Christmas Snowflake

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (teal, red, white), Techniques (stamping, die cutting), Elements (envelope with flap, red scalloped circle, layered snowflakes, sentiment on label die cut, pearl embellishment))

INCLUDE: teal, red, white, layered snowflake

MODIFY: stenciled, embossed background, no scallops on red circle, created flap-look with extra inkblending on my background

EXCLUDE: sentiment

SPIN: square card, gem, spritz and splattered

This colour combination is one of my favourites for Christmas, and I also have a weakness for snowflake dies. 

I stenciled a square of cardstock, then blended over the whole thing for a tone on tone look. Then I masked off a triangle and added another layer of ink to create my faux flap.

I blended red ink onto a white cardstock circle, and then put the two layers through my die cutting machine with a 3D embossing folder to add some texture. I spritzed the panels with shimmer spray and splattered with some silver watercolour. 

I added dimension to my layered snowflake by die cutting small circles and layering them up between the two snowflakes.

Winter Cardinal

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (red, white, brown), Techniques (die cutting, stamping), Elements (bare tree with cardinal, ribbon, sentiment strip, deckled edges, stamped red card base, stencil paste 'snow'.

INCLUDE: red, white, brown, die cutting, stamping, red frame

MODIFY: more trees, bigger bird, splattered snow, 

EXCLUDE: ribbon, sentiment strip, deckled edges

I love this colour combination at Christmas - it's kind of rustic and warm but still festive. I started by blending brown ink through the Abstract Forest stencil. Then I used a pinstripe stamp to stamp with a darker brown ink to add some texture to my trees. I spritzed the panel with iridescent shimmer spray and splattered some metallic watercolour for the look of snow.

I die cut my cardinal from white cardstock and blended red inks on. I used a black copic to create his mask, and a yellow copic for his beak. I added a shiny, beady eye with a dot of Crystal Glaze.

Distress Oxides + Photo Paper = AMAZING BACKGROUNDS!

 

Usually, I am a one-ink girl, and my inks of choice are Catherine Pooler's dye inks. The vibrant colours, the full first-time coverage when stamping,  the ease of blending, and the water-reactiveness all make these inks my favourites.

But recently, my friend Sasha Reade showed a technique using Distress Oxide inks with photo paper, and I knew I just had to give it a try.

And since practice makes perfect, I figured I would try it 15 times, and use a 2 for 1 design to make 30 cards for my Church Christmas project. This is a great way to really try out the technique, and figure out what works best and what doesn't. 

And running out of the most important colour, really didn't work well at all. Watch here to see my rescue strategy.

Winter Chevrons

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this layout as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (aqua, red, purple, white), Techniques (digital scrapbooking) Elements (horizontal strip, flowers, pine branches with berries, snowflakes, dots, chevrons, x-stitches)

INCLUDE: aqua, red, purple, white, chevrons, snowflake

MODIFY: simplify number of elements, centre the focal image, one white snowflake on a red circle, one red pearl instead of lots of berries, some clear gems instead of the aqua snowflakes

EXCLUDE:  flowers, pin branches, x-stitches

I love snowflakes, and I love to make Christmas cards, and this colour combination intrigued me. Purple? Really? But it works!

I simplified the layout by cutting back on the different elements and adding some masking and ink blending for dimension. 

I embossed a white panel with a snowflake stencil for some texture, and finished with a red pearl in the centre of the snowflake and some clear gems on the background.

Nativity Sky

 Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (blue, white, black), Techniques (masking, stamping), Elements (blue strip, stamped sentiment, fun sky technique, silhouette trees on snow, , silver stars, scoring)

INCLUDE: blue, white, black, masking, stamping, stamped sentiment, fun sky technique, scoring

MODIFY: layout, silhouette Nativity, 

I thought I would give myself a Christmas gift for next year, by getting a head start on my Church Christmas cards while ideas are still fresh in my mind. I made 20 of these by using some simple masking and inkblending to create the radiance in the sky.

There are 3 scored lines under the sentiment, which seem to have 'disappeared' in the photography, but in real life, it is a nice way to add a little interest without distracting from the focal point.

Swirly Joy to the World

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (blue, aqua, olive, white, red), Techniques (die cutting, stamping), Elements (geometric pattern, sentiment strip with stamped red sentiment)

INCLUDE: blue, aqua, green, red, white, die cutting, stamping, geometric pattern

MODIFY: inkblended the colours rather than layering, added die cut sentiment, embossing on circles

EXCLUDE: sentiment strip, olive

This is SO COOL. I love how these patterns create a continuous flow down the card ! I don't often copy a card so closely, but it took me most of an afternoon of trial and error to get a similar look with inkblending so I didn't stray too far from the original (but I have lots of ideas how to do that now!). Seems like the important thing is that the difference in size between the 3 circles has to be equal (ie 1/2 inch). I used 1.25", 1.75" and 2.25".   I taped the blue and green half-circle die cuts together and ran the whole thing through my die cutting machine with an embossing folder for some extra texture, and made a bigger pop of red with my die cut sentiment. This is a really great design that can be used for any occasion. I can't wait to do it again!

The Ultimate Embellishment guide!

 

Today, I'm sharing loads of tips for making it easier to choose embellishments and figure out where to put them,  along with a FREE tip sheet!

Get the free tip sheet here.

