Snowy Scene Card

Now that Christmas is over, it's time to send thank you cards for the lovely gifts that we received. I always like to let the person know how much the gift meant to us by sending a handmade card rather than a commercially printed thank you card. Recently I stumbled across Kittie Caracciolo's cards and was amazed by the scenes that she constructed using die cuts and stamps. She listed all of the materials used for each card. Not wanting to buy a several single dies to make a card when I had an entire bookshelf devoted to Cricut cartridges, I decided to see if I could construct a scene using the cartridges that I already owned.

I decided to create a snowy scene using deer.  I used the deer and the pine trees from the Give a Hoot cartridge, cut snowflakes with the Sizzlets snowflake dies and hand cut the snow. I chose a teal rather than the traditional green for the trees, used the Fiskars crimping tool to crimp them (I borrowed this technique from Ms. Caracciolo) and then painted the tree branches with modeling paste to resemble snow. I printed the thank you verse inside the card but left the front intentionally blank so a greeting wouldn't detract from the scene.

Snowy scene card.

Directions for Snowy Scene Card:

Silver ribbon
Small teal crystal for the bow
White, brown and teal card stock
Sizzix Sizzlet snowflakes or any other die cut snowflake
Cricut Give a Hoot cartridge
Ranger Diamond Stickles glitter glue
Golden Molding Paste
Small paint brush- preferably an old one or a inexpensive craft paint brush
Small self adhesive pearls
Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink- Iced Spruce
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
Fiskars Paper Crimper
White Gel pen and black Sharpie marker
Hot Glue gun


1.  Print the verse inside a half fold card using a greeting card program.

2.  Using the Cricut Give a Hoot cartridge, cut the pine trees out of teal card stock at 2 /34, 2 and 1 1/2 inches.  Remove the trees from the cutting mat and individually crimp each tree with the Fiskars crimping tool.  Cut 2 deer out of brown card stock ( 1 1/2 and 2 inches). Color the deer's hooves with the black marker and make white spots on the deer's rump with the white gel pen. Color the deer's tail with the gel pen.

3.  Dip the paint brush in the molding paste and randomly color the tree branches to give the effect of snow.  Set the trees aside to dry overnight.

4.  Apply Ranger Iced Spruce distress ink randomly over the front of the card.

5.  Cut 4 snowflakes from white card stock, using the Sizzix snowflake dies.  Apply molding to the entire snowflake and set aside to dry.

6.  Put a piece of white card stock in the Swiss Dots embossing folder and emboss.  Randomly cut snow from the embossed card stock.

7.  Apply the Diamond Stickles to the center and ends of the snowflakes, the tree branches (over the snow) and along the snowy ground that you just cut. Set aside to dry.

8.  Once the glitter glue is completely dry, assemble the scene.  Use a hot glue gun to glue the scene in place.  Apply the small pearls to the ends of the tree branches, and larger pearls to the center of the snowflakes.

9.  Cut a piece of silver ribbon the length of the card plus 1/2 inch and glue the ribbon to the left edge of the card, tucking the ends of the ribbon under the edges of the card and gluing in place. Tie a small bow from the silver ribbon, center on the ribbon border and glue in place.  Attach a small teal crystal to the center of the bow.

Making Embellishments With UTEE

Lately I have started to experiment with some of mixed-media products found in the craft stores. I try to set aside some time every two weeks to search for new products. Ranger Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel or UTEE was one of my finds. I purchased the Ranger Melting Pot at Hobby Lobby but couldn't find the UTEE. Michaels carries both the melting pot and UTEE but it was out of stock. Since I really wanted to do a melt art project I decided to make a trip to Photo Scraps. Photo Scraps is located in Eldersburg, Maryland and the owner Tracy stocks a variety of scrap booking and mixed-media supplies. I walked in and turned the corner and found the UTEE, not just the clear embossing powder but other colors (platinum, black and white) as well.

