Holiday Hugs

As you may have noticed, I did not post anything last week. I was away on vacation, visiting family for Thanksgiving and I spent all of my time thoroughly enjoying family activities and being away from my computer. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving (if you celebrate) or a lovely week (if you don't)!

Today's card is another one in my series of Christmas cards for the year. This time, I'm featuring a super cute stamp set from WPlus9 called Holiday Hugs. The image in this set is so sweet with a fabulous style, and the sentiment matches just perfectly.

I decided to go for a combination of geometric (stripes) and random (splatters) for my background. I knocked things up a notch by adding some gold glitter cardstock and a few enamel dots.

For the main image, I colored the girl in shades of blue-green and black, keeping her hat and gloves white. In contrast, I used dusty pinks to shade the bear, which brought a lot of diversity to the colors and tied in with the bright red scarf.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Merry Fox-Mas

Today's card features the super cute stamp from Lawn Fawn's Winter Fox. This small stamp set is very affordable and versatile enough to fit any winter and Christmas card.

I decided to go with a not-so-traditional palette for this card, working with purple, grey, blue and a touch of silver. I think it really illustrates the winter feel, and the scalloped border brings a bit of softness to the design.

Since my tones were cool, I chose silver to add some sparkle and festive flair.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Supplies:

Lawn Fawn - Winter Fox stamp

Copics (B41, B45, R20, V12, V06, V17, BG10, BG32, BG49)

Ranger Distress Ink - Dusty Concord

My Favorite Things - LLD Hug in a Mug

My Favorite Things - Silver Sparkle Cardstock

Simon Says Stamp - Wavy Scallop Stitches die

MFT- Warmest Wishes

Have you ever looked at your cards and thought "I can do better"? This is the state of mind I found myself in as I was looking over the pile of Christmas cards I'd made so far. I don't know whether it was being tired or just trying to rush and get Christmas things done, but I looked at my finished cards and I just wasn't feeling it. While there was nothing obviously wrong with them, they just didn't feel like "me". And I thought to myself that I can do better.

So, I went back to the drawing board and sat down to create some new cards. I didn't fret about the old cards, because they're getting wrapped up in pretty paper and are being sent off to a dear friend who needs a few holiday cards. But I wanted to do something special with the new cards.

This card is a bit more complex than my other ones, and it features some fun die-cutting. I used a very large bunch of supplies from My Favorite Things, and had a lot of fun die-cutting the perfect panels. I also added some embellishments and a bit of sparkle - and it made the card extra festive.

I'm just a little bummed that the coloring on the moose's sweater didn't come across as well as it does in person, but all in all, this is a card I'm happy with.

Since it fits the theme, I'm entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Supplies:

My Favorite Things - (Birdie Brown) Christmoose stamp set

My Favorite Things - Blueprints 13 die

My Favorite Things - Blueprints 25 die

My Favorite Things - Somespun Stitch Lines die

My Favorite Things - Circle STAX die

My Favorite Things - (Birdie Brown) Warmest Wishes stamp (sentiment)

My Favorite Things - Homespun Gingham 6x6 paper pad

My Favorite Things - Silver Sparkle cardstock
Pretty Pink Posh - Borders I die (scallop)

Woodgrain Cardstock

Oatmeal Cardstock

Enamel Dots

Copics (E53, E33, E35, E37, E81, E84, E44, B41, B45, C6, C8, R20, R22, BG11, BG32, BG49, E25, E27R08, R46, R59)

White Gel Pen

Delicious Birthday

Today's card is a simple little birthday card. A little bit feminine, I think it would be perfect for a young girl and an older woman alike. And switching up the palette to cool blue tones would make it into a great masculine card, too! Don't you love when you come across designs like that?

This card uses two stamp sets: Mama Elephant's Carnival Cupcakes and My Favorite Things'  Delicious Birthday. I think they go together marvelously.

I kept this card relatively clean and simple, scattering just a few clear sparkling sequins across it.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Merry Chris Mouse

Today's card features one of my first Some Odd Girl Stamps - Chris Mouse. I really love this adorable little set, both because it's incredibly cute and because it's small enough to fit on tiny cards - while still looking perfect on an A2-sized card.

I kept this card relatively simple, going with a candy-cane stripe for the background, along with a black rectangle in the middle to punch up some interest. I dug into my wood veneer stash and found a few snowflakes, which I adhered to the card along with a few enamel dots.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Classic Christmas

Looking through my small (but growing!) Christmas card stash, I noticed that I barely ever used the traditional red and green palette. Some of it just has to do with the card design, as I favor coloring critters and people to add to the card. And the rest is, really, that all of my gift-wrap, cookie boxes and decorations seem to be not-so-traditional in color. It seems a bit weird to make traditional red and green Christmas cards when the rest of the gifts are anything but.

I did want to challenge myself, however, to not stray from tradition entirely. There's friends and family members who adore the classics, and it's a really great practice for a color combination I seem to never use.

