Todays challenge is trees … after all one of my favourite things at Christmas is Christmas Trees.
Last year the In the Pines bundle included this fab die that cuts the inside sections of the tree and didn’t really use it much. I decided to cut the card blank with the die and put the dsp behind onto the inside of the card.
I decorated each with some banners and some random sentiments. I also added the glitter gems.
The papers from the Tis the Season work so well together and I love the traditional colours.
The joy of this kind of card also means the inside of the card looks lovely… and is begging for decoration too!
I’m a little late in blogging about this postcard that was sent several weeks ago.
The theme was weird and wonderful and I chose to make a funky postcard for Becky using a Dylusions die cut image as the focal point.
I used some Expressions in Ink dsp as the background and added some stamping to it with some random stamps in my stash. Then I stencilled with texture paste. I also added the die cut which I coloured in and some embossing and some stamped sentiments and a sticker.. basically just played and thre things at the postcard until I was happy with the result!
I joined in with the silhouettes swap at Artful Atcs Facebook group this month.
The theme chosen was silhouettes and I used For the Love of Stamps for both… one under the sea and one jazz themed.
Both ATCs were cut from packaging and then gessoed and Distress Oxide for the background. I stencilled onto the background and then did heavy black stamping for the silhouettes using the stamp platform so I could ensure coverage.
I got around to making this months Artist Trading coins last weekend. Phew it was warm making these in the craft room, but I am pretty pleased with them!
The theme for the month was EMBOSS and I chose to get straight in there with embossing on the background as well as the die cut leaves and the stamped leaves… three different powders used and love how they turned out… albeit a little autumnal feeling!
Mixed together the Very Versailles and the Forever fern stamps for the coins, also different textures with the shimmer vellum and the bakers twine.
Todays challenge was tags… or was it punches… either way I got it covered!
No really the challenge was to create cards featuring tags… but of course my favourite tag is the Scalloped tag topper punch which creates a tag out of any sized 2″ strip… so I made 8 cards and 4 tags from some patterned paper and some other bits and pieces… including a tree punch I’ve had in the stash for a while!
Oh and don’t forget the banner punch that also got to play lots.
OK first of all 2 pieces of 12×12 from the Heartwarming Hugs had 2 2″ strips cut and then cut at 3″, 4″ and 5″
Then punched with the tag topper punch.
The middle 4 I put aside as tags for on gifts … and then the larger and the smaller I decided to make into cards.
I then raided the cardstock scraps folder and found all these pieces of card that made 6x 3.25 cards so decided to make these up into the card blanks as slightly skinny versions of a6 cards.
I also added other elements such as panels of the dsp or the stitched shape die cuts and some embossing.
All the sentiments were from Banner Year and then the focal images the Festival of Trees which is an oldie but a goodie in terms of fun modern trees. And of course it works with the punch.
I added some gems and then these are done as a slightly different size card that still fits in the usual envelopes. Fun!
I added some more strips and bits of patterned paper to the inside of the cards too.
The tags I added a square die cut behind to be able to write on and added trees, seam binding and the little sentiment cut into strips.
Really love how fun and modern these all look and because I was keeping the design similar it was each to batch make … all the stamping and cutting and punching and die cutting in one go and then they all just got stuck together. Simple! Plus punches are the answer to quick and simple cutting out!
Today I’ve gone a bit mixed media in my approach but the challenge I gave myself was to do ATC based cards.
A few years ago I set myself an ATC challenge and made 365 + in the year, some of which I used on Christmas cards. So decided to grab some ATCs cut from packaging and made up some ATCs and then worked out how to use them in cards.
These were the ATCs I made…
Gesso background, then texture paste through a stencil, onto which I sprinked some pearl embossing powder onto some parts whilst it was wet.
Once dry I heat embossed the powder to create some resist shiny elements and then added distress oxides in Speckled Egg, blueprint sketch, worn lipstick and picked raspberry.
I let them dry thoughly and then wiped off the excess where the resist was.