Photo Scraps is an independent store that stocks rubber stamps, Ranger and Tim Holtz products, scrap book supplies including Graphic 45 papers, Memory Box and various mixed-media supplies. One of the things that I really like about Photo Scraps is that Tracy and her staff are happy to special order products- try getting one of the large craft stores to do that. Don't live within driving distance or have time to take a class? No problem, Tracy will ship the supplies to you. Many of the classes offered are available as kits. Check out Photo Scraps at 1213 Liberty Road, Eldersburg, MD 21784 (Phone: 410-549-5187) but go on a day when you have time to browse.

This project uses a variety of techniques: rubber stamping, distress inks, Cricut die cuts and UTEE.

I started by stamping Lapin Jardinier (available from Stamp Francisco) on white card stock with Archival Coffee Bean ink. Next I colored the image with Derwent Color Soft pencils. Using the Cricut Ornamental Iron cartridge cut the gate of your choice at 3 inches. Cut out the Lapin Jardinier image and run it through the Xyron Create a Sticker machine and remove the paper backing. Attach the Lapin to the gate. Heat UTEE in the Ranger Melting Pot on the UTEE setting until the powder is melted. Do not stir the powder while melting or it will cause air bubbles to form. Using teflon coated craft tweezers pick up the gate and dip in the melted UTEE. Continue to move the image around until the entire piece is coated. Be careful not to touch the image while it is hot to avoid being burned. Place the coated image on a non stick craft mat and let it cool completely. The UTEE will harden as it cools. Any imperfections in the piece can be corrected by remelting the UTEE at the site of the imperfection. To do this use a heat tool on the lowest setting until the UTEE melts.

Once the piece has cooled and hardened, cut a backing of light blue card stock and glue it behind the fence.

To make the background paper use Ranger Concord Grape, Evergreen Bough, Peacock and Vintage Photo distress inks. Apply each color randomly around the paper using the foam blending pad (one for each color) and the Ranger blending tool. Use the Tim Holtz distress tool to distress the edges of the card stock and apply Vintage Photo distress ink to the edges with the blending tool. Use foam dots to adhere the gate to to card stock.

Mona Lisa Plaque

Lately I have been experimenting with Ranger's Distress Inks. I decided to use distress ink to make my own paper. I gathered up my ink pads, a stencil, white card stock, some foam blending pads and spray bottle filled with water. After applying two different colors of ink with the blending pads, I laid a stencil over the paper and applied vintage photo distress ink. Then I misted the paper with water and let the droplets dry on the paper to create a mottled effect. Now the paper is ready for use in a project.

I had a picture of the Mona Lisa and Graphic 45 Couture Collection tags laying on my drafting table. The colors in the Mona Lisa painting worked well with the distressed paper. I found a small wood panel to use as the base for the project and grabbed my trusty Mod Podge and a foam brush.

Distressed card stock.

Mona Lisa picture and distressed card stock decoupaged to wooden panel.

Finished plaque.

Directions for Mona Lisa Plaque:

Mod Podge
White card stock
Ranger Distress Inks- Broken China, Vintage Photo, and Peeled Paint
Ranger Foam Blending Pads and Blending Tool
Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil
Graphic 45 Couture Collection Tags- A girl should be two things: Classy and fabulous.
Buttons
Self Adhesive Pearls- medium and small
Small violet silk flower
 Black gesso
Art Minds medium laser shape ( 5x7)- available at Michaels
Small picture hanger

1.  Print a 3x5 image of the Mona Lisa with a laser printer. Image of Mona Lisa courtesy Leonardo Da Vinci- The Complete Works. Plain white paper works better than card stock.

2.  Trim the white paper away from the edges of the picture.

3.  Coat the wooden panel with black gesso and let it dry.

4.  Fold an 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch piece of white card stock in half. Cut the paper on the folded line. Randomly apply Broken China distress ink to the card stock with the ink blending tool. Leave areas of the card stock white. Next using a clean foam pad, apply the Peeled Paint distress ink in the white areas of the card stock. Overlap some of the blue areas and blend in a circular motion. Using a clean foam pad, apply some Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of the card stock.

5.  Lay the Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil over the distressed card stock. Apply Vintage Photo distress ink over the stencil until the diamond shapes appear. Go over the stencil a second time with the distress ink for a darker diamond image. Remove the stencil and lightly mist the card stock with water. Let the water droplets dry on the paper for a mottled effect.

