Christmas Cards 2010

Now that my cards have been sent out awhile ago, I can finally post what I did for this year's design, hopefully without ruining the surprise for the recipients.

First, I knew I wanted to use my own drawing of CranBeary bear (one of my digistamps over at my DigiDrawn site) as the focal image. Next I found my Sizzix Round Tag die and ran it through my Cuttlebug. When I looked at it closer, I realized it bore a good resemblance to a Christmas ornament, so I coloured it in that way, attached a real ornament hanger and hooked it over CranBeary's candy cane.

The paper used for the snowflake background is "Christmas Magic - Silver Snow" by Fancy Pants Design. A Martha Stewart snowflake punch was run along the bottom of the cardfront, and another Sizzix Scribbles Swirls die was used to punch out the green swirls, matching the cardstock for the background mat.

The longest part of the process was colouring in over 30 CranBearys in Copic markers and cutting them all out!

At least this year, I smartly chose an image that is mostly white!

Happy Holidays!

Yikes!

Oh my! I have been negligent around here, haven't I? It's not that I haven't been busy; between travelling to Dallas and then Minneapolis, creating images for my DigiDrawn stamps site and getting ready for Christmas (I am so NOT prepared!) I haven't posted any of my creations since October!

So, be warned; there are quite a few here to make up for my oversight:

1) Here is a simple card I made for a woman at work who lost her husband. I tried a new technique with this one; placing an oval wooden picture frame inside my Cuttlebug to get the embossing only around the outside of the oval:

2) Another co-worker asked me for a favour - she wanted to give her physician and his wife a gift for their new baby daughter, and wanted one of my cards to accompany it! So I made this for her, using my Fuzzy Bunny digistamp:

3) This weekend I SHOULD have been finishing my Christmas cards. Instead, I had to do five cards for all the December birthdays at the office! Whew! Here they are...

Now I really MUST finish my Christmas cards!!! Yikes indeed!

Anniversary Card

 

My parents will be celebrating their 62nd! Anniversary this weekend. Here's a card I made and have already given them, using another sweet Maggie!

I inked up Tilda with Vintage Roses for the very first time, since my Mom really loves Magnolias too and I used my Dad's favorite colour, teal to colour her in. I LOVE this TPC Studio Ancestral Teal Brocade paper and used matching Bazzil cardstock for three mats which were layered and popped up on foam dimensionals. I used Chalk Ink to finish off the edges of the papers, including the scallop-cut and embossed image using my Spellbinders die.

Wild Orchid Crafts roses were left neutral, and so I matched Tilda's roses to those too. I only had a silver heart charm, so I spray painted it gold and tied it to some sheer ribbon.

Copic colours used:

Tilda's skin: E0000, E000, E00
Tilda's hair: Y11, Y28
Ribbon: Y28
Dress, socks and headband: BG000, BG45, BG49
Roses: W1, W3, G24, G28

I really love the simple yet elegant way this turned out. They did too!

Happy Halloween

I wanted to draw a Halloween image that wasn't scary or too cutsie... so I came up with this litte bat to celebrate my favorite season of the year.  (Click to biggify)

I coloured my new digistamp with Copics: N3, N4, N5, N6 and N9. The neutral greys give a greater ability to shade than simply colouring this bat in with flat black. The other colours used on it were R30, R32, R35, Y32, Y35 and Y38.

The paper and ribbon is from my stash. I thought the card needed some bling, so I looked and looked and to my disappointment, I couldn't find any Halloween charms around. So I had two choices: either hop in the car and head out to Michael's to see what they had, or to make my own.

When I found an old collection of silver studs, I knew I could make my own little spider charm! I simply added three staples for legs, bent them, added some silvery thread, glue and bent the back claws over it all to hold it in place. Viola! A spider to complete the card:

If you'd like this image for your own spooky cards, you can find him over at my DigiDrawn stamp site!

Pumpkin Patch Tilda

I've been longing for the cooler days and nights of autumn... my favorite time of the year can't come soon enough!

"Patch Tilda" is now "Pumpkin Patch Tilda"! I drew the six pumpkins, coloured them with Copics and popped them up on foam dimensionals, adding Tilda with ScorTape so she is safely resting on one of the large gourds.

I used Bazzil cardstock for the base and on top of that layered some Fancy Pants "My Family - Aunt" paper, inked with Stampin' Up's Mellow Moss and distressed with my Making Memories distress tool.

Before I distressed the patterned paper, I ran it through my printer to add the sentiment. A simple addition of green wired sheer ribbon, with a double bow to finish it off.

The inside of the card was the same patterned paper, just the second side... the sentiment was cut with my Martha Stewart lace border punch and edged with the same Mellow Moss ink.

If you'd like a pumpkin patch of your very own, check out my DigiDrawn site for the stamp! Or, if six pumpkins are too much for your needs, choose from two other versions: I've also drawn a set of three pumpkins, and an image of a single pumpkin with leaf!

Copics used:

Tilda:
Skin: E0000, E000, E00
Hair: E30, E33, E35, E37
Overalls: B91, B93, B95, B97, RV32, RV000, BV01, RV91, RV93, C0, C1, C2, C3
Shirt and Socks: Y11, Y15, Y17

Pumpkins:
Y000, Y32, Y35, Y38, YR21, YR23, YR24, G20, G21, G24, G29, W3, W5