Freshly Made Sketches 308

School holidays are rapidly drawing to a close and with them, the extra crafting time not being at work gives! This morning, the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was revealed and with time running out, I was keen to give it a try.

It's inspired me to make this Christmas card. I do like black, white and gold as a combination - it feels smart and unfussy.

I'd wondered, in the middle of the night last night, whether the Hometown Greeting edgelits would fit in the Delicate Ornaments dies. I'm delighted to say that they do!

I gold embossed a few stars from the Hearts Come Home set to give the houses a sky without going OTT.  Having already gone the over-the-top (for me) step of using not one but two designer papers, I then did something else I seldom do - added bows. To be fair, the Christmas bauble really does need some way to hang on the tree, so in this case, it's justified.

Thanks for another great sketch, team!

Ingredients

Card: Basic Black, Whisper White, Gold foil, Cheers to the Year Specialty DSP.

Stamps: Hearts Come Home, Holly Berry Happiness

Inks: Versamark

Other: Hometown Greetings thinlits, Delicate Ornaments framelit,  Gold cord trim (retired), Gold mini-sequin trim, Gold faceted gem, dimensionals, gold embossing powder.

All products Stampin' Up.

Pals Paper Arts 322

I really should be spending my time doing other things but I so wanted to get a card done for the sketch at Pals Paper Arts because it's been nagging at me ever since I saw it to come play with it.

In fact, it took me a while because there were SO many possibilities and because I didn't find it an easy sketch to get balance with. Anyway, here's how it turned out.

Ingredients

Card: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Silver glimmer paper

Stamps: Holly Jolly Greetings

Inks: Night of Navy

Other: Delicate Ornaments thinlits, Floral Boutique washi tape, Silver trim cord (retired), dimensionals, Night of Navy marker

CCMC 423

I really like the sketch at Create with Connie and Mary this week. It inspired yet another Christmas card for my current Christmas card spree.

I started by creating a piece of faux metal paper using the Holly embossing folder, some sponges and inks and a touch of gold embossing.

The faux metal paper was so pretty that the rest of the card needed to be kept quite simple: a die cut ornament, a little Wink of Stella and twine plus a simple sentiment. I like the richness of the Early Espresso and gold.

Update: I've been asked about how I made the faux metal paper. There are a bunch of videos about it around and from them, I've made my own way. I started with the lightest ink, which was Crumb Cake. I inked the folder and ran it through the Big Shot. Then I randomly daubed and sponged Emerald Envy. (You don't want to be too even handed about this -you want a bit blotchy.) I always add in some kind of green/blue to give that hint of verdigris. (Lost Lagoon was great and Pear Pizzazz works well.) Then I sponged on Soft Suede a bit more evenly and with more sponging and less daubing. Then  I lightly sponged with Early Espresso but aimed to highlight the impressions rather than all over coverage. (Save the darkest colour for last. ) Finally a light swipe over with the versamark pad and sprinkle on a metallic powder. This card uses gold. Check before you heat to see that you don't have stripes and that you haven't got too much on. I often rub it over lightly with my finger and/or give it a light brush over with a paint brush to make it more random. Don't worry if you end up with little clumps of powder as it adds to the random effect. Also, I use sponges not daubers to apply the inks.

Update: Delighted to be a Top Pick at Connie and Mary.

Ingredients

Card: Early Espresso, Gold metallic paper, scrap of Very Vanilla

Stamps: Holly Berry Happiness

Inks: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Emerald Envy, versamark

Other: Holly embossing folder, sponges, Gold embossing powder, Delicate Ornament thinlits, Gold wink of stella, Gold twine, dimensionals