Distressed Poinsettia Greetings

 

 Good morning, everyone!  I'm sharing this distressed Christmas card with y'all today.  My usual style is clean and simple, and it was fun to go in the other direction this time.  I was inspired by a card that Anna Wight (SweetMissDaisy) shared on Facebook this week.  

I started by stamping the large poinsettia from the Poinsettias set from Technique Junkies with Vintage Photo distress ink.  Next, I stamped just a portion of the Vintage Music (Technique Junkies) in the opposite corners with Vintage Photo distress ink.  Then I pulled out my Elegant Writer pen and added some shading to the poinsettias.  The Elegant Writer pen is actually a calligraphy pen, but the ink has some fun color separating properties when it is spritzed with water.  That's exactly what happened - I sprayed some water over the whole piece and let the inks run and pool.  Those areas of blueish green are from the Elegant Writer pen - so fun!

I let the piece dry and then I went back over the poinsettias and colored in the leaves with Rustic Wilderness distress ink and the flower petals with Aged Mahogany and Candy Apple distress inks.  To add some sparkle, I painted the centers of the poinsettias with some liquid gold watercolor paint, and then I flicked the gold paint all over the piece.  After the piece was completely dry, I brushed the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink using an ink blender brush.  The sentiment from the Victorian Greetings set (Technique Junkies) was stamped with Pinecone Versafine Clair ink and affixed with foam tape.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday season!

Anais Nin Dreams

 

Did you see the new 35% off sale at Technique Junkies?  This is a limited time sale with hundreds of stamps 35% off.  You have until December 15 to get some great stamps at a great price.  And if you use my code, TJ10Holly, you can get an additional 10% off, so you can get these stamps for 45% off!  Is that a great deal or what?

The stamps on my card above are all included in the sale.  I used Herringbone Tweed for the background - a gorgeous understated background for when you want some texture but you don't want it to take over your whole card.  Then I stamped the Hearts Panel across the middle of the background with a darker pink ink.  The sentiment is from the Dream Quotes set.  

Go check out all the awesome stamps on sale at Technique Junkies HERE.  Be sure to add my code, TJ10Holly, to save even more and get a whopping 45% off these stamps.  Happy shopping!

Teal Ho Ho Ho Ornament

 

Can you believe it's December already??? I swear time just flies by once we get into October and November. I'm in Christmas card production mode, and this is the latest one I've created. I used the awesome new Ho Ho Ho Circle stencil from A Colorful Life Designs with some teal stencil paste and I turned it into an ornament by adding a silver ornament ring at the top and some pretty organdy ribbon.

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.

Ho Ho Ho Circle stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/ho-ho-ho-circle-stencil/

Beauty of Snowflakes

 

Today I'm sharing this shimmery, frosty snowflake card.  We rarely get snow where I live, so I love seeing and creating cards with snowflakes on them.  I started by stamping the snowflakes from the Snowflakes set from Technique Junkies in three different colors all over some white cardstock.  I used a soft blue ink, a kraft ink, and a darker brown ink.  To add some shimmer, I sprayed some of the gorgeous Mixed Metals Shimmering Bliss spray from Technique Junkies all over the snowflakes.  It's so glittery and shiny as you can see from the close up picture below.

 After the snowflake background was completely dry, I cut it with a rectangular die and added the sentiment on the side.  The sentiment is called Beauty of Winter, also from Technique Junkies.  If you have winter weather where you live, enjoy the beauty of it all.

Winter's Butterfly

Hi folks!  I am hosting a Falliday Fest challenge over on SCS today, and I'd love to see you play along.  It's an easy challenge - show me your snowy/snowflake creations BUT your snow/snowflakes can NOT be white.  I wanna see COLOR!  :-)

For my card, I used the awesome Snowflakes set from Technique Junkies and randomly stamped snowflakes in colors of purple, lime, and aqua.  The sentiment is from the same Snowflakes set, and I stamped that with the purple ink.  That sentiment is just beautiful, isn't it?  I added some rhinestones for some sparkle.

Come on and join the Falliday Fest fun!  

 

Snowy New Year Birches

 

Good morning!  I'm sharing this snowy birch tree card with y'all as we near the end of this crazy year.  We all certainly hope the new year will bring new hope for us all so we can resume activities that we abandoned in the wake of the COVID crisis.  Thankfully stamping and cardmaking is something we can do in the safety of our own homes, and I've been stamping up a storm this year.

On this card, I placed the Falling Snow stencil from A Colorful Life Designs on some purple cardstock and sponged some white pigment ink over the stencil.  The Birch Tree Border from Technique Junkies was stamped with a gray ink onto white cardstock, cut out, and glued to the snowy background.  I stamped the New Year New Hope (Technique Junkies) with the white pigment ink and embossed it with white embossing powder.

