Receiving Christmas Cards

I love receiving Christmas. Yesterday I got one from one of my favourite people, Lindsay Mason, that just left me in awe of her talent. Such a beautiful artwork. Of course, another of my favorite, Julie Hickey, was the first card that I got, as Julie is probably the most organized person I know. She may disagree with me, but in truth she is!


This little lot of Christmas cards can be done fairly fast and without too much expense, a perfect combination for me when it comes to Christmas cards. The beauty of the embossing folders captivates me. A simple card just looks so much better with some embossed plain card.

More variations on a theme

This time the main card is formed of two pieces of card, a green and a red one.
I used a Ek Success edge punch for the green piece.
The message, once again, is Large Christmas and Filled With Flowers.

More indecision

Another portrait/ landscape card, although being a square card it is not really a question of either rather than being a tent card like bellow (with the score line on the top) or a regular card (with the score line on the left side). At the end I decided to go with the traditional way, the above one.

Bits and pieces

I think you can see a common thread through most of my years Christmas cards, that thread is actually double thread. The obvious one being using the same message as a focal point, the large circle from Large Christmas and the flowers and leaves from Filled with flowers (Versafine ink pads: Crimson Red, Spanish Moss, Vintage Sepia).
The second common thread, less obvious, it is the fact that I am using left over pieces of patterned paper, cards and using any of my large cardstock stash, meaning that I haven't bought any card specifically to make the cards. The patterned papers are this years, so strictly speaking they are not left overs, but I bought them and used them for some projects -articles mainly- so what I am using now are left overs.


By the way, if you are looking for Christmas crafty presents or for craft bargains, check out the offers from Dawn Bibby's shop here.

Different

This one is a bit different from the ones before. I used two tags (using Tim Holtz Sizzix Tag die) and joined them on the back, emboss the front and decorated it with images from the Large Christmas, Joyful Bubbles and Christmas Messages (inside). I used Deep Lagoon Versafine for the darker ink and Summer sky Memento for the softer blue.

Portrait or Landscape

Well, I really like this little Christmas card, but I am not sure which orientation is the right one. You tell me!

Making my Christmas cards

Making the cards for my Christmas list is one of the highlights of my paper crafting year. That is what I first started doing so many years ago in Spain, that is what is a non negational thing: I don't send any Christmas card that I haven't done myself. However I tend to wait for the last minute before I make them because I always wait to see all the new products out there.


On Saturday I started to make the bulk of them. I apply to myself few rules, the most important one use whatever cardstock I already have. I allow myself to buy stamps and dies, but I safe the money on the cardstock department.


This is one of the cards I did. Using leftovers in papers (Jovial, from Basic Grey) and card, doing some patchwork and then the message from Large Christmas and Filled with Flowers.

More stamping Christmas cards

This one was also part of the article I did recently (las month's issue I believe) for Crafts Beautiful. I used just the Large Christmas set and two ink pads, for the light blue i used memento Summer Sky and for the darker one Versafine Deep Lagoon. 
The circle in the middle was punched out using a 2" circle punch. 
I finished it off with 3mm self adhesive pearls.

I am beyond tired but really, really happy on how everything went at the Fiskars workshops that I taught at Hobbycrafts show (NEC, Birmingham). As I was teaching workshops all day long for four days my voice is a little husky, something I don't has ever happened to me before.
Traffic was good last night so I got home in good time, there are plenty of things to do so I don't have much time to spare. I will post the card that I taught in the forthcoming days. For the moment I leave you with this simple card i made for one of my classes at the Glitter Pot. It was all about making the most of a single (actually half) patterned sheet of paper. The message is from Large christmas and the flower is from Filled with flowers.

Back home

Last week I went for a few days in Mallorca -Majorca, I just prefer the Spanish/Catalan spelling!- which was a lovely break. I enjoyed the warmer temperatures -not by much, mind you!-, the lovely food and, of course, the company, my family and friends. Although I do have quite a lot of good friends here in England, I do miss terribly my friends in Spain. They are mostly University friends so we talk endlessly about, well just about everything.


The downside is that I haven't been making cards for over a week so I don't have much to share in terms of papercraft.

But I don't think I have shared the inside of a card that I posted  days ago (bellow). The inside is one of those easy pop up mechanisms that I like so much, this time I used as a pop up element a die cut new Nestability shape, the Beaded circles. I believe I used the second largest die to cut plain white smooth card and I stamped one of the circle sentiments from my Large Christmas set. then I stamped one of the two steps flowers from the Filled with flowers set to create an image that resembles a poinsettia. Finally I stamped the dots onto the beaded edges of the circle using the single dot that is on the Filled with Flowers set.

Snowflakes

Not much to share today. Just need to do some paperwork and general stuff.But I thought that I could share this card I did a few weeks ago. It is a very simple card made using the Large christmas set and Joyful Bubbles as the snowflakes from each set are the same pattern although different sizes. The inks I used were Memento Summer Sky (the soft blue) and Versafine Deep Lagoon.

Over the edge Christmas

I made this card a few backs and I still like it, which funnily enough it's not as common occurrence as you may think.  

