Showing posts with label Impresslit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Impresslit. Show all posts


T'is the Season. Christmas is typically a very busy time in most households that celebrate the holiday. But this year, mine is extra busy. I am planning my daughter's January wedding and I'm swamped with a To Do list longer than Santa's Naughty list. Fortunately, very early this year I began making some Christmas cards. I chose 5 designs and made 7 of each. I saw this design somewhere - perhaps Instagram, using the now-retired Tim Holtz Snowflake Impresslit. If you're not familiar with them, at one time Sizzix produced these small embossing folders that both cut and embossed an image at the same time. They are all retired now, so I am holding on to the ones I have. The oak leaves one is my favorite. 



I used Neenah's Classic Crest Solar White 110lb cardstock (spritzed with water) to make the snowflake. Next, I used a Bazzill Kraft stock (maybe Peanut Cluster color) and embossed it with the Sizzix embossing folder called Nordic Pattern by Olivia Rose. I just adore the imagery. I very lightly swiped Picket Fence Distress Ink over the raised areas using a domed foam blender. 


Finally, I embossed Merry Christmas using Taylored Expressions Modern Holiday Greetings stamp set. It's a fantastic set with lots of "clean" Christmas sentiments. By clean, I mean there are no flourishes and everything is sans serif. Lots to choose from. 


I put it all together on a cardbase using the same Neenah cardstock. Just dropped this card, along with about 40 others at the post office. 

Happy Holidays, y'all!

 


Like many, I am a huge Tim Holtz fan. I wanted to make a TH themed St. Patrick's Day card using just his products, with the four-leaf clover from the Sizzix Lucky Love Impresslit. I am not a natural at mixed media. I have to experiment, think, study Pinterest, and more, to come up with a mixed media piece I really like. I found a wonderful card by a Finnish artist named Riikka Kovasin here that I loved. Her layout and her use of some of the embellishments inspired me most. 


I started with Canson XL watercolor paper (like an entire sheet as I didn't know what I would want to use from it). I used a piece of acetate with a spritz of Antique Linen Distress Spray Stain on it and "rolled" the spray onto the card, creating a long splotch - ideal as I knew I wanted a slimline card. Next, I used a paintbrush to put down some Shabby Shutters and Forest Moss spray stain on top of that. I splattered some ink off the brush tip also. I used my Stampers Anonymous TH Ledger Script stamps (held in my hand, not on a block) with Vintage Photo Archival Ink to stamp some script images around the watercolor. 


I used a foam blender to lightly dab some Shabby Shutters Distress Ink through the TH Bubble stencil. I used Translucent Distress Texture Paste through the Halftone stencil to add a little shine (which really didn't show up well). I even dotted on some Gilded Foundry Wax on the bottom right to give it some golden shine (also hard to photograph).

For my focal point, I knew I wanted to use the Lucky Love clover. I made several clovers using TH shiny gold Kraft stock, brushed gold cardstock, heavystock covered with Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide, and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide, and finally I recycled an old scrap of watercolor paper that used Peeled Paint Distress Ink smooshed on. I edged this one with Gathered Twigs ink. This last one was what landed on top of a stack of three clovers that I glued together.


I used the Tim Holtz Floral Outline CMS430 stamp heat embossed in white detail powder on a piece of heavy vellum. Then, I turned to the TH Sizzix Stacked Tiles Hexagons thinlits to create these little frames made from Tim Holtz Wallflower Paper Stash by Ideaology. I just love hexagons.

My inspiration piece has this wonderful piece of torn heat embossed vellum just below the focal image and I loved it. I broke out my Tim Holtz Floral Outlines stamps from Stampers Anonymous and stamped with embossing ink then used white detail powder to heat emboss. Like in the inspiration photo I cut and tore the vellum and also added twine behind my focal point.

I added the stickers from Tim Holtz Ideaology Metallic Sticker Book. I used Gilded Foundry Wax to recolor the heart from the Adornments pack by Ideaology and placed it in the center of my clovers. Finally, I added the 17 cut from brown cardstock, like the matted piece below, from the new Sizzix Everyday 2023 release Alphanumeric Bulletin Thinlits. I just love how big and delicate these letters and numbers can be.


Whew, I think that covers it.

I am entering this in a few challenges: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, 
Double Trouble Challenge, (Thing 1 and Thing 2)


 and the 4 Seasons Challenge, 



I CASE'd Cheiron Tricarico Brandon's card from September 1, 2021 featuring the Oak Leaf Impresslit by Tim Holtz and Sizzix. It was simply perfect for a special card for a family member I had never met before, but I had sent many handmade cards to. My husband's, uncle Bruce is a self-professed hermit. Years ago I sent him a handmade Christmas card and he responded by sending me a handwritten letter thanking me for my cards and saying they reminded him of cards his mom used to make. 

Recently, he drove from southern Arizona to Dallas, TX to see his sister (my MIL) after decades away. I finally met him and gave him this card with the matching envelope. He loved it. He told me all the cards I have sent him over the years are on display in his house. Needless to say, I was beyond touched. 

I used the Impresslit folder on watercolor paper, then used a wide variety of Distress Spray Stains and Distress Inks to color the leaves. I used the Ranger Heat Tool in between layers to get that wonderful layered look. On my green leaf, I experimented by using a thin brown felt pen over some of the main veins on the leaf. Lastly, I added a spritz of Iced Spruce Distress Oxide Spray to a few leaves. 


Next, I went to work on the background. First, I heat embossed the saying from Pretty Pink Posh's Autumn Wreath stamp set with Ranger's Princess Gold ultra fine embossing powder. Next, I sprayed the dark brown background (Stampin' Up's Early Espresso CS) in the Tarnished Brass and Antiqued Bronze Mica Sprays. I used foam adhesive on the back of all the leaves, just as I guessed Cheiron had done. The card base is Stampin' Up!'s Crumb Cake CS. The envelope features the Ideology Black Kraft cardstock with a cut out using the Sizzix Alphanumberic Stretch uppercase. 




I had a blast making this card. I could have cut and colored those leaves for days on end. Here's to autumn, Uncle Bruce and Cheiron Brandon's fantastic work.