School Craft Club

I thought I would share with you the Christmas cards we made this week at the after-school craft club I run. I just love how all the kids use the same supplies but they all turn out differently. (the one on the right in the big picture was mine which they were copying!)
These were made with Real Red, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette and Basic Black cardstock (plus a bit of mirri card for the buckle) and using circle, Ornament, large Oval, 2-step bird and Boho Blossoms punches. The Santa's were finished off with googly eyes.
For the last few weeks we have been taking part in a project, run by Quilts4London, making pennants for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and as soon as they are completely finished I will show you what a fabulous job they've made of them. The kids all have Special Needs so they do find doing certain things much more difficult but they always make such a fantastic effort and I am really proud of them.

A Bit More Bling!

Here is another card I have made for the LIM challenge this week - A Bit of Bling. As you can see a 'bit' is the operative word on this card as the bling consists of just 6 Basic Rhinestones (coloured with a red permanent marker) added to the scallops. I coloured the pine cone image from Pines & Poinsettias, with Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Real Red Stampin'Write markers and stamped three times onto Whisper White cardstock then punched the end of the card with the Scallop Border punch. This was then layered onto a piece of Old Olive and Chocolate Chip which had also had the ends scalloped, a piece of Chocolate Chip satin ribbon was tied around the end before positioning onto a DL card blank. The sentiment from Petite Pairs was stamped in Real Red oh, and of course, those all important touches of 'bling' added!
I also made a gift tag, with the Two Tags die, to match - Whisper White cardstock, inked around the edges, an Old Olive Scallop Circle and another pine cone image punched with a circle punch.

A Bit of Bling

The LIM challenge this week is 'A Bit of Bling' and I wanted to keep my card very simple so this is what I came up with. 

I stamped the trees from Polar Pals and the sentiment from Petite Pairs in Old Olive onto Whisper White card and then wiped across the bottom of the card with my Versamark pad. I sprinkled on a generous helping of Heat'n'Stick, heated with a heat gun and then added Dazzling Diamonds. I coloured in the trees with a blender pen before adding more Dazzling Diamonds and some Basic Rhinestones to the trees. This was matted onto a piece of Old Olive cardstock and placed on a plain white DL card blank and 5 basic Rhinestones placed underneath.

Hope you all have a great weekend, back soon :0)

Firstly I must apologise for the awful quality of the photos but this was a card I made tonight, which I have to take to work tomorrow, so I had to take the photo under artificial light. I was asked by a friend to make a Christmas card which is going to be taken abroad and given to a German lady. She wanted a traditional 'British' style card and what can be more British than a robin?

I coloured the stamp from Beautiful Season with Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler and Chocolate Chip markers and stamped onto Whisper White and then used a blender pen to colour in the image. The berries were highlighted with a white marker and some Dazzling Diamonds was added to the leaves. This was matted onto a piece of Old Olive and then onto Cherry Cobbler which had been stamped with the small holly stamp, from Pines & Poinsettias, in Cherry Cobbler ink. Some Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding was tied around before layering onto a white card blank. The sentiment was stamped in Cherry Cobbler and punched with the Modern Label punch and another label, in Old Olive, was placed behind. I added two Basic Rhinestones for an added bit of sparkle.

When is a Christmas Card not a Christmas card?

When I bought the Polar Pals set I was convinced I would only ever use it for Christmas however, when a work colleague told me he was leaving us to go to France for 6 months to be a Ski Instructor, I knew that little penguin would be ideal to make a card for him. (he’s also an Arsenal fan so the hat and scarf just had to be red!)

I started by tearing three pieces of Whisper White cardstock into strips to make the ski slope and, before sticking down, I stamped some treetops using Old Olive with a stamp from Lovely as a Tree. The little penguin was stamped, coloured with markers and cut out and I attempted to make something, which I hope will pass as skis, from Brushed Silver cardstock and stuck these onto the slopes with the penguin positioned on top. To finish the card off I made some little flagposts and added some Dazzling Diamonds before stamping the sentiment from Sincere Salutations. The whole thing was matted onto Night of Navy cardstock and then onto a card blank.

And another set!!

