Season's Greetings

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing a CAS (Clean and Simple) Christmas card.

I started by heat embossing the poinsettia in liquid platinum onto vellum.  I used red ink and a water brush to watercolour the flower, fussy-cut, then adhered it to my card front with some glue in the center only, leaving the petals free to add some dimension.   I heat embossed a sentiment in the same embossing powder and then rounded the top corner to finish the card.  Quick and easy CAS card. :)

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Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season.  Thanks to all that take time to visit my blog.  And a special thank you to those that spend time leaving me comments of support ... it means so much.

I'll be back just after Christmas.  See you soon.  Merry Christmas!

Stamps:  Warm Wishes (poinsettia) and Brush Pines (sentiment) both from Penny Black
Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Vellum
Ink:  Real Red (SU!); Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Liquid Platinum embossing powder (Ranger), heat tool, waterbrush, corner rounder (We R Memory Keepers)

Sponged Snowflakes

I'm sharing a simple Christmas card I made with a smooshed Inka Gold background, with sponging over top of a snowflake stencil in silver ink. Super easy card.  It's hard to capture the shine on the silver snowflake in a photo ... it look more gray here, but it is silver, shiny and very pretty.  I added a simple sentiment banner, stamped in the same silver ink to tie everything together.

I made a "stepped-up" version of the card above.

Used another smooshed Inka Gold background from my stash ... this one has a bit more colour to it.  Sponged over the same snowflake stencil with silver ink, but also added a layer of glass bead gel over top.  The glass beads really sparkle and add lots of texture as well.

Stamps:  Christmas Sampler (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  White (Neenah 110 lb.); Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Silver (Delicata)
Accessories & Tools:  Inka Gold in blue, silver and gold, water mister, snowflake stencil (cut with my Silhouette Cameo), and sponge, Glass Bead Gel (Golden)

Watercolouring with Re-inkers

Hi everyone.  We're already over half way through December.  Just a reminder about the CAS Watercolour's December Challenge this month ...

I've had this background stamp for AGES but think it's the first time being inked up. Always good to use a NBUS item (a la Darnell). :)

I actually removed it from the wood base that it came with and added a cling sponge base so I could use it in my Misti.  The thing about intricate background stamps (or large stamps) is that they don't always ink evenly.  I think it helped.  Still a few little bare spots, but looks good.

I stamped this onto mixed media paper with versamark ink and heat embossed with white.  Once cool, I lightly sprayed with water.  Three small random dots each of Ripe Persimmon re-inker and Picked Raspberry re-inker were added over top, then misted with more water until the colours flowed.  I let it air dry and then cut down my panel.  It's a busy pattern, so I opted to leave it plain, just adding a simple die-cut sentiment.

Check out the other Design Team Reminder cards, along with our Guest Designer Deepti by clicking HERE.

I hope you come play along at our challenge.  Create a CAS card using the Watercolour Resist technique and then enter your card in the linky.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by.

Stamps:  Swirly Background (Inkadinkado)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb. card stock); Main panel:  Mixed media paper (Strathmore 140 lb.); Black (SU!)
Ink:  Ripe Persimmon and Picked Raspberry re-inkers (Tim Holtz); Delicata Silver
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder, heat tool

Challenges:
CAS Watercolour December Challenge - Watercolour Resist

Faux Mother-of-Pearl Stenciling

Today's card is a reminder of the CAS Mix Up December Challenge - Sponging.  We are already half way through the month of December and have wonderful entries into the challenge.  Come join us!

I'm sharing a card using sponging with the Faux Mother-of-Pearl technique.  Click here to see my video tutorial on this fun and easy technique.

Most of the time, I use Faux Mother-of-Pearl as a background, and sometimes I use it to die-cut embellishments.  This is my first time using it through a stencil.  I'm so happy with how it turned out.  I used a beautiful flower stencil that was a gift from my dear friend Bonnie.

I placed the stencil over my card front, taping it down to hold everything in place.  A piece of scrunched up cling wrap was pounced it into a small drop of frost pearl paint.  It's important to pounce several times to get the paint worked into your cling wrap.  This makes sure you don't end up with big globs of paint.  I lightly dabbed it randomly over the stencil, removed the stencil, and cleaned off the excess paint right away.  Once dry, placed the stencil back over top of my card front and sponged on three colours of distress inks (Wilted Violet, Shabby Shutters, and Peeled Paint).  I added a simple stamped sentiment and a popped up stitched, die-cut frame.

