Velvet Poinsettia Pieces Christmas Cards

Happy Winter...and it's my Anniversary too, so I'm making this one short! Here is my last Christmas card for the year, and it was easy, yet hard...lol...to make.  I'll explain below. I love poinsettias though, and was so happy to have Tim's new Poinsettia Pieces from Sizzix. I was very happy with how this card turned out, and hope you like it as well.

I had one sheet of this velvet paper left in my stash, and I've looked for more for years to no avail, so I decided to finally use it up. I cut it in half to make two cards, and added Sizzix Adhesive Sheet to the back, and mounted them on Heavystock base cards. I also had some vintage gold looking paper that was super thin and perfect for Thinlits, even though it had this strange waxy coating. Because of the intricacies of the die and liquid adhesive hard to use...not to mention bad on velvet...I added adhesive on the back to make it easy to add to the velvet once die cut, and it really did not get thicker with the adhesive on. I laid out all three pieces of the poinsettia die as well as the smaller 'Merry Christmas' from the Christmas Ribbon Thinlit set, and since it all fit so well together, I thought it would be so easy to die cut in one pass. I also added a layer of wax paper between the dies and paper, again because of the intricacy and I didn't want any paper to stick in the die cuts. I really had my thinking cap on...I thought. So I ran it through, and just to be sure, ran it through three times. I figured the dies would just fall loose, but nope. I had to use a stylus and craft pick to loosen the pieces. I guess I did make it a little too thick, but I persevered. They came out after me being super gentle, but it just wasn't as easy as I was hoping for and took some time, but I loved the end result.

I also wanted another leaf, so I ran it through again. Then I thought it needed some berry action, so I used a few hole punches to add the circles around the flower parts. I  peeled off the adhesive protection sheet from the back and added the gold die cut paper to the velvet. It stuck okay, but had some gaps, and I felt like it would come off easily. I knew what it needed...heat. So I sandwiched it between some sheets of paper and gave the card a good ironing. The heat made the adhesive even stickier and perfect for the velvet. I learned this in high school making t-shirts with iron-ons. Now the cards were completely solid and perfect in my opinion. See what I mean now about easy yet hard?!!

And of course I thought it needed a little more. Why not? It's Christmas! So I added Tidings Stickles from Ranger around things. Finally finished!

 

 

Supplies: 

(Craft Sheet, Die Cut Machine, Kraft Pick, Stylus, Paper Trimmer, Wax Paper, Iron, Crop-o-dile, Hole Punch)

-Sizzix Adhesive Sheets

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Heavystock

-Velvet Paper, Gold Paper

-Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits: Poinsettia Pieces, Christmas Ribbon

-Ranger Stickles: Tidings

So I'm going to try and work on my big project this afternoon and hopefully blog it before Christmas, but in case I don't make it I wish each and every one of you a blessed Christmas or Hanukkah, and healthy and happy New Year! I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

Merry Misfits Personalized Christmas Tags

Happy Friday everyone! Here are my last Christmas name tags...I hope...for presents for some little ones in my life..and the usual three who wish they were still little!!! I have totally fallen in love with these Merry Misfits from Tim Holtz and Stamper's Anonymous! Each one has this crazy personality that I just adore, and they are a little snarky. Oh my gosh they are SO FUN! And the Creepy Eyes are perfect for them I think, so hypnotic too. The camera even loved the eyes so much that I couldn't get pictures that focused on the whole tag, ugh! Enjoy!

I stamped the Misfits onto the black tags with Picket Fence Distress Ink from Tim and Ranger so I could see the image, and I also stamped them on sticky notes for masking a little later. I left the images in the stamping platform so they would be in the same position for stamping again later on...yes, I have a few stamping platforms...yikes!

I knew I wanted to paint these in, and the only way I could think to make the paint really pop was having a white base to them, so I roughly painted them in with White Picket Fence Distress Paint.

I stamped the images again and this time heat embossed them with White Embossing Powder.

I masked the Misfits off, as well as the center area for the names, and them stamped and heat embossed the Circles Background with more White Powder. The tag was a little longer than the stamp, so I used an embossing pen and free handed the circles to cover the tag and embossed again...so easy to do it that way than to line up the stamp again I think. I made a frame around the name area using a Big Pitt Pen in White.

I used Distress paint to paint in the images, which goes on and dries so perfect on this surface. I also added a border with the Pitt Pen, and added little snowflakes in the center of the circles with a white gel pen.

Then I stamped the names and again heat embossed with White. I added the eyes, nose, and twine. This one is for my Great Nephew who is three, but I had to mail it before I remembered about taking pics...oh well.

Supplies: 

(Craft Sheet, Stamp Platform, Scissors, Sticky Notes, Heat Tool, Paint Brush)

-Ranger Surfaces: #8 Black Tag

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Picket Fence

-Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Stamp Set: Merry Misfits, Dots and Circles, Tall Text

-Ranger Embossing Powder: White

-Ranger Archival Ink: Jet Black

-Ranger Embossing Pen

-Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paint: Picket Fence, Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Gathered Twigs, Brushed Corduroy, Tattered Rose

-Faber-Castell Pitt Pen: White

-White Gel Pen

-Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Creepy Eyes

-Twine, Red Pom Poms, Tiny Black Buttons 

I still have one more Christmas Card to show you, and a huge project I've been working on since last Christmas that I hope to finish, but I am running out of time, and I don't know if I'll have time to finish the big one  before Christmas, but I'll try. Anyway, I hope you all have found some inspiration in these makes this week, and I thank you for all the blog and social media love! I'll be back tomorrow...until next time...I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!