Love, Joy, Peace

This is the second card I am submitting to Hero Arts Holiday Challenge under the category of A Few of My Favorite Things. I used the stamp sets Hexagons & Journal Letters. I also used my Hero Arts Ink Pads in Neon Green, Soft Leaf and Field Greens.  I love hexagons which inspired me to make this card. I used one color for each sentiment: Neon Green & Platinum embossing powder for peace; Field Greens  & Red Tinsel embossing powder for love; Soft Leaf & Gold embossing powder for joy. For letters that connect the words, like the e for peace and love, and o for love and joy, I mixed two embossing powders, gold and red for o, and platinum and red for e.  

I cut a snowflake using vellum with my Cricut machine. I embellished the snowflake with red twine and crystal star gem at the center, and crystal gems at the ends.

I inked the edges of the hexagons with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye.  I also used this in inking the edges of the striped pattern paper.  This striped patterned paper was dry embossed using a striped patterned embossing folder from Lifestyle Crafts.  The polka dotted patterned paper, with the main focus of the card, was popped-up with foam tapes.

I am also submitting this to SSS Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Please visit again.

Maria Giselle B.

Merry Christmas

This is a card I made for the Hero Arts Holiday Challenge under the category of A Few of My Favorite Things. I used the stamp sets Snowman Christmas & Holiday Sayings. I am also using the Alphabet Uppercase die. 

The Christmas tree stamp in the Snowman Christmas stamp set is my inspiration for this card, so I made it the focus of the card. I made a scene for this card. I stamped the tree on a white card stock, colored it with Copic makers. I covered the black inked stars with red colored Stickles & used Glossy accents for the yellow stars. I fuzzy cut this, set it aside as I work on the other elements of my card.
I used white card stock for most of the elements. I drew slopes in three different white card stocks. Two of these I pressed onto Versamark ink, poured Ranger Holographic embossing powder, and then heat embossed.  I am happy with the effect since it looks like snow.
For the sky, I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink Tumbled glass.  I wanted subtle colored snowflakes scattered in the sky. I used the Tim Holtz Distress Inks Tumbled Glass & Faded Jeans, but I stamped it on scrap paper first before stamping the snowflake onto my card.

I stamped the gifts on another white card stock. I applied gold embossing powder for the ribbons. I colored the gift wraps with Copic markers. Since the bows are hard to fuzzy cut, I stamped the gifts under the tree. The star is a Studio Calico wood veneer.

One thing good about clear stamps is that you can manipulate it. See how the word Christmas is slanted to align with the slope? Since this sentiment is Merry Christmas, I masked the word Merry before I inked it with Versamark, applied Ranger red tinsel embossing powder, and then heat set it.
The word merry started off as a white patterned paper. Since it doesn't stand out with the snow background, I used a sponge dauber to color it red.

Another look of the  card.

I am also submitting this to SSS Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Maria Giselle  B.

Thanks

I am submitting this card to this week's PS COOL SHADES challenge.

I used the Hip to be Square background stamp. Double stamped it with the colors above as inspiration, stamping it in green then blue on green card stock. Then stamping it in orange then red on orange card stock. Both were stamped on 5 1/2 x 4 card stock. I got this idea from Jennifer Mcguire's card video on double stamped cards. Here's the link... http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2013/11/video-double-stamping-exclusive-discount-code.html.

I cut the stamped card stocks diagonally, saving the scraps for a later card.

For the sentiment,  I used my new Chit Chat stamp set. I love this Thanks sentiment. I used Memento Tuxedo black to stamp this on cream card stock. This is my card base. I lightly lined the sentiment with a pencil,  dividing the sentiment into 4 parts to color it based on this week's color inspiration. I based the order of the color from the rainbow (red-orange-green-blue.) I used Copic markers and blended the colors where they meet.

I brushed the sentiment w/ Wink of Stella then applied glossy accent. I cut a 1/8 strip of white card stock and rubbed my red & blue ink pads on it to create a custom made card stock that matches my red & blue inked images. 

After working on the sentiment, I popped up the orange & green card stocks to frame my sentiment. 

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Maria Giselle B.

Snowflake Card

I am submitting this card to this week's PS Designer Drafts challenge. I used the Merry Motifs stamp & coordinating die.

I die cut the snowflake onto the patterned paper. I die cut another snowflake using card stock, stamped the snowflake image to the die cut using Versamark ink, applied white embossing powder then heat embossed the image. I fitted this piece to the negative space snowflake I made on the patterned paper just like a puzzle. I have to rotate it a couple of times to find the right fit since the die cut snowflake is not even on all side. Here is a close-up photo of the snowflake.

Thanks for visiting my blog.
Maria

Stripes

I am submitting this card to this week's PS Trend Watch Challenge. I used the Merry Motifs stamp set and the coordinating die to cut the star as itself and also to create a window in front of my card.  I used Versamark ink to be able to emboss the star with WOW! Platinum embossing powder. Used the Holly stamp to create the tails to create a 'Parol.'  This was stamped in vellum using Versamark ink. Heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Fuzzy cut it.

Back to the 'Parol,' it is a Filipino tradition to hang a Parol during Christmas. It comes in all sizes, shapes and colors. As a tribute to this Filipino tradition and to remember them during this challenging times, I created this card.

This week's challenge...

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Maria Giselle

Always Be Thankful

I am submitting another card to Paper Smooches Picture Perfect Challenge. This is the inspiration photo...

And this is my take on this photo.

For the background, I stamped the Hip To Be Square on white card stock using Versamark ink. I applied clear embossing powder then heat set it. I then distressed it using Tim Holtz Distress ink pads (Tea Dye, Spiced Marmalade, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint & Dusty Concord.) I don't have a mini spritzer so I just lightly tapped my paint brush after dipping it on water.  

For the main focus of my card, I used the Cyber Cafe stamp set. Do you recognize which of the stamps in this set I used? 

1. The tea leaf stamp is used to create the wreath. I stamped it in different colors based on the colors of the inspiration photo. I have different brands of stamp pads. I used whatever I have. I colored it using Copic markers. Fuzzy cut it after.

2. The coffee steam was stamped twice. First as is. Then I mirror stamped it. After fuzzy cutting it, I pressed this on Versa Mark ink, applied Ranger Embossing powder in red tinsel. Heated it. Now, it's a bow for my wreath.

3. For the sentiment, I finally have a new stamp set from PS, the Merry Motifs. But since my card is a Thanksgiving card based on the colors, I masked the joy on the 'always be joyful' sentiment. As for the thank part, I used Cyber Cafe 'a cup of thanks' sentiment, masking it except for thank. 

This card used a lot of masking. It is such a joy to be able to stretch your supplies. Thanks for visiting my blog!

Close-up of the wreath. The vellum helped in softening the inside circle of the wreath.