Winter has arrived

These are also inspired by Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas. They seem to be very appropriate for today, the first day of winter. On the news, they are saying that this will be the first winter in 40 years where every part and region of Canada will have a white Christmas. May all of you have a very blessed and merry Christmas.

Supplies uses-seasonal grungeboard, distress inks, adirondack dabbers, brilliance inks, stamps by Paperbag Studios, Hero Arts, All Night Media

Inspired by Tim Holtz

These cards were all inspired by the Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas. You can check out the tutorials for making all of his tags here. I do not normally follow instructions well, but did want to try the techniques his way at least once.

Supplies used- Distress inks, acrylic paints, paint dabbers, distress crackle paint, glossy accents, prima flowers, embossing powders, seasonal grungeboard, stamps by Oxford Impressions, Stampington and Co, Stampers Anonymous, DeNami Designs

Making your own masks

This card uses some techniques that Tim Holtz used in his latest 12 tags of Christmas, posted to his blog. I have made quite a few of these, with different card bases. If I were doing one special card, particularly if it didn't need to be mailed, I would have also added additional embellishments.

Instead of using one of his masks, I made my own using my Klik n Kut digital cutter. I cut the snowflakes out of clear contact paper. The background was created by smooshing broken china and weathered wood distress inks on a craft sheet, then smooshing the cardstock into the ink. I ironed the cardstock to dry it. I applied my snowflake masks and sponged on faded jeans distress ink over the masked area. Because the contact paper was clear, I could see how much in I needed to apply to get the effect I wanted. The word stamp is embossed in black and the card front mounted on a silver cardstock layer, then onto the pale blue card base. The card is a little hard to photograph because both the embossing and the silver background layer wanted to reflect the light. In real life the black is darker and more intense.

Although I used my cutter for the images, you could cut them out with scissors. You do have to be careful weeding out the waste contact vinyl and I did stick my masks carefully onto my jeans at least 3 times to remove some of the tackiness so that it wouldn't tear my cardstock when I removed them. These are not as substantial as the purchased masks but I really liked being able to use the design that I wanted, and in the size I needed for the card.

Supplies used- distress inks, cardstock, contact paper, KNK, stamp by Stampington and Co.,versamark ink, black embossing powder.

A masculine Santa card

I apologize for the fact that this photo is a little out of focus. I took it quickly right before I gave it to the recipient and obviously my camera settings were a bit off. Hopefully it is good enough for you to get the idea.

This card was done for my son-in-law and is my attempt at a masculine card. I used my Wizard and some cuttlebug folders to texture the cardstock. This is my take on a technique that Annette showed on her blog here. I used gel medium to glue the sections together and Golden fluid acrylic paints to colour the background. I really like the almost leathery texture that these paints give to cardstock.

The Santa face was stamped on tissue paper and adhered to the background with gel medium. It was painted with some glaze lightly tinted with raw umber to give a more antique feel and a gold Adrirondack dabber was used to add metallic accents. The lettering was done with a dymo labeller. I used aged copper brads and turners as embellishments.

Supplies used- Wizard, cuttlebug folders, Golden fluid acrylics, Adirondack gold paint dabber, copper brads and turners, Santa stamp by Rubber Stampede, dymo label maker

Card for my granddaughter

My granddaughter absolutely loves this furry red guy, so this card is specially for her. I cut him out on my Klik n Kut, and used Prismacolor Art Stix to colour and shade him for depth. The wings were cut on gold cardstock using a Spellbinders die in my Wizard. Most of this card uses leftover materials. The oval window card was a leftover piece of cardstock from another card that used the spellbinders ovals as a backing, the greeting was one that did not work on another card, the ribbon was a scrap. I am trying to challenge myself to use up more of my bits and pieces.

Supplies used- cardstock, ribbon, various inks, KNK, spellbinders wizard and dies, stamps by G Studio and Paper Inspirations.

Poinsettia necklace

I had so much fun playing with the calla lilies, I thought I would tackle a poinsettia. I chose to make the poinsettia a burgundy shade, as I thought it would be more versatile than red. I used Premo for this and embedded Swarovski pearls in the center, using eye pins. For some reason, this particular colour, which is a creamy white, turns golden in the oven and I thought they would be pretty for the center of the poinsettia. I chose not to apply a finish so that the poinsettia retained the matte, velvet look that is more realistic and so that I did not lose the soft sparkle that came from adding red pearl to the colour mix.

Supplies used- Premo polymer clay, tools for polymer clay, Swarovski pearls, eyepins, polymer beads, wire, beads and beading supplies.

More calla lilies

I had so much fun playing with the original polymer clay version of the lilies and my metal clay interpretation, that I decided to try and make them smaller and a little finer detailed in the polymer clay. I also made some polymer clay beads in colours to match and I am pleased with their effect in the necklaces. (The original instructions for the calla lilies are found in an article by Christi Friesen in Bead and Button magazine 15th anniversary issue.)

Just a reminder for those of you who might be interested in the design team competition at Oxford Impressions that the deadline for submissions is December 1st, 2008. All of the details are posted here. Good luck and have fun creating.

Supplies used- Premo polymer clay, cookie cutter, Flecto varathane satin finish, beads, pearl ex, acrylic paint, various findings