Winter Solstice Card for Holiday Blog Hop

Christmas may get most of the attention but there are many more December celebrations around the world and it is these which are the theme of our international Holiday Blog Hop, which has been set up to promote #stampingdiversity.

One of the oldest celebrations in the world is Winter Solstice, which has been around since long before Christianity. In fact, many Pagan traditions surrounding the Winter Solstice – cutting mistletoe, gift giving, decorating trees – were absorbed into Christmas celebrations and continue to this day.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice is on 21st December; the shortest day and the longest night. I always welcome its arrival as it marks the turning point of the year and means the days will once again start to lengthen. 

To celebrate, I made this card using a variety of products and – surprise, surprise – a whole lotta sponging. Actually, I used a brand new Stampin’ Up!® product from the upcoming January-June Mini Catalogue. It’s a set of three Blending Brushes which are just amazing for getting all the look of sponging with a lot less risk of smearing. For ease, I’m going to use the term ‘sponging’, even though I used the brushes.

To get the huge setting sun (or is it a rising moon?), I die-cut a large circle from a piece of scrap paper to leave the aperture template, then laid a separate curved hill on top. I gently sponged inside here using Daffodil Delight.

Next I used the circle of scrap paper to act as a mask on top of the yellow sun, so I could sponge around in Seaside Spray and Night of Navy to represent the sky.

On top of this I stamped the row of trees from Winter Woods. Something was missing, though – you can’t have a huge sun/moon casting light over trees without some shadows. So I hand-cut a long, narrow triangle from another piece of scrap paper and used this as a mask to sponge with some more Seaside Spray. I didn't worry about creating shadows of the foliage as I knew my words would be covering this area.

I inked up part of the Season’s Greetings stamp from Peaceful Boughs with a Night of Navy marker and used this to stamp towards the bottom. 

Next I used the Playful Alphabet Dies to cut out the word ‘solstice’ from some In Color Designer Series Paper in Seaside Spray (oops! This is the old design!) – first backing it with a foam adhesive sheet to give it dimension and make it easy to stick down. Spacing was something of an issue, as you can see, and there was only just enough room on my piece of cardstock. This wouldn’t be an issue in North America, as their card bases are slightly wider.

I finished off with some Seaside Spray Scalloped Linen Ribbon and some cut-out leaves using Beautiful Autumn, one of my favourite sets from the Aug-Dec Mini Catalogue. 

Inside I echoed the DSP and leaves from the front and added a greeting from Peaceful Boughs, which seemed perfect for the occasion.

I hope you like my Winter Solstice card and it has inspired you to create a project for different holidays. Please now visit the rest of the blogs in the hop to see some amazing projects from talented Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrators around the world.

If you would like to order any of the products shown here, please visit my online store and shop using the December host code SX4NGWRH.

 

Nature's Beauty: masculine/feminine

Oops, looks like Friday’s project didn’t post! Anyway, better late than never and yes, I know I've shared a card with this very same design before but I just can't get enough of it and wanted to show you how it can look in different colourways.

Here I made a masculine version using Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper as the background, and a feminine version using polka dot pink paper from Bird Ballad. In both cases, I sponged around the edges and bottom of the DSP to give it some depth.

Even Sahara Sand was a little too dark for this project, so I stamped off onto scrap paper first. Using the Stamparatus meant I could line the stamp up perfectly to repeat the image and create a subtle background for my woodland creatures.

Nature's Beauty deer in the silver birches

Third Monday of the month is Make-It Monday with the local WI ladies. They have very particular requirements and are not afraid to tell me about them! I know they enjoy masculine cards so this is one of today's projects. I hope they like it!

For this sample, I stamped the deer onto Crumb Cake cardstock before colouring with watercolour pencils and Blender Pens. It gives the image much more depth and allows it to stand out from the background.

Nature's Beauty with Feels Like Frost DSP

Woodland theme again! You can't escape it on this blog because it's my favourite theme. And how gorgeous is the Feels Like Frost Designer Series Paper with this lovely Nature's Beauty stamp set?

