Stamping * Mixed Media * Inspiration
and #28! missed one again.
Thanks so much for joining me over the last month! It has been a challenge to blog regularly and find enough images to add a little variety. I have another couple of projects to appear on other blogs over the next month so keep an eye out for a few more!
Today I’m sharing a card and a tag, both featuring stamps from Darkroom Door.
This one features a glittery rosette made with a Tim Holtz rosette die – the die makes it so easy to create quick embellishments!
Almost there! Where is November going?
I love red and green as a combination for Christmas cards and a pairing of texture and colour like this one is perfect! I used an image from some patterned paper and layered it up over an embossed card front.
This sweet reindeer is one of my favourites from the various Darkroom Door Christmas collections and he is from the Christmas Reindeer set, as are the rest of the stamps used.
At first glance this card looks very similar to yesterdays but techniques used are quite different.
– Start the same way as yesterday by stencilling stars using modelling paste. But make them more uniform in coverage. Allow to dry.
– Paint with Silks acrylic glaze in Sky Blue, Majestic Blue & Mediterranean Blue. Make the colour a little patchy looking.
– Apply metallic Pan Pastels all over the stars using one or two of the metallic colours. I used a little silver and gold.
– Spritz the Pan Pastels with Spectra Fix Degas Pastel Fixative and allow to dry.
– Drizzle along the top edge with turquoise acrylic ink and spritz with water, the ink will run & mix with the Pan Pastel colour and Dylusions layer to create a lovely shimmery effect. Allow to dry.
– Add a greeting and it is done.
As you might guess from the cards I have been sharing this month – I do love turquoise and blue tones for Christmas cards! This one is no exception and has a beautiful, textured feel to it. Your recipient is sure to put this one is pride of place on the mantel.
Create the card by –
– stencil a scattering of stars over cardstock using a Tim Holtz star stencil and moulding paste. Allow to dry well.
– spritz with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise & Calypso Teal. Remove the excess colour with paper towel and allow to dry.
– replace the stars template and spritz lightly with water.
– the water will remove some of the colour and give a variegated effect.
– add a little pizazz with a gold embossed greeting.
Today I’d like to share a pair of ATC’s with a Christmas theme. If you aren’t into ATC’s, these can be easily adapted to create Christmas tags or use them as a focal image for a card.
Both ATC’s feature older Christmas sets by Darkroom Door but I find myself still using them year after year – I’m sure you would as well!
This ATC uses the Noel rubber stamp set and a word from a Yuletide Wordstrip. The image was created using an embossing powder resist technique. Usually I use clear embossing ink and clear powder but for this one I used white embossing powder instead.
Once stamped and embossed, trim the image to size and sponge with blue Distress Ink. A touch of Distress Glitter on the leaves adds a bit of sparkle. A red bow and words finish it off.
The Christmas Reindeer stamp set was used for this one – the sweet reindeer was stamped with red chalk ink for a solid, matt image and trimmed out closely. The word comes from the same set. The paper underneath is also Darkroom Door and is a great background for the image. A sprinkling of rhinestones gives Rudolf some sparkle.
A few years ago Tim Holtz started a series of books called Compendium of Curiosities and buried within volume II is a really cool technique called ‘enamelled metals’. The cards I’m sharing today are based on this technique.
Begin the card by embossing some metal sheet to create the main card image. Paint the sheet with a coat of acrylic paint and allow to dry. Sand lightly to expose the metal.
Coat the piece with clear Versamark and emboss with clear powder.
I love the effect this technique gives – the embossed piece ends up with rich, deep colours that mimic enamelled metal.
For this card, I painted the embossed piece with a base coat of green paint and added dots of red to the berries.
Another time consuming technique but so easy to do assembly line style. If you use a large pattered image like this holly one it would be easy to create a large panel and trim to smaller shapes to make more than one card.
Buttons make it so easy to create quick, unique Christmas cards. Just paint a rough tree shape with some green paint, arrange some buttons on top and it is done!
Today I’d like to show you how to make a sweet triangular gift box using an A5 piece of pattered paper. The paper needs to be on the heavy side or you can use some cardstock that has been stamped and decorated. Any rectangular shaped paper will also work – just the size will vary.
Measure and mark the halfway point on each of the short ends.
Score from this halfway point to the centre fold on each of the four corners and fold into the centre.
Decorate the larger middle triangular sections.
Fold on the original centre fold, bringing all of the corners together. The folds will overlap and form a triangular box.
Punch a hole on each side, where the folded corners overlap.
Thread holes with gold cord and tie.
To make the bauble decoration, punch 12 circles approx. 1½” in diameter. Fold each in half and adhere halves together one at a time to form the bauble. Half way through the folding and gluing, add some fine cord so the bauble can be attached to the box.
These tiny boxes are perfect for hiding small treasures like jewellery and other tiny trinkets.
Today I’d like to show you a cool technique using Gelatos. The background for this card was made by first stamping cardstock with Darkroom Door Music background using Versamark ink and embossing with clear powder.
Scribble some red Gelato over the image and either rub with a finger or spread colour with a wet paint brush. For this one I added a touch of gold Perfect Pearls to the water to create a lovely shimmery effect.
Stamp three small trees using Darkroom Door Stitched Christmas and green ink and trim closely. Mount onto cardfront and add a tiny button as an accent. A Merry Christmas greeting finishes it off.
Hope this sweet card makes up for missing a day. Oops…
Purple Salt #2 