Penguin Family with White Pines

Here's another card using the Season's Greetings stamp set (B1483), and Simple Expressions from Wishes.  This time I stamped the large Penguin to the left of the focal White Daisy, and stamped the smaller penguin (and the large one too for the scarf) onto scratch White Daisy, both in black ink.  For the small penguin, I cleaned the stamp and then stamped in Fern ink for the scarf and hat.

I colored the large penguin's scarf to mimic Fern (there isn't an exact match), so I colored it with the Shin Ham markers in three layers: Warm Grey 4, followed by Leaf Green, followed again by Warm Grey 4.  The small penguin's hat and scarf are colored to match Glacier: Warm Grey 4, Turquoise Blue and blended with the blender marker.

The scarves and hat were cut out, as was the small penguin.  The scarves and hat were directly adhered to the respective penguin.  And the small penguin was mounted with 3D Foam tape.



Now, if you look at the stamp set again, you'll notice "from our family to yours" is attached (it is) to the "WARM CHRISTMAS WISHES" saying.  This might be scary for some of you... cut those two phrases apart, like I did.  I was able to then stamp the saying below "SEASON'S GREETINGS".  If you don't want to cut your image, you can put paper over the part you don't want to ink, remove the paper, and then stamp.  I made too may of these cards to make that worth my while.



This card can also be made as a thank you card at the end of the season.  Just replace "Season's Greetings" with "Thank You"

Red Penguin with White Pines Card

Now that Thanksgiving was enjoyed, I thought I'd share one of my Holiday cards.  I'm more of a winter person than Christmas, so I look for snowflakes, deer, penguin, and the such.  I found a wonderful stamp set called "Seasons Greetings" (B1483) that checks off a bunch from my list... here, let me show it to you.  : )

How cute are those penguins!! Their scarf and the smaller one with the matching hat.

Okay, so now that you've seen how cool the stamp set is, let me show you the first card I made...

To create this card, I took the colors from White Pines paper packet.  I stamped tone on tone with the snowflakes in Champagne on Champagne.  Because the three stamps were being inked the same color, I put all three snowflakes onto one block in a triangular pattern.  The I rotated the stamp each time I inked it.  Quick and easy.

The penguin is stamped onto scrap White Daisy cardstock and then stamped again, making sure to re-ink.  I colored in the scarf with Shin Ham Marker, and then cut it out.  I then glued the scarf directly over the stamped image of the penguin (as you should be able to see, I didn't glue the ends of the scarf down to give more of a 3D look.

Side-note:  to make the color of the scarf match the Cranberry in the paper, I did three layers of colors.  The bottom layer is Mahogany, the middle layer is Light Orange, and the top is Carmine.  It took a little more work, but for my type Aness, I'm very glad I did.  In living color, the scarf matches the paper really well.

Season's Greetings was stamped in Black ink on the Glacier paper.  The pattern for this card?  Simple Expressions (page 40) from Wishes.  I moved the 1/4" strip of Fern cardstock to go below the zigzag B&T paper.  I also opted to stamp the saying on the 3/4" Glacier cardstock instead of creating the saying piece in the pattern.

CTMH Artiste Noel/HoHoHo Key Blog Hop

I hope you've been enjoying this month's blog hop.  We've been exploring the Noel/HoHoHo key found on page 79 of the Artiste Cricut Collection.  And if you've come from Tasha Valdez's blog (http://www.rabbithillranch.com/blog), you are on the correct path.  Just joining, no problem!  This hop makes a loop, so you won't miss any of the fun by jumping in here.

This month, for me, was about getting the most bang for the buck.  I used 4 different images (not to mention several sizes) from the same button.  I am more of a winter type gal so the mittens suited my project beautifully!

The bag was cut at 5.25" (the largest cut) from Whisper cardstock.  The overall height is 5" as mentioned in the booklet.  The mittens were cut at 2.5" using Champagne (overlay) and Chocolate (base) cardstock.  And the snowflakes were cut from Sky cardstock at 0.75", 1", and 1.25".

To distress the paper, I used the Whisper ink pad directly on the paper.  I like moving the pad in a circular motion to create the movement you see (especially in the third picture).

Final touches makes my project special.  Adding snowflakes to the back of the bag is one thing.  I added the neutral Baker's Twine  to the mittens is a second way.  You can't see in the picture, but I tacked the twine down with Liquid Glass so that when the bag is upright, the twine won't fall over. And finally, since I wanted the bag to stay closed, I added a Velcro Dot (love the size!).

Though this key is named Noel and HoHoHo, your project doesn't need to be red and green. This bag can be used as a birthday gift bag through the month of February.  Don't be afraid to change things up!  Before you go see another inspiring project at Rebecca Nelson's blog (http://craftnitup.blogspot.com/), bookmark my blog and come back again.

Now go... :)

Save the Date!

Put an X through December 8th, 2012 from 10am to 2pm so you won't miss the Holiday Craft Workshop!  You'll get the chance to put together gifts for the family, friends, and office mates.  It's a pay as you go event and you can make as many items as you want (or can, while supplies last).

It's an event you won't want to miss!  More details to follow, but it's only 30 days away, so again, mark your calendars!  :)

Winter Wonderland Card

Tammy Wisterman inspired this card.  Hers was crystal blue and grey flannel.  I instantly fell in love!  Of course I made a few changes including color and embellishments to come up with this.

The snowflakes are made from our Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge (love it!!) before they were stamped.  The center of the large snowflake is from our bling buttons while the center of the medium snowflake is from the clear sparkles.

To be fair, I need to let you know something.  I used Moonstruck paper and ink in this sample.  But when I was writing out the materials I used, I changed Moonstruck to Outdoor Denim.  Why you might ask?  Well, we no longer sell Moonstruck on it's own or even in a shade pack.  I want to steer you in the right direction so you can make several of these cards if you want without having to spend a fortune.  If you really want to use Moonstruck, you'll have to get the Summer Sampler Pack X5923 (for 8.5" x 11") where you'll get two sheets (enough for 8 cards) or X5918 (for 12"x12") yielding 12 cards.  Just so you know.  :)

All CTMH product used:
D1480 Snowflakes
X254 White Value Pack -- cards and envelopes
1385  White Daisy Cardstock
1275  Outdoor Denim Cardstock OR X5904 Dark Blue Shade Pack
Z2148 Spring Iris Ink
Z2124 Grey Flannel Ink
Z2140 Outdoor Denim Ink
Z1466 Bling Assortment
Z1104 Clear Sparkles
Z1151 3-D Foam Tape