Holly and Ribbon Christmas Card

This is a card I just made one of and then kept it for reference.

I made the greeting myself using Publisher and the ribbon is from East of India.

I can’t remember anything about the background paper, sorry. All I’ve added is a scattering of  hologram micro glitter for a bit of sparkle

Simple Christmas Bauble Card

How simple is this?  I saw these stickers in Early Learning today and just had to have them!  The pack cost £1.50 for 12 stickers, which means I can get 4 cards out of one pack, how brilliant is that?

 

The first card always takes the longest, getting the spaces between the baubles just right, but now I have worked it out, I can go into mass production!

All I have done is draw a thread with a very fine tipped drawing pen and added some tiny stars to complete the design

I hope I haven’t started a stampede to Early Learning now…. they also had a nice pack of Santa stickers too, some were a light chipboard and others were on a sticker sheet.

Gem of a Christmas Tree Card.

This looks a very simple card,  but with my podgy fingers, getting the gems in position to create a reasonable Christmas tree shape was a little fiddle farty!

I won’t bore you with the details of how I made it, as the picture explains it all.

The card measures 115mm square.  The acrylic gems are from Paperchase, they are the best quality that I have found.  They come in single colours in small pots, measure 6mm and you get 300 for £2.75.  (This does not include the square gem, that is from a different source)

Jingle Bells Card

This is an idea I had a couple of years ago, I even located the die in the US, but when it arrived it was put in a drawer to gather dust.

Well today I finally got it out and I am so pleased with how it’s turned out and now wish I had used it sooner!

The die is Sizzix – Shadow Box Upper Case J No. 38-0457

I am sorry there is no name on the paper I have used. The bells are taken off a fancy bit of trimming I’ve also had for ages and the writing is my own.  Simple and cute.

My Craft Room

It’s half term so I am really trying to get all my main Christmas crafting done this week, but my craft room is turning into a shambles, I am not the neatest of workers, and I find that as I am making one thing it sparks me off on another idea and before I know it I have three/four ideas on the table!

At the moment I have left this pack of brads from Dovecraft on my desk hoping for inspiration. They are so beautiful but I don’t have a clue what to use them on. I think as each is so lovely they need to be used singly …… not sure how …

I have had a play this morning and this is what I have come up with, really it’s a revamp of my doodling cards I did a couple of days ago.

At first I thought it was a bit twee, but it’s grown on me now.

Christmas Tree Card

How chuffed am I with this card?!! 
I very nearly gave up on it.

I got the Christmas Tree die cuts from Craftwork Cards at Hobbycrafts NEC a couple of years ago.  I just had to have them at the time …. but they have sat in my Christmas box ever since .  This year I was determined that I would use them and so stuck them on my notice board so they would be there as a constant reminder.

Today was the day, but when I had cut my card blank and put the trees beside it, disaster, the trees were a Daz brilliant white, which made the blank look grey, aghhhh!  Perhaps no one else would have noticed, but I did!

I then had a eureka moment.  I remembered a huge block of card I had from Penkridge Market for about £2, it’s navy blue but with a plastic/leathery finish, not like card at all. It matched perfectly with the Creative Creations Ltd “Snowflakes On Dark Blue” I was going to use.

I matted the patterned paper on silver and placed it on the card, just above centre.  The trees are on foam sticky pads for extra dimension and all I have added to complete it  are two clear square gems and two silver stars.

Knitted Baubles

I saw these on this website and they made me smile, now I know exactly what to do with my wool oddments.

Mini Sizzix Boxes – Place Settings?

I have had the dies for these boxes for a couple of years and to be honest, haven’t really used them much because they are quite small and fiddly to make.

But I thought I would have another little play with them…..
They are both Sizzix Thick Cut Dies - “Purse” and “Carry All Box”, which looks like a tiny toolbox.

I was thinking that they could be used as place settings for a dinner party and as Christmas nears, I have decorated them with snowflake punchies.  The name tag is also a punchie, which I have handwritten.

I am a bit  stuck for something to put in the boxes as they are quite small. I think you could fit one “Celebrations” chocolate in the tool box and a small chocolate coin in the handbag. I also thought that K and Co “Proverbs to Go”  could be folded up and popped inside.

Of course they could also be used as Christmas tree decorations.

Scalloped Christmas Topper Card

Scalloped edges are new to me, so I’m probably going to use them to excess over the next week or so!!
The paper I have used for this card is Daisy and Dandelion Christmas Collection – Winters Tale.

I have layered two Nestabilites die cut squares with a plain square on top.  The scalloped and plain circle punchies are made using the Stampin Up punches I have mentioned before in previous posts.

The snowflake button is from a mega pack of Dressing Up Christmas buttons I got from Create and Craft years ago when I first started crafting.

Doodle Cards or What No Christmas Cards Today?

I thought I would have a break from Christmas as I was in danger of going snowflake crazy …….

I’m a bit slow when it comes to trends, so my doodling cards are about 2 years behind the times!

I have used a lot of new things on this idea, so it’s all been a bit of an experiment.

 

Just recently I have bought a couple of sets of nestabilities, and this is the first time I have used them on cards.  I am so used to layering on plain squares, that scalloped edges seem a bit alien to me.

 

The papers and brads I have used are My Minds Eye, Bloom and Grow, bought on a whim earlier this week, but I just love them.

I cut two squares, one slightly larger than the other and stuck them together and laid them on a card blank, it looked bare……

So I decided to try them with a scalloped square nestabilitie ….. still a bit dull and lifeless.

The flower is made using a whale of a punch retro flower punch x three, a scalloped circle punchie on the bottom layer, and a brad in the middle, stuck down with a double sided sticky pad.

