Mince Pies and Robins Christmas Card

I’m not 100% about this card.  The robins and mince pies are leftovers from a packet of Forever Friends 3D embellishments, bought in WH Smith Craft sale for £1.49. I would never have paid the full price, astronomical! It would have been cheaper to go out and buy a Forever Friends card ready made, than make one)

I have used a centre square pattern again, mat and layering on scraps of a faded blue gingham paper.

I think perhaps I should have cut a slightly smaller card blank.  Not sure about the corner pieces either, something is missing, but whatever I put there makes it look over embellished. Hmmmmmm

Anyway, it will go into my card box and I will see if it goes.

Christmas Cards Using Brads.

I am still playing with my brads. Because I have already had them for at least one Christmas I feel that they must be used now (so that I can justify buying new stuff!).

These are my last two efforts, the first one is way too fancy, I would say it is fiddle fart over kill!

Yuk! But I quite like the hole effect round the large scalloped square which I did with a very small circle punch.

I prefer the Father Christmas design, not so twee.

A Winter Scene Christmas Card

I only stamp if it is simple, and you can’t get more simple than this!

The stamp is from Art Impressions and as soon as I saw it I just had to have it ….
I have used a taupe coloured  Marvy Le Plume pen to over the stamp.

Then used a Quickie Glue Pen to draw in the snow which is Hero Arts Hologram micro glitter.
You can almost feel the cold!

Christmas Card with Brads

I am struggling for ideas on how to use my Dovecraft brads. I think they are so lovely that the design has got to be very plain in order that it’s the brads that you notice.

I have fiddle farted with scalloped edges and the matching papers that go with the brad set but everything looks pants!

In the end I have used my small scalloped square punch and layers of russet red bazzill paper and silver card in a simple centre square.

To make the brads sit flat on the card, I have cut off the metal prongy things and put a small sticky pad into the hollow back. The snowman’s little face is so cute!

Christmas Robin Card

I knew I would get the scalloped edge bug!

This card took about 15 minutes to put together from start to finish, sometimes it can take me hours before I am happy with a design.

I have uses two sizes of Nestablities scalloped edge dies.  The patterened paper is Hot Off The Press ”Holly Stripe On Red”  and for a change I have used an ivory coloured card blank, because of the brown in the robin.

The robin is gorgeous, from Christmas Crafts (pack of 4 for £1.49).  the only thing I have changed is his eye, originally it was purple, and looked a bit sinister, so I have swopped it for a wibbly wobbly eye. The design is completed with a scattering of  very small gold stars.

Poundland Christmas Stocking

I wanted to make some Christmas stockings, but when I started looking at material etc. it was going to cost me an arm and a leg as well as take me hours to make ………

However, on one of my many sorties to Poundland, what did I spy, but a stocking with Santa’s face on, which is what I had in mind,  though it did have a horrid plastic pocket sewn to the front, edged with a bright green tape (for a letter to Santa I presume), but I could see the possibilities,  if it didn’t turn out right it was only a pound after all.

The success of my idea depended on whether the pocket could be unpicked easily and without leaving marks.  It did. 

All I needed to do now was to “tart” it up.  I wanted to put a name on it and this was easily done by cutting letters out of felt and adding small red buttons for extra colour.  These were glued on with strong PVA.

Santa’s eyes were printed, so I glue gunned  stud type black buttons over them.  His beard was blinged with the addition of clear flat backed gems to the end of the sewn curls of his beard.  Finally his moustache was a bit naff, so I cut two moustache shapes, glued them together for extra thickness and stuck the new moustache under his nose.

Can I stress that this stocking is for my own use, if you were thinking of using the idea to sell, it would be advisable to sew the embellishments on rather than glue them. I have made it as a decorative item rather than something for a child to play with.

Mistletoe Card

I can’t pretend that stamping is my forte, it has to be very simple, quick and easy or I lose patience.  But I  have to admit to a terrible habit of buying stamps when I see a lovely design and then putting it in a drawer, where it is often forgotten for years!  So I have set myself a little target to stamp more often so that I can say I have used at least some of my stamps.

I love mistletoe and this stamp is from Woodware designed by Francoise Read (FRH007 Tapestry Mistletoe),

All I have done is stamp it with black Stazeon, coloured it  with an olive colour whisper pen and then washed over it with a water pen to dilute the colour a bit.  I have used flat backed pearls for the berries, and a light dusting of Hero Arts hologram glitter to give it a frosty effect.

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.