Christmas cards

Hello,

Hope your Christmas went well. I spent the holidays with my family at my parents house in the country side, and loved to witness how the dark, cloudy and rainy December changed to beautiful and snowy white just a few days before Christmas eve. Yes, we had a white Christmas this year in all Finland.



The weeks before Christmas are always busy card making weeks. I usually choose just one design and mass-make all my cards following the same pattern. Choosing the design is the trickiest part. This year I searched for help in Pinterest, and came across these wonderful cards by Scrapperia:


I suggest you visit her blog here for more gorgeous card and mini album inspiration. I truly love her style!

I had purchased large sheets of kraft cardstock earlier in November, and had decided to use them for my Christmas cards. For my cards I also used white acrylic paint (mixed with water), and I created little snow splashes with the paint. The snow highlights on the branch were painted with white gel pen:







I loved the fact that all the cards were bit different and unique. I made quite many of them, alltogether about 60.




Thank you Scrapperia for the Christmas inspiration!

Wishing you all Happy New Year!
Love,
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Layout for 123 Get Scrappy: Sweetie

Hi,

I wanted to quickly stop by and share with you a layout I made for December 123 Get Scrappy challenge. Here's the grid for you to play:

There were many options to choose from, but I decided to go with the middle row: Two stencils - Stitching - Tag. And here's my take:



This simple layout was so fun to make. I just layered elements on the paper: Texture paste dots and flowers on the background, some die-cuts here and there, fussy cut butterflies for decorating the photo, little seed beads for adding a touch of extra pink on the project. The beautiful patterned papers are from Studio Calico.


The alpha stickers were attached with sewing over the letters.




I hope I'll see your layout among the December challenge entries. Happy scrapping!

Hugs,
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Craft Stamper TIMI December: Stamping with white, part II

Hi to You,

Craft Stamper Magazine Take It, Make It December challenge continues!

This month we challenge you to create projects in which you stamp with white colour. The colour can be any media you prefer; white stamping ink, acrylic paint, gesso, or white embossing powder. On my first December project I used both white acrylic paint and white embossing powder, but this time I decided to go only with the latter:


I love using heat embossing with watercolours. The embossed image resists the colour which makes the colouring very quick, simple and easy. In addition, when colouring with watercolours it is not necessary to paint the image completely. White spaces and lighter spots highlight the beauty of the delicate watercolour textures.


I prefer using liquid watercolours, but any type of watercolours would work for this technique. The paper was heavy aquarelle paper. 



Both the flower stamp and the leaves underneath are from Stampendous collection.



Check out all the inspiring design team projects here and here and play along! There are great prices to be won!

Wishing you a great day!
Hugs,
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Craft Stamper December TIMI Challenge: Stamping with white

Hi!
Time for another inspiring Take It, Make It challenge by Craft Stamper Magazine: Stamping with white!

Every now and then I come across discussion threads in which paper crafters look for a good white stamping ink. One that would not give a solid white result and not something transparent nor vague, and that could even be used with stamps with lots of details.  I don't think there's one. I have tried out several types and brands, but had issues with every one. Some inks are ok, but most of them don't give you a proper white, crispy stamped image. Or if they are somewhat ok, the ink pads dry out really fast.

Instead of buying new white ink pads I have started using white acrylic paint and white embossing powder. Acrylic paints work best with basic images without too many details. However, acrylic paint can be used on various surfaces, and depending on the amount of paint used, the result is really white and not transparent. When stamping with acrylic paints I suggest you use a crafting mat as your 'ink pad', and just spread the paint on it with a brayer or a crafting knife. Do not use too much paint, as it will easily run and cover the entire stamp, and the stamp details will not be visible anymore. The thinner your layer of paint is the crispier but also more transparent will your stamped image be. After stamping it's important to wash the stamp right away, as you will not get the paint off once it has dried. For removing the paint from the stamp I like to use an old, soft toothbrush, warm water and hand soap.

When using images with lots of details I like to use white embossing powder. Some of the embossing powders work amazingly well with detailed stamp images. When playing with embossing powders you have several options for crating a white image - if you want to create a white chalkboard finish I suggest you have a look at this past tag project of mine, in which I used a chalkboard technique introduced by Tim Holtz.