Mandala Joy

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (Blue, white, black), Techniques ( stamping), Elements (off-centre circular school of fish on wavy paper, sentiment in the centre, sequins)

INCLUDE: blue, circular element with sentiment in the centre

MODIFY: die cutting instead of stamping, centred the circular element, die cut sentiment uses centre, but extends beyond, Christmas card

EXCLUDE: fish, waves.

SPIN: sparkly cardstock, faux shaker centre, square card

One of my favourite inkblending combinations is blues, so I created an ornament type card inspired by this school of fish.

I blended ink onto a circle die cut, and then cut it with a mandala die, and layered it over some mirror-ball cardstock. 

My Joy sentiment has a circular O so I put that in the centre and stacked it up to create protective walls around my faux-shaker (the gems are glued in place).

2023 Crafty Wishlist

 

Today I'm sharing 15 things that you can ask Santa for, based on some of my favourites from this year. And this adorable snowman? You won't believe how I made him....

Merry Snowman

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this layout as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (white, aqua, pink, green), Techniques (digital scrapbook), Elements (dotted letter sentiment plus 'typed' sentiment, person, aqua background, dots around the edges, flowers, leaves

INCLUDE: white, aqua, pink green, aqua background, dotted letter and stamped sentiment

MODIFY: person is a snowman, dots around edges are pink on white.

EXCLUDE: flowers, leaves

I loved the whimsical feel of the colours on this layout and I changed my theme to Christmas and used a snowman die cut as my 'person'. I used several of my older supplies - the snowman die, the circular alphabet stamps and the starry stencil - it's so fun to dig out the old favourites!

Two Minute Two-For-One Designs

 

Last year, I showed you 3 ideas for 2 minute Christmas cards. Well this year, I'm doubling the fun with 3 ideas for two-minute, two-for-one designs. And I'm keeping it real and showing you what really went wrong and how I didn't let my mistakes slow me down!

Get my free Tips for Quick Card Making guide here.

Joy to the World

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (pink, white, green, red), Techniques (stamping, die cutting), Elements (red flowers with leaves, 3 dragonflies, stamped sentiment on label die, splatter, ribbon)

INCLUDE: red, green, white, leaves, stamped sentiment on label, splatter

MODIFY: Christmas instead of spring, holly instead of flowers, stencilling instead of stamping, snowflakes instead of dragonflies, moved the sentiment, black mat instead of green/pink

EXCLUDE: ribbon, pink

I've been having fun with a new set of small stencils - each one is the size of a tag and the have various holiday-themed images.

I created a random pattern of holly leaves with two colours of deep green ink, then used red and fuchsia for the berries - the fuschia gives a kind of pinky glow to them.

I stamped my sentiment with the same red and fuchsia inks, and cut it out with a stitched circle die. I added 3 gold 'snowflake/star' die cut shapes.

Unlock Maximum Value from Coverplate Dies!

 

Today I'm sharing a ton of ways to get more from your coverplate dies!

Card Making Illusions

 

We all know that card making is magic! Layering inks to create the look of embossing is a really great card making illusion, and today I'm sharing tips for this PLUS 8 other cardmaking illusions in a video on my YouTube channel. I think a few of them will surprise you! This video is part of the Winter Wonder hop, hosted by Robin, The Delta Crafter so there's even more winter inspiration when you hop along! 

The Lord Is Come

 

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (persimmon, yellow, blue, gold. white), Techniques (die cutting) Elements (nativity scene with circle around, pine trees, script die cut sentiment, shooting star, interesting background)

INCLUDE: persimmon, yellow, blue, white, nativity scene with circle, interesting (if I do say so myself!) background

MODIFY: stencil technique, added Joseph, embossed and inkblended frame, stamped sentiment, my star is not 'shooting'

EXCLUDE: pine trees

SPIN: square card

The non-traditional, but rich colours of this Christmas card really caught my eye. And the name of the colour - persimmon - it just sounds nice, doesn't it? lol!

I used a new layering stencil set from Concord &9 and then layered on some radiating glow by using some masking stencils and added a sentiment from Waffle Flower.  I used a smaller circle stencil to create a glow around Baby Jesus.  I spritzed the panel with shimmer spray - this adds shimmer and a velvety finish to the cardstock.

For my persimmon frame, I inkblended yellow, orange and red onto it, then embossed it with an embossing folder and spritzed shimmer spray and then splattered some gold watercolour on it.

Merry Rings

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper!

LIST: Colours (red, blue, yellow, white), Techniques (stamping), Elements (3 geometric/mandalas, buttons, stamped red sentiment)

INCLUDE: 3 colours & white, circular elements, red sentiment

MODIFY: green instead of blue, overlapping stenciled shapes instead of stamped mandalas, die cut sentiment

EXCLUDE: buttons

This week I took a very clean and simple inspiration and went a bit wild. Maybe it's a little difficult to see the journey I took from there, to here.

I changed the blue to green to make it more 'festive' in feel. I used two shades of each colour for more visual interest. I used circular elements but mine were of different sizes, and I overlapped them. They are made up of stripes, which gives a kind of candy-cane feel.

I die cut my sentiment, and I added some pinstripe stamping to tie it into the feeling of the striped 'wreath' shapes. I used die cut 'embellishments' to look a little bit like the buttons.

The end result is a big jumble of happy, festive colours, and I think it feels like the wrapping paper being thrown all over the room on Christmas morning. A very happy day indeed.