Offset Stenciling

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  It was extremely quiet here but still a very good day.  I've spent a lot of time in my craft room working ahead in my DT assignments and just plain playing.  Today I'm sharing three cards I created with what I'm calling offset stenciling.

This technique is similar to offset stamping but with the use of a stencil.  It's definitely easier to show than to describe.

I started with a background stencil, a panel of kraft colored cardstock and white pigment ink, applying the ink to the panel and allowing it to dry.  I cleaned off the stencil, placed it back over the panel at an offset to the original placement and then applied a layer of dye ink.  I really love the look this gives.  

In order to achieve the same color for my sentiment panel I swiped the white pigment ink onto a piece of the same kraft cardstock.  Once it was dry I then ink blended the dye ink over top, creating a perfect color match to the background.  I die cut the notebook card and heat embossed the sentiment in white.  I added a bit of twine, popped it up on the stenciled panel with foam tape, adhered it all to a white card base and then finished it off with some clear droplets.  

I created two other backgrounds using a darker dye ink but followed the same technique as above.

I switched out the notebook die in lieu of one that resembles a label.  In the first example I added a stacked gold die cut sentiment along with a heat embossed sub-sentiment.  In the card above I heat embossed my sentiment in gold.  I popped up the background panels when adhering them to white card bases and used gold pearls as accents.  

I really love these cards two of which I have already parted with, very reluctantly I might add.  Letting go of my favs is very hard for me.  LOL!

Supplies:

Hero Arts - Leaf and Berry stencil

Paper Trey Ink - really (really) old label and notebook dies 

The Stamp Market - Beyond Grateful stamp and die set

Technique Tuesday - Ali Thanks stamp set (sub-sentiment)

Fun Stampers Journey - gold pearls

Ranger - super fine gold embossing powder

white pigment ink

The Stamp Market - dye inks in Tropical Teal and Navy

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Color Hues Challenge #8

Today's card was inspired by the current color combination over at the Color Hues Challenge Blog.  I haven't been able to play as often as I'd like but the color combination of blue and green was one I just couldn't pass up.

This challenge isn't as easy as it sounds.  Two colors are very limiting but I made it work with these die cut florals.

With the exception of the stamped Hello, this card is made entirely of die cuts.  I began by first splattering a blue panel with white and black acrylic paint to provide some interest to the background.  While it was drying I went about die cutting the florals and the leaves.  I used two shades of green, two shades of blue and white.  I added a bit of embossed interest to a few of the leaves.  I arranged them to my heart's content, added the sentiment strip and finished it off with some clear jewels.  

Supplies:

Altenew - Peony Dreams die set

Altenew - Versatile Vases stamp set

MFT - Fab Foliage

Altenew - Dotted Swirls cover plate

HAI - silver crystals

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Let's Squash It #3

 

I created this card for the current Let's Squash It! challenge.  Challenge #3 is to use a die cut and an embossing folder.  

Looking ahead to the next holiday I created this card with Valentine's Day in mind however it could definitely be used anytime of the year.  

I am in LOVE with this background stamp!  I just wanna stamp all the things with it!

To create the card I first die cut the heart and then ran it through an quilted heart embossing folder.   I stamped a white cardstock panel with black pigment ink to create this amazing background.  The 'love you' was die cut twice, once in black cardstock and then again in white.  I stacked them with just a bit of an offset to create a shadow layer.  I heat embossed the sub-sentiment in white onto a strip of black cardstock and finished the card off with a trio of red clay hearts.  There is just something about the combination of red/black/white that is so striking!  It's been one of my favorite combinations for decades.  

Supplies:

Sunny Studio - Quilted Hearts embossing folder

CZ Design/Simon Says Stamp - Love You die

MFT - All Lined Up Diagonally background stamp

MFT - Pierced Heart die

Altenew - Delicate Bouquet stamp set (sub-sentiment)

clay hearts

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

My 2020 Holiday Cards

One of the only good things about the year 2020 has been the extra crafting time.  I set a goal for myself to begin my holiday cards in August with a finish date of October 31st.  (The start of Tracey's November tag extravaganza is always a great incentive!)  I am very proud to say that I achieved both goals.  Here are the results of my efforts.

I set up a mass production assembly line and chose three colors of cardstock to prevent boredom.  The entire background is heat embossed.  I used a white embossing powder for the Send Cozy/Wishes and a clear embossing powder on the background leaves.  Christmas is embossed in gold on the red cards and silver on the grey and blue cards.  

