Let It Snow

It is crazy hectic with last minute details surrounding Christmas Day. Spend it with my fam or my DH fam? Or both? Can I eat 2 large meals?!? Yeppers, I sure can!  I retreated to my art studio and created some me time today and went about designing a canvas. Ahhh, my sweet canvas! How I missed you! Since its been snowing here I was inspired to make this:

I love love love the shimmer from my Primary Elements and Silks. Colour Arte has the most wonderful and brilliant colors. I used: Autumn Skies, Go Navy and a dash of Plum Crazy PE and Cielo Azul Silks. Enjoy and Merry Christmas to all of you lovelies! 

I started with a Prima stencil and some clear matte texture paste. I then heat embossed all three snowflakes and the mini canvases. Glitter glitter everywhere, glitter glitter in my hair! Hehe

I sprinkled the Primary Elements onto my canvas and sprayed with water, blotting and adding color until I was happy. The mini canvases are popped up with different sizes foam dots for added dimension. Once the canvases were added I used some watered down white acrylic paint to highlight all the "snow" bubbles. I then glued the sentiment down with Glossy Accents. I hand died my seam binding with a mix of the Primary Elements and some DI. I tried a new seam binding and in order to get it to crinkle I wrapped a rubber band around it and stuck it in my dryer, waited 20 minutes (agonizing!) and pulled it out. It ended up with crinkles but not as good as others I have used. I added the metal snowflake charm to my ribbon for more texture. The bow is set on a base of cheesecloth and leftover ribbon stuff. The small branches are a punch with Glitter added for some more shimmer. 

Lastly I added the Snow Tex and more glitter. Some of my snow bubbles were highlighted even more with glitter. This was a fun design and it is so shimmery and glitzy IRL but the sun is not out today. Thanks for stopping by during this busy time. Happy Weekend! Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I would like to share this design with these lovely challenges:

Colour Arte #6-Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland-Christmas Bingo (I used Snowflakes, Glitter, Pearls/Rhinestones)

My Time to Craft #311-Last Minute Christmas Makes 

Brown Sugar Challenge #177-Anything Goes

Inspiration Emporium-Tis the Season Everything Goes

Another Christmas Card!

I keep on trying this Christmas card making phenom and am finally getting into it a bit. After watching countless videos (mostly Pamellia)  and reading different tutorials, I had a go at making a layered card with lots of textures. Enjoy!

I started by watering down DecoArt Metallic gold and silver acrylic paint. Then I swiped some glossy paper through it and slowly heat dried it. It started to look like hills! Yippee! 

I then took a stencil and applied DecoArt Titanium white acrylic paint through a stencil to create a snow texture. My rolling hill is a piece of scrap paper that has numerous layers of paints on it. I finished the hill with DecoArt texture paste stippled with my palette knife. When it was dry I added some DecoArt Snow-Tex randomly and some glitter. 

I layered my tree dies behind the hill. For the gold trees I added some DecoArt Snow Tex to create some depth and interest to the tree line. While it was still wet I sprinkled on DecoArt Crystal sprinkle on glitter. The white trees were painted with a thin layer of DecoArt Liquid Glass and the crystal glitter was sprinkled onto that. When it was dry I added some Snow Tex just like I did for the gold trees and the same glitter. 

The base behind the tree layer is painted with DecoArt Metallic Gold paint. I only went around the edge that would show though. 

The base of the card is embossed and hand painted with the gold metallic paint as well. 

I added a seam binding bow that was hand painted with watered down gold metallic paint. HINT-when using paint to color a seam binding bow, know ahead of time that the bow will be kind of stiff unless you use a fabric medium. The metal tidbits were attached with a thin metal wire that is wrapped around the back of the bow. 