The Faux Mother-of-Pearl gives such lovely sparkle to the flower.

My CAS Mix Up card has stamping, sponging, Faux Mother-of-Pearl technique, stenciling, and die-cuts.

Click HERE to check out the beautiful reminder cards from our design team.

The challenge is open until Dec. 24th so there's still lots of time to play along.  Hope to see you in the gallery! :)



Stamps:  Sentiment - Where the Heart is (Simon Says)
Paper:  White (Neenah 110 lb. card stock)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Wilted Violet, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint (Tim Holtz); Black (Memento)
Accessories & Tools:  Lovely Large Flower stencil (Studio 490 - Wendy Vecchi), cling wrap, Frost White Paint (Tsukineko), sponges, Stitched Rectangular Frame dies (Lil' Inkers)

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up December Challenge - Sponging

Smiley Snowman

Hi everyone.  Sharing another Christmas card.  This one uses a digital image of a sweet snowman ... he makes me smile! :)

I printed him onto white card stock and fussy cut.  Zig markers were used to colour in his nose and scarf.  A bit of detailing was added to the scarf with a white gel pen.

For the background, embossing paste was spread over a snowfall stencil, then sprinkled with iridescent embossing powder.  Once everything was dry, the embossing powder was heat set.  I love the sparkle.  Two torn snowbanks were added at the bottom, along with a simple stamped sentiment.

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On a personal note.  Sorry I haven't been around as much lately sharing cards.  I mentioned a while ago that my radiation treatments will be starting in January, but they were moved up and I'm in the middle of them now.  Should hopefully be finished my last treatment on Dec. 23.  It will be a wonderful Christmas present to have all my treatments done. :)

I have more scheduled posts that will be going up on my blog over the next few weeks, so you'll be hearing from me again soon.

Stamps:  Smiley Snowman (Sweet 'N Sassy); Snowman Sayings (Amy R)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Gumball Green, Zigs (Green and two shades of Orange)
Accessories & Tools:  Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says), embossing paste (Dreamweaver), "Ice" iridescent embossing powder (SU!), heat tool, white gel pen

CAS Watercolour December Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of the CAS Watercolour December Challenge.  This month, the challenge is ...

I used heat embossing as my resist, using a Christmas text background stamp done in white.  I made a large piece (6" x 9").  Then I sprinkled a couple of colours of green Brushos just on part of the background, spritzed with water and let it dry. Then I added in some red Brushos in the spots that didn't have green, spritzed with more water, and blotted here and there with a paper towel.  It turned out pretty well, but very light, so I repeated my steps to add more depth of colour.

I cut the watercoloured sheet into four and made multiples of the same design. Great way to quickly grow your stash of Christmas cards.

The holly and pine sprigs is a die-cut, which was sponged around the edge with the same colour of ink as the paper, just to give it some shading.  The "berries" were made with a paper hole punch, sponged with a little red, and a white dot added with a gel pen.  Then it was all glued together and placed over top of the text background.

We are happy to have Deepti (Dee's Art Utopia) as our Guest Designer this month at CAS Watercolour.  Deepti was the winner of our very first challenge - Autumn with this GORGEOUS CARD! Welcome to the team!!

Please click HERE to check out the Design Team's beautiful cards.

And then come join the fun.  Create a CAS (Clean and Simple) card using Watercolour Resist and then join the challenge.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Edited:  I'm entering this into the STAMPlorations CAS Challenge for December - Red & Green.  Thanks Harriet!

Stamps:  Christmas Story (Penny Black); Christmas Messages (Hero Arts)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb.); Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Brushos:  Lime Green, Leaf Green, Scarlet; Versamark; Distress Inks:  Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder, heat tool, water mister, Blissful Bundle die-cut (Memory Box), paper hole punch, sponges, white gel pen

Challenges:
CAS Watercolour December Challenge - Watercolour Resist

CAS Mix Up December Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of the CAS Mix Up December Challenge - Sponging.

For my card, I heat embossed several flowers and leaves from Altenew in white on regular white card stock.  I used sponge daubers to add colour and then fussy-cut all the pieces.  I arranged them over top of my dark gray sentiment banner.  A really easy and fun way to add sponging to your cards.

This CAS Mix Up card has stamping, heat embossing, sponging, and fussy-cutting.

We are excited to welcome Maura as our Guest Designer this month.  Maura won the CAS Mix Up October Challenge - Ghosting with this AMAZING CARD. Welcome to the team!

Check out our December challenge to see the rest of the Design Team's CAS (Clean and Simple) Sponged cards.

