I am coming out of my busiest week in December so it looks like clear sailing from now on (I hope!). Most years, I've accompanied for a children's theater Madrigal Dinner in December and it's always fun, chaotic and magical. Those songs will be running in my head as I finish out the Christmas season but my focus is back on my art and my house. We are also wrapping up our remodel and am so happy to have running water in the kitchen again. I've used the new oven a few times and am trying to figure out where to put things in new cupboards. It's exciting to switch up such a major part of the home, the kitchen.
I'm also back stamping some and seeing what I need to do before Christmas arrives. I'm hosting a fun open house style class tomorrow featuring tags, gift bags and gift card holders. All of those can be extremely useful as you wrap up your Christmas shopping and if you get to craft to do so, it's a win/win! Please feel free to drop by my house tomorrow if you can make it. I have times at 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Contact me for more details.
How many of you are fans of owls? I am not sure what I think. There's something cool about them but I never want to get to close to a bird. Give me a puppy any day!!! I had some extra hostess dollars to use recently so I chose the "Still Night" bundle. I was intrigued by the tree branch but also thought the owl was kinda cool. I finally got around to playing with it a few days ago and here's what happened!
I did several different techniques with this first card. I used the birch tree stamp from the "Winter Woods" stamp set to stamp up some Whisper White card stock. I then cut the branch out of it. It isn't perfect as the branch grows different ways and the birch stamp was all vertical, but I decided I kind of liked it. My owl is heat embossed with some Early Espresso embossing powder. I added some of the pine boughs that come with this set. After I stamped the evergreen trees, again from the "Winter Woods" set, I embossed the whole background piece with the "Softly Falling" embossing folder to create the look of snow.
For this card, I decided to use a Night of Navy cardstock background and some white craft ink to stamp some snowflakes, part of the "Still Night" stamp set. I am thinking the owl doesn't stand out enough so I would emboss him like I did above, next time.
I wanted to try my hand at a non- seasonal, non- night time card so I used the owl die included in the "Still Night" set and cut three different owls out of bright colors, Poppy Parade, Mango Melody and Daffodil Delight. As I was putting this together, I realized this could be a great graduation card by fashioning a graduation cap and tassel and putting it on top of the owl.
This last card is included as an example of a "meh" card! Sometimes you think you have a great idea and then it turns out kinda boring, kinda underwhelming. I used Soft Suede card stock for the owl and it's just too dark to see the stamping very well. I think my background is okay, but too boring. The reason I posted this is to show you that it's okay to try things, fail and try again. I learn a lot about art by figuring out what I should have done differently to get a different result. I guess that mirrors life, right?!
I hope you are enjoying the season, taking in all the sights, scents and sounds. It's a wonderful time of year!
Happy Stampin'!
Sarah
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