WHIMSICAL HOLLY: Creating a Set of CAS Heat Embossed Holiday Cards with Metallic Card Stock

Hello Friends!

Today I'm sharing my final project, created for the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Design Team's August Winter/Holiday/Christmas Card Making Marathon.

I've enjoyed creating each and every one of this months cards for the marathon...and today's set of cards are right up there on my list of fave August marathon cards!

I love LCI Paper's metallic card stock and knew that I wanted to go the route of heat embossing with Blue Knight's WHIMSICAL HOLLY stamp set and and a few favorite sentiments....so I put the three together to create this set of holiday cards.

First up...
WHIMSICAL HOLLY... with a sentiment from the LOVE WAS BORN stamp set...
Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder...LCI Curious Metallic SUPER GOLD and ICE GOLD card stock

Next....
WHIMSICAL HOLLY...sentiment from the COME LET US ADORE HIM stamp set...
LCI PAPER Curious Metallic SUPER GOLD and a generic forest green metallic card stock...fine detail gold embossing powder

The 3rd card...
WHIMSICAL HOLLY...sentiment from the LOVE WAS BORN stamp set...Fine detail gold embossing powder...LCI Curious metallic SUPER GOLD card stock and LCI Paper's Stardream SILVER metallic card stock

And the 4th...and final card in this set...
WHIMSICAL HOLLY...sentiment from the LOVE IS BORN stamp set...Fine detail Gold embossing powder...LCI Curious SUPER GOLD card stock and Curious metallic RED LACQUER card stock

This was a fun, easy short stack of Holiday cards to create. I love the sparkle and shimmer of both the heat embossing used for the images and for embossing the sentiments... as well as the outlined images created with the WHIMSICAL HOLLY stamp set.
Using this assortment of LCI PAPER metallic card stock was perfect for this project, I think.

I've got a few helpful links for the supplies used to create today's cards:
You'll find Blue Knight Rubber Stamps WHIMSICAL HOLLY stamp set HERE
Blue Knight's LOVE WAS BORN and COME LET US ADORE HIM stamp sets HERE
and LCI PAPER'S METALLIC CARD STOCK  can be found HERE

Thanks for visiting today!
Wishing you a wonderfully creative day!
Michelle.

Winter Covered Bridge

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

It's time for me to share another of my weekly Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Design Team August Winter/Holiday/Christmas Themed Card Making Marathon projects with you!

Today is actually the last day of the month long Marathon!
I hope that you've enjoyed following along.
(Next week, when September arrives...it's NEW ELEASE time for Blue Knight Rubber Stamps...and I'll have lots of great cards to share with you throughout the month!)

But today... I'm still in Winter/Holiday/Christmas mode...and I'm sharing a card created with Blue Knight's WINTER COVERED BRIDGE stamp.

This stamp is a large card front sized image that has lots of wonderful detail.

I opted to use Copics to add color to my WINTER COVERED BRIDGE card, but I wanted to do color blending that gave a water color-ish look, as opposed to using the Copics to create bold dense and opaque color....especially on the sky, the stream and the path.

When the image was colored, I double matted it with a bronze-like glitter card stock and and a larger deep rd metallic card stock from LCI PAPER.

I love the crisp look of this card...a look that is easily created with Copics.
I also like the contrast of color...with some colors being bold and others being softer .
I also love that the image can stand along on a card front because it's big and beautifully details.

I've got a few handy links to share with you....
You'll find
The Blue Knight Rubber Stamps WINTER COVERED BRIDGE stamp HERE
and
LCI PAPER metallic card stock HERE

Thanks so much for visiting today...
Wishing you a wonderfully creative day!
Michelle

Creating a Poinsettia Card...2 Ways

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

I am SO excited about the cards that I am sharing today...and my excitement is about a few things.

#. I am thoroughly enjoying our Blue Knight Design Team August Winter/Holiday/Christmas Themed Card Making Marathon!

#2. I have FINALLY found a poinsettia stamp/image that I like.

#3. I was able to create a PanPastel vintage-toned background...something that I have been wanting to do for a while now....but kept forgetting to try.

So...my excitement about today's cards means that I am going to dive right in to sharing them with you...no more chit-chat (at least for now...)

I created both of today's cards with Blue Knight Rubber Stamps POINSETTIA stamp.
I'll share the Copic colored version first

I did basic Copic coloring, blending and shading to create this card.
I wanted a very clean and crisp look..so I opted to leave the background white.
For matting the image layer, I chose traditional Christmas red glitter card stock and for the larger mat layer, LCI Paper's metallic green card stock was perfect!

