Favourite Five Christmas Cards

Hi guys

As I've now shared all my Christmas cards made this year I thought I would join in the fun over at Debby's blog and choose my five favourites created in 2015.

So, here goes...


This is my absolute fave and I'm so glad I purchased Distress Inks this year.

I love how this one turned out and it took a lot of planning to get the sentiments in the right place and to do the separate embossing.

Paper piecing is something I've done very little of so I was really happy with this one.

The ghosting technique using Distress Inks and stencils with water is my favourite (new to me) technique this year, I just love the effects you can create.

My last minute batch of Christmas cards.  Once I'd settled on the design they were easy to replicate, I made ten of each colour.

So there you have it, all very CAS, Distress Inks featuring quite a lot and who knew a one layer card would be my favourite?!

Thanks as always for joining me today.

Cuties in Snow Globes

Hi there

Today I'm sharing the final two Christmas cards I made this year, one for my boyfriend and one for my bestie.

Stephanie at Clearly Besotted sneakily shared some new dies on her blog a couple of weeks ago and of course, I'm so weak I had to go and buy them there and then!  One of the new dies was the fab little snow globe I used on these two cards.


This one I made for my boyfriend...

And this one I made for my bestie...

I stamped the snowflakes on the card bases using two colours that co-ordinated with the patterned paper.  I cut out two snow globes from white cardstock and two from patterned paper and adhered these onto the card bases, inserting the patterned paper as the centre pieces.  Next I did a bit of stamping and masking with the hats and animals, coloured them with ProMarkers and fussy cut them out before mounting on 3D foam.  The sentiments were then stamped directly onto the card bases - the 'squishy' was purposely placed this way - my bestie understands! ;)

Materials used:

• Die: Clearly Besotted - Snow Globe Die
• Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn - Let's Bokeh in the Snow
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Arctic Animals, Petite Plushies (sentiment), Little Elves (sentiment); Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes
• Ink: Versa Color - Celadon, Seafoam; Versafine - Onyx Black

Challenge entries:

My Time to Craft - Challenge #311 - Last Minute Christmas Makes

Dream Valley - Challenge #122 - Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Winter Wonderland

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #154 - Snow

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Challenge #261 - Anything Goes Christmas

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for December - Anything Goes Christmas

The Male Room - Challenge #25 - Theme

Thanks so much as always for visiting.  I've not had time for any crafting since before Christmas but I'll hopefully be getting my craft essentials back out tomorrow and might find time for a little play or organisation.  

I hope you're all having a nice Christmas break.  I have to go to work on Thursday which is a bit of a pain right in the middle of the Christmas/New Year hols but I've certainly enjoyed the rest I've had so far.

Hope to be back soon with more to share.

Christmas Card Multiples - Same Design / Five Ways

Hi there

**WARNING**

Picture heavy post - you might want to make yourself a cosy brew!

Well, a week into December I counted up all the Christmas cards I'd made throughout the year and realised I was 60+ short of what I needed!  After panicking (!!!) I sat down and came up with a design I thought would be fairly easy to reproduce whilst also incorporating a few techniques.

Once the rough design was in my head I thought I'd make a few versions of the same design, and settled on ten of each, changing the sentiment and colours for each version.  So this gave me 50 cards to add to my stash.

Here's the complete set of five variations, I was really pleased with the finished results...

I die cut a circle from a spare piece of cardstock and blended Distress Inks through the aperture onto the card base, using a new template for each colour.  I tried to vary the intensity of the ink to make the circle look like a sphere, some came out better than others.  I then stamped the bauble hangers in silver together with the dotty script part of each sentiment, and the rest of the sentiments were stamped in black.  To finish I used a few more circle templates and a snowflake stencil through which I applied pearlescent embossing paste onto the baubles.  These were nice and flat to send through the mail although at one point I did have lots of cards around the room waiting for the embossing paste to dry.  Lots of patience was required!

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Inks (colours detailed below); Versa Color - Silver; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Ornamental Style (bauble hanger), Be Merry and Joyeux Noel (sentiments)
• Stencil: Memory Box - Winter Tiny Snowflakes
• Embossing Paste: Dreamweaver - Pearlescent

For the following set I used Distress Ink in Cracked Pistachio:

For this next set I used Distress Ink in Salty Ocean:

For the next set I used Distress Ink in Shaded Lilac:

For the following set I used Distress Ink in Abandoned Coral:

And for the final set I used Distress Ink in Picked Raspberry:

I like how all these turned out and find it really hard to choose a favourite.  I'd love to know which version(s) you like best.


I'm going to link up at the following challenge blogs:

CASology - Week 178 - Merry (I am entering the Picked Raspberry version here)

My Time to Craft - Challenge #311 - Last Minute Christmas Makes
Dream Valley - Challenge #122 - Christmas
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Fave Challenge/Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Challenge #261 - Anything Goes Christmas
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for December - Anything Goes Christmas
The Male Room - Challenge #25 - Theme (I am entering the Salty Ocean version here)

Phew!

If you've made it to the end, thanks so much for sticking with me.  Thanks so much for your visit and I would love to hear your comments.

I have a few more cards to share but I might have a little break and grab a brew myself now!

Simple Rudolph Multiples

Hi there

I'm back again today to share more of the last minute cards I made before Christmas.

I made four of these super quick CAS cards using two sets from Clearly Besotted.

The fingerprint head, the eyes, ears and antlers, and the sentiment were all stamped straight onto the card bases.  I then added some red liquid pearls for the noses, topped with some superfine red glitter.  The red glitter was really bright but I couldn't seem to capture this in the photos.  A little time was put aside for the noses to dry and these were ready to go.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - In Print and Santa Baby
• Ink: Versa Color - Sand Beige and Pinecone; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Liquid Pearls - Ruby Red; Superfine red glitter from stash

Challenge entries:

My Time to Craft - Challenge #311 - Last Minute Christmas Makes

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #341 - Anything Goes