Velvet Paw Creations: 2012

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Dreaming

Merry Christmas Eve to you all!
Here comes Santa! Here comes Santa! Woohoo!
I'm sharing my 'counting down the arrival of Santa' card today ;0)

For as long as I can remember I've loved to get up close and even under my Christmas tree and stare into the depths, surrounded by the magical reflection of the fairy lights bouncing off the tinsel and baubles. The stamp I used on this card goes perfectly with my memories ;0)

The images above and below are by Third Coast Rubber Stamps:
Bubble Light Fairy VB-213-P
Christmas Rose and Holly DP-003-R

The fairy was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink onto Neenah Solar White cardstock, coloured with Copic Sketch markers and highlights added with a white gel pen. The background was coloured with a red Derwent pastel pencil and blended with a Dove Blender pen and fussy cut out. The Rose and Holly was stamped three times on Bazzil Basics white cardstock and coloured with Derwent Pastels then blended. The berries were coloured with a Derwent water colour pencil and blended too. Each panel was die cut out with a Spellbinders Mega Rectangle Deckle die and spritzed with Vanilla Smooch Spritz then layered onto black, orange and red cardstocks. The first black mat and the orange mat were distressed with Tim's paper distresser tool.

A sheet of vellum was cut to the same size as the larger black mat and embossed with Cuttlebug's Christmas Countdown embossing folder, the edges distressed and then also spritzed with Vanilla Smooch for lots of magical Christmas sparkle.

The vellum was centered over the Christmas Rose and Holly panels and 4 holes punched in each corner and attached to the cardstock with tiny antique gold star brads. I made a folded card from black cardstock and mounted all the panels to it with Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. The bubble fairy was adhered to the front with Kool Tak transparent foam tape and the phrase was die cut from red cardstock with a Sizzix Sizzlits die, spritzed with Vanilla Smooch and adhered to the vellum with a Quickie Glue Pen.

Most of the supplies I used are available from Blockheads Paper Arts!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Keep safe!

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * About Art Accents

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Day 12: Finale of 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged!

Season's Greetings!

Wow, can't believe it's the finale of 12 Days of Creepmas already! I thoroughly enjoyed embracing my darker side this year and will definitely be participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop from now on ;0) I didn't hop and comment as much as I intended to, sorry guys, but I will still be visiting you all and leaving love coz I definitely want to see what you all did!!!!! Thank you for taking the time to visit me, I appreciate all the wonderful comments I received and will be replying to them all too, I promise ;0)

Upcycled Creepmas Gift Bag

Just a quickie reminder that my DominoART 24 Days of Christmas Festival finale is Dec 24 and all my Merry Players will need your votes for your favourite Top 3 creations :0) So pop on over and check them all out and then vote via the inlinkz collection which will be in the Day 24 post and on the 24 Days of Christmas Festival page! There's also still time to enter your own Christmasy domino creations in the Readers' Gallery for the chance to win a prize...no one has shared one yet, bah humbug :0(

Now for my finale Creepmas project!
Today is Smeared Ink Day which means we are challenged to use only Smeared Ink images in our creations! So I used Smeared Inks 'Plaque - As Death' image and created this Creepmas gift bag and upcycled a bag I had in my stash.

I stamped the image onto white cardstock in Forest Moss Distress Ink and then coloured with Peeled Paint and Fired Brick Distress Markers plus Cream and Yellow Ochre Prismacolor pencils. I then used my snazzy new Perfect Layers Rulers #1 and #3 to cut the DCWV Christmas Mat Stack red polka dot mat with a 1" border on the sides and a 3/8" border on the top and bottom. I'm an ambassador for Perfect Paper Crafting and if you want to get your hands on these rulers and their other fab tools then enter my special coupon code Leigh5% at checkout and get 5% off your order ;0) I then distressed the stamped panel and the polka dot mat with Tim's paper distresser tool.

Skellie Santa needed a hat of course so I made him one with red and white felt and added a tiny white pompom too :0) Next I embossed a scrap piece of white cardstock with an embossing folder by Cuttlebug, tore the top and bottom edges then applied Weathered Wood Distress Ink to the embossed design with a foam ink applicator tool. Then adhered the stamped panel to the mat and then to the gift bag with Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive. I embellished the gift bag with a strip of velvet ribbon, a crimson bow tied to the handle and a dimensional paper poinsettia by K&Company.
Most of the supplies I used are available at Blockheads Paper Arts!