6.  After the card stock is completely dry, cut it to fit the wood panel. Apply Mod Podge to the panel and glue the card stock to the panel.  Coat the back of the Mona Lisa with Mod Podge and center the image on the panel.  Apply Mod Podge to the wood panel to seal it. When the Mod Podge is dry apply two more coats, letting it dry between coats.

7.  Punch out the Classy and Fabulous tag from the Couture Collection. Brush the back of the tag with Mod Podge and glue to the lower right corner of the wood panel, slightly overlapping the picture. Cover the entire wood panel with Mod Podge and let it dry.

8.  Attach four small pearls to the bottom of the tag and glue the silk flower to the top of the tag.

9.  Attach the medium pearls to the center of the buttons and glue the buttons to the left side of the wood panel (evenly spaced).

10.  Attach a small picture hanger to the back of the wood panel and hang.

Lapin Jardinier Father's Day Card

My husband likes gardening and has a beautiful vegetable garden. We live in an area that is over run with rabbits. Not the cute little bunnies but big, ugly brown rabbits with voracious appetites. These pests destroy our flowers and vegetables and nothing seems to deter them.

Recently I ordered some stamps from Stamp Francisco and Lapin Jardinier was among them. I couldn't resist the cute bunny carrying his flowers and spade and decided to use the image for a Father's Day card. I am very impressed with the quality of the stamps that I received from Stamp Franciso, the images stamped clearly on the paper each time.

Update: My husband loved the card and couldn't believe that it was a stamped image. He thought I had printed it. He also liked the irony of Lapin Jardinier and the sunflowers. It's not clear if Lapin is planting or stealing the sunflowers. The rabbits at our house have destroyed all but one of my sunflowers.

Directions for Lapin Jardinier:

White, dark teal, olive green and kraft card stock
Sunflowers
Lapin Jardiner stamp- available from Stamp Francisco
Aqua and white print ribbon
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder
Ranger Tim Holtz distress inks- iced spruce and vintage photo
Ranger foam ink blending tool and foam pads
Derwent Color Soft colored pencils
Archival Ink coffee bean
Recollection blue spray ink
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist- Pearl Mist
Martha Stewart Rose Leaf paper punch
Tan decorative trim- available at Hobby Lobby


1.   Ink the Lapin Jardinier stamp with coffee bean colored ink and stamp the image on to white card stock. After the image is dry, color with colored pencils.

2.  Trim the stamped card stock to approximately 3 7/8 inches high by 3 inches wide.  Apply iced spruce distress ink to the ink blending tool and color the edges of the card stock with the ink using a circular motion. Dip a paint brush in water and paint over the distress ink to lighten it. Pull some of the ink toward the stamped image so that the ink fades into the white card stock. Don't apply too much water or the card stock will start to degrade. Continue to apply ink to the sides and edges of the card stock to darken them.

3.  Mist the stamped image with Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist (Pearl Mist) and set aside to dry.

4.  Cut a piece of dark teal card stock approximately 1/4 inch larger (on all sides) than the white card stock with the stamped image. Spray the teal card stock with the Recollections blue spray ink and let it dry.

5.  Cut a piece of kraft card stock 5 1/4 inches high by 4 1/4 inches wide and emboss using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. Use the ink blending tool and clean foam pad to apply the vintage photo distress ink to the embossed card stock.

6.  Glue the Lapin image to the teal card stock and then glue this to the embossed kraft card stock. Cut two small pieces of aqua and white print ribbon to wrap around the corners of the kraft card stock, glue in place and attach a bow to the ribbon in the upper left corner.

7.  Print Happy Father's Day with Microsoft Word and trim around the greeting. Glue the greeting to a piece of teal card stock to frame it and then glue this to the top of the card, centering it over the bunny image.

8.  Place three small sunflowers evenly spaced across the bottom of the card. Using the Martha Stewart Rose Leaf paper punch, punch 6 leaves out of olive green card stock. Glue the leaves under the flowers.

9  Cut the decorative trim the length of the card and glue along the right edge of the card.