Friday, 20 October 2023

Inked Holly


Hi everyone, as I mentioned on here recently, I am as always very behind with my Christmas cards, so I am now trying to get a wriggle on with them. To that end I bought a couple of new Christmas stamps to see if they would inspire me, including a lovely Visible Image grungy holly stamp which I thought would be perfect for some simple batch makes. I had a little play and made three very similar cards … I wasn’t completely happy with the first one so I made two more where I experimented with the matting and layering. This one was my favourite of the 3.


I stamped and heat embossed the holly on a square of stamping card, and coloured it by painting with watered down Elements inks and highlighted it with white gel pen. I then masked the holly and created a soft background by blending Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink. I die cut the coloured panel using a stitched square die, then matted onto a larger stitched square die cut from red linen card stock and my card blank. I also bought the VI Poinsetta Grunge stamp set, not least for the gorgeous grungy font Christmas sentiment which I stamped with Versamark onto a separate piece of black card and heat embossed in white. I finished with some white Posca spatters and Glossy Accents on the holly berries to add texture and dimension. 

Here’s an angled picture to show the Glossy Accents.


Stamps: Visible Image Inked Holly, Poinsettia Grunge (sentiment); 
Media: Lavinia Elements inks (Olive, Paprika); Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink (Tumbled Glass); Versafine Clair (Nocturne); embossing powder (clear and detail white); gel pen (white); Posca pen (white);
Tools: Hunkydory Moonstone Duo-Stitched Squares dies.

Challenges I would like to enter:

Allsorts #750 - Add Some Texture
Festive Friday - Christmas
Peace On Earth #50 - Anything Christmas Goes
Simon Says (Monday) - Text It (2nd entry)
Sparkles Christmas Challenge #153 - Christmas Flowers/Foliage - TOP 3

I’m hoping I’ll get on a roll now .. not before time! Hope everyone is staying safe in the awful storms currently battering the UK … I would say it’s a day to stay indoors crafting, but right now it is too dark here to even see what you’re doing! Take care, and thanks very much for visiting today.
Hugs,

17 comments:

coldwaters2 said...

Love, love this Pauline the design looks so professional thank you for joining us at Allsorts
hugs
lolo x

brenda said...

Same weather here Pauline, we've thinking about building an Arc! Nice design to your Christmas card, thanks for sharing at Allsorts this week.

B x

Rainey's Craft Room said...

That's a lovely stamp Pauline and your heat embossing and glossy accents adds lovely texture and detail to the finished card. Many thanks for sharing at Allsorts this week.
Lorraine

Darlene said...

Simply beautiful Pauline! Love it! Thanks so much for joining in the fun at our Simply Clean & Simple challenge! Good Luck and we hope you’ll come back often.

Darlene
DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS
Co-Owner … Can You Handle the Pressure, Double D, Four Seasons, Peace On Earth, Stencil Fun, Simply Clean & Simple, Two Old Bats, Triple B

Diane said...

Beautifully created CAS card!
Thank you for joining our challenge at Peace On Earth and Simply Clean & Simple!
Diane POE and SCAS Co-Owner
{Nellies Nest}
{Peace On Earth}

Liz said...

Beautiful Christmas card, Pauline. I love the image. Thank you for joining in the Allsorts Challenge this week.
Liz xx

Sarn said...

Terrific Christmas card and I love the addition of glossy accents. xxx

Heather said...

This is wonderful, Pauline - such a fun image, and your coloring is crisp and bold! Love the blue cloud for the background shading, too! Thanks so much for playing at Sparkles!

Lynda said...

A fabulous card - all those techniques...... and dimension. Thank you for joining us at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge xx Lynda/Loopyloo DT

Ellibelle said...

Such a beautiful Christmas card in traditonal colors! The glossy accents finish it off so nicely!

Mrs.B said...

A lovely Christmas card and I love the image, as you say, perfect for batch making. Like you I'm way behind with my Christmas card making.
Avril xx

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

Love the stamp and your card, A super design.
Faith x

Vickie Y said...

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing with us at Simply Clean & Simple Challenge.

Kathyk said...

Love this card, might have to put that V.I. holly image on my wish list!

Kathyk

Leanne said...

Such a pretty card, love the image, and awesome coloring and so happy you played our challenge at Krafty Chicks, have a great day!

Leanne DT Member/KCC

Billie A said...

Beautiful card. Love the background and the glossy accents . Love it. Thanks for sharing over at Sparkles Christmas

Debbie said...

Ooh what a fabulous card. Loving the stamp you've used. Simply stunning foliage for our challenge at Sparkles Christmas. Good luck. Hugs Debs DT xx