Snow Flakes Christmas card

 We had a fabulous day stamping yesterday (Thursday) ... making christmas cards.
It was kind of an end of year Christmas lunch and last minute stamp a stack rolled into one festive Day.
Jill and Soph made a few of these ones above with the Snow Flurry Big shot die using whisper white and silver glimmer paper.

 We stamped our own background using the Greetings of the Season stampset in Not Quite Navy ink.
Then stamped the Season's greeting stampset from "Snow swirled" just because it fitted easily into the apothecary accents framelit die that we liked the shape of.

And the second card was made with all the little bits of snow flakes left on the table after I put away all my toys. Kind of like random snowflakes falling - not that we have snow here at this time of year but I always think snow flakes symbolise  freezers and air conditioners, which is where the chilled champagne comes from. So who couldn't love snowflakes at any time of year?

Quick and simple Christmas card

 I needed an extra card to send overseas and came up with this one for simplicity.

The Christmas tree from "Snow swirled" is stamped in lucky limeade ink on white cardstock.

I have layered it onto Pacific Point cardstock and put one of the two tag dies behind it.

Then stamped Merry christmas on the frilly bit.

There is a Merry Christmas star at the top punched out with the 3/4" circle punch and thats all the stamping done.

"

Lastly I cut a layer of whisper white and ran it through the big shot on the Square Lattice embossing folder  and that is that... this one is already in the mail.

Happy Mail for Christmas

I have to show you the two gorgeous Christmas cards I received in the mail this week:
the first one is from my long time crafting friend Felicity.
She makes the most beautiful cards and with such lovely details.

This one has the Snow Swirled Christmas tree and the sentiment is framed with embossing.

Here is a close up of the oval frame.

So Clean and crisp - I love it.

The second card I received this week is from Daryl C. Acrafter who shares our addiction from Crafters anonymous this came with her Christmas tree ornament that I will show you very soon.
I just love the layers of texture she has used.

And the Pool party colour which is just so pretty...

I will show you tomorrow some of the cards I have made that are almost a copy of this one.

Joyful ornament cards

 A week ago I realised how close we are to December...

Took stock of how few christmas cards I have made and decided:

It was time to make a stack of cards, plus maybe try a different style of card this year.

As demonstrators we saw this idea at Convention in May created by Stampin' Up's Pam Morgan.

It is aptly named a telescope card, as it folds outwards and gets longer and larger, like a telescope I suppose.

 I love my "Dasher" stamp. He polishes up so prettily with some silver embossing.

His swirling antler nicely matches the
 "Snow Swirled" stampset.

 The Not Quite Navy and Pool Party make cool crisp snowflakes.

 Ten done and maybe another 20 to go?

I have a few more to show you tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Delightful Decoration zed fold cards

 I love an interesting fold.

Get the measurements right and it looks a treat on my sideboard in the dining room.

This year I am enjoying my Cherry Cobbler, white and the Lucky Limeade cardstock as a colour combination.

I like crisp and fresh colours together with a bit of rich texture.

This card has a bit of all that and more...

There's that baker's twine in Cherry cobbler and white... again.

Trimmed with the Pinking hearts border punch

and the Delightful decorations ornament stamp punched out in Lucky Limeade green.

Here is another twist on the same card creating a diamond with the square and a few snowflakes and the Petals a plenty embossing folder.

Enjoy!

Pocket sized Christmas cards

Last Saturday, my friend Lisa and I had a stall at the Kincumber craft markets and we made up some sample cards for a Make and Take.

So that people who haven't tried stampin' Up products could have a hands on experience of how easy hand made Christmas cards are to make. Well that was the plan.

Here's a selection of Mini Christmas card samples I made.

I have used small squares of Designer series paper, edged them with the Eyelet border punch and added various punched accessories to them in Real Red, Vanilla, Certainly celery and Old Olive ink and cardstock.