CAS...bright...crisp...and a POINSETTIA image that I really like...a lot.
I can now say that after 20+ years of card making...I have made a POINSETTIA card that I'm happy with.
I will NOT be selling THIS POINSETTIA stamp at any of my crafty garage sales in the future.
THIS one is a keeper! 💗

Now...the second card...
(Be still my heart)
This card made my crafty little heart so happy.
Heat embossing this beautiful POINSETTIA with gold embossing powder and coloring this image with Blue Knight's PanPastels was so much fun!
Blending colors...creating colors...shading the POINSETTIA petals and leaves...and creating the background that I've had in mind for a while were all such wonderful creative experiences.
Both mat layers were created with LCI Paper's metallic card stock...which added a beautiful subtle shimmer to this already shimmery card.
I used foam to position the matted image layer for added dimension.

Look at that gorgeous shimmer....from the heat embossing and the metallic card stock!

I had the best time creating today's cards.
I enjoy both methods of coloring images...Copics...and PanPastels...
Both looks are looks that I seem to gravitate to whenever I create a card and combining that with a great image brought me lots of card making joy!

I've got a few helpful links to share:
You'll find
The POINSETTIA stamp HERE
The Blue Knight Select PanPastels HERE
and the LCI Paper metallic card stock HERE


I hope that you've found a little bit of inspiration here at my blog today!
Thanks for visiting...
Wishing you a wonderful day!
Michelle.

Creating A Snowy Birch Path Card

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

Today I'm sharing a Winter themed card as one of my weekly project for Blue Knight Rubber Stamps August Winter/Holiday/Christmas Themed Card Making Marathon.

I've chose Blue Knight's BIRCH PATH stamp for today's card

This BIRCH PATH snowy Winter scene card was a cinch to create and that means it one of those cards that are ideal for Holiday card making because you can make a stack of them...or lots of them...easily.

I started by stamping the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink using a stamp positioning tool.
*I left the stamp in in the tool after I stamped the image so that it would be in position for the second stamping.

I used Blue Knight Select PanPastel palettes to add color to the image.
That's the super speedy part because PanPastel coloring is really easy...and the color applies and blends easily.

Although the snowy areas look like they're not colored...they were!
I applied White Pearl (Fine) Shimmer for a snowy shimmery tint
When the image was colored, I matted it on silver mirror card stock and positioned it on a blue card base with foam, for added dimension.

And that's it!
Wha-la!
A card!
See?
This card IS as quick and easy as I told you it would be!

PS
I didn't add a sentiment to this card...yet....
(Because I couldn't decide which sentiment I wanted to use. 😉 )
Decisions Decisions.

Although this month is all about Winter.Holiday/Christmas card making for all of us on the Blue Knight Design Team...I do want to share one more card pic with you...so that you can see how versatile the BIRCH PATH stamp is.

Just by changing up the PanPastel colors that I used...I transformed the stamped image into a Springtime scene.
Instead of a snow rimmed path...I added blended tones of blue to transform the path into a stream.
Instead of shimmer snowy landscape areas...I added grassy and light soil colors to the image

(I also added the dog from the COWGIRL and COWBOY stamp set to this scene)
And, because the trunks of birch trees are generally shades of white/off white...I left them white.

(Yes...I'm sure that you noticed...no sentiment again...because again...I could not decide....But let's just say that I deliberately did that so that YOU can see and appreciate the entire image!...That sounds better than "Michelle couldn't decide")

I hope that the snowy Birch Path  card has inspired you today...and allowed you to realize that not every colored image has to be a labor intensive project....especially if you use PanPastels
(If you'd like to see PanPastels in action and exactly how easy they are to use..head over to the Blue Knight YouTube channel HERE....to see a few of Lynn's PanPastel videos)

I also hope that seeing the Springtime version of today's featured stamp and card that you've been inspired to see versatility when you're creating.

Here are a few useful links

You'll find
The Birch Path stamp...HERE
Blue Knight Select PanPastel Palettes...HERE 
and the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps YouTube Channel...HERE

Thanks for stopping by today!
Wishing you a wonderful and creative day!
Michelle.

Making a Change in My Creative Life

Hello Friends!

I'm putting together a quickie blog post to share some news with you...

After thinking...re-thinking and thinking some more...and then some more after that...I've decided to make some changes...switch things up.....in the creative portion of my life.

There's so much that I could share about this...the why...the when...the thought process...the reasons...
But it all boils down to one big thing...
I'm going to change things up a bit...switch things up...take a different creative path...maybe not forever..but at least for the foreseeable future...

