Crystal's Christmas Inspriration and Inked Stamper Christmas Open House!

Hi ALL! Dawn here, I just can't express how happy I am with my Design Team! They are just FABULOUS! All the work they have done to inspire you is amazing!!! I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am! Don't forget to pop down into the the shop to check out their projects in person, they always look a million times better too!
I would like to take a moment to invite YOU and YOUR friends on Saturday December 6 to The Inked Stampers 1rst Christmas Open House!  Not only will their be hot chocolate and goodies set up in the back, there will also be lots of beautiful hand crafted items for you to purchase! Cards, Gift Card holders, tags, Vinyl Art, Candles and more;  all heartf, handmade gifts to give away to those you care about this year!  This will also be the day to fill out YOUR WISH LIST to leave behind the counter, then you send your friends and family in to SHOP FOR YOU! That way you will be sure to get what you want (and no doubles).
See you soon and enjoy Crystal's project

Greetings, crafty friends. Today I’ve got two very different cards, derived from the same inspiration picture, to share with you. As a refresher, here is the November inspiration photo again.

For my first card I drew inspiration from the Julie Nutting doll, the colours that Buddy the Elf is dressed in, and the red and white berries.

Perhaps foolishly, I decided that my first The Inked Stamper design team project would be a good time to try a technique I’ve never done before - no line colouring. I started by stamping the Julie Nutting “Merry Nice” image onto watercolour paper using Antique Linen Distress ink so the lines were barely visible and easily blended away. I then watercoloured the image using Distress Markers and a water brush. After the sentiment was stamped with Festive Berries Distress Ink I went over it with my water brush to soften the lines.

I used the same snow marker in the inspiration photo to add some fluff to her hat and falling snow around her. You really have to ensure the paint is 100% dry before you heat it up with a heat tool so if puffs up properly. If you hold the heat gun over it too long (because it’s not fully dry for example), you can end up burning it, causing a yellow or brownish hue.

I always finish off the inside of my cards as I see no reason a card shouldn’t be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside - much like people…(wow...can’t believe I just made that analogy). The easiest way to add some oomph to the inside is to use the leftover bit of patterned paper from the front. When you use paper from a 6x6 pad, you’ll always end up with a strip leftover, and those are perfect for the interior.

Let’s move on to the second, completely different card. For this one, I picked out the snowflakes, general colours, and snow marker. The berries also made me think of the woods.

All the stamped images on this are from the Lawn Fawn “Joy to the Woods” set. I stamped everything onto watercolour paper and watercoloured them with Distress Markers. I then used the coordinating die set to cut all the images out, which greatly speeds up the process. Thank you, Lawn Fawn for making coordinating dies. Goodbye, fussy cutting. Please don’t take the breakup personally.

I had used some patterned paper from the Lawn Fawn “Sweater Weather” 6x6 pad, but decided the colour was a little intense, so I used a piece of vellum over-top to mute it. This created an issue, as attaching vellum can be difficult if you don’t want ugly adhesive showing (and who wants that). So the vellum is only glued down on the top and bottom - underneath the borders - the middle is floating.

I used the snow marker to add some snow to the tree branches, and really loved how it turned out. I see a lot of birch trees with snow on their branches in my card making future.

For this one, I created the inside by stamping the snow drift, foot prints, and sentiment from the “Joy to the Woods” set, leaving lots of space to write a personal message.

Hope these inspired you to create some Christmas cards of your own, as time is running out. Only a month left and it’ll be Christmas Eve! Yipe! Pop on down to The Inked Stamper and check out some of the great Christmas stamps and papers that are available and power through those holiday cards!

~ Crystal Thompson

http://sistersofthecraftersguild.blogspot.com