Monday, December 25, 2017

Gnome for the Holidays

As you may know, one of the things that I like almost as much as I like cats, is a good pun. I also like gnomes, which means that I find it amusing to create cards that feature good/bad gnome puns.

Here's this year's groaner, which features the Garden Gnome* and Garden Home stamps (both by Stampendous). 


Garden Gnome was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento (Imagine Crafts) ink, colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, and edged with a black marker. White spots were added to the mushroom with a White Gelly Roll pen (Sakura). The Garden Gnome was set aside while I created a background for him. I kept him amused by singing Christmas carols to him.

The Garden Home was stamped twice. Once onto Neenah cardstock and once onto Eclipse Tape, which was fussy-cut and placed over its counterpart on the white cardstock. Post-It Notes were placed along the base of the image, the the panel was airbrushed using B91 and C2 Copic markers.

The mask was lifted and the Garden Home was colored with Copic markers. When I was done, a few dots of Red Stardust Glitter pen (Sakura) were added to the trees and shrubbery. The image panel was trimmed, matted with red cardstock, then adhered to a piece of very old Christmas-themed patterned paper from the Yuletide Mat Pad (K&Company). The Garden Gnome was adhered to the card front.

A piece of off-white vellum was die-cut with one of the dies from the Dimensional Banners die set (Die-namics). Red Simply Sweet rub-ons were used to add the sentiment to the banner, which was folded, then adhered to the card front. The card front was adhered to a red card and I declared victory!

*Garden Gnome might be retired, but I was easily able to find it for sale online.

Merry Christmas. If you're traveling, stay safe!

Thanks for visiting today.

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
Crafty Calendar Challenges: December/It's Christmas
Crafting By Designs Challenges: Anything Goes
The Crafty Addicts Challenges: Anything Goes

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Cat Christmas Card Mojo!

Apparently I'm feline the love of cat-themed Christmas cards. Perhaps it's because I'm a frustrated cat lady, living without cats for way too long. Alas. Poor me.

Today's card features the grumpy looking cat from the Les Chats Russe stamp set (Katzelkraft) sporting the Santa hat from Les Drôles D'Accessoires stamp set (Katzelkraft). If you know anything about cats, they hate being dressed up, so I went with that general theme.

Here it is.


The Santa hat was stamped onto an image panel, then masked with the Eclipse Tape mask that I've been saving. It's always a good idea to keep your fussy-cut masks if at all possible to save time and be ever-so-efficient. I'm all about efficiency.

Once the hat was masked, I stamped the grumpy cat using a hand-held stamp positioner. I'm old school that way.

I lifted off the mask, colored the image with Copic markers, die-cut it with one of the dies from the Card Creator die set (Spellbinders), then added the background with my markers. When I was done, Stickles glitter glue (Ranger) was used to outline the edges of the die-cut. This was put into another room to keep me from touching it while it was drying.

Patterned paper from the Jovial collection (Basic Grey) were cut down, sponged with Fired Brick and/or Ground Espresso Distress ink (Ranger), then layered.

Green patterned paper from the same collection was die-cut with one of the dies from the Puffy Clouds die set (Die-namics), then edged with Ground Espresso Distress ink. A scrap of the same paper was punched with small circle Paper Shaper punches (EK Success), then edged with Ground Espresso Distress ink.  The appropriate sentiment was added to the cloud using Lily White Simply Sweet Alphabet rub-ons (Doodlebug Designs).

The Stickles on the image panel had dried sufficiently to touch. A bit of white was showing around the edges, so Ground Espresso Distress ink was sponged onto them. The image panel was adhered to the layered patterned paper, the sentiment cloud/thought bubble was adhered, and the connecting small circle punches were added.

Orangey/gold rhinestones were added to the card front, which was then adhered to a white card.

Thanks for visiting today.

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #348: Holidays
• The Crafter's Cafe Challenges: Christmas
• Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenges
Scrapy Land Challenge #80: Anything Goes

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Meowy Christmas! Yep. Again.

Since I'm all about cats all the time, lots of my holiday cards will feature cats. Seeing that I have a huge collection of feline images, the only problem is choosing which cat stamp to feature!

Today's card features The Fat Cats #6 (Katzelkraft), who I have dubbed The Cat Singer. 



