faux metallic for christmas

Christmastime is sparkle time, right?

I made a few more Christmas cards with an oldie but goodie technique. A great idea for adding a metallic touch to a project is Perfect Pearls. With the faux metal technique (a la Jennifer M.) you brush them onto a Distress Inked area while it is still damp. I thought I'd give the technique a try with Distress Oxides.

So the Oxides have a longer open time than the Inks. And therefore will pick up even more of the Perfect Pearls powder if you lay it on too heavily. Like I did. Got some mega streaks. Oh well.

But a positive side effect is that after using a water/Perfect Pearls mixture in a mini mister to lightly spray the finished area and set the Perfect Pearls, the oxidation droplets appeared where there were larger water droplets and that's kinda cool!

When the inked/pearlized panel was dry I die cut the rectangles and then dry embossed them. Die cut some iconic Christmas figures and heat embossed some sentiments and then assembled my cards.

STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

STAMPlorations Trendy Christmas Trees die
Lil Inker Stitched Rectangles die

SSS Winter Scene stamp

Winnie and Walter Comfort and Joy stamp

We R Memory Keepers Geometric embossing folder

Distress Oxides - Lucky Clover, Cracked Pistachio

Perfect Pearls

Still love this technique. And those embossing folders. Come back tomorrow for the red versions.

I'm playing at:
SSS Wednesday Challenge - AG
SSS Work it Wednesday - Ho Ho Holiday

STAMPlorations inspiration #196

Welcome to a Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

Today we're showcasing Shery Russ stamps. Shery's designs are 10%  From Nov 27 to Dec 3 (with an extra 20% off when you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA).

Today again I was inspired by a pin to my favorite cards inspiration board. Meet my card.

STAMPlorations Sweet Cravings stamp and die
Distress Inks

Used painters' tape to mask off lines across the card front and applied Dried Marigold and Worn Lipstick with a brush. Spritzed with perfect pearl mix. Colored the cone with Copics and die cut it. Curved my sentiments. Voila!

For more inspiration with this fun set, see this card.

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the November inspiration posts. Check out today's post here. So happy you stopped by :) Hope you've enjoyed this month's series where I was inspired by great card designers out there. Thank you all for your constant inspiration!

I'm stopping by at:
Always Fun - Anything Goes

25 days of christmas tags 2018 - part 5

So while you're all enjoying leftovers, I'm back with the last of the sets of tags I'm making as neighbor gifts this year (14 of 'em)... thanks to Tracey's 25 days of Christmas tags.

Meet my last two sets. Who knows? Maybe there'll be more but for now I have to stop and clean up my craft room table cuz it needs to come up to the living room for our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday!

If this tag looks familiar to you, you're right. I decided to make a second set with the same design, just dressed it up with a chiffon bow and made some smaller tags to go with them.

I was inspired by Kim's tag for Day 11 with Winnie and Walter, but used one of my all-time fave Christmas sets from Technique Tuesday who was up on Day 13.

Reverse Confetti Gift Card Holder Tag die

Technique Tuesday Jingle all the Way stamp
Altenew inks

For my last set (actually made two sets of these cuz I was having fun coloring the cute images) I was totally inspired by Tracey's tag for Day 11 with Winnie and Walter.  Such a simple way to create a cute little scene, perfect for families with kiddos.

Love that extra irridescent sparkle the snow sequins add to the heat embossed falling snow.

Papertrey Tag Sale #2 die

Winnie and Walter So Tweet stamp and die

Winnie and Walter Scenery Big Bang Confetti stamp

Winnie and Walter Sentimental Winter stamp

Klartext Frohe Weihnachten stamp

Create a Smile Schone Bescherung stamp

Copic markers

sequins

So I'm off. Have a date with a bird and all its trimmings...

I'm also joining in at:

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Baby it's Cold Outside (#2)

Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies November (#2)

spotlight on the color wheel - part 2

Happy Turkey Day to ya! We're celebrating on Sunday since Thanksgiving isn't a German holiday.

I'm over at the STAMPlorations blog again with a spotlight talking about my color choices and my Copic coloring for this Thanksgiving card.

I'm joining the fun at:
Craft Stamper - November Take it Make it
The Flower Challenge - Special Occasion

25 days of christmas tags 2018 - part 4

Happy Turkey Day! I'm back with more of the sets of tags I'm making as neighbor gifts this year... thanks to Tracey's 25 days of Christmas tags.

Meet my next three sets.

I still couldn't get Day 7 with Birchpress (whose product I do not own unfortunately) and Desiree's color choices for her layered ornament out of my head. So I gave it another try with another new-to-me die. Die cut the layers from kraft, white, silver and gold. Easy peasy.

