It’s been snowing

Posted: January 8, 2026 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Brusho, cricut, Darkroom Door, Echidna Studios, snow flakes, snowflake digital stamp set | Tags: cricut, Darkroom Door stamps, digital stamps, Echidna Studios, Fabriano Watercolour Paper | 4 Comments

It’s been snowing quite a bit around here and we’ve had some very cold nights. A few of those nights happened to be while our furnace was not working but it’s fixed now and all is warm and cosy again! I am sending these out to a couple of friends who will totally get the snowy themed greetings, people who know about the beauty and length of a Canadian winter.

Believe it or not I did not create these cards at the same time but I’m pretty sure I ended up using the same supplies. The single snowflake card above was made with a watercolour panel I made years ago when experimenting with brusho. I probably sprinkled the brusho on watercolour paper then spritzed it with water until I was happy with the result. Even after you are happy with the result it can change as the paper and paint dry. I liked the panel so much I hoarded it, waiting for the right design. I am trying not to do that so much any more as I am very keen to Use What I Have (UWIH does not make a catchy acryonym so I am still playing with the category title). I paired the panel with one of my daughter’s snowflake designs available in the Echidna Studios etsy store as a print or cutting file. There are 6 snowflake designs in the set and I think they are beautiful.

The second card was also made with brusho but I sprinkled it over an embossed panel. I embossed the Darkroom Door snow flakes background stamp with clear powder then covered it with brusho watercolour. I cut the words with my cricut to get a size that would show up on the busy background. Happy New Year and thank you for dropping in here.

HB shimmer on black

Posted: December 30, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: cricut, Finetec paints, Hand drawn | Tags: cricut, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Hand drawn, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints | 2 Comments

As I’ve mentioned before I have a ‘pile of possibility’ which is actually a box filled with panels that might be good for a future card or project. This painted and doodled panel came from that pile. I think I created it when I was teaching shimmer paint on black watercolour paper back in 2021!

I have a selection of metallic paints, also called mica or shimmer paints from Finetec and Kuretake. They all work well on black and show up more dramatically than on white or pale coloured paper. My next bookmaking project will be an art journal made up of black watercolour paper pages so I’m planning to put my shimmer paints and markers to use along with opaque paints and markers.

To turn this panel into a birthday card I doodled with white gel pens then cut the HAPPY letters on the cricut and paired them with a smaller die-cut ‘birthday’.

Caravan Christmas

Posted: December 26, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Taylored Expressions | Tags: Taylored Expressions | 2 Comments

This year I ended up making way more cards using paper napkins than I first expected and to my surprise received one yesterday from a friend who had taken a similar path. Great minds and all that…

I would happily give credit to the artist responsible for today’s cute scene but the packaging from the German company IHR product does not included the designer’s name. Despite what you might think I didn’t buy these napkins when I was in Australia earlier this year, I bought them in a little town in Quebec. I was so surprised to see them in Wakefield, in summer, very far from places that might celebrate Christmas on the beach in a caravan with a surfboard handy!

I sent one of these cards to my dad, of course because his experience with caravans goes way back to the one his father built. My brother and sister-in-law also received one because they are keen caravan travelers. The other two I gave to Canadians because they have heard me talk about the contrast of Australian and Canadian Christmas traditions.

The meaning of Christmas however does not change according to the seasons. I am grateful to have always celebrated the birth of my savior at Christmas. What a gift God has given us.

Watercolour trees & skies

Posted: December 23, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Penny Black, ski lodge embossing folder, Spellbinders | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Spellbinders | 1 Comment

Here are a few more watercolour Christmas cards I made this year. I painted a large panel of watercolour paper in blues and greens blended together to create a striped mix of tones. From the large panel I cut background rectangles a bit smaller than my card bases and trees of different heights to arrange against embossed white skies. I don’t know the name of the tree die set as I borrowed it from a friend. I really like the non-symmetrical trees featured on the cards above.

To create the snow banks I cut curved hill shapes, sometimes one, sometimes two per card. The cards were all finished with Penny Black sentiments. I have sent most of my cards but there are a few that will be new year greetings. Last week the snow was gradually disappearing around here as we had warmer temperatures and rain. This week it’s a different story; it’s been snowing for days.

Birds on Birches

Posted: December 9, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: beneath the birches, Dies, Penny Black, sennelier watercolours, winter trees | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, sennelier watercolours | 3 Comments

In case you were wondering I have done some watercolouring for Christmas cards this year; it’s not all napkin art. I created a batch of cards for a friend which included either watercolour skies or watercolour trees.

I painted a blended sky with a couple of different blues then added hand-cut snowbanks and die-cut trees and birds from the Penny Black sets, ‘beneath the birches‘ and ‘winter trees‘.

This would be a simple card to make in multiples by painting a large sheet of watercolour paper to divide into sky panels then add the white and red elements. The greeting is from the PB ‘Christmas sentiments‘ set. How is your Christmas card sending going? I sat in a waiting room yesterday and wrote about eight cards instead of reading a book or scrolling so that advanced me through my list a little.

