Holly Jolly Christmas

 

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, pink, silver), Techniques (embossing, die cutting), Elements (grid of hearts, oval sentiment panel, heat embossed stamped sentiment)

INCLUDE: red, white, grid of small shapes, , die cutting, 

MODIFY: colours, stenciled instead of die cut, small cirlce   and die cut for sentient

EXCLUDE: hearts, oval, heat embossing, scallops

You all know I love a grid layout, and I've had this idea ever since I got this half-circle stencil. I wanted to blend it then turn the stencil to create these 3/4 pie shapes. But the circles didn't match up when I turned the stencil. I was not going to be defeated by that! lol! I masked off one of the half-circle shapes and blended darker green ink through individaully.

Then I used a similar technique to mask around a circle on another stencil and I added some red berries

I have a couple of sentiment stamp sets that have these little 'type-written' greetings that fit perfectly in small circle die cuts. I added a red frame and added it to a die-cut Christmas word

Ornamental Plaid

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, green, yellow, gray, black, white) Techniques (stamping, colouring, die cutting) Elements (plaid, gems, branch with ornaments, lantern, scalloped mat, branches with berries, angled sentiment on mat)

INCLUDE: green, white, stamping, die cutting, plaid, ornaments, sentiment in top left corner, lots of mats

MODIFY: added pink and blue, stenciled/stamped plaid, round matted sentiment

EXCLUDE: branches, lantern, gems

I love the classic, rustic feel of the plaid, branches and ornaments in my inspiration, but I gave it a more modern feel with brighter almost-traditional colours and a custom stenciled and stamped plaid background.

I repeated the ornament portion of a postage stamp Christmas layered stencil set to create my row of ornaments. Then I created my own matching plaid with the same colours, and another layering stencil set. I stamped the coordinating stamp over top, and didn't get it quite lined up properly, but it still looks great - I think that's the sign of a well-designed product!

I was pretty sure I was going to change the location of my sentiment - that top left corner is unusual to me. I tried a few different ideas, and landed on this little stamped sentiment on a white circle with a black mat, and I think it looks just right - that's one of the things I love about this challenge - I often end up making something I would never have come up with on my own!

Heart Thank You

 
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, red, green), Techniques (die cutting, embossing, markers on stamp), Elements (embossed background, window with flowery heart on the inside showing through, ribbon, no sentiment, pink frame/cardbase)

INCLUDE: pink, white, die cutting, window with heart on the inside

MODIFY: heart ink blended on inside, stamped frame

EXCLUDE: embossing, ribbon, flowers

SPIN: added sentiment showing through window, and exterior sentiment, added dew drops

I've always loved the idea of a window with the focal image on the inside of the card. My window is created with the shadow die for a stamped sentiment, and I put my heart on the inside of the card. I stamped the main sentiment also on the inside, and added a sub sentiment on the exterior. I added definition with a stamped frame in a line weight similar to that of the thank you.

Happy 24th Birthday!

 

This card has a big secret inside! It's a Secret Message fun-fold card, that was inspired by a video my friend Bitty Penny made. She and I are both sharing videos today, each inspired by the other, so start here with mine, and then go see how some of my work inspired her!

Mad For Plaid!

 
Today I'm trying out 10 different ways to get the look in your cardmaking from some DIY options to the latest tools. and here's a spoiler alert - some are more successful than others.....

Choosing the Perfect Sentiment

 

Today, I'm looking at how to choose words wisely so we have sentiment stamps and dies that we love and want to use over and over again!

Brushed Florals

Yesterday, I spent some quality time with my newest stamp set - Mama Elephant's Brushed Florals.

While I have recently enjoyed some limited success with some of my watercolouring, lately, I've been frustrated, so I reverted to 'faux' watercolouring. You can get the look with some of the layering stamp sets around, or you can use a technique I learned long ago from Jennifer McGuire. You stamp the image with your lightest colour, then ink it up with a darker colour (so easy to get perfect positioning with your MISTI!) and remove a bit of the colour with a tissue before you stamp it.

As you can see, I tried a number of the stamps and a number of colour combinations.

Details for each card below (all supplies Mama Elephant unless otherwise noted):

Brushed Florals, Birthday script Die, Simon Says Stamp Christmas Graphic

Brushed Florals, Blogging Buddies, Avery Elle Double-Pierced Square Die

Brushed Florals

Brushed Florals, Pix's Favorites

Brushed Florals, Blogging Buddies, Avery Elle Double-Pierced Rectangle and Square dies

Brushed Florals, Blogging Buddies, Avery Elle Double Pierced Rectangle dies