Now for a challenge or two!
Smudgy Antics Colour Challenge
Simon Says Stamps - Merry Christmas
Sparkle and Glitter with Rick #6 Last Minute Shopping

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * About Art Accents

Friday, December 21, 2012

Day 11: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged!

Season's Greetings and I sure hope it's not the Mayan end of the world where you live ;0)

I'm embracing my darker side this year and participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop as a Jolly Blogger! I decided I wanted to create a really beautiful Creepmas card for today and I think the digi stamp called Skull Christmas Corner by Delicious Doodles was all this card needed!

A Poinsettia Creepmas

I printed out the image onto Neenah Solar White cardstock, trimmed down the panel and coloured with the following Copic Sketch markers: R32, 35, 39, Y38, YG11, G21, 24, 28 and added effects with the Colourless Blender.

I finally had chance to play with one of my new favourite toys...my snazzy Perfect Layers Rulers! I'm also pleased to also announce that I'm an ambassador for Perfect Paper Crafting and if you want to get your hands on these rulers and their other fab tools then enter my special coupon code Leigh5% at checkout and get 5% off your order ;0)

These rulers are fantastic because you can mat your heart out and get them perfect every time! If you get all three rulers you will be able to cut mats from 1/16 of an inch right up to 1 inch! I love these coz my paper trimmer has been driving me nuts lately coz it's not cutting straight any more...grrrr! Visit my ambassador page and check out the video demo to see them in action :0)

Back to my card...I used Perfect Layers ruler #1 so I could cut a mat from deep red cardstock with a 1/8 of inch border for my image. If you want a clean cut edge you'd adhere your image panel or photo to the cardstock and then cut your mat. But here's a tip if you like to distress the edges of your mats! Stick the image panel to the cardstock with removable tape or poster tack putty and then cut the mat, remove the image panel and distress the edges like you normally would with Tim's paper distresser tool. I then adhered everything to a square folded card made from white cardstock. I completed my card by adding dimensional pearls to all the little dots in the image with a Magic Transparent White Viva Pearl Pen. The tiny shimmery pearls are ever so pretty!

I'm entering these challenges:
Simon Says Stamps - Merry Christmas
Forever Night Creepy Challenges - Anything Goes
Copic Marker Europe - A Christmas Card (as a UK entry)
Fashionista Challenge #10 Winter

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully we're all still here tomorrow for more Creepmas;0)
Enjoy the rest of your hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Day 10: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged!

Season's Greetings!

Sorry, having blogger publishing issues and my scheduled post didn't go out this morning as planned :0( This is it now...

I'm embracing my darker side this year and participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop as a Jolly Blogger! Today I've got an upcycled, stamped and digitally altered Creepmas card to share!

Upcycled Creepmas Card

The above photo shows the finished card after I did some digital manipulation in Photoshop for the new Smudgy Antics Colour Challenge.

I love how it turned out but I also love how it started out too which you can see in the photo below. Which do you prefer of the two?

Some of you just might recognize the images...especially if you shop at Trader Joe's, heehee! I was at the store a few days ago and was about to put the torn paper bag in my recycling when I stopped and took a closer look at the images printed on the kraft paper and the light bulb went off in my head ;0)

I cut up the paper bag and stamped the Creepmas Tree by Smeared Ink with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink onto the portion of the image I decided to use and coloured with Picket Fence and Fired Brick Distress Markers. I distressed the edges of the panel with Tim's paper distresser tool and applied VersaMagic Cloud White to the edges with a foam ink applicator tool. I made a tall folded card from deep red cardstock and then cut two narrow panels from blank sections of the paper bag to fit the spaces along the top and bottom edges of the red card. I embossed the two pieces with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, distressed the edges too and then applied VersaMagic Cloud White to the embossed design with a foam ink applicator. Before adhering all the panels to the red card I adhered a few strands of red raffia to the the main panel and tied a knot on the left side of the panel and embellished with a metal poinsettia with a topaz jewel in the center.

