Category: Christmas Season

Christmas Season, Christmas to remember, For My Family, Pinewood planks

Merry Christmas all!

Catherine

So I’m writing this a little ahead of time so it is all ready for posting on Christmas Day. Wishing all my blog visitors and readers a lovely festive season.

We had a bit of a naff week as I got hit with a flu virus so everything got put off until the last minute but fortunately been feeling a little more human by Christmas Eve and so we got ready in time! But just admit I am in bed early on Christmas Eve as so exhausted!

Anyways I didn’t come on here to moan but instead to share the card I made for my hubby for Christmas as I realised I hadn’t shared it yet. I also realise the only pics I have of it in daylight are before the glue had dried on the gems so it doesn’t look it’s best but hey ho that’s how it goes sometimes!

I decided to keep it quite ‘simple’ with an embossed background and then stamped images. Even though the stamped images could be die cut I actually fussy cut them as I was in the mood for it and die cutting sometimes is difficult to line them up straight.

I stamped all the leaves from a selection of greens and then the berries from cherry cobbler and the pine cones in early espresso and soft suede. I must admit my brown inks are quite dry now though so they did stamp quite lightly.

I raised a few of the pine cones up on foam to give dimension and then the sentiment I cut into strips and added some gold paint pen to the edges to add some shine. I also dotted the gold pen around the cluster.

I finished with the clear gems which as I say I took the pic whilst the glue was still drying but the dried glue is clear so it doesn’t look as messy!

Edit… took a pic of it on display so you can see it without the messy glue.

I raised the whole panel up on foam. This is a larger card (7×7 card blank) so the card blank frames the panel well.

Ok so that is the final card for this Christmas and whilst I don’t currently feel well enough to craft at the moment I am definitely thinking ahead to what 2023 crafting might bring.

Thank you so much for joining me for my crafty exploits this year and if I get a chance I will pop back again post Christmas festivities to let you know how Christmas went and any plans I may have made.

Happy Christmas!

Catherine

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Christmas Greetings, Christmas Pinecone, Christmas Season, Christmas to remember, Emma Godfrey, Martin's Mayhem 30 day challenge

Martin’s Mayhem Christmas challenge

Catherine

Hello! Today I have the card from day 5 … where the challenge was a sketch. I hadn’t originally planned on doing the sketches but then inspiration struck so I went ahead and did it.

The sketch called for three panels and three embellishments and a sentiment … so I cut up a piece of the glossy paper that was a mop up piece that I had stamped on whilst making the star cards and then set aside. I then cut a piece of the die cut Pines pieces that again were just sitting on the desk.

Next I went for pine cones embellishments using the Christmas Season stamps. And a sentiment from the coordinating Christmas to remember stamps.

Finished off with the pearls to embellish.

Still can’t quite believe I’m still making all these Christmas cards… just hope Martin’s challenge doesn’t stop me from finishing my own!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas Season, Cottage Rose, Forever Fern, Playful Alphabet, Ribbons, Splendid Stems, Splendid Thoughts, Stampendous, Stampin Blends alcohol pens

Happy birthday Mum

Catherine

Yesterday was my Mum’s birthday and I wanted to share the labour of love that was her birthday card with you.

I had the idea that I wanted to do a wreath design as the main part of the card so I started by stamping lots of leaves from different sets in all the greens. I kept to mainly lighter coloured greens rather than very dark ones after all it is August not winter and wanted it to be bright!

I decided, even though these could be die cut, to fussy cut instead…. after all that is more relaxing and cam be done sat on the sofa…

Then I put together some on a circle to decide if the different styles and types of leaves went OK together… and decided as there were so many types and styles it did…. oh I also coloured in the images from Splendid Thoughts as they were outline images so used stampin blends to colour them.

I decided I wanted more but this time the die cuts from Splendid Stems as something to break up the images…

I decided this was a good mix of the delicate die cuts in solid colour and the stamped or coloured images.

Next to decide how to finish the card and I had a couple of ideas I tried out. By this time I had stuck the leaves together onto a thin ring of scrap paper so that was complete but all other elements are just placed in half finished form to give me an idea of how they look.

I was torn between keeping it green and white and adding in bright colours… bit went for the yellow as it is my Mum’s favourite colour.

