February's Zoom Fun!

Hi everyone.  Yesterday was the monthly Zoom call with my Crafty Friends. :)  We tried out a few more sponging techniques that everyone seemed to enjoy.  These are just two of the card samples I made for the call.

Starting with a technique from a recent Kristina Werner video.  Not sure what she calls this, but I would say it's like a sponging bleed through a stencil.  I have enjoyed trying bleeds from watercolouring, and this is similar in look.

Used a beautiful stencil (Festive from Tim Holtz), along with my blender brushes to add different colours of distress ink over the stencil (Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Forrest Green, Rustic Wilderness, Gathered Twigs, Chipped Sapphire).  With using the really small brushes to get into tight spaces, I didn't have to do any masking - bonus!

Removed stencil and then used the blender brushes to add a very soft "haze" over each of the stenciled images in the same colour ink.  This blending fills in most of the white space and softens the overall look.  LOVE IT!

Close-up ...

Added a few extra details such as white paint pen to add snow to the pinecones, holly, and leaves, crystal glaze to the berries; stamped the sentiment (Big Scripty Greetings Holiday - Simon Says Stamp) in Chipped Sapphire ink, heat embossing in clear.  I thought it didn't stand out enough, so used the small tip of the crystal glaze to draw over the sentiment.  To finish, I splattered "falling snow" using diluted white acrylic paint.

Entering this card into February's Merry Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas Goes.

Here's the second card I made ... can you tell I'm still happy to be making Christmas cards??!! :)

I'm really happy with how this turned out as well.  Used a stencil from Kaisercraft (Poinsettia), and the same technique as above.  Used a silver metallic pen to add dots to the centers of the poinsettias, and pencils to add veins to the poinsettias and holly.  Just adding little details makes a big difference.  I die-cut "noel" (from Memory Box - retired) from black card stock four times and layered them together with glue.  I covered the stack with Versamark and heat embossed with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) three times to get this beautiful, glossy finish.

Close-up ...

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.  I hope to post more sample cards soon, as well as the cards I made yesterday.

Stamps:  Big Scripty Greetings Holiday (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:   Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.); Night of Navy card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:   Distress Inks:  Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Forrest Green, Rustic Wilderness, Gathered Twigs, Chipped Sapphire (Tim Holtz)
Accessories:   Festive stencil (Tim Holtz); blending brushes, Posca white acrylic paint pen, Crystal Glaze (Nuvo), clear embossing powder, heat tool

Stamps:  None

Paper:   Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.); Black card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:   Distress Inks:  Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters (Tim Holtz); Versamark
Accessories: Poinsettia stencil (Kaisercraft); blending brushes, silver metallic pen (Pilot), watercolour pencils (Derwent), Noel die (Memory Box), UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), heat tool  

Challenges:

Merry Little Christmas - February Anything Christmas Goes