Saturday, December 12, 2009

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!?!...
Purple Onion Designs eat drink & be merry (<span class=
...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)




...make this winter scene:




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.
-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)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi Melissa this is one of my fav posts you've done LoveLady

WickedPixie said...

First off, I LOVE this card! It is gorgeous and cute all at the same time!! And the amount you teach us is just staggering (and so appreciated!!) but this time you had me laughing so hard! I feel the same way that you do about sentiments (I hatesss them, too!) Thanks for the smiles! :-)Traci

Becky said...

Another gorgeous card.

Gabriele said...

wooow, this idea with the vellum snowflakes border... great! I wanted to sit at my desk for 1 hour now... and made the mistake to visit your blog first *ggg*...
Stuck again here *sigh*

Wish you a great 3rd advent!

Dawn said...

omgoodness... Kimmers is gonna love it!! is that evah CUTE!! and, yes, you're OCD, crazy and I love ya for it!! LOL...

happy you "felt" chatty! big hugz

Chelsea said...

I love all of the details in this card .... it's gorgeous!

Cheryl said...

Another beautiful card Mel! I love your chatty posts.

Diana said...

This is too cute and now you gave me yet another store to shop at Oh dear ahaha
You didnt say how you make shadows Under the bears arm and scarf and penquins scarf ..I love it please do tell
hugs
diana
vindina@tds.net

Chris said...

Another amazing card...it just couldn't be any cuter!

Anonymous said...

Wow just oodles of great stuff on this one card. I can't believe you sewed by hand. I didn't think anyone knew how to do that anylonger. Good for you!LOL! Fabulous card!
~Pam

Allison Rankin said...

What super fun stamps! Loving this scene you created! And so much detail...whoosh!

Anonymous said...

You are the greatest Mel. Thanks for all of your wonderful cards, tutorials, and the inspiration. Have a wonderful holiday season.