The new Snowy Pine Oval, glittery Piccolo Snowflakes and gem stickers create a frosty winter scene - a cool illusion on a hot summer day! Hi, Jean Okimoto here, with a "medium" card - not too simple, not too complicated, something in between.
Start off by sponging broken china, cracked pistachio and wilted violet Distress Oxides onto watercolor paper. Spritz it lightly - and from about 12" away - to blend the inks. Heat-set it. Cut it with the 4-3/8" tall Stitched Oval.
Diecut Snowy Pine Oval from textured white cardstock.
Diecut two of the Piccolo Snowflakes from pale blue glittered cardstock.
Stamp "CHRISTMAS WISHES" - from the new Blessed to Know You Clear Stamp Set - onto a 5-1/2" square card with Brilliance Pearlescent Jade.
Assemble the card and add lavender gem stickers. Maybe it was pretty easy after all!
Square cards require extra postage - but the holidays are so special, and so are the friends and relatives we create our cards for.
Thanks for stopping by...see you again on Thursday.
Looking for another quick Christmas card idea? The new Deco Trees die is perfect for quick cards - and it's great with glitter too! Hello, Jean Okimoto here, with a design in the simple, clean contemporary style I love.
Cut the 2-3/4" x 4" Wrapped Stitch Rectangle from textured white cardstock. Cut Deco Trees.
Here's a tip...instead of backing the entire cutout one large piece of tape to attach the glitter - cut three pieces of tape instead. Attach the tape behind each tree and apply the glitter one tree at a time to keep the colors from mixing. Using a paintbrush to apply the glitter helps too - it's a lot neater than dumping glitter onto the adhesive. The pretty colors used here are from Martha Stewart Crafts - Blueberry Blush, Sugar Plum and Wintermint.
Cut strips of violet and turquoise cardstock with a portion of the Wrapped Stitch Rectangles to create accent strips for the left side of the card.
Cut Snowdrift Breeze from silver glittered cardstock - save the three dots too. Attach the dots and snowflakes. Attach everything to a white side-folded A-2 card.
Thanks for stopping by today. Can you believe it's already the end of July? It's OK if the entire Christmas-in-July thing was just a dream - Impress has a great selection of Memory Box, Open Studio and Poppystamps dies and stamps ready for the holidays - and you!
Hello, hello..... These stars!!!!! I made them into ornaments, but oh the possibilities! Depending on how you arrange the stars on your cardstock before diecutting, you can have stitched, non stitched or a combination of both like I have done on my card.
Let's do this:
Start with a White card base trimmed to 4.25 x 11 inches, then folded in half. Ink the long edges with VersaFine Majestic Blue.
Cut Shimmering White cardstock 4 x 5.50 inches. Emboss some diagonal lines with a Scoring Board. Stamp sentiment from the Merry Christmas Sentiment stamp set using VersaFine Majestic Blue ink.
Die cut Stitched Stars from Luxury Matte Silver cardstock. (While cardstock is still in the metal die, I take tiny bits of clear tape to keep the parts together).
Adhere Blue twine to back of stars and wrap over the edge of the White panel. Now adhere the card front to base card.
Branches of the new Snowy Pine welcome a trio of bright felt Resting Birds. Their colors - bright and a bit un-birdy - really pop against a background cut with a die from the new Wrapped Stitch Rectangle 5-piece set.
Hello, happy weekend - Jean Okimoto here today. Looking for a unique card that's easy to mass-produce? This could be the answer! It's not just simple in design - Resting Birds cuts five birds at once, so also you'll have an instant supply of 15 birds in three colors to mix and match on your cards.
Cut the 2-3/4" x 4" Wrapped Stitch Rectangle from natural cardstock. Cut Snowy Pine from glittered silver cardstock. Cut the stars from gold mirror cardstock with the Starlit Breeze die.
Attach adhesive label or sticker paper to wool-blend orange, red and bright pink felt and cut Resting Birds. The paper backing stabilizes the felt and keeps glues from soaking thru the diecuts.
Attach the diecuts to a top-folded A-2 card of textured natural cardstock.
