Christmas Tree ornament inspiration

This card is inspired by one of the Christmas tree ornaments I received from my Crafters Anonymous swap. The two tag die, the sentiment punched in green and white and the bauble in 3D at the bottom.

 I have used the flocked Mocha Morning Specialty papers for my ornament.

 And tried to stick with Red and green ( Real Red and Lucky Limeade ) to keep the Christmassy feel going in contrast with the black and mocha colours.

For texture I placed a piece of whisper white through the Big shot machine with the houndstooth embossing folder and edged the bottom with the eyelet border punch. Enjoy!!!

A stack of Christmas baubles...

 Today and yesterday I made these three cards... it is a great idea for quick stamping and sponging that I saw recently by Dawn Ferguson.

 The branches are stamped with my old favourite "Lovely as a tree" stampset.

And the centres of the baubles are stamped with the "Artistic Etchings" medallion.

I have used a clear window sheet, with three circles punched out, to mask the card while I sponged and stamped the Christmas baubles on to the tree.

 And then I changed the tree branches to swirly patterns with the Creative Elements stampset.

You can stamp the baubles in different colours and with different patterns and stamps.

The Joy at Christmas stamp is from "Perfect Punches" and fits neatly into the scallop circle punch.

 It is important to remember to keep a white circle (without ink) as you sponge your baubles.
To give them that 3D appearance.

Ribbon and Butterfly birthday

Apart from the butterflies, my favourite item on this card has to be the big bow in Early Espresso striped grosgrain. You can't go past a big bow! And this ribbon makes tying so easy...

 *     *     *

   I take photos of nearly all the cards I make and then, I have to find the time to load them on to the computer and schedule them to go up on my blog. So if its 6 am on a Thursday, I am probably not loading this photo live.... I might have done it on a Wednesday at 2pm...

The card was made in the middle of February, not photographed until early March.

And posted to my friend Felicity only very recently.

So the card:

 I've only used two stampsets: happy birthday from "Teeny tiny sentiments" and the scallop oval frame from "Perfect punches".
Early espresso Ink for stamping and white cotton ink, and melon mambo ink for sponging.

Have I said it before?
.... How did I make cards with out my Big shot machine?
The Melon Mambo cardstock is run through the Top note die, then the elegant lines embossing folder.
The butterflies are a die cut and they have also been through for a dose of the elegant lines embossing too.

*     *     *

If you have any questions or if you wish to place an order please send an email to: nerida_carter@hotmail.com.
Remember - there are only 12 days left
to get your FREE stamps during Sale-a-bration!!!!

Fox and friends Birthday

It is the time of year for children's Birthday cards in this house. Many of our friends children have summer time birthdays so I chose some bright and summery colours and set to work making a series of cards.

Its often tricky finding stampsets for children that will suit babies and older ones and can be used for both boys and girls so I just had to have this set. A wise owl, a cheeky monkey, turtle, giraffe, a whale, a lion and a very cute Fox.

My idea sprang from the Idea Book and catalogue on page 64. The animals being stamped randomly as background paper. Then I had a go at less random stamping because that suits some corner of my organised mind.

On the front of these cards I have used the Happy Birthday stamp from Perfect punches.

The edging is punched with my newest pinking hearts punch (only available in the summer mini until 31 March).

Card Recipe:
Stampsets: Fox and Friends (7 stamps $23.95 clear mount, $30.95 wood mount)
Perfect Punches (6 stamps $32.95 clear mount, $40.95 wood mounted)
Cardstock: Melon Mambo,whisper white, Pumpkin pie.
Ink: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzaz, Rich Razzleberry, Tempting Turquoise, Marina Mist.
Tools: Pinking Hearts border punch $30.95, wide oval punch $30.95, Dimensional adhesives.

Christmas cards and summer holidays...

Its the week before Christmas and School holidays!!!

The photo is of my little princess at the ice skating rink.

It is probably one of the best places to be during Summer holidays...

So I'd best show you the last of my Christmas cards that I have been making.

I've used three punches (including the pinking hearts edge punch) here,
and the newest square lattice embossing folder on the white layer.
Plus Dasher's antlers as decoration on the ornament.
Did you pick that?

Up close you can see that I have stamped Joy at christmas from the Perfect Punches stampset on to some Christmas Cocoa patterned paper which has been spritzed with the new Gold Smooch spritz (Summer mini page 10). Then it is punched with a 6cm wide scalloped oval punch (also from the new mini).
I've tied a bow with the Real red tafetta ribbon and glue dotted it in place.

Oh and here is my attempt at gift wrapping Jessie's teacher's gift.

It was a handmade calendar and pen set.

How do you like my Re-cycled packaging with Stampin' up papers and tag -Too easy!

PPA72 Winter White challenge

 Pals Paper Arts Inspiration Photo this week highlights a beautiful collection of winter whites! 
Whether it is the holiday sparkle, the winter scenes or the fabric textures that inspire you, let the whites take center stage.  Find some time for yourself this busy season and create! 

Aren't these pictures peaceful ?

I love white on white ... or white on suede, white on sahara sand, or white on early espresso ...

Here is my version of winter whites this week:

Ive used the petals a plenty embossing folder put through the big shot machine...

This embossing folder suits christmas, feminine, floral or garden themes.

Any way I started with the white petals a plenty texture, punched out the ornament shape and stamped the Welcome Christmas stamp on the Soft Suede base card so that the tree would be seen through the window.

I have snuck in some new products from the current summer mini catalogue:

The pinking hearts Border

The X large scallop circle punch (its 6cm wide, so fits our standard 4.4cm scallop inthe centre).

The ribbon bow is made from tafetta 1/8" (thats about 4mm) thin ribbon.

That gorgeous Joy at christmas stamp is from the Perfect punches stampset.

I have stamped it on a piece of embossed white cardstock (polka dot embossing folder) for just that little added texture...

Enjoy!!!

Joy at Christmas with a perfect Bow

 This card would be nice without the bow ... but the bow is the feature.
You hardly even notice the scallop punches in 4 and 6 cms that fit perfectly into each other.
You hardly notice the ornament punch, sponged and stamped with artistic etchings and dotted with rhinestone jewels.

 Its the bow isn't it?
                Its all about that bow... the Love letter patterned paper, carefully sponged around the edges is simply background ... the gorgeous early espresso cardstock, nothing...
Perhaps you notice the Joy at Christmas scallopped stamp because its stamped in Riding hood red... but really -

Its all about the bow!

The Ribbon is Early Espresso striped wide grosgrain.

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!!!

Wishing you Joy at Christmas

The selection of cards above are all made with the big shot machine, the scallop die, and the vintage wall paper embossing folder using different colour cardstocks and ribbons.

There's the Concord crush scallop circle card: The only slow part on this one is feeding the cards through the Big shot machine twice, one for the scallop and a second time for the wallpaper texture. Then its a piece of Concord crush ribbon and a "joy at christmas" stamp from the Perfect punches stampset, punched out with the very useful scallop punch and raised on dimensionals.

Here it is in Rich Razzleberry cardstock and ribbon too. For a bit of further dimension I have punched the inner circle out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and layered it above the frame.

More Christmas cards to come this week ...