Hello and welcome to our last Joy of Sets Blog Hop for 2018. We decided to go out with a bang and do a Christmas one - what a surprise!
At Joy of Sets we don't just focus on Stampin Up but lots of other stamp companies receive our recognition and love. My card for today's hop therefore doesn't use Stampin Up stamps - just the ink and the papers.
I started with some Whisper White and added snow banks with some Soft Sky ink and a sponge. The trees are from Hero Arts Winter Scene and have been stamped with SU Wild Wasabi. The little robin is from Wild Rose and he has been coloured in with SU Watercolour Pencils. His hat has some Frosted Lace Stickles on the rim and the bobble to make it shine. He was cut out and popped up on dimensionals. The extra touches of snow have been added on with a white Signo gel pen. The sentiment is an old one I've had for years and is one of my very favourite Christmas sayings.
I hope you visit everyone on the blog and get lots of lovely inspiration for your Christmas cards this year. If you are on Facebook and would like to join Joy of Sets just follow the link at the top of my page. We have lots going on including swaps, monthly challenges, worldwide RAK's, blog hops and a great bunch of crafters always ready to help out.
I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all the participants of this Blog Hop and all the fabulous crafters we have on Joy of Sets. It was my small little group started in 2017 and it has grown to be over 3,000 members - it was exactly the right name to give the group also because it does bring me great Joy. So thank you all for being there in 2018 and here's to a crafty 2019!
I'm delighted to be offered the chance to be part of the Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog Design Team. I jumped straight in and was just in time to add my entry for this week's theme which is Sparkle and Glitz.
I used some Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up for the background as it looks like stars. I then used some silver paper as a backing and silver embossed stars on to some white card stock. The circles were cut out with Stampin Up Stitched Framelits in both silver and white. The scene in the inner circle is from Hero Arts Winter Scene stamps.
I used some of the same DSP as the background and sponged some ink over it. The trees have been silver embossed and the deer have been inked in Early Espresso and then covered in a Wink of Stella to give them a sparkle. The sentiment has also been silver embossed and comes from the same set. A shiny brad to match the backing paper is added to the sentiment. I've added two lots of Stampin Up ribbons to make it look as if it is a bauble.
I'm looking forward to seeing all your lovely sparkly creations and thank you for visiting my blog.
We have a sketch for you today over at Try Stampin On Tuesday
I turned the image around and went with a non Christmas card for my card. I've used the lovely SU stamp set Wetlands. The paper was run through an old crimping machine I have to give the effect of the water. Versamark was used on the cardstock to emboss it with the stamped image.
The tag is from an SU punch and there is a touch of sponging on the edges to soften it.
Wow - a non Christmas card from me today - I'll be getting withdrawal symptoms! My card is for two challenges - Watercooler Wednesday which is Anything Goes - Feminine and Double D Challenge which is Wishes.
Well it had to be SU's Dandelion Wishes for my card. I started off with some Whisper White and sponged it with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tattered Rose, darkening to Worn Lipstick with a touch of an old SU colour Rose Red. The dandelions were inked in Early Espresso and I used my Tim Holtz stamping platform so I could do multiple inking on the stems and the inside of the dandelions just to give them a touch of depth.
I layered it onto some Early Espresso card stock with an SU pearlized doily cut in half placed at the top and the bottom. I then used a white gel pen to add the stitching around the side. The card base is Stampin Up Pink Powder and the matching ribbon is Pink Powder sheen. Some SU embellishments finish off the card.
I'm an old traditionalist at heart and like nothing better at Christmas than red. It's actually one of my favourite colours anyway, that and green and I have a lot of red in my house. The challenge over at As You See It is red but with a twist - a card done in less than 10 minutes.
Even though my card has heat embossing and cold embossing I still managed to get it done under the 10 minutes.
This Santa Collage stamp is one of my all time favourite stamps at this time of the year. He's been embossed with red embossing powder. The holly embossing folder is an retired SU one. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado and is also an old stamp.
Sparkles Christmas Card Challenge #95 is also asking for embossing.
We have a colour challenge for you over at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week. I decided to have a play with Stampin Up's Dandelion Wishes as I haven't used this in a while and it makes a change from Christmas cards.
I don't have any Merry Merlot yet in my stash so I used the closest thing which is Cherry Cobbler. I used that as the card base with some Pumpkin Pie for layering. The background stamp is a very old one from Laura Ashley. - The words say "Find your inspiration anywhere roaming the English Countryside gathering wildflowers...." - a perfect backdrop for the Dandelions. I used Crushed Curry for the words and sponged the edges with Pumpkin Pie and stamped the dandelions in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
I added half a Pearlized Doily from SU which has been inked in Crushed Curry. I found some ribbon that looked very like Pumpkin Pie and added an old SU brad. The beauty of not being an SU demo any more is I can use all my old stash. Some Cherry Cobbler enamel dots finish off the card.
