Oldies but Goodies , N&T Christmas Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone!  I've been trying to be judicious in my crafty spending this year, and haven't bought many new Christmas sets.  Instead, I've been enjoying pulling out a lot of older product for my Christmas cards.  Today I used some older Neat & Tangled stamps and stencils.  

For my first card, I stamped one of the reindeer from the Oh Deer set in Gina K Amalgam ink, colored him with Copics, and then die cut.  

I cut a panel of kraft cardstock, die cut a circle to create a frame, and then spread embossing paste through the Fa La La stencil.

Once that was dry, I finished the card, by adding a snowflake print to my card base as well as a hand cut snow drift from a scrap of white cardstock.  

The reindeer was adhered on top of the snowdrift, and then the stenciled panel was popped up over top with foam tape.  I added a sentiment from Hello Bluebird's Typed Christmas set that was stamped on one of Neat & Tangled's Skinny Strips dies.

For this next card, I stamped, colored and die cut a few of the images from Neat & Tangled's Nativity Play set.  Then I went to work on the stenciled background.

I started by adding Dylusions Lemon Zest and Pure Sunshine Ink Spray to a panel of white cardstock.  Once that was dry, I spread embossing paste over the panel using the Radiating Star stencil, and set the panel aside to dry.

In the meantime, I added a bit of brown ink to a scrap of white cardstock to serve as the ground in my scene.  This was stamped with one of the sentiments from Neat & Tangled's Little Baby Jesus stamp set.  The first part of that sentiment was stamped on a white banner.

The brown frame was cut using an older My Favorite Things frame die.

Then it was just a matter of assembling everything.  The stenciled background and ground piece were adhered directly to the card base, everything else was popped up with foam tape.  

Hope you are all staying safe and healthy!

Simple Stenciled Backgrounds for Your Stamped Images

Hi all!  I'm sharing a set of cards today featuring your basic stencils and stencil paste on kraft.  I had a bunch of images that I've colored over the last week or so as part of Kathy Racoosin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge and wanted to put them to use on some Christmas cards.

I love the look of white stamping and embossing on kraft, and basic embossing paste creates essentially the same effect, with some wonderful texture too.

I started out by creating my stenciled backgrounds using Dreamweaver white embossing paste over Papertrey Ink Kraft cardstock.  When I"m creating backgrounds I'll cut my panels to a full A2 size, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" even though I rarely use them that size.  Often when you stencil a panel the edges aren't quite as crisp as you might want them, so this gives me the opportunity to trim them down to get that nice finished edge

The embossing paste may warp the cardstock a little, so to make sure that the panel was good and stuck to my card base, I used liquid adhesive, the kind you have to kind of pump and the blue liquid comes out, and placed a book over top while it was drying.

I used both stencils that have more 'white' space where there's more paste showing as well as stencils where the design leaves more kraft showing.  For this first card, I'm using my Star stencil for Neat & Tangled.  

The image is from a retired Neat & Tangled set called Little Baby Jesus, and the sentiment is from Altenew's Peach on Earth set.  Both the die cut image and sentiment strip are popped up with foam tape for a bit of dimension.

The next card features my Radiating Star stencil for Neat & Tangled.  When I created the background for this one I didn't realize there was a bit of red ink/spray left on the stencil form the last use, so there's a bit of a rose glow to the background.  I decided I liked the look, but that's why you don't see a more pure white in the background.

The image is from another retired N&T mini called Angel Wing as is the sentiment.

I needed a slightly larger sentiment strip because of the size of the sentiment, but it looked a little too white, so I added a bit of Copic shading around the edges to soften the look.

Next I created a panel using my Fa La La stencil, also from N&T.   

This snowman couple from Paper Smooches' Cool Dudes set was perfect for the background as was the sentiment from Hello Bluebird.

Finally, I used the Tim Holtz Pines Layering Stencil to create this last background, pairing it with one of my very favorite Christmas/Winter Images, the Merry Kisses set from N&T.

The sentiment is from Hello Bluebird, and I used one of the banners from the Scalloped Dies set from N&T.

These backgrounds are quick and easy to create and are the perfect backdrop for your colored images.  I really love how the balance but don't overshadow the images.

Thanks for stopping by!

Neat & Tangled November Release and Giveaways - Day 2

Ready for Day 2 of the Neat & Tangled November release?

I think I said this yesterday, but I'm really excited about today's product highlights which include my new cover/stencil design, Fa La La.

First up the stencil because I've been dreaming of using some paste with this stencil since I first designed it.  I love how crisply the letters look with this, it creates such a great impart for the background - not too bold that it detracts from anything else going on, but I think it really elevates things.

The images I used for this card are from Elena's new Stay Cool set that you'll see tomorrow, and I added a sentiment from the Santa's Wonderland set which was embossed onto one of the little flags from the Scalloped die set.

Of course I had to use the cover plate too, and with the Fa and the La and the La, it only made sense to pull out last year's Fa La Llama set.

I kept things very CAS, leaving all the die cuts in place for a white on white background.  I did cut an extra Fa La La and colored it to match the llama, adhering those letters over top of the inlaid ones.

This die is so fun, and wait until you see what everyone created with it!  Head over to the N&T blog to check it out as well as Elena's new die which is so much fun you are going to need it, especially if you have little ones!  Danielle is giving away a set of today's highlighted products to a lucky commenter too!

Leave a comment here also because at the end of the week I'll be picking some winners for some of my new release products.  Be sure to head to my IG (@mprantner) for extra chances.  See you back here tomorrow for Day 3!