January didn't produce as much as I had hoped, craft-wise, but if I look at the experimenting that I did with paper arts and the continued knitting, I haven't done badly.
Sympathy cards are always difficult if you are making them when you need them. Not only do you feel a time crunch, but you are also emotionally involved which can delay or derail your creativity. I made this one using Gina K's Friendly Silhouettes which were from an online class where she was a guest instructor. There are other tree stamps that are similar.
Playing with products produced this tree, a new purchase because it was on sale and I liked the layers of the Sizzix die set called Layered Christmas Tree, number 664712. I used white glitter paper for the snow and Stickles for the ornaments.
A Jennifer McGuire video inspired me to apply ink to a stencil and run the stencil and paper through a die cutting machine as if you were embossing the paper. The embossing effort didn't go well due to user error while I become familiar with how my new machine works. This stencil, Bold Layering Stencils by Gina K would normally produce colored flowers on white paper or a colored paper of your choice which might limit the colors of ink you could use for the flowers. Yellow ink, for instance, over blue card stock would probably give you a green flower that was not your intention. Here is the link to Jennifer McGuire's Stencil Ink Press Technique
February 1st was the start of the Lunar New Year. I made this card for my neighbor, welcoming the Year of the Tiger. I used gold ink on red cardstock and a stencil called Lunar Lanterns by Clearly Besotted. The playful tiger images were prints that I cut and adhered inside and out.
