Christmas Card Challenge: Glitter!

May is my month to host the Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge and I have chosen Glitter! for our theme.

My challenge is to use glitter in some form or fashion. I made a few samples to share in the WMS forum. This one is using glitter under acetate.

Stamps: WMS Vintage Ornaments; Paper: Memory Box

I stamped on one side in StazOn Iris ink and then used clear drying glue to apply glitter to the underside. Here's a close-up:

I am a new Silhouette Cameo owner (sooo excited!), and one of the things I have been eager to try is cutting out masks for the Burnished Velvet technique. For the card below, I used the free Bright Season cut files bundle from WMS to create the scroll frame and lantern.

I applied Sookwang double-sided tape to plain cardstock. The Cameo blade cut out the top layer of liner, but not the tape or the cardstock. I peeled away sections of liner and applied glitter one colour at a time. The entire card front, except for the leaves, berries and banner, is one layer of glittered-up cardstock. It is smooth to the touch (hence the term "velvet"). It's mounted on metallic copper cardstock.

My last card features a cut file from the Silhouette Online Store for the card base. I thermal embossed the poinsettias and frame with Carbernet Twinkle Embossing Powder. The glitter is a little more subtle here. 

I hope you will join us at WMS to make a few more cards for your Christmas card stash. Details can be found by clicking on the logo at right.

Today's Quietfire Creations Guest Designer

... is me! In my second posting to the Quietfire Creations blog this month as guest designer, I present some really simple, quick, yet elegant cards. I hope you click on the blog link above and visit. While you are here, I will share a couple of other cards using Quietfire stamps. This first one features possibly the very first stamp I purchased from Quietfire Design way back when.

Distress Ink background, Tim Holtz Postcard Texture Fades Embossing Fold

Next up, I created an alcohol ink background for this card and silver embossed "thank you" on the top half. The bottom half features a Lace Border Dreamweavers Stencil and the Burnished Velvet technique.

And lastly, here is a card created very simply with  a wash of Springtime Twinkling H2O's on watercolor paper, then the Thoreau quote stamped with Versafine Deep Lagoon and clear embossed.

Spellbinders Labels 18, silver mirror cardstock, navy Canson Mo-Teintes

Thanks for visiting today - please go check out the Quietfire Creations blog to see more!

WMS Christmas Card Challenge

A quick catch up post on my neglected blog. The monthly Christmas Card Challenge at Waltzingmouse is in full swing (see link at right). For April, Linda Suarez challenged us to use a non-Christmas WMS stamp in our card. Other than the sentiment, all the stamps I used are non-Christmas, from the Sewing Box - Hugs set. 

In March, the task was to use the colours of navy and a "zesty citrus green," thanks to Cassie J. You might want to put on sunglasses before scrolling further!

I used the wreath from the Around Christmastime set, the border from Nordic Winter and the Noel from Compliments of the Season Two. WMS stamps are fun to mix and match! It is hard to capture in a photograph, but I added diamond stickles to the wreaths and borders.

I am slowly working on the Christmas 2013 card stash. Thanks for visiting!

I'm not here... I'm over there!

Just a note to invite you to visit Quietfire Creations blog, where I am Guest Designer for the month of April! Above is a wee sneak peek at what you'll find over there. Bit of stage fright here - hope you enjoy!

Personalized Wedding Card

My daughter is of an age where weddings are the main social activity, it seems. Consequently, I am called upon to make wedding cards. Where possible, I try to incorporate papers or motifs from the couples' wedding invitations. My thinking is, if they picked it out for their special missives, surely they must like it!

The silver embossed paper above once held the invitation, which I carefully removed. I slid in some black cardstock and mounted a lacy oval cut from silver cardstock. I thermal-embossed the greeting in silver on more black cardstock and cut it to fit the inner oval. Et voila - a meaningful, personalized wedding card.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps

Ink: Ranger Embossing Ink

Accessories: Silver Embossing Powder, Spellbinders Floral Oval Die

Cardstock: Black Recollections, Silver

Circular Thanks

Here' s a card where an embossing folder provided a textural background without competing with the main sentiment. I don't usually do Clean and Simple style cards, but I think this hits the mark.

I even made a matching envelope!

Stamps: Inkadinkado

Ink: Versamagic Thatched Straw, Encore Metallic Purple

Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, yarn

Cardstock: Purple and yellow from my stash

Hearts for Christmas

Sylvia has a Christmas Card Challenge on her blog, and for the month of March, the challenge is to use a heart on our Christmas cards. Do click on the link and see her gorgeous, elegant pieced and embossed heart card. Stunning!

I am behind on my goal of pre-making Christmas cards this year, and coincidentally, the February Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge was *also* to use hearts. I was very inspired by Sylvia's heart, and decided to try my hand at that piecing and embossing technique. I die cut four Memory Box hearts out of four different printed papers, then sliced them all the exact same way and shuffled the pieces around. Once I taped them together, I added a bit of faux stitching with a marker and ran them through my Cuttlebug in an embossing folder, then hit the raised areas with some Distress Inks. I am sharing three cards from this slicing and dicing. The jury is still out on the fourth one I made - something to do with a new glitter glue and I not seeing eye to eye!

I recently acquired some Pink Paislee City Sidewalks Collection papers and love their retro feel so used them for all the cards. The "Keep Christmas in your heart" is a Waltzingmouse Stamp. The red and white baker's twine-accented button is actually die cut from cardstock using a My Favorite Things die.

The branch and holly berries are created with a Memory Box die for this second card. I am entering this one in the weekly Christmas Card Challenge. The strips of cardstock are there, if you look closely.

I tried creating my own banner instead of using a die cut banner. None of my dies were exactly the size I needed, and I wanted a striped border. I was surprised I still knew how to use scissors!

And last, but not least, I hearkened way back to Grade One in Lord Nelson Elementary School, where the teacher let us play with chunky silver glitter to create Christmas crafts. Whenever I use this Martha Stewart silver glitter I am transported back to that classroom.

Again, I created my own banner and the pennants with scissors. My Grade One teacher would be beaming with pride now!