Dorothy

I don't have time for crafting at the moment so thought I'd share some of the lovely Christmas cards I received instead.

This one is from Dorothy, I am envious of her very neat cutting skills.

Happy Birthday

Background die is from China
Sentiment die by Tonic
I've used double-sided adhesive sheet and Glamour Dust
Flowers are Prima
Leaf punch by SU!

Merry Christmas

I made this for the lovely lady who grooms our dog.
I wouldn't say Fletcher enjoys being groomed but it's very necessary as he doesn't shed any hair and can soon get matted. About every two months we drop him off for a couple of hours and he always looks very smart afterwards (until a day or so later when he normally finds something to roll in)

Our vet commented recently on what an excellent job the groomer is doing so I thought I'd make her a special card to show our appreciation.
The doggy stamps were a cheap set from China, dies are by Memory Box.

Peace

I usually make several different designs of Christmas cards to post out but this year decided to keep things simple.
I made this card and then, rare for me, made quite a few more!

The patterned papers are by Stampin' Up!
It's a white background with foiled snowflakes on one and starbursts/ fireworks on the other.
For some of the cards I kept the white as it was, on the other cards I smooshed Colour Cloud Ink over to change it to lilac.

Some of the cards I used a pearlescent purple layer with silver card and the others I used a rich brown with gold card.

The foil snowflakes are also by SU
Sentiment die is by PTI

Believe

Deer die is from China

Sentiment die is Tim Holtz for Sizzix 

Foil snowflakes are Stampin' Up!

Merry Christmas

Deer die is from China, I've added some red chunky glitter to his nose.

Sentiment die is by Memory Box

Card is 7 x 7 inches

Butterfly Birthday

Butterfly stamp is from China, I've embossed with gold and copper embossing powders
Birthday die is by Marianne

Deck Those Halls

Card is 7 x 7 inches
Embossing folder by Creative Expressions
Stamps are Waltzingmouse
Ornament and oval dies by Spellbinders

Believe

I was trying to think up some new ideas for the club and realised we hadn't used gilding flakes for a while (probably because they are so messy!)

Striplet die is by Sue Wilson
Poinsettia dies are Spellbinders
Believe dies ...?

Striped Flowers

Sentiment stamp is a cheap one from The Range (think it's Trimcraft or Dovecraft brand?)
Scalloped square die by Tonic
Flower stamp and matching die is Heartfelt Creations. I've embossed using SU copper powder which is a beautiful colour in real life. I also added heat embossing to some of the edges of the layered card by using a Versamark pen and the copper powder.

Wreath

Stamp set is Holly Berry Happiness by Stampin' Up!

I initially had a bit of difficulty stamping a decent circle. It's not a complete wreath stamp, more like a garland, so to make a wreath as shown here I had to stamp the garland five times.
After a couple of trials I decided I needed help so I die-cut a circle from scrap card and used the negative piece, stamping just inside of the circle all the way round.

If that wasn't bad enough I then had to stamp over each garland because the first stamp is just the outline of the holly leaves...and then another five times to stamp the red berries. You can see by the bottom right corner that I didn't quite get the outline and the solid stamps aligned correctly.

Finished card is 6 x 6 inches.

Noel

Inspired by a card by Chloe Endean. I've used Chloe heart and snowflake border stamps. The noel sentiment is by JustRite, the deer die is a cheapie from China, tag die is Sue Wilson.

Please excuse the terrible blending (Colour Cloud ink). I didn't use enough and then decided to add a glitter border, realised I'd not inked enough and tried to add more but the glitter got in the way...I'm not sending the card to anyone it was just a sample for card club, I could not be bothered to sit and make another one with better blending!

Christmas tags

Some of you will already know that I've been buying a lot of my stash from abroad just lately.
The upside is that it is massively cheaper, the downside is that sometimes the translation is...interesting...let's say, and of course I have to wait a bit longer for it to be delivered.

I had ordered some pale green and dark red organza ribbons for Christmas projects, waited five weeks, and when the order arrived it turns out they had sent me the wrong items! They agreed to replace the ribbons free of charge but the replacement order has now arrived...and is still wrong. I have a reel of pale green as requested but instead of red they've sent yellow, oh dear. It would be a bit churlish to still complain as I've paid less than £4 for the whole lot, 4 reels with 50 yards on each.

So now I have been left with cerise pink and bright yellow satin ribbon plus the yellow organza.  The satin is too thick for card-making so I'm going to use it for when I'm wrapping Christmas presents. I've bought some wrapping paper from Matalan that has pink and yellow/ gold in so it should coordinate.