Because I had 110 of these to make the only way to go about it was to streamline the process.  Don't faint but I did the unthinkable...I cut apart my stamp!  

By snipping it apart I was able to set up three stamping platforms with the individual pieces.  I began by first stamping  and heat embossing the word Christmas in either silver or gold.  The next step was to stamp and heat emboss the words Sending Cozy/Wishes in white.  Finally I stamped the background and embossed in clear.  Once the various stages of the backgrounds were complete I did some ink blending around the edges leaving a highlight in the center of the panel.  I used a stitched rectangle die to cut the panels down slightly and then adhered them to a 110 pound white card base.  Then it was just a matter of some finishing touches. My earliest versions used various sequin embellishments however I soon switched to Nuvo drops for simplicity.

Here's a closer look at each design...

Thankfully I own many different stamping platforms.  I was able to leave these stamps in the three platforms for two months and still have others to use in my everyday crafting.  

So what do you think?  

No die cutting.  

No coloring.  

So much easier.  

And I loved #110 as much as I did #1. 

:-)  

Supplies:

Pink Fresh Studios - Cozy Christmas Wishes stamp set

Distress and Distress Oxide inks

Nuvo drops

A mix of different cardstocks

A mix of different embossing powders

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Inspired By Challenge #154

 

Today's card was inspired by none other than the Inspired By Challenge where the theme is Happy Holly Days.  I really love the colors in her inspiration photo.

My card didn't turn out exactly as what I'd envisioned but I love the fun colors.

After arranging my holly leaves in a circle I think they took the shape of a fir tree than a holly leaf but whatever.  It's all Christmas, right?  

I first traced out a circle onto my white panel as a guide and layered my holly leaves, taking liberties to make some of them red.  I picked them up with Press and Seal kitchen wrap before stamping the JOY.  I then added liquid glue to the back of the wreath and pressed the whole thing back down onto my card front.  I added in some berries in the same pink cardstock as my card base however the addition of the glaze changed the color a bit.  My final touch was to add some sparkling confetti.

Supplies:

PaperTrey Ink - holly leaf dies

MFT - Holly Berries (berry dies)

Simon Say Stamp - Holiday Greetings Mix 1 stamp set

Nuvo Crystal Glaze

Pretty Pink Posh - Sparkling Clear Confetti

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #093

 

It feels good to be back to challenges and creating just for the fun of it!  Today I'm playing along with the gals over at the Tic Tac Toe blog where the board this week is...

I created my card using the diagonal elements of Snowman, Winter Holiday and Gold.  

I cut the fun Snowman from different colors of cardstock (including Gold) as well as a scrap of green patterned paper.  The Be Merry sentiment, heat embossed in white, reflects a Winter Holiday which completes my board.  I used the background scrap leftover from yesterday's card to frame out the gray panel and adhered it all to a white card base.  Three white clay hearts complete the simple design.  

Supplies:

Spellbinders - Snowman die

MFT - All Lined Up Diagonally background stamp

MFT - Snowglobe sentiment stamp set

HAI - clay hearts

And because I've had this snowman die for years and just now opened it, I'm going to share this over at the NBUS blog as well.  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #465

 

My Christmas cards are postal and my DT assignments are done for the year so it's time to play!  The first challenge up is from the team over at Freshly Made Sketches.   When I saw this week's sketch I knew I had to play along.  

I grabbed one of my favorite 25 Days of Christmas tags and turned it into a card.  

I stamped a panel of white cardstock with a crisp black pigment ink and then cut it down for a nice wide border on my black card base.  I adhered the tag and added a few red pearls.  I'm not sure it totally fits with their rules since I've shared the tag previously but I'll let them decide.  I love it and think I'll turn a few more of my 2020 tags into cards.  

Supplies:

Lil Inkers - Santa die

Ellen Hutson - Tis the Season stamp set

PaperTrey Ink - holly die

MFT - All Lined Up Diagonally background stamp

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #175

The holidays this year will certainly be different for most of us.  With my son and his family now in North Carolina it's sure to be very quiet around our house.  *insert sad grandma face here*  But Edna's here to add a bit of holiday sass to our final challenge of the year.  The theme this fortnight over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is Lewd Christmas. 