And made some smaller sticker tags too since I had some leftovers from my plays at which color to make which layer.

Spellbinders Ironworks Motifs die

Next I was inspired by Day 12 with Pretty Pink Posh and Angela's shaker ornament. I broke out this really intricate die and concocted a shaker ornament out of it with a variety of gem tone sequins behind vellum rather than acetate.

Decorated these smaller tags using a hole punch on the negative pieces of mirror and glitter CS!

Simon Says Stamp Merry Christmas Ornament die

MFT Blueprints 4 die

Technique Tuesday Jingle all the Way stamp

Precious Remembrance Sketchy Christmas stamp

vellum,sequins

And then I actually pulled out some Winnie and Walter (Day 11) and kinda came up with my own designs although Shay's tags with the touch of woodgrain pushed me in the direction of one certain stamp set. Hope you likey.

Winnie and Walter Winter Woodland stamp
Winnie and Walter Sentimental Winter stamp
SSS Falling Snow stencil
embossing paste
Altenew inks
sparkle and gold embossing powders
Impression Obsession Birch Trees die
STAMPlorations Luggage Tag die
stag die

I'm joining in at:

SSS Wednesday - Baby it's Cold Outside (#3)
City Crafter - Tag (#3)

Die Cut Divas - AG (#1,2)

Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies November (#2)

25 days of christmas tags 2018 - part 3

I'm back with more of the sets of tags I'm making as neighbor gifts this year... thanks to Tracey's 25 days of Christmas tags.

Meet my next three sets.

Indulge me and my delusions of grandeur for a moment. I am now thoroughly convinced that the MISTI and the Jingle all the Way stamp from Technique Tuesday were designed with ME and THIS  tag set in mind!!!!

Well, OK. Probably not. But this was SUCH fun to make. I was inspired by Kim's tag for Day 11 with Winnie and Walter, but used one of my all-time fave Christmas sets from Technique Tuesday who was up on Day 13. And I even used up some more PP by cutting a second layer for the "to" "from" area ;)

Reverse Confetti Gift Card Holder Tag die

Technique Tuesday Jingle all the Way stamp
Altenew inks
jingle bells, buttons, ribbon

For Day 7 with Birchpress (whose product I do not own unfortunately) I was totally inspired by Desiree's color choices for her layered ornament. I couldn't get it out of my head, but didn't know how I could recreate that look with product I own. So I couldn't really, but I came up with this.

Die cut the layers from kraft, white, silver and gold and then dry embossed all but the kraft (which has to "to" "from" area on the back). They are really cool IRL so I left a sentiment off to keep the clean look. Made these smaller tags for the set too. Great little snowflake die in that Little B set.

Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornament die

Little B Holiday die

We R Memory Keepers Geometric embossing folder

For Day 15 with STAMPlorations, I absolutely loved Carol's die cut tags and had to CASE them of course. Wish my photos were as gorgeous as hers!

STAMPlorations Christmas Icon Nativity die
STAMPlorations Christmas Icon Angel die
STAMPlorations Gift Builder #2 die
STAMPlorations Two Reindeer die

gold glitter CS, Delicata gold ink

I think they'll look so pretty on kraft gift wrap. Keeping them neutral lets the shape speak for itself. Thanks for the idea Carol.

I have more. Still happy Tracey's challenge spurred me to create my neighbor gifts for Christmas in November, though I'm behind the eight ball prepping for our turkey feast on Sunday! 

I'm also joining in at:

Addicted to CAS - Presents (these are all presents for neighbors, but #3 has present tags!)

Basteltraum - Winter/Christmas (#2)

Die Cut Divas - AG (#3)

Happy Little Stampers - AG with Dies November (#2)

STAMPlorations inspiration #195

Back for a Tuesday inspiration from the STAMPlorations inspiration team where the team members feature stamps from one of our talented stamp designers.

We're showcasing Dee's Artsy Impressions stamps. Dee's stamps are 10% off automatically from now through Nov 26 (with an extra 20% off when you use my discount code STAMPGIRLMARIA).

This month, I 'm creating cards inspired by favorite cards of others that I've pinned. Check out my inspiration from Channin P for today's card. Here's my card.

STAMPlorations Tweet Love stamp and die
Papertrey Ink Super Stripes stamp

Altenew inks
enamel dots

Keeping my inspiration piece in mind I pulled out a stripe stamp and stamped them in pastel rainbow. If you don't have stripe stamps, you can cut a piece of fun foam, adhere it to an acrylic block or MISTI and go from there. If using fun foam, I've found pigment inks work better for stamping. Unless you use a MISTI, then you can reink and restamp to your heart's desire! I stamped the images, die cut them and adhered them a bit askew.