Come join us for the challenge!

Thanks for dropping by for a visit!

Stamps:  Bamboo Rose (Altenew);
Paper:  White (Neenah 110 lb.); Basic Gray (SU!)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder, heat tool

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up December Challenge - Sponging

Twelve Tags of Christmas Wrap-Up

Hi everyone.  Today I'm announcing the winners of the Twelve Tags of Christmas event as picked by our independent judge.  I am thrilled to say that there were 100 entries this year --- AWESOME!

I was so impressed by all the beautiful and unique designs.  I enjoyed visiting each and every entry to find out how you made your tags.  Thanks for sharing your creativity with all of us!

Meet the Judge

Jeremy with Violeta

If you've been involved in either of the other two year's of my tag events, you'll know that I ask my youngest son, Jeremy to judge the tags and come up with the top picks.  Jeremy has a degree in Visual Arts and a Master of Arts Education.  Here's a few words from Jeremy about this year's tag event.

"The third annual "Twelve Tags of Christmas" event, hosted by my Mom, was a resounding success!  Viewing the tags one by one, I was delighted and inspired by the skill and artistry of all the entries.  As well, I enjoyed seeing contribution from the younger generation, as Emily and Ryan showcased their budding creativity in two unique designs.

It is my privilege to announce the top five designs for 2016 "Twelve Tags of Christmas" event." --Jeremy

Winning Tag

#46 Nancy S

CONGRATULATIONS to Nancy S. for the winning design.  Nancy's tag is, in a word, stunning.  The elegant gold accents blend seamlessly with the rich, warm tones of the sophisticated background.  Furthermore, the opalescent ornament is the ultimate jewel of glamour.  This design embraces the magic of light of the holiday season -- even without a holiday sentiment.   -- Jeremy

Congrats Nancy!
Please make sure to grab your badge.

Top Four Tags

(in order of entry)

#18 Bobby

#41 Sarah

#62 Linda

#97 Nancy L.

"Congratulations to Bobby, Sarah, Linda and Nancy who receive top tag mentions for their exceptional designs.  Each tag has a notable point of view and a unique aesthetic."  -- Jeremy

Congrats Bobby, Sarah, Linda and Nancy.
Please make sure to grab your badge.

Honourable Mentions

An InLinkz Link-up

There's so much inspiration in this year's gallery (and past years as well).  Check out the Pinterest Boards by clicking the links below.

2016 Twelve Tags of Christmas

2015 Twelve Tags of Christmas

2014 Twelve Tags of Christmas

Thanks to everyone that played along or left comments of support.  I hope you've enjoyed the third edition of the Twelve Tags of Christmas.

Guest Designer at Tag You're It!

Hi everyone.  Today I'm excited to be the Featured Artist for Tag You're It!  Thanks to Tracey and team for asking me!

Since Christmas is only a month away, I thought I'd make a Christmas tag.  I love to put handmade tags on my gifts.

The challenge is to CASE my tag (copy and share everything).  You can copy it all, or just pick parts of it that inspire you.

There's lots to work with ... the bright lime green, turquoise and white colour combo; the sponged (Northern Lights style) background with splattering; a snow scene with snow banks and snow covered trees.  The choice is yours.  I hope you'll come play along at Tag You're It! and CASE my tag.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stamps:  Season's gifts (Penny Black)
Paper:  White (Neenah 110 lb card stock)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Stitched tag die (Lil' Inkers), sponges, white acrylic paint, paint brush for splattering, Fir Trees die (Impression Obsession), Snow writer, Dazzling Diamonds glitter (SU!), Crinkle Ribbon (Tim Holtz), water mister

Challenges:
Tag You're It! #61

Live Creatively

Hi everyone.  Just a reminder the challenge at CAS Watercolour for November is TEXT (other than a sentiment).

(other than a sentiment)

Having more fun playing with Brushos.  This is a technique I tried when I had a play day in my studio with my friends, Susan and Christine.  The technique combines Brushos with spray starch and cling wrap.

First I sprayed a piece of mixed media paper with spray starch.  Then I sprinkled with Brushos Colour Crystals.  The starch seems to hold them in suspension.  I took a piece of cling wrap and placed it over top, scrunching up the wrap as I put it over the Brushos.  Then I left it for about 1/2 hour to dry.  The colours tend to pool in the creases of the cling wrap.  When I removed the wrap, this is the design I got.  Love it!!  So artsy!  The panel was still a little wet, so left it to dry completely before heat embossing this awesome text stamp that I've had for ages.  My sentiment is on the inside of the card.

