Hello Bluebird - Mix & Match Holiday Penguin Card

Hello crafty friends! I have a very fun slimline card to share today.  I mixed and matched a bunch of different Hello Bluebird stamps and dies to create this winter holiday scene.  

If you've stopped here by way of Instagram, then you know that I'm joining the owner of Butterfly Reflections Inc. and friends for a birthday Instagram hop.  It's Vanessa's birthday and I wanted to make a special card using stamps and dies that she sells in her shop.  She carries quite a range of Hello Bluebird products and always ships super fast.  

All Hello Bluebird stamps and dies I used on the front of the card are listed and linked below:

• Merry Mice stamp set - mailbox, present 
• Snow Play stamp set - penguins, greeting on front
• Frosty Friends stamp set - penguin with candy cane, trees, present, snowflakes
• Glacier Peaks dies - mountains
• Hill & Dale dies - snowy hills

My slimline card base measures 3.5" x 8.5".  I sponged on a combo of Seedless Preserves and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide Ink to create the lavender sky.  I gave it a good splattering of white paint and heat embossed the tiny snowflakes.  

The color on the die cut mountains is a combo of Tumbled Glass and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide Ink.  I also sponged that same color combo onto the edges of the snow hills.  I used Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops to add a little sparkle to the mountain tops and hills.   

For the inside of the card I stamped a greeting and snowflakes from the Merry Wishes set. The penguin is from First Snow. 

Purple Onion Designs - Black Friday Sale

The Black Friday sale over at Purple Onion Designs is happening now! It's a great time to grab everything that's been on your wishlist... old and new.  I have two cards to share.  One that features some of the newest stamps and one featuring some oldies but goodies.

First up is a slimline scene showcasing all the cute critters from the new Happy Winter Forest Friends set.  

I've created a minty aqua background with Distress Oxides... a custom combo of Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough.  I gave the entire background a generous splattering of thinned white acrylic paint.  

I added two layers of snowy hills using my favorite white glitter card stock from Tonic Studios - Sugar Crystal Glitter Craft Card.  To give the hills some definition, I lightly shaded the top edges with the Evergreen Bough ink.  I applied a dusting of snow to the tree with glossy accents and some loose white glitter

This next card showcases some older stamps but they were new to me.  I've used a set called Holiday Sweets along with the Celebrate the Season Noteblock to create this 5"x7" card.  

I white heat embossed the large Noteblock image onto some coral pink card stock.  I trimmed the image right along the border and then mounted it onto a die cut scalloped frame.  I then layered this piece over some pretty gingham patterned paper from Pinkfresh Studio and adhered it to the center of the card front.  I then simply added the fun Holiday Sweets images and some clear sequins around the framed Noteblock.  

25 Days of Christmas Tags with Hello Bluebird

I'm excited to be joining Tracy McNeely again this year for her annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags event.  This year marks her 9th anniversary of hosting the event. Be sure to visit the daily posts on Tracey's blog for more tag inspiration and a chance to win today's giveaway. 

Today's featured sponsor is Hello Bluebird.  Even though Hello Bluebird is known for it's cute critter stamps, I wanted to challenge myself and decorate my tags with all die cuts.  

I made my own kraft tag bases. I used the Holly and Pine dies to cut out the decorative elements from colored card stock. With a white gel pen I added highlight details.  I wanted a few of the pieces to have touches of snow so I added white glitter to the tips of the pine sprigs and pinecone.  

To complete the tags, I added a large word that I die cut from silver glitter card stock with the Christmas Words #1 & Christmas Words #2 dies.  

I had some small glassine treat bags that I wanted to use with these tags.  I decided to stamp a pattern on the bags with the Cozy Plaid background stamp.

25 Days of Christmas Tags with Honey Bee Stamps

I'm excited to be joining Tracy McNeely again this year for her annual 25 Days of Christmas Tags event.  This year marks her 9th anniversary of hosting the event. Be sure to visit the daily posts on Tracey's blog for more tag inspiration and a chance to win today's giveaway. 

Today's featured stamp company is Honey Bee Stamps and 

there's an awesome Black Friday sale happening now!

I'm sharing some custom Santa tags that I've created using Honey Bee Stamps products.  I had seen similar paper pieced Santa tags on Pinterest and wanted to try making my own with dies in my stash. 

