Holiday Tag Swap

I am SO excited about this! My first swap! And what a great way to start... My LSS, {Colorful Creations} in Hyannis, MA, is sponsoring this Holiday Tag Swap. I wish it was the type of swap where everybody got together and made the tags, but it's still going to be super fun. I signed up for two "groups," which means I made two sets of 5 identical tags and I get two sets of 5 unique, handmade tags in return.

My first tag is inspired by an amazing card that Maile Belles made for the Lawn Fawn October release countdown. I just fell in love with the simplicity of it. I used the mistletoe stamp from Lawn Fawn's Bows and Holly set. Also, I decided to make 3x3" folded "gift enclosure" cards instead of using the traditional tag shape.

My second tag design uses another technique from the Thinking Inking class - the same technique that I used in my card for the Caring Hearts Blog Hop. This is the acrylic block stamping technique, and I am obsessed with it ... especially in this Tumbled Glass/Milled Lavender/Pumice Stone combination with snowflakes!

And just to show you how much I love this technique and Distress Ink color combo... Here are the two cards I originally made that inspired these tags! :)

Have a great weekend! :)

I have a confession...

If you were to make a list of Anna's Top Ten Rules to Live By, number one on that list would be "Christmas music may only be listened to from December 1st until December 25th." Well, yesterday I sat down to work on some more Christmas cards, and I just couldn't resist the urge to break my own Number One Rule :) So, for two evenings now, I've been crafting along to some of my favorite Christmas tunes on my ipod! And I'm having a blast... I just hope now I can stop and wait until December! :-D

Most of the projects I've made are things I'm not quite ready to share, but I do have some Basic Grey Jovial collection and Lawn Fawn Bows and Holly for you today.

 One of my favorite things about the Jovial collection is the really unique color combination. I used Broken China Distress Ink to stamp the label on this card... Now, I mean, how often do you see turquoise for Christmas? :) I muted it a little with some Antique Linen, because the turquoise in the paper is a little bit greener and somewhat distressed.

I apologize for the supreme crumminess of this photo... I'll try to take a new one tomorrow! 

This card was totally inspired by Brit Swiderski. She had the amazing idea to use the Distress Ink Bleeding technique that I used on my fall placecards with this adorable wreath stamp from Lawn Fawn's Bows and Holly. Genius. I love how it turned out... even though when I re-stamped over the image with bleeding I kind of, well, missed :) So there's the bleeding and also a little bit of a shadow effect. I used a Sakura Stardust pen on the ribbon that's wrapped around the wreath. The bow was painted with Fired Brick Distress Ink mixed with water and gold Perfect Pearls. (This is Technique 3 from Week 1 of the Holiday Thinking Inking series.) I also added a little Glossy Accents (I *finally* bought some!) to the berries.

Here's a closeup of the wreath so you can see all the special treatments.

Wish me luck in turning off the Christmas music! :) Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Thinking Inking - Ink Bleeding Technique

Like pretty much everybody else in the online crafting community, I am so excited about the return of the fabulous Jennifer McGuire's fabulous Thinking Inking class over at Two Peas in a Bucket. It's back and better than ever - this time with a holiday theme! :)

I finally got around to making my first project playing along with the techniques Jennifer's sharing with us. This is the second technique from her Week Two video - she calls it Ink Bleeding. I used her card project as inspiration and decided to make place cards.
     

(A little back story here... My family has used the exact same place cards at every gathering for years. Decades. Seriously. They're made from folded index cards that either my brother or I colored pictures or patterns on. And my mother is in love with them. So I have no doubt she won't be at all interested in actually using these new ones I made, but I had fun with them nonetheless!)

And here are some close-ups... I used water mixed with a little bit of gold Perfect Pearls when I spritzed the stamped images. It's more prominent on some of the leaves, but they all have a subtle, pretty sheen to them.

Supplies for this project: Distress Inks - Walnut Stain, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw; Stamp - Autumn Splendor by Gina K. Designs; Cardstock - Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs (Sweet Corn, Pumpkin Spice), Stampin' Up (Crumb Cake); Patterned Paper - Flannel Sheets (Lily Bee Designs' Catching Fall collection); Misc. - Memento Marker (Rich Cocoa), foam ink blending tool, Perfect Pearls, Ranger Mini Mister

Thanks for stopping by! Now go check out Jennifer's video and play along too! :)