Here's hoping 2021 is much better and that you all stay safe and healthy this holiday season.

 

Buffalo Plaid Christmas

I used the Buffalo Plaid stencil from A Colorful Life Designs for this bold Christmas card. This was created for one of the Falliday Fest challenges that was posted yesterday on SCS. I jazzed up the plaid by adding some white lines with a white gel pen and a ruler. I love how versatile this Buffalo Plaid stencil can be!

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% off your entire order at A Colorful Life Designs.

Buffalo Plaid stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/buffalo-plaid/

 

Big Star of Wonder

I used the gorgeous new Big Christmas Star stencil from A Colorful Life Designs to create this card for a Falliday Fest challenge on SCS. This Big Christmas Star stencil comes in two parts - the actual star and the negative. I used the negative to ink up the star with yellow oxide ink and then I covered up the star with the actual star stencil so I could brush some dark blue oxide ink all around it. I wanted that golden halo effect so I added a bit more yellow ink to the center of the star.

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% off your entire order at A Colorful Life Designs.

Big Christmas Star stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/big-christmas-star-stencil/

 

Technique Junkies November 2020 stamp release

Welcome to the November 2020 Technique Junkies blog hop! This release is filled with a wonderful variety of stamps, and we can't wait to show you what we created with them. 

All of the November 2020 New Release stamps are 15% off through November 8th.

We can all use a little bargain, right?

No codes needed, just put them in your shopping cart and the discount will be applied at checkout.

How about an additional 10% off at Technique Junkies?

That’s 25% off the new November 2020 release!

Use code TJ10Holly

For my first card today, I stamped the awesome new Birch Tree Border and cut it out.  The background was created by blending some distress inks with the ink blending brushes.  I glued down the cut out Birch Tree Border and then stamped the Art of God with a dark brown ink.  

My next card was all about letting go and getting creative.  I don't drink coffee, so I wanted to use this new Coffee Stains background in a different way.  To me, these stains look like paint splatters and drips, so I decided to run with that idea and see what happened.  I embossed the new Coffee Stains background with white embossing powder, and then I lightly misted the paper with water.  I smooshed some distress inks onto my craft mat and pressed the paper into the ink puddles.  I repeated until I was satisfied with the coverage and then set the paper aside to dry.  Meanwhile, I stamped the Art Mistakes with some Stazon ink onto some vellum.  After my background piece was completely dry, I wrapped the stamped vellum around the background and glued it to the back.

When I saw this beautiful new Pine Bough stamp, I knew immediately that I wanted to use it for Christmas cards.  I stamped the Pinecones background (previously released) with brown ink onto some cream paper and then blended the brown ink all over the background.  Then I stamped the new Pine Bough and added the sentiment from the Christmas Ornaments Trio set.  This is one of my favorite Christmas cards so far, and it will be easy to make a whole stack of these.  This card is flat so I can mail it with just one first class postage stamp.  

Check out what the rest of the Technique Junkies team has created with this new release:

Technique Junkies Blog Pat Huntoon Beth Norman-Roberts Holly Brown Judy Jackson Ro Donner Lynda Pleckan Patti Gilliam

Shirley Hotop - Guest Designer

Beverly Sizemore - Guest Designer

Ceal Pritchett

Pat from Technique Junkies is also offering a "Gotta Have It All" bundle where you can get all the stamps and stencils in this release at 25% off.  This includes 15 stamps and 2 stencils for only $99.99.  That's an awesome deal!  You can find it by clicking HERE.  This is what all the stamps and stencils look like:

Don't forget, you can save an extra 10% on the November 2020 release stamps by using my code - TJ10Holly.  Which new stamps are on your wish list??

 

Glittery Poinsettia Mandala Christmas

 

I pulled out a new stencil from A Colorful Life Designs called Poinsettia Mandala and I wanted to see how this looked with some glitter paste.  I placed the stencil over some black paper and spread some Raspberry Rhodolite Nuvo Glimmer Paste over the stencil.  I fell in love as soon as I took the stencil off!  Let me tell ya, it was so hard to wait for the paste to dry.  But it finally did after a few hours and I turned this into a clean and simple Christmas card.  The glitter on this card is stunningly gorgeous so it doesn't need anything else.  This will be a great addition to my Christmas card stash because this is a flat card, which means just one postage stamp for mailing.  

Head on over to A Colorful Life Designs and see all the great stencils in the store.  Be sure to use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order.

Poinsettia Mandala stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/poinsettia-mandala-stencil/

Deckled Ombre Holy Night

 

 Have you started on your Christmas cards yet?  I have a nice little stash started, and this is one of the latest ones that I created.  I used the beautiful new Brightly Shining stamp from Technique Junkies along with a Deckled Rectangle stencil to create this clean and simple card.  Even better, it's perfectly flat for mailing with just one first class postage stamp.

