Category: Christmas

Christmas Cards & a Fun Announcement!

1/5/2016

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I had a great time relaxing, hanging out with family and friends, and getting caught up around the house.

And I got my Christmas cards done!

These cards are the most complicated cards I ever made multiples of. There were a bunch of steps and techniques, but I love them! And I loved making them!
First, I used distress inks to watercolor full sheets of paper using the smooshing technique that I've shared before, then I heat-embossed poinsettias on them.

Then, because the stamp didn't have a matching die, I had to fussy-cut them all.

I added foam tape to the backs of all the poinsettias to make them pop off the background.

The background of the card was a green water-colored paper, colored with distress inks, just like the poinsettias. I matted the green paper with black cardstock and adhered the whole thing to a gold card base.

The last part of the card was the sentiment. Gold heat-embossed stamping on black cardstock and matted on gold cardstock.

And voila! All done!

I made 45 cards and I loved making every single one of them! I know these cards were way fussier than I usually make. I know they took me a lot of time and effort to make, but I made them because I may not have a lot of time to make crazy Christmas cards for a while.
And I slipped a little something into each card:

Happy Holidays from Baby Boy Porter! Making his appearance in May 2016!

That's right! That's my announcement! We're going to have a baby! I'm due in May and we're so excited! This is why I may not be able to do any fancy Christmas cards for a while - I'll be a little busy!

So, my holiday season was great, how was yours?

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A Step in a New 'Die'-rection

2/10/2015

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Have you ever seen a tool or a piece of clothing or a decor item that you really like, you really wanted, but you were too afraid to commit to?
"Will I really use it as much as I say I will?"
"Will it just end up collecting dust like that other tool/skirt/lamp?"
"Is this just a fad that I'm going to forget about in a few months?"
"What if I can't use/wear/display it right and I hate it?"

Yeah, I'm sure you've been there.

Most recently for me (because let's face it, I do this ALL THE TIME!), it was the Big Shot die-cutting machine. I've been watching a lot of videos of card-makers lately and all of them seem to use their die-cut machines almost constantly. I wanted one. But did I need it? Would I really use it as much as they did? Was die-cutting really my style? I researched brands and styles and all the millions of dies. I found more videos on different techniques that did seem more my style. And when Thanksgiving rolled around and it was time to send my family my Christmas wish list, I bit the bullet and put down "Big Shot die-cutting machine" and a whole list of dies from different websites.

And lo-and-behold, on Christmas Eve, there under the tree was a rather large, Big-Shot-shaped box! My sister had come through for me! It was mine!

But wait, no one got me dies!? So I've spent the last few weeks buying and trying dies and techniques. Because I want to get good at this. I want to use it. I don't want it to collect dust or be forgotten. And most of all, I don't want it to be a waste of money!

I've made a few thing with my new dies. Nothing fancy, just playing around. They have glue marks and small rips and off-centered designs and inking gone wrong. But they are a start. A very fun start!

So a big thank you to my sister for taking the leap and buying me a new toy to play with. Your next birthday card is going to be very fancy. :-)

Happy Crafting!

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Christmas Cards 2014 (Take 1)

1/20/2015

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As I've said before, one of my favorite projects of the year is making my Christmas cards for friends and family. In the past, I've worked mainly with patterned paper and some simple stamping. Last year (2013), I branched out and did some coloring. This year (2014), I feel like I've gone off the deep end, but I love how they turned out!

I didn't use any patterned paper at all! I did heat embossing. I've been experimenting with heat embossing for a few months and I like it! I was inspired by Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire. They do a lot of stamping and embossing and I've been obsessed with their YouTube videos lately.

I browsed Pinterest (of course!), watched videos, and experimented with several colors and designs till I came up with my prototype!

I embossed a piece of kraft cardstock with white embossing powder using a Hero Arts stamp I got at Michaels and rounded the corners. Then I said them all out and put some Stickles in the middle of the snowflakes for a pop of color.

After the base element was done, I heat embossed a greeting with red tinsel embossing powder onto a white flag and adhered that to the snowflake base with some foam adhesive. Then I adhered the whole thing to a piece of heavy-weight white cardstock for the base of my card (and I got a new crop-o-dile to round the corners!).

A quick stamped greeting inside and they were ready to go!

I made 60 cards this year, but I ended up only sending about 45, so I have some extras for sale in my Etsy shop! If you'd like one or some of these cards for a loved one, go grab them up!

It was challenging to do such a large project with such new materials, but I had a lot of fun and I feel very comfortable with embossing powder now. Though I have yet to figure out a good way to get it off my craft room floor...
Any suggestions? :-)

Happy Crafting!

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Christmas Cards & a Fun Announcement!

A Step in a New 'Die'-rection

Christmas Cards 2014 (Take 1)

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