Joy to the World Christmas Cards

Hello,

Today I have two cards which use the sentiment as the main focus with an embossed vellum overlay for interest.  I've always been a fan of Christmas cards that aren't too in-your-face Christmas-y and these certainly fit that description.

Materials used:

• Blue and red card bases
• Vellum, black and white card
• Silver and gold embossing powders (Ranger)
• Versamark ink
• Various snowflake stamps
• 'Joy to the World' sentiment stamp (Teresa Collins)
• Silver and gold gel pens

For the vellum piece, I used the edge of a stencil to trace the scallop shape along one side with a pencil. Flipping the piece over I began to stamp the snowflakes starting with the largest and progressing to the smallest.  After each stamp I applied the embossing powder so I could see where I had stamped so I wouldn't accidentally overlap any.  Once I had heat set the powder I turned the piece over again and used scissors to cut along the scalloped line and used an eraser to take away any left over pencil marks.

The sentiment was stamped and embossed on a tag shaped which I got by tracing a die cut and trimming out with scissors.  Using the black gel pen I created a dash line border around the sentiment.  For contrast I used a 2cm wide strip of black paper with dash lines along each edge.

The stamping of the snowflakes did take a while but if mass production is your aim then stamping a larger sheet of vellum and embossing before cutting it down would be your best option.  I quite like the simple nature of this card, all the focus is directed to the sentiment and then you notice the pretty snowflakes in the background.

Til next time
Stacey

Trio of Christmas Trees Card

Hello,

I decided to do something I've never done before this week, I used Kraft coloured card.  Not being a big fan of Kraft meant that I actually don't own any so I had to go out and buy some, and I eventually settled on pre-made square card bases with matching envelopes.  This particular card is really quite simple and will be easy to mass produce.

Materials used:

• Kraft card base (Creativ)
• Four shades of green patterned paper and a star patterned paper
• Christmas tree die (Couture Creations)
• Gold embossing powder (Ranger)
• Versamark ink
• 'Merry Christmas' sentiment die cut

I began by using the die as a template for the trees, cutting out triangles from three of the four green patterned papers.  The fourth green paper was cut with the die.  I used the die cut to draw a star on to some white card and embossed the opposite side before trimming out the shape with my scissors.  I used the embossing powder also on the ornaments of the die cut.  Then I adhered the die cut and the star to one of the trees.

Once I had all the pieces made I could adhere them all to the card.  The background paper and the two non-decorated trees are adhered with double sided tape while the decorated tree, star and sentiment are adhered with dimensional foam tape.

As I said earlier this card would be easy to mass produce as there is no stamping involved (unless you decide to stamp the sentiment rather than using a pre-made one) and all that is required is some basic cutting and die cutting.

Till next time,
Stacey

This card has been submitted into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - 'We're seeing stars'.
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Die-cut inlay Christmas Cards

Hello,

So I've been neglectful again, my bad.  I'm still working out a new lifestyle and this blog has really slipped down the list of priorities.  Anyway, I'm back now and hopefully *fingers crossed* I keep it up this time.

It is now November so it's time for Christmas again.  This year I've started off the festivities with a set of sparkly die-cut inlay cards.  Initially I created two water colour background pieces for two cards but ended up making four cards.

The first card with a complete die-cut inlay

Materials used:

• Card bases, two white A2 sized, one purple and one white 10.5cm x 10.5cm.
• White linen 240gsm card (Trophee), pearlised paper (Creativ), sliver and white glitter paper.
• Distress mini ink pads in seedless preserves, salty ocean and picked raspberry.
• Pearl-ex powder.
• Silver embossing powder (Ranger) and embossing ink (Versamark).
• 'Merry Christmas' stamp.
• Snowflake die (Couture Creations).
• A selection of self-adhesive pearls and gems.

The second card with a partial die-cut inlay

I began by making the two background pieces with the distress ink, water and pearl-ex powder.  Once they were dry I ran them through my Cuttlebug with the snowflake die reserving all the small pieces that were cut out.  Both the smaller 10.5cm x 10.5cm cards have the water coloured die-cut snowflakes while the two bigger cards have glitter paper die cuts.

The fist smaller card

The partial die-cut inlay card has just the glitter die-cut inlaid with pearlised paper behind the top half, while the fully inlaid card also has the small pieces from inside the snowflake adhered back into place (though two pieces have annoyingly fallen out somehow).  The sentiments on both of these cards were embossed in silver and gems were added to both the snowflakes.

The second of the smaller cards

For the two smaller square cards, only the water coloured die-cuts with gems/pearls are on the front.  For the first card I added more of the distress inks + water to the card base so when I layered the pearlised paper over it there was a border that matched the snowflake.  The second card has a purple card base as the snowflake is mostly purple in colour.

These cards are likely to be the most 'wintery' Christmas cards I will make, as it is summer at Christmas here in NZ.  I tend to make cards that reflect that or don't suggest any particular season.  I just have a strong connection between summer and Christmas (don't hate me, it's just super unlikely that it will be cold here in December).

Till next time,

Stacey

Mixed Media 1 - Music is the voice of the soul

Hello

To begin I must apologize for being so absent over the past month and a half.  Many things happened to me during this time and as a consequence my life has changed a bit.  My crafting took a bit of a hit as well as inspiration was lacking and there were other things to be dealt with.  Today however, I have something different to share.  I've been steadily gaining interest in mixed media projects and have created one of my own during the last couple of weeks.

