Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Joyeux Noel - Mixed Media

Awww....I miss watching kittens playing in the snow.
It's almost as much fun as watching a 5-yr old!


Hi, Friends......

All the enticing challenges with snowy themes have put me in the mood for playing with my snowy sorts of stash items.  The lovely snow outside helps, too.  :)   


Grandpa helping Little Peach onto her snow disk on top of her snowy gravel pile.


Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Most amazing man....ever!



Good Grandpa   ------------------>>>>>

  <3  <3  <3 





Back in the house, I pulled out all my snowy double embossed and molten technique backgrounds that have sat in cold storage since last winter.  :)



I chose a dazzling one where I used my favorite way of embossing:  my molten technique.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this technique, I will describe it in a nutshell.  You first dry emboss cardstock, then Versamark over it and heat emboss with layers of one or more colors of powder.  I like to use more than one to bring out the texture of the embossing.  As you heat emboss layer over layer, you achieve the delicious molten look that I totally adore.  This burns through tons of embossing powder!!!  If you have questions, please ask in your comments.  



On this particular one, I previously had inked my Darice - Snowflakes and Flourishes folder with Distress Ink in Salty Ocean before dry embossing the cardstock.  Then I Versamarked it, leaving a few parts bare so the blue would show through.  Then I heat embossed with several layers of silver powder to get the molten look.  

With inks and embossing powders this background was already sort of mixed media (maybe?), but I have been just dying to try my new Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel. I spread it around the entire edge of the background card and let it begin drying. After an hour or so, I could see that I was going to be totally in love with this wonderfully sparkly product, but I didn't have it as thick as I wanted. So I dispensed with my craft medium spreader and globbed it around very thickly with my finger and let it dry. (I'm sure my techniques probably make the amazing artists at Design Memory Craft roll their eyes!! lol...) Anyway....I LOVE the result.

I cut the piece twice diagonally and put it on black cardstock. Love how there are bits of the medium that have dried over the edge of the panel, giving added texture. On one of the panels, I tied some crinkly hand-dyed seam ribbon I won from Karen F. over at her weekly challenge at Little Scrap Pieces. (Thanks, Karen!!!) Isn't it perfect with this?

Do you like my sparkly snowflake? This is a brand-new piece I got from Southern Ridge Trading Co. Did you know they have a wonderful monthly challenge? Check it out and you can win some fabulous chipboard shapes, too! (THANKS, SRTC!!!) It started out as a plain brown chippie. With the magic of gesso, Gelatos, and more Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel, it turned into what you see. Soooooooooo much fun!!!

I added an anonymous Christmas sentiment from my stash that I stamped on a scrap of cardstock with Versafine Onyx Black ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I mounted everything on a glittery silver premade card base. Oh, swoon...... This is my absolute-est favorite-est thing I've made in a while!!! The shine, sparkle, and glittery-ness are absolutely amazing. Nothing like going stark, raving mad about my own card, right? Ha. (Sorry....sorta...)

I hope you have enjoyed this card.  It was a total joy to make.  I very much appreciate your visits and your lovely comments!!!

<3 
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this card in the following challenges:
1. Design Memory Craft - January 2016 Take the Challenge with Mou - Snow
2. Southern Ridge Trading Co. January Challenge - Anything Winter (I used SRTC chipboard snowflake!)
3. DRS Designs Challenge #208 - Weather Outside
4. Craft Rocket Challenge #6 - Happy Anything (Happy Christmas!!)
5. Pixie's Snippets Playground Week #211 - Use snippets
6. Amusing Challenges - Let it Snow
7. Creative Artiste Challenge #10 - Mixed Media Anything Goes with Twist: Use Chipboard
8. Stamps and Stencils - Mixed Media Oh, So Blue
9. Anything But Cute Challenge - Mixed Media Ring out the Old, Bring in the New (I used two new products: F-C Glass Bead Glitter Gel and the SRTC chipboard snowflake)
10. Let's Craft and Create Challenge #109 - Layer it Up (I have layers of paper AND layers of embossing powder!)

28 comments:

  1. nice photos
    pretty papersand very nice card
    Bad Kitty's Craftroom
    >^.^<

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  2. Absolutely Gorgeous Janis, I love the way you have double embossed your background, and that mixture of different embossing powders... I love love the stunning card you have created from your stunning background...
    Thanks for entering our challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media Blog... Good Luck and we hope to see you again soon...