The official definition of lewd refers to something sexually crude or offensive.  I toned that down a bit in order to leave a little something to the imagination.  *wink*

My focal point is a really old Julie Nutting stamp from Prima, circa 2013.  These stamps are really long (perfect for a slimline card) however I didn't need the entire image.  I stamped her out onto white cardstock and colored her with alcohol markers.  I added the stripes to her legs to mimic a cute set of Christmas stockings.  I fussy cut a mask so that I could add a bit of subtle ink blending around the image.  I stamped the sentiment, added in the black clay hearts and then finished off her attire with some Glossy Accents on her sash/shoes and white glitter Stickles to her ruffle.  I'm sure Santa would be very happy to have her sit on his lap this year.  :-)

Check out the blog to see what my fellow Sistahs have created.  There's sure to be something there to give you a chuckle.  I hope you come play along but if not, we'll see you on the blog next year.  

Supplies:

Prima Julie Nutting - girl stamp

Hero Arts - Snarky Christmas stamp set

HAI - black clay hearts

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

My Blue Phase ...

 

I mentioned an earlier post that I created some extra backgrounds while making Tuesday's card.  Blue has never been a particular favorite of mine but there's just something about this blended color combination that has me smitten right now.

This first card was created for my nephew's 23rd birthday.  It's really hard to design masculine cards, especially for this age group.  Like his aunt, he does love a good cocktail so that's the direction I took with his card.  I included a bit of (hidden) snark for good measure.  

To create this one I die cut the cocktails twice, once with white cardstock and again in a silver metallic cardstock.  I cut down the silver die cuts so that they appear as the liquid refreshment inside the glass.  The sentiment was done with Versamark ink and white embossing powder.  I just love the way it pops off the blue background.

The blue/kraft combination of Tuesday's challenge card which is what inspired my second creation.  

I added some silver spray splatters to the blue which add a very subtle shine to the background.  I adhered the kraft garland sprig to the top center and a die cut sentiment down below. The addition of some iridescent bubbles added a bit of interest to this otherwise rustic card.    

I really love both of these cards and think I've got the blue out of my system for awhile.  :-)  Thanks for humoring me.  

Supplies:

Distress Oxide blended backgrounds

Paper Smooches - Drink Glasses die set

MFT - Spirited Sentiments stamp set

Satin Silver cardstock

Penny Black - Winter Garland die

Clearly Besotted - Merry Christmas die

Studio Katia - Iridescent Bubbles

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

CAS Colours and Sketches #400

Happy Tuesday everyone!  It's time for our last CAS Colours and Sketches challenge of 2020.  I've had a wonderful time on the blog this year however I am not in the least bit sorry to see this year come to an end, that's for sure.  

In addition to a fun holiday challenge twist we have two announcements.  Wanna hint?  Let's just say it involves a fabulous prize and new Design Team members.  Check out the blog for details!

Challenge #400 is to take any sketch, color trio or double challenge from 2020 and create a seasonal card.  (You may also combine any sketch and color trio for your own personal double challenge.)  I very immodestly chose one of my color trios because I loved it so much.  *blush*

My Choice ---

I also rather immodestly piggybacked off of a card that Wei created that week.  I loved it so much and wanted to create something similar.  

I used Distress Oxides and a rectangle stencil to blend out my background.  I cut it down using a stitched border die, leaving plenty of white margin and enough room for my navy card base to show.  I added the deer and some white cardstock snowflakes.  All it needed was a simple sentiment. 

I whipped up several of these lovely blue backgrounds and created two additional cards that I will share later this week. 

Supplies:

MFT Delightful Deer die

MFT - Santa Elves stamp set (sentiment)

PoppyStamps - Snowflake Oval Collage die

Taylored Expression - Rectangle 6x6 mask

Distress Oxides

Be sure to stop by the blog to say hello to our new teammates as well as see how you can enter to win a fabulous prize from Uniko.  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

    

Hanukkah Cards

Be forewarned...long winded and occasionally whiny post ahead.  

I was recently commissioned by a girlfriend to create Hanukkah cards for her teenage niece and nephew.  I instantly agreed and then realized that I have absolutely nothing for the Jewish faith in my enormous stash.  So I'm thinking... "No worries...I'll pick something up in the Silhouette Studio."  Yeah, that didn't work.  I have two computers and after downloading all of the software, my library and designing the cut files, neither computer would recognize my machine.   &*$^%#@.   And their website doesn't have updated drivers for my older model so I may be totally SOL but I'm pushing that aside to another day. 

In the meantime I put on my big girl panties and moved on to my next brilliant idea.  Google for digital images!  Well that proved to be another waste of time so I really had to think outside the box.