This card will be shared with the following challenges: 

Frilly and Funkie-Tis the Season

Mixed Media Monthly Challenge-Silver and Gold

Try It On Tuesday-Snow, Snowflakes, Winter Whites

Country View Challenge #34-Create a Scene

You've Got Happy Mail! #8 at Anything But Cute

Can y'all believe it is December already!?! December is too cold for me where I live but Christmas is my favorite holiday! The lights, the atmosphere, the cozy fires, and the Happy Mail all make this time of year special. With that in mind I wanted to create a challenge for you lovelies to share some of that Happy Mail. I am your hostess this month over at Anything But Cute and our challenge #8 is:

We all like Happy Mail right? That feeling of being spoiled rotten when you receive a handmade card from someone is better than being wrapped up in a soft blanket near a fire, sipping on a hot latte. So, for this challenge I would love to see some mixed media Christmas cards, tags, ATC's or whatever papercraft you are mailing to a friend, inspired by the spirit of the season! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! 

I'll be completely honest here-making Cards scares me! There, I said it. I have no rational explanation for this but it is true. I have done a few in the past but nothing crazy. So, I wanted to challenge myself and cards it was! For this design I decided to go non-traditional for Christmas. Black/White/Red are my fave color combo (I even used it for my wedding) and the Damask print is my fave as well (also used for my wedding).I started by painting some cardboard pieces with Black Gesso and then applied DecoArt Liquid Glass to get the shine. I kept telling my mind I was making a plaque. :)

The Damask background was inspired by Samra's design (HERE) and also my love of the pattern. It is a TH stencil, with DecoArt crackle paste applied through it. I added some Distress Rock candy to the paste while it was wet and set it aside to dry naturally. 

The wreath is part of a feather boa than I cut apart and glued to a round template I made. I just used the bottom of a cup and traced around it. :) I then used my new MS branch punch and metallic red cardstock to create the blinged branches peeking through the feathers. The snowflake in the center is a BoBunny design that is heat embossed with Red Tinsel EP. 

Here is a close up of the Damask crackle and Distress Rock candy. Awesome sauce! 

The back of the card was heat embossed with a TH stamp and Black Tinsel EP then edged with Black Soot DI. My thoughts are still with Paris and the horrible attacks. They stood behind America during our September 11th attacks and we stand by them. 

I made the base of the card with some matboard, not sure if this is suitable for cardmaking but it sure is sturdy! The inside of the card has a sentiment stamped and this will be mailed out to a dear friend. I don't seem to have the best of luck with the parcel service. Lol!

Spread the Happy Mail cheer and join in on the fun! I know how happy I get when there is a package in the mail for me. A big thank you to all of my peeps and to my new peeps! You all are so very sweet and the positive reinforcement comments sure make me happy as well. Hugz! Happy Crafting and Carpe Diem!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS 

I would love to share this card with these amazing challenge

Emerald Creek Dares-Bringing Bits of Cheer, Let the Festivities Begin!

Crafting By Design-December Anything Goes

Artistic Inspirations #146-Anything Goes with a twist of Christmas

Card and Scrap #108-Anything Goes

Papertake Weekly-Anything Goes

Through the Craftroom Door-Dec 1st-7th Anything Goes

Steampunk Christmas Ornament

On this episode of Pawsitively Creative we are going to sit back, enjoy, and get messy! Raise the Roof! Over at SanDee&Amelies Steampunk Winter Challenge we have an ongoing 2 month challenge of Anything Goes! How's that float your Steampunk boat? My mind came up with this star ornament:

This star started life as a plain paper mâché piece crying out to be made over into some Steampunk goodness! Using aluminum tape and alcohol inks, along with an EF and my fave-Rusting Powder, I designed the base. 

Alcohol ink Pool and Rust are my go to  for creating this patina color. Add some rusting powder to the mix and Viola!

After all the tape was applied to the star, I  painted over it with DecoArt Matte Varnish. I knew the matte wouldn't dull all the shine. By applying the varnish I am able to handle the aluminum tape with the rust on it and it doesn't come off onto my hands. :)

The design for the central image wasn't planned, just came to be what it is. The cog was heat embossed with 4 or 5 embossing powders. Then the metal filigree corners were added. The gentleman was inked onto some tissue paper with Black Archival ink after being fitted into the metal frame. The metal wings were from my stash.

I then added some greenery from leftover Christmas picks. Everything was glued to the star with Glossy Accents! And that's my first real Steampunk ornament for my Steampunk tree! Hopefully by next year I will have enough ornaments to complete my tree and I still need to order my copper tree. Ahhhh fun! Hugz and Carpe Diem! Happy Holidays y'all!