A close up of the sentiment. I used Memento's Rhubarb Stalk and Cottage Ivy.

This photo shows better the detail of the front, the half circle punch out and the white glittered dots on the embossed front,  done using a Swiss Dots emboss folder.

A quick break

The last couple of days have a quick blog break for me. I have had a lot do recently, and I just needed a break. There are still many things on my To Do list, but hopefully will find the time to blog!
This card combines two things I love Cuttlebug embossing folders and stamping. I used one of the larger 7 x 5" folders and then for the message the Large Christmas sentiment in a circle as well as the two step flower from Filled with Flowers.

Simple!

A Christmas version

The images from the Filled with Flowers set can be easily used for Christmas. following the same steps as yesterday's card but changing the colours and the overall design I did this card.

I used Versafine Spanish Moss and Crimson Red. The Poinsettia type of flower is approx. 1 1/4" which means that fits perfectly inside the Large Christmas sentiment in a Circle.  The stripy paper is from Basic Grey, Jovial collection.

Christmas Messages Tutorial

First, stamp the shadow image, a snowflake from the large Christmas set. I call shadow stamping as soon after I started stamping Hero Arts launched the shadow stamps, solid images to be stamped with lighter coloured ink pads usually dye based. A softer image is stamped behind the main image.

Then stamp the message using Deep Lagoon Versafine.

Some messages allow you to mix and match. So stamp a second line if you wish to do.

And voila, this is the result.

Then I used the same Memento ink to stamp the spotty splatter stamp. I stamped it several times starting at 1 o'clock.

Then, I kept stamping the same splatter image all round using the same ink pad.

Usually I end up with 4 or 5 stamped images of the splatter.

And this is how it looks once complete. The spots are position so you can repeat stamp yet it will still look slightly random.


I was asked recently which white card do I use for stamping. At the minute I use Personal Impressions Premier Quality Smooth White card, which comes either in a 100 pack or in 10 pack. Some of you may remember me raving about Craftwork Cards ultra Smooth Digital Cardstock a few months back. Well, I haven't change my mind about it, the fact is they are pretty identical, same ultra smooth finish, same weight... the only thing that changes is the price and that is some shops you will find one or the other.

Introducing: Christmas Messages

This is the Christmas version of the Mix & Match and Double Sayings set. It contains fourteen messages with small font that can be for the outside or inside of a card, plus the spotty platter image and the little scroll designed to use with lighter inks on the background of the message, just like in the card bellow.

I stamped the spotty splatter image using Memento Summer Sky. The message on top is stamped using a Deep Lagoon Versafine ink. The snowflake is from the Large Christmas set.

This is the inside of the card. The spotty stamp can be repeated to create a bigger splatter image.

Large Christmas Tutorial

First stamp the outline the snowflake with Versafine Deep Lagoon.

Then ink the solid snowflake with Memento Summer Sky ink. It is exactly the same size as the outline one, but the solid one being stamped on a lighter color means that the darker outline shows off.

And stamp it inside the snowflake outline.

Here you can see the outline on the left and the stamped outline with the solid one inside, so you can appreciate the difference between the effects. The outline one is ideal to be coloured in with Copics, Promarkers or any other coloring method.

This is the snowflake inside of a 1 1/4" circle punch.

This is how it fits on a 1 3/8".

This is how it fits on a 1 1/2".

Stamp the large New Year on white smooth card. Remember, almost all my stamp designs are very fine detail so the smoothest card is always going to be the best option for stamping them.

This is what it looks like once stamped.

The image stamped punches out perfectly using a 2" circle punch. The other large circle stamp is identical in size, so it can be cut with the same punch, the only thing that changes is the sentiment, Happy Christmas instead of Happy New Year.

And this is a few options that this set offers.

Introducing: Large Christmas

This set offers so many different possibilities that is hard to summarize what you can do.

Fourteen single clear stamps, including messages and six snowflakes. The large circles have a message in each, Happy Christmas and Happy New Year. The solid Message fits on a 1 1/2" circle punch and also fits inside the larger ones, as do the large snowflakes, the 25 and positive messages.

A little simple card that I made using some of the images from from Large Christmas as well as from Christmas Essentials and Joyful Bubbles. The snowflake is the same design that is featured on the Joyful Bubbles and the circle tag that is included in the Christmas Essentials set. However, the one in the Bubbles set is a different size so it can be combined -like in the card above- with the ones included in the Large Christmas.


Tomorrow I will post a little step by step tutorial on how to get the large snowflake two toned as well as punches sizes. 

Introducing: Filled With Flowers

I am really in love with this set, in fact, I have been using it non stop. I have always loved flowers, my first cards that I ever did back in Mallorca were of course Christmas Cards that one way or another featured flowers.

In this set there are three two step flowers, plus seven single flowers and three messages for all year round sentiments. Because all of the flowers are six petals one you can combine them.

What I wanted to do with this set is offer several flowers some of which with a two step option so they can be stamped in two colors, like the card above. The six petal flower can be stamped in one colour and then the leaves can be stamped in green. Because they are clear stamps, it is extremely easy to do.

The red message is from the Christmas Essentials and the circular frame in green is from Large Christmas.