The Card base is Certainly Celery stamped with Old olive using the Snow swirled stampset.
The Ornament is punched out of patterned paper, sponged around the edges and raised up on a dimensional.
The same with the Merry Christmas circle that is punched with my 3/4" circle punch.

 You can see with this one that I have used the negative piece with the ornament punched out and just stamped a pattern underneath directly on to the certainly celery cardstock.

Another super simple design. I have stamped the Joy ornament from Delightful Decorations onto certainly celery cardstock, used the matching punch to punch it out and placed it on top of the patterned paper.

Rounded the corners and stamped a sentiment.

 This one is made with a few scraps lying on my table:

Celery cardstock, patterned paper and a shimmer painted ornament.

Shimmer paint is really effective for that pearlised look. I inked the stamp in real red then sponged on some platinum shimmer paint before stamping on the white cardstock... instant shimmery baubble. 

 Lastly I made this one simple as: same patterned paper squares, punched the ornament and turned it over for a different pattern and stamped a greeting onto the very vanilla card base.
I think the corner rounding gives it a finished look.

The bonus one at the front was made on Rose Red cardstock, and sponged, and punched. 
I hope you can see how many different looks you can get from one punch and some patterned christmas papers.
From now until end of November you can recieve two* free rolls of ribbon when you purchase the ornament punch and Delightful Decorations stampset.
(* if you choose the Mistletoe ribbon set you get two rolls for free).

An Inspiration Challenge - PPA68

Isn't this the most sumptuous table? Silver wrapped Chocolates and champagne punch.
Its giving me ideas for laying out our spread for Christmas lunch?
I do like a challenge and when I saw this inspiration challenge over at Paper Pal Arts I couldn't resist the colours used and making my own card.

The table cloth in the inspiration photo said Concord crush and Rich Razzleberry, to me.
Lots of white, silver and glass hapenning here.
 My card uses Concord Crush patterned paper to reflect the table cloth, (note the pinking hearts edge punch used at the bottom of the card), Rich Razzleberry ink and tafetta ribbon, texturised embossed whisper white cardstock, clear rhinestones and Five different punches.

 Dasher is silver embossed then surrounded with Rich Razzleberry ink-sponging. The snow flakes are  from the Snow swirled stampset. Dasher's antlers just ask for rhinestones amongst the swirls.

The star in the middle of my greeting had to have a Rhinestone jewel too.

The sentiment is from the Delightful Decorations set (punched out with the 3/4 inch circle punch),
mounted on the 1" circle punch, layer upon layer with the Designer label and Curly label punches just because they fit so nicely together.

Enjoy!!!

Old Olive Season of Joy with snow swirls

Christmas is fast approaching ... which means we only have another week to share our Christmas card creations. This one combines Season of Joy with the gorgous snow swirled set.

Here you can see I have first stamped the old olive card with the snow flakes from the snow swirled set then placed a sheet of acetate (aka clear transparency) on top holding it in place with four silver brads.

The bow is Old olive wide grosgrain tied and placed on the transparency with a few mini glue dots. And the oval scallop is also stuck down with the glue dots. They wont come off the transparency I've tried.

Clear "window sheets" as they are also known are a bit tricky to photograph ... too much reflection. So I have taken this one outside into the shade, propped up on one of my very dry and tired out cacti plants. I think it's flowering as a last attempt at survival in this cruel hot weather.

Products used to make this card:

Stampsets: Snow swirled, Season of Joy.

Cardstock: Old Olive, clear window sheets (acetate), whisper white.

Ink: Cotton white stazon, Old olive Classic ink.

Accessories: silver brads, oval scallop punch, Old olive wide grosgrain ribbon,

Mini glue dots.
Enjoy...

Handmade cards for Christmas

I have to show you some of the gorgous Handmade Christmas cards I have received this week, I am so awed by the creativity of my friends and the beautiful thoughts behind them. I thought the best way to show case them is with a slide show... so here it goes:

Kiwi Kiss and Baja breeze snow swirl...

Baja breeze and kiwi kiss for Christmas?
I just like these two colours together.

It has a window punched out on the right hand side to show my snow swirled Christmas tree through. I do like this idea, kind of gives a 3D dimension and you dont need glasses.

I really got into the punches with this card.

Six different punches ... 2 circles, 2 scallops, and oval and a square.

Plus you can't see it but the large snow flake has an acetate layer to make it shiny and special.

It needs something else? mmmm, ribbon - what do you think?

Watching the snow flakes fall through the window

Did I ever mention how much I love embossing? When you get the hang of it, about the second or third time, and when you remember to use the embossing buddy chalk, embossing is just the coolest technique. Raised shiny clear images on mat cardstock... Ok - so that window is not as easy to punch out as it looks ... If you use a pencil to mark the corners of your square on the back of the cardstock it is easier I think. And those trusty sanding blocks smooth away any rough edges.

What you need to make this card:

Stampset: Snow swirled.

Cardstock: Riding hood red, Basic Black.

Ink: Versamark (or you can use white craft ink)

Other: white embossing powder, embossing buddy, heat tool ( the toaster is a really slow and tricky tool to carry around with you to workshops), 1 1/4 " square punch, 1 3/4"square punch.

Enjoy!!

Snow swirling on a ski slope

Have a look at this gorgous ski slope designer series paper! I love the baja breeze and white, the snow flakes laying one over the other .... for contrast I have used a real red card base. Some real red grosgrain ribbon and made a scallop circle with a layer of baja breeze, and clear acetate stamped with white stazon and a white brad. The brad also holds a small circle of the ski slope paper in its centre.

I have embossed the silver "Seasons Greetings" and cut the edge out using the corner of the square scallop punch for a decorative edge.

What I've used to make this card:

Stampset: snow swirled

cardstock: real red, baja breeze, whisper white

Ink: white stazon, versamark.

Punches: scallop circle, square scallop.

Ribbon: Real red grosgrain (available in the summer mini on 1 December)

The snow swirl cupboard Card

I made a second card, using the gatefold (now calling it the cupboard card) cause I love the little handles.Open the doors a little to peak inside:
Just a peak of the white classic ink word stamp - it' s not Christmas yet!

So you will have to wait to see what else goes in to it. I am going to print a photo of my daughter (for family) to place inside a little frame. This kind of card has that surprise factor. You often see them folded like this for invitations and annoucements.

Do you like the colours? Not quite Christmas, but hey I like black and white snow flakes ... kind of like industrial fall out ... we live near enough to Sara Lea and sometimes you can see a huge steam plume like a nuclear mushroom cloud - its really weird at Sunrise.

Materials used for this card:

Stampset: Snow swirled

Cardstock: Basic black, Old Olive .

Ink: whisper white craft, stazon black.

Tools: 1.3cm circle punch, antique silver brads, snail adhesive.

Enjoy!!!

I wish card

I have so much to share with you ... this is the card I made last Tuesday night with friends (I have only just managed to photograph it and download it to the computer) ... it has been a busy couple of days but I really liked how this card came out with the torn paper edges and red and green door. It looks like a cupboard with handles to open.Here you can see the little silver brads and snow flake circle handles up close.
The Paper I have used is from the "I wish" scrappin' paper pack. I will show you some more of that in another post. I really like Real red, Old olive and chocolate chip together as christmas colours.. rich and earthy and the antique silver brads go fabulously as a centre for the snow flakes.

*** What I used to make this card:
Stampset: snow swirled (only the little flake)

Ink: Real red (you can use the coloured marker or the ink pad for this)
Paper: a couple of strips from the "I wish" scrappin' pack.
Cardstock: Real red, Whisper white and Old Olive
Snail adhesive, Antique silver brads and a piece of thin red ribbon ...

Enjoy!!!!