For this card, I used a stamp set from Clearly Besotted called Christmas Sparkle. This is a smaller and cheaper set, but it features a lovely and bold greeting that I wanted to use. I also used a die from Pretty Pink Posh, as well as an old embossing folder from Sizzix that's been retired. To embellish the card, I  tied a piece of red satin ribbon around my tag and added a few dark red enamel dots.

The green in this card is subtle and dark cardstock I used to mat the front panel. The flourish is in the lovely greeting and that silky satin ribbon.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

AE- Merriest Wishes

Today's card is a fun and cute Christmas card, featuring Avery Elle's Be Jolly stamp set. I grabbed this adorable stamp when it released last year, but I didn't use it as much as I wanted to. Now that the winter season is fast approaching again, it was just perfect for my card!

I stamped the snowman and the snowbank onto some white cardstock with black ink, then colored him in with Copics. I kept the coloring very simple, adding just a touch of shading. For my colors, I used blue and purple shades.

I found a scrap of patterned paper in my paper stash and I loved how it looked. The colors complemented the way I colored the stamp. I adhered the patterned paper to the left side of a top-folding A2 card (4¼x5½").

For the sentiment, I wanted something a little whimsical, and Waffle Flowers' A Homemade Christmas had the cutest sketchy sentiment. I stamped it at the bottom of the panel and adhered the panel to the card base.

As a last touch, I added a scattering of sequins to the card. Though it's tough to tell, the sequins are iridescent and shimmer in clear, purple and blue tones. It's very pretty when you turn the card toward the light.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

SSS- Masculine Christmas

 Today, I'm sharing a quick Christmas card I created. This card is a more masculine card, but it still has that rustic Christmas feel.

I started by cutting a piece of plaid patterned paper to 4x5¼" and adhering it to a top-folding A2 card base. I used my Bigshot to cut out the large Eliza snowflake out of cardstock. I also cut out two smaller snowflakes out of Lawn Fawn's Stitched Snowflakes dies. I adhered them in the bottom-right corner of the panel, making sure the largest die was off-page.

I die-cut the sentiment panel out of the Apothecary Labels 2 die-set. I used the Holiday Labels stamp to stamp the sentiment and the frame. The frame was stamped in Versamark ink, then embossed with liquid platinum embossing powder. The sentiment was stamped in black ink.

I added a couple of small silver brads to the frame and adhered it to the card with foam squares. As a last touch, I added several enamel dots - some in colors similar to the patterned paper, others in a silver shimmer. I think it added just the right amount of sparkle without being too over the top.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Autumn Birch Tree

Before I jump into all the winter holiday cards, I thought I'd share a watercolor piece I painted recently. It's far from perfect, but it was a great practice for getting used to working with watercolor. I still feel like I have a long way to go before I'm anywhere near good with it, but it's a start. I watched a good dozen YT videos on painting before jumping into this piece (that helped!). There were some great tips on mixing color and just how much water needs to be on the brush. With a little more practice, I think I could really get into it.

For this piece, I used some new materials. I bought some of the Arches hot-press watercolor paper because it came highly recommended by several crafters and painters. It is on the expensive side, definitely, but it's a really nice paper and it makes a tremendous difference in how the colors behave on it. For the colors, I used the Koi Watercolor Sketch set and I used a new brush set I got from my local craft store.

I love the way the birch trunk turned out, and the topiary at the top is pretty fun. I used a sponge to give it extra texture and layered a few different colors. The grass at the bottom needs some major work (and a different color), and I need to work a little more on the contrast on the clouds.

All in all, I'm pleased with my attempt. It makes a fun fall-themed card.

Thanks for reading!
~Elle~

Happy Halloween!

My Favorite Things: Witch Way Is The Candy? (Birdie Brown), Lawn Fawn Let's Polka in the Dark 6x6,  Copics

Halloween was yesterday, and I had a lovely time handing out candy and looking at all the fun costumes. There were quite a few really creative ones, and several can't-go-wrong-with-them classics. I made little treat bags for all the trick-or-treaters - which went over super well. Lots of compliments and lots of curious kids wanting to peek in their bags right away.

In between the doorbell ringing, I was busy getting crafty and making a fun Halloween card.

I started by stamping the adorable witch and kitty from Birdie Brown's Witch Way Is The Candy? stamp set. I colored the images with my Copics, using a few of the traditional Halloween colors. Instead of black, I used some of the darker Blue-Violet shades, which gave me more contrast and shading. I colored the kitty in warm grays, adding a touch of yellow to the eyes. I also stamped and colored a couple of pumpkins.

Once my coloring was done, I carefully cut everything out with a pair of sharp scissors.

For the background, I grabbed an orange piece of patterned paper and matted it onto a standard A2 card (4¼x5½"). I cut a smaller rectangular panel out of gray cardstock and adhered it to the front. I wanted to bring in more of that striped pattern, so I grabbed a gray scrap and added it to the panel.

I adhered the stamped images to the center panel, then scattered a few sequins and enamel dots, and voila! Finished card. :)

Thanks so much for reading!
~Elle~