Let It Snow Christmas Card with Deb Riddell

Hello and thank you for stopping by, Deb Riddell here with you today to share a Christmas card created with lots of wonderful Christmas and winter chipboard from Southern Ridge Trading Company.

I used Southern Ridge’s Poinsetta Drop, Bare Branches and Snowflake chipboard to create my Let It Snow Christmas card and have a few step out photos to share with you, enjoy!

I started out with a white A6 card blank (4½” x 6½”) and cut a front panel from more white cardstock to 4¼” x 6¼”, colouring the front panel with Distress stains and inks in multiple shades of green (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Iced Spruce).  Snowflakes were then stenciled onto the front with embossing ink and heat embossed with Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies for a subtle shimmery and snowy background.

Three Poinsetta Drop ornaments were painted with gold metallic acrylic paint and then backed with snowflake design scrapbook papers from my stash in shades of blue and teal.

A Snowflake chipboard piece was painted with white acrylic paint and then heat embossed with more Iridescent Shimmer embossing powder.

One of the Bare Branches chipboard pieces was inked with brown Distress stain (Vintage Photo Distress stain).

Opal Deco Foil was adhered to the adhesive side of a length of Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Tape.

Three Fold Up Bows were then die cut from the foiled Art Tape.

And the ‘let it snow’ sentiment was die cut from white cardstock covered with more Opal Deco Foil using the Holiday Words 2: Script die.

To assemble the card, the green background panel was adhered to the A6 white card blank and the Bare Branches chipboard piece was glued to the top left corner.  White button thread was coloured with the gold metallic acrylic paint and glued to the back of each of the Poinsetta Drop ornaments and the Opal Deco Foil Fold Up Bows added to the front of each ornament.

The three ornaments were then adhered to the card front so they appeared to be hanging from the Bare Branch.

And finally, the embossed Snowflake and ‘let it snow’ sentiment were added to the bottom of the card.

And that was it, hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing how my Let It Snow Christmas card came together.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Poinsetta Drop

- Bare Branches

- Snowflake

Other Supplies Used:

- Tim Holtz / Sizzix: Fold Up Bows, Holiday Words 2: Script & Mini Paper Snowflakes

- Tim Holtz / Ranger Ink: Distress Stain, Distress Ink, Distress Embossing Ink & Distress Matte Collage Medium

- Therm O Web: Opal Deco Foil, Rebekah Meier Designs Mixed Media Art Tape, Deco Foil Transfer Gel, Small Zots Singles & Memory Tape Runner XL

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder

- Miscellaneous: White Cardstock, scissors, paper trimmer, die cutting machine, acrylic paint (white and gold metallic), assorted snowflake scrapbook paper & white button thread

The holiday season is quickly approaching so hope I’ve inspired you to get out your Southern Ridge chipboard and start on your own Christmas cards, happy creating everyone!

Deb Riddell ~ Paxton Valley Folk Art

Bone Yard Skelly Tag with Deb Riddell

Hello and thanks for stopping by, Deb Riddell here with you today on this spooky Friday the 13th to share a frightful Halloween decoration created with Southern Ridge’s Skeleton, Skull and Spider Web chipboard.

I have some step out pictures of how I created my Bone Yard Skelly tag, read on if you dare!

I started with a small Tim Holtz Etcetera Thickboard tag and covered it with some barn wood paper from his Materialize Paper Stash, inking the edges with Ground Espresso Distress Archival Ink.

I painted the Skeleton chipboard with brown acrylic paint and then covered it with Deco Foil Adhesive.  After the adhesive had dried clear and tacky, I burnished on some Rebekah Meier Designs Antique Pearl Mixed Media Transfer Foil.  I loved the negative image left on the foil nearly as much as the chipboard skeleton so decided to use it as well.

I cut out the negative skeleton image left on the Transfer Foil and adhered it to a piece of Deco Foil Toner Sheet with my heat laminator.  I roughly tore around the image once it had transferred and inked the edges with more Ground Espresso Archival Ink.

