Ugly Christmas Sweater Card With Neglected Punches

I love ugly Christmas sweaters and had one but it fell apart. Until I find another one to wear, I decided I could make one with my punches that have gone unloved for a long time. I make cards all the time with my dies and rarely pull out a punch anymore. But it is easier to punch 4 Christmas trees and 3 stars and 3 snowflakes and a mitten in a pear tree...or on a pocket like here. I found a template on this blog as a starting point and cut the front of the card in red. I embossed it with a new embossing folder by Tim Holtz for Sizzix. I added a plaid collar and button stripe down the middle. My "buttons" are snowflakes (punch by Emagination.) The trees are made with a punch by Fiskars and I decorated them with Nuvo Crystal Drops. The mitten was created with a SU punch on an embossed purple pocket cut to 1 1/2"  by 1 3/4" with rounded corners. The stars were made with a Tonic punch and the poinsettia with a new die from Impression Obsession. The sweater card front is attached to a white top folding A2 card base with a white shirt neckline punched with a 2  1/2" circle punch from Recollections.  I added a few gems to complete my beautiful Ugly Christmas Sweater. It was so fun to make I am going to share with my classes next year in my home.

Peaceful Moose Double Embossed Card

I designed several new "double embossed" cards for a possible shoebox project for our January stamp club meeting and this is another I decided against using. Not because I don't love it, but because I decided to go with a Valentine/Love theme. This card would be great for a masculine birthday or any occasion. I attached aluminum foil to a thick piece of white cardstock and swiped blue, green and brown Staz-on inks in streaks. I applied Versamark to a wavy We R Memory Keepers embossing folder and embossed the aluminum foil piece. Then I dumped on blue, purple and gold embossing powders and melted them with my heat gun. After toning down the edges with black archival ink, I attached the piece to a brown cardbase. I die cut and attached the Moose #1 die from Dee's Distinctively to complete the card.

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Scrapy Land.

Double Embossed Love Card

The other members of our monthly stamp club liked the double embossed cards we shared with them so much, they asked for two versions of it for the January shoebox projects. I am doing the aluminum foil version I have shared so much of here this year. I made several cards and this is not the one I chose for my shoebox, but is similar. I streaked the aluminum foil with red, orange and black Staz-on, then applied Versamark ink to the flatter side of a Darice hearts embossing folder. After running the piece through my embossing machine, I dumped on red, pink and gold embossing powders and melted them on the aluminum foil. The last step in the technique is to sponge on black archival ink to tone down the edges and highlight the embossing. I attached the completed piece to a pink A2 card and added a heart ribbon die cut with a Die-Namites die and "Love" die cut with a Dee's Distinctively die.  Here is a close up of the "double embossing": 

I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Scrapy Land.

Tonic Studios Gingerbread House - Real or Faux?

I am having so much fun designing with the Gingerbread House Die from Tonic Studios! The minute I saw this die I knew I wanted to try to make a realistic looking gingerbread house using a "faux leather" technique I shared here on my blog.  There is a tutorial there and a link to the original video where I learned the technique, but briefly you use kraft cardstock (which Tonic now carries here), glycerin and distress inks for the look you see here. 

I embossed two of the sides of the gingerbread house with Tonic's Simple Stripes embossing folder (1443E) and added a couple gingerbread men from the same Gingerbread House die set and created with the same technique to the side of the house. The other two sides feature the beautiful detailed door and side dies that are also included in this die set. The icicles hanging from the roof and the snow on the roof, chimney and around the bottom of the house were all made with Nuvo's new Snowfall Glitter Accents. I also added glitter and crystal drops to the gingerbread men and the wreath on the door. Here is a close up of the roof: 

I die cut the roof and the "shingles" out of faux gingerbread pieces and glued them together. I added some Golden Sunset Glitter Drops, a gold mirror card (from Tonic) chimney and some more snow. 

If you are thinking about getting this Tonic Studios Gingerbread House Die Set or have one and need some tips, here is a link to a very helpful video on Tonic Studio's YouTube channel showing how to put the Gingerbread House together.

I love how this turned out and am hoping the special person who receives it today will love it too. It almost looks good enough to eat:)

I am entering this project in the "Gift It" challenge at Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Happy Holidays Sparkle with Nuvo Glimmer Pastes and Tonic Studios Dies

It’s a grey snowy day at the North Pole, but Santa’s sleigh is ready for his elves to fill it with toys. Before we know it, Christmas will be here! I have been playing with my Nuvo Glimmer Pastes and am sharing the four different ways I applied them to this holiday card.