I would love to share this ornament with these challenges: 

Altered Eclectics-25 Days to Christmas-Anything Goes Altered Art

Our Crafty Corner #3-Anything Goes/Lace and Pearls

I joined in on the Anything Goes

The Crazy Challenge-Everything Goes

Sweet Stampin-Sparkle and Shine

I think my star sparkles and shines because of the aluminum tape, the metal and hey-it is a star and stars shine bright! :)

Frilly and Funkie-An Altered State

I believe my altered state of this star is vintage-ish :)

Mixed Media World #9-Anything Goes

That Craft Place-Anything Goes Mixed Media

Spotlight Post at Anything But Cute

You may be wondering what in the world these 3 pictures are doing here all by themselves! Well, this may not be a pretty post but if you would like to see what the end result is head over to our Spotlight Post at Anything But Cute!

What am I doing? 

Storage idea or just a bunch of random products? The guess is yours!

Happy Crafting and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

Christmas Tag

My art studio sure is getting used right now. Today was a very successful day and I am pumped to do some more but I am about to watch a movie with my DH and it is almost 10pm. I just wanted to share this Christmas tag real quick. Hope you enjoy and all of you are staying warm!

I wanted to try something new and get really messy. I started by heat embossing a Rubber Dance script stamp with Champagne EP. The edges of the tag were inked with Ground Espresso DI. 

I then started on my ornate frame. I tried some different color combos and wasn't liking the results.....Too yellow! 

I ended up using my Primary Elements-Olive Vine and am happy I did! This set me on the path to the colors you see in the final tag. I also used Emperor's Gold. While the frame was drying I flicked a bit  of Primary Element colors onto my tag  Gorgeous shimmer! 

I die cut "Joy to the World" (a new die that my hubby bought me today) 3 times and layered those cuts. It was inked up with DI and then heat embossed with Red Tinsel. 

The sprigs greenery and glitter leaves were remnants of a Christmas pick I had in my stash. I love adding the picks to my Christmas wrapped gifts! The ribbon was hand died with the Primary Elements and then splattered with them as well. I am hoping to get a better picture tomorrow when the sun is out!

Updated pictures of this tag while the sun was out. Ahhhh the shimmer and glitter!

I hope you are all having an amazing weekend! Hugz and Carpe Diem! 

This tag would love to be in these challenges: 

Lolls 12 tags of Christmas 

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

Happy Little Stampers November Mixed Media Challenge-Tag

Stamping Sensations-Festive Flowers and Foliage

Rubber Dance Art Stamps-Nov/Dec Challenge

I used the Festive Red color and the Optional Theme

Many Thanks!

Oh boy have things been busy here! My DH has surprised me with Christmas lights on our new house, he knows how much I adore lights during the Christmas holiday. Such a sweetie he is! Now, onto this design.

We just celebrated Veterans Day here in the States and I am honoring all my heroes with this tag. This is my way of saying Many Thanks and I applaud your dedication through everything. Without you, I would not be free. My brother was in the service and all soldiers should be thanked repeatedly.

I started with a manila tag and covered it with my rusty patina aluminum tape. To create the rusty tape I embossed aluminum tape, applied Pool and Rust Alcohol Ink, then sprinkled some rusting powder randomly. Once everything was dry I stuck it to the tag and trimmed the edges. 

To create my center "ornament", I used some metal filigree corners and a TH sticker frame to form my bell shape ornament. The 3 gentlemen were inked onto some tissue paper and then painted over with a glaze to create my vintage image. See, you can use certain elements to create something completely different! I never would have thought all these different pieces could make such a nice ornament! Can you see the bell shape? 

I added the propeller with Glossy accents and the greenery is a pick. The sentiment is self explanatory. 

The rusty orange ribbon/bow was in some Happy Mail I received in a swap, I just sprayed it with Carbon Black DecoArt mister and applied some Rust Alcohol Ink to it. How do you honor your heroes?

