Joyful Winter Skies Christmas Card

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Friday! Only a few more sleeps until Christmas!

I love the sky at night in Winter! Apart from Christmas, it's probably the best thing about this season. If it's a clear night the Winter constellations are easy to identify, and are amongst my favourites to gaze at - whilst wrapped up warm of course!

It was probably all that I had in mind when I was putting together the final card for the blog this year, reaching for the Lawn Fawn Winter Skies stamp set to create a festive card fit for the season:

Stunning, right?!

I started by stamping my cute fox couple using Versafine Onyx Black ink, so I could get the position for the other elements. I then tore a strip of washi tape and placed that on my card base to form a mask for my craggy snowy landscape. I blended a number of different inks to create my night sky then splattered on water droplets and some mists to create my starry backdrop.

I coloured my foxes using colouring pencils. No fancy blending this time, but I think that adds to the charm of the scene! I wanted my cute couple to catch a glimpse of something magical in the night sky, so I stamped Santa and his reindeer-pulled sleigh using Versafine Onyx Black ink.

Finally, I heat embossed my sentiment, stamping it using my Versamark inkpad. My sentiment comes from the Mice On Ice stamp set which is currently out of stock (dotted the 'j' with one of the stars from the Winter Skies set though!), but the Lawn Fawn Winter Scripty Sentiments stamp set is still on the shelves and has a lot of great alternatives in that same whimsical font!


That about wraps it up for the blog this year, and Seven Hills Crafts will be back in 202 with loads of awesome goodies and inspiration for you all to enjoy! For me though, this marks my final card for the Design Team as I'm stepping down and away from the crafty side of life. I've had the most amazing time representing Seven Hills Crafts and would like to thank Tara and the team for all their support and love while I've been on the team. I'll continue to remain a loyal customer though as really where else can you go to that is so awesome for all your crafty needs?!

Finally, thank you to all those that visit the blog and have commented on my creations over the years. I've cherished every comment more than you can know. So, for the final time...  I'd love to hear what you think of this creation. Is there someone you know who'd love to receive it?

Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you all the best for a wonderful Christmas and New Year,

Taheerah x

Classic Season's Greetings Mistletoe Card

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Friday!

We're definitely on the official countdown to Christmas - are you excited yet?! We don't have our tree up yet but I've loved seeing the places I frequent getting all their festive décor up! Christmas is also my favourite occasion to create cards for - I get a chance to play with all different styles, colour combos, supplies and more! For today's card I kept it simple, classy and classic:

Beautiful, right?

I dusted off an older stamp set from Altenew called Bountiful Branch. I didn't get a chance to play with it when I first got it so it was like playing with something new again! Altenew are so well known for their layering stamp sets and this beauty is no exception! I stamped the leaves and branches using coloured inks, but when it came to the berries I used my Versamark inkpad to stamp the images before heat embossing them an off-white and a gold embossing powder to make a glitzy version of mistletoe. So pretty!

I painted a light wash of white paint over the card front to tone down the colour a bit before spritzing on the Glimmer Mist, adding some splatter then stamping my sentiment. I even dug out some packs of sequins for a little finishing touch!

I'd love to hear what you think of this creation. Is there someone you know who'd love to receive it? Thanks for stopping by!

Mini Skating Mouse Snow Globe Tag

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Friday!

Winter is starting to set in in these parts - you can definitely feel the chill in the air! Whilst colder temperatures aren't exactly my favourite thing, there are a few fun things that this season brings - Christmas being one of them! I love creating for Christmas, with gift tags being a particular favourite - they're little little mini works of art!

I decided to pull out a few Lawn Fawn goodies to create a shaped gift tag using the Snow Globe Gift Tag Die set and the Mice On Ice stamp set:

Super cute, right?!

I started die cutting my tag using a folded piece of cardstock. I placed the top edge of the die just above the fold to create a shaped tag that also opens up! I also die cut the two globe base accent pieces and set them aside for the time being.

I stamped the mouse using a pale ink then pulled out my colouring pencils to create a no-line coloured scene! So adorable! I added some dots of white paint, tipped on some embossing powder and heat embossed for some beautiful snow before doing a pale watercolour wash for the sky!

Remember those pieces I set aside? I heat embossed them with gold embossing powder, embossed the top of the tag too by taking my Versamark inkpad direct-to-paper, and then adhered the bottom pieces in place using Multi Matte Medium. Some added sparkly ribbon and string completed the look!

I'd love to hear what you think of this creation. Is there someone you know who'd love to receive it? Thanks for stopping by!

Warhol Pop Art Retro Telephone Hello Card

Hi everyone, Taheerah here wishing you a happy Friday!

I'm a big fan of vintage/retro stuff, and a big fan of Pop Art! So when I saw the Altenew It's For You stamp set with that awesome vintage phone I just knew what I had to do:

Awesome, right?!

I started my trimming my card base out and dividing the space into quarters. I stamped my detail stamp first using Versafine Clair inks, then overstamped with a paler, water-based colour.

I overstamped the phones with Versamark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I then masked off each square in turn and swiped the background colours on using a water-based ink! Because the embossing powder resists the ink I was able to use a slightly damp tissue to buff the colour off the phones to retain their colours!

I wanted a retro style sentiment so I reached for a fan favourite - the SugarPea Designs You're My Type stamp set! I stamped my sentiment in the centre using Versafine Onyx Black ink and I was all done!

I'd love to hear what you think of this card. Is there someone you know who'd love to receive it? Thanks for stopping by!

Take one die cut...

 I'm a huge fan of geometric patterned dies - especially when you can see ways to carve them up and stretch their use and so I couldn't wait to get my sticky mitts on the new Mod Circles Cover Up Die from Lil' Inker Designs.   It's very versatile - you can use it as a full background, do some faux layering techniques with it - or as I have here, die cut it once, cut it apart and make two cards from one die cut!

I cut the die from Adriatic card from Hero Arts which is probably my favourite shade.

For my first card I needed a get well soon card for a friend, so simply used a trimmed panel from the die as a background strip to sit my character on.  I could have used the whole die cut to cover the base of the card, but I wanted "space" to sit the character in and to stamp the sentiment directly to the card.  To frame it, I used one of the strips I cut off the die for my second card to edge the right hand side of the card.

The fabulous characters is from Stamping Bella and is called Edna to the Rescue - I love her huge plaster!  She was coloured mostly with Altenew Set D Markers, except for the flesh tones and plaster which I used copics for.  I added a little glitter to her wings.  I die cut her using the co-ordinating die and then took my craft knife to the space under the plaster between her arm as there was too much white and it bugged me but you could happily skip that step if you're not a pedant like me.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

For the second card I wanted to go masculine so decided to just let the pattern do the talking.  I trimmed a row of circles so there were no straight edges and glued it to the bottom of my card.  I then took all the pieces I'd poked out and pressed them directly onto my versamark pad before dipping them with tweezers into my copper embossing powder.  I think the copper pairs so well with the dark teal card.  I gave each piece a double coat so it was nice and thick and shiny and then glued each into place once cool.

To give it an extra manly feel I added black diamonds - I just coloured the teal pieces with a black marker rather than doing another die cut and then added glossy accents and 3 round enamel dots inbetween.

For the sentiment I stamped several birthday messages from Mama Elephant across some black card and embossed them in copper to bring it all together. I think it gives quite a simple and elegant "can be sent to anyone" card that is always handy to have in your stash for those requests we all get for a cards from time to time.

Tara