A Little Winter Magic

It is fun to imagine Fairy Stardust sharing his magic and adding festive sparkle to winter snowflakes….

The shape of the card was inspired by the swirling snow and all the graceful curlicues.  The scalloped card base was die cut from Madison designer paper and edged with Turquoise Gem VersaMagic.

The second circular layer of white cardstock was distressed with Oasis Green VersaMagic with the swirls stamped in Turquoise Gem.  Dimensional foam was used to attach the piece to the prepared card base.

Fairy Stardust (illustrated by Mo Manning) was stamped on a separate piece of white cardstock in Onyx Black VersaFine and heat embossed with clear powder.  After coloring and fussy cutting, a small sentiment banner was attached before the piece was applied to the card with dimensional foam.

To finish the design, “a little winter magic” (glitter) was added to the snow swirls.

Stardust wishes,

Elizabeth

Supplies:

Penny Black Stamps: Fairy Stardust 40-180, Winter Magic 30-134

Penny Black Madison Designer Paper Pad 80-001

Copic Markers

Dimensional Foam: 3M Scotch & EK Success

Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko: Onyx Black VersaFine, Crimson Red VersaFine, Oasis Green VersaMagic Turquoise Gem VersaMagic, Sponge Daubers, Clear Embossing Powder

Spellbinders: Standard Circles, Classic Scalloped Circles

A Monochromatic Design

This sentiment included with Penny Black's Inspiring is so expressive.  I wanted it to be the focus of my card so I used a simple, yet bold, monochromatic design to showcase the emotion of the phrase.

The dark Forest Glen card base was layered with a smaller piece of white cardstock that was edged in Delicata Golden Glitz ink.

A second, smaller piece of white cardstock edged in gold was decorated with an elevated portion of a Spellbinder’s Label Seventeen die cut from light Forest Glen cardstock.  The wood-grain texture was stamped in Olympia Green VersaFine and highlighted with a sponge dauber and Spanish Moss VersaFine ink.

The dark Forest Glen band notched with a circle punch provided the placement area for the “fussy cut” leaves stamped in Spanish Moss VersaFine.

Dimensional foam tape between all the layers of the design added depth as well as some soft shadows.

One of the many things I enjoy about monochromatic designs is that they are easy to recreate using another color.  Integrating different hues of the same color also gives you artistic creativity to add depth and texture.

You can view other previously posted monochromatic designs “here”.

Pick a color, any color, and see what fun monochromatic designs can be! 

Happy Friday,

Elizabeth

Supplies:

Penny Black Stamps: Inspiring 40-113

Penny Black Mix & Match Cardstock: Forest Glen 07-001 & 07-003
Spellbinders: Labels Seventeen (S5-025)

Tsukineko: Onyx Black VersaFine, Olympia Green VersaFine, Spanish Moss VersaFine, Delicata Golden Glitz, Jumbo Sponge Dauber, Clear Embossing Powder

A Trio of Monochromatic Cards

Here are a few more monochromatic card ideas with coordinating envelopes.  These were featured in Scrap & Stamp Arts in June 2010.

-Happy Birthday-

Penny Black: Mini Flutterby 3649C, Sentiments 30-025


The butterflies were colored with bleach then re-colored with a Sea Blue #373 Tombow marker.

-Thank You- 

Penny Black: Winsome 3811J , Salutations 30-014, For All You Do 3854D

Watermelon Adirondack ink was brayered onto glossy cardstock to create the background for these flowers heat embossed in white.

 

-Full of Life-

Penny Black: Corner Piece 3859H, Astilbe 3872H, Full of Life 3641F



A combination of Nestability die-cuts created the focal layers of this card.  The Astilbe stamped in Summer Sky Memento ink provides a soft, muted background for the sentiment.



You can see more monochromatic card ideas featured throughout the month on the Penny Black Blog as the designers showcase their amazing takes on this theme.

Enjoy exploring one color at a time.

Elizabeth

Merci

This little "Merci" greeting was made from some small bits of artwork that I had on my craft table.  I like how the monochromatic tone added to the simple elegance of the design.

I have been enjoying Tsukineko's line of metallic StazOn inks.  They're great for creating custom metallic cardstocks.  For this silver matting, I rubbed the metallic ink pad directly on white cardstock.  The ink dries very quickly and keeps its luster.

An extra Eiffel Tower adds some dimension to the greeting while the heart adds a punch of color.  My favorite Copic combination for blending reds is:  R24, R27, R29 and R39.  The gray shading is a blend of W2 and W3.

This is a closer view of the embossed vellum used on the background.  I flipped the vellum over so it had a "de-embossed" look and then sprayed it with Frost Sheer Shimmer Spritz.  I captured a little bit of the sparkle in the photo, but this is one of those cards that you need to see "in person" to get the full effect of the shimmery mist.

While I was working on this card I remembered that I have some other monochromatic cards that I made for Scrap & Stamp Arts earlier in the year which I will post for you in a few days.

Merci beaucoup for visiting!!

Elizabeth 

Supplies:

Penny Black: Stamps-J'aime Paris 30-065, Butterfly-Kissed 4124K, Salutations 30-014; Paper- EP501 Scroll Vellum 

Tsukineko: Silver Metallic StazOn, Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, Frost Sheer Shimmer Spritz

Copic Markers

American Crafts:  Ribbon