The animals are coloured with Stampin' Blends but I was concerned the colours weren't quite right so I gave the rabbit and deer a swipe with some Seaside Spray ink on a sponge to tie them in with a hint of blue.

The silver birches are stamped in Seaside Spray, too, but stamped off so they don't overwhelm. I used the Stamparatus for perfect positioning - just move the plate along one slot each time.

The copper leaf accent brings out the colour of the fox (coloured in Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends). I made sure to position them on opposite sides of the card to balance it out. 
 

Free As a Bird Christmas swap

Too early for Christmas crafting? I couldn't avoid this as I had agreed to take part in a swap, which turned out to have a festive theme.

I decided to have a go at turning this little bird from Free As a Bird into a Christmas robin. The beak is not right but I hope I’ve coloured the feathers properly. I stood him on some pine sprigs and cones from Winter Woods and hoped for the best. I have to say I'm not really feeling the Christmas vibe just yet!

The task of die-cutting all those circles for my swaps was reduced by sneakily cutting the Cherry Cobbler circles in half and simply tucking them behind the Whisper White layer. You can save time and supplies by following this mantra: “If you can’t see it, it’s not there!”

 

Dog on a log... mog on a log

With all the promotion of Simple Stamping projects, I somehow failed miserably and went completely the other way with this one! It uses not one but FIVE different stamp sets! I can only plead guilty and say I was trying to get some use out of stamp sets before the excitement of the new catalogue kicks in.

It’s a simple masked project, using a mask across the tree stump (Foxy Friends) to enable the tree trunks (Winter Woods) to be stamped and the ground to be created using Waterfront.

The cat and dog are stamped on separate cardstock and punched out. And as for the words, they are created using the Labeler Alphabet stamp set... but I didn’t ask the ladies at my Cats & Dogs class to replicate this, they could simply choose their own greeting.

Winter Woods sparkling bauble

Here’s another project created at Friday’s Hygge Night. This is a sparkly black and white bauble stamped with Winter Woods. Actually, you stamp onto tissue paper first and then apply it ... full details will be in a tutorial posting on Facebook later this evening.

Meanwhile, you can see all three projects in this video. Enjoy!

Keeping it simple with Winter Woods

At first glance, is this really #simplestamping? I think it is... as it uses one stamp set, one punch and three ink pads (Old Olive, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake), although you could get away with stamping off with the Soft Suede to created the pine cone background.

You get lots of different shades of green (in this case, Old Olive) by stamping the image repeatedly without reinking. That’s how I built up the forest of pine trees.

The punched image is given a background layer simply by offsetting a piece of Real Red cardstock behind it. I fussy cut the pine cones - no dies used here... I’m #simplestamping, remember!

Winter Woods log slice ornament

I can’t stop using the Winter Woods stamp set but was trying to find something completely different for the Crafty Friday ladies this month.

Eventually I returned to that old favourite, the log slice ornament, which proved so popular last year.  We stamped our pine trees, and stamped off for a paler image, in Mossy Meadow, directly onto the slices of wood (eBay, since you ask).

It’s decorated with a Merry Merlot greeting, on a strip of copper foil, and embellished with some stamped pine cones and sprigs, along with die-cut snowflakes and some copper rhinestones.

Yes, I said copper rhinestones.

“But...”

Yes I know we don’t sell copper rhinestones. But you can make them REALLY easily simply by colouring in our normal rhinestones with a Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blend. Magic, eh?

Oh and finally... much, much later for some of the ladies, we added some embossing paste to create snowy branches. This has to be done later as if the ink isn’t fully dry, it is absorbed into the paste, creating a muddy mess of yellow snow. And there ain’t nobody who likes yellow snow.  An alternative is to seal the ink before applying the paste. That worked, too.

Moody blue Christmas

Want to make a lovely night-time snowy background like this one? It's easy - and you don't need any special equipment; just ink, sponges and water.