Ooooh two posts in one day and here is my entry for this week’s challenge at Simply Stampin' which is a ‘Sketch’ (see right). But before I tell you about the card I would like to say a huge thank you to the Simply Stampin’ Design Team for giving me a Top 3 spot last week for my Christmas Pillow Boxes, I will display the banner on my sidebar with pride!

Now onto the card – or should I say yet another gift set - using the very luxurious Brushed Gold cardstock, Mocha Morning Speciality DSP and Pines & Poinsettias stamp set.

First I stamped and gold embossed one of the stamps and the sentiment on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock which was then matted onto Basic Black cardstock. Two strips of Mocha Morning DSP and a strip of Basic Black, punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, were positioned onto a Brushed Gold card blank and the card topper placed on top. The ‘merry’ is from Pennant Parade and cut with the Jewelry Tag punch and some tiny Basic Pearls were added to the centres of the flowers. Of course I couldn’t just leave it there and had to make a gift box to match. This was made with the same products but using the sentiment from Just Believe and some Very Vanilla Satin ribbon to tie the top of the box.

Silhouettes

I was very pleased to see that Chrissie & Mandi, over at Less is More, have set a challenge this week called 'Silhouettes'. One reason being that I immediately knew that I had a stamp set which was perfect for this challenge, Forever Young, and the other reason being that finally this stamp set which I have had for several weeks was actually going to come out of the box and see an inkpad!! With all the Christmas projects that I have been making I really have not had much time to 'play' so this poor set has been sitting, still 'pristine' in it's box, well until last night that is. So I have two cards for the challenge this week.

On the left is a simple card with the image stamped in Basic Black on Whisper White and matted onto a piece of Bashful Blue, leaving just a thin border around and layered onto a card blank of Basic Black. The sentiment, which is from Cottage Garden, was heat embossed in white onto Basic Black and punched using the Decorative Label punch. I cut the top and bottom off before matting onto a Bashful Blue Decorative Label and then added two Basic Rhinestones.

The one on the right is made with the clock stamp from the set which was stamped using Basic Black onto Whisper White and the corners were cut with a circle punch before matting onto Basic Black cardstock. I stamped the clock again onto scrap card and cut out just the clock body and removed the clock face with a circle punch, this was then placed onto the original image with dimensionals and a Basic Rhinestones added in the centre of the clock face. The bow was made from Basic Black Satin ribbon and the sentiment, cut again with the Decorative Label punch, is from Curvy Verses.

Thank you to everyone who has left such lovely comments on my blog and my apologies to those who I didn't get round to visiting. The past few weeks have been so busy, both at home and at work, and the time just seems to run away with me - I can't believe just how quickly Saturdays come around!

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and if you've managed to brave the shops (and the queues) -

WELL DONE!

Back soon x

Another Matching Pair!

I cut this card blank using the new Scallop Square die and added a piece of the Holly Berry Bouquet Speciality paper to the bottom half of the card and then covered the join with a strip of Real Red cardstock cut with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch. The holly leaves were made with Wild Wasabi cardstock and the oval and circle punch and the berries with a small circle punch covered with Crystal Effects and some Dazzling Diamonds. The sentiment from Petite Pairs was stamped in Real Red. I made the cone with the Petal Cone die in Wild Wasabi cardstock, stamped with the holly leaf from Pines & Poinsettias, and decorated again with paper from Holly Berry Bouquet Speciality DSP and Real Red grosgrain ribbon.

Card & Pillow Box

Another little matching set, this time for an anniversary. I used the lovely Brushed Gold cardstock but unfortunately it doesn't show up too well in the photo. Something else which doesn't show up is a strip of embossing, done with the Stripes Embossing folder, on the Pillow Box and on the strip of gold running across the card.
The flower from Everything Eleanor was inked with Crumb Cake and then, using a sponge dauber, I dabbed on some Champagne Shimmer paint before stamping onto Very Vanilla. When the shimmer paint was dry I coloured the stamens using a Chocolate Chip marker and then cut the flowers out. The sentiment was inked in the same way and stamped directly on to the card blank. The leaves were made by running a piece of folded gold cardstock through the crimper and then a leaf shape was cut out freehand.

