Category: Christmas Greetings

Christmas Greetings, Christmas Season, Fern, Funky Fossil, Splendid Thoughts, Stitched framelits

Inspired by Jennifer McGuire ink lift technique

Catherine

I was watching YouTube videos and stumbled across this one from Jennifer McGuire. It inspired me to have a play with my Stampin Write markers and use the foliage stamps from Christmas Season set to create some fun rainbow coloured cards. 🌈

This first one is the first piece where the colour is laid down, the images stamped on with Versamark and embossed and then the water applied with a clean sheet of paper over the top before running it through the Big shot.

This is the more intense colourful piece and the images are dark where the colour is trapped beneath the embossing.

To this card I added the images stamped and die cut in all the different rainbow colours down one end and added the black contrast (including a Funky Fossil embossed sentiment). I also added a strip of the cardstock I had added the markers to for a rainbow strip! Finished it off with the sequins for some sparkle.

Entering this into the SOMETHING TO SAY challenge at CREATIVE KNOCKOUTS

The second one is the print I created when the water was applied to the first and this white paper added to the top and then run through the big shot. This meant the images are left blank (except the natural bleed of colour) and the colour is soft around them.

This one I added the strip of cardstock I had coloured, plus some Polished Pink cardstock. Then decided I wanted the background panel to be embossed so used the new Fern 3D embossing folder to create some nice texture.

I also wanted a cluster of for the focal element so use a die cut circle of scrap Tranquil Tide and three stamped and die cut leaves behind a circle of white and a fussy cut sentiment. I then added some of the cute little flower elements from my stash as embellishments. I then used a Fresh Freesia card blank as the base.

Love how both these cards looked and how the technique worked. I think I need to experiment more with more ink types and a slightly different papers to see how they all react but definitely a fun technique. I must admit I love the way Jennifer explains techniques and her cards are always so pretty … certainly jealous of her craft supplies collection and in awe of her talent!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

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Badass Chick, Christmas Greetings, Forever Fern, Forever Flourishing, fresco finish paints, Paperartsy, Masks/Stencils, Ribbons

An old Masterboard unearthed

Catherine

This tiding up and clearing out is definitely leading to finding some rubbish … but also some really cool things … and todays three cards were as a result of such a find! Some time ago (maybe 2 years?) I made a masterboard using Paperartsy fresco finish paint and stencils and stamping and doodling and cut it into three panels for cards, stuck them onto card blanks, added a doddled edge and then did nothing with them! I found them and decided now was the time to finish them off!

I also had found some papers from Alpaca Pals including this cool text paper and figured that would work well with this graphic background. I then decided that some Bermuda Bay themed leaves from Forever Fern would also be perfect embellishments/focal images … so I set tp and started stamping and die cutting … only using scraps from the scrap folder as I didn’t want to start cutting into anything new.

I added some white twine from the stash and die cut the banners for the sentiment using the Christmas Greetings dies. All of the word paper was raised on foam to give some dimension. And then I called these done.

To say I am happy with how this turned out is an understatement… firstly I forgot how much I love these Forever Fern images and the die cuts… secondly that masterboard has me wanting to play with paint and make more things like this!

I have recently sold some of the stamps that I know I used in this particular masterboard so it was nice to see them in use here. (small amounts of sellers regret but know I have plenty of other stamps that will work similarly so pushing that regret away!)

Entering them into the Anything Mixed Media challenge CREATIVE ARTISTE mixed media blog

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Artistic, Banner Year, Biggest Wish, Christmas Greetings, Design Team, Playful Alphabet, Ribbons, Venetian Romance

DT: Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Catherine

Good morning! Time for another design team contribution… this time the Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge.

I decided to make a thank you card for my parents and went for bright and cheery and the gorgeous Artistically Inked dies.

When I bought these I thought I would be using the floral bouquet all the time, but have only used it occasionally so far… so it seemed a good idea to grab it and get it used!