Quick and easy cards are the way to go - even when there's still plenty of time till Christmas. Create a stash of them now and cross "make cards" off your to-do list. You'll have more time to make (or enjoy) cookies and dark chocolate truffles in December.
Today I have another Christmas card for you. I love thinking of crisp winter days when the summer heat is upon us.
To create this card I sponged Broken China Distress Oxide ink onto white cardstock and misted it with plain water. I love how soft the color looks when you use the oxide inks. Once the cardstock was dry I glued the Country Road Oval die cut to the card front. White cardstock was used for the die cut. I adhered a strip of vellum around the bottom portion of the card and glued on the silver glitter die cut words "Merry Christmas" to the vellum.
I glued the card front to a silver glitter piece of cardstock and then adhered that to a white card base using foam tape.
To finish the card I added some glitter to the roof tops, trees and hill, and a snowflake embellishment. I also added some snow dots with a white pen.
Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend!
Looking for more holiday designs featuring our 2017 Holiday Collection? A background of Peerless Watercolors creates a special setting for the versatile new Piccolo Snowflake Ornament. It's delicately contemporary and so easy to cut from glittered cardstock. The cap and hanger - from the Millbrook Ornament set - add the finishing touch!
Hello again - Jean Okimoto here - with another simple Christmas design that's great for mass-production.
Cut watercolor paper with the 2-1/2" x 3-3/4" Rectangle Basics die. Diecut Piccolo Snowflake Ornament from your favorite glittered cardstock, then paint a coordinating background of Peerless Watercolors with a flat paintbrush or waterbrush. Diecut a 2-1/4" x 3-1/2" rectangle from a portion of a Pool Notecard.
Cut the solid Classic Ornament background from the Pool Notecard. Cut the Millbrook Ornament caps and the hanger from gold mirrored cardstock. Assemble the ornament - sandwich the top of the Piccolo Snowflake Ornament between the two layers of the Millbrook Ornament caps.
Attach the diecuts to a top-folded A-2 card of watercolor paper. Add gold gem stickers.
I like mass-producing cards that are a little different each time. Variations in the watercolored background keep this design from being too repetitive - and it looks great in so many color combos. Try it in pink/coral/orange - or frosty shades of blue.
Thanks for stopping by - see you again on Saturday. No classes for me this weekend - I'm working on designs for my next class at Impress - Simply Asian on August 5th.
Fresh colors, textures - and great new dies - are all you need for a simple winter landscape. Here's a quick and easy design for your headstart on the holidays. Deciding where to attach the sparkly gems was probably the most challenging part of this simple greeting!
Hi, Jean Okimoto here, with a basic design that's easy to mass-produce and create in your favorite colors. The Wrapped Stitch Rectangles five-piece set is quickly becoming another new favorite. It's basic - but quirky - and adds just enough of an accent to highlight any design. It's also designed to complement all of the other great stitched dies in our collection.
Cut the largest Wrapped Stitch Rectangle from white cardstock and attach it to a side-folded white A-2 card. Cut Sheer Treescape from green cardstock and trim it to about 5-1/8" wide. Snip the outer edges of the first and last trees at an angle.
Stamp "merry Christmas" - from the new Open Studio Merry Christmas Sentiments Clear Stamp Set - on white cardstock with worn lipstick Distress Oxides. Heat-set the ink. Cut it with the die from the new Stitched Curves set.
Cut glittered pink cardstock stars using the Starlit Breeze die. Assemble the card and add clear gem stickers. That's it!
Like quick and easy designs? Hope this inspired you to get started on your holiday cards during these hot summer days.
Big thanks to everyone from last Saturday's classes at Impress. I appreciate that so many of you drove (and ferried!) long distances to take both classes. Hope you loved the 2017 Holiday Collection as much as I enjoyed designing those cards for you. Special thanks too - Ann, Shari and Erin - for keeping us well-supplied with Memory Box, Poppystamps and Open Studio products!
