It's time for Christmas cards again!

Well last year I was pretty well organised with my cards but behind on the Christmas cake and pudding front.  This year it's the other way around so maybe next year I'll have everything covered .....who'll spot the flying pigs first!!  Anyway this year I bought a Christmas pudding stamp but thought it would look nice stamped on different papers and then put together in a patchwork style.  I'm quite pleased with the overall effect.  I used glossy accents on the holly leaves and then some large red gems for the berries.

Hope you like it too!

Supplies

 

Imagination Crafts clear stamp

Promarkers

Glossy Accents

Big Crystal Stickers gems

Assorted Xmas papers from stash

 

I have entered this card in the following challenges:-

 

Paper Creators Crafts -  All About Christmas
52 Christmas Card Throwdown - November Embellishment Challenge
Jingle Belles Rock - Christmas Feast

Two really useful "Male" cards!

Hi folks!  This is the first time I've put anything on my blog since September but I have been busy - honestly!!  Anyway, I made these cards at our local crafting session and thought they were really useful to keep in my box.  The template was courtesy of Scrappycath Designs and can be found on: www.scrappycath.blogspot.com.

I used a computer generated message on my folded card and then mounted the suit onto it but it can be made up in several different ways.

I hope you like them and thanks for looking.

A special card for a special Mum!

I bought this beautiful die at a recent craft fair and saw some of the stunning cards created using it.  I found a wonderful old photo of my mum taken as a very young girl and decided to photocopy it and include it in a card.  The above card is the end result!  The die is the Marianne Creatables LR0236 and I used the outer die on the fold of some pearlescent card to create the backing card.  I used the lacy die twice in a contrasting pearlescent cream card and attached them to the base card.  I then used the third die in the set to cut out the photo and attached it to the centre of the top part of the card.  I used a computer generated message to attach to the bottom part of the card and then finished the whole card off with a flower and some foliage plus a little butterfly from a Stampin' Up die.  I hope you and my mum like this card.  Thanks for looking!

I thought I would try something a little different and, although I'm my worst critic, I feel reasonably pleased with this one!  The brown cardstock I used for the base card was a little too thick, but I coaxed it through the Grand Caliber eventually.  The large scalloped circle was covered with some card from my stash and the dark blue paper and sentiment came from a recent Joanna Sheen order.  The RyderCole digi image was coloured with Promarkers and then cut out.  Hope you like it!

This is a commissioned anniversary card which was a pleasure to make and I hope it is liked.  60 years of marriage is seriously impressive!  I printed the message first and then cut the card to fit a large square card with a silver backing card.  The bottom half was embossed using a swirl design and  I embossed two lines around the top half edges using my score board.  The ribbon was added with a taped bow and a diamond type gem from my stash.  The couple's names were printed before using a Nellie Snellen heart die around them.  Silver backing card and a few minute diamond gems finished them off. 

Durham Young Musicians' cards

Every year I find myself making nine identical cards for the Durham Young Musicians Summer Festival.  Each card goes to a winner and two runners-up in three categories and encloses a small monetary prize!  It is getting very difficult to come up with new ideas, but this year I used a couple of stamps from a Debbi Moore collection and de-bossed a rectangle die to form a frame.  Simple, quick but quite effective - I hope.  No doubt the money was taken out and the card disposed of lol!

A card for the local Junior School netball team

I produced this card for the Junior School where I used to work.  The Year 6 members of the netball team will all be moving up to Senior School in September and their teacher wanted to thank them and wish them well for the future.  I found the  image on the internet and the rest was straightforward - just as well since I needed to do 9 of them quickly!!  I hope the girls like them....

Less is More Week 60 Take Three Challenges

The second card features the following three challenges:-

Week 2  Flower or Tree
Week 25 Button or Ribbon
Week 44 Green

I hope you like it and thank you for looking.
Less is More

"Less is More" Week 60 Take Three Challenges

These challenges certainly take me out of my comfort zone but this week I am going to enter 2 cards!  The first is a card featuring the following challenges:-

Week 9 - A Touch of Red
Week 15 - Embossing
Week 37 - Cocktails

Thank you for looking and I hope you like it.
Less is More

LIM Theme "Masking"

This is my very first attempt at masking and I struggled to find an appropriate stamp.  The one I've chosen is too detailed but at least I have had a go and hopefully I can improve!

"Just Saying Hello" card

Less is More challenge

My first attempt at a LIM challenge!  This white card was first debossed using a Nestability rectangle die before the Hero Arts French script and flower image was stamped in black ink.  Finally the sentiment was added.

A quick card for Mother's Day!

I can't believe I've managed to get ahead in my cardmaking and, for the first time, I've got a little box with cards appropriately marked for the birthdays up to June 2012 - amazing! Here is a really quick card for Mother's Day which I made using a design from Serif Craft Artist for my backing card.  The flowers and curly stem were cut using Marianne Creatables dies and then I finally added gems and sentiment.  Not a brain teaser this one!!

Two new arrival cards

I love this Penny Black image (Hammock Baby) which makes a really cute new baby card.  I printed a Pink Petticoat pattern onto white card and then used the Go-Kreate Large Frames Frilly for the shape.  I cut and embossed the Marianne D Creatables Model 3 border twice, joined them and threaded the pink ribbon through before sticking it to the top of the card.  The image covered this join.  The message and a couple of punched butterflies completed the card.

Little Claire Challenge No 18 - Romance

Little Claire's Designs Challenge No 18 - Romance

He knows I have made a card for him so, if I'm lucky, I might even receive one in return this year bless him - better not hold my breath!!!  A friend showed me one of these cards and I thought I could adapt it for a wedding anniversary.  It is made using the Grand Nestabilities Labels 4 die and I made a frame around the cut edge on the front of the card by using two dies together.

Another wedding anniversary card!

This is a Penny Black image which I stamped twice.  I cut out one with a circle Nestibility and then coloured it with Promarkers.  I coloured only the balloons on the second image and then cut around them and used Glossy Accents on them before mounting them on the other image so that the balloons were outside the circle.  I used the Nestibility square dies to cut four squares out of my chosen papers, stamped the sentiment and then put the whole card together.

Brother's Wedding Anniversary

This always proves a difficult card for me to make as my brother is not a "card" person, however I am quite happy with the result of my efforts!  I used the Nellie Snellen heart dies and with the Grand Caliber I produced one heart in a pealised grey card, one in white card and finally one in a pearlised aquamarine card.  I cut the black one to resemble a jacket and mounted the white heart behind.  I punched a Martha Stewart heart and mounted that behind the aquamarine heart.  I decorated both hearts with small gems and mounted them on some pearlised aquamarine card onto which I printed a light grey rose design from Serif Craft Artist.  I used Nestability dies to mount the hearts onto and finally added a sentiment with some flowers around it.

Hopeless blogger!!

That's me!  I am ashamed of the amount of time I have devoted to my blog!  I am going to try and set that right now and upload some of the cards I have been making recently - yes I have been making cards.  January and February have been very busy months for anniversaries and birthdays in our family plus other commitments which have taken up my time.  However, I have got a little ahead of myself and I've already made my husband's birthday card for June!  That is the first card I am going to upload - my first attempt at a triple fold card.  The image is a Claire's Stamps image and I used my Promarkers to colour it.  I used square Nestibilities to mat and layer it and the messages were printed from the Serif Craft Artist programme, along with the patterned card.  I finally added some appropriate toppers which I had found and a ribbon.  I am never 100% happy with the final product but I hope you like it.

Christmas Cards

Due to a lack of valuable time, this year I found one design I liked and reproduced it about 30 times over for family and close friends.  I took a 6" x 6" red card and first stamped and embossed in silver a Stamping' Up Christmas message along the bottom.   I then used some Stamping' Up paper/card which a good friend gave me because she says it is now old stock.  I sponged this with the lovely Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Up ink and then punched out lots of baubles with the Stampin' Up bauble punch.  I took two baubles and matted and layered them onto cream, red and cream pieces of card, making sure that I attached ribbon from the top of the first piece of card  to the back of the bauble.  I finally glittered up the bauble and attached a small ribbon bow.

Christmas card for a special Mother

I used a 9" x 9" card and first layered a piece of pearlised gold card I had floating around.  I then used a Marianne poinsettia die and my Grand Caliber to produce two sets of leaves in a pearlised red card plus another set in pearlised green card.  I used silicone to put the flower together with a mirror gold card centre piece.  I used another Marianne die to produce the curvy stems to which I attached some holly leaves all in pearlised green card.  I punched out some little red circles using an ordinary 2 hole punch and then positioned the whole lot on the card. I printed the message onto white card, layered it onto the pearlised green and then positioned it over the green ribbon running from top to bottom on the left-hand side of the card.  I finally used some green gems on the top and bottom of the ribbon.

Long Absence

I wouldn't win any blogging awards that's for sure!  Mike and I have taken a 6 week holiday encompassing a visit to Bangkok in Thailand, Australia and New Zealand (in time for the Rugby World Cup).  It was a truly fantastic holiday and I fear we may have caught a severe case of the travel bug!  On our return I got caught up on the Christmas shopping, card making, cake making and all such nonsense so that my poor blog got totally forgotten.  Friends told me to put something on about my hols etc but I just never got around to it.  Now it is 2012, I am trying to make amends and get into the habit of photographing my cards again and writing something!