A Christmas Card for Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #460

 Hello everyone!! It has been an echo chamber here lately. I have not had a ton of energy to create these days. Between stressing about work, the election and the increase in Covid in the schools, my mojo has flown out the window. Does anyone else have a hard time creating when they are stressed?

It also doesn't help that my crown is disintegrating on a tooth and I have been experiencing terrible tooth pain. I am having a temporary crown put on the tooth on Tuesday and I cannot wait!! I never thought I would be excited to go to the dentist!!!

This morning I had a great walk and some snuggles with my neighbor's dog so I sat down to my desk to see if I could get some of my creative juices flowing. I watched a video Jennifer McGuire posted on using embossing folders so I tried the technique in my own way.

I used a Richard Garay embossing folder with some Ranger Pine Needle and Evergreen Bough Distress ink for the banner. I then used the same colors with an Altenew Watercolor Stripes stencil on a piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock that I had cut down to an A2, top folding card. 

The Altenew Brilliant Baubles were stamped with Ranger Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, and Abandoned Coral Oxide Ink. 

I used Versmark Ink and Ranger Gold Embossing Powder to heat emboss the gold accents on the ornaments. I then used some Scrapbook.com Double Sided Roll Adhesive to pop up the ornaments on the embossed banner.  I had been using the big rolls of 3M tape but they have made it so sticky that it tears my paper if I don't get it just right the first time. 

I die cut the CAS-ual Fridays "Merry" from some Tonic Gold Mirrored Gloss cardstock. This was a leftover on my desk and I knew I had to use it on this card!! 

The embossed sentiment is from MFT's Snow Globe Sentiments (retired)-one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES for Christmas sentiment stamp sets. I added a tiny bit of Gold Stickles for some sparkle on areas of the ornaments. 

This card was inspired by this week's Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #460. I am so glad that I was able to play this week!

I used the die cut and the sentiment strip in lieu of the sentiment strip that spanned the top of the sketch. 

Well, that is all from me tonight. I want to thank you for taking the time to stop by. Have a FABULOUS evening!!

CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge #228 and A Little Experimentation

Happy Friday!! I hope everyone is relaxing and is anticipating their holiday weekend. This post is a little photo heavy, so I apologize in advance!!

Busy day at our household. Had a new front window put in. Thank goodness I had the forethought of bringing Zack to the groomers or he would have freaked out with the men in our house!!!

The window looks fabulous but it forces us to re-paint our living room. Since we have not painted it for eight years, I am not crying about that. Chris on the other hand is not happy as he is the painter in the household!!

At the same time the window was being put in, Chris ripped apart the bathroom to repaint it. It is not going to be easy because it is presently red. That is a tough color to paint over.

Our kitchen is filled with boxes of stuff, as well as the pulled apart cupboard that housed our towels and medicine cabinet. We are having company tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how we can clean all this mess up before they come!!

Amongst all this chaos, I had a chance to play with some supplies that I have had sitting waiting for me to use. It was in stages because things had to dry but it was the most fun I have had in a long time.

On my first card I played with Ranger Oxide Inks in Cracked Pistachio, Wilted Violet, Broken China, and Faded Jeans. I have NOT been very successful with these inks in the past but I had fun doing layers and layers with the "smoosh" technique. I used both a piece of watercolor paper and then tried it on a piece of card stock. Both were successful but I think that the watercolor paper took the ink better.

On the white card stock piece, I used the Hero Arts “Peacock Feather” Stencil with some Nuvo “Mother of Pearl” Embellishment Mousse over the inked background. I LOVE this Nuvo Mousse!!! It didn't warp the paper and gave the front a really fun, shiny look!!

When the front was dry, I die cut it with the "Stitched Slopes and Hills" from Simon Says Stamp so I could play along with the CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge #228.

After I cut the panels, I adhered it to the smooshed watercolor paper. I adhered the Hero Arts “Prayers” die cut and a stamped sentiment below from the matching stamp set.

I then covered the "prayers" with sparkle pen and used Glossy Accents over that. The last step was to adhere the sequins.

This was way out of the box for me and I am not totally sold on how it looks. However, it was a lot of fun to play with.

That is all from me today. Have a fabulous night!!

Supplies:

Stamps-Hero Arts “Prayers”

Paper-Neenah Solar White

Dies-Hero Arts “Prayers” and "Stitched Slopes and Hills" from Simon Says Stamp

Stencils-Hero Arts “Peacock Feather” Stencil

Ink-Ranger “Cracked Pistachio” Distress Oxide Ink, Ranger “Wilted Violet” Distress Oxide Ink, Ranger “Broken China” Distress Oxide Ink, Ranger “Faded Jeans” Distress Oxide Ink,

Other-Tonic Studios Nuvo “Mother of Pearl” Embellishment Mousse, Ranger Ink Palette Knife, Little Things from Lucy’s Cards “Caribbean Dream Sequin Mix,” Sizzix Big Shot Machine, Wagner Heat Tool, Ranger Ink Multi-Matte, Scotch ATG ¼” Adhesive Gun, Tombow Adhesive Foam Squares, Glossy Accents,