Merry & Bright Water Color

Merry and Bright and full of color.  I am really loving this trendy water color technique.  It brings back memories of when I took art lessons as a child.

Here are the details on how you can make this card.  For the water color background, I spread  Peacock Feathers Distress Inks on my craft mat and spritzed with water.  I then placed my cardstock into the ink and let it absorb. I after several dabs I turned over and let the water do the work. 

Next, I used the large rectangle from the "Bundle of Stitched Shapes" by Simon Says Stamps.  To add another layer of interest, I used Texture Past and the "Falling Snow" Stencil from Simon Says   The "Merry" Die from MFT is cut from glitter paper and the "&" is from Avery Elle', "We R Family" Die.  Finally I heat embossed the bright greeting from Avery Elle's "Holiday Fill In the Blank" stamp set.

Wow, I didn't realize that I used some many different company's products on this card.  I really love it and hope it inspires you to dig deep in your supplies.

Happy Crafting,

Melanie

Trim the Tree with Christmas Cheer

This Christmas card was inspired by one of my most popular blog posts that I did three year ago.  You can check it out here.   The tree is the main focal point and I think its curves are timeless and that is what everyone likes about it.  So, why not use the same tree in another card?  Well, that is exactly what I have done and I like this card as much as the previous one.  Here is how I did it:

The tree I used from a Cricut Christmas Solutions, cut at 4.5" on green glimmer paper.  I first used Simon Says Stamp's "Bundle of Stitched Shapes".  If you look close you can see the stitching detail around the edge.  I them made it into the background with a stencil and texture or embossing paste.  The stencil is Tim Holtz's "Holiday Knit".  I just love the texture it adds and it's subtlety behind the tree.

For the red banner, I stamped it with Stampin Up's "Sweet Essentials" Christmas Cheer sentiment.  For the finishing touch, the holly and berries were added from Papertrey Ink's "Holly Jolly Die Collection".

I may be inspired to see what other backdrops I can come up with to support the star of this card.  That tree is
Happy Crafting,

Melanie

Circle & Texture Happy Birthday Masculine Card

Can I say, I love the new crafting supplies that I have gotten recently.  I feel much more like myself when I can get in my craft room and have a few moments to myself.  That is hard with three boys running around, but I am sure going to make more of an effort.

This was a fairly simple card that I made to celebrate my Father-in-Law's birthday this week and only took about 15 minutes to make.  I used the "happy" die cut and the "Birthday" Sentiment is from My Favorite Things.  

For the Chevron Background I used Texture Paste and a Tim Holtz Chevron Stencil.  I only used the center chevron and masked over the ones I didn't need.  I let that dry for a moment and the I punched out some circles.  The largest circle is photo paper that I experimented with ink and water.  I think it add a touch of whimsy to the card.  The other circles were cut from scrap papers that I had on hand.  I think enamel dots would look nice on this as well.  I used foam dots and glues dot to assemble the layers.

I can't wait to get onto the next project.  This was so much fun!

Happy Crafting,

Melanie