Copic marker-colored Christmas cards

It’s been some time since I made a post, almost half a year in fact. My time flies! Life has been eventful in many good ways and I’m looking forward to sharing with you all many of my creations these past few months.

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But first off, I’d like display some of the Christmas cards I’d made for my friends and family this past Christmas. Copic colouring has become a new hobby of mine and because they’re so pricey, I managed to snag a few cheaper knock off alcohol markers on Aliexpress. I’ll put up a blog post about that soon but from my initial foray into alcohol markers, they seem to work quite well!

I wanted a cute and wintery theme for my cards so I used my Hampton Art Stamp and Die set – Penguins.

In order to use this die you need to have a Sizzix or cuttlebug die-cutting machine.

I stamped the image of the penguins using Memento in Tuxedo black by Tsukineko which is one of the best dye inks for alcohol marker coloring. After coloring the penguins, I cut them out using the penguin die.

To decorate the cards I used a few different kinds of backgrounds, here are a few:

1. staggered snow fields. I used foam dots to create dimension on the snow fields. I used a blue cardstock as the background and stamped white snow flakes .

2.  A fat ornament on an embossed background. I purposely made the ornament enormous so that it would take up half the card. I cut the ornaments out using my silhouette cameo to the size I wanted. Finally I decorated the ornaments with rhinestones or ribbons.

Finally I used a banner with a white embossed greeting and attached the penguins with a foam dot to make it 3D.

I loved the rhinestone-embellished ornament so much that I made card featuring just the ornament on an embossed background!

Well that’s it I hope you enjoyed these cards and stay tuned for more!

 

 

Vintage Paris Card

I was looking through my old cards and came across a few of my favourite ones that I never got a chance to share. So I thought I’d share them here today.

I am exceedingly fond of vintage cards and scrapbooking ideas and there’s no one who does this better than Tim Holtz. So using his stamp set “I see Paris” by Stampers Anonymous, I created a set of cards as gifts for my friends. I’m sad to say that I actually don’t have a physical copy of any of the cards I make because I give them away to friends for birthdays and gifts. But I feel that creativity should be shared and not hoarded for oneself. So when I think about how happy my friend will be to receive a card from me, it really inspires me to create for them.

So here is a card I made for my friend who have always wanted to visit Paris but never got the chance to. So to encourage and motivate them to realize their dreams, I gave them this card:

I embossed a piece of black cardstock with Tim Holtz’s splatter embossing folder…I couldn’t find the name of this one, I don’t remember it and I couldn’t find it when I searched for it. But on the sizzix website, they have a new texture fade splatter set. That one will likely work too. But if you find out the name, please let me know!

I went over the raised parts with a brush dipped in gold acrylic paint.

I was really into mixed media back in the day.

Using my Silhouette Cameo, I cut out a shape of the Eiffel Tower and embossed it using one of Tim Holtz’s grid emobssing folders and then I went over the raised parts with gold acrylic paint. 

To give the Carte Postale (post card) a vintage look, I tore the corners and distressed with a combination of vintage photo and walnut stain. I then brushed the top with a layer of clear crackle paint so that when it dried, it would have that lovely vintage cracked look.

To finish everything off, I embellished the card with flower punch outs and I used like blue pearls in the centre to accent.

So I hope you enjoyed looking at this project as much as I enjoyed making it.

Until next time!

Romantic Vintage Valentine’s Card with Textured Embossing

With valentine’s day just around the corner, I wanted to share my most recent card creation with you all. I bought some gesso a while ago and I hadn’t really had a good chance to use it so I decided to use it in this card.

I’ve titled this card Romantic Fairytale Dream, doesn’t it look like a fairytale from a little girl’s dream? When I was much younger, I used to dream about what it would be like to be a fairy tale princess, to rule over all the land, protect my people and save prince charming. Yes, I know it’s typically the other way around, but I had a lot of strong females as my role models growing up. Us girls can take care of ourselves, and then some.

I started out with a 5 x 4.5 inch white sheet cardstock which I embossed using a sizzix embossing folder. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the folder but it has diamonds with vintage damasks within each diamond.
To make the damask image really pop, I sprayed a sponge with glimmer mist and gently rubbed the sponge across the surface so that it only stains the raised parts of the embossed image.

