November 2014 Card Group Projects

We got together this afternoon for our monthly card group meeting - I can't believe we're in November and only have one more meeting left for 2014!  I designed three Christmas cards for the ladies to make.

Card one features dry and heat embossing and a favourite Christmas theme of mine - snowflakes.  I recently got the very pretty Darice 'Snowflake Swirl' embossing folder and couldn't wait to use it on a card.  I used the folder to emboss a panel of white linen effect CS, inked the edges of the panel with Island Indigo ink and glued it to the front of a Pool Party A6 card base.  The snowflake was stamped in VersaMark ink, heat embossed using Aqua Tinsel embossing powder so it's beautifully sparkly and then die cut.  I added a circle dazzler to the centre and popped the snowflake up.  I stamped and die cut the sentiment label, edged it with Island Indigo ink and popped the label up.  I completed the card front with die cut photo corners and punched snowflakes with rhinestone centres.   

Here's the inside and envelope flap.

Card two also features dry embossing and snowflakes.  I stamped a background of snowflakes on a 5" square of Smoky Slate CS using Smoky Slate ink and glued the square to the front of a 5 1/4" square white card base.  I stamped and fussy cut the dove and popped it up on top of the swirl embossed white panel - I think the embossed swirls complement the swirls in the dove image really well.  I stamped and die cut the sentiment label and popped it up.  I added silver nailheads to the white panel and placed a rhinestone on the dove to finish the front.

Here's the inside and envelope flap.

The final card features an inked winter scene - I've been really enjoying creating inky scene cards recently!  I cut a rectangle of Whisper White CS and applied Tumbled Glass Distress Ink using an ink duster brush.  I used a 1 1/2" circle as a moon mask, dusted on more Tumbled Glass ink and followed that with Faded Jeans and Dusty Concord Distress Inks.  I peeled off the moon mask, added a bit more colour to the moon, stamped the row of trees in Memento Gray Flannel ink, stamped the fir tree and Santa's sleigh in black ink and edged the panel with SU! Elegant Eggplant ink.  I recently came across a tip to use watered down white acrylic paint as snow splatters so I decided to try that.  I dipped a paintbrush in the bottle of watered down paint and repeatedly tapped the brush to add the snowy dots.  I love how the paint gives a solid white colour and also adds a subtle texture.   Once the snow was dry I layered the scene panel onto a white mat, stamped the sentiment and glued the layer to the front of an Elegant Eggplant A6 card base.  To finish off I added two punched blue stars next to the sentiment.

Here's the inside and the envelope flap.

We always exchange Secret Santa gifts at the December meeting and I make a tag for each person and take them along to the November meeting.  I put all the tags in a container and we each pick a tag and attach that to the gift we buy for the person named on the tag.  I made things a bit easier for myself this year by purchasing a pack of ready made white circle tags.  The twine wasn't threaded through the holes though and I did that step first.  I then stamped the deer in Early Espresso ink onto Crumb Cake CS, fussy cut them and popped a deer up onto each tag.  I then added a sparkly red dot nose to each deer.  I stamped the sentiments, punched them out, glued the circles to the back of the tags and wrote a name on each tag with a red Sharpie pen.  Here are the ten tags all ready to go.

Supplies for snowflake card:
Stamps: SU! 'Festive Flurry' & 'Four the Holidays' sets, Penny Black 'Beautiful Season'
CS: SU! Pool Party, Island Indigo & Whisper White, Woodware white linen effect CS
Ink: SU! Pool Party & Island Indigo, VersaMark
Tools: SU! 'Festive Flurry' Framelits die, Darice 'Snowflake Swirl' embossing folder, Spellbinder's 'Labels Trio' die, MFT 'Photo Corners' Die-namics die, X Cut snowflake punch, heat tool, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: Stampendous 'Aqua Tinsel' embossing powder, Creative Expressions Small Circle Dazzler,  SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals, 3D foam tape

Supplies for dove card:
Stamps: Woodware 'Nordic Dove & Branch', 'Snowflakes & Sparkles' & 'Wishing You' clear stamps, SU! 'Four the Holidays' set,
CS: PaperMania white square card blank, SU! Smoky Slate & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Smoky Slate
Tools: Cuttlebug 'D'vine Swirl' embossing folder, Hero Arts 'Small Tag Frame' Frame Cuts die
Embellishments & accessories: silver nailheads, SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals, 3D foam tape

Supplies for Christmas scene card:
Stamps: SU! 'Lovely as a Tree' & 'Season of Joy' sets, Inkylicious 'Santa's Sleigh', Hero Arts 'Joyful Christmas Season' cling set
CS: SU! Elegant Eggplant & Whisper White, Core'dinations Tranquil Blue
Ink: Memento Gray Flannel & Tuxedo Black, Ranger Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans & Dusty Concord Distress Inks, SU! Elegant Eggplant
Tools: Woodware 1 1/2" circle & small star punches, Inkylicious ink duster brushes, Stamp-a-ma-jig, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: watered down Artiste white acrylic paint & paintbrush

Supplies for gift tags:
Stamps: Woodware 'Nordic Reindeer' clear stamp, Penny Black 'A Merry Christmas'
CS: PaperMania Bare Basics Tags & Twine - white circles, SU! Crumb Cake
Ink: SU! Early Espresso, red Sharpie marker
Tools: SU! 2 1/2" circle punch
Embellishments & accessories: PaperMania red shimmer dome stickers, 3D foam tape