Eucalyptus & gold

Posted: December 3, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Airy, Dies, Penny Black, stocking stuffers | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 5 Comments

I thought this would be my last napkin/serviette related post for now but I forgot about a pack of dinner napkins I bought in the summer. So maybe one more!?

But onto today’s cards; you can see in the photo above that the eucalyptus themed napkins are printed on a white base but my cards are all cream tones. When I adhered the single layer of the napkin to cream cardstock, the background transformed into cream not white.

The napkins are not Christmas themed themselves but I chose to add gold foliage die-cuts, gold embossed greetings and even some gold splatter on the one below to turn them into Christmassy cards. I used the Penny Black dies, ‘stocking stuffers‘ and ‘airy’.

Let heaven and nature sing

Posted: November 27, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Penny Black, Spellbinders | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Spellbinders | 8 Comments

This is the second collection of napkin/serviette Christmas cards I’ve made, this time with sweet birds and foliage featured. As I mentioned in an earlier post I have had success with a glue stick or double sided adhesive to adhere the single layer of napkin to cardstock, but there are other methods which several of you were kind enough to share with me.

Thank you to everyone who got in touch to let me know about the following options: spray adhesive, modpodge, freezer wrap adhered with a hot dry iron and a full sheet of Avery sticker paper. Some involve wet adhesive, some dry and the freezer wrap uses the melted wax in the paper so I imagine each method produces a slightly different thickness and flexibility. I will report back again if I try some of these approaches.

As is often the case it is hard to see the texture in the background panels and card bases. I have used the Spellbinders ‘in the pines’ embossing folder on both the white and the dark green panels and it does look nice and co-ordinates with the pine sprigs on the napkins.

The sentiments are a mix of Penny Black sentiments, the favourites I pull out every year.

2 for 1 cards

Posted: November 24, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Penny Black, Taylored Expressions | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Taylored Expressions | 6 Comments

Here are some of the ‘2 for 1’ cards a group from our church made on Saturday. I had a couple of friends help with prep and running the event and it was a fun creative time. Of course there were snacks, laughter and plenty of conversation.

The ‘2 for 1 technique’ in this case required the maker to cut an image or word out of patterned paper and turn the positive and the negative piece into two separate cards. To add some texture and pattern we had coloured and embossed backgrounds to choose from.

I have run this event before and there is always some creative free styling when participants see the supplies available. I get inspired watching everyone create. I wanted one photo of all the cards but my kitchen table was crowded with just half so I divided them into landscape and portrait orientation.

Thank you to the twenty three people who participated before and during the event. I hope the residents at the nursing home will enjoy the pretty cards and message.

Christmas Greenery

Posted: November 21, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Christmas inchies, Darkroom Door, Elizabeth Craft Designs, Gina K, global postmarks, Penny Black, postage stamps | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Elizabeth Craft Designs, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps | 7 Comments

Yes, finally a Christmas card post. I have been playing around with paper napkins for some of my Christmas cards. All the designs in today’s post use panels from a greenery + berries design. I peel off the printed layer from the three layer napkins or serviettes (depending where you’re from) and glue it to cardstock. I’ve used both double sided adhesive (pricey) and glue sticks (slightly curls the cardstock). Either option works I just need to take some time to flatten the glued panels.

Sometimes when attaching the fragile napkin layer to the cardstock you get some creases; I think they add interest and texture so I don’t let them worry me. I used my cricut and the Echidna Studio stocking design and mitten designs to cut out large features to add to an embossied background.

I also used the lovely postage dies from Elizabeth Craft and the Darkroom Door Global Postage and Christmas Inchies stamps to add postmarks along with small sentiment stamps from Penny Black to add words. For the card below I simply cut the word joy using a PB die and added it to a large panel. You could definitely make all these cards with patterned papers or your own painted or printed papers. I just get tempted by the beautiful paper serviettes out there and end up buying them for craft and dinner!

I am packed up ready to do Christmas card making with some friends from church tomorrow. We are making 2-for-1 cards to give to the residents in a local nursing home. I’ll try and share a few of the designs next week. Have a lovely weekend.

Stencilled Tendrils

Posted: November 14, 2025 | Author: Heather | Filed under: AALL & Create, twirling tendrils stencil | Tags: AALL & Create, Fabriano Watercolour Paper | 3 Comments

I would call this a watercolour/inkblending/stencil mashup which is probably not the catchiest name! Regardless of the name, I like the result. I used blending brushes to blend three distress inks through the beautiful ‘twirling tendrils’ stencil from AALL & Create.

Salty ocean, chipped sapphire and seedless preserves will always be up there with my all time faves so I blended them onto hot press watercolour paper through the delicate stencil. After blending I gently spritzed water over the panel so come of the ink would move into the surrounding area. In places it reminds me of the crackled lines you get with batik.