    Hugs
    Rhonda Alman xx
    http://creativeartistemixedmedia.blogspot.co.uk
    http://wheeliecraftydesigns.blogspot.com.au

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  3. BEAUTIFUL TEXTURE Janis This card is fantastic TFS Craft
    Rocket Challenges lis
    DT

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  4. Its wonderful! I wouldnt be able to bring myself to cut it up I think I would just save it to look at every now and again! Fabulous work and so creative! Cxx

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  5. Wow fantastic. I can't wait to have a go at this but think I'll get into a horrible mess. Your colors are gorgeous and i love the diagonals.

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  6. omg the embossing is fabulous love love love it! The snowflake
    looks amazing. Thank you for the shout out!

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  7. WOW Janis! What a stunning background and such a gorgeous card too! I love it and no wonder you do!

    Hugs

    Di xx

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  8. Sweet photos and I love your gorgeous backgrounds!

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  9. This is really beautiful Janis! Sounds like a tremendous amount of work but its so worth it when you see the end result. Sometimes you just feel up to that kind of challenge. It really IS beautiful and so you SHOULD be proud of it!

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  10. My mom emailed me to take a look at this card and the photos of your grand-daughter and wow! That card is so beautiful! I can see why you're in love with that technique, especially with the blue and silver. We just took our two girls to see snow for the first time so these pictures of Little Peach sleding down the hill are tons of fun to see. I don't think my 5 year old would be brave enough to slide down alone, but the 2 year old would go for it! Thanks for sharing this beautiful card.

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  11. Amazingly beautiful card with awesome textures and colours! Wonderful design!
    Thank you so much for joining in our Ring out the Old, Bring in the New challenge at Anything But Cute!
    Branka DT x

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  12. Wow! Your molten technique looks AMAZING! Love that look!
    Take care!
    Michele

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  13. Janis, this is oh so beautiful, what an amazing background and card design!

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  14. Gorgeous!
    Thanks for joining us at Let's craft and Create challenge blog and good Luck !
    MARYVONNE DT member

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  15. Janis, first I have to say that your photos are adorable! I love the little kitten playing in the snow, and Little Peach, too! She looks like she's having a blast!

    Seond, down to business...fantastic wintry card! I love the technique you used, and you will be sure I will be giving that a go. I've seen it before, but no results as pretty as yours! The colors are fabulous as is that embossing folder! Well done! Thank you for sharing your project with us at Anything But Cute for our Ring Out the Old, Bring in the New challenge. Hugs! Sara Emily DT

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  16. I just love your 'molten' technique, it looks fabulous on this cool, wintry and frosty card - it really does have the wow factor! The snowflake looks incredible too and I really love the whole design of your card, it is wonderful.

    Thanks so much for joining in our 'Ring out the Old, Bring in the New' challenge at Anything But Cute! Hugs, Anne xx

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  17. I love the colour combo on your project. The texture and details are awesome. Thanks for joining us at Creative Artists Mixed Media Challenge.
    Hugs Sheryl DT member xx

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  18. Thanks for the details of the technique - must give it a go!!

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  19. It's a fantastic looking card and sounds like you had a ball making it. Rightly picked as a showcase item over at the Snippets Playground!
    xxx

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  20. Gorgeous work!!!
    Thank you so much for joining our Ring Out the Old, Bring in the New challenge at Anything But Cute!
    Hugs

    Samra DT
    Paper Talk with Samra

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  21. I'll need to see a video of this, it's stunning! Thanks for sharing on Craft Rocket Challenges!

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  22. Wow, this is just incredible!! I just got some glass bead gel to play with as well, isn't it fun!!! Love what you did with it, your textures are amazing! That swirly background of metallics just sucked me right in, and the black accents really give it contrast! LOVE!!! Your photos are sweet, that kitty in the snow just melted my heart!

    Thank you so much for joining us at Anything But Cute for our 'Bring in the New' challenge, your rocked our theme! Hugs, Pamellia DT :)

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  23. oh my goodness. that is stunning. I love all the gliitery look. It's like I'm in an enchanted winter scene. Beautiful.
    Thank you so much for joining us at SRTC challenge
    Hugs,
    Dorinda

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  24. Oh wow, that is amazing, well done! Love all the colors you used and turned out beautifully. Thanx for joining us at SRTC.

    Carla

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  25. Beautiful card, love the background ! Thanks for joining us at Stamps and Stencis.

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  26. Wow, great technique! I am going to try this out, thanks! Beautiful card and love the addition of the SRTC snowflake. Thank you for joining in on last months challenge and hope to see your next creation for this months challenge over on the Southern Ridge Blog.
    Cheers
    Corina

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  27. This is so beautiful and elegant! Thank you for joining us at Let's Craft and Create! Good luck!
    Catherine DT

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THANK YOU so much for taking the time to leave a comment. Your kind words encourage me so very much!!!

Have a lovely day!
<3
Janis