Merry Christmas!

Hello friends!  Just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas, and to thank all of you for your kind comments and support.  I hope you've been inspired and blessed by all of the cards and projects posted this year and I look forward to keeping in touch with you in 2017!

Now…one last Christmas card for 2016 using Scripture Tree, one of my favorite Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Christmas sets.

Creative Nugget:  It was hard to capture the shimmer of the gold and silver embossing powders used on both the Scripture Tree and the Music to My Ears background.  Black acrylic paint was splattered on the background, and silver and gold pearls were added to the tree.  Some gold and silver metallic threads were used to finish the card.  I love how this scripture verse from Matthew expresses the true meaning of Christmas.

This card will be submitted for the following challenges:

A Gem of A Challenge #184 - Anything Christmas Goes

CAS-ual Friday Challenge 163 - Christmas & Hanukkah

Christmas Cards All Year 'Round December Challenge - Anything Christmas/Holiday

Pile It On Challenge #123 - Any Holiday/Celebration

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a wonderful and blessed day celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Hugs,

Cathymac

SNSS Features Christmas

Hello friends!  Last month Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps added nine new stamp sets to the store for 2016.  This week we are featuring the two Christmas stamp sets designed by Korin.  Love both of these sets and have been having loads of fun adding to my Christmas card stash for this year!

My first card uses the new Christmas Pine set along with Music to My Ears and Celebrate the Savior.

Creative Nugget:  The design for this card is the Mojo Monday sketch for this week.  The music score, the pines, and the pinecones were white embossed on Kraft card stock and either sponged or colored with Copic Markers.  A piece of designer paper from my stash was added behind the pines along with a Scallop Border.  The sentiment  from Celebrate the Savior was clear embossed over Crumb Cake ink.  A few splatters of acrylic paint and some twine finish the card.

Here is a previously posted card using the same Christmas Pine stamp set:  

My next three cards were all made with the Scripture Tree stamp set.

Creative Nugget:  The Scripture Tree was white embossed on mixed media paper.  Tombow Markers were scribbled onto an acrylic block, spritzed with water, and smeared over the embossing.  This is becoming one of my favorite techniques for creating a water colored look!  The mats were created the same way.  The panel was then sprayed with Art Anthology Gilded Gold Shimmer Mist.  Stitching, metallic thread, and gems were added to finish the card.

Creative Nugget:  Diagonals were scored onto a piece of mixed media paper.  Tombow Markers were again used to water color over the scored lines.  A tree shape was hand drawn and cut from the center of the panel and the edges sponged with Hickory Smoke distress ink.  This was popped up onto the Scripture Tree which had been embossed using Hologram Highlights Embossing Powder.  This really sparkles IRL!  Sequins, gems, and metallic thread were added to finish the card.

Now for a very different look!

Creative Nugget:  The Music to My Ears background was stamped onto Neenah card stock and mounted to the card base.  The Scripture Tree was black embossed and a reverse mask was created to mask off the area around the tree.  Post-It notes were used to mask each line on the tree and sponged with distress inks.  Splatters of black acrylic paint were added as well as a black sequin and gem to finish the card for a more masculine look.

These stamp sets from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store were used to create all of these cards:

These cards will be submitted for the following challenges:

Mojo Monday 464

Addicted to Stamps and More #210 - Photo Inspiration

Word Art Wednesday #247 - Anything Goes

Aud Sentiment Challenge #163 - Anything Goes + a Sentiment

Just Us Girls #360 - Sequins

CAS on Sunday #91 - Pastel

Thanks so much for stopping by…hope you were inspired to stamp a Christmas card!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Cathymac

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Praise Him

Hello friends!  Today I am sharing on the Creative Worship Blog and thought I would share here as well.

Inspirational Nugget:  How many ways can you think of to praise the Lord?  Psalm 150 lists several ways to praise the Lord, but you can probably think of more.  Praising the Lord invites His presence into our circumstances AND in His presence is fullness of joy…doubt, worries, and fear flee!  Chains and bonds are broken just as they were for Paul and Silas.  No matter what you are going through, the Lord is worthy of praise…
                               "His grace saves us,
                                        His mercy spares us,
                                               and His love pardons us!"

(from a morning and evening devotional)

Creative Nugget:  I've been wanting to try using Color Burst pigment powders on a Bible Journaling page and finally decided to just do it!  I did prep the page three times with Dina Wakley Clear Gesso since the page was going to get pretty wet.  First a section of the page was masked off so the music background from the new Music to My Ears stamp set could be clear embossed in the middle.  Then the magic…sprinkle on the powders (I used yellow, tangerine, fuchsia, and crimson) and squirt with water.  A roll of paper towels helped to soak up the extra water and each color was dried before applying the next color.  There was NO bleed through!  A little sponging helped the embossing show up a little better.  Elements from the I Am Loved, Seek Him, and Note This stamp sets were added to the page along with some hand lettering and a few more notes from the Music to My Ears stamp set.

Here are the stamp sets from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store used for this page:

"Guard your heart from fear at night by singing praises to your King!"

Thanks so much for stopping by…

Hugs,

Cathy

Music to My Ears

Hello, friends!  I have two cards to share that feature a new stamp set being released today by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps…Music to My Ears.  I love the large background stamp included in this set as well as the four wonderful sentiments and bits and pieces of music...I know I will be reaching for this one time and time again.  

Creative Nugget:  Twisted Citron, Fossilized Amber, and Broken China distress inks were applied to a piece of mixed media paper using the wrinkle-free technique.  Watering Can Archival ink was lightly stamped off once and stamped over these colors.  A strip of texture paste was applied through a Tim Holtz stripes stencil for a little more texture.  The letters in one of the sentiments were masked and stamped one at a time to create the letter tiles while the rest of the sentiment was white embossed on a hand cut banner.  Scribble Flowers were stamped on scraps of wrinkle-free paper and cut with the new Scribble Flower Dies.  Gold micro beads were added to the centers of the flowers to finish this card.  Several challenges were the inspiration for this card including the Splitcoaststampers WTUI Challenge today, the Color Throwdown Challenge, and the Pile It On make your own background challenge.

Creative Nugget: The design for this card was inspired by the Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge and the Morgan's World Challenge to add three of something.  Watering Can ink was used to stamp the music background on the first layer.  Distress inks were used to age the panel.  The background was white embossed, sponged with Tumbled Glass, Victorian Velvet, and Frayed Burlap, and cut with a pierced rectangle die for the second layer.  One of the sentiments from the Music to My Ears set was embossed and matted to a square panel.  A few music notes were lightly stamped around the border.  The hearts from the Grunge Elements 2 set were stamped over the embossing and a square frame was mounted around them.  A circular frame was mounted to vellum, and white embossed hearts also cut from vellum and colored on the back with Copic Markers were added.  Some glittered enamel dots and metallic thread finish the card.

These products from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Store were used:

These cards will be submitted to the following challenges:

Color Throwdown #405 - Green, Yellow, Aqua

Pile It On #114 - Make Your Own Background

Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge #206 - Anything Goes

The Crafty Addicts Challenge #21 - Anything Goes with Embossing Option

Morgan's World Challenge #16 - Add Three of Something (Hearts)

Thanks so much for stopping by…have a wonderful day!

Hugs,

Cathymac

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