20 Christmas Cards - SU! Watercolor Christmas Project Kit

I am very behind on making my Christmas cards this year so I reckoned that getting the SU! 'Watercolor Christmas Project Kit' and the 'Watercolor Christmas' stamp set was a great idea!  A couple of afternoons in my craft room resulted in twenty Christmas cards to add to the stash!  I made each card design in turn and used a production line method so the cards came together really quickly.
 
Here are all four card designs together.

Here is card design number one.  I added rhinestone jewels to three of the trees.

Here is card design number two.  I stamped the sentiment in Emerald Envy rather than black.  I glued normal sized gold sequins on the card front - no way was I attempting to glue those teeny tiny mini sequins from the gold sequin trim provided in the kit!  

Here is card design number three.  I had an issue with the original card design from the kit in that there is no Christmas motif on the card - maybe I'm weird but I'm funny about that - I like all my cards to feature a motif, not just a sentiment and embellishments!  The other cards feature trees, holly and a wreath so I just had to add a motif - snowflakes from the SU! 'Snowflake Sentiments' set. I stamped the snowflakes in Pool Party ink and the sentiment in Emerald Envy ink.  I added a pop of red to the sentiment by using a red pearl as the dot over the 'j' in 'joy'.

Here is card design number four.  Again, I stamped the sentiment in Emerald Envy ink instead of black ink.  I used the Wink of Stella pen on the red berries to add some subtle shimmer.

Naturally I had to stamp the insides of all of the cards and the envelope flaps!  I stamped the snowflake cluster stamp from the SU! 'Perpetual Birthday Calendar' set in Pool Party ink, both sentiments were stamped in Real Red ink and the row of three snowflakes was stamped using Emerald Envy ink.  I used the MISTI, it's so helpful when you're stamping a batch of cards! 

Here are all of the cards ready to go in the Christmas card box.  It was a great feeling to see them all together!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Watercolor Christmas', 'Snowflake Sentiments' & 'Perpetual Birthday Calendar' sets
CS: SU! 'Watercolor Christmas Project Kit'
Ink: SU! Archival Black, Emerald Envy, Pool Party & Real Red
Tools: MISTI
Embellishments & accessories: SU! gold mini sequin trim(from kit), SU! rhinestone jewels, SU! Dimensionals, red pearls, gold sequins, Wink of Stella pen
Ruth

October 2017 Card Group Projects - One Layout Six Cards

Here I am to share the cards we made at our October card group meeting yesterday.  My original plan was to make a gift set of Christmas cards that would go in a cellophane bag tied up with ribbon and a tag.  After some discussion with my ladies though it appeared they'd rather have just Christmas cards to add to their stash to use.  Thinking about it, if you gift a set of Christmas cards as a Christmas present the recipient wouldn't be able to use them until the following year so maybe not a great idea!

So I decided to have the ladies make six cards which is double what they usually make.  Therefore, I kept the cards simple in design and used the same sketch layout for each card.  This layout is a definite 'go to' and makes cards come together quickly.  I kept to rectangular image panels but you could use any shapes.  It's fab for using your patterned papers too!

Here are all six cards together.

I used patterned papers from two different SU! DSP packs and based the colour combos of the cards on the colours in the DSP.  Here's the three cards made using the 'Presents & Pinecones' DSP pack.

Here's the three cards made using the 'Season of Cheer' DSP pack.

Card one was made using the SU! 'Christmas Pines' stamp set and matching 'Pretty Pines' die set.  The colour combo is Cherry Cobbler, Mint Macaron and Soft Suede.  The pine cone is popped up.  The Cherry Cobbler dots were cut out using a die from the SU! 'Trim Your Stocking' die set.

Here's the inside and envelope of card one.  The lovely sentiment is from the SU! 'Greetings of the Season' set.

Card two was made using the SU! 'Hang Your Stocking' stamp set and matching 'Christmas Stockings' die set.  The colour combo is Cherry Cobbler, Emerald Envy and Mint Macaron.  I popped up the stocking and added a rhinestone jewel to the Emerald Envy die cut bow.

Here's the inside and envelope of card two.  I used a snowflake stamp from the My Cute Stamps 'Let It Snow!' set to decorate the envelope.

Card three was made using the SU! 'Merry Mistletoe' stamp set and a colour combo of Early Espresso and Emerald Envy.

Here's a closer look at the deer, I made him into Rudolph by adding a red gem for his nose!

Here's the inside and envelope for card three.  I love the contrast of bold sentiments and delicate images in this stamp set!

Card four was made using the SU! 'Embellished Ornaments' stamp set and the matching 'Delicate Ornament' dies set.  The sentiment is from the SU! 'Owl Occasions' stamp set.  The colour combo is Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow and Soft Sky.  I used gold foil CS for the ornament topper and the ornament is popped up.  The flower was stamped separately, fussy cut and glued over the top of the ornament.

Here's the inside and the envelope of card four.  After stamping the holly images I coloured over the berries using a Cherry Cobbler marker.  Another fussy cut Cherry Cobbler flower decorates the envelope flap.

Card five was made using that perennial favourite SU! stamp set 'Lovely as a Tree'.  The colour combo is Old Olive and Soft Sky.  I stamped the central tree in full strength Old Olive ink but stamped off once for the trees at the sides.  I really wanted to bring in the Soft Sky colour on the image panel but as Soft Sky is such a delicate, pale blue the sentiment wasn't showing up well.  So I mounted the sentiment stamp onto my MISTI and stamped it three times in succession which gave me a darker shade.