The foiled toner sheet skeleton was adhered to the Thickboard tag along with some Halloween images from one of Tim’s Halloween Ephemera packs and a stamped and inked skull from his Regions Beyond stamp set.

Typography letters to spell out ‘bone yard’ were inked with multiple colours of alcohol inks (Mushroom, Ginger, Caramel and a touch of Rust).

The small Spider Web was embossed with Oil Rubbed Bronze embossing powder from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies.

A Skull charm from Emerald Creek Craft Supplies was covered with Pitch Black alcohol ink and while the ink was still wet, it was gently rubbed of the front of the skull leaving the darkest colours in the recesses of the charm.  A piece of black thread was tied onto the Skull charm.

In my usual style I then got on a roll and forgot to take any more in process pictures so will try to describe what I did next!  I added Mushroom alcohol ink to a Crypt Cameo and tied on more black thread.  The word ‘boo’ was die cut from black cardstock (Vintage Spirits die) and mounted onto a piece of die cut black fun foam for dimension.  Some phrases from Tim Holtz’s Halloween Clipping Stickers were inked with Ground Espresso Archival Ink.  Boneyard bones were inked with the same colours of alcohol inks as the Typography letters.

A Halloween Word Band was inked with Mushroom alcohol ink and the lettering enhanced with a Black Soot Distress Crayon.  Pieces of rusty wire were twisted on each end and inserted through two small holes drilled through the Thickboard tag.  Another Halloween Clipping Sticker and Boneyard bones were added around the Word Band.

The Skull chipboard piece was painted with shades of beige, brown, green and red acrylic paint, stippling the colours on randomly and then stippling on some Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint once the acrylics had dried.  Ground Espresso Distress crayon was added to emphasize the cracks and texture and the edges inked with Ground Espresso Archival Ink.

Here are a couple of more close ups, the embossed Spider Web was added to the top left and the Typography words adhered over top.

And the foiled Skeleton chipboard was added to the upper right of the tag.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing how my Bone Yard Skelly tag came together, it was a scream to make!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Skull

- Skeleton

- Spider Web

Other Supplies Used:

- Tim Holtz / Sizzix: Vintage Spirits die

- Tim Holtz / Stampers Anonymous: Regions Beyond Stamp Set

- Tim Holtz / Ranger Ink: Distress Ink, Distress Archival Ink, Distress Collage Medium, Alcohol Ink and Rock Candy Crackle Paint

- Tim Holtz / Advantus: Etcetera Thickboard Tag, Halloween Ephemera Pack, Typography, Crypt Cameos, Boneyard, Halloween Word Bands, Materialize Paper Stash and Halloween Clippings Stickers

- Therm O Web: Deco Foil Adhesive Pen, Rebekah Meier Designs Antique Pearl Mixed Media Transfer Foil and Deco Foil Toner Sheets

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Oil Rubbed Bronze Embossing Powder and Skull charm

- Miscellaneous: black thread, scissors, acrylic paint, E6000 glue and black fun foam

Thank you again for stopping by today and hope that you have been inspired to make your own Bone Yard Skelly tag, there are still a few days left before Halloween so break out your Southern Ridge Trading Company chipboard and happy creating!

Deb Riddell ~ Paxton Valley Folk Art

True North Strong and Free Canada 150 Plaque with Deb Riddell

Hello everyone and thank you for stopping by.  It’s Deb Riddell here today and I have a mixed media plaque to share with you that I made to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday, happy birthday Canada!

I used Southern Ridge’s Maple Branch, Fall Leaves and Handrawn Heart in the making of my celebratory plaque but I could have made my life much easier if I had remembered to order some of the pieces that Karen designed especially for Canada’s 150th birthday! Click here to check them, they would be perfect for your own Canada 150 celebratory creations.

The starting point for my mixed media plaque was a map of Canada from 1867 (the year of our Confederation) which I found online and printed out onto 110 lb white cardstock.

