Northern Woods Mantel

Wanted to do one last tribute to Thanksgiving and fall by showing this card.  It's actually starting to look a lot like Christmas around here, but Thanksgiving always seems crowded out by other holidays which always seems like a shame to me.  This was stamped with black ink and then colored in with metallic chalks. 

Inky Antics set

Don't know what you do after Thanksgiving, but in our house I make the most of my hubby being home a couple of extra days and we put up all our Christmas decorations.  So, the reason I'm telling you this, is I'm too busy to stamp!  I am continuing the posting of holiday favorites until we finish our projects.  Hope you enjoy.  This is a card I did last year using a clear set.  Added some colored pencil to the bird and lots of sponging to the corners. 

Hero Arts Thanksgiving card

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.  This tree is a Hero Arts stamp that was inked with brown ink.  Not sure who did the words.  Just used some nice paper scraps to finish off the card.  Hope you have lots of good food and fun today. 

Blessings card

This is one of my all time favorite cards.  Most of the stamps are by Stamp in the Hand.  Color was applied with various markers and ink pads directly to the stamps  It was done on a white glossy paper with some extra ink sponged into the corners.  Saying is by Hero Arts.

Hero Arts

Another one by Hero Arts today and another one done simply.  The wheat was enhanced with an orange gel pen.  Added some paper and a button and it's all done.

Hero Arts Card

We're in the final stretch for Thanksgiving.  During this week I thought I'd post some of my favorite cards I've made for this holiday.  This was a simple one, but as you know, "simple is good" is my book.  Had some help with a couple of die cuts and some buttons.  I'm working on getting a few last cards made for the big day.

Stampscapes Winter Card

Wow, was it ever a busy week!  I taught two classes and did a demo at Angela's Happy Stamper store.  It all was great fun, but now I'm beat.  Also posted future classes for January at the store.  One of the classes is what I call "Winterscapes".  We do cards I've created with Stampscapes stamps that are all winter scenes.  This is one of the cards we do in this class.  After a week of seeing everyone else creating, I'm ready to get back in my stamp room and do some creating myself today.  Hope you have some time to go play as well.

Dreamweaver Stencil and Paste Card

They are more work, but you just can't beat how good a stencil and paste card looks.  Three stencils are used here.  The candy cane was done with red glossy paste and cut into two pieces.  The stocking was done with two stencils.  The striped stencil was placed across the stocking and color was stippled on the paper.  Then the striped stencil was removed and white paste was applied to the stocking.  Both images was finished off with lots of loose glitter being poured over the wet paste.  Some peppermint paper was added to the background.  Puts me in the mood for Christmas.

Embossed Resist Card

Don't think I mentioned yesterday the name of the technique used to make the card.  It was an embossed resist.  Different stamps today, but same technique.  Rather than use printed paper though, the paper colored with pigment ink and dried.  Then the leaves were inked with Versamark and a stamped onto the colored paper.  Clear embossing powder was poured over the ink and heat set.  The the paper was colored in again with a dark ink.  Last, a paper towel was used to burnish the paper.  Any where the embossing powder was, it acted as a resist.  The leaves were then cut out and attached to the card. 

Hero Arts Design

  On this card, the image was Versamarked and stamped on printed paper.  Clear embossing powder was poured over the image and heat set.  Then, with a sponge, pigment ink was added until it covered the whole paper.  With a paper towel, the ink was wiped off of the embossed parts so it looks like you see on the card.  The words and ribbon were added and another card is ready for Thanksgiving!

Memory Box Die Branch

There have been two samples this week using the outlines from die cut images.  So it seemed time to show an actual die image.  This branch was done on dark brown paper.  The circle was done using printed paper.  The words probably should have been embossed to stand out better, but this was my first try, so I tried it with a brown pigment ink.  The die is held on with the little paper clothes pin and attached to the card with foam tape. Simple and fun . 

Memory Box Die

Like yesterday's card, the reverse of the die was used on this card.  The white piece was put on top of the orange card.  That way the orange shows through were the die cut was made.  Added the word and a ribbon and a little round silk sticker, and it's all done.

Christmas Die Cut Card

Another tree card today.  This one for Christmas.  I was making some Accu-cut tree tags from this paper.  Rather than throw away the left over paper, I cut the pieces down so they would fit on the front of a card.  The front of a Hero Arts stamp  was inked with a Versamark pad and stamped onto a green Memory Box card.  Then the paper was adhered onto the green card.  Makes a quick and easy card.

Impression Obsession Embossed Tree

Wow embossing powder did the trick for this tree.  It was Versamarked and then different colored embossing powders were sprinkled on with a straw.  All the powders were heat set.  Ran the tree through my Cuttle bug and die cut the paper.  The printed paper was sponged with brown ink around the edges.  Words are by Darcie.

Paper Cut Card

Have you ever been to a convention that Paper Cut was attending?  Seeing all their paper selection leaves me swooning.  They have so many choices of cards like these where you can mix and match layered pre cut papers.  Love it!  Makes stamping soooo easy!  These two stamps from Paper Inspiration fit perfectly in the box.  The leaves were stamped first, the then the words over stamped on top of the leaves.  Some leaf buttons were glued on the front.  Simple, and so nice.

