This Is That Time of the Year!

Let's face it. The winter holiday season is the best time to be an arts n' crafts freak. 

Am I right, or am I right?

Of course, my winter holiday season starts in August - at which point I'm already about two months behind schedule! Alas, and thankfully, I work well (read: best) under pressure.

Anyway, now that the holidays are upon us, I can share some of my projects without fearing someone will throw a sweaty flip-flop at me!

I love the simplicity of this candle digistamp from Fitztown. I began this project by printing it out on ivory colored cardstock.

The first thing I did was to fill in the candle drips with IMAGINE Crafts irRESISTible Pico Embellisher in white. The ink from the Pico Embellisher stays raised and shiny, so it really does look like wax drips!

I let that dry - it only takes a couple of minutes - while I colored in the holly with a blender pen dipped in distress ink. I also colored the flame in yellow. 

To embellish both, I used a gold pen to do the inner markings and the outline of the candle.  I also added yellow Stickles to the candle for sparkle.

I colored the ornaments in blue, rose, and green and then added corresponding colors of Stickles or glitter.

I stamped Noel in green, using a stamp that long ago forgot the name of its manufacturer.

Then, to finish the piece and give it a little extra somethin'-somethin', I made some snowflakes out of blue cardstock using an ancient Marvy Uchida punch that I have had for-just-about-ever.

I glued everything together and then added just a bit of Waterfall blue Stickles to the snowflakes, because snowflakes need a little pizzazz too.

That's it for now, folks. I'm off to make something else. 

What artsy craftsy things are you working on for the holidays?

Making It Snow

IMAGINE Crafts and RubberMoon Art Stamps are excited to share with you the amazing projects that our design teams have created to kick off the Holiday Season! Over the next few days, we'll be sharing with you inspiration and techniques using IMAGINE Crafts' line of ink products featuring rubber stamps from RubberMoon. Be sure to visit the IMAGINE Crafts and RubberMoon blogs daily for more projects and ideas!

Can I just say? I have been having sooooo much fun playing with my stuff from IMAGINE Crafts and Rubbermoon! I thought I'd share a fun card with you today. 

For this, I started with a half sheet of watercolor paper, which I sprayed with IMAGINE Crafts GooseBumps Shimmer Texture Spray. I love the slight shimmer and the texture adds some nice dimension to projects. In this case, I was going for snow, and it worked so well!

If you look closely, you can see the shimmer! It's really difficult to capture in a photo.

Once the GooseBumps spray was dry, I used a couple of different colors of blue, an IMAGINE Crafts Ink Blusher sponge, and some Ink Potion No. 9 to fill in the sky.

I sprayed the Ink Potion No. 9 directly onto the cardstock. It helps the inks blend and made the perfect cloudy sky for my falling snow. As you can see, the IMAGINE Crafts GooseBumps resists the ink, making it look like falling snow.

Time to start stamping! For the trees, I used RubberMoon's Skinny Trees background stamp. 

Again, the GooseBumps resists the ink, so it looks like the snow is falling on the trees and just beginning to give them their wintery coats. 

To add to that effect, I sprayed the trees with a bit of IMAGINE Crafts Sheer Shimmer Spritz in silver.

Then I cut the cardstock down to size. Of course I saved the rest of it for later!

I added a few more trees to fill it in. 

I topped just one of the trees with a single gold star using the star stamp from RubberMoon's Dust Collection. (It's not like I won't use the rest of that set, but I tell ya... that star stamp alone was worth buying the whole set!) I stamped it using IMAGINE Crafts Delicata Golden Glitz ink.

I felt like it needed just a little something more, so using IMAGINE Crafts Delicata Silvery Shimmer ink, I added the sweet RubberMoon New Moon face in the sky. She has that peaceful look that I feel when the snow starts falling.

One final word about Delicata Metallic inks. I wasn't convinced that I needed more metallic ink pads. But! I love, love, love these! The colors are so vibrant and lush. I may never use any other gold or silver pads again.

PS.  If any of you IMAGINE Crafts / Tsukineko gods are listening... I'd love to have one in a nice bright copper. Pretty please!

A Crafter's Tribute to Veteran's Day

Tuesday is Veteran's Day. It is a day that I always feel deeply in my heart. Several of my family members and friends have served to defend and protect the country in which I am privileged to live. It is a debt that I am humbled by and can never repay, so I try to honor it and pay tribute to those brave people whenever I can.

That's what was on my mind the other day as I sat on my back porch, sipping coffee and watching eagles soar over the valley. And that's what inspired me when I came across this fierce looking eagle at Fitztown.

And, hey... is there anything more American than a pair of faded blue jeans? My beloved learned early on in our relationship to never ever throw away an old pair of jeans. I mean, come on! Old jeans are a crafter's cheap, but perfect playground! Am I right, or am I right?!

Along with a piece of denim from a pair of old jeans, I used an inexpensive, unfinished frame, and printed the eagle image out on  heavy watercolor cardstock.

I traced a line around both the inside and outside of the frame on the "wrong" side of the piece of denim. I made sure to use a bright color that I could easily see when I cut the piece. Once it was cut, I glued it onto the frame.

I used a multiple star stamp from Inkadinkado and, with craft ink, stamped stars in red, white, and gold directly onto the fabric.

Then I used a star stamp from Stampin' Up! to make the star cut-outs with red, white, and blue cardstock.

I arranged the stars and glued them down. For a little extra pizzazz, I added some rhinestone stars.

Time to move on to the eagle.

For this, I began by doing a quick watercolor wash with red and blue distress inks. I didn't worry about being precise because I wanted it to have that washed look so that the starkness of the eagle would stand out that much more.

I waited a few minutes for that part of it to dry and used the Inkadinkado star stamp and gold ink to add stars to the "sky".

After that, it was a matter of coloring in the eagle, and what else would I use besides my beloved Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils?

It's funny. I poo-poohed the need for these amazing pencils for a long time. Now I can't imagine how I ever lived without them. And I want all 5 bajillion colors because... well... 24 just won't do, y'know?

Anyway, that's all there was to this project besides putting the eagle into the frame. Total cost (even if you take into account the purchase of the stamps and pencils and how many times I've used them) was under $5.00.

Just imagine the gifts you could make with a minimal investment, a little bit of thought, and a whole bunch of love. Stuff like this? This is why I love crafting.

This is where I'd normally tell you to go craft something, and you should. But first, go hug and thank someone you know who has served your country.