I took the photos above and then tried to continue working on the card so I could enter it in the new challenge over at Smudge Antics but I didn't like the effect I was getting with the Distress Markers and decided to go digital ;0)

I've entered this one in the following challenges:
Smudgy Antics Colour Challenge

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Christmas Robin DominoART Tree Ornament!

Season's Greetings to you all!

I thought I'd give you another break from my 12 Days of creepy Creepmas creations and invite you over to my DominoART blog to check out the Christmas Robin domino ornament I've made for Day 18 of DominoART's annual 24 Days of Christmas Festival ;0)

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me your wonderful comments! I truly appreciate hearing from you all :0)

Happy Stamping and Happy Holidays!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Monday, December 17, 2012

Day 9: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged!

Season's Greetings!

I'm embracing my darker side this year and participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop as a Jolly Blogger! Today is also Smeared Ink day which means we're challenged to use only Smeared Ink images. Of course I took up the challenge and this is the result :0) Don't forget to pop on over to my DominoART blog for more traditional Christmas fare if Creepmas isn't your cup of tea ;0)

Oh Creepmas Tree

My intention was to go clean and simple but then I got a bit carried away with some sparkle, a touch of glitter and a dash of snow. But still a CAS card in my book coz you've seen what I normally come up with! I started out making a square folded card from white cardstock and stamped the Creepmas Tree by Smeared Ink with Tuxedo Black Memento ink in the middle of the card and then added the two Smeared Ink Creepmas Presents on either side. I then spritzed with Vanilla Smooch Spritz for lots of subtle sparkle and roughened up the edges of the card with Tim's paper distresser tool and applied Black Soot Distress Ink with a foam ink applicator tool. The bat tree topper and present bows are coloured with a red glitter gel pen and the shadows on the bows are coloured with Black Soot Distress Marker and I also added Diamond Stickles glitter glue to all the tree ornaments. I completed my Creepmas card with a touch of snow which is puff paint in marker form by Marvy called a Snow Marker (SkyBluePink.com).

Here's a closer look at some of the details!

Now for a challenge or two...
Forever Night Creepy Challenges #58 Anything Goes-How Dark Can You Go

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * About Art Accents

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Day 8: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged!

Now before you run away screaming pop on over to the DominoART blog where my annual 24 Days of Christmas Festival is underway! You'll see wonderful traditional Christmas creations to put you right back into your festive spirit, but beware, there is a few Creepmas creations sneaking in there too but not many ;0)

Rose Skellie Creepmas Wreath

I had loads of fun creating this one! I just got my Impression Obsession Wreath die in the mail a few days ago and I'm thrilled with how good it looks on this card! I'm also proud to announce that Lost Coast Designs recently asked me to officially design for them (Woohoo!) and this is one of the cards I've made so far. Keep a look out for this card and the others you'll be seeing soon on display at the stamp conventions they attend ;0)

Here's a closer look at the details. You'll notice I bent up some of the sprigs on the wreath to add some dimension.

I started out by stamping the Skeleton and Roses image with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and die cut it out with a Spellbinders Circle die. The roses and skeleton were coloured with Copic Sketch markers: E0000, E41, G24, G28, R39, R46 and the Colourless Blender. For the background I used Umber Derwent Pastel pencil and blended it with a Dove Blender pen. The wreath was die cut out twice from a sheet of Tim's Retro Grunge cardstock. The cardstock is double sided with one side a darker greenish wood grain pattern and the other a mottled green star design. I love the multi-tone effect the overlapping wreaths create. The holly and berries are part of the same IO die and I die cut out the holly from the wood grain side of the cardstock and coloured a scrap piece of Neenah cardstock with red Copics and die cut out a few berries. I then made a square folded card from white cardstock and roughened up the edges with Tim's paper distresser tool and applied Pumice Stone Distress ink to the edges. Everything was adhered to the card wtih Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

I've entered this one in the following challenges:
Smudgy Antics - Distress It
Forever Night Creepy Challenges #58 Anything Goes-How Dark Can You Go
Simon Says Stamps Challenge - What's Your Favourite?
besides stamps, Copics and my new wreath die :0)
Copic Marker Europe - A Christmas Card (as a UK entry)

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * About Art Accents

Friday, December 14, 2012

Winter Hearth Mouse Christmas Card for Blockheads Paper Arts!