It was then that I was struck with the idea of doodling on top of the design, I went mad, and didn’t do it too carefully, using a fine nibbed gel pen.
I am dead chuffed with the result, which is right out of my crafting comfort zone.
I was thinking ….. put eight together in a pack and they would make lovely set of  notelets.

Christmas Candy Canes

Sorry, this isn’t the best photo, but these candy canes were a devil to photograph at a good angle!

I have made these as little presents for the girls I do cookery with at school.

And ....they proved a little more fiddle farty that I first imagined.

I have used Poundworld candy canes (they come in boxes of 15), jingle bells from Paperchase (bought last year - £3.50 for a box of 72 assorted coloured bells), red ribbon, and tags made using a large tag punch.

I secured two canes together using red ribbon that I had backed with double sided tape using my ATG gun.

Then I punched out the tag and hand wrote the sentiment. I tied the bell to a length of thread and taped the thread  to the back of the tag.  The red bow has been glued over the little bit of thread that was showing at the top of the tag.

The tag is attached to the back of the candy canes using a double sided sticky pad.

Embossed Christmas Card

I love the snowman on this Christmas Card .  To make it I have used a Cuttlebug large embossing folder “Sledding” All I have done is trim the whole embossed image and then mat and layer it on silver onto a deep blue card blank.

I have then coloured in the snowman background , nose, mouth and arms. The snowman is filled in using Hero Arts micro hologram glitter, which has the most wonderful sparkle.The tiny stars are nail decorations from Poundland, which are just the right size!

Snowman Christmas Squares Card

This card is made using Accessorize puffy stickers.  Because of the small size of the stickers I think this is the best way to use them.

The squares are made using a small scalloped edged punch from three shades of blue bazzill paper. The main square has been mat and layered three times on silver, blue and white card, with faux stitching added by hand.

Snowman Card

I would say it takes me about an hour to put a new card  together. Often it takes three or four attempts before I am happy with a design. 

At Christmas I do a big box of about 200 cards.  I like to have at least 10 different designs, but it all depends on the embellishments I have collected during the year, most are bought in the sales. 

This is the first of design for my 2009 Box. 

The centre uses a 3D embellishment from a pack of 8 assorted designs from Hobbycraft, I have looked on the packet but it’s not clear who the makers are.

Its a pretty simple card, the time was spent on deciding on colours and paper.  I just love gingham papers, especially for Christmas, it’s so versatile.

The picture is made using blue bazzill paper with two layers of white glitter card for snow plus the snowman.  I have drawn snowflakes using a white gel pen on the sky, added two tiny peel off dots to accentuate the snowman’s eyes and a small gold star on the tree.  The snowflakes are punchies with a blue flat backed gem in the centre.

The centre is stuck onto the card using sticky pads for extra dimension.

Now I have come up with this basic design I shall repeat it with the other stickers from the pack with a variety of other coloured ginghams.

Mini Advent Countdown Chalk Board

I have finally finished my Advent Calendar Chalk Board that I featured a little while ago.

I really wanted wooden stars to match the frame and snowman, but they proved hard to find as well as expensive, and even then, I would have had to glitter them myself. So in the end I have used table confetti snowflakes that  I bought a little while ago from Birthdays (I think).  They are quite thick but the proportions are just right. 

To complete the whole thing, I have wrapped and glued a cotton thread round a stick of chalk and attached it to the back.

The chalkboard is by Gisela Graham and I had several of them from a seller on E-bay

Toadstool House and Fairy Door Toppers

I’ve just noticed, you can see that the glue isn’t dry on the the Mushroom House door!

I made these two toppers using the Dovecraft Fairy Door Template. I am not the “best cutter out” and found it a bit fiddly.
The papers I have used are DCWV Once Upon a Time.
I’ve also added dragonfly and flower punchies, and dragonfly brads (these were from lakeland, they are so pretty, it’s a shame Lakeland stopped producing their craft line as they had some really good stuff)
The Home Sweet Home plaques are done by my own fair hand !

Shocking Stocking Baby Doll!

What can I say, sewing is not my forte!

This doll comes from a book called Dolls Children Can Make by Shelia McGraw.  He's made from a babygro, and a pair of sandal toed tights, plus stuffing, a little wool and a couple of googly eyes.

In the right hands he could look quite cute!.  But because of the delicate nature of the tights used for the head, once you have made the stitches for the mouth, that’s really it, every doll gets a unique expression!  Mine is simply very worried!

This Christmas I am going to try and make a couple more, but I have bought the tiniest babygros I could find this time, for much smaller dolls.

Can I stress that these dolls are not for children, the eyes are stuck on and could be swallowed.  I have only made these dolls for adults as a bit of fun.

Ivy Snowflake Card

I got these ivy leaves from Hobbycraft years ago. I think you are supposed to sprinkle them on your festive table, but whatever I have done with them so far has turned out pants!

 
But this evening I have had another go with them, and this time I am quite pleased.
I have mat and layered white glitter card on silver and green card for a basic topper.

The ivy leaf had the glittered edge already, I have just added a  doubled up snowflake punchie, with a clear flat backed gem in the centre, a scattering of silver stars and a very thin strip of double sided silver card that I have slightly twisted and stuck down so it is slightly raised. The only thing I would change next time is trying to see what a pearl would look like instead of the gem.

The gem was taken from a jewelled nail file from a poundshop (3 for a pound) – it was well worth picking off the stones as I got  at least 200 lovely smooth round gems from them.

It was a devil to get a picture of because of all the sparkle and shine, the snowflakes seems to leap out at you, but in real life it is quite subtle.

Halloween Treat Bags

Tonight I made about 20 of these bags using a nestabilities label die for the bag tag, M & S chocolate ghosts, Poundland 3D stickers and a bit of halloween table confetti for extra bling.