I teamed it with some lovely bright dsp I’ve had in the stash a long time (I used it a few months ago for a birthday card for my friend so I figured I would use some more again now!

And kept it light and easy with white die cutting etc.

I added some twine and gems to embellishments but made the card a little more fun by decorating the front, and the inside with a fold back.

I die cut the YOU from playful Alphabets three times and stacked them to give dimension.

Then added a panel back in of white so I had somewhere to write my message.

I used an strip of the paper leftover to decorate the envelope and one of the remaining leaves for the decoration!

Love how this turned out… I especially like anchoring the die cut in the panel of white… I think that works well.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas Greetings, Design Team, Emma Godfrey, Playful Alphabet

DT: Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge

Catherine

How is it the beginning of May already? This year is whizzing past!

So as it’s the start of the month that means it is design team contribution time for Craftyhazelnuts patterned paper challenge blog. Once again I delved into the old Making Cards magazine papers I have had for ages and wanted to get used this year… and this time it was full of tropical toucans!

I had so much fun putting these together. Lots of fussy cutting was needed but I think it was totally worth it!

I cut more images out than I needed but ended up using 6 in total as I went to town on these cards. There wasn’t actually much patterned paper in the kit I had put aside, just the triangle one and the leaf one but it was enough to make the two cards and decorate inside and the envelopes but really the images take centre stage!

I decided that orange was the best colour to use with the patterns and images and also a little bit of green. I decided both needed to be cheerful birthday cards and so cut out Happy using Playful Alphabets dies and embossed the birthday in white onto scraps of green. A few of the images seemed circular so I went with some die cut stitched shape circles and used these to frame the images.

But then I wanted more greenery for my tropical birds to be nesting in… so I grabbed Christmas Season stamps and dies because three of the elements seem perfectly fine as tropical greenery to me even though they are meant for Christmas foliage!

I stamped them using different green inks from the stash … blending the coloured together by using my stamp platform then die cut them. Again I thought I had done more than I needed but I ended up using them all!

I finished them both slightly differently … glossy accents for one on the Happy and wink of Stella on the other.

I used up the papers and the images inside and on the envelopes…

… so some pretty fun and heavily decorated cards this month. Love them!

Those toucans make me smile!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Banner Pick a Punch, Challenges/projects, Christmas Greetings, Christmas Pinecone, Christmas Season, Christmas to remember, Embossing Folders, Joy, Merry Moose, Old Paper, Painted Christmas, Pinewood planks, Seasonal Labels Dies, Sheena Douglass Embossing Folders, Stitched framelits, Tidings and Trimmings

Kendra’s card challenge 6 … Christmas in April

Catherine

I haven’t made any Christmas cards in ages … so when I stumbled across Kendras card challenge using 6 pieces of 6×6 to make 15 cards I thought it might help spur me on and help me get started on this years cards.

Of course I forgot using an American template would lead to card sizes that aren’t standard UK sizes so I made mine as card toppers and added them to 5×7 card blanks.

Kendra provides both the cutting guides and the layout/sketches with measurements so this made stage 1 (cutting, layering and grouping together) easy. Next step was to decide how to finish each of the cards off.

I used the Painted Christmas dsp for mine …

And teamed the papers with Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pear Pizazz and Mossy Meadow cardstock … mainly as that was what I had to hand! I also added in some of the glittery speciality paper too for some fun.

I used different embossing folders, stamp sets, die sets and punches to finish off the cards… some I added inking too, some I kept plainer.

So there you go … 15 cards made ready for December. I always make lots of cards but I then gift them to my parents and my aunties for them to use too … so it helps to get lots done in one go … they then function as a set, although each is very different!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Artistically Inked, Banner Pick a Punch, Biggest Wish, Brilliant Wings, Christmas Greetings, Christmas Season, Design Team, Merriest moments, Ribbons, Stitched framelits, Venetian Romance

DT: Happy Little Stampers Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Catherine

Hi! Another design team contribution to share with you today… this time my Anthing Goes with Dies one for Happy Little Stampers.

I actually made this card a couple of weeks ago for my friend Valerie who is my Stampin Up upline as her birthday is New Years Day.

I took some old dsp in bright and cheery colours and cut three square panels. I then decided to cut and emboss the Merriest Moments folder and do some cutting and amending to make a square frame. It was Valerie who gave me this idea as I saw she had done the same with some Christmas cards.

Then I added the stitched shape square on top. I also watercoloured onto the leaves using Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight and Gumball Green to keep the colours bright in keeping with the dsp.

I stamped and die cut some foliage from the Christmas Season set using the same colours. Always like using Christmas themed sets in a different way!

I layered them up and added this to the card as the main element. Now for the sentiment.

Of course Biggest Wish got used, as did Artistically Inked for the sentiment… one in white embossing on the yellow cardstock. Then I die cut the Butterfly and added some bakers twine underneath as the embellishment.

Finally I die cut three little butterflies as final elements.

For the inside of the card, some banners punched from the paper, some small butterflies also die cut and the sentiment stamped on a strip of white.

I also stamped the flap of the envelope and added a die cut butterfly to finish off!

Love this bright and cheery birthday card for my good friend Valerie. Lots of layers and interest, plus using those Christmas stamps, dies and embossing folder for a totally none Christmas feel card!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas Greetings, Christmas to remember, Masks/Stencils, Ribbons

DT: Happy Little Stampers CAS … anything goes

Catherine

There was a space on the CAS design team for Happy Little Stampers so I thought why not challenge myself to make some CAS cards this year? I don’t often make in this style and yet I always admire those that do so I figured I would go for it! So here is my first one!

The theme for this month is actually anything goes… so first I would go back to basics and check the rules….

Clean and Simple design with one focal point, lots of white (or open) space and minimal layers and embellishments

OK so my first card I went with a layer of simple stencilling (although I did add some embossing to give it a pearlescent shine) and some splatters, and then a simple stamped and die cut sentiment with a twist of ribbon sandwiched underneath.

What do we think? CAS enough? I think there is lots of open space, minimal layers and embellishments and one focal point so yup! I think this qualifies!

Hope you like it. Also added a bit of stencilling to the flap of the envelope to match.

Off to get plenty of inspiration for my next card next month. Why not play along?

Entering this into the Craftyhazelnuts Christmas challenge

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas Greetings, Christmas Pinecone, Christmas Season, Christmas to remember, Painted Christmas, Peace & Joy, Playful Alphabet, Spellbinders

Merry Christmas!

Catherine

Merry Christmas everyone. Just popping in to say hi and share the cards I made for my hubby and daughter.

But first…

Well my Christmas card challenge failed abysmally… I only managed 6 of the themes I think and then life got crazy busy and crafting went to the back of the priority list… so sorry for those who were enjoying the challenge. Maybe I will revisit it when I get a chance.

But I did manage to make 2 more cards … one for the hubby and one for the child.

Hubby…

I went to town on this 7×7 card with dsp, dies, stamps a day some bling!

Pretty much everything from the Painted Christmas suite got thrown at it. Love love love this and all the foliage!

Definitely one of my favourite cards I’ve made this year! Entering it into the challenge at The card concept

Next up is the card I made for my daughter.

To be honest I made the cross stitch in 2020 but never found a use for it… until now! I decided it worked will with the Painted Christmas dsp and just created a frame from some old spellbinders dies and the sentiment from the Playful Alphabets dies and last years favourite stamps… Peace and Joy.

A cute and beautiful card … with a sewn element so perfect for my girl.

So these are the last of the 2021 Christmas cards. I actually did well in using the vast majority of the cards I had in the stash this year (between me and my parents!) which means I probably shouldn’t wait too long to start making them for 2022! Good job I have plenty of dsp left to play with!

Wishing you all a fabulous Christmas and festive season.

Happy crafting!

Catherine