Keeping Christmas April 2019 Edition

Hello and welcome back to the next edition of Keeping Christmas.  I have just a single card for you today but I sure did try to make it have the extra little touches that make the recipient say "WOW" when they open the card.

As I often do when I am short of time, (which happens to many of us at especially at the Holidays), I looked to my designer papers to see what I could pull together for an easy but nice card.

A few years ago on Cyber Monday, I drove into the city from where we were living at that time to make a trip to Michaels to check out their Black Friday specials.  The had advertised several large Paper Stacks for $5.99 and I went to see what they offered.  Today's card is made from one of the sheets in one of those stacks.  By now, the papers have been used quite a lot, but I had a good sized scrap of this silver, grey and red paper with the silver foiling.  I thought this would make a great "guy" card in particular, so I got to work pulling bits and pieces of cardstock scraps in the same colors for my die cuts.

I wanted to be able to keep to a simple color scheme so other than the patterned paper, I used Red and Silver Shimmer Cardstock.  My card size is 4 x 8.5 and the nice thing about that size is that it will fit in a #10 envelope.  I die cut the Jolly Holly Leaves from Spellbinders cutting them from the silver cardstock.  I used Red Confetti for the Holly Berries. I also used the Simon Says Stamp Believe Die for the Sentiment cutting the shadow or mat from Silver but the word from the Red Shimmer Cardstock.  This card is very simple, so I wanted to jazz it up a bit, so I decided to put a little gem in the center of each snowflake on the designer paper.  It's very hard to photograph, but when you see it in real life, it's quite eye-catching.  You can see the images larger if you right click on the image and tell your computer to open the image in a new window.

I love how simple and fast this card was to put together and I have lots of scraps from those same paper stacks to make additional cards if I need something easy when it comes time to actually send my cards out. That's always a plus.  I love stamping on my projects or watercoloring or lots of other techniques, but I just don't often have time to devote if I need a quick card at the last minute.  Look at supplies you already have and see what you can do with them.

Be sure to check out all of the stops along the hop today as the other ladies from the team have cards or projects to show you too.

Kelly Lunceford (Off this Month)

Anita Madden

Broni Holcombe

Claire Broadwater

Julee Tilman

Kim Heggins

Lori Tecler

Nance Salkeld

Nina Forsyth (Off this Month)

⚜ Vicki Finger ⚜
Nancy Guse

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Altenew Celebrating Parents Blog Hop

I am very happy to be joining in as a guest designer with Altenew for the Celebrating Parents Card Drive.  Altenew is hosting a special Celebrating Parents Blog Hop for you today.  They are hosting this very important cause and there are many stops along the hop for you to see many beautiful cards!  You should have arrived here from Alex Syberia's Blog. I have six cards to share with you today, but I want to share a bit of information about this very worthy cause first.

Our goal is to send cards for the elderly that live in nursing homes or shelters to let them know they’re not forgotten. Please encourage people to check out the Celebrating Parents Card Drive and join this great cause by sending in cards.

We would like to invite you to participate in a special card drive to help bring some love and happiness to others!

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are approaching and this can be a difficult time for seniors who are in nursing homes or shelters. We want these important people to feel loved, celebrated, and honored — and we need your help!

Altenew will be collecting handmade cards between March 3rd and April 29th, and each donor is eligible to win one of FIVE $30 Altenew gift certificates! If you use #AltenewCardDrive when you share your Celebrating Parents cards on social media, you are entered to win one of THREE additional $15 gift certificates! The winners will be announced on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12th, 2019.

Here are some important reminders and guidelines:

• Cards may be for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Sentiments should be generic – a specific greeting such as “so happy you’re my dad” wouldn’t really work.
• Please sign your name on the inside of each card. You may also include a note and where you are from.
• Kindly put each card in an envelope and make sure they are not sealed.
• To enter the giveaway, please include a post-it note with your name and email address.

We would love for you to use Altenew products, but of course, your cards may use products from other companies!

Send your cards to:

Altenew 

ATTN: Card Drive 

6179 East Molloy Road,

East Syracuse, NY 13057

If you have any questions or would like us to send cards to a local shelter or a nursing home near you, please email us at support@altenew.com with the subject line Celebrating Parents Card Drive.

We have chosen four stamp sets that are great for your Mother’s Day and Father’s Day projects: Best Dad, Painted Rose, Extra Special, Lotus, Cross Stitch Flower, and Best Mom. 20% of the profits from these stamp sets until Father’s Day, June 16th, 2019, will be donated to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need.  This is another great way for you to show the support and the love in our crafting community! 

