Category: Christmas to remember

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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Baked Texture embossing powder, Christmas to remember, Design Team, Ribbons, Snow Crystal

DT: Creative Knockouts … snow much fun

Catherine

Kelly at Creative Knockouts gave us the theme of Snow much fun to play with this week and here is my design team contribution… four cards!

As soon as I saw snow I had to have fun with the Snow Crystal stamp… such a fabulous stamp to play with and use different techniques. This time I used some lilac cardstock and stamped it four times in versamark and then used different heat embossing powders to create four similar but different cards.

Here is how they looked at the beginning…

Firstly clear embossing… (bottom right). After the embossing I took some distress inks and a bit of distress oxide to blend around the embossing.

This created a resist finish where the snowflake retains the original cardstock colour and then the background and area around the stamped image changes colour. I also added some splatters of white paint to add a matt splatter. I chose to finish all the cards with a sentiment from Christmas to remember and some scraps of different ribbons and twines. I also raided the gem box for different gems.

I’ve just realised when looking at these photos for blogging that this is missing the bow I added so will have to take another pic and add that in later!

Secondly a glitter embossing powder which is mixed with opaque white (top right).

I also added distress ink to this but more of the pink tones. This one I added some of the holographic little snowflake embellishments too. I did add both white paint splatters and pink ink splatters to the background on this too.

Next up a dark embossing powder… this was actually Baked Texture but the qualities of baked texture don’t really apply when doing this as it was mainly the dark blue colour that stuck to the detailed image (bottom left).

This one I inked heavily a d added purple ink splatters. I like the contrast of the sheer organza ribbon on this. I also heavily inked the sentiment label to have it match better.

Finally…. I hate glitter but decided to throw caution to the wind and use the heat and stick powder and use loose glitter. (Top left).

Well as much as this is super pretty and was an easy card to make (no inking or splattering) the clear up after using loose glitter is awful and I am very shimmery after making this card. I am very tempted to just chuck away the pot of glitter as I hate using it so much but that would be wasteful and maybe in a couple of years I will embrace the glitter again!

Love all four cards for how different they look … but still regretting the use of loose glitter so have to say that final one will not be going on my “must make again” list! 🤪

How do you feel about glitter? Is it a love or a hate thing?

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Edit: photo of the clear emboss with the bow! That looks better!

Christmas to remember, Martin's Mayhem 30 day challenge, Sheena Douglass Embossing Folders

Martin’s Mayhem Christmas challenge

Catherine

I saw the sketch Martin had created for the challenge on day 18 and knew how I wanted it to look … spoiler alert it didn’t end up looking like that! Best laid plans and all that.

I used vellum to create a panel over colourful strips of cardstock ehich i embossed to create the pattern and decided to sew into place. But then I had an argument with the sewing machine.

So I ended up cutting down the vellum to get rid of the ruined part and making a much smaller card.

I did manage to fix the machine but in changing the background and dimensions you kind of lose the coloured strips underneath and one got very wonky. By the point I decided to keep going as vellum is a precious commodity. Added a laser cut snowflake and the embossed sentiment onto the top and of course a few gems.

I do like this card … but you know when you have a plan and it doesn’t quite work … that’s what happened here.

Ah well something pretty came out of the 30 min wrestling session with the sewing machine … Guess that is all that matters!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

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 Greetings, Christmas to remember, Design Team, Digital stamps, Heartwarming Hugs, Ribbons

DT: Creative Knockouts: Christmas Delight

Catherine

Hello!

I have another design team contribution for Creative Knockouts and this weeks theme is Christmas Delight.

I chose to use the Candy canes with bow image from Patties Creations which I printed off 9 times and then coloured them in green and red. Then I added them all over the background and then some panels of the Heartwarming Hugs dsp.

I then added a die cut label and the sentiment adding a few of the candy canes and the organza bow on the top. I then added some pearls to the top.

Hope you like what I made. I enjoyed fussy cutting those candy canes out and adding them.

I also added a little bit of decoration to the inside too.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas to remember, Design Team, Digital stamps, Promarkers, Letraset, Stampin Blends alcohol pens, Stitched framelits, Waffle flower

DT: Creative Knockouts… anything but square

Catherine

Todays blog post I decided to film the making of … so check it out on YouTube.

It is a design team contribution for Creative Knockouts and the challenge is to make a card that is anything but square. We are sponsored by LeeAnn’s World 101 and I received the Rudy image to work with.

I decided to colour him with promarkers and then fussy cut him out.

I decided a circle shaped card would work OK with the image and my largest circle die was just about the right dimensions to cut out the card blank.

I then used a panel I had already die cut with the stitched snowflakes and die cut the circle and then the green ring were already on my desk.

I added the sentiment on the front and in the middle from the Christmas to remember set in white embossing.

I added the lovely laser cut snowflake embellishments and glossy accents for the finishing touches.

Love how this came out. So cute.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge, Christmas Pinecone, Christmas to remember, Fern, Merriest moments, Ribbons, Seasonal Labels Dies

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge… #1

Catherine

So long term readers of my blog will know I attempted a Christmas card making challenge last year and failed to finish… this year I’ve shortened it but I’m back with a very similar challenge again this year and really hoping I might succeed with a bit of planning and tenacity… let’s see shall we.

I’ve kept to very similar themes … just got rid of a couple so that it will work as a weekly challenge and take us up to just before Christmas… because yes 10 weeks (or thereabouts) to go to Christmas week.

So first up … foliage. Last time I did use the Christmas to Remember and Christmas Season bundles to create my cards. But this time I’ve gone very different with the same set and created the card I’m going to give my parents this year.

I concentrated on the die cutting and lots and lots of dimension… so there are three layers to the background panel of die cuts in 2 colours of green, some of the pine cones also have three or four layers. I stacked up the sentiment panel and also the embossed background.