Because they live up north (we're in FL) I knew I could use a snowman so I decided to design it in Hanukkah colors and bling it up a bit for a teen girl.  After a bit of evolution (and spillage of a bottle of white acrylic paint onto my desk  AND  my black Lululemon leggings   ***huge gasp and a few more choice cuss words***   this is what I came up with in the end.

I had to go with a computer generated sentiment but I think it turned out darling.  The actually making of this card took very little time but combined with the outdated technology and a comedy of errors, it was basically a day long project. *sigh*  

On to my next card --

In my opinion a cool truck is always an option so I designed her nephew's card around one of my all time favorite dies.

I created this one in Hanukkah colors as well and loaded up the back end with gifts.  I gave the background a bit of oomph with some ink blending along the edges and printed the sentiment on some vellum which I added to the tailgate.  It was really, really difficult not to add in some pretty embellishments so I basically had to hide this card from myself.

And because I'm a glutton for punishment I made her a bonus card.  This one has a more traditional elegant look and feel to it.

I used an embossing folder and silver cardstock to create the background texture.  The eight gifts (kinda proud of myself for that one.  LOL!) were created with a die.  The beautiful paper used in all three of my cards is from a Tonic Studio 6x6 paper pack.  I die cut the Happy, added to to another computer generated sentiment strip and used some glitter drops as accents.  

In the end I was extremely pleased with all three cards and hope she loves them as well.  I am definitely planning to buy a Hanukkah stamp set before next year.  I have my eye on this one from HoneyBee Stamps but would appreciate any recommendations you might have. Oh and in case you're wondering...saving my Lulus took precedence over my project and craft desk and I'm relieved to say that I was able to the get paint out.  :-)   

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - Snowman Picture Book die

Simon Says Stamp - Brilliant Gifts die

MFT Stamps - Gift Card Shaker Set die

Spellbinders - Truck die

Fun Stampers Journey - Cozy Knit embossing folder

Tonic Studios - December Skies 6x6 paper pack

Pretty Pink Posh - Starry Night Sequin Mix

MFT Stamps - Happy Birthday Block die

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

25 Days of Christmas Tags - Final Post (5 of 5)

I've finally reached the end of my Christmas tag.  Be sure to scroll back through my feed if you missed Posts 1-4.  Today I'm sharing the tags I created for Days 21- 26 of the challenge.  (Yes, the challenge is called 25 days of tags however she has been doing a bonus 26th day for several years now.)  

 

To simply my life, you can find the details on Tracey's blog.  In a nutshell though, each day showcases a different manufacturer.  We, the participants, create a tag or tags inspired by her one of her Design Team examples.  

For more details on the folks who inspired me as well as the products I've chosen and, please check me out on IG @juliepeddicord

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

As always, I had a lot of fun creating these.  It was a bit less "stressful" this year because I managed to have my personal handmade holiday cards (all 115 of them!) finished on Oct. 31st.  Of course it's already December and I haven't gotten them mailed out but I'm working on it.  I'll be sure to share once they're all postal.

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

CAS Colours and Sketches #399

 

Wow!  It's December already.  It's odd how during what often seems like the slowest year on record, the months themselves seem to pass quickly.  It's Tuesday once again and we have a new color trio compliments of Patricia over at the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge blog.  

For our color challenges, you must use all of the stated challenge colors. You may also use neutral colors; however, the challenge colors should be the most noticeable ones featured on your card. We use Stampin' Up color names for reference, but you are welcome to use any other companies' products as long as you match the challenge colors as closely as possible.

I took the metallic silver as the incentive I needed to pull out my Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine.  I've had it for months now (maybe even a year???) but I've only played with it once.  I won't lie.  It took me four tries to get this one right but I do love it.  

Once the foiling was complete this was a very easy card to create. I die cut the panel and adhered it to a mint colored card base leaving just a bit of the mint peeking out along the sides.  I die cut the sentiment out twice, the words in blush and the ampersand in mint.  I stacked them for just the tiniest bit of dimension and adhered the three pieces to the center of the wreath.  As a final touch I added in some mint and clear droplets over top of the silver berries of the foiled wreath.  

Supplies:

Spellbinders - Holly Wreath glimmer plate

Ellen Hutson - Merry & Bright die set

Studio Katia - mint/clear droplets

I hope I've inspired you to pull out, dust off, and used your coveted but underutilized tools.  In the meantime check out our blog and come join in the fun!

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules