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Friday 27 December 2019

Creative Card Making - Buffalo Plaid and Pine

Hello everyone!  Julia here with this month's Creative Card Making Post.  I'm sure everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that the mad rush of the holidays is over and hopefully we all found some time to settle down and enjoy them as well!

So with winter officially upon us, my mind has turned to snow and cold weather, cozy warm houses and buffalo plaid blankets!  
(Buffalo Plaid definition: a broad checkered plaid pattern usually of two colors)

I have two cards to share today inspired by winter and warmth.  
They are the same design but made with different colors.
I recently purchased these lovely dies from The Greetery, Botanicuts: Pine Bough and the Cozy Cup Coaster die and couldn't wait to get them out and create with them. 
I splattered this card with white water color paint.
I adhered chunky glitter to the pine needles.
 How different it looks just by changing colors!
 I splattered this card with yellow ochre water color paint and added just a touch of Distress Evergreen Bough on the white pine needles.
;'
Here are a few photos of my process.  
I die cut lots of pieces as my plan is to make more cards than just these two. 
Easier to do it all at once, right?!
I die cut the pine needles out of green cardstock for the first card but then also sponged them randomly with Evergreen and Pine Needles Distress Inks to give them more depth.
I glued the brown pine branch over the bigger pieces of pine needles and glued the smaller pine needle pieces over the branch (like a sandwich!) which adds even more dimension.
I assembled the pine cones (you just glue the little top piece onto the base and the other pieces just slip into the slots!) and then used colored pencils to color them along the under-edges (is that a word?!).  I brushed over the coloring with a water brush to soften the colors a bit.
I die but the coasters - one red and one white.
To create the plaid,  I masked along the lines impressed on the coaster using sticky notes and sponged every other section with Distress Black Soot, moving the masks along as I sponged.
The lines on the coaster make it very easy to keep your sponging straight!
One direction finished!
Then I turned the coaster and repeated the sponging in the other direction. And there you have the buffalo plaid! I love just looking at this!
And here are all the same pieces done with white card.
I just used a dark orange colored pencil on these pine cones, sponged the branch piece with Distress Vintage Photo and sponged just touches of Evergreen Bough on the pine needles.
Before putting the cards together, I ran some glue along the pine needles and sprinkled with chunky glitter.
After assembling the pieces onto the coasters I splattered the kraft card with white watercolor paint and the white card with yellow ochre water color paint.  Then I adhered the coaster to the card base.  The scalloped edge card base was cut with the Noted: Scalloped Square die from Papertrey Ink.  
My cards are 3 3/4" square.
I hope you have enjoyed my Creative Card Making offering today and I would also like to remind you that you still have until Jan 2nd to link up your card for our December Challenge: Holly Jolly Christmas found here.

From all of the Creative Guides at A Vintage Journey
We wish you a very Happy New Year!

We look forward to you joining us each month in 2020 for our AVJ challenges!

11 comments:

  1. There's a heartwarming rustic feel to the first card - gorgeous plaid and those pinecones look amazing with your dimensional shading... but the frosted version is fantastic too, with those icy pine needles and glamorous golden splatter (okay, yellow ochre, but it looks golden!). What a perfect seasonal inspiration post, Julia.
    Alison x

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  2. Such beautiful cards Julia and I enjoyed reading the step by step too. Those dies are gorgeous and I love the plaid backgrounds x Thank You for the inspiration xx

    Hugs Annie xx

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  3. Wow!! Fabulous! Very creative and such lovely designs!!

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  4. Beautiful Julia, love your plaid design on the coaster die cut. Have a Happy New Year :)
    Christine

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  5. Wish you Happy New Year - I hope it's the best year ever for you that wait around the corner - thanks for inspiration and keep it comming ;O))

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  6. One design , Two Gorgeous cards ., Julia . I love that you have created both in two contrasting colour ways to show off the versatility of the design. Love them both equally . Fabulous
    A x

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  7. Julia, your cards are beautiful and are perfectly charming winter greetings! I could see making a batch of these for thank you cards. I love those die cuts, and the way you've made the buffalo plaid with those sweet coaster die cuts. Great job coloring your pine cones and branches and a wonderful post as well. Happy New Year!

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  8. So glad I popped over from your blog to check out your tutorial Julia - that buffalo plaid is SO clever! Love all your little details too - a great tutorial, thank you. Wishing you a happy new year! Vicky x

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  9. Yes what cosy cards, both of them. Traditional first one and striking second one....fabulous x. The plaid looks fabulous x

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  10. Wow, what fabulous cards! I love the rustic look and feel that you created 😁. Your colour combinations are stunning and I really enjoyed following along to see how they came together, the plaid is amazing 😁. Thanks for the inspiration and wishing you a wonderful week! Hugs, Jo x

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