I created the snow in the grey sky on this card using Tonic Studio’s Beautiful Bokeh 6x6 Stencil, Moonstone White Glimmer Paste and a stencil knife. Simply tape the stencil down with a temporary tape on three sides. On the bottom of Tonic’s stencils is a round tab that you can use to easily lift the stencil up with when you are done. Dip your stencil knife into the glimmer paste to pick up some paste and swipe it across the stencil filling all the little holes. Pick up any excess glimmer paste off the stencil when done and return to the jar. If you do not have a stencil knife like the one I am using, the inexpensive plastic ones sold in most craft stores will work just fine. Lift the stencil up from the bottom and you will see the lovely snowflakes created with this stencil and the Moonstone White Glimmer Paste.

Immediately clean the stencil and stencil knife with warm soapy water. Glimmer paste usually takes about 15-30 minutes to dry depending on how thick it was applied. While it was drying, I moved on to making my Happy Holidays Christmas Sentiment all sparkly with Emerald Green Glimmer Paste.

When I want to apply glimmer paste all over a die cut, I use an inexpensive large brush such as the type sold to apply paste. Any larger brush will do, but I suggest not using one you wish to paint with later. Even if cleaned immediately with soapy water after use, the glimmer paste will leave some residue in the brush, so I suggest dedicating a larger inexpensive brush for glimmer paste only. I simply dip the brush into the glimmer paste, pick up some and swipe it over the die cut cardstock. When it was totally covered, I moved it over to a clean spot and let it dry. Here is a closer look at the sparkly textured snow and Happy Holidays Christmas Sentiment. 

Another way to use glimmer paste is to highlight just a part of a die cut or craft project. I chose to do that with the runners of the Rococo Santa’s Sleigh that I die cut out of Tonic’s red mirror cardstock. After cutting and embossing the sleigh in my Tonic Tangerine machine, I highlighted the runners with Golden Crystal Glimmer Paste. I choose to use a q-tip when adding just a bit of glimmer paste on a part of a die cut.

One last way to apply glimmer paste is to use an inexpensive craft foam brush to swipe glimmer paste on, as I did with the snowbank on the bottom of my card. I simply tore a piece of white cardstock, picked up some Moonstone White Glimmer Paste with my craft foam brush and covered the cardstock with glittery “snow”.

I attached the Santa’s Sleigh Rococo die with pop dots to raise it. The sparkly snow and “Happy Holidays” were attached to my card with Tonic Funky Glue Pen and the Nuvo Fine Tip Glue Pen.

No matter which way you apply Nuvo’s Glimmer Pastes, they are an easy and fun way to add sparkle to cards and craft projects all year round!

"Love, kisses and GINGERBREAD wishes" with Guest Blogger Gail Jaeger

I am thrilled to share a holiday project today created by my very talented friend, Gail Jaeger! I saw this Gingerbread Wishes project and was amazed at the artistic way Gail takes Tonic Studio dies and Nuvo products and comes up with unique ideas! Of course Gail was an artist first and now creates works of art with dies and stamps and paper. Here is Gail's holiday art:

Gail Jaeger here wishing you all a Merry Christmas!  When you look at this, what do you see? A card? But it doesn't fold...  How about a gift box? Don't think so, the boxes are too small and it would be ruined trying to get them open.  How about a hostess or teacher gift?  Add a box of Ferrero Rocher and everyone will be smiling. Here are the Tonic and Nuvo products I used:

To begin, select a heavy duty card stock (4 1/2 x 6), emboss it with Tonic's 1441e Layered Leaves 8X8 embossing folder and support with a piece of card board.  Now you can begin to build the boxes (6x1x1) and growing smaller by 1 inch or whatever size you desire.  Tonic has a wonderful pack of premium paper called Christmas Wishes 1054e. I found another pack of paper from Tonic called Winter Wonderland 1053e that would also be enjoyable to work with.

It is important to build your boxes from the largest to smallest. Begin by cutting your paper to size.  For a 6 inch box you will cut 8 inches (this leaves 1 inch on each side for the ends of the box) by 4 1/2 inches.  Score as designated above.  Cut out the 2 pink areas of the flap. Begin folding along the first score line, bending in the ends and securing with Tonic's Funky Tape Runner. Secure the flap inside the box. When the boxes are complete, secure with more Funky Tape Runner at whatever angle looks good to you. Decorate with the gingerbread men and holiday images cut out with Tonic Studios dies. Enjoy!

Have an ICE Day!

Ice is the inspiration this week at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge so I am sharing this fun new card I just made with some winter goodies I bought recently at Let's Create in Wisconsin Rapids. I could not resist this gorgeous paper by BoBunny and a new Memory Box Scattered Flakes stencil. I applied Nuvo's Moonstone Glimmer Paste through the stencil. It is a little hard to see because the flakes and dots are small, but IRL it has a lovely sparkly texture. Here is a close-up:

The cute penguin is a Hearty Crafts 3D Topper and each layer is raised with pop dots. I stamped the perfect sentiment from Amuse to complete my "ice" card.