The Fat Cats #6, aka The Cat Singer, was stamped onto Neenah cardstock and onto Eclipse Tape (Judikins). The Eclipse Tape version was fussy-cut and adhered over its counterpart as a mask. The Santa hat from Funny Accessories stamp set (Katzelkraft) was stamped onto the image, over the mask, then also stamped onto a scrap of Eclipse Tape. It was also fussy-cut, then adhered to the image panel to mask the hat. Post-It Notes were adhered over the base of the image panel, which was then airbrushed with G43 and G46 Copic markers using the airbrush system. The image panel was trimmed, the masks were lifted, then the scene was colored with Copic markers.

The excess Copic airbrushed cardstock was die-cut with the curtains dies from the Take The Stage die set (Die-namics). A scrap of red cardstock was die-cut with the tie-backs from this set. I set my little scene by adhering the curtains, swags, and tie-backs onto the image panel, which was matted with black cardstock.

Red cardstock was stamped with the fabulous new Decor Cling Music stamp (Stampendous) using Jet Black Archival ink and my new Tim Holtz Stamp Platform (Tonic Studios).  This music-stamped piece was trimmed, matted with black cardstock, and adhered to a red card.

The Meowy Christmas (The Cat's Pajamas) was stamped onto another scrap of the excess airbrushed cardstock, then die-cut with a nameplate die (Spellbinders).

The scenic image panel and sentiment were adhered to the card and I declared this card to be complete.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
Die Cuttin' Divas Challenge #348: Holidays
The Crafter's Cafe Challenges: Christmas
Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies Challenges

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Meowy Christmas, v 2.0

I'm back with another holiday card featuring the ever-so-wonderful Cat Angel (Stampendous)!

Here it is!

Cat Angel was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts). I had retained the Cat Angel mask from the last card, which I adhered over its counterpart, then airbrushed with Copic markers in shades of blue, red violet, and cool black.

The mask was lifted and Cat Angel was colored with Copic markers. A Clear Sparkle Spectrum Noir glitter pen (Crafter's Companion) was used to add a glittery sparkle to the wings, star, and sky dots.

Shimmery black and blue cardstock was die-cut with the Globe Thinlits Alterations die (Sizzix). The shimmery black Globe die-cut was divested of its cut out bits. A Circle Nestabilities die (Spellbinders) was used to die-cut a circle from navy cardstock. The shimmery black cardstock Globe was adhered to the navy cardstock, which had been run through my Xyron machine to add a coat of adhesive to it. The blue Globe die-cut was placed over the top of the shimmery black one and the die-cut bits were pressed and/or placed into the apertures. I do love my tweezers!

Parchment printed vellum was die-cut with the Peaceful Greetings sentiment die and one of the Dimensional Banners dies (Die-namics). The Meowy Christmas sentiment (The Cat's Pajamas) was stamped onto the banner with Noir Palette Hybrid ink (Stewart Superior).

The sentiment banner, "Peaceful Greetings", and Globe die-cuts were added to the image panel, which was then trimmed, adhered to black cardstock, and then onto a white card. "Joy to the world" was added courtesy of the Christmastime Remnant Rubs (Idea-ology) to finish the card.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:

Monday, December 11, 2017

Meowy Christmas!

After another crafting hiatus, caused by more health woes, I've finally gotten back into my craft room and have been happily creating again!

Here's a holiday card with Cat Angel (Stampendous) and an old sentiment from justjohanna/Odd Bird Planets.


Cat Angel was stamped twice with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts), first onto Neenah cardstock, then onto Eclipse Tape (Judikins). The Eclipse Tape version was fussy-cut and adhered over its counterpart as a mask. The masked image panel was die-cut with one of the dies from the Stitched Squares Thinlits die set (Sizzix), then airbrushed with Copic markers.

The mask was lifted and Cat Angel was colored with Copic markers. A Clear Sparkle Spectrum Noir glitter pen (Crafter's Companion) was used to add a glittery sparkle to the wings, star, and sky dots.

"Twinkle", from a Christmastime Remnant Rubs sheet (Idea-ology), was added to the top left of the image panel.

Blue cardstock was cut to form a card. The scraps were die-cut with a nameplate die (Spellbinders) and a stitched strip die from one of the Blueprints die sets (Die-namics). Meowy Christmas (justjohanna/odd bird planet) was stamped onto the nameplate die.

Star patterned paper from the Beachside Pint-sized 6x6 pad (Lawn Fawn) was cut to size, then mounted onto the blue card. The image panel, stitched strip, and sentiment were added adhered to the card front. Two rhinestones were added to the nameplate to cover the holes and add a touch of bling.

Thanks for visiting today! 

I shall enter this card into the following challenges: