My Paper Corner

Makes a welcome change to create a birthday card in amongst all the festive cards of late especially as this one was for a fellow crafter.  Now I've always admired others that achieve great watercolour effect backgrounds ... I still need to practice more but I like how this one turned out!  This was a wet on wet technique with mainly leaf green brusho with a little emerald green and yellow mixed in as well. Once dry I've overstamped and heat embossed with white EP one corner and stamped other areas with distress inks to create some patterns using a distress elements stamp set.  The geo butterfly was stamped in red and also heat embossed with clear EP so the promarker colours didn't seep into each other.  This was fussy cut, shaped with a ball tool and adhered by just the body so the wings can lift up slightly. To balance the design a sentiment was stamped in the top open area and the whole panel matted on red to echo the colour of the butterfly. I've used - 6x6"...

Came across another new challenge blog that caught my attention  Let's Squash It!!  The Embossing Folder Challenge.  Took me a little while to get round to making this card but I was inspired by an embossing folder techniques video over on CraftWorld by Sam Calcott.  Coincidentally  Christmas Kickstart  also has the same theme to use a Christmas EP and stamp. One of Sam's fun 5 ways reminded me that I had forgotten about the letterpress technique which I've used on the poinsettia EF by inking one side with a distress oxide pad and brayer before running through my Big Shot to transfer the ink onto the background and leave the raised mini poinsettias white.  I've used linen effect cardstock so the background is lighter and textured.  Large poinsettia flower stamped in a brighter red ink, clear embossed then fussy cut and assembled with leaves behind and a gold embossed flower centre. Sentiment embossed in white on the same pear green coloured paper...

I don't normally take part in watercolour challenges because it's one of my least favourite techniques and I really need more practice but to get a wriggle on with making more Christmas cards I challenged myself to create something for  CAS Mix Up  this month for their rotation of watercolour with a prompt of 'off the edge'.  I'm also going to play along with the  Paper Players  current CAS challenge as their theme is 'any holiday of your choice'. My merry snowman was stamped on a separate panel and clear embossed, watercoloured loosely with distress inks in blues as well as the ground around him then with orange for his hat and scarf.  Decided on a partial die cutting technique so my snowman's head could be above the top of my card base where I die cut the top away in a matching wavy border. Scary die cutting steps trying not to cut his head off!  Glad I did a mock up in paper first as I really didn't know if my idea was going to work and if I could...

I first saw the colour promt at  Color Hues #5  to use yellow and kraft then a few days later  CAS Christmas  wanted us to use non-traditional colours ... hmmm could the two work together?  I already had out on my desk a magazine stamp set from last year which I wanted to use again and this is the result a rustic Christmas wreath with presents. My kraft card is really brown compared to some others so I decided to stamp with brown pigment ink and clear heat emboss so my water colouring would stay inside the design ... that tested my eyesight especially as the mistletoe berries were tiny!  Did you know there is a European yellow mistletoe?  The leaves are green but I've painted mine in neutral. The presents and bow are fussy cut, shaped and mounted with silicone.  Took an absolute age to decide the final placement of the presents but I'm sort of happy now with the layout.  Finishing touches some white dots with a gelly roll pen.   I'v...