We just added another NEW MEMORY BOX CHRISTMAS COLLECTION CARDS class - from 2:00-4:00 on Saturday August 12th. The afternoon PAPER PLEASE class has been moved up to 11:00-1:00 that morning so those of you who couldn't take the holiday release class on July 22nd can join us from 2:00-4:00 on the 12th. Please call Impress - 206 901.9101 - to save a seat, and a bit of that refreshing AC!
Hello, everyone! As others have said, creating winter cards takes a little bit of the edge off of the simmering summer heat!
As soon as I saw the Soaring Bird die from the new holiday release, I fell in love. Lots of possibilities with this one! I started out by cutting a light blue piece of card stock to 3.75" x 5.5". I decided to use the negative space of the die cut bird as a stencil, and sponged the open area with Faded Jeans Distress Ink.
This creates a background for all of the open spaces of the die cut bird. I actually liked to softness of the stenciled look, which I'm likely to use on another card. I decided to die cut three of the birds and stack them for depth. I also cut two of the Woodland Branch die, an oldie but goodie die that I hope is never retired!
I adhered one bird over the stenciled image, then added glue to the top of that one and the second bird, which made it easy to line them up evenly.
I then laid one of the Woodland Branches under the bird at an angle, and snipped apart the second branch in a couple of places so that I could position the pieces where I wanted. I stamped the sentiment in white pigment ink and embossed with white embossing powder. I added clear glitter to the bird's head and wings. To create the falling snow, I used Chunky White embossing powder, sprinkled it around and melted them by using the heat tool underneath the card stock. I then adhered the assembled piece to an A-2 top-folding white card base.
I hope you enjoy this card! I'm so glad you dropped by and enjoy the rest of your week!
I don't know about you but I am dreaming about these cool snowflakes--we need some cooler temps around here (San Diego). It has been "blue blazin' hot", as my Grandpa used to say.
Let's take a look at the new Snowy Spectrum die featured on my card today...
I created the multi colored background by sponging broken china, cracked pistachio and faded jeans distress oxide inks on a small panel of watercolor paper. Just as everyone says, these inks are smooth as butter and easy to blend. A few flecks of water sprinkled then blotted off gives that wonderful spotted effect.
I adhered the Snowy Spectrum die cut over the throughly dried distress oxide inks (that took about 30 seconds in this heat) and added 2 more layers of snowflakes using the Batavia Snowflake die. By lightly dabbing a tiny bit of wet glue to the main portions of the snowflake die cuts, the positioning is stress free. The wet glue is forgiving so you can slide the additional snowflakes into perfect position on top of their mates. Just a few strokes with the Wink of Stella glitter brush adds a subtle shimmer to each snowflake.
You may know by now that I love to add paper layers to my card creations and I used papers that complimented the inks today. Gray, seafoam green and pool papers were my color choices. To coordinate with the subtle gray I stamped the merry Christmas sentiment in Versafine Smokey Gray. I like inking with grays instead of black lately. Black is sometimes a bit too strong and the grays know how to play well with the other colors.
As always, I appreciate your visit here today and love reading your comments. Thanks for taking the time.
Hello everyone.... Isha here sharing a fun card. I am fascinated with lighthouse but have never seen one in real. When I saw my daughter's places to visit during the summer break...there it was lighthouse...lol. So I had to create a card as this is how I imagine it...all whimsical and fun :)
I started with taking a black cardbase. I then die-cut a scalloped trimming and adhered it to the base. Then I die-cut a circle from this panel using the pinpoint circle frame die.
Then I cut a square piece of cardstock and sponged it using distress inks. Then I flicked some water to it for some texture. Once dry, I adhered it to the back of the black card cardstock window.
I then die-cut the lighthouse and waves. I colored some of the windows using yellow copic marker and adhered it to the lighthouse using a tape at the back. I colored the solid part of the wave using a light blue copic marker and adhered the outline wave to it.
I then die-cut the thank you word 3 times using white cardstock, Colored one of it using the same blue copic marker as the wave and stacked all the 3 diecuts together for some dimension.
Finally, I assembled everything together and added some wink of stella clear glitter to the waves and the word.
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