Another Little Gift Box

This is a box I made to go with a card that I posted a few days ago (top left), using Very Vanilla and Soft Suede cardstock and one of the lovely Mocha Morning Speciality papers. I cut two Milk Cartons with the die and then cut off the end panel which doesn't have the flap (if I'd have thought about it I could have positioned my cardstock in the right place and saved cardstock!) leaving three panels on each. These were then glued together and the tops folded towards the middle. I punched holes with the smallest hole on the crop-a-dile in each of the folded sections and threaded some Linen Thread through and tied in a bow to keep the top held together. I hand cut some triangles of DSP to fit in the spaces on the top of the box and for the sides used my two Square punches and cut the larger in Soft Suede and the other in DSP, layered them on top of one another and glued to the sides of the box. This just shows yet another way to use the fabulous Mini Milk Carton die - I love it!!

Christmas Pillow Boxes

You are probably aware that I do love making 3D projects and, following the Pillow Boxes I showed you the other day made for a 50th birthday, I was asked to make some more but this time for Christmas. I am entering these for the Simply Stampin' challenge which is 'Leaves' and you are allowed to enter 3D items, as well as cards, which is right up my street!

I won't bore you and go into huge detail but supplies used were Old Olive and Whisper White cardstock, Soft Holly wheel, Old Olive Satin ribbon and stamp pad, Old Olive and Real Red Stampin' Write markers and a sprinkling of Dazzling Diamonds. The holly leaves were made with the Oval and Circle punch and the berries were covered with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds and the sentiment is from Beautiful Season coloured with markers and punched with the Curly Label punch. Oh and of course, the Pillow Box die!!!

Leaves

   This is my card for the Less is More challenge which, this week, is One Layer - Leaves. I have chosen to use holly leaves to make yet another Christmas card, this time using the Beautiful Season stamp set. I used part of a stamp from this set and coloured directly onto the stamp with Old Olive and Real Red Stampin'Write markers. Once stamped onto a plain white card blank I used a blender pen to draw out the stamped colour into the leaves and berries. I like this technique as it gives different shades on the stamped image which is perfect for leaves. I stamped the sentiment (again from Beautiful Season) in Old Olive and added dots of Dazzling Diamonds to the berries - plenty of white space this week and definitely CAS!!

Below is another card, made with the same stamp, but this time the whole image was stamped in Old Olive before colouring with a blender pen. For the little bird I decided to make him into a robin and, because I had stamped in green, this time I picked up ink from my ink pad to colour him brown with a nice red breast.

I thought I would be very good this morning and actually get some jobs done before embarking on the challenge, one of which was getting the washing out on the line. At 8 o'clock this morning it was quite bright here, and even looked like the sun may show itself, so off I went into my craftroom to 'create'. When I emerged I found that it was raining (you know that rain that you can't really see but manages to soak everything) so the washing had to be put back to spin and is now destined for the clothes horse - yet again!! Roll on summer :0)  Have a great weekend and I'll be back soon x

Post Script!! Kelly from Simply Stampin' Challenge  has suggested I enter these over there as well - so I am!! Thanks Kelly x

Little Boxes

Here are some little gift boxes which are just 3.5cm square and hold a single chocolate, see picture bottom left. I made up my own template for these and it's simply a strip of Real Red cardstock measuring 15cm x 3.5cm which is scored at 3.5cm, 7cm, 10.5cm and 14cm - leaving a 1cm strip to join the box together and 2 squares for the top & bottom measuring 4.5cm and scored at 1cm on all 4 sides. The corners are snipped off to make flaps and adhered to the box on the inside (note only one flap is adhered to the top to act as a hinge). The boxes were then decorated with squares of Holly Berry Bouquet Speciality DSP punched out with the 3.2cm Square punch and one for the top with the Scallop Square punch. A small piece of Real Red Satin ribbon was stuck to the lid under the Scallop Square to enable the box to be easily opened. A flower was made with 2 layers of a flower punched from the Boho Blossoms punch with a Basic Pearl in the centre and a tag punched with the Jewelry Tag punch .