I began by placing the 4" Marvelous Masks Deckled Rectangle stencil (A Colorful Life Designs) over some white cardstock.  With the ink blending brushes, I added Distress Oxide inks starting with Peacock Feathers at the bottom, then Chipped Sapphire in the middle, and finally Wilted Violet at the top.  After I rubbed an anti-static bag over the stenciled inks, I stamped the Brightly Shining sentiment with Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder.  

Think of all the different color combos you could use with this stamp.  Change up the embossing powders to silver or gold and try different inks in the background.  Go wild and use neon inks for a really colorful card or go non-traditional with a pink and yellow background.  The possibilities are endless!

Silver Bells

 

I've got another fun and easy Christmas card to share with y'all.  I started by stamping the beautiful new Joyful Jingle from Technique Junkies onto black cardstock with some Versamark ink and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.  Then I took the matching Jingle Bells stencil and placed it over some black cardstock.  I smooshed a juicy Versamark ink pad over the stencil, carefully took the stencil off, and covered the inky areas with silver embossing powder.  The powder was melted with a heat tool and then I was able to put the card together.

Wouldn't this be fun to recreate in different colors?  Set up an assembly line and you'll have a bunch of Christmas cards ready in no time!

 

Holy Night Stars Stencil

  

Good morning!  I hope you're having a great day!  Today I'm sharing a quick and easy Christmas card.  Did you notice that two of the new release stamps from Technique Junkies have coordinating stencils to go with them?  I paired the new Brightly Shining stamp with the Shining Star stencil for my card today.  

I started by brushing some Speckled Egg Distress ink through the Shining Star stencil onto white cardstock, and then I lightly brushed some more of the same ink all around the background.  I stamped the Brightly Shining sentiment with the Speckled Egg Distress ink onto another sheet of white cardstock, cut it out with an oval die, and then brushed some ink around the edges while the paper was still inside the oval die.  Some silver cording was tied around the card and I affixed the oval sentiment with some foam tape.

I hope this inspires you to make a quick little stash of Christmas cards.  There's just a little over two months til the big day is here!  

 

Shine like the Stars

 

How about some sparkle to liven up your day? I used the fun new Scattered Bling stencil from A Colorful Life Designs and spread some gold glitter paste onto black cardstock. It's so sparkly! I used the same glitter paste to cover the die cut "Shine" for a little extra sparkle.

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.

Scattered Bling stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/scattered-bling-stencil/

Technique Junkies October 2020 stamp release

Welcome to the October 2020 Technique Junkies blog hop! This release is filled with a wonderful variety of stamps, and we can't wait to show you what we created with them. 

All of the October 2020 New Release stamps are 15% off through October 8th.

We can all use a little bargain, right?

No codes needed, just put them in your shopping cart and the discount will be applied at checkout.

How about an additional 10% off at Technique Junkies?

That’s 25% off the new October 2020 release!

Use code TJ10Holly

For my first card today - which is also my FAVORITE card - I used the fun new Gnome for Christmas set.  Isn't that gnome just adorable?  I colored him with Copics and fussy cut him.  Then I added some Star Dust Stickles to the dots on his hat as well as the fur on his mittens.  While that was drying, I stamped the snowflakes from the Snowflakes set (previously released) all over the aqua card base.  I added some curvy snowbanks to the bottom of the card and edged them with Star Dust Stickles.  I also stamped the sentiment from Gnome for Christmas and glittered the edges with the Star Dust Stickles.  After all the glittery glue was dry, I adhered the gnome and the sentiment to the card.

For my next project, I created an ornament instead of a card.  I started by blending some blue and purple distress Oxide inks onto some white cardstock.  Then I stamped this beautiful new Holy Night Silent Night with Versamark, covered it with silver embossing powder, and melted the powder with a heat tool.  I used an ornament die to cut out the image and I also cut out some chipboard with the same die.  The chipboard gives the ornament extra strength and stability so I can use it on my tree year after year.  After I glued the image to the chipboard, I punched a hole at the top and added some silver ribbon.

My last card for today made me swoon when I saw it.  These Misty Trees are so gorgeous!  I stamped these with white ink onto some dark green cardstock and then covered it with Iridescent Sparkle embossing powder (Judikins).  After I melted the powder and the gorgeous shimmer came through, I absolutely swooned.  It's just dreamy.  There is no way I could cover up all that sparkle, so I stamped the sentiment from the new Oh Christmas Tree set and adhered it on top of some sheer organdy ribbon.