Season's Greetings Everyone!

I thought I'd give you all a break from my Creepmas creations and share this whimsical Winter Hearth Mouse narrow Christmas card I made for my sister this year :0)

I hosted Blockheads Paper Arts Technique Challenge for the month of October called A Compendium of Leafing Techniques and featured 6 different techniques. The snowflake background on this card was one of the techniques and as promised here's the card I made using it. You can see how I created the background using a snowflake embossing folder by Cuttlebug, silver leaf and metallic rub-on creme here. From there I spritzed it with Vanilla Smooch spritz for even more sparkle and distressed the edges of the panel with Tim's paper distresser tool. Besides my absolute favourite tool which is rubber stamps of course, I do use embossing folders and Tim's paper distresser tool a lot, especially this year for sure! Then of course my other two absolute 'must have products' was used...inks and Copics ;0) Blockheads' whimsical Hearth Mouse (which is the larger of the two 'Winter' stamps) was stamped onto Neenah Solar White cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured with Copics Sketch markers and I used the Colourless Blender for blending, removal of colour and to create the mottled effects.

I trimmed around the image leaving just a narrow border and distressed the edges of the panel with the paper distresser tool then edged it with Brushed Pewter metallic Distress Stain...also one of my new favourite products this year ;0) I embellished the snowflake panel with ice blue and silver eyelash fiber and adhered the mouse panel to it with pop dots for even more dimension. I finished off by adhering everything to a narrow folded card made from white cardstock that was slightly wider than the snowflake panel. I'd give you the dimensions of the finished card but I forgot to take them before sending it off!

I've entered my card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamps Challenge - What's Your Favourite

Copic Marker Europe Challenge - A Christmas Card (as a UK entry)

Fresh Brewed Designs #125 - Christmas

Stampavie and More - #183 - Christmas

Craft Us Crazy #32 - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like

Meljens Designs - #140 Anything Goes

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - #1 Anything Goes
Fashionista Challenge #10 Winter

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Day 7: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged!

Season's Greetings!

I'm embracing my darker side this year and participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop as a Jolly Blogger! Here's my card for today...who knew Creepmas could be so elegant ;0)

I won Smudgy Antics Distress It Challenge, Yippie :0)

A Formal Creepmas

Today is Smeared Ink Day which means we are challenged to use only Smeared Ink images in our creations! So I used Smeared Inks' 'Deer Skull - Gothic Christmas' rubber stamp and created this elegant card that would be suitable for a formal Creepmas event, don't you think! I painted a panel of white cardstock with metallic Brushed Pewter Distress Stain and stamped the image with Black StazOn ink. The strand of lights were coloured with a red Prismacolor pencil and coated with Judikins Diamond Glaze for the glass-like dimensional effect. The panel edges were distressed with Tim's distresser tool and distressed with Black Soot Distress ink. I layered the panel onto a deep red mat and then cut a mat from a beautiful silver foil and black flocked gift wrap I'd saved from a present I'd received many moons ago...I knew I'd use it one of these days LOL! I made a bow from black sheer organza ribbon, cut a length of extra ribbon and crinkled both with my heat gun. I wrapped the ribbon around the stamped panel and adhered the ends to the back of the red mat with double sided tape and the bow with a glue dot. Everything was then adhered to a black folded card with craft glue.

I've entered this one in the following challenge:

Smudgy Antics - Distress It

Thank you for visiting and leaving me all your wonderful comments! I love hearing from you :0)
Enjoy the rest of your Creepmas blog hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * Lost Coast Designs * About Art Accents

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Day 6: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged!

Season's Greetings!

I'm embracing my darker side this year and participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop as a Jolly Blogger! Here's my creation for today! On Sunday I let you in on the secret that monsters like receiving Christmas presents and guess what, it turns out that Ice Sprites do too ;0)

An Ice Sprite's Christmas

My Ice Sprite is actually a Halloween digital image by Rick St Dennis and the Creepmas present is from the Creepmas rubber stamp sheet by Smeared Ink. I started out by die cutting out the center step card by The Stamp Doctor and distressed the edges with Memento Summer Sky ink applied with a foam ink applicator tool. I used the same die as a template to trace and cut out the front panels and embossed them with Cuttlebug's snowflake embossing folder. I spritzed them with Vanilla Smooch Spritz for some frosty sparkle and adhered them to the front of the card with craft glue. The present was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and the Sprite was printed out on Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloured with Copic markers: B32, 34, 37 and effects created with a Colourless Blender. Both images were fussy cut out and the cardstock curled in places to create a dimensional effect before adhering them to the card with craft glue. I embellished my card with snowflake buttons in various sizes from Joann Arts & Crafts. Here's a closer look at the details!

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Sparkle and Glitters with Rick #5 - White Winter
Simon Says Stamp - Snowflakes
Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything Goes
Fashionista Challenge #10 - Winter
Smudgy Antics - Distress It

Don't forget to pop on over to my annual 24 Days of Christmas Festival taking place on my DominoART blog where you can see beautiful Christmas creations all month long, but beware, Creepmas might sneak in there too depending on which Merry Player is being featured that day ;0)

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me your much appreciated comments!
Enjoy the rest of your hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

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Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Day 5: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged continues!

Season's Greetings!

I'm embracing my darker side this year and participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop as a Jolly Blogger! My card today is really actually quite cute ;0)

Monsters Love Christmas Presents Too!

This is the Christmas card I've made for my 5 year old nephew, Daniel, this year! He's sure to love those 3 monsters sitting in front of the fireplace eagerly waiting to open their presents ;0) Here's a closer look at all the details!

The fireplace, presents and sentiment are Blockheads Paper Arts exclusive stamps:
Fireplace and presents: Christmas Morning set
Sentiment: Figgy Pudding Mice set
The monsters are digital stamps by Rick St Dennis.

The images were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and printed out onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloured with Copic markers. I stamped the fireplace twice so I could cut out the stockings. The monsters were sized and compiled together in Photoshop. Everything was fussy cut out and layered with pop dots. All the ribbons on the presents were coloured with a red glitter gel pen and for even more sparkle I applied Yellow Stickles glitter glue to the fire and Diamond to the monsters and stockings. For extra dimension I used Snow marker puff paint on the fluffy white areas of the stockings too! For the background I embossed a piece of white cardstock with a Darice Brick Wall embossing folder and distressed the edges with Tim's paper distresser tool. I applied Pumice Stone and Tea Dye Distress Inks to the embossed design with a foam ink applicator tool. The sentiment was stamped with Lady Bug Memento Ink and the edges were distressed with the paper distresser tool and Pumice Stone Distress ink. The sentiment and the fireplace panel were layered onto DCWV red glitter matstock and then everything was adhered to a white folded card.

How cute is this creepy Christmas card!? I can't wait to see my nephew's face when he opens it :0)
Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your hop!

Blog Roll

Leigh S-B (You are Here)

Happy Stamping!

THE SHARPIE DOMINO QUEEN

I design for Blockheads Paper Arts * Third Coast Rubber Stamps * About Art Accents

Friday, December 7, 2012

Day 4: 12 Days of Creepmas with Smeared & Smudged

Season's Greetings!

I'm embracing my darker side this year and participating in Smeared and Smudged forum's annual 12 Days of Creepmas blog hop as a Jolly Blogger! Here's my card for today...a twist on how Santa waits for all the children to go to sleep before delivering all the presents ;0)

Santa Waits

Today is Smeared Ink Day which means we are challenged to use only Smeared Ink images in our creations! So I used Smeared Inks' 'Thinker - As Death' image and created this Creepmas Santa card. The image was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured with Prismacolor pencils. The sentiment was stamped with Rhubarb Stalk Memento ink. The panel edges were distressed with Tim's distresser tool and edged with Fired Brick Distress ink. I applied Snow marker puff paint to Skellie Santa's outfit and once dry activated the puff paint with a heat tool. I then embossed an entire folded card with a snowflake embossing folder by Cuttlebug. The card edges were distressed with the distresser tool and edged with Fired Brick Distress ink too. Then wrapped red/white baker's twine around the front and poked 3 holes in the spine for the twine to thread through and finished with a bow. The Skellie Santa panel was then adhered to the card with 3D glue dots. I completed my story with a Dymo Buddy label maker and red tape and embellished my card with a holly sprig saved from a previous year's Christmas cake!