Say Freeze Craft Smart paper pad

Just before Christmas I took one last trip to Michael's and bought several 12 x 12 paper pads. I know I shouldn't have, but the images on "Say Freeze" really called to me so I did it.  I already had the 6 x 6 version of the same paper, I just had to have the bigger one, too.

The poinsettias are from the smaller paper pad, and the outside sentiment is from Queen & Co's Special Delivery kit. The inside sentiment is from Avery Elle's "Comfort & Joy" sentiment set.  The die cut poinsettia on the front is a Sizzix die that came with a pillow box die. The inside of the flowers are embellished with copper colored Nuvo drops.

Here's the real reason I needed the larger paper pad.  There is this wonderful image of snowmen driving a red pickup truck.  It's larger, covering the front of these two 5 x 6.5" cards.  The "Merry Christmas" die is from Kat Scrappiness, cut once from gold card stock and once from cream card stock, and layered together, a little offset.

On the inside of the card I layered another piece of patterned paper and the same sentiment as above from Avery Elle. The inside sentiment is on a panel cut with a scalloped die from Gina Marie Designs.

This second truck card features the "Fa La La" die and shadow from Simon Says Stamp.  The little sentiment, "Make it jolly, so jolly" is silver embossed from a sentiment set from Scrapbook.com called "Make it Jolly".

The inside sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set CL359 from 2012.  It's embossed in silver, with a couple of snowflake stamps that I can't immediately identify. 

So, I don't need anymore Christmas cards, but I've decided not to stop making them because, I don't want to stop.

More truckin'

More holiday trucks from Queen & Co's "Special Delivery" kit. 

I seriously love pictures of vintage pickup trucks.

The top card is larger than normal, at 5 by 6.5 inches.  The sentiment on the bottom card is the same one I've been using from Hero Arts.

It's finally cool in Florida, so sweaters it is!

Yay, we got a cool front here in South Florida, and temps are down to the '50s. It won't last long, but it really gets me in the Christmas card mood! 

All of these cards were inspired by Mary Polanco and a Youtube video she did a few weeks back about not overthinking your designs. I was going to follow her idea with my own dies, but I needed this sweater die that she used. 

A couple of things I don't remember Mary mentioning are that when you ink-blend onto a finished card base you will get ink on the back of the card. Well, I did, anyway.  Also, I used these kraft card bases and they warped, a lot.

I used some white acrylic paint watered down for the white splatter, and the paint picked up some of the Distress ink and turned beige or pink. I kept it.  I also cut the warped fronts off and attached them to some cream colored card bases that also have been in my  stash a long time.

Most of this paper is from "Say Freeze", new paper packs I picked up at Michael's last week. I especially enjoyed fussy cutting some of the images for the inside.  I used some washi tape that's been in my stash for a while, also.

The outside sentiments are from Simon Says Stamp and Concord & 9th.  

Sweaters on cards, none in real life.

I am loving this sweater die from Hero Arts. It has tiny round and heart shaped punch-outs as well as a tree that can be punched out or left in place.

I cut a second sweater out just so I could get the tree in striped layers, and embellished the card with snowflakes cut from mirror gold and glitter card stock. The sentiment strip is from a 6x6 paper pad I got at Michael's.  Sigh, yes, I bought more patterned paper. So sue me.

The red background layer is textured card stock from DCWV, and was recently given to me by my sister-in-law. She's de-stashing craft items that are not quilt-related. So, even more paper for me.

The layered poinsettias will be featured soon on another card. 

Water coloring over embossed text

I just got the "on the edge" set of sentiments from My Favorite Things, and the "HAPPY" just screamed, "Cut me out of white on an angle!". Who am I to argue with inanimate craft items that speak so clearly?

The back panel is white embossed text (Hero Arts) that has been water color stained. Seriously, I just used my Gansai Tambi water colors and picked out a few of my favorites and slopped it down there.

The birthday word stamp and the bird are from The Alley Way Stamps. TAWS went out of business last January, but I have a LOT of their stamps, I was a fan and a subscriber. So, TAWS critters will be on my cards a long time. Yes, this card should have read "HAPPY Bird-day".  I missed that opportunity for a pun. My bad.