The challenge was a colour one to use Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Evening Evergreen. I was also inspired by a book fold challenge another crafty friend was running on Facebook.
So this is the card I made. Crumb Cake base, cherry Cobbler coloured dsp, Trimmings and Tidings.
Then die cut out the star and backed the opening with more of the same stash of dsp but with an Evening Evergreen colour. Crumb Cake fancy star die cut twice and stacked. Some twine for the top.
Stamped the sentiment from Colorado Craft Company and die cut it twice and then embossed the stacked die cut twice so its a nice chunky and shiny embellishment. Added some Cherry Cobbler ribbon on the side and some clear gems for finishing.
Given I’m joining in on Martin’s challenge you would have thought I would have had enough of Christmas crafting but nope… I’m still going with my own challenge!
This weeks theme for the challenge is tree. Now one of my favourite things about Christmas is decorating the house and the many trees I have. I also went through a phase of having lots of tree stamps in my craft collection but recently I’ve reduced the selection a lot and rarely grab tree stash. I do however love the In the Pines bundle (now retired) and still love die cutting the tree images out.
So those are the supplies I grabbed and die cut a few white trees and stacked them up but then couldn’t decide how to use them.
Then I spotted the background die and though why not use that to create some fun backgrounds using some of the patterned paper I’ve got and some scraps of brown cardstock…. ta daa!
Love how the white trees pop off the patterned backgrounds.
This first one has slightly less dimension as the frame was 2 sheets of dsp but the window pieces were cardstock so it came out quite flat. I added the black square die cut to frame the tree and found this sentiment strip in the stash to finish off. I did add it to a black card blank so I’ve added a white panel on the inside so it’s good to write inside.
The second one is on navy cardstock and its a larger card at 5×7.
This one has lots of dimension. I cut the frame three times from cardstock whereas the inserts are single sheet of dsp so much lower down than the frame. I also die cut the tree three times so it’s very chunky.
Added a scrap of ribbon and a printed sentiment popped up on foam at either side to go over the top.
Cute cards… not admittedly my favourite of the ones I’ve made using this set… but cute regardless!
Today I have the tag I made for this months UK stampers forum tag swap… and I went BIG!
I decided to use a tag I’ve had in the drawer for a long time which is an Art by Marlene one. I decided to cover it with word stamping … using the word Happy from all the stamp sets where I could find it!
I kept to a blue theme choosing blue and teal coloured inks. I then chose some star stamps from the stash and filled in areas around the words with the stars.
Next I added a strip of the black cardstock across the middle. This gave my main star and ‘happy’ a bit of grounding.
I die cut lots of stars from the glimmer speciality paper I still have a bit of in my stash and stuck them down all over the tag.
I finished off the sentiment with the white embossing onto black to make the full sentiment of sending a little Happy your way
I added some silver and blue ribbon to finish the tag off and called it done!
I enjoyed making the cards for challenge #6 so decided to make another set using an older template… template #2.
I chose the Tidings and Trimmings papers and stamps and dies for the main focus… but ended up adding other bits and pieces in too like the shimmery vellum and the sparkly speciality paper… I can never resist going a little mad with those fab Peace and Joy stamps and dies either and felt a big word was perfect as the focus of a few of the cards.
Here they all are…
I make the cards in stages…. cutting, then putting the pieces into labelled envelopes, next the layers of cardstock are cut and added to the envelopes. Then I stamp and cut lots of embellishment pieces so I have a little pile to use. Then I start to assemble but not always finish the card topper (I make these as card toppers first before I add to card blanks/make card blanks). Sometimes I just add layers to the paper pieces and add a few bits into the envelope and come back as I know I want an additional element like a ribbon, or sometimes it comes together immediately with everything to hand. But at least this way I get to just do them a bit at a time and 14 cards isn’t too overwhelming to deal with!
As the template is for US sized cards I did have to fiddle a little with the sizing of the final layers to make it fit the UK size cards but it worked fine. I made the card blanks out of Cherry Cobbler cardstock as I had loads of it and then inside added a white panel and some more dsp strips or panels and a little stamping. They were all different but only took one pic of the inside…
Envelopes again I kept simple with some little banners of dsp leftover from the inside panels and that was all!
So another 14 Christmas cards made. Must admit these were a little heavy because of all the extra cardstock so maybe need to remember this and try to gut the layers a little next time.
Another week has whizzed past and we are already onto week 4 of this challenge… and this week Tree is the prompt.
Now I love tree stamps and dies but this year I haven’t bought any new tree based stamps or dies. I love the Whimsical tree set but not yet managed to sneak that into my basket so I was going to use old stash … but then I spotted the tree themed paper in the Tidings and Trimmings dsp and an idea came to mind! So this is what I did!
I took one sheet of Soft Succulent cardstock cut in 4 and 2 6×6 sheets of the dsp cut into half lengthways and decided to make 4 cards in different styles/finishes using the same base supplies.
Card 1… kept this one simple. Dsp mounted and then run through an embossing folder. I stamped and die cut the sentiment (Christmas to Remember) and a couple of Holly leaves and berries from Christmas Season. I also added some linen thread and a vellum die cut frame to give the sentiment some definition. Simple!
Card 2… again fairly simple … I scrumpled and distressed the paper and the edge of the cardstock panel. I mounted the dsp onto a piece of foam to give it dimension and then stamped and die cut lots of different leaves from Christmas Season to create a central cluster focal point.
Card 3… this time I decided to added some ink to the cardstock panel and make it ombre before adding water splats, ink splats and white splats to create a fun background. Of course I didn’t want to cover it up so added the dsp on an angle after edging the paper to give it definition. Again some stamped die cuts added and the vellum from under the main sentiment.
Finally… Card 4… this time I added to the dsp with ink blending and stamping to make the paper more vintage (Very Versailles text and Forever Fern dots). I decided to die cut the sentiment to create a label and used some brown string from the stash to make it rustic.
I love how these came out and pleased with the ideas I used to make them all different although of course they started the same.
Hope that’s given you some ideas for stepping up a simple bit of cardstock and dsp!
Inkyfingeredcat 