Hi you guys! Today Hero Arts is having a blog hop to celebrate the 2011 Joy To You holiday catalog going up in the online store. I’m so excited to be playing along!
I had a hard time deciding what stamps to use — there are so many great ones to chose from! Finally, I settled the cling Merriest Christmas Wishes set and the Pool Designer Papers! (You know how I love pool! Oh yah!)
And here’s what I came up with!
I love playing around with solid stamps like this because there’s so many things you can do with them. You could go ahead and stamp it in a nice blue color and you’d have a sweet, tweet scene in no time. Or you could try the kissing technique. But I didn’t want to do either of those! Nope, not me. Instead, I stamped it with VersaMark ink and embossed it in clear, then colored it with inks.
Here’s a closer look so that you can see the embossing better — you gotta tilt it to get it to really show up.
And, here’s a little step-by-step on how I did it! First, I stamped the bird on new Pool Designer paper — just love this pattern because it goes with everything. (Each pack of paper includes 12 8.5 x 11″ sheets, 4 each of 3 designs.)
Then I grabbed my sponge daubers and distress inks and colored in the bird, then wiped it off with a dry paper towel. Love using sponge daubers for coloring things like this because their small size lets you put the ink right where you want it. (Full supplies at the end of the post.)
Then I kept going and colored the rest of the scene. The embossed parts made a resist and the ink easily wiped away. To finish off the card, I just trimmed it and added it to a Pool Notecard stamped with the Tree Trunks — in Soft Pool, of course! A little teal gems, some ribbon, and the message and I was done! (Just love all the messages in this set — especially this one.)
(Supplies: Hero Arts Merriest Christmas Wishes set , Pool Designer Papers, Tree Trunks, sponge daubers, Pool Notecard, clear embossing powder, and VersaMark ink. EK Success border punch. Distress inks in barn door, broken china, vintage photo, and walnut stain all by Ranger. Grosgrain ribbon from my stash. The photo overlays are from Katrina at Pugly Pixel.)
Now, remember how I mentioned a giveaway? Yep, Hero Arts is giving away a great prize (including new Pool notecards + envelopes!)! The lucky winner will be chosen on August 5th from all the comments received on each stop in the hop, so be sure to comment + visit them all!
You can comment about anything you like, but I’d love to hear about something that gets you in the holiday mood. It was 104 when I was stamping this, whew! So I listened to music and pretended like those snowflakes weren’t melting. :)
Here’s the full hop in case you’re just joining in:
Your next stop on the hop is the super talented Tami Hartley’s blog — she made FOUR amazing cards! Go check ’em out!
Joyful hopping,
Beautiful card. Love the cardinal.
Love the cards, Lisa! Well … since we, like you, are enduring this horrid triple dig heat … if I were ready to start Christmas cards (and I *really* should) … I’d have to put on the Osmonds Christmas LP … it *always* puts me in the mood for the holidays!! =D
Such a sweet card. It’s hot in the UK right now so not very christmassy. Christmas music is the thing to help christmas crafting!!
Looove this card and the pool and red! Pool is a favorite of mine! What a great stamp set. Just love what you did with it!
I love all of the lights that go up during the holidays and the excitement in my little ones’ faces!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your card!! So Christmas-y!! Also, glad you made it home from CHA, safe and sound!!!
such a sweet liuttle bird! I really like the birch tree too.
Thanks
Holly
LOVE LOVE LOVE your card!!!! Now I know for sure I need this stamp
Love this! The pops of red combined with the pool is very pretty. Thanks so much.
I love how you have used this stamp so creatively. Thank you for the inspiration.
THIS CARD of yours puts me in the Holiday Mood! wow–LOVE that pool too –and with red-aaahhh, one of my favorites. Goodness, now I think I NEED this stamp too :) !! Also, snow…snow crunching has a good holiday feel! :O) GREAT card Lisa! :)
Love your card. The red really pops with the pool color.
I love the Merriest Christmas wishes stamp set…really cute. The red and the pool make a
great color combo, thanks for sharing.
WOWZA~~SIMPLY FABULOUS!! I REALLY LOVE your card Lisa!! But I guess I can’t remember a card of yours that I HAVN’T LOVED!! =) I like the color combo and the layering of the different background stamps!! THANKS for sharing and have a FABULOUS WEEK!! =)
I cannot wait to try this technique! Your colors are so happy too! I like to work on Christmas cards and other items by playing Christmas music. That always helps set the mood.
Thanks for the tutorial on how to color the images on a reverse stamp. LOVE this card!
Brilliant card and AWESOME tutorial too! great job love it! thanks for the fab hop too! and chance of winning the lovely sweet yummi candy too! hugs Samantha :0)
omg, i love it. i want that stamp so bad now and the red bird – absolutely stunning
Wow – that red really makes the design pop – just beautiful Lisa.
Oh gorgeous, gorgeous card, Lisa! Such a wonderful design and love your combination of stamps! Fab colour combination too! I love Christmas so find it very easy to get in a Christmas mood in Nov\Dec. But if I was trying to get in a Christmas mood at this time of the year I’d go with some Christmas music, Christmas films, cinnamon scented candles, a mug of cocoa and bake some Christmas goodies! Yikes 104 – I hope it has cooled down a bit for you:)
Your card is simply delightful!!! Love all the details and of course colors!!