Inky Antics Lamp

Really been focusing on Thanksgiving cards this month, so thought I'd take a break and show this Christmas card.  Really liked their stamps from the new board they sent to Angela's Happy Stamper Store.  They made a terrific shaker card out of these two stamps.  I wanted to show how to use the stamps to create a simpler card that can be easily reproduced for larger volume stamping.  The images here were inked with Memonto black and then colored in with Copic markers.  Punch and glue the rest and you are all done.  If you are close by, come to Angela's today and you can make this for free!  It's our "Make It Take It" today. 

Embossed Memory Box Wreath

Colored embossing powder was used today.  It is a copper pearl from Wow.  Once heat set, the Liquid Pearls was added to create the berries.  Words are from a clear Darcie's set.  Added a little ribbon between the cream and printed paper and then found some silk ribbon pumpkins I still had so put one in the corner.

Dreamweaver Wheat Card

Hadn't done any paste cards in a while, so this card is the one being offered at Angela's Happy Stamper store today as a mini lesson.  So many folks ask about how to do the paste, so I thought a one card lesson might help them understand how to apply the paste.  Interested?  There are still a few spots available.  Give the store a call if you would like to come.

Canvas Mixed Media Bird

This year I seem to be spreading my wings into new art areas.  The Art Journal and Masterboards have been such fun!  This is the next horizon I took on-Mix Media Canvases.  Happily, those who took this as a class seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.  We used Faber Castel markers and a Hero Arts background to start with, and then went to town using a mix of Gelato colors. Memory Box dies helped to make the images easy.  This was so much fun, I'll definitely be doing more in the future.

Hero Arts Thankful Card

This was a "save".  It started out with the background being stamped on the card.  It was much more muted than I expected.  I set it aside for quite a few days and thought about throwing it away. But, then I looked at it and decided to add some orange colored pencil to the design.  Really liked that, so then it was just a matter of what to add.  I didn't want to cover up all the nice work, and this second Hero stamp seemed to fit well.  It was inked with Versamagic "Mango".  The image has a jagged edge, so I tore the paper to match.  Then an ink was dragged across the torn edges.  Worth the save!

Outlines Blessings

Found a card from last year that I'll be using for Thanksgiving.  It is by Outlines.  It was stamped on four different papers and then cut and glued together.  Some extra color was added with Copics.  Lots of brown on this card!  Think it works, though.

Farewell Card

The good and the bad of living so near DC is that you get to meet a lot of interesting people-but they are often here on a temporary basis.  We said good-bye to one of those friends recently.  This is the card I made before she left.  The balloon is by Deep Red and was colored in with colored pencils. The clouds were inked and stamped out.  I think the quote is by Rubber Stamp Ave.

Dylusion Sprays and Verses Stamp

Pulled out my sprays for this birthday card.  It was done in three pieces.  All three pieces were sprayed with yellow, orange, red, green, and purple Dylusion sprays.  Once the paper was dry, the stamps were inked and stamped.  Both the Verses words and the woman were inked with a Versafine black pad.  The background was inked with a Lavender Colorbox Chalk.  The image is by Wow.  Inside a Printworks stamp was stamped that says, "Bright wishes for a birthday that out shines all the others." 

Hero Arts Thanksgiving card

The background piece was Versamarked and then stamped on white paper.  Then I took four different embossing colors (red, orange, yellow, green)  and lightly spread it over the paper leaving lots of space so more powder could be added.  Once done, the extra powder is all mixed together.  Rather than throw out the mix, it  was poured into a clean container for future use.  The words were embossed with a solid green powder.  The leaf is a button with the shank removed and glued down with white glue.

Nut Card

Found a bag of nut bells.  Why does that sound dirty?  Well, as you can see, they are innocent enough.  After punching a hole in the card, the acorn was suspended with this piece of ribbon.  Once the printed paper was down I added the ribbon with some red line tape.  The corners are from a set of different colored paper corners.  They seemed to finish off the card.  Inside is stamped the saying, "Today's mighty oak was just yesterday's nut that held it's ground". 

Embossed Deep Red Turkey

Pulled out the colored embossing powders to do this card.  The medallion behind the turkey is a Stampn'Up! stamp.  It was embossed twice in two different colors.  Then parts were cut and put together with foam tape. Same went for the turkey.  Words were a bit tricky since this is one stamp.  After Versamarking the stamp and stamping it, the orange powder was carefully put down.  Then the brown was poured.  I used a very fine brush to get rid of any excess powder.  Then it was heat set.

Dry Embossed Pumpkin

Back to embossed pumpkins!  Although I enjoy the embossing folders, there are times like this when I like getting out my light box and stylis tool.  After embossing this pumpkin, I lightly sanded the raised parts to let the white core show.  Not much is left after sponging orange ink on the surface.  Used a Great Impression leaf stamp for extra effect.  Words were sponged on the edges with the same orange ink.

Felt Turkey

Found this fellow at a box craft store.  Stuck him on the printed papers and tied a ribbon.  How easy is that?  Have a little friend who I think will enjoy him as much as I do.

Dry Embossed Pumpkins

Happy November!  I do love making Thanksgiving cards.  Had a chance the other night to "get my happy on"  by making a few cards.  Hope you'll join me in having some fun with this next holiday by making some cards and sending them to people you are grateful to know.  Who doesn't like that?

The pumpkins here were dry embossed over the orange printed paper and then sponged with brown and black inks.  More sponging was done on the printed background paper by Bo Bunny.