I normally find that I have plenty of paper left over but never have enough tags so I'm getting prepared early this year and have been a busy bee.
I bought a tag punch from Stampin' Up! that cuts the scallop edge plus the little slot and it is open-ended so you can basically make the tags any length. I've got plenty of tag dies but I love just being able to get a punch out without having to use a die-cutting machine, it's so much quicker.


I had already bought some foiled washi tape (again from abroad) and I've simply used scraps of white card and edged them with the washi, then stuck them on scraps of cerise card, it's just coincidence that the washi dots match the dotty paper :)

I had also ordered some ombre ribbon, again it arrived a little later than I'd planned for and the colour isn't exactly the same as what I actually ordered but it's close enough. 

Let It Snow

Shaker card made using Wintertide Frame die by Amy design. The sentiment die is by Lawn Fawn, I've cut it in half for this card it's actually one long piece.

The shaker bits are various sequins and glitters and I've also added some glitter to the die-cut.

Christmas Tree

Stamps are by Woodware
I've used Colour Cloud ink to edge the stamped panel and added some Glamour Dust in places.
Card fits in a DL envelope and is flat for posting.

Peace

I couldn't get a decent pic of this one.
Card is 8 x 8 inches and I used a Chloe stamp with die by Tonic

The centre panel started off as white shimmer card and I smooshed Colour Cloud ink over it before picking out sections with a darker ink.

The lilac and plum cardstocks are much nicer in real life, they're from Paper Mill and are a lovely matt pearlescent finish.

I'm fortunate to be able to go to the Paper Mill shop in Kendal several times a year and it's great being able to see the products for myself rather than try and order them online. Well worth a trip if you're ever in/ near the Lake District, the staff are lovely and there's usually some really nice samples on display. I've been going there for years (under their previous business name) and was thrilled when they bought the Paper Mill because now there's double the choice of card and paper :)

Boxes

Boxes I've made over the last few weeks to match cards. Each box holds four Ferrero Rocher chocs.
I was going to note the measurements here but the puppy + piece of paper left lying about = chaos.

Peace

I bought a bargain 'Merry Christmas' die recently and planned to use it on this card. I then changed my mind as I thought it looked too cluttered and decided on 'Peace' instead.
After I'd glued it down I wondered if the Peace was too small...

Anyway the embossing folder is by Crafter's Companion and I swiped some pink Colour Cloud ink across the raised areas
The poinsettia dies are Sue Wilson, I think the sentiment is Papertrey Ink and I cut and layered it four times.

Vertical Greetings

Inspired by a card in the Stampin' Up! catalogue, all products are SU.

I used marker pens to colour directly on to the stamp (and added the gems to cover a little smudge)
Stamp set is 'Vertical Greetings'

Celebrate

I've used 'Ornate Lace' 3-D embossing folder by Crafter's Companion.
I embossed two pieces of black card, cut the decorative edges from one piece, and layered them across the other.

I added some Pebeo gilding wax, it's so creamy and just glides on, fabulous stuff!
Sentiment die is also by Crafter's Companion.

Daisy

This was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest by Julia Quinn, I don't have the crate die that she used or the patterned papers though.

Instead of the crate die I used the Hardwood stamp by Stampin' Up! on some caramel coloured card. I didn't make the 'crate' as deep but it would be simple enough to do so  -  this was for a card club project and a deeper crate would mean more flowers and more time needed...

I thought plain card was that bit too plain but didn't want to use patterned paper either so decided to just score the card instead (an easy alternative to stamping or using embossing folders)
The middle panel is lemon yellow and on this piece I scored the lines horizontally.

Daisy stamp and punches are by SU and I think the Happy Birthday die is by Poppy stamps/ Memory Box
The card folds flat and fits a C5 envelope.

Kath

Kath is another of my lovely card club ladies who has been attending for many years. I don't think I have ever, in all that time, heard her complain about anything!

Papers are from The Works (their own brand £2 a pad)
Flowers are cheapies from The Range
Dies are Spellbinders and Sizzix Funky Brush for the letters

Poppies

One of my lovely ladies was recently celebrating her 80th birthday.
Joan has been attending my card club virtually since the start (January 2004) and I know she loves poppies so I try to feature them on her birthday cards.

This year I made the poppies myself using Foamiran and black glitter
The sentiment die is by Tonic
Number dies are Sunset by Sizzix