So I found some yellow ribbon in the stash for a bow, fussy cut the Stampendous sentiment that I had stamped with blended yellow and coral inks, cut some more Playful Alphabets and coloured them with So Saffron stampin blends and added the little flowers I had bought in a pack from Hobbycraft many years ago.

Then to decide on the background … I went with a Kraft card base in 8×8 as I had one in my stash and the originally planned white 7×7 was a bit too small … but actually I think it frames it nicely.

Then I added a mount of the So Saffron cardstock.

The white base I decided to blend some So Saffron on and do some splatters of green and coral ink to complement the colours in the rest of the card.

I added a foam panel behind this to raise it off the So Saffron and then put foam behind the wreath and a double layer under the middle of the sentiment to support it.

This gives the whole card so much dimension. I love it!

Inside I added a panel of whisper white with some more blending and splatters with a panel of So Saffron on the edge. Then I added a little cluster of the leaves I had left over and added the little sentiment strip.

I decided to add wink of Stella to the mum letters to give them some sparkle and then called it finished!

A real labour of love… but my Mum is worth it!

Hope you like it too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas Greetings, Christmas Season, Christmas to remember, Expressions in Ink, Fern, Ribbons

Expressions in Ink meets Christmas Season and Forever Gold

Catherine

So this project was inspired by my coming across the Forever Greenery foil laser cut pack that I hadn’t really used much of and the Expressions in Ink dsp piece that happened to catch my eye when I was putting some stash away … Next thing I knew I was making 9 Christmas cards!

I mean that Green foiled dsp is so pretty and then with those die cuts on top it doesn’t need much so I just stamped and die cut lots of foliage from the Christmas Season set and then a heap of sentiments (some of which I heat embossed) and started clustering them together.

I used a mix of distress inks to stamp using the stamp platform so they were more varied in colours.

I interrupted my crafting to go see Top Gun with the hubby and then came home and finished them off! I also added some twine and ribbon from the stash to add some different textures in.

On this first one I also added small panel of the soft sea foam which I had run through the Fern 3d embossing folder… love the texture on this.

So happy with this set of cards and what a fun little project. It really wasn’t difficult to put them together as the paper and the foil laser cuts do most of the work. I don’t have any of the larger pieces from this set left now … but still have lots of the rectangle panels and some small leaves … but the leaves I am going to keep on my desk for now in a bid to remember to use them up!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Biggest Wish, Christmas Season, Cottage Rose, Memories and More, Splendid Stems, Splendid Thoughts

Splendid Thoughts and Ink Lift technique leftovers

Catherine

A few days ago I shared some cards I made using the Jennifer Maguire ink lift technique I had seen on her YouTube video. Well I had a little panel leftover that was a second pull of ink.

This one was far paler and I wasn’t sure if I would use it but it was pretty so didn’t want to throw it away … so here it is in use and I wanted to play and just grabbed bits and pieces that were on my desk.

I mounted the panel onto Polished Pink and then decided to grab a Memories and More card that was pink based to use as a background. I didn’t want the focal image to show … but fortunately the mounted strip covered it up but I decided I wanted it to look less clean… so I added some blending and some ink splatters … I also added some splattered gesso for the white.

Next to choose a focal point. Well I decided to die cut a leaf shape from the Splendid Stems set and then stamp in Night of Navy and die cut the larger leaf image too from the coordinating Splendid Thoughts stamps. I also added some So Saffron colour by using the background leaf stamp over lapping a couple of times…. this creates an interesting texture to the added colour.

I decided to turn this into a birthday card (I’m starting to build up a stash for the next year of 17th birthdays for the princess’ friends) and so heat embossed the birthday from Biggest Wish and Happy from Cottage Rose onto the polished pink and Pretty Peacock scraps I had on the desk.

After fussy cutting the birthday and then matting and layering the Happy it was time to assemble… with dimension and foam in-between the layers!

I ended up curving the birthday sentiment a little as the middle dimension is bigger than the sides … but I think it looks cute.

I finished with some pretty bling gems!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

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

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 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

Christmas 2021 challenge, Christmas Season, Christmas to remember, Forever Fern, Ribbons, Seasonal Labels Dies, Sheena Douglass Embossing Folders, Tidings and Trimmings, Very Versailles

Christmas challenge #4

Catherine

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!

Have a good week.

Happy crafting!

Catherine