Listed and linked below are all the Honey Bee products I've used:

• Stacking Pennants Honey Cuts - hat
• Scallop Square Gift Tag Honey Cuts - hat trim
• Scallop Circle Gift Tag Honey Cuts - face, beard, and backing
• Winter Bouquets Honey Cuts - holly leaf 
• Black Gem Stickers - eyes
• Peppermint Swirl Clay Bits
• Santa Express Stamp Set

As you can see from the photo above, I started by die cutting all the elements to build the tags.  I did some partial die cutting to make the Scallop Circle Gift Tag just a plain scalloped circle.  You could just leave it as is to tie the twine onto instead of punching an extra hole in the hat.  For the beard, I cut the scalloped circle in half. I trimmed off an edge of the square scalloped tag to use as the hat trim.  

I used a scoring board to make the angled fold in the hat. I used Copic makers for shading on the beard and white hat trim and to add rosy cheeks to the face. The Black Gem Stickers were a quick and easy way to add eyes.   

I added stitching detail to the hat with a white gel pen.  Before assembling, I stamped a greeting on the back.  There's several from the Santa Express set that perfectly fit within the scalloped circle backing.  

For the nose and hat pom pom, I used circle punches from my stash - 1/2" for the nose and 5/8" for the hat.  

Purple Onion Designs - November Release/Black Friday Sale

Hello crafty friends! I have some exciting news... POD is launching a new collection of stamps in collaboration with designer Julian Charlton. 

This collection will be available on the 29th and there will be a Black Friday Sale... 25% off all stamps!  So get ready to shop!

These new stamps so unique and I really enjoyed playing around with them.  I think there are many creative possibilities but the direction I chose was to go colorful and cut them out to build some fun scenes on cards and tags. 

If you are looking for a fun but quick and easy way to create cards or tags, these stamps fit the bill.  I simply picked out a bunch of bright holiday colors and starting stamping away.  Red rubber stamps always stamp cleanly so you get a nice crisp solid image with one stamp.  

After I had all my images stamped out, I used my Scan N Cut to cut them out.(be sure to use the color mode in the scan settings) The really fun part was playing around with them until I found some cute arrangements I liked to create the scenes.  Then all I had to do was stamp the snowfall background onto the card front, sponge on a little aqua ink to ground area, and adhere the images with dimensional foam squares.  

I also made some tags.  Again, these were quick and easy to make.  I made hinged tags so they open up like a card.  I stamped the snowfall and snowflakes onto the front for a decorative background and then added the images to create mini scenes.  I stamped a greeting and to/from on the inside of the tags. 

     

Sunny Studio - Hedgey Holidays Exclusive Stamp Set

I have some fun news... starting today you can receive the exclusive mini stamp set, Hedgey Holidays, with a $35+ purchase from Sunny Studio. I have a holiday card to share featuring that cute little hedge hog from the set.  I used the hedge hog, which is almost perfectly symmetrical, to make this into a spinner card,  When the recipient opens the card, the hedge hog spins. 

Spinner cards are very easy to make.  You just need to make two of the spinning element to adhere back to back.  For this card I started by die cutting a frame for the spinner.  I used the Layered Snowflake Frame to cut out the opening in the card front and a separate A2 size panel which has a light sponging of Tumbled Glass Distress Ink around the edges.  I Copic colored two hedge hogs and fussy cut them out.  I then adhered some clear thread between the two hedge hog images.  Using some strong adhesive, I secured the ends of the thread to the card front so the hedge hog is centered within the opening.  I then adhered the inked panel over top.  I added some snowflakes and holly leaves on both sides of the spinning hedge hog.  

To finish off the front of the card, I added some stamped pines sprigs with berries and a two part greeting.  I die cut the large Happy Word from green glitter card stock to layer behind a sentiment strip white heat embossed with hedge holidays. 

I also needed to decorate the inside of the card since a large part of it can be seen through the snowflake frame opening.  I made masks by die cutting snowflakes out of Post It Note paper.  I placed the snowflake masks in a random arrangement and then gently sponged on some Candied Apple Distress Oxide Ink.  I removed the masks and then splattered with thinned red paint.  

Honey Bee Stamps CAS Week - Christmas Pocket Shaker Cards

It's CAS week at Honey Bee Stamps and we are showcasing quick and easy holiday card ideas.  I'm sharing these fun Christmas pocket shaker cards. 

I stencil the snowflake background with Glimmer Paste and filled the pockets with some of Honey Bee's special sequin mixes.  I then simply added a greeting to the outside.  More details over on the Honey Bee Blog.