This photo in the sun shows all the shadow and conveys the depth to the card quite well.

I heat embossed the sentiment and love the white against all the greens and brown. Modern but with a hint at tradition. I added the brown twine from the stash which makes a lovely different embellishment alongside the pearl gems.

I think my parents will like this card, and as its a 7×7 card it’s a good size for special recipients.

I really love how it turned out… to be honest I rarely use these very detailed dies as they can be tricky to cut out on my Big Shot (it’s getting old and the pressure isn’t as good as it was) so this took some time… but I think it was worth it.

Also love that Fern embossing folder. I was able to extend it over the whole 6×6 square as knew the “join” would be masked by the die cut panel on top… so no one would know it isn’t a 6×6 embossing folder!

Would love it if you were inspired by my personal challenge and let me know… either here or on Instagram…. would love to see what you create.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas to remember, Colorado Craft Company, Natural Prints, Nature's Prints, One Sheet Wonder OSW, Peace & Joy, Pine Woods, Stitched framelits

OSW with a difference

Catherine

To be honest this project has taken me weeks as the current heatwave in the UK has well and truly zonked me out! I’m not really built for this kind of weather and my craft space is the hottest room in the house! Anyway… it started as playtime for the new Colorado Craft Company stamps and coordinating dies I bought …

and then I wanted to use 12×12 sheet of dsp slightly differently as a OSW!

So I started by cutting the paper into 9 4×4 squares and then played with diecutting using the Stitched Framelits to create different shapes and designs for 6 of them and then the Pine Woods dies for the other three. I did end up with a few circle frames od dsp left at the end but otherwise very little waste from the dsp.

The main feature of course is the word stamps and dies which I am very happy with. Might try embossing them next time as I love the size of these words.

I then decided to do them in batches of three to make them similar but clearly each one different.

For the circles I made them all using the Christmas word and chose to add Merry from the Christmas to Remember set. I stamped and die cut a few trees from the In the Pines set and then the leftover bits of green dsp I die cut the filigree tree and added this to a white die cut.

I added die cut stars from the speciality paper I still have a few sheets of left from last year.

This final one I added more dimension to with foam under the frame element and then the tree and word were floating across the lower circle. These yellow stars are also old embellishments but I thought they made a nice contrast.

Now onto squares…

These ones I chose to use non Christmas stamps and dies to add decoration … the Nature’s Prints bundle. I thought the leaf worked well with the Peace word. I blended the ink on the stamp to give a more interesting stamped image.

My sending word was from the Peace and Joy set as I felt it just needed something simple with that large leaf and the glimmer paper die cuts.

As with the circles I added more dimension as I went along. This one had foam and triple layered squares to give some texture to the background.

And finally the trees…

I love these Pine Woods dies. Especially the one that just cuts out the inside and not the outside edge so it creates a frame. This one I added black card behind and then foam to raise up the panel. Very funky!

The large solid shape die cuts out the full frame for the tree and so I die cut it from the dsp and then white for the filigree and this I could then inlay into the dsp. Behind it I added the glimmer paper for some bling.

This one I kept as an element on my base of dsp … probably the most simple to end on! But can you see the dimension on this and on most of the die cuts I used? I stacked most of them two or three high by diecutting extra trees or leaves and then adhering them together. It gives them dimension without squish like the foam would add and makes them strong so they don’t bend or warp.

So pleased with how they all turned out… now off for another ice-cream to try and cool down!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas to remember, Dylusions paints, Dylusions spray inks, Masks/Stencils, Snow Crystal

More Dylusion Snow Crystals

Catherine

I’m still working my way through using those Dylusion backgrounds I made years go at a class with Dyan Reaveley… only a few left after todays project I am sharing with you.

I am basically doing a similar design to the cards I shared last week (or thereabouts) where I embossed the Snow Crystal background stamp but this time I changed the powder I used to a white glitter one. I rarely use this powder as glitter isn’t usually my thing, but I thought this stamp was the perfect one for a glittery finish!

I decided to go for square 5×5 cards so cut the Dylusions panels down to 9.5cm square (I had originally thought to do 13.9cmx9.5cm panels for an A6 card but changed my mind… hence the cm sizing!)

Two of the cards I mounted onto the black panels, and two I decided to emboss the card blank front using a snowflake embossing folder.

For both cards I used sentiments from the Christmas to Remember stamp set … I love how varied these sentiments are.

Once again I chose to add the iridescent snowflake embellishments to finish off.

Love these and glad I decided to make more using those backgrounds for my own stash as the others went to the swap recipient.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas Greetings, Christmas to remember, Dylusions paints, Dylusions spray inks, Masks/Stencils, Ribbons, Snow Crystal

Funky Christmas cards

Catherine

I’ve joined in with a swap to make Christmas cards using 2 techniques on the cards and here are what I made…

Now the backgrounds themselves are those Dylusions backgrounds I made years ago with Dyan Reaveley using Sprays and paints and stencils … so I guess technique number one is using stencils!

Then I heat embossed the amazing Snow Crystal background stamp in silver on to each of them. This is a stunning image nd embosses beautifully.

I then embossed the sentiment onto black four times and cut it out using the Christmas Greetings dies. On two I just kept it simple, but on the other two I added a little bit of the gingham ribbon to step them up a little.

On all of them I added the little iridescent snowflake embellishments to add some more sparkle.

I added them onto black card bases and inside I added a white panel onto which I stamped Merry Christmas in black to keep it simple.

Super happy with how these came out. Love the shine of that snowflake against the super bright and fun backgrounds.

Entering these into the Christmas in July Challenge at Dream Valley Challenges

Happy crafting!

Catherine