Artsy Snowflakes

I haven't made many snowflake cards this year. But when I saw the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch I knew I needed to get my snowflakes out of hibernation. Inspired by the CAS Watercolour challenge I made one card with watercolour resist using Brushos and inspired by the CAS Mixup I made one card with sponging, adding die cutting as my choice. I'm also linking up with Cute Card Thursday where the theme is Snowflakes and Sweet Stampin' Christmas where the theme is to be inspired by a song (Let It Snow).

I started both cards by die cutting a panel of watercolour paper using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die. Then I stamped the snowflakes from Stampin' Up Endless Wishes in Versamark and heat embossed in clear powder. Then I used Tim Holtz distress inks in Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire to ink the background of the first card. I then spritzed the background with water with blue Perfect Pearls to give it a more distressed look and make it a bit shimmery. For the second card I sprinkled various blue, turquoise and green Brushos onto the background and spritzed with water with blue Perfect Pearls. I used a larger Stitched Rectangle Die to die cut a mat from light blue Centura Pearl paper. I also die cut the sentiment using the CUTplorations Let It Snow Phrase die from the same Centura Pearl paper. Last, I attached the panels onto white card.

Card: 250 gsm white card, 300 gsm Daler&Rowney Watercolour paper
Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Brushos
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, CUTplorations Let It Snow phrase die
Other: Perfect Pearls blue, Ranger clear embossing powder

Holiday TAGPlorations

I'm so excited to be part of the second TAGplorations Holiday event. The event kicks off today and will be five days of holiday tag making fun. It's such a great chance to get inspired by the tags the STAMPloraitons girls share over on the STAMPlorations blog. 

I love adding little tags to my Christmas presents, it gives such a nice extra touch. And this year I have used the new CUTplorations Luggage Tag dies to create my tags, which I will be showing over the next few days here and over on the STAMPlorations blog. And of course you will get a chance to get in on the fun too! You will be able to win prizes by commenting on the main post as well as the posts of all the tag desingners linked to the main post. And there will be a lot of prizes:

10 prizes (with a value of $178+) will be distributed among randomly drawn winners:
- (3) randomly drawn winners from all comments left on the STAMP blog and participating designers blog will each receive a $15 gift certificate to the store
- (3) randomly drawn participants to the TAGplorations linky party will each receive the Luggage Tag Dies 
- (3) randomly drawn participants to the TAGplorations linky party will each receive the ATC Tag Builder Dies
- (1) randomly drawn participant to the TAGplorations linky party will receive a $25 gift certificate to the store

Plus possibly some extra surprise prizes too. Winners announced on December 9 in the November Challenges & Hops winners post.

And of course there will be a linky for you to also show us your beautiful holiday tags (any holiday, it doesn't have to be Christmas!)

For today's tag, I used the biggest of the Luggage Tag Nesting Dies to die cut the tag. I used blue Distress inks and blended them using a foam applicator throug the die to get the clean white edge. Then I splattered some water on the tag to create the snowy effect. Next, I stamped and die cut the cute little pressent loaded sled from the Warm Hands Warm Hearts set and coloured with Copics. Last, I added a snowy hill using the Stitched Snow Hills die. To create the sentiment, I used the same blue distress inks to colour a piece of white scrap card and then die cut the sentiment using the Let It Snow phrase die. Last, I added a bit of blue ribbon from my stash.

Don't forget to check out the fantastic tags the other STAMPlorations girls have made, you can find them here. And we will be back for four more days with more TAGspirational creations and can't wait to see what you create.

Card: 250 gsm white card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Warm Hands Warm Hearts and matching dies
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Broken China, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Copics
Dies: CUTplorations Luggage Tag Nesting Dies, Stitched Snow Hills, Let It Snow phrase die
Other: ribbon from my stash

October STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-month inspiration

It's officially not too early anymore to use the C word, at least in the crafty world. It's about time to make sure there is a sufficient stash of C-cards. And there is nothing like a good CAS design to help build that stash. And at the same time you can play along with our STAMPlorations October CAS challenge where the optional colour twist is black. Don't forget to hop over to the STAMPlorations blog to see all the mid-month inspiration from the amazing DT. You can use any products you like, but we would love to see you use STAMPlorations products if you have them. Just remember to keep it CAS and don't forget to include the challenge graphic in your post to be eligible for the prize, which is a $10 gift card to the STAMPlorations store. You still have a good week and half to play along, so no reason to panic, but don't leave it too late either!

For my card I stamped the lovely sleigh loaded with presents and coloured with Copics, but if you prefer to die cut your images there is a matching die set to these stamps. All that was needed to complete the design was a die cut black sentiment, but I also made a smaller version of the card where I stamped one of the sentiments from the stamp set instead. Quick and easy.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Christmas Goes 
Addicted to Stamps and More - ATG 
Christmas Cards All Year Round - Use orange 

Card: 250 gsm white card, scraps of black card
Stamps: STAMPlorations Warm Hands Warm Hearts
Ink and Colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Dies: CUTplorations Let It Snow Phrase die