Music is the voice of the soul

I'm not going to list all the products I've used because a lot of it was just pulled out of my stash or made.  The gold embossed notes (Ranger Queen's Gold embossing powder) and glittered hearts were chipboard pieces that came from a card magazine I got ages ago and altered for the project.  I used sticky embossing powder (Ranger) to hold the glitter (American Crafts Taffy) on and a layer of clear embossing powder (Ranger) over the top to make sure the glitter couldn't escape.  The violin was also part of the set as a 2D chipboard piece, but I created a back for it and joined it together with a strip of paper to make it 3D along with adding the strings using gold thread and two pieces of dimensional foam tape.

Close up of the violin

I made the majority of the flowers using dies to cut out the flower shapes (Couture Creations Daisy Nesting Dies) and adhering them together with hot glue.  The carnation looking flowers were created from circles that I sprayed with water, crinkled up, left to dry, then stacked them together and pushed a brad through to hold them in place and fluffed up the petals.

The bottom right corner where most of the flowers are.

I used a couple of my flourish type dies (Couture Creations) to create some greenery for the flowers and the gold embossed decal at the bottom by gluing several of the die cuts together and embossing it.  I've added a few gems and pearls to the flower centers and dotted around the place to add a bit of bling.  My distress inks (Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry, Antique Linen, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Seedless Preserves) got a bit of a workout during this project, they were used to age the edges of the main background, add stenciled images (Rosie's Studio) on the background.  They were also used to define the edges of the flowers and to colour and stencil (Memory Box) the violin.  I used some pearlised paint and pearl-ex powders (Interference Gold, Interference Violet) mixed with water to provide shimmer on some of the flowers and areas on the background.

Bottom left corner; featuring a glittered heart and a faux metal embellishment.

There are also a couple of paper doilies that I coloured with distress ink and some die cut borders from a magazine gift that I used along with a couple of pre-made flowers.  I did do a small amoun of stamping on the background with a dotty stamp and a swirl stamp using the Picked Raspberry distress ink and Stazon Jet Black ink.  Finally the sentiment was added with some black alphabet stickers.

I hope you like it, this is my second attempt at a mixed media project and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I learnt quite a few things while I was creating this and have many things to work on for my next attempt such as preventing warping.  I'm going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog, go check it out.  This weeks challenge is "Anything Goes".

Till next time,
Stacey.

Floral One Layer Card

Hello,

This week I'm featuring a one layer card.  I don't often make one layer cards as I do find it difficult to use the space with just stamps.  This one was actually easy to create with a bit of masking and some pretty stamps.

Materials:

• White card base
• Flower (MME), leaves (Couture Creations) and 'thinking of you' (Cre8tiv) stamps
• Plum (Ranger archival), black (Stazon) and green ink as well as mowed lawn and seedless preserves distress ink
• Black marker pen
• Pearls and gems
• Corner rounder (Fiskars)

Directions:

1. Mask off an area just below the middle of the card front.  Stamp two of the largest flowers either side of the masked area making sure to overlap the mask a bit.  Stamp one of the smaller flowers below the mask.  Mask off the flowers and stamp the leaf outlines to fill in more space.
2. Remove the mask.  Using a ruler and the marker, create two lines either side of the masked off area.  Stamp the greeting in between the two lines.
3. Using the distress ink, water and a brush, fill in the leaves and any outline flowers with colour.  Once dry, splatter some of the purple distress ink over the card front.
4. Adhere a few gems and pearls and round the top right corner.

I was kind of making this one up as I went with no final vision in mind, I think it turned out well and I managed to hide the small mistakes I made well.  The splatter of ink was to help hide the fact that some of the ink from when I stamped the flowers seeped through the mask and the gems were to cover up a couple of smudges I made.  Just goes to show that little mistakes like that can be covered up and disguised easily to save your card from the rubbish bin!

Till next time

Stacey

Hap-pea Birthday card

Hello

Today's card is a fun one that contains a pun in the sentiment.  I don't often make funny cards so it was nice to change things up a bit.

Materials:

• Green card base, white (Trophee, 240gsm, white linen) and black (Trophee, 210gsm, black) card, green paper
• Pea stamp (Fiskars), alphabet stamps (Cre8tiv) and 'birthday' (Sullivans) stamp
• Green ink and black (Stazon) permanent ink
• Green pen and a green and black gel pen

Directions:

1. Stamp over the card front the pea image several times in green ink.  Stamp the pea image again in black on to the white card.  Stamp out the sentiment using the alphabet stamps and 'birthday' sentiment, use green ink for 'pea' and black for everything else.
2. Colour in the pea image with the pens.  Use the black gel pen to draw a smiling face on one of the peas.
3. Matt the white card with the green paper and then black card.  Adhere to the card base.

I love how this card turned out, I'm going to have to make some more funny cards in the future because this one was so much fun to make and it brings a smile to people's face when the see it.

Till next time

Stacey

Spotlight on Patterned Paper: Elegant Friendship Card

Hello,

Today's card is the final in the patterned paper series.  It is a very simple card and is quick to make so would be easily mass produced.

Materials:

• White card base, black polka dotted paper, green paper and white card
• Friendship stamp (Kaisercraft)
• Black ink (Stazon)
• Black gel pen
• Black embroidery floss
• Green sparkly thread

Directions:

1. Trim the polka dot paper to fit your card front.  Cut a strip of white card large enough to fit your stamp and a bow at the bottom.  Cut a piece of green paper to create a small border for the white piece.
2. Stamp the sentiment on to the white piece.  Using the gel pen create a dash line border around the edge.  Tie a bow with the green and black threads together underneath the sentiment.  Adhere the piece on to the green paper and the panel onto the card front.

See told you it was simple.  Yet it looks good doesn't it?  That is the beauty of patterned paper, it can be used to cut down on the time it takes to create but you still get amazing looking cards!  Prepare yourself for a whole bunch of birthday cards over the next month, I have many friends and family with birthday's in August and I need to make them all a card!

Til next time.

Stacey

P.S. This card has been added to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  Check it out at http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/