Like many others in the paper crafting industry, I have been playing a lot with Alcohol Inks and have many backgrounds created and ready to use.  This particular one was created on Yupo paper but sometimes I use Glossy Cardstock.  This one was created with Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks in Mermaid and Clover and Pinata Brass Alcohol Ink on Yupo.  I love the more vibrant gold of the Pinata vs. the gold mixative that is available so I've switched over.  I don't have a technique or special way of creating them, I just play until I get a look that I like. Sometimes I use Alcohol Blending Solution and other times I use 91% or 99% Rubbing Alcohol.  If you want to try these inks out, just get a few colors that you like and experiment before investing in a whole bunch of them.  You all know that I like lots of Gold, so I almost always include it.  I have the Silver in Pinata Ink as well, but it just isn't nearly as dramatic as the brass, so I don't use it often.  

For my first card, I stamped a few of the blooms and the leaves from Beautiful Day.  The blooms were stamped using the three darkest shades (Aqualicious, Teal Cave, & Galactic Stream) from the Sweet Dreams Collection so that the color would be very vibrant and pop from the card base.  For the leaves I used the Sea Shore collection of inks, again using the three darkest shades (Volcano Lake, Lagoon, and Emerald).  Once the stamping had time to dry, I treated them with powder tool and then being very careful to line them up, stamped the outline images on both, the leaves and the blooms using Versamark with Altenew Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Next, I die cut everything.  

Next, I cut a white panel using the Creative Edges Lace Die on both the top and bottom of the piece then stamped my greeting and heat set that as well.  I started playing with the arrangement of the flowers and decided I needed a few little sprigs in there, so I stamped one of the sprigs from Wings Of Hope several times and heat embossed them as well.  Then I die cut them to add to my arrangement.  I do love to use the Glad Press N Seal when I get my arrangement just how I want it so that I don't have to try to recreate it from a photo.  

My next cards used the leftover leaf and bloom from the first card. Since there was less "floral", I added both a white a gold die cut piece using the same Creative Edges Lace Die, making one narrower than the other so that You can see both pieces.  I heat set the sentiment from Altenew Extra Special which is geared toward Moms.  

For this next card, I stamped the blooms using Warm and Cosy Family of inks, again in the three darkest shades ( Orange Cream, Autumn Blaze, and Firebrick).  The leaves were stamped way back in August when I was making a birthday card for my Daughter and I only had one set of Altenew Greens at that time, so I know they were stamped using the Green Fields Ink Collection.  Those particular leaves were from the Build-A-Flower Rose Set.  Since Beautiful Day Blooms have always reminded me of wild roses, and the colors were perfect so I opted to use them for this card.

I cut a gold mat, a gold-edged piece and then cut a white strip that would fit perfectly across the gold edged piece. I stamped in Versamark and then heat set using the same Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

Next up in a more clean and simple style, I used Altenew Extra Special Stamp and Die Bundle.  The backgrounds were some that I had made while taking classes to become a Certified Altenew Educator.  I used a brayer technique taught in one of the classes.  To make these backgrounds pop a little more, I ran them through the We R Memory Keepers Gemstone Embossing Folder to add texture to my background panels.

As before, I stamped all of the colored layers, let that dry, then went back and heat embossed the outline of the floral with Antique Gold.  I love adding little gems to my flowers centers for a little bit of sparkle.  This card uses the new Spring Bouquet 6 Ink Collection which has three new pinks and three new greens.

For this set of blooms, I used Pocketful of Sunshine Ink Collection.   The green iridescent sequins along with the gemstone in the flower centers added just the pop of fun and sparkle I wanted.

This last card uses one of the many alcohol inked backgrounds that I made last winter and then ran it through my Minc Machine to add a bit of gold foil.  That's why there are two views for this card (so you can hopefully see the little bit of gold on there).

Altenew

Svitlana Shayevich

Virginia Lu

Agnieszka Malyszek

TaeEun Yoo

Seeka

Heather Hoffman

Nancy McClelland 

Laura Jane

Ashlea Cornell 

Anna Komenda

Amber Rain Davis

Tania Ahmed

Aya Elsheshtawy

Patricia Roebuck

Alex Syberia

Vicki Finger (You Are Here)

Laura Volpes

Michelle Murray

Terri Koszler

We hope you can join us for this great cause. Thank you for those who made this possible. We feel truly blessed to have your support!  I personally appreciate it when you take the time to stop by and especially when you take time to comment!  I appreciate your support of my blog.  Your next stop on the hop is Laura Volpes.