The maple leaf is a symbol of our country so I chose the Maple Branch and one of the small maple leaves from the Fall Leaves set and painted them with white gesso.  I then used a multitude of Distress Crayon colours to colour them, adding and subtracting colours and blending with my finger and a baby wipe until I was happy with the result.

Three hearts from the Handrawn Heart set were basecoated with Americana Bittersweet Chocolate acrylic paint and a coat of Weathered Wood was applied over the paint.  Once it had dried, a top coat of Santa Red was painted on.  Love watching the cracks appear!

Tim Holtz’s Layered Leaf was die cut from Distress Mixed Media Heavystock and coloured with Distress Inks in shades of red.  The maple leaf was then embossed with the accompanying Texture Fades embossing folder and the embossed areas emphasized with some darker shades of red Distress inks.

I stamped a banner with a Forever In Time Banners stamp onto Mixed Media Heavystock and then die cut the number 150 into it with Tim Holtz’s Alphanumeric dies.  The banner was fussy cut and shaded with brown acrylic paint.  Another piece of Heavystock was then embossed with Emerald Creek Craft Supplies Canada embossing powder and adhered behind the die cut 150 numerals.

The phrase ‘true north strong and free’ from our national anthem has always touched a chord deep within my heart so I decided to incorporate the words ‘true north’ onto my celebratory plaque as well.  The words were die cut with the Alphanumeric dies again and another piece of Heavystock was embossed with Emerald Creek Craft Supplies Salted Raven embossing powder.  The words were cut out and the embossed card placed behind the die cut words.

The ‘true north’ reference also made me think of a compass heading, so I stamped Tim Holtz’s Compass Blueprint onto Heavystock with Hickory Smoke Archival ink and clear embossed it.  The compass was die cut with the accompanying die and then watercoloured with Distress inks.  I used Distress ink colours that echoed the colours of the vintage map of Canada that was to be the background for my plaque.

The 1867 map was cut out and the edges distressed and inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink.  I adhered the map onto a piece of kraft corrugated card with Therm O Web’s Permanent Tape Runner XL, leaving a ¼” reveal around the edges of the map.

The map and corrugated card were then adhered onto a piece of black cardstock with the Tape Runner XL, leaving a ¼” reveal again, and a Tim Holtz Small Easel was die cut from more black cardstock and adhered to the back of the plaque for displaying it.

And then the components were adhered onto the plaque.  The words ‘true north’ were mounted onto black fun foam and adhered to the top right corner.

The compass was also popped up on fun foam and adhered onto the bottom right corner, along with one of the crackled hearts.

The Maple Branch was adhered to the background on the left side of the plaque and the die cut Layered Leaf was positioned overtop of it with bits of fun foam underneath it as necessary to stabilize it.  The 150 banner was positioned over the stem of the Layered Leaf on the bottom left with fun foam underneath it as well.

And finally, the last two crackled hearts were added to the upper left corner.  The small Fall Foliage maple leaf was adhered on top of one of the hearts and the plaque was complete.

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing how my True North Strong and Free Canada 150 plaque came together.

It will be proudly displayed in our home as we get set to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday on July 1st, what a celebration that will be!

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Maple Branch

- Fall Leaves

- Handrawn Heart

Other Supplies Used:

- Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Layered Leaf Die and Embossing Folder, Compass Blueprint Stamp and Die, Alphanumeric Dies and Small Easel Die

- Tim Holtz/Ranger Ink: Distress Ink, Distress Crayons, Distress Archival Ink and Distress Mixed Media Heavystock

- Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Canada Embossing Powder and Salted Raven Embossing Powder

- Therm O Web: Permanent Tape Runner XL and Mixed Media Adhesive

- DecoArt: Americana Acrylic Paint and Weathered Wood

- Forever In Time: Banners Stamps

- Miscellaneous: 110 lb white cardstock, black cardstock, kraft corrugated cardboard, fun foam and clear embossing powder

As always, thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope that I’ve inspired you to create a celebratory home decor piece for your own country, no matter where you live.  Happy creating!

Deb Riddell ~ Paxton Valley Folk Art