Check out what the rest of the Technique Junkies team has created with this new release:

Technique Junkies Blog Pat Huntoon Beth Norman-Roberts Holly Brown Judy Jackson Ro Donner Lynda Pleckan Patti Gilliam

Shirley Hotop - Guest Designer

Beverly Sizemore - Guest Designer

Ceal Pritchett

Pat from Technique Junkies is also offering a "Gotta Have It All" bundle where you can get all the stamps and stencils in this release at 25% off.  This includes 15 stamps and 2 stencils, normally $144.78, discounted price is $108.59.  That's an awesome deal!  You can find it by clicking HERE.  This is what all the stamps and stencils look like:

Don't forget, you can save an extra 10% on the October 2020 release stamps by using my code - TJ10Holly.  Which new stamps are on your wish list??

 

Slimline Autumn Blessings

 

We've had some unseasonably cool weather this past week and it actually felt like fall was here.  We are back in the 90's this weekend, though.  According to our weatherman, we are getting more fall weather this coming week, so I created a slimline card to share with y'all. 

I started by brushing some brown, red, orange, and yellow inks onto a piece of white cardstock cut to 8.25" x 3.25".  The ink blending brushes from Technique Junkies are perfect for brushing and blending inks on your cardstock.  Then I stamped the sentiment from the Autumn Framed Sentiments in the center with Pinecone Versafine Clair ink.  I then filled in the space around the sentiment by stamping all the different leaves from the Autumn set with Pinecone ink.  This piece was adhered to a dark brown card base that is 8.5" x 3.5".  Because this is a flat card, I can mail this card in a regular business #10 envelope with just one stamp.

Feel free to use my code, TJ10Holly, to save 10% off your entire order at Technique Junkies.  Happy Fall!

                                                 

Bricks and Leaves

 Hi folks!  I'm sharing this fun bricks and leaves card with you today.  Can you guess how many stencils from A Colorful Life Designs I used on this card?

Hold on to your stamps - I used six different stencils on this card.  I also used one die for the "thanks" sentiment.  That's it.  No stamps on this card at all!  The stencils I used are:

Brick Wall

Leaf Set 1

Leaf Set 2

Bold Leaves

Sprigs

Grunge Dots

  

I started by brushing some gray ink over the Brick Wall stencil onto some rustic white cardstock.  Then I picked out some colors of papers that I thought would be fun and brushed various inks over the three leaf stencils.  Below you can see I brushed some green ink over the round leaf in the Leaf Set 2 stencil.  

The next step was to cut out the leaves.  The stenciling defined the edges of the leaves so it was easy to cut them out.

On the green leaf as well as the yellow leaf, I decided to add a little extra interest.  On the yellow leaf, I brushed some kraft ink over the Grunge Dots stencil onto the leaf.  On this green leaf, I used a darker green ink and brushed it over the Sprigs stencil onto the leaf.

After my leaves were done, I arranged them on my brick wall and added the die cut sentiment.  This is a fun card to play with as you can change up the leaves and the colors and the patterns.   What colors would you choose? 

If you'd like to save a little money, you can use this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.  This code will save you 10% off your entire order.  What stencils are on your wish list now?

Fun with Modern Circles

Happy Sunday!  I'm sharing these fun cards I created with the new Modern Circles stamp set from Technique Junkies.  I truly had a blast making all kinds of different cards with this new circle set.  Some cards just had a few different circles on them while other cards were exploding with colors and sizes and patterns, such as the card below.

Isn't that fun??  You can spend all day making all kinds of backgrounds with these circles and every single one will be totally unique.  No two will be alike.

You can also just stick with one color for all the different circles like you see in my card below.

There are just so many different possibilities with these circles.  These are so fun and easy to play with.  You really can't go wrong with some paper, some ink pads, and this Modern Circles set.  

Card #1 - Gratitude

Modern Circles set

Autumn Framed Sentiments set

Card #2 - Happy Birthday

Modern Circles set

Floral Framed Sentiments set

Card #3 - Small Steps

Modern Circles set

Modern Encouragements set

 

Tree Grove Nature

 I used the new Tree Grove stencil from A Colorful Life Designs to do a reverse stenciling technique on this card. I blended the background colors together first and then I used a dark brown ink with the Tree Grove stencil. The sentiment is from Stampscapes and it is just perfect for this "sunset in the woods" card.

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs. 

Tree Grove stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/tree-grove/

 

Delight in the Glittery Pink Things

Happy Friday, y'all! We finally got some rain this week after what seemed like three months without rain. So to celebrate, I wanted to play with some glitter. I used the Fine Vines stencil from A Colorful Life Designs along with some pink glitter paste (Pink Sapphire Glitter Kiss) to create this sweet shimmery card. I love this stencil! Those bold lines really pop out when you lift the stencil off your paper.

Use code HollyFan10 to save 10% when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs.

Fine Vines stencil - https://acolorfullifedesigns.com/fine-vines/