There are lots of fantastic cards in the gallery of the challenge already.  Why not check them out and come join in the fun.  Make a CAS (Clean and Simple) Watercoloured card with TEXT (other than sentiment) and play along.  The challenge is open until end of day Nov. 24th.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Live Creatively (Stampendous)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb.); Mixed Media paper (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Brushos:  Ultra Marine, Turquoise, Leaf Green; Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Spray Starch, Cling Wrap, White embossing powder, heat tool

Challenges:
CAS Watercolour November Challenge - Text

Stencil Masking

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing another way to mask, which is CAS Mix Up's November challenge.

This time I'm masking a stencil.  This can stretch the use of your stencils and you will get a lot more mileage from them.  To see what the full stencil looks like, click HERE to see a card I made a few months back.

I used a yellow watercolour spray to add a bit of texture for the background.  I wanted to use this flower stencil, but it is large and has five flowers on it.  So I masked off three of the flowers and just used two.  I sponged the flowers with three shades of distress inks and the stems with one.  Then I used my scissors to distress the edges of my main panel.  My CAS Mix Up card has stamping, masking, stenciling, sponging, and distressing. :)

There are lots of ways to mask, and I hope you'll make a CAS Masked mixed media card and join our challenge!

Stamps:  Chit Chat (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Distress Inks: Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Yellow watercolour spray made from Liquid Watercolor Concentrate (Dick Blick), Bloom Group Stencil (cut with my Silhouette Cameo), sponges

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up November Challenge - Masking

Day Twelve - Twelve Tags of Christmas

Welcome to Day Twelve!
It's been a great event again this year.  Thanks to everyone who played along or left messages of support!!

The rules and dates for this event are listed in the right sidebar.

Loll

Techniques:  Shaving Cream Marbling, Heat Embossing

Products:  Shaving cream, Distress Inks:  Peeled Paint, Peacock Feathers (Tim Holtz).  Die:  Pine Trees (Tim Holtz) and Snow Hills (My Favorite Things), silver paper.  Season's Gifts stamp set (Penny Black), silver embossing powder, heat tool.  Crinkle ribbon dyed with Peacock Feathers ink.


Linda Walmsley
Guest Designer

Please check out Linda's blog to see a full description of how the above tag was made.

2016 Twelve Tags of Christmas Event Pinterest Board

(Click on link above)

Come join the fun!  Enter your mixed media Christmas Tag below.  The linky will remain open for another week, closing at end of day Nov.25th, so there's still lots of time to play along.

Thanks to my amazingly creative Guest Designers for providing so much wonderful inspiration, and to all the challenge participants for playing along.

The top tags will be announced on Nov. 30th.

An InLinkz Link-up

Day Eleven - Twelve Tags of Christmas

Welcome to Day Eleven!

The rules and dates for this event are listed in the right sidebar.

Loll

Techniques:  Stenciling with Embossing Paste and Heat embossing

Products:  White embossing paste (Dreamweaver), Festive Stencil (Tim Holz), Gold Tinsel embossing powder (Ranger), heat tool.  Wreath made from mini, red glitter styrofoam balls glued to a ring of cardstock.  Warmth & Wonder stamp set (SU!), gold embossing powder, heat tool.  Gold sheer ribbon.



Tanja Kabel (Little Art Cottage)
Guest Designer

Please check out Tanja's blog to see a full description of how the above tag was made.

2016 Twelve Tags of Christmas Event Pinterest Board

(Click on link above)

Come join the fun!  Enter your mixed media Christmas Tag in the linky below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Day Ten - Twelve Tags of Christmas

Welcome to Day Ten!

The rules and dates for this event are listed in the right sidebar.

Loll

Techniques:  Emboss Resist background with Brushos.  Stenciling with
Glass Bead Gel.  Torn edge.

Products:  Christmas Story background stamp (Penny Black), white embossing powder, heat tool.  Brushos: turquoise, ultra marine.  Glass bead gel (Golden), Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says).  Dies: Leap of Joy (Penny Black) and Frosty Border (Memory Box).  Crinkle ribbon dyed with Brushos.



Christine Alexander
Guest Designer

Please check out Christine's blog to see a full description of how the above tag was made.

2016 Twelve Tags of Christmas Event Pinterest Board

(Click on link above)

Come join the fun!  Enter your mixed media Christmas Tag in the linky below.

An InLinkz Link-up