Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly

Hello there and happy early September!  We're entering a time for some very season-specific stamping -- fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas.  It's always the busiest time, and not just for stamping.  Whew, I'm worn out just thinking about it!  Today I'm one card closer to Christmas.  How are you doing with yours?  Making progress, I hope.

This one started with the background.  It's a Cuttlebug cut and emboss die and I can't for the life of me remember the name of it.  A dear friend sent several for me to play with and I still have a few left.  She'd cut this one in the bright green (which I love).  I colored each berry with a red Copic and the veins with green, then splattered liberally with diluted white acrylic paint.  Fun!

The holly die will cover a 5 x 7 card, but I cut it down to fit under the frame for this A2 card.  The bird is a Lil' Inker stamp called 'Tis the Season.  I colored several of this stamp last year.  It's definitely a favorite.  Backed up the bird with a stitched circle so it wouldn't get lost in the holly.  As a final step I dressed up the bird's hat with Ice White Viva Decor Perlen-Pen, sprinkled with micro-fine glitter.

I've started two other cards with this holly background, each with a similar design, but different stamps.  I'll get back to those later.  I'll list all supplies below.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Lil' Inker 'Tis the Season  Paper:  Neenah White, SU red, other green  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Viva Decor Ice White Perlen-Pen, Elizabeth Craft Warm Diamond Micro-fine glitter, white acrylic paint, Cuttlebug cut and emboss holly, Die-namics Stitched Rectangle Frames, Memory Box Stitched Circle Layers

Little Things Twice

It's probably time I shared these cards I made the week after Christmas, don't you think?  I went a little nuts with my Lil' Inker "The Little Things" stamp set, stamping and cutting out bunches of birds and leaves and flowers.  Very simple with no coloring, but certainly lots of cutting.  There's a matching die set available, but I honestly think it was quicker to stamp out lots and cut at my leisure.  I was in no hurry.

There's something about the simple, almost primitive folk-artsy look of these stamps that appeals to me.  I made five cards, one after the other, but I'll only share two of them.  The first is more involved -- lots of leaves to make a wreath, both stamped and cut out, with a few flowers placed here and there.  Stitched and framed with a make-believe bird for fun.

The second card is more clean and simple, and it uses the Lil' Inker "Silly Stitched Die Set", as well.  The die set comes with rectangles and circles.  The circles make the stitched pattern, but do not cut out a shape.

Inside:

So, yay, I added three birthday cards, a thank you card, and a hello card to my stash.  Really trying to get ahead and this simple stamping helped a lot.

I hope you've enjoyed a stamp happy week, or any kind of happy week, and are looking forward to the weekend soon to come.  If I get some cards photographed I'll pop in next week.  Take care!

More Merry Making Holiday Birds

So. . .  when I was over at Lil' Inker picking up the "Oh Deer" stamp set I'd had bookmarked for months, a few other things jumped into my cart as well.  I can never seem to get just one item.  This was my first time at Lil' Inker and I'm happy to report they have a good quality product.  It's fun to try something new once in a while, isn't it?

When I saw this "'Tis the Season" set I knew it was so me.  Just the right balance of whimsical and pretty.  I love bird stamps, anyway, and this bird is easy coloring.  Let your hair hang down coloring.  He could be purple if you wish.  I made four cards.

The stamped image on Card #2 was heading for the trash because I dropped the sentiment onto the image after I stamped it.  Bet you've never done that before, have you?  Luckily, I hadn't colored yet.  However, I realized most of the "ghosting" could be cut away, and that's how it ended up like this, all clean and simple and maybe my favorite of the bunch.

Two more with designer paper:

• I stamped on Neenah 110 lb white.
• The designer paper is old BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses.
• Copic coloring.
• Glossy Nuvo Crystal Drops in Apple Green.

Thank you for bearing with me while I finish up my Christmas cards.  I hope it doesn't get too tiresome.  It's unbelievable to me that we're at December 1st already.   Enjoy your day!

Oh Deer, Christmas is Near!

You know you love a stamp set a lot when you bookmark it after seeing it on someone's blog and months later you still love it enough to go back and get it.  That's the story with this "Oh Deer" stamp set by Lil' inkers.  I was smitten after seeing this card on Joan Bardee's blog way back in May, but I waited... and then when I was a lucky random winner in Darnell's most recent NBUS (never before used schtuff) challenge I went shopping.  Of course, you can never get just one thing, can you?  More on that later.  Many thanks to Joan and Darnell!

As soon as I had time I sat down and made three cards, similar, but with small differences.  All are watercolored with Tombow markers on Arches 140 lb hot pressed watercolor paper.  The first is on a red card base.

The next two are on a kraft-color base.  Each uses a different paper from the retired BasicGrey "Jovial" collection, and the curve is cut with Spellbinders A2 Bracket Borders One.  I changed up the banner color on each card and gave one a blue wash in the background.  Finished with some splatters toward the top of each image.

There's one more sentiment in the set, plus snow and holly berry stamps, but I'll save those for another time.  Three cards is all I had in me when it comes to production line stamping.  I hope you enjoyed!  These are my first Lil' inkers stamps and they've got me hooked now.  Have a happy day!