For my December TIMI card I used both of my favorite white stamping techniques: Stamping with white acrylic paint, and heat embossing with white embossing powder:


The card background is standard craft cardstock. I love he combination of light brown earth tones and clear white. It may be that I'll use this color combo for my Christmas cards, too :)


I started with adding a bit of ink on the background edges and center, and continued with stamping the dotted texture with white paint. All the layered elements are cut with BigShot:
* Doily from white cardstock using *this die*
* Flowers from burlap paper and craft cardstock using *this die*. Burlap flower was 'white washed' with acrylic paint before gluing on the background
* 'Hello' sentiment from craft cardstock using *this stamp and die set*
* Leaves from craft cardstock using *this stamp and die set*



I hope you get inspired and create your own white stamping project. We have a generous sponsor this month,  Rubber Dance. One lucky winner will get a £20.00 voucher in the Rubber Dance online store!



And there's even more:
The Design Team will their Top Three projects, and the overall Winner will get published in Craft Stamper magazine! Woohoo!
And: The Challenge winner will be offered a Guest Designer spot for an upcoming challenge!

So hop over to Craft Stamper Magazine blog, have a look at the DT entries and post your own project here!


Wishing you an inspiring weekend. Thanks for stopping by - hope you have time to leave a short comment
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MMCC December: Scenery card for a friend


Hi to You, and happy 1st of December!

It's time for another Mixed Media Card Challenge:


My Christmas card project is not proceeding as it should be - I know for sure that I'll again run out of time and will finish the cards on the very last minute. However, for getting myself in a good Christmas card making mood, I thought it would be a good idea to clear my mind and in between  make something non-christmassy. So that's why my Home themed December MMCC card has a summer touch:



The card front is cut from heavy aquarelle paper. I started with decorating the bottom part with flowers, and for that I used a flower stencil and heavy gel medium.When rubbing green inks over the flowers, the gel medium acts as a resist and the flowers remain white, i.e. the color of the background paper.
The upper part of the card front is colored with light blue inks and decorated with splashing water on the inked surface. That is my favorite technique for adding extra texture!




The tree stems are stamped on dark brown paper, cut out, and glued on a die-cut flowers. The die I used is the smallest size die in this nesting die set. The chipboard house is painted with several layers of brown Glimmer Glaze by Tattered Angels. Before the paint had completely dried I rubbed the paint with a toothpick and removed some of the paint.
A fun card project!

I suggest you hop over to MMCC blog and view the entire collection of amazing cards the design team has made for your inspiration. Many of the cards are Christmas themed, so if you are missing tips for your Christmas cards I recommend you take a look!

Wishing you a nice week!
Hugs,
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Sizzix quilting inspiration for Christmas - Jouluisia tilkkutyöideoita Sizzixiltä



Hi to all quilters,
Did you notice a great blog hop that took place at Sizzix blog last week? In case you missed some of the Christmas gift tutorials, below's the blog hop link list for you:

Hei sinä tilkkutöistä kiinnostunut!
Oletko kokeillut käyttää stanssauslaitetta tilkkujen leikkaamiseen? Jos leikattavaa on paljon, stanssauslaite nopeuttaa työtä huomattavasti. Ja mikä parasta, tilkut ovat aina taatusti saman kokoisia!
Viime viikolla Sizzixin blogissa oli käynnissä blogihyppely, jossa Sizzixin tilkkuilijat jakoivat mukavia ohjeita viime hetken joululahjoihin. Hyppelyn linkkilista on alla, mikäli juttu on mennyt sinulta ohi:



Monday 18th November: Jo Carter

Tuesday 19th November: Katy Jones

Wednesday 19th November: Jessie Fincham 

Thursday 20st November: Angela Southey

Friday 21nd November: Trudi Wood 

Saturday 22nd November: Mercedes Jiménez Campuzano 

In addition to the inspiration Sizzix is giving for one lucky winner a Big Shot machine and hexagon dies that will make your cutting work so easy. But hurry up, the giveaway ends on November 28 at 10 am GMT. Here's the giveaway link for you - click here to enter
(The competition is open to all residents of the UK and EU excluding Ellison employees.)

Sizzixin blogissa voi voittaa itselleen Big Shot -stanssauslaitteen ja kuusikulmaisia stansseja. Arvontaan voi osallistua mistä vain EU:n alueelta, mutta pidä kiirettä, sillä arvonta sulkeutuu 28.11. klo 12 Suomen aikaa.  - tässä linkki arvontaan





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More Craft Stamper November TIMI inspiration: Christmas projects with regular stamps

Hi,
This month's Craft Stamper Magazine Take It, Make It Challenge is all about stamping Christmas themed projects using regular, every day stamps. The team has made gorgeous projects for your inspiration; check them out here!