I've used these tweeties here and here too. 

You could win yourself a $10 GC to the store by leaving a comment on the November inspiration posts. Check out today's post for more inspiration here. Appreciate that you stopped by :)

I'm joining the fun at:
Penny Black and More - Make Someone Smile
AAA Card Challenges - On the Move

25 days of christmas tags 2018 - part 2

So I'm making sets of tags as neighbor gifts this year... thanks to Tracey's 25 days of Christmas tags.

Without further ado, here are my next three.

For Day 1 with Simon Says Stamp I was inspired by Ankita's simple tags layering a piece of die cut vellum over die cut PP. So happy I got to use up some more PP ;)

 Papertrey Tag Sale #1 die

Simon Says Stamp Holy Stars die
Simon Says Stamp Winter Scene stamp
white embossing powder

For Day 3 with Concord and 9th I was inspired by Jessica's inked beauties (and I also happen to have just the stamp she used). To save some time since I'm making sets, I swiped mini ink pads across my CS before die cutting the tags. Then I heat embossed onto them using my MISTI. Dressed a few up with sequins.

MFT Fish Tail Banner Stax die

Concord and 9th O Christmas Tree stamp

white embossing powder

Altenew inks

For Day 10 with Studio Katia, I loved the watercolored poinsettias by Tracy. When I thought about making multiples I decided to do some stamping and then soften the ink by spritzing with water/moving the ink with a waterbrush rather than watercoloring all those stamped images.

 Papertrey Tag Sale #3 die

STAMPlorations Layered Poinsettias stamp

Klartext Frohe Weihnachten stamp

Distress inks

gold embossing powder

Pretty artsy fartsy. But I've a friend who will certainly appreciate them. And you gotta love the shimmer from a spritz of perfect pearl mixture!

I'll be back with more. So happy Tracey's challenge spurred me to create my neighbor gifts for Christmas in November! Thanks Tracey!

I'm also joining in at:

Addicted to Stamps - AG with option ribbon (#3)

Stamping Sensations - Get Ready for Christmas (#3)

Crafty Hazelnut PP Challenge - November (#1)
Happy Little Stampers - Watercolor November (#3)

25 days of christmas tags 2018 - part 1

Tracey's 25 Tags event came into my reader as I was pondering what to make for neighbor gifts this year... Now I know. And have already made a few sets of tags. Wanna see?

Without further ado, here are my first three.

For Day 2 with Altenew I was inspired by Norine's simple tags in kraft and light blue and made this set. And used up some PP ;)

Can you see the sparkle of the glitter CS and the glitter embossed sentiment? Such fun contrast to the kraft CS.

 

Papertrey Tag Sale #2 die
Paper Smooches Snowflakes die
Altenew Festive Silhouettes stamp

For Day 4 with Reverse Confetti I was inspired by Tracey's little gnome set in a cute scene. I used to be so afraid of little scenes, cuz they require coloring, but I bought myself a couple of "cute" sets with dies and am slowly expanding my horizons ;) This set is for the family DD babysits for. And did I mention how great it is to use up some of my PP stash!

Reverse Confetti Gift Card Holder Tag die

Poppystamps You Melt My Heart stamp and die

Poppystamps Christmas Delights stamp and die

Klartext Frohe Weihnachten stamp

circle punch

Copics

For Day 5 with Newton's Nook, I loved the ornament shaker tags by Jennifer. When I thought about making ornament tags that could also be hung on a tree, I decided they needed to have lots of shiny gold. So I pulled out a PP pack with lotsa gold (did I mention how great it is to use up stash?!?) and these happened. Quite an exercise in engineering... how to include that dangling star embellishment between all the layers but in front of the acetate ...

 Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornament die

Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornament die

Create a Smile Schone Bescherung stamp

craft foam

sequins

And these additional tags happened with the leftovers from the shakers!

Charlie und Paulchen Frohe Weihnachten die

Tim Holtz Holiday Script Words die

I'll be back with three more tomorrow. So happy Tracey's challenge spurred me to create my neighbor gifts for Christmas in November! Thanks Tracey!

I'm also joining in at:

Addicted to Stamps - AG with option ribbon (#2)

Stamping Sensations - Get Ready for Christmas (#2)

The Paper Girls - Wanna build a Snowman? (#2)

Crafty Hazelnut - Christmas (#2 no buttons but bells!)

Crafty Hazelnut PP Challenge - November (#1, #2, #3)
SSS Wednesday - All that glitters is Gold (#3)