Welcome back, my crafty friends and fellow craft supply hoarders, er… I mean collectors! Today’s monthly installment is brought to you by the Squirrel Squad, back with our little hop that we put together to make sure we’re using the supplies we have ‘squirreled away’ 😉 As December is crazy busy, we decided to make this month’s theme a little easier on ourselves by making the theme Christmas / New Year’s. As you know, along with the theme we usually pick a specific supply or technique to use. Again, this was not the month for any of us to struggle with a potentially challenging technique, so we decided we could each use our favorite technique! So this month you will see even more variety and inspiration than usual in our projects!!! I didn’t even think that was possible, but here we are, killing it! Who is “we” you ask? Here is the short lineup:

• Lounon Riviere
• Marie Bingaman
• Anna Mahtani
• Karen Page – YOU ARE HERE
• V Fairchild
• Boryana Yankova – skipping this month

What was that you asked? “So Karen, what *IS* your favorite technique?” Oh, I’m glad you asked! I really struggled to pick just one, to tell you the truth. I love masking… seeing the results is always like opening a Christmas present, right? But my first thought was actually CAS cards (but is that a technique or a style?!?). But then, there is ink blending… and colored pencil coloring… and… Well, you see I just couldn’t limit myself to only one technique! Not only that, I couldn’t limit myself to just one card. I did, however, limit myself to just 1 stamp set. Have a look:

Perhaps this is a better view:

Yes, you are seeing that right…. 6… 6 cards. Same technique(s), same stamp set. So to make things simple, I’ll give a brief description here and then show individual, close up card pics. The stamp set I used is Lawn Fawn’s Simply Celebrate, and I used Every.Single.Stamp. in the set. It has only one sentiment, but it paired nicely with each of the 6 border-like stamps. After stamping each of the 6 images on card fronts, I made masks and (painstakingly) fussy cut each mask and lined them up with the images. I did not mask the arms pf the snowmen or the loops of the ornaments, cause ain’t nobody got patience for that. In the case of the winter village scene, I also masked off a ground, that in hindsight should have been made to look like snow, but 20/20 and all that… 🤦‍♀️

All 6 cards were ink blended with various types of ink (picked solely based on color preference, not brand or type). And then after the masks were removed, all 6 were colored with Prismacolor pencils. I kept it simple with virtually no shading as the images are small and I was going for, well… simple. So, let’s review:

• CAS? Check
• Masking? Check
• Pencil coloring? Check
• Christmas/New Year’s theme? Check
• Sweet, mail friendly cards? Check!!!

Now, in no particular order are close ups of each card. Don’t forget to hop on to the next stop on the short and sweet hop to V Fairchild of Passions and Distractions. She is sure to inspire you with her craftiness, and her amazing writing style will entertain you in the process!!!

Well, that might have been the least I’ve ever said in a blog post! (You’re welcome, but don’t get used to it!!! 😄

Now, don’t forget to head over to V’s little corner of the internet to see what her favorite technique is! I thank you all for dropping by and leaving a comment if you have the time!!! Tell me what techniques are your go-to’s! Or a technique you avoid like a pandemic. 🤣 For me, layered stamps. Doesn’t stop me from buying them though! 🤦‍♀️

Hope you have the Happiest and Craftiest of New Year’s!!!!!