Christmas in May

Yes, I have started making my Christmas cards for 2020! 

It is so much nicer to have them all made by December 1st rather than to start them then when I am so happily busy with enjoying the season!  (I do all of my shopping early too!)

So I made my first card based on this month's CAS Christmas Challenge.

 I just purchased the Winter Leaves Thinlit dies on sale over at Sizzix, the perfect die set for this challenge!  I die cut 3 branches and glued them together for sturdiness.  Then I put small pieces of foam dots on the thickest parts on the back of the stem.  I die cut the frame out of DP from Snow Day Remix by Lawn Fawn and white card which also gave me the inside piece in white card which I then embossed.  I adhered the DP frame to the white frame and layered it over the card base with foam dots.  I adhered the embossed white panel inside the frame.   I added a Metallic Stickers/Holiday Talk sentiment over the bottom frame.

Then I adhered the stem with the already attached foam dots to the center panel.  

With everything in place, I then added  Nuvo Crystal Autumn Red Drops onto the stem and put the card aside to dry before I could smoosh the berries!

Then I made a few variations of this design, using different papers for the frame and inner panel.

The birch paper is wrapping paper from Pier One I purchased two years ago.

The next two are made with papers are from North Wind by Craft and You (I just LOVE this Paper Stack!). I switched the inside and outside frame pieces on each one.   I die cut these branches from white card stock - I thought it went better with the snowy backgrounds.

I used the Pierced Feature Rectangle Frames from PTI for all of these cards.

 So, a nice start to my Christmas Card box!

I'm linking this card with the green frame to:

Christmas Crafts ALL Year Round

Use Pastels

I'm linking this card to:

The Holly and Ivy Christamas Challenge

Anything Goes

Paper:  white - PTI, Kraft Stock - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, Snow Day Remix 6x6 paperpad - Lawn Fawn, North Wind Paper Pad - Craft and You.
Accessories:  Winter Leaves Thinlit Die - Sizzix, Pierced Feature Frames Rectangle Dies - PTI, Nuvo Crystal Drops Autumn Red, Metallic Stickers/Holiday Talk - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, form dots, Tombow Glue.

May CAS Stencil Challenge - Layered Stenciling

The May CAS Stencil Card Challenge has just been posted.  Hilary is our hostess this month and she wants us to layer our stencils!

 There are several links to different stencil layering technique videos over on the blog to help inspire you.  I looked at the one by Tim Holtz and used his techniques on my background.

I used 3 stencils on my background two stenciled with Distress Paint and one with Distress Ink. 

First I laid the Typo stencil over a panel of white Bristol Smooth Paper by Strathmore. 

I pounced some Scattered Straw Distress Paint onto my craft mat then rubbed my blending tool with a  foam pad over the ink and pounced it over the stencil.  I wiped off my stencil before the paint could dry. 

(I've had this Distress Paint for years and haven't used it lately. I was happy to find that it was still liquid! You could use any acrylic paint through your stencil - just be sure to clean it right away!)

(my paper looks cream color due to the lighting in my craft room but it is white!)

I dried the panel with my heat tool, then laid the Bubble Layering Stencil over the panel

I used the same process for inking - using Cracked Pistachio Distress Paint and pouncing it over the stencil with my foam applicator. 

 (the paint is not sparkly, that's just the light on my work table reflecting off it on the bottom portion)

I dried my panel with my heat tool and washed off my stencil.  Then I sponged colors onto my panel, first with Ranger Distress Picked Raspberry.

Then Wild Honey and finally Broken China.   

I rubbed over the panel with a paper towel to remove the Distress ink off of the paint stenciled areas. You don't have to do this but it does make the paint stenciling stand out more.

For my final stencil layer, I used this mini leaf stencil with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.  

I also stenciled on the lower right side of the panel but did not take a photo of that!

I cut my panel in half horizontally and made two cards.   The cat is Mooch from Lavinia Stamps.  The sentiment is from Just Sentiments Birthday by Ink to Paper.  I added some Periwinkle Flower Sequins from Honey Bee Stamps. I layered the stenciled panel to a slightly taller black panel and layered the two over a white card base. 

I really love how this multi layered stenciling came out and will definitely try it again! 
Here's the 2nd card I made from the stenciled panel.
The Stars 2 Mini stamp and Mini Slender Mushrooms stamp below are from Lavinia Stamps and the sentiment is from the same Ink to Paper set as my first card.

So please join us.  What a great new way to use our stencils!  The challenge is open until 5/24/2020.  You will find the challenge, more inspiration from the rest of the Design team as well as our talented Guest Designer Greta here.

Stamps:  Mooch, (cat), Stars 2 Mini Mushrooms - Lavinia Stamps, Just Sentiments - Ink to Paper.
Paper:  White Bristol Smooth - Strathmore; white, True Black - PTI.
Ink:  Obsidian - Altenew, Ranger Distress Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey Gathered Twigs, Broken China.
Accessories:  Bubble Layering Stencil, Typo Stencil, Mini Leaf stencil - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, Ranger Distress Paint Scattered Straw and Cracked Pistachio, foam and applicator - Ranger.

