Christmas at Sweet Stampin' - Divinity Designs

Hello, my friends!

First - thank you for staying with me - it's been a rough few months, and I'm slowly recovering. My fumble fingers are beginning to coordinate with my Mojo, and my strength is kind of getting normalish. I had a body-wide exacerbation which then triggered an unexpected, unpleasant infection. The ways our bodies respond to certain "stimuli" is just amazing (as many of you know first-hand). The most difficult thing is being patient with myself and flexible enough to be satisfied with what can be accomplished, even if it is, seemingly, a big Nothing.

Enough of that!

Today begins a new challenge at 

Christmas at Sweet Stampin'!

My brilliant teammates have fantastic samples to share! The challenge is ANYTHING GOES for ANY Christmas theme craft project. June's Challenge is open until July 6 and has an optional theme of non-traditional colors.

My non traditional color is BROWN.
How fun! I used a Christmas Tree Collage image that has been in my stash for 4-5 years and has never seen ink! How could I be so cruel?
I'm so pleased with the quality and details in the stamp, that I'll be buying more from this company.

My first brown card has an oval frame.



I began by creating a background paper with this beautiful poinsettia stamp, embossing powder and Ken Oliver Liquid Metal Heavy Metal Brushos. I both painted and splattered with them.

Here's a close up of the "Heavy Metals". I painted them around the tree's star halo, and a little on each ornament:

The frame is glittered, of course, and covers portions of the stamped collage:

The second card features the Cracked Glass technique. The image was stamped and distressed with inks. The background paper was also stamped with a Music background stamp. Here are the pieces before assembling:

I smeared Judikins embossing ink on the dried image, and heat set several coats of clear EP on it. Next it was put in the freezer for 45 minutes, and then "cracked". Black Soot distress ink was smooshed into the cracks. 

You can see the glassy effect here. The entire panel shines like that:



Hopefully you can see some of cracks here:



I love this stamp! How could I have neglected it for so long?

Will you come play, too? Remember, the non-traditional color is optional.

Two cards, one stamp, one brown color:

Some Products:

• Stamp (on both cards) Divinity Designs Christmas Tree Collage with VersaFine Clair Acorn Brown Ink

Oval Card:

• Me and Carrie Lou Poinsettia (apparently they are only sold at Violette's a brick-and-mortar store in Lakeland FL)
• Ken Oliver Liquid Metals Heavy Metals watercolors
• Vintage Brown Cosmic embossing powder
• SB Classic Oval die set
• SB Fleur de Elegance 5x7 oval die set

Rectangle Card:

• Embossing Ink (for cracked glass technique)
• Clear embossing powder (for cracked glass technique)
• Scattered Straw, Aged Mahogany, Black Soot Distress Inks
• Tutti 123 Arched Fir Branch die
• Tonic Studios English Picnic Rectangle die set
• MS Doily Trim punch
• Judikins Music Background Stamp

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. Merry Little Christmas Challenge #11 Anything Christmas Goes 7/1
2. The Holy and Ivy Christmas Challenge #51 Anything Christmas Goes 6/16
3. Christmas Cards All Year Round (June) Garland-Leaves or Christmas Flowers (one card has stamped poinsettias, the other has golden garland die cut) 7/1
4. Classic DT Open Challenge #6 June  AG for DT 7/1
5. Love to Craft Challenge Blog #35 Anything Goes 7/1
6. Crafting by Designs (June) Anything Goes 7/1
7. Artistic Inspirations #216 Anything Goes 7/2
8. Use Your Stuff #362 "Vintage" 6/17

Stamping Hugs,