Christmas Cards #1 & 2

I've finally gotten a chance to blog a bit so I thought I would share the first of my Christmas cards.  I know it seems early but I figure the earlier I start the better.  We'll see if this worked out in December, lol.

I started with the patterned paper.  Since I'm not quite in a Christmas-y mood yet I chose the patterns that where the least Christmas-y, lol.  I made multiples of these and I didn't have quite enough of the ornament pattern, so I chose the snowflake pattern as well.

Once I chose coordinating cardstock, I made card bases that were 4.5" square so they fit in an A2 envelope to avoid extra postage. I wanted to do something a bit different so I decided to make a cut-out card.  I used my circle dies to cut circles in the centres of the card fronts and the layers, and corner rounded all components.  I adhered the patterned panel to the white, added twine, added some button brads, and adhered the panel to the card front.  I was going to leave the white border plain but decided it needed more so I added some black faux-stitching with the aid of a ruler.

My favourite tool when making Christmas and holiday cards is my snowflake punch, so of course I pulled that out of its hibernation.  I sprayed some white cardstock with shades of  frosty looking spray mists and when it was dry I  punched away.  I adhered three snowflakes to the bottom corner of each card, added some rhinestones and the card front was done.

For the center I just added a square of white and stamped the sentiment in the middle with Versamark then heat embossed with silver.  Quick and easy!

I love how these cards turned out!


I used the following supplies:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Whisper White.  Echo Park Season's Greetings 6x6 Paper Pad.

Stamp Set:  Stampin' Up! Christmas Punch

Ink: Versamark Watermark Ink, Stampin' Up! Embossing Powder Silver

Mists:  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Frost, Glacier

Embellishments:  We R Memory Keepers Baker's Twine, generic rhinestones from stash.

Adhesive:  Scotch ATG

Tools:  Paper trimmer, bone folder, scissors, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard circles large and small, black felt tip pen.


I will enter this into the following challenges:

1. The Pretty Little Ribbon - Lots of Layers
2. Deep Ocean - Stitching faux or real
3. Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
4. The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
5. Moving Along with the Times - Lets get krafty
6. My Mums Craft Shop - Clean and simple
7. Daring Cardmakers - A hole in one

A Cup of Tea for Mom

This latest card seemed to take forever to make because I didn't know where I was going with it, but I love it!

Since so many challenge blogs are having Mother's Day challenges due to the UK holiday, I thought it might be fun to get a Mother's Day card done early (Mother's Day is not until May in North America).  One thing that is pretty consistent in both my Mom's and my husband's Mom's kitchens is if there isn't already a pot of tea on the stove there will be one shortly.  For this reason I started with the Kitch collection of stamps from The Girls' Paperie and used the teapot as a focal point.

I wanted to make something soft and pretty so I thought a combination of cream, brown, and pink would be pretty.  I also decided to haul out some of Pink Paislee's Mistables paper since I haven't played with it since before Christmas and I was in an inky kind of mood.

I first cut the mistables to the size I wanted then used Ranger's Inksentials blending tool to add several colours of Colorbox chalk ink.  I love that stuff!  Once that was done I sprayed a variety of mists on it to add a bit of interest and sparkle.  I was using Shimmerz Paints brand, which is very translucent, so the effect of using them is very subtle, but it is very pretty.

I decided to use a strip of Basic Grey patterned paper along the middle, which I also embossed with a dots folder and inked the edges.  I stamped the teapot on a circle of cream cardstock which had been die cut and embossed with a Nestabilites circle, then inked with the pink and brown ink before the die was removed.  I really like the effect.  Once I whip stitched the strip of patterned paper at one end, and added some ribbon and twine, I added the circle with some foam squares.

I thought some butterflies would look pretty in the mix, but I don't have a small enough butterfly stamp, or punch.  I do have some small butterfly stencils however, so I used the Ranger tool to blend pink and brown ink over the stencil onto kraft cardstock.  I cut the butterflies out, and decided they needed something more, so I added some Sakura glitter pen.  After adhering them with glue dots, and popping their wings up on foam squares, I thought they still looked bare so I added some pink gems.

While at this point there was quite a bit going on on the card I still felt like it needed more so I decided to make some paper flowers.  I didn't come up with this on my own, I saw it somewhere but I can't recall where.  I wish I could so I could give credit!  Anyway, these were super easy.

I started by die cutting several circles (each flower has three) from the plain cream and the patterned kraft.  I inked the edges of each and pierced the middle with a piercing tool to use as a guide, and also to make adding the brad easier later.  I then just cut slits going from the outside edge almost to the middle pierced hole.

Once all circles were cut in this manner I assembled them with a brad and with the flower placed between my finger and the edge of my bone folder I curled the edges a bit. Once they were adhered in place I bent the top layers up and manipulated the petals until they looked like I wanted them too.  They turned out beautifully so I will definitely be using this technique again, I already have an idea - I just have to find the time to execute it!

I didn't have a sentiment stamp to use for the inside so I hand wrote a sentiment included in the back of Spring 2012 Stampers' Sampler Take Ten (one of my favourites).    I love this saying:

I've decided to enter this card in the following challenges:

1. Allsorts Challenge Blog - Three in a row.
2. Catered Crop - Recipie swap in stitches.
3. Lets Ink It Up - Show us your flowers
4. The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Spring colours.
5. Pile it On - Up in the Air
6. Moving Along With the Times - Special lady 
7. Basic Grey Challenge - Mother's Day/ Girlie 
8. The Ribbon Carousel - Baker's Twine 
9. Deep Ocean Challenge - Butterflies 
10. Creative Card Crew - Vintage 
11. Papertake Weekly - For the girls or Mum
12. The Pink Elephant - Get krafty
13. Creative Stamp Friends - Spring
14. Stampin' for the Weekend - Shabby chic photo Inspiration  

  15.  Cardabilities - Sketch #51 

 The Supplies I used are as follows:

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla.  Recollections Kraft.  Basic Grey Basics Kraft 6x6 Paper Pad.  Pink Paislee Mistables.

Stamps:  The Girls' Paperie Kitch clear stamps.

Ink:  Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan, Rouge, Lipstick Red, Creamy Brown, Alabaster.  Shimmerz Paints Baby's Breath, Cotton Candy, Heavy Metal, Plum Pudding.

Markers:  Stampin' Up! Stampin' Write Markers Chocolate Chip.  Sakura Gelly Roll pen Clear Stardust.

Adhesive:  Tombow Mono Adhesive Runner permanent, Scotch Quick Dry, Glue Dots, Skor Tape, foam squares.

Embellishments:  Creative Charm Vintage brads, We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Fancy Floss Baker's Twine Cream Soda, American Crafts satin ribbon, pink gems from stash, cream thread from stash.

Tools:  Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large, Cuttlebug embossing folder Seeing Spots, paper trimmer, scissors, bone folder, paper piercer, sewing needle, Tim Holtz ruler (for piercing before sewing), Plaid Folk Art Peel & Stick painting stencils.