Here are the images I used for my below card...




... and here's my finished project:



The background is light kraft coloured cardstock, and the snow flakes are made with white texture paste using a Tim Holtz stencil. The little birds are heat embossed using red sparkling embossing powder. Actually I embossed them twice, as the first layer did not sparkle enough to my taste :D



I loved this challenge. It really made my look at my stamp stash in a new way. I think I should do it more often - that's what creativity is all about, right!

So get out your stamps and card supplies and play along! Great prices to be won - check out the details here.

Thanks for stopping by, wishing you a nice weekend!

Hugs,
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Layout for 123 Get Scrappy DT: Be. Happy.

Hi,
I hope your week has started well.
Today it's November 10th, which means that 123 Get Scrappy! is revealing a new challenge grid for you to play:


I have to admit that some of the past grids have been quite challenging for me. But this one contained so many great combos to choose from! First I started collecting materials for the left vertical line, but after I wanted to use a kraft colored background, I decided to go with the bottom row: Spots of ink - More than five brads - Kraft colored background.

Most of my previous layouts have been all about cute patterned papers and bright colors, so this time I wanted to get my hands dirty with inks, paints and gel medium, and make a mixed media project. And here's my finished layout:



The background is misted with a white chalk mist, using a diamond shaped stencil. After misting I removed the stencil, turned it around, and stamped with it a few times on the paper. The additional splashes and paint drips are made with white acrylic paint.



The background is embellished by stamping and layering various elements like tissue paper, fabric ribbon and mesh, brads, chipboard embellishment, washi tape, strips of resist canvas, foil stickers, and die-cut painted papers. Most of the items I glued down using gel medium just because it's so easy and fast to use. When this project was finished I had really sticky fingers for the rest of the evening, lol!

Resist canvas, foil stickers and brads are from past Prima collections.

(Note to my European friends: The lovely Sizzix Lace & Circles border die that I used is now on sale on Sizzix UK for price of EUR 4,64!)




I loved the golden alpha stickers by American Crafts, but they appeared a bit 'too shiny' for this project. For creating them a grungier look I sanded the edges, and inked the sanded parts with black Distress ink. I think the letters now look way more interesting!
 



I love making this type of projects;to let my creativity loose and just have a lots and lots of fun!


Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!
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Card for Craft Stamper Magazine TIMI DT: Christmas card with non Christmas stamps


Hi,
This must be the busiest season for all card makers. I'm also slowly getting myself into Christmas card making mood, and this month's Craft Stamper Take It, Make It challenge was just perfect for getting those creative juices flowing. This month we were challenged to make a Christmas card without Christmas themed stamps. Cool!

This challenge made me look at my stash with a fresh eye. As much as I love shopping for new crafting goodies, I also try to look for inventive ways to use what I already have. I suggest you hop over to Craft Stamper blog and have a look at the gorgeous Christmas cards of the TIMI design team has made. And all of them without any Christmas stamps!

Here's my take on the challenge:


For this card I used a white square card base, standard textured grey cardstock (light and dark), an old circle stamp, and a hint of white acrylic paint. Yep, the supplies did not cost much :D



I started with tracing a circle on the light grey cardstock. For this I used a thin metal circle die set as stencil; I love to use a nesting die set for this as there are always various sized stencils to choose from.

Using my circle stamp and grey ink I stamped images next to each other inside the traced circle. Before stamping on the grey cardstock I stamped a wrench on scrap paper - just to make sure that my stamped circles would fit nicely inside the traced circle.



The white spots are stamped with white acrylic ink using a cotton bud. Simple and easy!



I did not have a die for cutting the pieces for the bow (could have used this lovely Tim Holtz die by Sizzix), so I ended up cutting the pieces with scissors. I curved the lower 'ribbon' pieces a bit for creating dimension on the bow.
When the card front was finished I mat it on dark grey cardstock; the same material I used for the bow.

I think my card turned out quite nice. Maybe I'll be making more of these for my friends...?

I'm always looking for new ideas for my Christmas cards, and I can't wait to see what you create!

We are have a great sponsor for this months challenge, The Artistic Stamper. What a great price, don't you think!


http://www.theartisticstamper.com/


Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!
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