I'm going to be setting aside card making as I've known and loved it for almost 2 decades...(Copic coloring..water coloring...pencil coloring...and PanPastel card making and more)...and I'm going to focus on creating cards that are primarily die cut.....as well as spending time doing lots of Cricut related creating...and working on vinyl projects.

This doesn't mean that I'll never stamp...paint...or color another card...
But for now, I will be going through and selling most of my huge amount of stamping/card making  related things.
I'll hold onto stamp sets that are compatible with what my new focus is....but I'm guesstimating that I'll be parting with about 1500 stamp sets...as well as an overage of ink pads...embellishments and other things that are mostly card making related.

Yes..in some sort of way....it's a little bit scary...
Like all of you I LOVE the things that I have..
But truth be told...
There just isn't enough time for me to pursue everything that I'd like to be doing, creatively speaking...simultaneously.
So after mulling this over for  more than a year... and sharing my thoughts with my sweetheart, Gary...I've decided to take the plunge and start a new creative chapter in my life.

I know that I'll never walk away from my beloved stamping and above all water coloring...I love it too much..and always will...
But now..that just won't be my #1 go-to "thing" that I do when I have time to create.
Instead...I'll be enjoying doing lots of die cutting...and vinyl related projects.
And best of all...I'll be working on some things with my daughter, Chelsea...whom I adore.

This means that beginning NOW, I have a huge studio clean out to do...and it's got to be done ASAP...because on September 14th..I'll be having a HUGE CRAFTY GARAGE SALE here with 9 of my crafty pals. who will also be selling their unwanted...unused....unloved ..excessive amount of crafting items.
As for me...I'll be going through every nook and cranny of my studio and gathering up everything related to card making that I wont be holding on to.
Emphasis on EVERYTHING...

I have wayyyy over 2000 stamp sets...and the plan is to hold on to no more than 200-300 sets...

All of this feels good...and exciting.
In the non-creative portion of my life I always welcome change...because I believe it keeps a person...fresh....re-newed...open minded...growing...and learning...
I believe that this change of path with my creative life will be all of that and more and I am looking REALLY forward to the journey!

All of this being said...
I'll be continuing on as Design Team Coordinator for Blue Knight Rubber Stamps, which will keep me making  stamped, water colored and inked cards that you've come to know as my "style" when it comes to card making. As a matter of a fact, I've got some cards lined up for the coming weeks for Blue Knight's August Winter/Holiday/Christmas card Making Marathon that I'll be sharing here at my blog!

I'll never stop loving the style of card making that has been my creative passion for decades now...
But I also love the idea of making a change....doing a massive overhaul of my studio...moving lots of things OUT...and lots of things IN..... and cultivating a new focus...and some new creative adventures to share with you here, at my blog.

I hope that you'll continue to join me here at my blog, as I venture down new creative paths...
I'd love to take you along on the journey!

Thanks for stopping by today...
Wishing you many joyful creative adventures of your own..
Michelle.

PS..here's the "poster" for the crafty garage Sale...
If you live nearby...stop by on the 14th of September!

AWAY in a MANGER: Creating a Classic (CAS Copic Colored) Christmas Card

Hello Everyone!

I'm happy to be participating in the Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Design Team's August Winter/Holiday/Christmas Themed Card making Marathon!

My first card of the month is a Christmas classic!

I chose to begin my Christmas card making with Blue Knight Stamps AWAY IN A MANGER stamp.
I love that this is a large, card front sized stamp and beautifully detailed image.

I opted to color the image with Copics and because the image filled the card front...I also kept it all very CAS (Clean and Simple). I focused on shading and blending colors to get them as I wanted them for each of the scenes elements....
I enjoyed using an assortment of Copics to do the blending, shadowing and shading and to get the hay...manger...Baby Jesus...window frame..stone walls...hay fork....ground....bucket and starlit sky as I wanted  them to be.
To finish the card I chose gold and blue metallic card stock from LCI PAPER.

If you love to color, love classic Christmas card images...and love scene cards...the AWAY IN A MANGER stamp is perfect for you!

If you'd like to create AWAY IN THE MANGER Christmas cards, like the one I've shared today...
Head over to the Blue Knight Stamps web store where you'll find the AWAY IN A MANGER stamp (HERE)
The metallic card stock by LCI PAPER can be found HERE 

To follow the Blue Knight Design Team's August Marathon of  Winter/Holiday/Christmas card making...check in HERE, at the Blue Knight Blog every day for new card making ideas and inspiration!
Thanks for stopping by today...
Wishing you a wonderful day!
Michelle.