Affiliate Links Used Whenever Possible

Altenew Antique Gold Crisp Embossing Powder Shop at: ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Shop at: ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Dies Shop at: ALT	Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp & Die Bundle Shop at: ALT
Altenew Build-A-Flower Rose Shop at: ALT	Altenew Creative Edges Lace Die Shop at: ALT	Altenew Extra Special Bundle Shop at: ALT	Altenew Extra Special Die Shop at: ALT
Altenew Extra Special Stamp Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Green Fields Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Pocketful of Sunshine Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT
Altenew Pocketful of Sunshine Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Sea Shore Ink Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Sea Shore Oval Ink Pads Shop at: ALT	Altenew Spring Bouquet 6 Cube Set Shop at: ALT
Altenew Spring Bouquet 6 Oval Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Sweet Dreams Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Warm & Cozy Mini Cube Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Warm & Cozy Oval Set Shop at: ALT
Altenew Wings of Hope Bundle Shop at: ALT	Altenew Wings of Hope Die Set Shop at: ALT	Altenew Wings of Hope Stamp Set Shop at: ALT	Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper Shop at: SSS
Glad Press N Seal Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Ranger Alcohol Pearls - Set of 12 Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz/Ranger Alcohol Ink Blending Solution Shop at: SSS	Tonic 6 Inch Personal Trimmer Shop at: SSS
Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	Yupo Paper 74 lb. Shop at: SSS

Alcohol Inked Backgrounds with Gina K Designs

I've been sharing several cards over at Instagram, my Facebook Page, and the Gina K Designs & Stamp TV Group on Facebook. I've gotten several questions, so I thought I should try to share some information here.  That way I have a post to refer folks too.

Here are a few of the cards I've been sharing.  This first one was a knock off of one that Gina made about a month ago and you can find it on her YouTube Channel here.

Next off the same card, but tilted slightly toward the window so you can see the gold a bit better. 

I have some other pictures where you'd really be able to see the gold coming up later in this post.

First off, let me say there are some things that are hard to control, and alcohol inks are one of them.  In my previous blog post, I gave several Tips & Tricks so I'll share those again here.  However, it looks like I forgot the most important one, so here is that list again:

• New to the List:  Wear rubber gloves so your hands and nails don't get stained.  I buy a box of cheap ones at Amazon or Sally Beauty Supply.   I also have my nails done, so I don't want to mess up my shiny, sparkly, glittery manicure. I don't always get this much glitter, but about half the time I do.  Even if  I didn't get them done, I still wouldn't want my nails stained, so just get some kind of gloves.  The kitchen variety would probably work, but I'm not that coordinated with them, so I use disposable ones.  

• They are messy and they stain! So I have trash bags over the back of my chair and the seat of my chair and I wear an apron or an older t-shirt. My work Surface is a 48 x 48-inch piece of glass, but I use a craft mat on top of that. If you are working on a smaller panel, it's easier to contain some of the mess. 
• When working with Alcohol Inks on Yupo, you can clean up a mistake by cleaning it with a bit of alcohol ink on a paper towel or rag.
• When working with Glossy Cardstock, there is no going back. You can add ink over the top, but you cannot wipe away a mistake. You can dab at it to remove some of the texture, and then put color over the top again, but you cannot wipe away the color like you can with Yupo. In the beginning, I only used Yupo until I got a feel for how the inks moved and worked. I recommend using Yupo in the beginning but cutting the sheets into card sized panels. I like to get the 9 x 12 and cut it into four panels which gives me four pieces of 4.5 x 6 inches so I have a little extra because I like to die cut all of my background panels for that crisp, clean edge. That size is also less intimidating.
• Alcohol Inks, Blending Solution, and the Rubbing Alcohol will pretty much destroy the finish on the handles and discolor your ink blending tools when using the felt pads, so I have a couple that I use exclusively for this purpose. I'm usually trying to get more texture, so I don't often use the felt pads.
• Start with just a few colors (6-8 that will play well together) and play around to see how many different looks you can get. Once you get a feel for them and if you are happy with your results, then you can add more colors to your collection.
• Last, but not least, playing with Alcohol Inks can be very addictive! Don't say I didn't warn you! *Ü*

The biggest thing to do is just sit and play with different techniques. There are a ton of YouTube videos out there to watch if you want more information. I've tried the straw method to blow the color around but it doesn't work that well in my particular case because I've had lung surgery so my left lung has diminished capacity. The puffer works great for me. It also keeps you from accidentally hyperventilating. *Ü* You can find one on Amazon.com.