Gift Boxes

 

Something 3D for you today, some little Pillow Boxes cut with the SU die. Last week I posted a card I was asked to make for a 50th birthday on which I used the Everything Eleanor set teamed with some of the luxurious Mocha Morning DSP so, when I was asked to make three gift boxes for the same person's very special birthday presents, I decided to stick with the same colour scheme. The boxes are made with Whisper White, Soft Suede and Brushed Gold cardstock and I embossed the gold and suede with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder and stamped the white with the Parlor Prints background stamp in Crumb Cake. After assembling the boxes I tied co-ordinating ribbon around each one (this is where I own up to using 2 lots of ribbon from my own stash as I didn't have the right colours in my collection of SU ribbons but the one I did use is Soft Suede Taffeta!). The embellishments were made by punching cardstock with the Lace Ribbon Border punch and cutting out one of the fancy circles which was then backed with a 1" circle in co-ordinating colour and a small (non-SU) pearl was added to the centre.

This is a card I made for the christening of a friend's niece. I embossed a panel of Whisper White with the Perfect Polka Dots folder and matted it onto some Brushed Silver cardstock and tied round some Whisper White Organza ribbon. This was then positioned in the rectangle I had previously embossed, using my score board, on a large white card blank. The sentiment was embossed in silver and cut using the Decorative Label punch and another label was punched in Brushed Silver, cut in half and placed behind, with a couple of Basic Rhinestones added. To personalise the card I cut the name using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies and added a tiny butterfly from the Beautiful Wings Embosslits die. The cross was from my own stash. The bag/box to hold the card was made with some plain white cardstock with some butterflies added to the front and a handle made with the Lace Ribbon Border punch and attached with some pink rhinestone brads.

Here is another Christmas card made with some of the new products in the catalogue (and a couple of old ones). First of all I embossed the frame onto a strip of Whisper White cardstock using the oval from the Textured Frames Embossing set and added an oval on which I had used the Mother of Pearl Technique, using Frost White Shimmer Paint and Crumb Cake, punched with the large Oval punch. I had already gold embossed the sentiment onto the oval before punching it out. A background was stamped, with a stamp from Serene Snowflakes, in Crumb Cake. This was then matted onto a wider strip of Mocha Morning DSP and a bow, made with Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon, tied around before layering onto a card blank made from Soft Suede cardstock.

Card for the Kids

 

Today I have a Christmas card which would be suitable for the kids in your life - no doubt one of my granchildren will be on the receiving end of this one! I started by punching three apertures in a piece of Real Red cardstock with the Curly Label punch then, using my trusty stamp-a-ma-jig, I positioned and stamped the images from Polar Pals onto Whisper White cardstock. After colouring the images with SU markers the Whsiper White was positioned onto the back of the Real Red and a knot of Real Red Satin ribbon was tied around before fixing onto the card blank. I inked around the edge of the card with a sponge dauber and Real Red ink and added a sentiment and some Basic Rhinestones. Of course this set isn't confined to kids, after all who wouldn't love those cute little penguins?

I have decided I will enter this for the St.Luke's Charity Card Challenge which, this month is 'Christmas'. They may not get this particular card but I will be sending them one similar for their sale which is at the end of the month. Don't forget if you have any cards lurking around that you can spare then please send them to St.Luke's - it doesn't have to be entered or even fit into the challenge, they are grateful for all donations and you will be doing your bit to help children who rely on the work of the hospice. (visit their site for all the details)

A super-quick card for you today made with a stamp from Just Believe, stamped in Old Olive onto Whisper White, matted onto a piece of Old Olive cardstock and then onto a square white card blank. I cut three butterflies out of Perfect Plum DSP (from the paper stack) with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit die added these, along with a sentiment from Style Beautiful, and job done. I told you it was quick!

Hope you all had a great weekend and I'll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card for the kids.

Red & Orange?

I logged on to the Less is More site, as is usual for me on a Saturday morning, to find that the challenge this week is based on bonfire flames - Red & Orange.

This caused me a slight problem as normally these are the last two colours that personally I would put together, but one of the reasons that I love the Less is More site so much is because it really does make me challenge myself. This is definitely one of those weeks where I am actually quite pleased with the finished result (doesn't happen often!)

I started by thinking how I could tone down the orange which I wanted to use as my background and decided to do the 'Mother of Pearl' technique with Pumpkin Pie (more on this below if you have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about) onto Whisper White and stamped the sentiment from Happiest Birthday Wishes in Cherry Cobbler - a set reserved for hostesses but already one of my favourites. I mattted this onto a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and tied some of the gorgeous Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding around before fixing to a 5"x7" plain white card blank. Onto the flowers, which are a stamp from Everything Eleanor, stamped in Cherry Cobbler and then Pumpkin Pie added with a blender pen. The stamens were coloured with a Chocolate Chip marker and a small circle of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and a pearl added to the centres. After cutting the flowers out I curled the petals to give a slightly raised effect before adding to the side of the background.

