Taking A Break

I have made a decision!

I have decided not to take any more orders for cards for a while.  Blogging has made me realise just how much I like making things and playing with papers, stamps embellishments etc., but it seemed that all my time was being  taken up with orders.  For the past few weeks I have looked at my order book and thought “I really don’t want to make you” , and it made me quite grumpy.

Yesterday I apologised for the first time and explained that I was taking a break, I felt awful, but relieved too!

I have a box in the staffroom where I work and I intend to keep it topped up with my latest cards and craft projects (after blogging them first!) and see what goes and what doesn’t .  This week “Snowman Soup and Jingle Beans Sweetie Jars have just flown out  …….

Variations on a Theme

This is a selection of cards I have made using a pack of 3D stickers from Hobbycraft, (there are 2 x 4 designs in a pack costing £1.49), the paper I have used is Daisy and Dandelion Christmas Collection – Winters Tale.

 

At the moment I am making batches of cards for work etc. so it is easier and quicker, to follow the same design, if it suits the embellishments.

 
Aghhhh, you can see how fresh these cards are, the glue is still wet on the penguin one!

Bare Tree with Heart Christmas Card

I am getting into this stamping lark!  Just watch out when I say I am getting a set of ProMarker Pens!

I love bare trees and this beautiful stamp is one  I got at the NEC HobbyCraft Show, it’s  by Art Impressions (G1277).  It’s so plain and simple.

All I’ve added is some very sparkly Preciosa Viva12 flat backed gems from http://www.rhinestonesonline.co.uk/ They really do sparkle like diamonds.  The red heart is from a packet from Artwork  and I have joined it to the tree with a very thin black line. I’ve also added a touch of  Hero Arts hologram micro glitter to the foot of the tree

I have matted the image on black to bring out the starkness.

It’s a stamp I want to play with more when I have the time.  I think it would also look quite good if I used very tiny manicure/nail head stars with it or perhaps stamped it on some text.

Printed Cross Stitch Card

This is a very simple card I have made a couple of times for ladies who like to cross stitch.

I set out the design in Publisher. The font is a free Cross Stitch font I downloaded and all I have had to add is a text box border.  Once printed I have mat and layered on gold mirror card and added a few pearls here and there.

I have also adapted the card to say “Home Sweet Home” for a new house card.

Little Penguins Christmas Card

This is a simple card I’ve made using Accessorize stickers, the penguins are from an animal set I got a while ago and the snowflakes are from one of this years Christmas sets.

The background is made from layers of white glitter card and blue bazzill paper, mat and layered on silver, white and paper blue.  (I have a thing about mat and layering, it’s a terrible habit to get out of, but I am trying).

Gingham & Holly Christmas Card

I found this card from last year in a box of bits,  I think it may have been a one of that I didn’t follow on.

Looking at it now, I don’t really like the clean brightness of the card and gingham against the brown of the Kraft paper background and tag, which is probably the reason I didn’t make any more.

The holly berries are from a pack from Poundland, about two years ago.  At first I wasn’t too sure about them as they were made from plastic (3D on foam pads), but once I got going they were fantastic to use.  There several different design packs with at least 20 big embellishments in each, I just wish I had got more.  The snowman pack was just beautiful! 

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.