This next card is one that I made the background last fall and then ran it through my Minc Machine.  I didn't know enough about what I was doing, so I got more gold foil on it than intended.  However, It worked perfectly with this style so even if you think it's a boo-boo, hang on to it because you just never know.  I've worked with the heavyweight Yupo, but I don't like it because you cannot die cut a word from it.  Only the mid-weight works for die cutting.  I wrecked a couple of backgrounds trying.  Like everything, it is a learning process, so it was just a lesson along the way.  If you want to try the technique of running it through the Minc, I recommend a heat setting of 3 or 4, maximum.

This particular card also uses a background made last fall that I ran through the Minc.  This was much more the look I was going for, but I had been saving it for just the right project.  When I saw these butterflies on the Warm Spring Wishes Stamp and Die Collection, I knew they'd be perfect for these backgrounds I'd been hoarding.  I had several different color varieties so I used a few of these to make my cards with.   

I've also tried working with the felt pads that go on the mini ink blending tools, but I find that they just leave lint on my paper, so I rarely use them.  I'm more likely to get a foam pad than a felt one, but I primarily use the air puffer to move the ink around.  

This is another of those older backgrounds where there was initially more gold decofoil than I wanted but because of the large oval die, it totally works.  

Make sure you have plenty of rubbing alcohol on hand for clean-up and to use with the inks.  Rubbing Alcohol at 70% is my most used household cleaner because of all the glass, so I always have that in a big spray bottle.  But I like to use 91% or 99% Rubbing Alcohol with the alcohol inks.  It does stink, but I'm used to it because I've been using it since way back in the early 90's when I worked in a jewelry store with all those glass cases that people like to touch and kids like to put their noses on.  

These next few cards were all made with recently created backgrounds where I used the Pinata Alcohol Ink in Brass with the regular small bottles of alcohol ink from Tim Holtz.  I like the effect of this ink much more as it is an actual ink rather than just a mixative.  There is no need for a laminator using that ink.  I'm still learning my way around with this one, but I did order some smaller pipettes to use with it for better control of how much of that ink is actually coming out.  

I love how this card came out and I still have a couple of panels left for more cards.  The ink colors I used for this card are Mermaid, Clover, and Brass.

The red backgrounds were made with Red Pepper, Valencia, and Brass Alcohol Inks.  The Heart Circle Dies is a Gina K Designs Die.

The butterflies are heat embossed and colored in with Copic Markers in matching colors.

This last card turned out to be my favorite with the teals in both light and dark tones.  These inks are Mermaid, Clover, and Brass.  The die cut is the Gina K Designs Elegant Oval Die.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I really appreciate it when you leave a comment for me and if you leave a question, I do my best to get back to you quickly.  

Affiliate Links Used Whenever Possible

Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	GKD Elegant Oval Die Shop at: GKD	GKD Heart Circle Die Shop at: GKD	GKD Warm Spring Wishes Dies Shop at: GKD
GKD Warm Spring Wishes Stamp Set Shop at: GKD	Heidi Swap Minc Machine Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Marvy Jewel Picker Shop at: SSS
MSP Original MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS	Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS	Ranger Non-Stick Craft Sheet Shop at: SSS	Scor-Pal Scoring Board Shop at: SSS
Scor-Tape - 1/2 inch Shop at: PTI | SSS	Scotch 3M Foam Tape Shop at: SSS	Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares Shop at: SSS	Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares Shop at: SSS
Silver Black Velvet Size 2 Shop at: SSS	SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	SSS Stitched Rectangles Dies Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS
Thermoweb Decofoil Sheets - Gold Value Pack Shop at: SSS | GKD	Tim Holtz Mini Round Ink Blending Tool Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Ranger Alcohol Pearls - Set of 12 Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS
Tim Holtz/Ranger Alcohol Ink Blending Solution Shop at: SSS	Tonic 6 Inch Personal Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops Red Berry Shop at: SSS	Tonic Nuvo Crystal Drops Rhubarb Crumble Shop at: SSS
Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	Wink of Stella Shimmer Pen Shop at: SSS	WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS
Yupo Paper 74 lb. Shop at: SSS