All I did was sponge the two colours – Pacific Point and Pool Party – onto Whisper White cardstock, then splash it lightly with water. The water absorbs the ink, leaving the snowy effect. You can dab any excess water off with a piece of tissue if necessary.

I used the Stamparatus to stamp Winter Woods on top in black ink, mainly so I could stamp again and again to get a really dark black image.  I punched a hole out and stamped the greeting on the card blank behind, finishing off with some black baker's twine and a bit of festive bling. Hope you like it!

Dashing Deer and Winter Woods... a match made in heaven

I can’t get enough of Dashing Deer and Winter Woods... as I’m sure you’ve noticed. They are a match made in heaven and perfect for really simple projects like the one above, as well as more complicated technique cards like this Winter Woods card using a Stamparatus technique or this vibrant brayered deer card.

I needed lots of these cards to thank my lovely customers, so brought out the Stamparatus for speed stamping. Once those stamps are in position, you can stamp really quickly and accurately. The only image I stamped by hand was the one to represent the ground. As I needed this to be stamped repeatedly and largely at random, it was easier to use a clear block.

The Designer Series Paper you see here is no longer available I’m afraid – I forgot to post this project in September, sorry – but you will find a great range of equally beautiful and suitable designs in my online store and in both the Annual Catalogue and the Autumn/Winter catalogue.

Keeping it simple for Christmas

I have a Stampin’ Up!® party tonight for a lady who prefers her projects to be quick and easy. This is the perfect time of year for quick and easy cards, especially if you’re planning to make all your own Christmass cards. So my challenge has been to produce a Make & Take which could be used as a really simple Christmas card design, perfect for making in bulk.

No spoilers, though... this isn’t it. This is one of the ones that got away. I decided I could possibly scale things back even further. Come back next week to see the finished design...

Dashing Deer - simple or stepped up?

Which do you prefer? The vibrancy of the brayered card above? Or the simpler version below?

The card above was one of our projects at last week’s Crafty Friday. The ladies loved the brayering technique and had fun creating their own colour combinations. The one above is Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry.

Winter Woods layered ink project

This is a lovely Stamparatus technique which I found thanks to Patty Bennett's great video tutorial. I didn’t have all the green markers I needed so incorporated some ink sponging, too.

I used one of my favourite stamp sets of the moment, Winter Woods, which is in the Autumn/Winter catalogue and is just perfect for loads of occasions, not just Christmas. It goes brilliantly with the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper, too... all of my favourite things in one project!

Winter Woods Christmas card

I LOVE the new Winter Woods stamp set, and have always loved the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper so, for me, this is a match made in heaven.

This was the second project at my Crafty Friday event last week, using the circle we cut from the shaker card I showed you on Monday.

I can't get enough of tree stamps, woodland themes etc - I'm happiest when I'm in a wood. When I found out about shinrin yoku, it all began to make sense!

A whole lotta shakin'...

I loved this card by Leslie Webster and just had to make a Stampin' Up!® version using the new Autumn/Winter catalogue projects. 

This was one of our projects at Crafty Friday last week, and the ladies loved making a fun shaker card. 

The background is stamped with Winter Woods in Crumb Cake onto Crumb Cake cardstock, then coloured using the chalk marker.  The rest is self-explanatory. I'm afraid the sequins aren't current items but we do sell very similar sequins in the Annual Catalogue; I just didn’t see the point of updating them when I have so many in stock!

What I love about these dies is a) the stag pops out of the die beautifully, with no effort at all and b) you get four of these little flower dies so you can make them all in one roll of the Big Shot!

Sneak peek: Winter Woods

Who’s ready to start on their Christmas cards? The Autumn/Winter catalogue will soon be open for business, but as demonstrators, we get to order early so we can prepare some lovely samples to show you.

This gorgeous Winter Woods stamp set works great on its own but even better when combined with the Rooted in Nature set, which has smaller trees. And the dies are fabulous, too - look how gorgeous they look with the branches popped out.