Next to decide how to use them. We’ll I love this deer image so stamped it 6 times in different dark blue and purple colours and then fussy cut them out.
I added one to each ATC.
Next I grabbed some white cardstock and cut 3.5×5.5 inch panels and embossed them.
I then grabbed three different coordinating colour cardstocks and made my card blanks.
I added the panels and the ATCs.
Then I added sentiments and sequins to finish off!
Some modern, dimensional and pretty cards to add to the stash!
Not sure how many challenges I cam get through this month and whether I will get to the 12 I originally aimed for but will keep going as best I can.
I had a little bit of Christmas fabric left in my stash so decided to grab that, and hessian, red cotton, white cotton and seam binding to make three fabric based cards.
I also grabbed these super cute stamps from an old Creative Stamping magazine to make the focal images.
I roughly cut the red fabric to mount the patterned fabric on and then strips of hessian and some seam binding to either make ruffles or as a banner. I also stamped the winter warming accessories for the penguins and bear onto the red and fussy cut those to place onto the images.
I did use the wrong ink for the stamping as I used versafine and it bled slightly when I used my stampin blends for colouring in.
I did a little hand sewing and also the buttons were sewn on.
The sentiments were Tim Holtz rub ons which I added to the Kraft to make sure they worked with the rest of the card.
Inside each card I stamped the big sentiment (it’s a 6×6 card so it can easily accommodate the bigger sentiment).
Love how fun these turned out and it was good to use up that last bit of Christmas fabric.
Todays challenge came from what was left on the desk from the previous challenge… namely a pile of scraps! So decided to use the scraps to create some fun cards. And what is more I only had to stamp and die cut the sentiment oval for both as new elements … the rest was either already die cut or scraps from the previous projects!
So here is what I started with…
Of course because SU papers are double sided this gave me 12 patterns to play with!
I decided to create a patchwork piece by inking each piece and then sticking them onto some scrap old paper I had on the desk.
When this was finished I then cut it into 2 panels as background for these cards.
I then grabbed the leftover die cuts from the previous project and some gold laser cut embellishments to create a cluster. I then grabbed some Cherry Cobbler scrap cardstoxk and stamped and embossed and die cut the stitched ovals. I inked the edge to that too so it fit with the inked theme of the background.
What a fun and different way to use up scraps… told you I wanted to get through all the Tis the Season papers… well I’ve not got there yet but these have helped me!
This was a fun layout to make in my 2021 journal using wallpaper samples and some bits from Lollipop box club kits to document new blinds for 3 different rooms!
Cute! I videoed the process which you can check out here!
Back again with some more Christmas cards. After all I am currently waiting for the end of the Euros final so I can go and pick the no doubt stress ridden and maybe drunken husband up from his friends where he is watching the game with his friends. So now seems as good a time as any to update my blog.
This time I decided the theme would be to add flowers … not always something you think of when thinking of Christmas cards but I love these stamped images from an old Creative Stamping magazine so went to town and stamped 2 of each image and chose a slightly different colour scheme for each.
I chose some green papers from last years Tis the Season 6×6 dsp pack. I still have a fair amount of this left so really want to use it up so I can feel justified in buying new dsp from the next catalogue!
I decided to do the same fun fold for each card and cut the bases from Crumb Cake and scored at 10.5cm from one end as well and the centre so they can be sealed at the end and then a square element for the opening.
I cut each paper into a square and and a side strip and a small strip for the inside of each card … again keeping the dimensions all the same.
For the Shaded Spruce papers I kept the colour scheme to Real Red and Just Jade colours, and for the Garden Green to Cherry Cobbler and Mossy Meadow colours.
I did lots of die cutting using both Tim Holtz dies and Artistically Inked dies.
I found some red ribbons in the stash to wrap the end part. And the sentiments I chose were from all sorts of different places.
I also used glossy accents to add some shine and dimension in different places.
So happy with these. Love the design of this simple but fun fold to make the cards a little different!
Now come on England… one more goal in the next 8 mins so we can avoid penalties.
