Monday, October 22, 2012

Christmas Cuddlers


I recently purchased some new rubber from Suzanne at Quietfire Design and was so happy to have a bit of time to play this weekend. I tried out the acrylic block collage technique recently posted on Splitcoaststampers to the Technique Lovers Challenge. The idea is to smoosh a few inks on a flat acrylic block, spritz with water and stamp the block onto cardstock, then overstamp other stamps in a collage effect. There are some lovely samples in the gallery


For my first try above, I used Distress Inks. These inks are designed to bleed, blend and wick, so they interacted with each other as I overstamped. It gives a soft, dreamy look. I used snowflakes and flourishes from Quietfire Design for the collage. The "Christmas Cuddlers" are words that are meant to be nestled together, and I used Christmas and snowflakes for these cards. All Quietfire stamps are calligraphy; painstakingly drawn by hand - even the flourishes and snowflakes! As someone who is a Failed Calligrapher, I really appreciate being able to add this special touch to my cards that a computer just can't duplicate.


For my second attempt, I used a Kaleidocolor gradient stamp pad in Blue Breeze. This is a more defined, sharper effect. For both cards, I added some Diamond Stickles to the centers of the snowflakes to enhance them a bit.

Not too bad for a one layer standard A2 card. I think this might be the answer to the last minute Christmas card rush!

6 comments:

Robyn said...

Beautiful- love the elegant simplicity.
Interesting to see the tow different effects with the inks.
thanks for sharing and featuring Quietfire stamps!

CraftyJo said...

These are lovely Charmaine - I too am a 'failed calligrapher' - or maybe that should be lapsed. I still do a bit occasionally but am nowhere near the professional that Suzanne is! I love her stamps.

I've just become a follower of your blog, looking forward to popping-in regularly to 'see you', Joanna, North Wales, UK.

Yogi said...

lovely. they're so much fun to play with.
Have a great day

Quietfire said...

Gee Charmaine, I've pinned this card, I've FB'd this card, but I haven't told you how gorgeous it is! (or have I? It's been one of those kind of days....)

Art By Wanda said...

Both cards are beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Froggietalks said...

I love both cards Charmaine. I like how you masked off the area with the blocks, then over stamped the snowflakes outside those lines :)