Merry Christmas Ribbon

For this card I took the layout from Freshly Made Sketches and the colour theme from The Card Concept

I used a card made made from ivory hopsack weave cardstock.

The poinsettia die is from  Britannia Dies and I don't remember where the ivy came from. I coloured the flower with alcohol pens and the leaves with Distress Oxide inks. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things. The ribbon is by East of India.

 

Merry Christmas

Here is a card for the reminder post for the challenge at Christmas Craft Creations where I am doing a Guest Designer spot. The theme is Fun Folds

I kinda made this one up!

I just fancied something a little different. I made  gatefold cards for my daughter's wedding invitations, and they fastened with a ribbon, this one fastens by the fact that I made a double edge so that the right hand flap slots into the left hand edge.

I simply cut a second scalloped strip which I aligned and adhered behind the front one, leaving a gap for the right flap to slot into.

The little fox is from Create a Smile, the sentiment from Poppy Stamps and the tiny sprig of holly an old favourite stamp by Stampendous.

Thank you

On a wander round Blogland I spotted the challenge at Inkspirational where there is a photo for  inspiration this time. I used a Simon Says Stamp background stamp embossed in gold on black card for the panel and added a stacked die cut crane (or heron... not 100% sure of my birds) and a simple stacked sentiment.

I ummed and ahhed about whether to do something surrounding the panel but in the end just left well alone. I really like gold embossing on deep coloured cardstock!

 

Be Merry

Another week, another Guest Designer card for the challenge at Stamps & Fun = Creativity

You might guess from this card that the theme is SNOWFLAKES. I am quite partial to White on White cards, but the problem arises when it comes to trying to photograph them. I tried various backdrops, but couldn't seem to find anything to enhance the image. I hope you can see it! I triple stacked each snowflake and double stacked the sentiment. Each flake has a pearl in the centre.

TIME OUT Challenges

Simplicity is what I love!

 

Noel

Today I made a card following the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with dies

I use a couple of strips of water-coloured paper, a sentiment and a few stars. The edges of the stars and the sentiment are gently twinkled with Glamour Dust. I don't tend to make Christmas cards with non-trad colours, but I seemed to have done a few this year!

 

Christmas tile

Minimal or what!

The challenge at AAA cards is an INCHIE and only an INCHIE, so I tried to put a lot into a very little space.

To make the tile, I cut the square and coloured it with Barn Door Distress Oxide ink and spritzed with water. I then added a little Inka Gold, stamped a couple of times with a tiny script stamp in gold and then black, added a couple of tiny die cut holly leaves and then heat embossed about three times. After the final embossing and while the melted powder was still molten, I stamped another small round script stamp in Gold Brilliance ink, which left both an image and an impression.

I added a couple of tiny pearls for berries and it was done... mounted on a little foam tape to add just a touch of dimension!

I think this card would be OK for a chap too!

 

Merry Christmas Wreath

I love making Christmas Cards and I love using die cuts and I also love messing around with ink, so this card was just up my street. 

I dabbed a couple of shades of green Distress Oxide ink onto the wreath base and the sprigs of leaves and then spritzed with water. When dry I rubbed a little gold gilding wax here and there. The bow and the flower centres were cut from hessian and the sentiment was cut in kraft card to match and then stacked to give a little additional dimension!

Christmas 24

CAS on Friday 

LEAVES

Happy Little Stampers

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

Merry Christmas to you

There's still time to enter the Stencil Monoprint challenge at CAS Mix Up

You don't need to worry if you aren't sure what that is as here are a couple of links to videos to show you how it can be done.

Video Tutorials:

Stencil Monoprints - Lee-Anne Cross (6:50)

Stencil Monoprints Backgrounds with Distress Inks (8:28)

For this card I inked my stencil with a few shades of Distress Oxide inks and gently spritzed with water., I then flipped the stencil over and took a print. This is part of a border stencil. I die cut the rectangle and then used some of the waste for the snowflake. I added a few tiny tiny gems and a simple sentiment! The snowflake is stacked with an extra layer under just the right hand portion which doesn't overlap the rectangle in order to keep it level!

It's a fun technique, why not join us!

 

merry CHRISTMAS

I spotted the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches and thought I would have a go!

I've had this little holly stamp by Stampendous for ever and never tire of using it. I simply coloured it with a few shades of Copic markers and arranged it to fit behind the window in the little panel. I've also had the little Memory Box or Poppy Stamps sentiment (can't remember which) for ages too and love that just as much!

It's really, really simple but that appeals to me! I just love making Christmas cards as I know they will get a recipient, unlike many of the cards I've made over the years, which sit in a box until I cart them off to a charity shop!