Just a reminder, over at SanDee&Amelie's Steampunk challenge we are having our winter special! The challenge is Anything Goes and runs for 2 months, until the end of December. Check it out HERE

I would really enjoy sharing my tag with the following challenges

Emerald Creek Dares-Remember the Fallen

Frilly and Funkie-An Altered State 

I have altered the metal filigree corners into a bell ornament featuring these wonderful 3 wise men

Tuesday Throwdown #271-Shopping Spree

I just went to a local craft store and purchased the greenery pick I have used in this design and a new bottle or Rust Alcohol ink was used as well. 

Pile It On-Any Holiday Celebration

I am celebrating Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one. 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-Thanks/Thanksgiving

CAS Christmas Card

Well it sure is chilly outside today but perfect weather to create some Christmas cards. This is my first ever attempt at an almost white card. Happy Holidays! I do have to apologize for the photos. It is snowing outside and kind of dark.

The background was embossed with a new EF from TH-Joy A2. Then I added some DecoArt Snow Writer to the word Holiday. While it was wet some Clear Rock Candy was sprinkled over it. I edged the card base with Fired Brick DI and added the silver filigree corners. 

I just got the MS branch punch (it has been on my wish list for a year) and constructed the tree by layering the branches. I added some red bling gems to represent ornaments and painted the snowflake topper with Stickles.

The trunk of the tree was made from a stick I found in my yard and painted with DecoArt white acrylic paint. 

Hope you all are warm and happy! It is a cold one here today! For the length of time this card took me, this sure is a short post. I have been up to my elbows in balls, ummm, with glitter! Christmas Balls y'all!  I am making a Steampunk Christmas tree and need lots of ornaments. Hehe! Hugz and Carpe Diem! 

This card will be shared with these lovely challenges: 

Through the Craft Room Door Nov 17-23 Anything Goes 

Crafty Calender Challenge-Sparkle, Bling and Embellish

Scrappers Delights #50-Anything Goes

Glitter N Sparkle-Add a Die Cut or Punch Shape

4 Crafty Chicks #273-Inspired by a Christmas Song.

 My song is-White Christmas by Bing Crosby of course. 

Light and Dark Autumn Leaves

Wowzers! Can you believe it is almost December!?! What! Where did the time go? The leaves are falling here and the days are growing colder. I don't really enjoy Fall or Winter but there are 2 special holidays during this cold time that I very much look forward to, Thanksgiving and Christmas! I was out in my back yard today watching the leaves fall and the dogs play and grabbed a maple leaf. It was so textural and pretty, I decided to use it on my design. It also reminded me of having to rake leaves when I was younger. We had more than enough trees, but the fun part was when my Golden Retriever decided to play in the piles of leaves. Good memories!

When Daylight Savings happened on November 1st, I knew the light change would alter how I photographed my art so this design was inspired by the leaves and the light change. I started with my leaf and painted it with Gold modeling paste. Then cut out a square from some thick paperboard and added the gold paste to it as well. I used my Emperors Gold silks to go over the gold paste (note the bumps and textures-my Gold Silks isn't so silky anymore, it seems to be drying out) :( Then came a wash of Spiced Pumpkin Silks. After the paste and Silks was dry, I added some DecoArt Antiquing Cream Raw Umber to the edges. 

The leaf was popped up a bit with foam dots and a metal filigree charm was added. The A is self explanatory.  I was able to use my new Dymo labeler by adding the word "Autumn".

 While all of this was happening I had also cut out my base and applied the Silks Pumpkin to it as well. The crackle is a TH stamp and coffee archival ink. 

 Adding layers is my new challenge for myself, so I went about it. I used DecoArt crackle paste and the TH flourish stencil around the edge of the base. I did add some Distress Glitter to the wet paste. When it was dry I lightly sponged over it with coffee Archival ink. 

The gold tassel is just for fun! The Gold frame is from a local craft store and "painted" with Gold Alcohol Ink then washed with the Emperors Gold Silks after applying some DecoArt Crackle Glaze.  

I used my favorite glue, TomBow Multi to adhere the frame to the leaf piece. 

