Christmas

Black & Gold Christmas

Hello everyone. As you probably know, I love making Christmas cards – all year round. I enjoy making them for challenges with a set theme, and this card is no exception. I was inspired by the current challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown – their current Christmas theme is to ONLY use black and gold – here is what I created:

I used dies from The Greetery to create these two sprigs of holly, die cutting the main elements out of Spellbinders brushed gold card stock, and the berries out of mirror metallic gold.

I created a black card base, and the used a piece of Pink Frog Crafts Black Ice card stock – this has a pearlescent finish, but felt it was a little too stark behind the holly sprigs……..so out came my Spellbinders hot foil machine!

I used this dotted background plate from Pinkfresh Studio and a mat gold foil. This plate has two sides of dots – this one I used, and the other side is dots which are closer together. I made two panels – one of each – but went with this one. The other will definitely be used later….and I must say that this card stock foiled like a dream…..

Whilst I had my foil machine out and running, I also foiled several Christmas sentiments – from Spellbinders – and used the one you see.

Assembly was quite straight forward – the black dotted panel adhered to the card base, the holly sprigs arranged using small itty bitty pieces of 3D foam tape on some areas ( I found some black 3D foam pieces to use) and the sentiment added to cover the ends of the sprigs.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

52 CCT – Christmas with black and gold

Krafty Chicks – Christmas

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Christmas Poinsettia and Bells

Hello there. It’s been a busy few days but I am here with two cards for the new challenge at ABC Christmas. I am hosting for this month, and as we are using the letters ‘C’ and ‘D’, the Christmas themes are:

C is for Crimson & D is for Ding-Dong(bells)

I have provided a prize for the randomly drawn winner of the challenge, open worldwide, a stamp and matching die set from WPlus9:

Here are my cards:

For the poinsettia card, I created the poinsettia using a die set from The Greetery, then used there capsule basics die set to create the fancy oval. I die cut an inner oval piece with another lighter green card, then used an embossing folder to add detail to that, as well as the same embossing folder on a white panel.

This white panel was adhered to a card base, the oval layers stuck together and attached using thin 3D foam, the poinsettia added with more foam pieces, and the foiled sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio added.

The final touch was to add some Pinkfresh Studio ombre glitter gems.

My second card was started by creating the bells. These are from Tim Holtz, and simply die cut with the same brushed gold card stock from Spellbinders – no different coloured layers – and glued together. I created 5 of these bells as I didn’t know where I was going other than to use these bells….

Finally deciding on where I wanted to go with this, I then took a white panel and stamped the word ‘jingle’ down the side using a Simon Says Stamp set and embossing ink. (Thank goodness for the Misti – it certainly made the lining up of these four words easier) These words were then heat embossed using gold embossing powder.

I thought the background was a little plain when I laid everything out, so I then ran this white panel with the words heat embossed through my machine with a Spellbinders embossing folder.

This white panel was layered with a shiny red card stock piece, the same card as I die cut the bow from, the bows added down the side with some gold DMC thread and the bow attached to the top.

The small sub-sentiment was also heat embossed and a red shiny mat added so it stood out more.

I hope you are able to join us with your creations following one of both of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Poinsettia card:

Love To Craft – anything goes

Addicted to Stamps & More – dies cuts and/or stencils

Make My Monday – use two dies

Craft Rocket – flowers

Bells card:

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

A Cut Above – anything goes with a die cut

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up – anything goes Christmas, option of cozy cocoa Christmas not taken

A Season of Merry Moments

Hi there. I have another card to share inspired by the current challenge at Sparkles Christmas:

This stamp, die, and stencil set is from Pinkfresh Studio – another virtual event from last year and not used yet.

I began by gold heat embossing all the images, then used the matching layering stencils to colour them in. This was then die cut – one stamped image and one die to cut out all the elements – which were set aside whilst I considered the background.

I found some Hero Arts snowflakes transfers and rubbed part of the sheet down onto a light blue piece of card stock.

The bottom piece of a white card with a little light blue ink blending – the same as I used for the snowy areas on the main image.

