IndigoBlu Challenge Blog Let It Snow

I was dead chuffed last month to find that random org had chosen me as the winner of the sketch challenge at IndigoBlu Challenge Blog.  As well as winning my choice of 2 large stamp plates I was asked if I would like to submit a card for their next challenge, which is Let It Snow.

Bit of a challenge as I don't own many IndigoBlu stamps (yet) and I didn't have any to really get into a scene building theme so I had a play around with Frosted Baubles and Seasons Greetings.
I've used the sentiment set loads of times as it fits in with contemporary and vintage themes but had yet to ink up Frosted Baubles.

I started with a 5 1/2inch square of white cardstock and stamped Frosted Baubles in the corner using versamark then heat embossed some WOW clear holographic embossing powder.  I then used stormy sky, faded jeans and dusty concord distress inks to build up a dark layer of blended ink before gently buffing some paper towel over the embossed area to bring back the white pattern, which thanks to the EP  has a pale purple tone when caught in the light.  To add a snowy look I gently misted with water from a spray bottle and left to dry.  My spray bottle gave quite a fine mist which softened the background rather than gave a full on snowy effect so I dabbed some silver adirondack dauber onto my craft mat before adding a drop of water, mixing with a fine paintbrush then tapping the paintbrush mid air over the card to give a splatter effect.

While the silver paint was drying I used the same clear holographic embossing powder to stamp & heat emboss a sentiment from Seasons Greetings on to an offcut of the white card before diecutting with a Spellbinders circle die.  This was inked with primarily stormy sky before the edges were inked with dusty concord to add just a hint of a faux layer before being buffed with paper towel.

Once dry the card was trimmed slightly to hide that it wasn't stamped at perfect right angles in the corner before being matted on some silver holographic mirri card.  I added a piece of stampinup ribbon and mounted both layers on to a white not quite 6*6 card.   I then diecut a slightly larger spellbinder circle die using offcuts from the mirri and matted the sentiment with foam pads. To finish off I added a few purple pearls to the sentiment panel and to the top corner.
 

Brusho mop ups meets Jofy

Been a week for birthday cards, it was one of my BFFs birthday yesterday and I made this one for her.

Nowt really but a lot of white card!  Started off stamping and masking the scene using archival ink and white cardstock before hitting it with various blue & purple distress inks to give a graduated sky, and a teeny bit of green along the base.  Once I was happy with the ink blend I matted and layered onto some silver holographic mirri and a white a5 card base and left to one side.  Using various pieces of brusho mop up card, a piece of the brusho marbled from a couple of months ago and some fresh sprinkle and sprayed pieces I went about stamping and fussy cutting each and every single bit of the flowers before tipping the edges with a complimentary felt tip marker.  Once I was happy with the pieces they were carefully stuck in to place and some were subtly glittered and sparkled with a clear wink of stella brush pen and the Happy is glossy accented.  I was quite chuffed with the finished card & Tracy seemed to like it, didn't tell her it was brushos cuz she's not that stuck on em lol.   For something that to an untrained eye it looks deceptively simple but in reality took ages with all that fussy cutting.

That'll teach her

My mate Martine has got a great sense of humour so when she posted on facebook that she didn't like card in a box/pop up box cards I had to post a reply saying that she ought to know better than to say that otherwise folk will be making the for her for her birthday.  Well I couldn't resist making one for her, originally I was going to make 13 of them and have them all attached to a long strip and spelling Happy Birthday but one of my BFFs Tracy made card in a box card using stuck together pieces of 12*12 and had whopping butterflies coming out in shades of pinks & reds and that gave me an idea.  Martines not a pink type lady, she's rather partial to a teeny (haha) bit of bling and I always make her white on white cards so set about making her a card in the box to end them all.  I didn't have enough 12* 12 sheets in a strong enough white card so I went with A4 pieces, 4 scored at 1cm for the glue flap and 2cms from the top so I could attach the fold over pieces. Once the base was made I ran some more white card through an a4 crafts too embossing folder and matted on to some silver holographic mirri.  The trellis pattern I used has an obvious place for gems but 12 not quite full a4 sheets would have meant nearly 300 gems and I didn't have enough all of the same size in clear so went with cosmic shimmer silver pearl glue and made faux pearls.

Once dry everything was assembled using tons of glue & double sided tape.  I then used a mixture of metal dies and my cricut with scal to cut plenty of white butterflies & mirri backs and added glitter to nearly all of them, either as beads or totally coating the white card. 

Some of these butterflies are 7" wide and as Tracy said acetate couldnt handle the weight so I used acetate strips and silver tinted kebab sticks to hold them upright and in place, stuck to the divider strips with a combination of glossy acccents & hot glue.

The front drop down was kept reasonably plain, simple happy birthday cut with scal and edged with glitter.  A couple of Cheery Lynn flourish diecuts & a couple of memory box gypsophelia diecuts plus a whacking great bow with a cover yourself button covered in glossy accents and glitter.  Ordinarily I'd have cleared a space and taken a tidy photo but hubby got there first with his phone and it's been placed on a hougie to show the size of it,and that's my phone.. admittedly it's not a large phone but does give a sense of scale.

Happy Birthday Martine xx