Winding down this year's Christmas cards

Wow, it has been a month since I last posted. In my defense, I had finals to deal with!

Anyway, here is the second-to-last Christmas card for the year. It's one of three similar cards that I've made for family members. It's also the best of the three. The metallic blue paper is DCWV; the dp is from Creative Imaginations; and the snowflake is from Queen and Company.

I'll have one more Christmas card, then I think I will work on some birthday cards in January!

Two new cards

I actually got two cards finished this weekend. I didn't study much and spent most of my weekend playing and crafting. But I'm thrilled with the stack of cards I have available to send to my friends.

The pictures don't do justice to the cards, I'm afraid. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to photograph my cards. I'm also struggling with the blog's layout today.

 The card on the left uses a stamp from Penny Black. I don't remember where I got the metallic red paper, and I believe the ribbon is Karen Foster.

The card on the right uses cardstock from DCWV, and a tree from Jolee's.

Finally!

I finally finished another card! It's only been a few weeks since my last one :)

This one features Unwrapped Tilda on the inside (below) and Tilda with Gifts on the outside (the out-of-focus card on the right). Both are stamped on Cryogen paper, and colored with a combination of Copics and Smooch Ink. The dp comes from The Paper Studio's Christmas collection.

I expect I'll have to custom-make the envelope, which will be a new task for me. The card is a 6-by-6. I keep finding flaws to it :( but I know I'm my toughest critic. I would appreciate any comments or advice!

Playing with patterns

I tried something a little different for me with my latest card. I don't normally mix patterns -- with either my paper projects or my wardrobe! -- because I'm just not very good at it. But I think this card turned out well.

I wish I could remember where I bought the dp. The ribbon came in a little sample bag from Paper Wishes. The stickers are from American Crafts' Thickers collection.

Oops

Well, I've done it twice now -- I've made lovely cards for friends, and I forgot to take pictures!  Oh well.  I'll try to remember next time :)

Tilda notecard

I actually finished another card this weekend. This one is a notecard (I bought a pack of notecards by mistake and figured I ought to use them). The dp (on both sides of the card) comes from Paper Studio, but I enhanced it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam in Golden Goddess.

I purchased both the dp and the ribbon from Hobby Lobby. The pearls and the Glimmer Glam came from Scrapbook.com. And, of course, we have Unwrapped Tilda and part of the Winter Forest stamp. I used Stickles to simulate ornaments, and my favorite red, green and brown Copics to color in the images.

Glittery angel Tilda

I finally finished a card! Angel Tilda was colored with Copics and Smooch Ink. I made the embossed snowflakes using Versamark and an embossing glitter. The blue cardstock is from Wausau Paper.

I hope to do more crafting this weekend, but whether I'll finish anything is up in the air. Such is the life of a college student.

Midterms

Sorry about the lack of activity lately, but we're closing in on mid-semester, and that, of course, means midterms! I've been coloring some Tildas and crafting when I have time, but don't have anything to show for it yet.

Two posts in one!

I have a few images to post, as I take a break from the books and get caught up with my crafting.

First are the images I promised of the Pearl Ex pigments. You can see a little of the shimmer, I think, though the images look even better in person. The image on top has been embossed; the one on bottom has not.

And I have a new Tilda to show you! I'm fond of this Tilda stamp, which comes from one of Magnolia's Christmas collections, and am pleased with how the image turned out. The chair is also from Magnolia, and Tilda is attached with a dimensional dot adhesive. I wish I could remember where I got the paper.

The use of such a bold pattern is a departure for me, so I'd love to hear what you think!

PearlEx

I've finally found a good way to use Pearl-Ex in my stamping! Combining a pigment with matching stamp ink and water leads to a pretty, stained-glass effect.

The blog Sunflowers and Dragonflies showed me the technique. I didn't emboss my image, and I probably should have -- I'm having a little trouble staying inside the lines!

I'll post the image later, when it's done. Luckily my weekend will start in about 12 hours.

A very Maggie Christmas

Finally finished my first Christmas card using a Magnolia stamp. The little angel Tilda was colored with an assortment of Copic markers and Smooch inks.

I used my Cricut machine to cut out the oval, and then used a brayer to apply Iridescent Gold and Forest Green glimmer sprays from Tattered Angels. I also coated the oval with a glaze to keep the glimmer from rubbing off.

The embossed background paper came from either Scrapbook.com or Addicted to Rubber Stamps (sorry -- I forgot where I bought it). The stickers are from Jolee's Boutique.

Obviously I need to find a better way to take pictures of my cards! I hope you can see it OK. I'll keep working on it.

My first Tilda

Inspired by the arrival of some new Copic markers last night, I finally finished coloring my first Tilda! She'll soon be gracing a Christmas card, and I'll post that when it's finally ready.

Her dress, shoes, hair and skin were done with Copic markers. Her headband, star and wings were colored with Smooch ink -- a wonderful product if you've never tried it.

 

Better luck today

Update: Here's the picture. I think it looks much better!

Original post: I had a little better luck today with the Pearl-Ex. Using one big image and using cotton swabs to dab on the pigment seem to have helped. There's still a little smudging, but I think I can live with that.


The site Splitcoaststampers helped me figure out how to use Pearl-Ex. Now I don't feel like I've wasted my money!

A quick link

So I have to study this morning, but wanted to take just a couple minutes to link to another blog that has a beautiful card posted on it.

I found out about the blog through a Yahoo! group called MAGNOLIA-licious -- a group for fans of Magnolia stamps -- and I'm just in awe of what the blogger put together. Take a look at the lace and sparkles card on the My Creation Time blog.

Ciao!

Sparkly frustrations 1: Pearl-ex

The image below is just the latest in my attempts to use Pearl-Ex pigments in my card-making. So far it's not working out -- you might not be able to see it in the photo, but the pigment is smeared. I think the main problem is that the stamp was not one continuous image but a series of separate snowflakes. I'll keep working on it ...

In any case, here's what I did:

-- inked the snowflake with a tinted embossing ink, and stamped the image on black cardstock
-- let the image dry just a little bit (this was advice it got from a video tutorial on the blog Scrapping by Design)
-- used a paintbrush to dust the silver pigment on part of the image, then the gold pigment on the rest.
-- shook off the excess, then used a clean paintbrush to try to dust off the pigment in between the snowflakes. That's what didn't work. Had it just been one continuous image, I could have left it alone. But there was pigment between the snowflakes, and I couldn't seem to get rid of it. So that's what I'll try to change next time.

For more advice on using Pearl-Ex, check out the blog Scrapping by Design.

New to blogging. Sort of.

Good afternoon! It's a rainy day in Texas, a perfect day for staying inside and crafting.

However, I have to go work soon, so I'll just take a minute to introduce myself and my new blog.

My name's Catherine, and I'm a graduate student working toward an accounting degree. My crafts projects keep me sane and let me be creative. Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about the crafts I enjoy, and so I endure a lot of trial and error.

I am using this blog as both a means of keeping track of successes and failures and as a way to help followers avoid the mistakes I made!

I'm sort of new to blogging. I used to blog for my previous employer, a  newspaper in Texas, but the format and the subject matter were much different. Please bear with me as I figure out how this blog service works.