Now onto the Mother of Pearl technique for those of you who are interested! Lots of tutorials can be found online for this but basically it is using SU's Frost White Shimmer paint, dabbed onto a piece of cardstock with some scrunched up clingfilm. Allow the paint to dry naturally, or use your heat gun to speed up the process, before sponging over with your chosen ink colour (Tip - I use a sponge dauber with a lot of the ink taken off on a piece of scrap paper to allow me to build up the colour gradually). Once you are happy with the depth of colour wipe all over with a dry tissue to remove excess ink from the Shimmer Paint. As this does not show up to well on the photo of the card I took a close up of the finished piece of cardstock which is shown below.

 

Apologies for not getting round to visiting many people at all for last week's challenge - it was just one of those week's, but a big thank you to everyone who visited me and especially those who took the time to leave a comment. I do read every one of them and I really do appreciate it.

Hvae a good weekend and I'll be back soon x

The card I have for you today is using a stamp which has now retired but any flower image could be used in it's place. I began by embossing a double line box, using my score board, on a piece of Whisper White card and placed a rectangle of card on the inside box which had been stamped with the En Francais background stamp in Crumb Cake. The large flowers were stamped in More Mustard and cut out, with a circle of More Mustard added to the centre, and the small flower was punched with the Boho Blossoms punch. I cut out two branches in Crumb Cake from the Little Leaves Sizzlits die, positioned these onto the card and added the large flowers and the leaves for the small flower were a small piece cut from another Little Leaves diecut. I stamped the sentiment from Sincere Salutations before matting onto a piece of More Mustard cardstock and then onto a card blank and finished the whole thing off with a few Basic Pearls.

Have a good weekend and if you are involved with fireworks - stay safe. Hopefully back tomorrow for the Less is More challenge.

Silver & Sparkle

Today's card is one that I was commissioned to make for a lady who likes 'silver & sparkly'. I admit to finding it quite hard to come up with a birthday card that didn't look like it was for a wedding or Christmas but think I have managed it reasonably well! I used a piece of the Basic Gray DSP from the neutrals stack to silver emboss the flourish from Everything Eleanor and matted this onto a slightly wider strip of the Brushed Silver cardstock and added a small piece of silver elastic near the bottom. The flowers were made, again with the Brushed Silver cardstock, by punching with the 5 Petal Flower, Boho Blossoms and Itty Bitty Shapes punches and, after curling a little to give dimension, they were layered onto each other. Part of a sentiment from Happiest Birthday Wishes (a Hostess set) was inked with a Versamark pen and silver embossed before cutting out with the Oval Punch and matted onto a Brushed Silver Scallop Oval. A few Basic Rhinestones were added for the 'sparkle'. The sheen on the silver cardstock does not show up very well on the photo but it has the most gorgeous finish and is double-sided, absolutely perfect for Christmas cards and boxes.

 Today's card is one which I have CASEd from the very talented Julie Kettlewell (her blog can be found here). If I get an idea from another demo I rarely copy it exactly but I make no apologies for doing just that with this card as I loved everything about it. It is using the new Everything Eleanor stamp set (which is one of the sets I won at our quarterly training the other week) and the gorgeous Mocha Morning DSP. The colours used were Soft Suede and Crumb Cake, the sentiment is from Happiest Birthday Wishes ( a set reserved for Hostesses) and the '50' was cut using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies. I am in the process of making another of these cards using Rich Razzleberry so I will show you that one when it's finished!

Treat Pouches

Here are two little treat pouches I made using the Two Tags die. It is very difficult to credit anyone with this as there are so many similar ones across the web that it's virtually impossible to find out who was the originator but, suffice to say, the original idea was definitely not mine! It is made by cutting two of the larger tags on the die and gluing them together at the bottom and decorating as you wish. Here I have used one of the stamps from Pennant Parade to make the 3D Christmas tree on Real Red and the other with the Polar Bear from Polar Pals on Old Olive which was embossed in the Perfect Polka Dots folder. A piece of ribbon and a piece of the brand new crochet trim was used to tie the top of the pouch.