May CAS Watercolour Card Challenge - Night Sky

Hello everyone and welcome to May.
I hope you are all managing ok through this Coronavirus Crisis.

I know crafting has helped me cope with staying at home.  I can spend a whole day working in my craft room.

And now there's a new Watercolour CAS Card challenge up on the blog.   Jenny is our creative hostess this month and she would like us to watercolor the Night Sky!

I water colored a dark night sky behind a cityscape die cut layered over the sky with foam dots.  I embossed the HOPE in silver as well as the rest of the sentiment below the image. I layered the panel to a slightly larger panel of metallic silver card.

One photo of my process.  I just purchased the Boku-Undo Shadow Black watercolor paints (thank's for the enabling Nancy!)  I used the Bluish Black on the top of the panel and the Purplish Black along the bottom.  I started by brushing water over the watercolor panel and then brushed on the inks.

The card echos the worlds' feelings as we hope for the lessening of the Coronavirus spread and the return of being able to gather with others.

So please join us this month.  You'll find more inspiration from the Design Team as well as our talented Guest DT Tina - over at CAS Watercolour.
We can't wait to see your CAS watercolored night skies!

I'm also  linking my card to:
The Library Challenge
The main character spent a lot of dark and scary nights trying to figure everything out - but always hoped she would find the answer and her own self worth.

 

Stamps:Guiding Lights - PTI
Paper:  White,  True Black - PTI, watercolor paper - Canson, Kraft Metallics Silver - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology.
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Silver Embossing Powder, City Scape Dies - Impression Obsession,  Bluish Black and Purplish Black Boku-Undo Shadow Black Water color paints, foam dots, water, paintbrush.

Flower Pocket Notebook

Just in time for spring! I have a Flower Pocket Notebook to share using Eileen Hull's versatile Pocket Notebook Sizzix die.

My mother always kept a small flower garden by the edge of our driveway where there was full sun.  I grew up helping her in this little garden, planting, weeding and watering.  To this day, I love working in my own gardens thanks to my mother's early teaching. 

This was the inspiration for the cover of my Pocket Journal and although I left the pages blank, I will probably fill them with photos of my garden, garden poetry, or maybe notes about what I'm planting.

First, I'll show you my finished Pocket Notebook and then a photo tutorial of how I put it together.

It's a lovely size - 4 1/4"x 6 3/4".  Mine is 3/4" deep but you can make it deeper- I removed some of the binding since I only added 2 signatures as you will see below in my tutorial.

I used 3 colors of wrinkled seam tape for the simple closure, tying them in a big loopy bow. 

The ribbons match the colors I used in coloring the cover.

There are two signatures of 4 pages each, folded in half and held in with black elastic cord.

The woodgrain on the inside covers continue the feel of the outdoor garden.

I adhered the ribbons to the binding with some ScorTape so they wouldn't fall away from the notebook when opened.

Here are some photos of the easy process of putting this notebook together.

I die cut two covers out of Little Sizzles Mat Board.  Then I sponged the outside binding areas with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I adhered a piece of 7" wide Botanical Rhapsody washi tape from Altenew on the fronts of both covers cutting it large enough to wrap it around the edges to the inside to be sure the washi tape doesn't lift off. Then I colored in the flowers and leaves on this black and white washi tape with Copics. 

The Copics give it such a nice soft coloring.  I dried the covers briefly with my heat tool.

You can compare the difference of just black and white on the left and colored on the right.

I didn't want a really wide notebook (mine is 3/4") - so I cut off one section of the binding on each cover as shown.

I adhered some wood grain patterned paper to the inside covers.  I cut the paper using the die so they are just the right size and also have the holes in the correct places.

I layered the bindings over each other, matching up the holes and glued them in place. I put the elastic down through a hole on the bottom right, back up the hole on the bottom left, up the inside of the binding, down through the hole on the top left, and back up through the hole on the top right.

Then I knotted the two ends.

There are many ways to string a journal to hold the signatures in.  This is just one way. It looks very clean on the outside using this method.

I cut 8 pieces of watercolor paper 8"x 6" and folded them in half so each page is 4"x 6".   I made two signatures of 4 folded pages.  I took each signature and slipped it under one of the cords in the middle of the pages

Here you can see the two signatures held in with the elastic.  You can easily add more pages just by slipping them under the elastic.

A very easy process to create a lovely Pocket Journal using any theme!

Paper:  Little Sizzles Matboard - Sizzix, watercolor paper - Canson, Marble Paper Pad - JoAnn.
Ink:  Ranger Distress Black Soot.
Accessories:  Pocket Notebook Die - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, 7" wide Botanical Rhapsody washi tape - Altenew, Copics G28, YG17, Y17, RV21, black elastic cord, wrinkled seam tape, Tombow Glue, ScorTape.