 

To mask the border because I felt it looked a little strange that it was just empty space, I used gesso, or otherwise known as embossing paste, all around the edge and merging partly into the embossed image. Using my fingertips I dabbed with an up and down motion to give the paste some texture. Embossing paste typically takes a few hours to dry completely depending on how much was used. If it’s a really thick layer, I’d wait until overnight which I did in this case. It wasn’t a particularly thick layer but it I just wanted to be sure.

I proceeded to make my centrepiece now that the background was complete. Using a piece of pink vellum, I cut out a circular shape with rounded border using a Spellbinders die. I then used a carriage stamp to stamp and emboss the vellum with Versamark and champagne coloured embossing powder.

*note: Vellum is really delicate and it’s really easy to over heat and warp the vellum. Don’t put the heat tool too close to the vellum and switch from heating the front to the back frequently.

Using my Crop-a-Dile, I applied eyelets to the top and bottom of the vellum and threaded pink ribbon to attach the vellum circle to the card. I made a bow with the flapping ends of the ribbon at the top of the eyelet.

Using a Tim Holtz crown stamp, I stamped using gold ink on kraft cardstock. I fussy cut out the crown and applied it to the edge of the fancy embossed carriage.

I then stamped a rounded rectangle with the words “Dream” and applied that to the corner of the vellum circle using 3D foam dots. Then I used gesso to go over the edges of the sentiment piece. Finally using Liquid Pearls in Platinum I made little droplets on every other circle in the border. Then I let everything dry overnight.

So there you have it, a fancy vintage valentine’s card. Reminds me of a fairy tale of princes and princesses riding in pumpkin carriages, being carried to their magical destiny.  

 

So there you have it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this card as much as I’ve enjoyed making it. Hope that this Valentine’s day, you can spend it with someone you love, whether that be your beautiful self or with someone who’s dear and special to your heart.

XOXO~

Scary Halloween Invite beckons my ghoulish presence

My BFF, Alice, who’s also an avid scrapper, sent me this gorgeous scary invitation to a halloween party. I was so pleased and amazed at the detail and work she put into it that I just had to showcase it here and show everyone else.

She picked up all the supplies from Michaels. Using a stamp with diamonds she made the background of the envelope and then embossed it. The invitation itself was stamped with different colours and then also embossed.

She even made a few red paint splatters on the front of the envelope to make it look like someone’s blood spilled on it while she was busy working away. Very creepy indeed…I love it!

Calendar Style Birthday Card

I made this card for my BFF a few months back for her birthday but just got around to uploading it. Sorry for being MIA for a while, my studies have been so super busy! I went away to present my research at a conference and although it was probably one of the best experiences of my life, it also left me very little free time for a while.

But I’m back in the game and super excited to share with you all my most recent creations, starting with the least recent haha!

I really wanted to showcase when my BFF’s birthday was which is the 29th of December so I printed out, stained and distressed a calendar that I found online.

I used some glimmer mist in Rouge and Cork using my technique on how to prevent paper from wrinkling after soaking it in wet media and letting it dry. You can find that tutorial here.

Once it dried, I stamped some swirls using Versamark and transparent embossing powder. You can see the glimmer mist underneath of it that way.

Then I just finished up the card by adding a gemstone over the top of the 29th of December because that’s the date of her birthday. And then I just embellished with a flower (I don’t remember what it’s called, an accordion flower? Somebody help!) I cut out with my Silhouette Cameo, but you can also use a Tim Holtz die to do that.

I mounted the calendar onto another piece of cardstock which I punched with a Martha Stewart doily punch just on one edge and then distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. 

Finally I mounted everything onto a card with a pretty pink background I dug out from my scraps stash from DCWV Garden Tea Party Stack.

Share your comments below!

Ribbon Card – Christmas style

So I have a whole bunch of scrap ribbons that I always feel too attached to to throw out. Plus it’s such a waste and ribbon is not cheap!

Sometimes, when I’m working on a project and there’s just a little bit that I need to snip off except that it’s not long enough for a new project…I would save it in a small zip-lock bag and then create a card like this!

just snip little V’s into the ends of each piece of ribbon. It’s actually better if the pieces of ribbon are different in lengths. Then just put together a few pieces of ribbons that seem to match together.

