A winter deer family (Neat and Tangled)

Hi there!

I'm here and on the Neat and Tangled blog this morning, with a Christmas card that mixes a few sets to create a family of winter deer:

Before I start chattering about the card, I would just like to say that thank goodness I treated myself to an external flash for my camera recently! I still prefer to take pictures in nice lighting, but at least I have an alternative now. What do you think?

Back to the card! I started out by stamping out my deer. The mama and papa deer are from Oh Deer, and the little one making a tiny snowman is from Santa's Wonderland. I think they all look so cute together!

I colored them all using my favorite brown copic marker trio: E30, E31, and E34. I went back in and added some W5 in the spots that would be most shaded.

I added rolling snowbanks beneath their hooves, using our Stitched Slopes dies.

I added a gingham paper sky and popped up the focal images before creating a frame using 2 rectangle dies from Lawn Fawn.

I stamped out the greeting, from Nativity Play to the bottom of the frame using a crisp black ink. I'm so happy to have this french greeting for all of our teacher cards this year! We live right outside the city of Montreal, and our kids are in a french-immersion program.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

Advent calendar extravaganza (with Taheerah Atchia)

Hi there!

Advent calendar extravaganza is the festive event of the season! This "hop with a twist" was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day. Joining in the fun with Taheerah are 100 special guests - each serving up some fantastic Christmas inspiration. Just like an advent calendar, you'll never know where you're going to be visiting next until you "open the door."

And that's not all! With 25 amazing sponsors taking part as guests, your crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize every single day!

Join in the fun every day at taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises await behind the door.

I have a couple of cards to share today, using stamps and dies from today's sponsor: Neat and Tangled.



I volunteered to make a Christmas card with Maia's 2nd grade last week, and was able to share how I illustrated all of the images, and how we build our cards from start to finish. We made the one on the right, but it was fun to show them how with only a few tweaks, you can make 2 entirely different cards.



This was a fun full day, cutting out enough card pieces for 25 students, plus another 10 of everything because we all know some of the kids will be needing second chances here and there!

Santa and the North Pole sign are from Santa's Wonderland, the little penguin is from Get Yeti, and the candy card is from Beary Merry. I printed out the french greeting to fit into the banner from Mermazing so that I could have them all die-cut to match the rest of the images. I kept thinking: I designed these stamps, and I couldn't have included a french greeting? gah! I need one for sure next year. Most of Maia's classes are in french!



I showed the kids how to sponge ink onto a piece of patterned paper to add dimension. They really enjoyed doing that!



I snapped a pic of Maia's card to show you the kids' finished product. She was a little upset she didn't have copics to work with in class, but I think it turned out great! I brought a glue pen and glitter too, so they could add shine to their snowbanks. It's hard to see here, but  Maia's card is a shimmering masterpiece!



Here is my variation card: I kept the same layout, but switched out the patterned paper and images to create something new. The little boy/snowman from Christmas pageant is out pulling his dog-on-a-sled (from Get Yeti.)

I hope you like what I've created for you today! Before you go, don't forget to leave a comment! By leaving a comment on both my blog, and Taheerah's, you'll be eligible to win a prize today. And be sure to check out the Neat and Tangled blog today too, as they are sponsoring the prizes today!

You will have until 23:59 EST on December 31st to enter.

♥.

Bunny Slopes (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!



On our last day of new product reveals over at Neat and Tangled, I'm showing off my second set for this month: a 3x4 set called Bunny Slopes.

I also designed a pair of stitched ski slopes for the bunny to play on:

This card was my favorite to work on this week:

This card shows off all of the images from the set. I created levels of snow with the dies, and then built a scene using the little gumdrop trees, the bunny, and the ski lift. I love the motion lines that are included in the set, that I stamped behind the bunny!

To hang the ski lift, I used the line stamp from Santa's Wonderland and bent it to fit the curve that I wanted. I know you could just draw in the line, but my hands aren't that steady!

To give the bunny's scarf, hat and mittens a little something extra, I used a black pen to draw a knitted texture. I love how that looks!