The blue and white panel were glued down to a white card base, and the tree adhered with 3D foam, as were the critters – but the ladder was glued flat, but was layered a couple of times for stability.

The sentiment was also gold heat embossed, die cut with the matching die – layered a couple of times – then glued to the bottom.

These snowflakes are lovely, and so easy to rub them onto a piece of card – I can see I will be using all of them at some point in the near future…

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Sparkles Forum Christmas Challenge – Christmas with an animal and a tree

Critter Crazy Challenge – anything goes with a critter

Crafty Animals – anything goes with an animal

Merry & Bright

Hello and welcome to the first challenge of the year at ABC Christmas Challenge. Helen is hosting, and for the letters ‘A’ & ‘B’, we have the Christmas themes of A is for Anything goes, and B is for Bright. Here is my card following the theme of ‘Bright’:

I created this card using this inlay die of Christmas trees, die cutting the whole panel in white, then used strips of coloured card stock to die cut the trees.

The white layer was then added to a piece of card with a piece of double-sided sticky sheet – leaving the opening for the trees sticky – then each tree inlaid.

The sentiment was stamped then die cut with the matching die and attached as you see.

I hope you can come and join us with your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

12 Months of Christmas Link-Up – Christmas anything goes, option of snow people not taken

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

I was able to create with products received over a year ago when attending the ‘Let’s Stamp Together’ from Scrap book & Cards today and Concord & 9th products:

The product includes the stencils to create this jolly Santa, layering stencils which are fun to use, and the matching dies.

First job was to use the stencils to create him, then die cutting the image.

I chose this snowflake foiled background created using a toner sheet, so silver heat embossed the sentiment onto his beard.

One of my cats decided she wanted to ‘help’ me take the photo, so here she is – for a little light relief:

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Inkspirational – use stencils – option of snowflakes

Tuesday Taggers – all about Santa

As You Like It – Christmas/Festive

Give a Crafter a Cookie – photo inspiration

12 Months of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas

Postage Collage Christmas

Here is a card I created using some of the rest of the images from the Waffle Flower Postage Collage I used the other day:

I had already ink blended and cut apart the images, so I created the muted holly background using a recently purchased holly stencil from Clarity Crafts, and cut it down slightly smaller than an A2 card base.

This panel was glued directly onto the card base, and the three images attached with 3D foam – jaunty angles – the foiled sentiment added, and then some gold sequins for added detail.

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Inkspirational – use stencils – option to use snowflakes not taken

Sparkles Christmas Challenge – Christmas and poinsettia

Stencil Fun – stencils – option of winter related taken

R is for Ribbon

Hello again. The Alphabet Challenge has reached the letter ‘R’, and Billie A has chosen the theme of:

R is for Ribbon

Here is my card:

I used The Greetery ‘Big Beautiful Bow’ as the focus for the theme and the focus for the card. I love the layers you can create using the die – I have had it for a while and absolutely do not know why I haven’t used it…..

The layers were die cut from two tones of red, then glued together.

The base panel is white, embossed using a Simon Says Stamp embossing folder, then splattered with gold acrylic paint.

The foliage was die cut using a couple of Spellbinder dies in green tones, with some grey added because I do like grey foliage….

Once the background panel was dry, I adhered the bow with 3D foam, then added the four red strips. The foliage was placed as you see, with just the part hidden under the bow glued down, the rest of them I like to leave loose for added interest.

I didn’t add a sentiment, which is unusual for me, but I like the way it looks without one.

I hope you can coma and join us with your creations following our theme. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps & More – Christmas

Fab ‘n’ Funky – Christmas

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and Christmas/Winter

A Cut Above – anything goes with die cuts

Christmas Sparkle Bauble

Hello everyone. Cardz 4 Galz has started a new challenge, Dawn is hosting, and she has chosen the theme of ‘Christmas Sparkle’. Here is my card:

I used some patterned paper from Simple Stories, I believe I received it as part of a class, and used a panel of the tartan for the background.

The snowflake panel is heat foiled using a toner sheet, silver foil, and the Gina K Designs Fuse foiling system. I haven’t played with this very much, so I had to check out one of her YouTube videos – but it foils like a dream…

This foiled panel was then die cut with Hero Arts besting bauble dies – a couple of times for dimension – then all elements added.

The deer is also part of the ephemera I received for this kit, and glued directly onto the foiled bauble.

I hope you can come and join us with your ‘Christmas’ Sparkle’ creations. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – anything goes with a critter

Die Cut Divas – die cuts and Christmas/Winter

12 Months Of Christmas Link-up – anything goes Christmas

Black & White Christmas

Hello again. The ABC Christmas Challenge has reached the end of the alphabet, and therefore this challenge is for the letters ‘Y’ and ‘Z’. The Christmas themes for these letters are:

Y is for Yummy (food) and Z is for Zebra (black & white or stripes)

Here is my card:

I obviously followed the black and white Christmas theme, creating what I think is quite a dramatic card.

I took an A2 panel and stamped some Gina K Designs snowflakes on a random pattern all over it, then cut it down slightly and matting with a piece of black card to create the edge.

The black banner/label for the centre is from The Greetery, and the die cuts out this filigree frame – but I decided I wanted all the details of the frame to stay in place, so I placed them all back in and applied some double sided tape to the back – keeping them secure.

The sentiment was stamped, then die cut with the matching die.

The final touch was to add some black gems to the snowflake centres, and a couple of smaller gems in some of the white spaces.

I hope you can come and join us for our final challenge of the year with your Christmas creations following one or both of our themes. xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

Cupcake Inspirations – let it snow

Merry Little Christmas Challenge – anything goes Christmas

Addicted to Stamps & More – Christmas

Fab ‘n’ Funky – Christmas

Peace On Earth – anything goes Christmas

Lil Patch Of Crafty Friends – anything goes

Merry & Bright & Poinsettias

Hello. I have a card to share inspired by several challenges. For this card, I went back to my card making roots by using several Sue Wilson/Creative Expressions dies, and by creating an 8 x 8 inch behemoth:

I was sorting out part of my stash the other day, and found several packs of Creative Expressions card – the blush pink and the gorgeous bronze metallic – I just had to use them for this card.

I did originally have a 6 x 6 inch card base, but I just couldn’t fit everything on there, so I found some larger pieces of card – stored away ‘safely’ and found after quite a few minutes of searching….

\\teh red and two white poinsettia were created using die sets which are dated from 2016 (!!) all elements die cut from Heffy Doodle card stock for the red, and Neenah for the white. I layered them together after curling the leaves a little to create some dimension on the flowers.

The centres of the flowers were created by punching some holes and using what we would normally discard….

I remember having to create some boxed for these cards in the past as there was so much dimension – I guess I’ll have to do that again with this card.

Anyhoo – I matted the card base with the bronze piece, ‘gutting’ the inside by die cut some of the foliage, extra die cuts from another piece of card.

I also die cut some green foliage, but I didn’t like the look of these when I was putting everything together – good for another future card I think….

As the flowers were white, I used a piece of the blush card stock, ran it through my Big Shot Pro with an older Creative Expressions embossing folder, then adhered to the bronze, then the card base.

I arranged the florals and foliage, playing a little, then search through the CML app for find a larger Christmas sentiment I could create using dies only – and this Tim Holtz one seemed to fit.

I die cut the words with red, then also layered them a couple more times with the blush – in case I couldn’t glue them together perfectly.

All elements were attached – the flowers with 3D foam tape, and the foliage and sentiment with glue.

So – this card was a trip down memory lane for me. I reminded me that the products I have had for years can still be used, not to forget them, and it also took me back to my mum – she is the one who got me into die cutting for cards. I tried to stay away from die cutting for ages – but eventually succumbed – and now I prefer die cutting and creating more than stamping and colouring. Thanks Mum….miss you……xx

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CYHTP – embossing folder – option of thanks not taken

Festive Friday – 3 items from the list – red, white, Christmas sentiment

Sparkles Forum Christmas – Christmas and poinsettia

Triple B – birds and/or butterflies and/or blooms