cards which I need to use.  Plus, there are some small pieces leftover from the scraps above.  To be continued...

Thank You for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Pink Christmas Card

The first Jingle Belles challenge in October is always to create a pink Christmas card for breast cancer awareness.  The Belles, Stephanie and Lauren, each donate $2.00 for each entry to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Although I am not a fan of all the October pink packaging that is essentially a marketing tool to sell more product, I can get behind this because the only entity that will profit financially from this challenge is the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Also in honor of breast cancer awareness the Dragonfly Dreams challenge theme for October is In the Pink and the Cut It Up theme is pink.  I have quite a few friends and family members, including my mother, who are survivors thanks to early detection, so please make sure to do your monthly breast exams, and if you are of that age, go in annually for your mammogram or as I like to call it, The Big Squeeze.  In all seriousness, modern technology has made the process less uncomfortable than it was when I first started getting them, and a few minutes of discomfort is worth it if it saves your life.   The American Cancer Society has information about risk factors and lifestyle measures you can take to reduce reduce the odds of getting breast cancer.   Now enough of the preaching, let's get on to the card.

I started with this Freshly Made Sketch:

I used a layering die set from Birch Press Design, Frosty Flake, to cut one A and  two C layers from white cardstock and a B layer from pink foil from Stampin' Up's Love You Always  paper pack.   I used washi tape from a tube I bought at Michael's years ago to make the stripes, folding the ends under the panel, and filled the spaces in between with thin stripes of the pink foil.  I glued a bit of the washi tape behind some of the openings in the snowflake to tie it in to the stripes.  Knowing  that the snowflake would overlap the stripes, I filled the openings of the points of the bottom C layer with the negative pieces to keep the stripes from showing though and making it too busy.  The word joy, cut from a Spellbinders die, is in honor of a paper crafting friend who is the home stretch of her battle with breast cancer.  Her motto has been "Find the joy."  I attached the panel to a white card base and embellished the snowflake with a pink sparkle and some clear bitty sparkles.

Thank you for stopping by!  Now please make sure to do what you can to reduce your risk of breast cancer and to detect it early if you do get it.  Until Next time, Hansi