I hope you like my little skiing bunny. Don't forget to leave me a comment for a chance to win a 25$ gift card to the NT store and then hop over to the Neat and Tangled blog to see what the rest of the design team created using this set- CLICK!

♥.

Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah Atchia

Hi there,

I'm taking part in Taheerah's Advent Calendar Extravaganza today! Advent Calendar Extravaganza is the festive event of the season! The "hop with a twist" was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day. Joining in the fun with Taheerah are one hundred special guests - each serving up some fantastic Christmas inspiration. Just like an Advent Calendar, you'll never know where you're going to be visiting next until you open the door.

And that's not all! With 25 amazing sponsors taking part as guests, your crafty wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize every single day!

Join in the fun every day at Taheerah-atchia.com to see what special surprises await behind the door.

I made myself a winter scene! I layered images from Neat and Tangled's Santa's Wonderland onto some Lawn Fawn rolling hill dies.



I used some liquid appliqué to add the little snowy pom pom at the end of their hats.

Oh, sorry for the crazy pictures today! They are so sharp, I don't know what happened.

If you love these images and have been waiting for them to come back in stock at Neat and Tangled, I know they just restocked a whole slew of OOS sets - click!

It's not a party without a prize! Today's prize is generously supplied by Neat and Tangled, so you'll definitely want to win! Simply leave a comment on this post - then head back to taheerah-atchia.com and leave a comment there too. You must leave a comment on both blogs to be eligible to win. You have until December 31st to enter!

♥.

Merry and bright

Hi there!

I made a card using the new Santa's Wonderland set in a bit of a different way:

I did some selective inking and next-level masking to get the snowman and Santa squished in together.

Here's what they look like in the stamp set:

Santa is holding a tree and the snoman has his arms full of Christmas decorations.

Step 1: ink up the snowman and wipe off the ink on everything outside his body.

Step 2: re-draw one outstretched arm using a copic-friendly pen. mask the snowman.

Step 3: ink up Santa, and carefully wipe off the tree. this is tricky, I won't lie.

Step 4: mask Santa and color the background with a copic airbrush system. cover up any stray lines with embossing paste and a snow-fall stencil. (If you look closely, you can see the snow right near his mitten. That was very necessary.)

Step 5: Stand back and admire your efforts! I love achieving new looks with my stamps, and I hope this inspires you to do something different with yours.

♥.

Reindeer games (with new Neat and Tangled)

Hi there!

I'm here and on the NT blog this morning with a fun little card featuring the snowman-making reindeer from Santa's Wonderland.

The poor little reindeer is concentrating so hard on building his snowman that he doesn't notice what is coming his way. ha!

I built my scene onto a tag (the Classic Tag 1 die.) The patterned paper I used on the tag looks like falling snow, and helps all of the whites (like the snow ball and the mounds of snowballs) really pop. 

The images are grounded with a bit of pom-pom trim.

The graphic background paper is so fun, and perfect for a card featuring the freezing temperatures of the north pole!

I hope you like my card, and thanks for stopping by!

♥.

Santa's Wonderland (Neat and Tangled release week)

Hi there!

Welcome to Neat and Tangled's November release week - the final new release of 2016! All new products will hit the NT store on Friday, November 11th at 8am, EST.

I designed 2 sets this month, which are probably my favorites of the year. I can't help it, since Christmas crafting is everything. errrrything.

The first set I illustrated is called Santa's Wonderland, and has everything you need to make the perfect snowy Christmas scene:

I couldn't help but create my first card to fully show off that Santa:



I just love him, with his leg up in air, trotting that tree home. His nose is a little red from the cold. hee. The presents image is from a set you'll see tomorrow, and they work perfectly with this set too!

By cutting a smaller rectangle into the larger scalloped die, I created a lot of depth on the card. Santa and his snowy scene are nestled inside.



I varied the dimension within the scene to create more interest. The black sentiment banner (also from Scalloped) gives a nice punch to the whole card.

I hope you love Santa's Wonderland. The design team has created the most wonderful samples. Check them out on the Neat and Tangled blog - click!

♥.