Use double-sided tape or an ATG gun to glue down the ribbon because wet glue will seep through the fabric of the ribbons and show through.

Here I’ve made a Christmas style one using scraps of Christmas-colored ribbon from other projects.

Then I used a spellbinders frame die and my sizzix big shot to cut out half a frame to use as a border and put a Christmas sentiment on it.

That’s it! So simple and fast! I think i finished this card in about 15 minutes! The hard part was cutting the ribbon by hand haha~

Christmas Card Tutorial: Peace Love Joy

Today’s tutorial brings in elements of Christmas that really represent the holiday season. Everyone looks forward to reuniting with families and celebrating together, whether for religious reasons or simply to celebrate bring together over lots of turkey and pumpkin pie~ mmm yumm!

But sometimes these things are obscured by the glitz, the glam and bright lights. Which are beautiful but I wanted to look a little deeper past the surface at the joy, peace and love that give Christmas real meaning.

Thus I created this card which features a translucent centre piece with underlying embossing underneath.

So for this card, you’ll need the following materials:

1. One 4 x 5.5 inch card in white

2. One sheet of coloured vellum 4.5 x 5.5 inches

3. Crop-a-dile or other hole punch

4. Holiday sentiment stamp

5. Versamark stamp pad

6. Heat tool

7. Champagne embossing powder

8. EK success embossing white powder to avoid nonspecific embossing powder from sticking to the paper (optional)

9. Champagne or gold ribbon 22 inches

10. Christmas-themed embossing folder, I’m using a pointsetta-themed embossing folder. I liked the pattern.

11. Die-cutting machine, I’m using a sizzix big shot

12. Quick-dry glue, I’m using Tombow mono-multi glue

13. Spellbinders Nestabilities in Romantic Rectangles, largest die in the set

Instructions:

1. Emboss the front of the card but only emboss the card 3/4 of the way from the bottom up.

2. Cut the vellum with the Spellbinders die so that it is 5 and 1/8 x 4 inches. This is much shorter than size of the actual die but i needed it to be shorter because otherwise it won’t fit the card! I can post a tutorial on how to do this if anyone needs it.

3. Use the EK success powder tool and run brush all over the front of the vellum to deposit powder to prevent loose embossing powder from sticking to non-stamped regions of the vellum.

4. Ink up the stamp with Versamark embossing stamp pad and stamp the centre of the vellum. Immediately sprinkle champagne embossing powder over the the stamped area and shake off the excess. Use the heat tool to melt the embossing powder.

5. Put drops of wet glue such as Tombow Mono Multi Glue on the back of the vellum on areas where there was stamping/embossing. This is so that when you glue it down to the front of the card, you won’t be able to see the drops of glue since the vellum is see-through. Then glue the vellum to the front centre of the card.

6. Punch 2 holes, 3/4 inch from the top and bottom of the card and half an inch from the left fold of the card. Run the ribbon through the back of the card and through the 2 holes so that the two ends of the ribbon come out through the front. Tie a bow along running from top to bottom of the card. Dab a small dot of glue under the ribbon so that the ribbon doesn’t flop around.

And that’s it! A very simple and easy card that can be whipped together in a half an hour!

Any questions? Post a comment below! And don’t forget to check out my Facebook page for more ideas and inspiration (link on the top right hand corner).

Sparkly Layered Snowflake Card

This week’s card tutorial brings a fusion of sparkly elegance and vintage chic. I really wanted to do something with layered snowflakes because they are just so lovely layered up with different shapes and sizes. My Silhouette Cameo came in so handy for this because I could pick and choose a variety of different snowflake shapes, resize them however I want to and bam! A layered snowflake haha!

I’ve been taking advantage of my scraps of white and mint cardstock to make my snow flakes.

This snowflake card has 2 different types of embossing, the card background with a sizzix embossing folder and heat embossing for the “Merry Christmas” tag.

