Hanukkah 2015

I come from a small family, so I don't need to make a lot of Hanukkah cards. But that means I also need to change it up every year so people don't get the same card over and over again. I'm always on the lookout for something that intrigues me, and this year it was the CAS-ual Fridays Festival of Lights stamp set.

I must have played with this for days before I figured out something that would work. The main image is 5.5" wide, which fills the card width. I first tried it on a tri-fold card, with the front of the card folded back on itself, but it was not quite what I wanted.

I finally ended up with this:

Don't be fooled: there are a bazillion steps here, but each one was manageable and not too involved.

1. Stamp the main image with Hero Arts Silver ink. I used my MISTI and stamped it a few times to get good coverage.
2. Cover with silver embossing powder and set aside.
3. After 3 or 4, heat set.
4. Repeat until you have 10 complete.
5. Stamp the celebrate sentiment (again I used the MISTI) in Memento Luxe Nautical Blue.
6. Cover with clear embossing powder and set aside.
7. After 3 or 4, heat set.
8. Repeat until you have all 10 done.
9. Stamp the flames (9 per card) using SSS Sunshine dye ink.
10. Go over each flame with a clear Wink of Stella brush pen.
11. Cut 1/8" strips from some PTI Night Sky Shimmer card stock. My top panels are 4", and this makes them 4.25" to fill the card front.
12. Glue all those strips into place.
13. Cut some star borders from PTI Night Sky Shimmer card stock and stick one to each card front.
14. Use bright gelly glaze pens to fill in the dots of each letter.
15. Take a nap.

I like how they came out. I think next year, unless I'm wow'd by a new set that comes out, I'll do something completely different.

Thanks for stopping by!

Some of the stuff I used: vat of clear embossing powder, SU silver embossing powder, PTI Night Sky Shimmer card stock (I think it's the only PTI product still in my possession), Star Border die (PTI - okay, I have two PTI possessions), and the following:

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Cool Cat

I saw a card made with a cat die on someone's blog, and I needed to own it (the die, not the blog). Here's my card:

The die is by Poppy Stamps, and it's awesome. I cut it out of a UFO water colored piece, and then again (just the top part) out of a remnant of green, because the yellow eyes made him look a bit possessed.

I also cut the die from a white panel that I lined up on the black card base, and used as my template for placing the pieces.

I colored his nose with an RV11 Copic marker. I've not seen a cat with a yellow nose.

I thought this sentiment from Paper Smooches worked well with the cat. It's stamped in Unicorn white pigment ink, and heat-embossed with Hero Arts white embossing powder.

This die is a lot of fun, and I am unnaturally happy that I own it. I might have issues.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Another Christmas Card

When I went to my crafty retreat in early October, I brought along a few holiday stamps in case I was inspired to make a few holiday cards. One of those stamps was a Hero Arts star image. I can't find it online anywhere, even at the Hero store, so I guess it's discontinued*. That's really sad, because mine has never seen ink.

As I was rummaging for something in my "I really should put this away" area, I re-re-discovered the still-uninked stamp, and was suddenly inspired to use it.

This is what came out:

I stamped the star onto one of my Gelli plate panels with Delicata gold ink, then heat-embossed it using some SU gold embossing powder.  Waaaay back in the beginning of my stamping voyage, I was told to get a really good color, you should use gold ink and gold powder together. I think that worked here.

I fussy-cut the star, and declared it a match for Hero Arts Pool layering papers. It's attached with some foam tape.

The sentiment is from a set made from my pal Heather's handwriting. I love it! The sentiment was also stamped in Delicata gold and embossed with SU gold.

This was actually a pretty easy card to make. I might make a few more. :)

I'm sending this card to Iliana, creator of the MISTI. She has something up her sleeve, and all you have to do is send her a Christmas/holiday card. Details can be found here.

Thanks for stopping by!

*Thanks to alert reader Lindsey for finding the stamp at the Frantic Stamper: http://www.franticstamper.com/Hero-Arts--Wood-Mounted-Rubber-Stamp--Wire-Star_p_80954.html 

Some of the stuff I used:  Hero Arts K5610 (can't find it online anywhere), SU gold embossing powder, and the following:

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In Cyberspace, No One Can Hear You Scream

I was this close to hitting publish on this post, and I accidentally erased my whole post. Then it auto-saved. AAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH! So I re-titled it.

Let me try again.

The other day I made a card, and was sitting down to post it when I went "meh", and went back into the craft room.

Here is the original card:

I thought the colors of the die-cut would be enough contrast with the inked background, but I thought wrong. I cut some black words and glued them over the originals - those words were really, really stuck, Then I attempted to cut another set of colored words out of the original UFO I'd used:

Water colored panel with failed tape removal on the left.

but I'd not planned well, and the only option I had was to cut them in the other direction, and the colors were just so very wrong. So I water colored another panel (yes, I did) cut the words out, and glued them to the black, a little off-set:

I was a gluey mess, and please don't mention how uneven it is. I tried.

The blue heart is left over from the punched-out leaves from the wreath in this post - they were still on my table, so I added the heart, then covered it with clear Wink of Stella.

Not my best work, but it's a little better than the version with no black. Unless you think the "fading into the background" words are okay. Or I could have used dark gray words and a dark gray banner and just forgotten the colored words. I need to go back and play some more.

My color combination is courtesy of Shari Carroll's Distress Color Combo recipes on the Simon site. I've printed them out and I keep them with my mini Distress ink tins. For this (these) cards I used Recipe #2: Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, and Mustard Seed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Some of the stuff I used: Bazzill Sea Glass card stock, SU black card stock, bottom half of a River City Rubber Works birthday stamp, and the following:

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