Magical Christmas

 Hi Artzy friends -

Some time ago I was playing with the Dare 2B Artzy Night Sky Hot Foil Plate after learning that you can hot foil onto heat resistant acetate. I just loved the result and was waiting for just the right opportunity to use it on a card. It doesn't look like much here...

The card I created uses one simple Christmas Tree image from the Christmas Magic stamps and die sets. 

The Wishing you a magical Christmas sentiment is from the Rockin' Holiday stamp set and I think it's a perfect sentiment for this card!

I created a a frame from silver mirror cardstock using the Rectangle Framelits dies and glued it over my acetate. I popped up the frame and acetate onto my card base, giving the illusion of a shaker card. No shaker bits were necessary though because the silver foiled stars give all the sparkle needed! For one more touch of silver shine I heat embossed my sentiment using silver embossing powder. 

I wish you could see this simple shiny card in person!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Hot Foiling vs Heat Embossing

 Hi Artzy friends -

Today I am sharing two similar cards, one using hot foiling and one using heat embossing.

I created my two cards using the Dare 2B Artzy Center Step dies and patterned papers from the Home for the Holidays collection 

The tree image on the first card is created with the Joy Christmas Tree hot foil plate, and gold foil. 

I used my Spellbinders Glimmer machine and got a perfectly foiled image. The gold foiling is so shiny and pretty!

The tree image on my second card was created with the Joy Christmas Tree stamp set. I stamped the image using Versamark embossing ink and heat embossed it with fine gold embossing powder from GinaK Designs.  The images on both cards were cut with the Joy Christmas Tree die.

The heat embossed image is also pretty, although not quite as reflective as the foiled image. The gold is a warmer tone and there is some texture to the image.

I like the way this image turned out as well; heat embossing will never cease to be magical to me. And it's a great option for those who don't have a hot foil machine or the hot foil plate for an image. 

Both techniques can be done in many colors as well, with different colors of foil and different colors of embossing powder available. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Two for One Backgrounds

 Hi Artzy friends -

Today I have some festive cards created with a two for one stenciled background technique, and hot foiling.

I created my backgrounds by die cutting  white cardstock with the Botanical Background die. I then used the die cut as a stencil by ink blending over another piece of white cardstock with 3 shades of Distress inks, creating an ombre look. This resulted in the die cut (or "stencil") being ink blended, as well as the solid white cardstock panel.  I did this 3 times, in shades of blue, green, and pink.

Picket Fence Paper Pouncers are perfect for this technique, as it's very easy to bend or tear the die cut if you aren't very gentle while inking over it. 

For today's cards I decided to used the green and blue backgrounds. (I used the pink backgrounds for two other cards which I will share soon.)

The other star of these cards is the Dare 2B Artzy Joy Christmas Tree Hot Foil Plate. I hot foiled several of the trees using my Spellbinders Glimmer Machine and different colors of hot foils (Here I used gold, silver, and rainbow foils). I also used the Dare 2B Artzy Solid Hot Foil Plate  to use the negative foil pieces to get a more solid look for the silver and gold trees. I cut my trees out using the die from the Joy Christmas Tree die set. This die set also cuts out the stamps in the Joy Christmas Tree stamp set. 

The cards were then simple to assemble. I adhered my die cut backgrounds to my white card bases. I cut green and blue mats for my stenciled panels to set them off from my card bases. 

These were fun and fairly easy to create! They pack a lot of shine, (so much shine that they're difficult to photograph!) and the sentiment is already included in the image! 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Floating By

 Hi Artzy friends -

For me, January means the end of the holiday card making season, and time to start making birthday cards for the year. 

I hope this card puts a smile on the recipient's face, especially if they have a winter birthday!

This full front, or edge to edge shaker card is easy to create with any clear packaging you may have laying around. I made a pocket with a card panel that was foiled with the Make Waves Hot Foil Plate and a piece of clear plastic packaging, and filled the pocket with sequins and shaker bits before sealing up the pocket.

I then colored and die cut my jellyfish and other sea creatures from the Jellyfish stamps and dies sets. I added them to the front of my card, along with my sentiment from the Seahorses stamp set, which I stamped on a banner die from the Wavy Slimline Framelits dies.

I just love all the sparkle and shine and "fun factor" of this card!

Join us in the Dare 2B Artzy blog challenge this month with a Winter Fun card for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to the store!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra