Online Card Classes Day 5- Gift Tags

So I've been up since 4 this morning, not tired at all (yet) and I've been doing a little catching up lol.

Below is my gift tag:

I'm not the world's best fussy cutter lol but I think it turned out ok.  This will be used for Holly's Christmas gift!

Supplies used:  Hampton Arts stamp set, Bazill Marshmallow card stock, MAMBI Card in a Flash card base used as the tag, and Spectrum Noir pens.  I don't know just where the ribbon came from.

Thanks for looking!

Online Card Class Day 6 +

Hooray for bonus days!  The extra day is about coloring - so here is my teeny tiny, colored image!  Lol  and I didn't even copy Kristina Werner so how about that.

Here's my card:

Lets see, I used a MAMBI "Cards in a Flash" card base as a background paper, Spellbinders ornament die, Memento inks, Lawn Fawn Winter Penguin stamp set, SSS Ornaments stamp and die set, and my Spectrum Noirs to color in my lil penguin.  Oh, and I also used clear Wink of Stella on his scarf and the skate trails, and silver Wink of Stella on the ornament tops.  Sorry you can't see that in the photo.

I keep thinking I need to set up a better space to take the photos if I'm going to be posting pics of cards, but I just haven't gotten arowntooit yet.  How do ya'll have yours set up?

Thanks for looking!

My fourth dozen cards!

OK, so I seem to be addicted to Kristina Werner's videos lol. I like that she makes cards pretty simply, using stamps and inking techniques rather than a lot of super expensive toys (dies, etc).  I'm sure she does use all the toys- she surely gets them as part of her employment- but my favorite cards are the ones that are simple.


 This video is from lat year, and I loved the long format and the non-Christmassy color.  It also looked like it would be easy and inexpensive to recreate.  It only takes Distress Ink, two colors of dye ink, one pigment ink, and ONE small stamp set.  Woot woot!

Here's my take on it:

I changed to A2 size so that I could get two cards from each sheet of cardstock rather than just one, but I think the layout still works, even though the "season's greetings" looks a little crowded there.

I don't know if you can see it in the pic, but my white pigment ink (Colorbox) dried almost clear.  I didn't heat set it, just let it dry naturally for TWO days- boy it took a long time!- because I didn't want to deal with warpy cardstock.  Si it kind of lost that nice snowy look.  I am wondering if I had heat set it, would the color have stayed white?  I kind of think it would have been just as light and warpy too, which would have upset me.  So, into my shopping basket goes the Hero Arts Memories Unicorn ink.

Still not a bad card.  Kind of nice, in fact.  Kind of.  That ink still kind of irks me, too.




I do hate that Michaels carries such a small selection of supplies. They are they only craft store I have in town.  I have to order all my cardstock online because they carry the wimpiest, lightest weight cardstock.  I have to order most inks online because they carry only a few colors of a very few manufacturers.  Stamp selection is so rarely rotated, I think I actually have every stamp they offer.  Same with dies, embossing folders, etc.  It doesn't take long, either.  So if you are reading this and you just happen to be looking for a place to open a great local stamp store, consider coming here!  lol  You can be sure I'd keep you in business!

Online Card Classes Day 4- One Layer Cards

Yay today is the day for one layer cards!  Lol I've been eyeballing Jennifer McGuire's Ombre Stamping technique for a while, and I just got the stamp set in yesterday, so here we go:

I really liked how this one turned out, even with hand-drawn bows and strings lol.  That's a Simon Says Stamp set "Ornaments", and Verve greeting "Joy to the World", Memento inks and Filigra embossing powder.  This was actually my planning go on a piece of plain cardstock, I liked it so much that I went ahead and mounted it on a card base.  When I go into production, of course, this will be a one-layer card.

I also tried out another idea, and this one is getting there but is still not the card I have in my head.  I dry embossed a Spellbinders frame around the outside, and used Paper Smooches' A Blessed Christmas stamp and die set.  I colored it with Spectrum Noir pencils because I didn't know if alcohol markers would soak through.  I think my next iteration, I will try Distress Markers. Here is my card:

I like the basic clean and simple idea, I just think it lacks a lil something.  What do you think?

Anyhoo, these are my cards for the day, thanks for looking!

Online Card Classes Holiday Card Workshop Day One

OK, so I'm actually doing my Day One card on day two lol forgive me please I just didn't have time yesterday.

So here is my card, Created with Bazzill cardstock, Moxxie patterned paper, and Verve stamps and dies:

I think it will be easy to duplicate in assembly-line fashion.  Only three stamps, two dies, a lil ribbon and some paper layers!

Thanks for looking!

OK, so I gave myself a break on Kristina Werner's videos, and this time I've chosen a Jennifer McGuire video that uses the same Paper Smooches stamp set.  Gotta love when you can use the same stamp set different ways!  Lol I don't know about you but when I see a card I love, I have to get the products to make it with rather than experimenting with what I already have.  Pinterest kills me!

Here is the video and here is my card:

Again, not too bad, huh.  I wish I'd taken a little more time with the Glossy Accents to prevent bubbling, but now I know better.  I made twelve of these, the most time consuming part was waiting for the Glossy Accents and then the Distress Inks to dry.

I made a couple more cards while I was at it.  The first card I made using a Die'sire Christmas Create A Card Die. It's a 6x6 die, and fortunately, it's very detailed because there's no room for much embellishment!

I don't know if you can see all the embossed detail- it's very pretty in person.

I also made an easel card with a Paper Artist die from Paper wishes plus some free papers from a magazine subscription.  Here it is:

Ta da!

So what did you do this weekend?

It's Christmas card time!

Today I tried out Kristina Werner's O Holy Night card from her Holiday series.  This was kind of my first go at using Tim Holtz Distress Inks so, you know, be kind to me lolol.

I didn't do the extra stars with white gel pen- I didn't think the card needed it.  I made twelve of these, and the assembly line method worked very well.  Inking the card, I did all the pieces in one color before moving to the next rather than inking each piece all five colors separately.  Rather than stamping each card twice with Versamark for the greeting and star, I mounted them together on my Fiskars stamp press.

I also noted in her video that the Memento Tuxedo Black marker didn't match the Versafine ink she used to stamp with- so I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink to avoid that problem.

Here's my card:

Not too bad, huh?

Obviously I need a lil practice with the distress ink blending, to get smoother color blends.  But otherwise, I really like it!


Techniques used:
Distress ink blending
Embossing

Lessons learned:
-That Cropadile Corner Chomper really does the job right.  My other corner rounders only worked on paper, and certainly not on double thicknesses of cardstock!  So glad I got it, no idea why I waited so long!

-The embossing buddy is a necessity when embossing over distress inks.  They really do take a while to dry.

-To lessen warping from the heat gun while embossing:  let the gun run a moment or two to heat up, then you'll be able to emboss the powder more quickly.

-Don't be afraid to use a good bit of foam mounting tape.  It will counteract the warping from the embossing.


Anyhoo, have a great Sunday!  My next review will be of Jennifer MCGuire's card using the same stamp set.  Woo hoo!  I love when you can use the same stamp sets to do completely different cards!