The frame looks rather vintage now! Awesome sauce! I do hope you aren't too cold wherever you are and you maybe had some fun while reading this post. Happy Holidays and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I would love to share this wall hanging with these amazing challenges: 

Stamps and Stencils-Remember, Remember 

Frilly and Funkie-Let There Be Light

Mixed Media World #9-Anything Goes

Love to Create #22-Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Sweet Stamps November-Anything Goes

Sweet Stampin Challenge-Autumn Leaves

It's Ornamental!

Hello peeps! I do hope you enjoyed your Halloween and all that it entailed. Today starts a new challenge at Anything But Cute #7-It's Ornamental and the super sweet, and talented Cec is our hostess! Here is what she said, "Since the holiday will be coming up pretty quickly, we want you to create a mixed media ornament for your Christmas tree or a Christmas decor item for your house or table.

I love, love, love the Christmas holiday and go all out for it! So without further adieu here is my design! Who knew I could go from shock horror to soft and pretty!?! Lol. Grab a cuppa, this is a long one. :)

I started with a paper mâché mailbox. Applied some gesso and LSG sprays to the front and back. Then started on the Shimmer Sheetz. 

Using 3 different colors of embossing powder and a tree stamp, I got to stamping. The EP adds some nice texture to the Sheetz. TIP-Shimmer Sheetz don't hold up to heat embossing and will warp a bit but it can still be done! I used two sheetz to cover the sides of the mailbox and overlapped those at the top. Then came the die cuts. 

The flower was made with TH Tattered Flowers die. I layered three pieces and added some EP randomly, as well as some Stickles. The bird is a new Sizzix die. The bottom layer of the bird die was painted with DecoArt Media Cobalt Teal Hue (my cuttlebug didn't cut it all the way through but I used it anyway). The top die cut was heat embossed with a Recollections EP. Glossy Accents was liberally applied and I put the pieces together. The glossy accents gooped out through the holes in the top die cut which resulted in a glass like appearance and added some nice texture to the bird. 

The mailbox edges were painted with DecoArt Media Cobalt Teal Hue as well and then snowflake stickers were added. 

The filigree die cuts were made from white and a pale blue cardstock. Both were then lightly edged with Mermaid Lagoon DI. My ribbon was hand died with LSG sprays and helped to create my birds "nest". The flower has a bit of bling added and some small feathers. So many luscious layers! More layers help create nice texture and depth to any design. 

The snow on the mailbox flag (as well as the top of the candlestick) was created by using DecoArt Snow-Tex

This is the front of the mailbox. I used another die cut and lightly edged it with Mermaid Lagoon DI as well. The "Merry Christmas" sentiment is a TH rub on (thanks Samra!)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Although, I don't really like snow IRL-too cold for me. Brrrr! 

The back of the mailbox had a snowflake rub on and an embossed sentiment as well. 

The candlestick was painted white and then Cobalt Teal Hue, I then added a layer of white crackle paint. Once that was dry, I took a damask print stamp (inked with ML DI) and randomly applied it to the entirely awkward shape. Stickles added some glitter and Snow-Tex added some more texture. Pretty! 

And now for

THE SURPRISE: 

I created a false front to the opened mailbox and it raises up when the lid is closed. The reindeer, trees, and moon (actually my thumbprint, lol) are heat embossed onto vellum. The mini tree was sprayed with LSG sprays, and texture was added with the DecoArt Snow-Tex. I painted the mini lights with Cobalt Teal Hue and gesso. The floor was made to look like ice by sprinkling EP and layering DecoArt Liquid Glass over it. The cobblestones were hand cut and lightly pushed into the "ice". 

Whew! You made it to the end! Congrats! I hope you had a fun journey and create some amazing designs! Thanks for stopping by. Hugz and Carpe Diem! ~Niki

I will be sharing this altered design with these challenges:

Country View Challenge November #33-The Colour Blue

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-So Glossy.

I used Glossy accents to adhere almost everything in this design, as well as adding dimension to the bird die cuts

One Crazy Stamper Inc November Challenge-Christmas/Winter

Lets Craft and Create Challenge #107-Lots of Bling

I used lots of glitter, diamonds and gems, as well as luscious embossing powder that has bling in it.

Sweet Stampin Challenge-Dies And/Or Punches

I used 3 different dies on this design.

Rhedds Creative Spirit-Anything Goes Altered Art/Mixed Media Only