Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

I don't know if you all know this - what with the million challenges out there relating to the subject - but October is breast cancer awareness month. One challenge you ALL should participate in is the Jingle Belle's Challenge. For every entry they receive to their Pink Christmas challenge they are donating $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. There's no limit to how many entries. So this challenge is getting a BIG call out here.

CLICK AND SUBMIT! Just go do it! You can be creative AND do good!

So, with the premise Pink Christmas, I knew I wanted to create something sparkly and pink. I broke out my snowflakes and stamped them into some embossing ink. I spread some holographic embossing powder over them to give them a real shimmer. Next, thanks to the Ombre challenge over at Just Us Girls, I used my distress inks to create shades of pink and really make the snowflakes shine. 

 

I used the following pinks: Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberries. 

To create a tag for my card, I used a bunch of wintery sentiment stamps and arranged them all together in a pattern. I squished some inks on a craft mat and spritzed with water then stamped my image into the watery ink, before stamping onto the tag. It gives a really blurry watercolor feel. 

I think the end result is just stunning! I never would have thought to create a pink Christmas card, so thanks Jingle Belles!!

I used this sketch from the Retro Sketches competition for my card layout:

I'm also going to enter this into:
Simon Says Stamp's Use Watercolor challenge
STAMPlorations's Stamps and Embossing challenge
Penny Black's Get Ahead for Christmas challenge

To those of you who leave me a comment: Bless your little hearts. They make my day. 

Clean and Simple Autumn Colors Card

I never do this. Never. Somebody better take my temperature because I somehow made a clean and simple card that I actually like! For the international card exchange, I sent this little lovely to Dawn in New Zealand. 
And what better way to celebrate this card other than entering the Craft-Room Challenge, which is currently all about the changing of the seasons. Dawn is currently entering Spring in New Zealand, while I am busy pulling out my winter jackets and preparing them for the frigid North Dakota Winter, which is right around the corner (shiver*)! In the Craft Room Challenge, you can make a card that reflects either Autumn Colors or Spring - you choose!

I used my trusty Distress Inks on Stamping Up's Fall Foliage set and spritzed generously with water before letting it seep into the paper. I masked each leaf as I went along. So it's a simple card, but definitely a little time-intensive. 

I'm also going to enter it into the One Layer Simplicity Challenge #10 - Turning to Fall. Because I CAN! I shouldn't be this excited about stamping outside of my aesthetic, but I kind of am. 

By the way can I just say how much I LOVE the International Card Exchange? It's been so much fun to get a card in the mail once a month from somewhere around the world. And it's so fun to send one and get to know some really talented crafters. I got this amazing card from Joy. It's hanging on my fridge and getting lots of ooohs and aaahs.

If you are interested in participating in the card exchange, head on over to Society of Stampaholics and check out the big reveal. You can sign up through the 15th of every month!

Distress Inks Watercolor Stamp Technique

I told you all about the international card exchange I participated in last month. The big reveal of all the cards was posted today and so I can finally talk about the card I sent all the way to Norway for the lovely Gail of "The Crafty Nomad".

The card I made for today's blog post is very similar to the one that I sent to Gail, but I wanted to soften it a bit and make it into a thank you card to give to my administrative assistant (who makes my life so much more pleasant). In order to soften it, I decided to use a watercolor technique with Distress Inks. I adore Distress Inks and all the unique ways you can use them.

MATERIALS:

• Tan cardstock
• Brown sheer ribbon
• Distress Inks: Tattered Rose, Faded Jeans, Festive Berries, and Vintage Photo
• Inkssentials blending tool (or a sponge)
• Mini Mister
• Personal Stamp Exchange "Rust Tampestry" embossing powder
• Stampin Up' "Inspired by Nature" stamp set
• Stampendous "Dream Text Stamp" background
• Hampton Art Studio G "Ever Thankful" stamp

I started by folding a piece of 5x11 tan cardstock into a trifold, accordion style. I used Stampin Up's "Inspired by Nature" retired stamp set (it's still available as a digital download). To achieve the watercolor effect, I inked the stamp pad generously with Faded Jeans Distress Inks and then used a mini mister to spritz water onto the inked stamp before stamping the image.

I repeated the effect using Festive Berries and Tattered Rose Distress Inks, layering the position where the stamp was placed. Next, I stamped grass from the same stamp set over the watercolored flowers (without spritzing the stamp). I cut around the flowers to create the top layer. I used Stampendous's Dream Text Stamp to stamp the background all over the second layer, again using Tattered Rose. To create a wonderful depth around the edges, I used a blending tool and added vintage photo around the edges, more heavily in the upper right corner. I added ribbon, and my thank you saying to finish out the card.

I love the final result!

Just as an aside, the card challenge asked us to use specific colors (or close to them). A handy way to know what your Distress Inks will look like when you stamp them on the paper is by creating a personal color wheel.

Cut out tags of paper and add an eyelet. Brush with one color of the distress inks, and using clear embossing powder on the bottom half. That way you'll know what the ink color will look like flat, or with embossing powder. It's surprising just how much the color changes! Add a keyring to bind them all together.

Enjoy!