This is my last post for today - I seem to be on a roll for a Monday. I had this card done but realised I hadn't blogged about it yet and wanted to add it into the challenge for CAS Colours and Sketches #296 which was the following: a double challenge and although I didn't have the exact colours I made do with some alternate Stampin Up colours.
I've used a retired Stampin Up set here called Season of Joy - I just love this Christmas tree - the little presents are also very ld SU stamps from about 1990!! I used Cherry Cobbler, Wild Wasabi and Not Quite Navy for my colours with a some So Saffron card stock behind the Whisper White. The Christmas presents have a touch of Dazzling Diamonds on them and the twine is Old Olive.
The sentiment is not SU and is an old but favourite one of mine as it reminds me of one of my favourite films for the Festive season which is Meet Me In St Louis - I just love Judy Garland and this song in particular. Christmas Eve normally finds me having a few quite hours watching this again. Here I've embossed it with Silver Embossing Powder.
We have a great challenge for you over at Try Stampin on Tuesday for our Technique Challenge - Glitter, Glitter Glitter. Who doesn't love it - especially at Christmas time?
Kaylin has done a fab tutorial for you on adding glitter to your card - My way however was slightly different - mainly because I didn't have the paper she had. In my cupboard though, hidden at the back and not used for years I found some Stampin Up Heat and Stick powder. I must admit it's been so long since I used it I had to go on to you tube and find out how. And now when I realise how easy it is I'm surprised it lay in the cupboard so long.
I used some of the gorgeous papers from Kaisercraft Wonderland and the trees and house are all from Hero Arts Winter Scene stamp set. The greeting is also from Kaisercraft.
To make my snow glisten I first used a Versamark pad all over the paper. You then add the heat and stick powder and heat it up until it glistens - but don't over heat it or it will lose its stickiness. Then add your glitter or dazzling diamonds and I just reheated it gently again to make sure it sticks.
I hope you are inspired to get the glitter out - I'm looking forward to seeing what you do.
We are joining forces at Try Stampin' on Tuesday with Double Trouble challenge blog - this time it's a Tic Tac Toe challenge - I love these - they offer so many possibilities.
They've also given another twist - include anything on your project that hangs - stockings, garland, ornaments, lights, candles, etc.
I chose to do a Diorama card for mine. This is something I haven't done before. I chose to do the bottom line of Stamping, Red and Plaid.
The reindeer, dove and little Christmas stocking were all from the same little die set I had in my stash. The plaid paper is from current Stampin Up DSP and the sentiment is from an old SU set Winter Post. The beauty of this little card is that it still folds flat so you can post it!
Winter Wonderland. It's rare really in the UK that we get snow at Christmas time - Easter is sometimes when it usually comes but on the rare occasions it does it is magical. We spent a Christmas in Houston when we lived there in 2004 - took the children to the cinema to see Polar Express in the usual Houston warmth of a Christmas Eve. Can you imagine our delight and astonishment when we came out of the cinema and it was snowing!!!! It was truly magical and one of our best Christmases ever.
My card today is a one layer card for Addicted to CAS challenge - I used sponging to create the snow effect and masked off the moon to give it a wintery glow. I hope there is enough white space for the challenge! The stamps I've used are from a set from Little Hero which is called Winter Scene. There is a touch of glitter just to make it sparkle a little.
I have a lot of Christmas cards to send out for my Joy of Sets members all over the world so one layer cards are just what I need to save a little on postage. This is going to be one of my favourites I think.
A big thank you to CAS Colours and Sketches who chose my little robin card this week as one of their winners.
The challenge over at CASE this Sketch #CTS295is the following
I had some cute little robin stamps that I hadn't used much and thought they would look good as a CAS card. This card is seriously CAS for me and I find it quite scary! I'm always a bit unsure as I often see CAS cards with lots of product on them and I always think they have to be lots of white space.
I used some Stampin Up Real Red ink and some of their retired Baker's Twine with Real Red card stock as the base! Gulp - that's it!
Another Christmas card from me today for a number of challenges listed below.
I started off with a piece of white card stock and masked off some snowflakes from Stampin Up's Seasonal Thinlets. To get the large border I actually used the thinlets themselves. I then used two Tim Holtz Distress Inks for the background - Tumbled Glass and Weathered Wood. I then used the actual cut outs of the snowflakes, put them back over the masked image and reinked to make the snowflakes pop.
The tree is from Stampin Up Winter Woods and was also masked . The deer and the sentiment is from Hero Arts Winter Scene. I embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder and added some embossed snowflakes. There is Wink of Stella on the tree to make it shine.
I'm including this in the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps their challenge is Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday - Anything Goes
Make My Monday - Stencil
Sparkles Christmas Challenge - Embossing
52 Christmas Card Countdown - Masking
