Eat Drink & be Merry (with P.O.D. stamps)

edited to add: If you're checkin' in, thought I should let ya know that
Today is random-day-off-Monday! heh heh oxo

Warning: i am chatty today! blabbity blab blab blab! ;o)

My sweet BFF Kim has two favourite animals.
(Kimmy, if you're reading. Tsk Tsk!
You were asposed ta stay offa da blog GF!)

Kimmy loves Polar Bears....


and she loves Penguins....


So how lucky for me (in making her Christmas card this year)
that her two favourite critters are best buddies!?!...

...and they chill out together in all their cuteness at Purple Onion Designs! ;o)

1...Purple Onion Design stamps used here
2...making this little winter scene
3...cheap tricks: a snowflake edge (with a M.S. shape punch)

-1-

(from Purple Onion Designs)

Michelle Clement Holiday stamps:

Late 1800's Script & snowflakes from Merriness

and the doodle Snowflake:


-2-

...make this winter scene:

• Purple Onion Design stamps (above & the sentiments below...)
• Copic markers
• White pigment ink with white & clear embossing powder
• Watercolour paper, Dark Grey, Black & Neenah White cardstock
• Heavy weight Vellum cardstock
• Watercolour Crayons (black & gray)
• Niji waterbrush & mister spray bottle
  
• Snowflake punch & Snowflake edge punch (Martha S.)
  
• 1/8" Hole punch
• Tombow Monomulti & Scor-tape
  
• BasicGrey Porcelain paper pack (6x6)
• Paper piercer, needle, & silver thread
• Sakura Stardust Glitter pen
  

Step 1) Make the background.

The big gray piece is watercolour paper with a rubbing of watercolour crayon (in black & grey) that was spritzed with water & dabbed with a rag (No worries about that curly paper, with watercolour paper it flattens out when dry.)

The white hill is a piece of white cardstock cut in a curve & embossed in white with P.O.D. 1800's script background stamp.



Step 2) Emboss snowflakes on it. (This is the single large P.O.D. snowflake & the 2 from Merriness set (...all sets are linked up above...) The snowflakes are varied: some in white embossing powder and some in clear e.p.) I love these particular snowflakes because you can color in the outlines of them with glitter (or any colour you like.) A little added bling inside 'em with a good ol' Sakura stardust glitter pen.



Step 3) Stitch the hill & sky together (if you like) on a black mat.



Step 4) Cut a card mat & emboss snowflakes on it. This is 5 1/2 inch square mat with a combo of snowflakes in white pigment ink snowflakes, some embossed with white embossing powder, some with clear, and some with no embossing at all.

(You know me, I stitch too much, so I need LOTs of layers.) Of course, if you're skipping the stitching, you could just emboss right on your card front. Or just stitch the hill & not through the mat (why do I always think of these things afterward?)

Step 5) Make another snowy hill for under the mat.

To make a quick textured snow hill like this one:

A) Cut plain white cardstock into a curvy bit to match up with the other hill.
B) Smoosh it all over with white pigment ink or Versamark.
C) Cover the wet ink with white embossing powder and melt it.
D) Adhere the hill & Pierce it and stitch it, if you like.

Depending on your embossing powder & coverage, you should be
able to get a neat-o nubbly snow texture:

(You could even add a bit of ink distressing to make
the texture pop more...)

Step 6) Emboss the buddies in black ink & clear embossing powder
and Paper piece the scarves on patterned paper. (I coloured the scarves with Stardust glitter pen and curled them with my fingers after adhering them to the critters, so they stand out a bit.)

Step 7) Colour the critters (I used Copic markers)
and Paper piece the fire too.

I gotta tell ya, I am so lovin' that Basic Grey
Porcelain paper for piecing the fire!:

(especially with a lil' red and brown Copic marker details &
some Sakura glitter "smoke" heeheehee!)

Strangely enough, this was my most favouritest part:

...colouring the teensy weensy marshmallow, so that
it looked burnt. I wanna colour s'more! giggle giggle giggle!

Step 8) Punch some teensy white snowflakes & glue them on the sky (These are the left-over bits from when you punch the Martha Stewart snowflake edge punch.)

Weird side note about that Martha edge punch: I just had to punch a round hole in the bigger snowflakes (in the photo up above at the bottom) since it looked WAY too solid to my weird eye. ["Bigger" Hah! That snowflake is so teensy that it's crazy--a real pain to get off of the hole punch, but then I'm crazy.] bwahaha.

Next time, I'd punch the hole first & then punch the snowflake edge around the hole! I tried it & it was MUCH simpler. If you want to be crazy too, here's how:

A) Punch the edge of your paper with the M.S. snowflake edge punch, but only a teensy bit (to give a guide for where to punch the hole.)

B) Punch the hole in the center of that big snowflake. (I used a Fiskar's 1/8" circle hand-held punch.)

C) Line up the edge punch over the hole & punch it out. Save your precious wee snowflakes & glue 'em on.

(Now that was a bit obsessive, hey?) If you're a tad OCD like me, and I've now driven you mad thinking that those "bigger" snowflakes look fat (but there's no way you're punching holes) then rest easy, a nice gem or stickles in the middle of that big one is quite slimming. ;0)

Step 9) Emboss the sentiment.

Another weird side note (yak yak yak yak yak yak YAK): I really struggle with sentiments. (Hateses them, precious!) Many a time, I leave them off cards altogether, because they terrify me!!! (and I don't want them to take over the card.)

But if you have no saying, the card looks like ya forgot something & it doesn't "say" as much or doesn't feel tied together--the way the cards made by those of you who are "sentiment masters" feel so finished. Soooooh, I was relieved to try vellum & white embossing. Now the sweet sentiment is there but not in yo' face. (Camouflaged-like--in it's winter cryptic colouration.)

This "eat, drink, & be merry" stamp is from the P.O.D.

Arctic Artic Wonderland Sentiment set. LOVE this font!

-3-

...making a quick snowflake edge:
(with punched snowflakes)

(the big vellum snowflakes) under the card mat

Step 1) Punch a bunch of snowflakes. (These ones are made from
vellum cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart punch.)

Step 2) Add adhesive to the back of your mat & stick the snowflakes on there.

This 4 1/4 inch wide mat fit 5 snowflakes (along the top)...

Add the critters, stick it on with foam tape and that's it...

Hope your day is craftilicious!

P.S. Thank You for commenting that you want to see my crafty space!
I'm cleaning it for ya, so I'm not too ashamed to show it. ;o)

P.P.S. Purple Onion is having a

(and giveaways until the 15th) here: