A cup of cheer

Hello everyone. I'm back with another shaped Christmas card.

I had intended to CASE these cards I had created for the previous Jingle Belles challenge using a large oval die I thought I had, but I could not find it. Instead, I found this NBUS stamp and die set by Crafter's Companion, called Craft in a Mug. Thanks to its large size, it was perfect for creating this shaped card.

I did some partial die-cutting to keep the mug and cream parts together, and then added my stamping. The sentiment is from an older Penny Black set, called Festive Cheer. After doing some ink blending on the mug and Copic colouring on the cream, I decided I wanted to add the sprinkles from the stamp set, and heat-embossed them in gold. 

I used my finished mug as a template to create the back of my card, again using partial die-cutting. I added a scoring line along the left side of the mug and used strong double-sided tape to adhere the ears together.

To finish up, I stamped, heat-embossed and die-cut the spoon from the CC set, added a little shading using a Copic marker and used glue dots and some festive baker's twine to adhere the spoon to the mug. I also added a few sparkly gold stars.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Shaping up for the Holidays

NBUS - #64 AG with NBUS

Shopping our Stash - #525 NBUS

Shaped Christmas card

Hello everyone. I have this sweet little card to share with you today.
I used dies from a Tonic kit to create my layers from white shimmery cardstock and some recycled blue card from the back of a an old Christmas card. The sentiment die is from the same kit.
To turn my snowflake design into a card, I die cut the outline die again from white cardstock and added a fold using my scoring tool and attached this scored top using strong double-sided tape.

To jazz things up a little, I splattered some Blue gold paint from my Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set, also adding a little paint around the edges of my card and added Crystal drops aroud the sentiment.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Shaping up for the Holidays

CCAYR - AG Christmas of Winter Holiday

MLCCB - #57 AG Christmas

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Revisiting a simple patterned paper technique

Hello everyone, I'm popping in with 3 quick cards using a patterned paper trick I also used last year. It's an easy way to use up some of those patterned papers some of us have been hoarding. I have this big 12x12 paper pack by Crafter's Companion with lots of coordinating papers in different colour themes.

I started with 3 panels that I cut to be slightly smaller than my card size. Next, I stacked them and used my trimmer to cut each stack into 3 pieces. I then divided them over 3 cards so that each card had 3 different patterns on them. 

I die cut my Li'l gnome (SSS) from some scraps in colours that matched the colours of my patterned papers and added these to a sentiment panel (paper included in the CC paper pack) that I die-cut with a die from one of Catherine Pooler's old Stamp of Approval boxes. I went around the edges of the sentiment panel with a little Cranberry Fizz ink (CP) using a blending brush. I used Copics to colour in the nose and add definition to the beard.

I'm linking up my trio at:

Jingle Belles - We Three Kings or Three of a Kind

Sparkles Christmas - #161 Use die cuts

The Holly and Ivy - #165 Anything Christmas goes

May Card Chain Challenge Reveal

Hello everyone. It's the 2nd of the month and that means we get to show all of the cards that were exchanged for the May Card Chain Challenge.

This month, my card went to Robyn in Australia. 

I went with this month's colour palette of Gold, Raspberry and Blueberry.
When I need to find inspiration to get started, I often turn to my unfinished panels and bits and bobs in my UFO box. This time, I found the smooshed background panel with just the right colours, the die-cut flower heart and the heat-embossed die-cut sentiment. I cut the panel to size using my SSS stitched rectangle die. I swiped Distress Oxide inks in matching colours over my die-cut and to create the matching border on my white card base. I added gold glitter washi tape to my panel before adhering it to my card base. To finish off, I used my gold sparkle pen to colour in the hearts of the flowers.

I'm also linking up my card at:

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Two more cards with the man in red

Hello everyone, I'm back with two more Christmas cards featuring this cute Santa. When I had the Santa die out, I thought I might just as well cut him 4 times.

For these cards, I also die cut a few trees and a gift from the same set. The trees were die cut from a snippet of the backside of an old Christmas card, the front of which I had already upcycled in the past. It so happened that the colour was the perfect match for the dark green in the journallig cards.

I stamped the sentiment on the top card in Spruce CP ink and used a prestamped and precut sentiment from my UFO box for the bottom card. And I decided to add a sparkly star to adorn onw of the treea on either card, just because I could and because I happened to find these NBUS stars in my drawer. 

I'm linking up my cards at:

Jingle Belles - Santa

MLCCB - #56 AG Christmas

Peace on Earth Christmas - #63 AG Christmas

The man in red

Hello everyone. Today I have a pair of Christmas cards where Santa is taking centre stage. 

I die cut the Santas from heavy-weight white cardstock and coloured the different elements using Copics. Colouring Santa and putting all of the pieces together took up the most work, since I used NBUS journaling cards that have been in my stash for a long time, and cut it to the right size for my A6 card using a NBUS stitched rectangle die. This is also the first time that I used this Santa die, which is from the same set as the cute bunny on this card (Sizzix Chapter 3 Doodle Christmas).

I finished off the card with the cute Christmas owls with glossy accents on various elements, and used a sparkle pen on the letters of the JOY card.

I'm linking up my cards at:

Jingle Belles - Santa

MLCCB - #56 AG Christmas

Peace on Earth Christmas - #63 AG Christmas

CCC reveal April and March

Hello everyone. It's the 2nd of the month, which means it's time to reveal all of the cards that were exchanged this past month in the Card Chain Challenge.

This month, my card went to Karolina in the UK, who was joining the fun for the first time this month.

I found this background panel in my UFO box, which was just perfect for this month's colour option of lilac, evergreen and silver. I paired it with 2 die-cut flowers from a NBUS die by SSS, that has been waiting to be used for a loooong time. I coloured the flowers with Copic markers. To finish off, I heat-embossed the Sending Hugs sentiment in Liquid Platinum embossing powder onto a scrap of lilac card that matches my card base.

I'm also linking up my card at:

SSS Wednesday - Feminine

NBUS #62

Today, I'm also sharing the card that I sent to Pia in Norway last month for the CCC in March, following the Postal theme and the String product option.

This card went to Pia in Norway. I used my NBUS postage die and layered stencil set by Waffle Flower.

One more recycled card

This image on an old card was too pretty to toss, so I turned it into a new card for my 2024 Christmas card stash.

I added a mat of bronze Centura Pearl card before adhering the panel to my card base. I fussy cut part of the sentiment of the old card and foam-mounted it onto my panel.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Peace on Earth Day

More recycling

When I saw this old Christmas card, I knew it would make the perfect backdrop for this large bird die.

To add texture, I ran the die cut with an embossing folder through my die-cutting machine, carefully selecting which part of the EF I wanted to use.

I finished off the card with a heat-embossed sentiment strip in antique gold, which nicely matched the bronze Centura pearl card.

I'm linking up this card at:

Jingle Belles - Peace on Earth Day

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

MTTCC #84 - Non-traditional Christmas colours

Christmas Craft Creations - Non-traditional colours

Celebrating Earth Day

Hello everyone, I made time this weekend to create a few Christmas cards in honour of Earth Day, recycling some cards that I found as I was clearing out some boxes in my craft room.

First up, I have this trio of slimline cards that I created from a stack of left-over cards from 2005. Quite a few years ago, I also used these to create some wreath cards for Jingle Belles. And this time, I realised this was a golden opportunity to use up quite a few of them to celebrate the upcoming year of 2025.

I got out my scissors and fussy-cut the numbers and arrange them on a slimline card, after adding some soft stencilling using my NBUS Lots of Happy stencil (Heffy Doodle).

I love how these turned out.

I'm linking up my cards at:

Jingle Belles - Peace on Earth Day

SSS Wednesday - Aything goes

NBUS #61

ATSM - #466 Make your mark

Sparkle and shine

Hello everyone. I've been playing in my craftroom to create these two sparkly Christmas cards. I've had this Holiday Sparkle stamp set by PTI in my stash for a long time but never used it until now. Using it also gave me a wonderful opportunity to use up some gems I had been hoarding.

I started with these larger gems on the bottom card, but quickly discovered I was running out of the green ones, so for the card at the top I used a different package of gems. After heat embossing the sentiment in gold EP, I decided to also add the gold to the edges. To finish off, I added a strip of shiny gold paper behind my stamped panel.

I'm linking up my cards at:

Jingle Belles - Bling on the Holidays

Rudolph Days - AG Christmas

NBUS #60

ATSM - #464 Any occasion

Joy to the World

Hello everyone. I've been creating some cards these past weeks but haven't gotten around to posting them. But I really wanted to share this card that I created last weekend with my new text die that I recently bought. Yay me, for using it right away lol.

The lovely Jingle Belles are asking us to use die cuts as our focus this fortnight. I decided this card was also perfect for using up some snippets.

I used the vellum for the back layer so as to make the die cut stand out more without covering up that pretty paper, but in hindsight, I think I should have doubled up on the vellum. I also added a shadow layer in white (also from a snippet) and then added extra, white snowflakes on top that I gave a littel extra shimmer and shine using a sparkle pen and glossy accents.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Holiday cards to die(cuts) for

Snippets Playground - #475 AG with snippets
Happy to have a play at the playground,
but I'm staying away from the swings,
since they always make me nauseous.

SSS Wednesday - Add a sentiment

NBUS - #60

Card Chain Challenge reveal - February 2024

Hello everyone. It's the second of the month, and that means it's time to share the cards that were exchanged this past month for the Card Chain Challenge. This month, we had 34 participants exchanging cards across the world. 

This month, my card went to Ella in Germany.

I used the sketch, the flower theme and the stencil product option.

The stylized flowers are from a NBUS bundle from Altenew, Scalloped Ornaments, consisting of a stamp set with matching stencils and dies. When I ordered it 2 years ago, it came with a free online workshop, and I recently decided to watch it and break out these NBUS supplies. That means that I have a few more cards to share with you soon.

After I did the stamping and stencilling on my florals, I put my panel back into my Misti and stamped again using Versamark ink and heat embossing in Rose Gold. The sentiment (from an older stamp set, Mondo Hydrangea by Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson) and used a stencil from my stash for the background.

I'm also linking up my card at:

NBUS #60

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Fairy for January CCC reveal

Hello everyone. It's the second of the month, which means it's time to reveal the cards we exchanged in the Card Chain Challenge.

This month, my card went to Viv in the UK, while I received a lovely card from Brenda in the UK.

I found this embossed frame in my UFO box and thought it was just perfect for my little scene, while also incorparating the birds theme from the options menu. I ink-blended the background onto my card base and heat-embossed the star trail (the set came with the dies and several stamps) in glitter EP. 

I die cut my NBUS fairy from a snippet of ink blended card and added a shimmery layer onto the wings from a snippet of laminator sheet with glitter in between.

Do check out the CCC blog to see all of the card that werer exchanged this past month, and maybe sign up to take part in the exchange next month.

I'm also linking up my card at:

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

NBUS #59

Can You Handle the Pressure - Anything goes with an EF
(optional twist: Birthdays)

Old and new for Christmas

Hello everyone. I'm popping in today with a Christmas card I created using a new to me 3D embossing folder (SSS) and an old sentiment die (Winnie & Walter, no longer in business).

I did the embossing using Centura Pearl cardstock and then decided to highlight the 'frosting' with a white Sakura gelly roll pen, the only white pen that will work for me. For the sentiment I used white glitter card (Marianne Design) with a black shadow layer.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Something old and something new

January Rudolph Days - AG Christmas

SSS Wednesday - Anything goes

Can You Handle the Pressure - AG with an embossing folder
(optional twist: Birthdays)

More upcycling for Jingle Belles

Hello everyone. I'm back with more upcycled packaging for Jingle Belles.

Before I remembered the Christmas gift bag, I used some old packaging (probably from Christmas cards at a time that I did not make enough cards myself), to create the perfect backdrop to this super cute bear from Katie Skilton's Festive Animal Antics collection. The bear and the Santa hat are in the Bear and Deer set. The sentiment is from the Fun Sentiments set that is part of the collection.

I had this snippet of white card that was exactly enough for die cutting two bears. I tried different cardstocks and colours for the belly and snout and found a snippet of silver Centura pearl card that was the perfect match for the silvery grey background. I love that the dies can also be used as a stencil to add colour, e.g. to the ears, while the debossed lines are perfect to add black details using a Micron pen.

I'm linking up this card at:

NBUS - #58 AG with NBUS

Snippets Playground - #471 Celebrate
To celebrate 12 years of the Snippets Playground 
under Miss Di's supervision
I used snippets for the bear and belly/snout and a
similar snippet of white card for the sentiment.

I was about to discard what was left of the bag when my eye fell on the garlands at the top of the bag (front and bag). I thought I might just as well pair these with two more bears I had already created to whip up two more QCAS cards (as my blogging friend Darnell would say - quick, clean and simple). For these bears, I decided to use the other hat in the set. I added the white detail using a Sakura gelly roll, again using the debossing as a guideline. The sentiments are from an older MFT sentiment set.

If I'm continuing like this, all of my Christmas cards will be done by August LOL.

I'm linking up my cards at:

Jingle Belles - Wrap it up

Another gift bag Santa card

Hello everyone. I'm back with my second card using the Christmas gift bag that our dog received from our dog trainer.

For this card, I used a circle die to die cut my Santa image and added it to a white mat.
I used the below sketch from BSYSHC but used washi tape and ink blending with a stencil (same stencil used on the previous card) to create some of the layers to keep my card flat for easy posting. 

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Wrap it up!

The 12 Months of Christmas - AG Christmas
(optional: die cuts and/or embossing)

MLCCB - #54 AG Christmas

ABC Christmas - A for Anything Christmas

Aud Sentiments - #309 Make your own background + sentiment

Stencil Fun - AG with a stencil (optional: Birds theme)

Wrapping it up for Christmas

Hello everyone. Thanks for stopping by.
I am determined to avoid the November cardmaking stress by starting my 2024 Christmas stash early, like I have been doing for several years. And what better way than to play along with some of the fun Christmas challenges out in blogland?

The lovely Jingle Belles are challenging us to use Christmas gift wrapping for our cards. Since we don't exchange gifts for Christmas, I had to resort to the only Christmas gift bag that our dog received from our sweet and lovely dog trainer. 

For this first card, I simply die cut a rectangle panel from the glittery side of the gift bag and paired it with an older stencil and distress ink blending. I added a mat of dark green behind my Santa panel and finished things off with these new sentiment dies from the Festive Frames and Sentiment die set, which is part of Katie Skilton's Animal Antics collection that I could not resist buying at Craftstash last summer. You will be seeing more of this collection on my blog soon.

I'm linking up my card at:

Jingle Belles - Wrap it up!

SSS Wednesday - Something new

The 12 Months of Christmas - AG Christmas
(optional: die cuts and/or embossing)

MLCCB - #54 AG Christmas

MAWTT - #162A new craft item 

Sugar and Spice for CCC December 2023

Hello everyone. Wishing you all a happy, healthy and crafty New Year!

It's the 2nd of the month, which means it's time to reveal all of the cards that were exchanged in the Card Chain Challenge this past month. You can check out all of the cards in the CCC reveal post.

This month, my card went to Tina in Slovenia. 

The Tic-Tac-Tic-Tac-Toe 5x5 grid had me stumped for a while, until I realised that I could go with row 5 down, using the gingerbread man as my 'bloke'. The colours do seem rather pink in the picture instead of the burgundy from the Tic-Tac-Tic-Tac-Toe grid, but I did use Aged Mahogany distress ink as my darkest red.

The heat-embossed sentiment is hard to read in the picture but it says: Sugar and spice and everything nice.

I also realised I never shared the card that I sent to Jo in the UK for the November CCC. 
Some of you may have seen the card before, since I pulled the it from my stash. I was in such a frenzy finishing my Christmas cards that I could not find the peace to sit down and create a CCC card from scratch. This year, I intend to create more Christmas cards throughout the year again, so that I can avoid the end of year cardmaking stress. In fact, I already created my first two 2024 Christmas cards yesterday. Yay me!

Anyway, here's the card I sent out last month.