 

Happy Birthday

I recently discovered a site for digital images, which I wanted for the occasional background for some of my cards. It's called theHungryjpeg. I began this card with one such image. I printed two and used one for the front panel and another to die-cut a circle to superimpose over the image, so adding a third circle to the existing two in the design. Another couple of die cut foliage sprigs, a few pearls and an die-embossed stripe down the panel, together with the sentiment completed the card!

Addicted to CAS - Circles

 

Another Merry Christmas

This die by Alexandra Renke is called a snow globe but to me it looks more like a bell, so I added some thread and a bow to suspend it. The scene inside this time uses a freebie tree line die-cut and a couple of Memory Box deer. The sentiment is a new acquisition this week also from Memory Box. The embossed snowflakes in the background are from The Creative-Depot. 

I began by making this card all white but it looked decidedly lack lustre, mainly I think, because it is a very flat, matt finish cardstock, so I added the kraft layers to the deer and the Merry Christmas. 

I didn't really check the size of this sentiment die before I bought it and was a little surprised by how big it is, but I got it on sale so I'm happy and looking at it now I think it's rather splendid!

CAS Christmas - Christmas Critters

 

Merry Christmas

I don't t end to use much designer paper these days, but today a scrap caught my eye in the drawer and this card emerged. Sometimes non-traditional colours work out and this time I was satisfied with the outcome. Dies by Alexandra Renke and I think the horizontal embossing was done with a freebie folder.

Just US Girls - Merry

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with dies

Happy Little Stampers - Christmas

Merry Christmas

Recently I was lucky enough to have one of my cards selected as the winner at Christmas Craft Creations and was invited to be a Guest Designer for their current challenge!

As you can see the card is a little different from my usual makes and that is because this challenge is to make a Fun Fold Card!

This one is a centre step card and the problem came with working out some measurements which would fit UK  cardstock sizes and have the correct dimensions to fold properly.

This is what I came up with. (Sadly not exactly to scale)

The measurements down the centre are the distances between each fold.

The solid lines are cut lines and the dotted lines are fold lines.

These cute polar bears are from MFT and I added a bunch of die cuts to complete the picture!

Just Us Girls 

 

Christmas Greetings

I combined a few challenges with this card.

Addicted to CAS - Circle

ABC Christmas W = Whimsical or X = Xerox 

whimsical

/ˈwɪmzɪk(ə)l/

adjective

• 1.playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way:"a whimsical sense of humour"
  
  
  
  

After looking up the definition of whimsical as opposed to what I thought it was, (which in fact happened to be the same) I decided that a gnome with a pair of skis was quite a whimsical thought! So here is a little chap from SSS dressed in mulberry paper.

The sentiment EF was free with a mag I believe

AAA Cards

 

Merry Christmas

For this card I dug out some Artemio snowflake stamps and a splodge stamp from SU to create an emboss resist corner. After stamping with Versamark and clear embossing, I inked with a couple of shades of Distress Oxide inks using blending brushes. The sentiment is stacked tow or three times... the Merry from Sizzix and the Christmas from Create a Smile. The card was completed with a small star from Memory Box and a few tiny, tiny gems.

Just Us Girls - Merry

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge

 

Hello

Another week as Guest Designer at Stamp & Fun = Creativity

This time the challenge is to use Grey plus 1 other colour. Here I chose grey and green. The little elephant is a die from The Works and I think he's a real cutie, I believe the leaf that he is holding is from a die set The Works too.

After I had cut him out, I stamped him with a crackle stamp in Versamark to make his skin look a bit crinkly. I coloured the leaf by daubing with Distress Oxide inks.

It would be great if you could join in with the fun too, we'd love to see you there.

 

Let it snow

This card was a bit of an experiment. I just bought the Snowflake Wire die from Memory Box and somehow I envisaged a different texture for above and below it. I have an old Snow embossing folder from Sheena Douglass, which I absolutely love, but which is sadly no longer available. I wanted to use this embossing folder for one part of the card. SO I die cut one of the wires and then placed it onto a piece of thick cardboard, traced the upper edge and cut it out. I made three layers and stuck them together, which made them about the same thickness as a single cutting plate from my Cuttlebug.

I put my card panel into the folder and placed it on the base plate of the machine, then I added my Heath Robinson diffuser (taped to the folder to keep it still), then added the top plate and ran it through the machine. Only the part which had the pressure from the diffuser was embossed.

I tried the sentiment (Stamplorations) in white but it looked better in silver to link with the wire.

Merry Little Christmas - Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps and More - Christmas

The Holly and the Ivy - Anything Christmas

 

Merry Christmas

I think that Christmas cards are my very favourite to make as I know that each one will find a home and none will be wasted. By making them year round, I can enjoy the process with each one and not be having a mad rush as Christmas posting deadlines approach.

Here are a couple of cute polar bears from MFT popping by with a Christmas Greeting. There's just a little shading with alcohol pens and an embossed, snowy backdrop. Simples!

The challenge at CAS Christmas this time is Christmas Critters, so this is for that!