The supplies are as follows:

1. One 4.25 x 5 inch card in white with envelope

2. 3x snowflakes of varying sizes cut from scrap white and mint green cardstock. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut mine which I purchased from the Silhouette store and edited the size and shapes to suit my needs. If you need help with this step, please don’t hesitate to contact me for details. Also, you can always download a few snowflakes and print them on cardstock, then cut them by hand. But if you don’t have a cameo, I highly suggest you add that to your wishlist. Honestly the best machine I’ve ever owned! And hope to own again and again and again!

4. Stamp pads: VersaMark embossing stamp pad and a silver metallic stamp pad

5. Stickles in Star Dust

6. Ultrafine Gold Crystal Glitter

7. “Merry Christmas” stamp and acrylic block if needed

8. Snowflake stamp

9. Make-up sponge

10. Die-cut machine christmas themed embossing folder, I’m using the Sizzix Swirls Ribbons and Snowflakes

11. Ranger Sticky embossing powder

12. Heat Tool

13. Bejewelled brad

14. Hole punch

15. Quick-dry wet glue

16. Foam dots

Instructions

1. Cut a 9.5 x 5 inch card out of white cardstock. Score it down the centre at 4.25 inches. Then place the front flap of the card in the embossing folder, fold the back half around the back of the embossing folder and then run it through your die-cut machine.

2. Take the make-up sponge and ink up the sponge with the silver metallic stamp pad. Gently rub the sponge across the raised embossed front surface of the card. This gives the the front of the card a silvery and wintery sheen and also makes the embossing really pop!

3. Cut out the 3 snowflakes of different sizes. Use a different shade of cardstock for the middle snowflake, like a mint green or baby blue. Decide how you are going to layer the snowflakes on the card. Punch a hole through the centre of each snowflake.

4. Take the snowflake that is going to be the top-most layer. Use the versamark stamp pad and ink the entire surface of the card. Generously sprinkle the Ranger sticky embossing powder over it. Gently tap off the excess. Use the heat tool to heat the powder and then immediately sprinkle white glitter over it. I used Crystal Glitter in Gold which is really just a white colour. Tap the back gently to release loose glitter. I accidentally overheated my sticky embossing powder and it left a burned reddish colour. I tried to cover it with the gltter but it still showed through…which is fine because the reddish colour adds to the vintage effect so it actually worked out for the best!

5. Take the middle layer snowflake and place it on a piece of scrap paper. Ink up the snowflake stamp with silver metallic ink and stamp it randomly over the front of the snowflake. The design won’t show up really well but it looks really cool and shimmery with the silver stamping. Don’t worry about being neat or using the same consistency of colour. Sloppy stamping will actually enhance the vintage effect.

6. Use Ranger stickles, put dots of glitter glue all over the snowflake. Set the snowflake aside to dry for at least 15 mins. You can blast it with your heat tool after the first 5 mins if you want to speed up the drying process. But it won’t look as lovely as letting it dry naturally.

7. Cut a half inch-wide strip of scrap blue cardstock in green. Cut the length to the length of your “Merry Christmas” expression stamp plus an extra half inch. Stamp the Merry Christmas expression with versamark on the little blue tag and sprinkle silver embossing powder over it. Then melt the powder with the heat tool. Snip the corners of the tag with a “V” shape. See picture below if this doesn’t make sense. Punch a hole in the opposite end of the tag.

Layer the green tag and snowflakes as follows starting with the top-most snowflake: top glittered snowflake, blue tag, middle green snowflake, bottom-most white snowflake. Take the top layer snowflake, blue tag and the middle snowflake and glue them together with dots of wet glue making sure to match the punched holes. Then put foam dots on the back of the middle green snowflake, avoiding the punched hole, and then adhere that to the bottom-most snowflake making sure to match the punched holes of the snowflakes.

8. Use the wet glue and adhere the layered snowflake to the embossed white card halfway down the card and to the left towards the folded edge. And then you’re done! Easy peasy!

And that’s it, a great way to use white and green scraps from other Christmas projects, or if you’re like me and can’t bear to part with scraps, then perhaps scraps from last year lol!

Hopefully you have as much fun making this card as I have and I would love to see your layered snowflake cards as well!!!

As always, if you liked this tutorial, please like my facebook page located on the top right hand side of this page.

Up next week, I’ve been meaning to do something with ribbons so look forward to a ribbon card project!