Here's the inside and envelope of card five.  I used sentiments from the Hero Arts 'Very Merry Christmas' clear set for this card.

Card six was made using a cheery snowman stamp from the Hero Arts 'Wonderful Christmas' set. The colour combo is Night of Navy and Soft Sky and there's a touch of grey in there too - along with a hint of Pumpkin Pie - well, a snowman has to have a carrot nose!  I stamped a background using a small snowflake cluster image (from the old retired SU! 'Snowflakes' set) in Smoky Slate ink.  I stamped the snowman in Night of Navy ink on a separate piece of Whisper White CS and stamped the scarf portion of the image onto a scrap of Soft Sky CS.  I fussy cut the snowman, paper pieced the scarf and used a Night of Navy marker to colour the dots on the scarf.  I used a pale grey ProMarker to add some shading to the snowman and popped him up.

Here's the inside and envelope of card six.  That 'Be Merry' sentiment is so gorgeous and it's just a  cheapy clear Snag 'em stamp from Imaginisce!  The beautiful snowflake on the envelope is from an old, retired SU! set called 'Patterned Pines'.  I love snowflakes and that stamp is one of my all time faves!

I'm very happy to say that the layout and cards were a real hit with my ladies!  

Ruth

Painted Harvest Sunflowers Thankful For You Card

Watercolour look flower stamps are a real favourite of mine and I was immediately attracted to the SU! 'Painted Harvest' set in the 2017 Autumn/Winter catalogue.  I've placed a couple of orders from the Autumn/Winter catalogue  but I was focused on Christmas items and I told myself I could wait to order the 'Painted Harvest' set and leaf punch until I'd completed my Christmas cards.  Ummmm, nope - turned out I couldn't wait!

I wasn't scheduled to work on Sunday and I knew I'd be spending some time in my craft room checking out my new items.  I thought I'd make a couple of Christmas cards but just one look at the 'Painted Harvest' set as I was putting stuff away and a sunflowers card became my priority!

Oh my word, this set is a stamper's dream - easy to use and the results are stunning!  What a happy, joyful time I had creating this card for a special friend.

Rustic was the effect I was going for and I started by pulling out a wood pattern paper and my reel of burlap ribbon.  I adhered the paper to a mat of Early Espresso CS, added a strip of the burlap ribbon and glued the panel to the front of a 5 3/4" square Old Olive card base.  I then stamped my three sunflowers using Crushed Curry ink for the background layer, Pumpkin Pie ink (stamped off once) for the detailed layer and Early Espresso ink for the flower centres.  I stamped the leaves in Old Olive ink onto Whisper White CS and cut them out with the fab new Leaf punch.  After I'd fussy cut my three sunflowers I edged each one with Crushed Curry ink applied with a sponge dauber and I inked the edges of the leaves with Old Olive ink.  I stamped the sentiment and cut it out with the Pretty Label punch.  I stamped a leaf image a few times over the label with stamped off once Old Olive ink, inked the edges of the label and popped the label up.  I then faffed about for quite some time arranging the sunflowers and leaves!  I popped up the sunflowers and tucked the leaves behind, applying glue just to the stems.

Here's the inside of the card and the front of the envelope.  After stamping the flowers and leaves I stamped the small dots image a few times using Soft Suede ink.  I loved the fussy cut flowers and punched leaves I'd used on the card front but I REALLY loved how wonderful these images look simply stamped out - absolutely beautiful!  

I couldn't resist adding a sunflower to the envelope flap as well!  I'm thinking stationery made with this set would be gorgeous - I can imagine writing paper and/or note cards.  Those will definitely have to wait 'til I've added more Christmas cards to my pitiful stash!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Painted Harvest' set
CS: SU! Early Espresso, Old Olive & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Wood Textures' DSP stack
Ink: SU! Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie & Soft Suede
Tools: SU! 'Leaf' & 'Pretty Label' punches
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Burlap Ribbon, Dimensionals
Ruth

September 2017 Card Group Projects

On Thursday afternoon we got together for our September card group meeting and the September meeting is when I start on Christmas projects.  I designed three Christmas cards using some of the fabulous products from the new SU! Autumn/Winter catalogue.

It was love at first sight when I saw the 'Winter Wonder' large snowflake embossing folder, I just HAD to add that to my stash - along with the gorgeous foiled 'Year of Cheer' Specialty DSP!  I was inspired by the 'cheers to a new year!' card featuring three circles (shown on page 36 of the A/W catalogue) and I based my card on that design.  I spritzed a piece of  Whisper White thick CS with water before embossing with the 'Winter Wonder' folder.  I layered the white panel onto a mat of Early Espresso CS, added some sparkly silver ribbon and glued the entire panel to the front of a 7" x 5" white card base.  I punched a 2" copper foil circle and a 1 3/4" foiled design circle and adhered those to the card front.  I stamped and punched the 'Celebrate the Season' snowflake sentiment circle and I popped that up.  That stamp is a definite oldie but goodie - it's great to mix your old stuff with your brand new goodies!

Here's a view from a different angle so you can see the shine.  I love the mix of copper and silver on this design.  I placed a few rhinestone jewels to add seasonal sparkle to the card front.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I stamped a pretty snowflake border on the inside and on the front of the envelope.  I stamped the sentiment and used square dies to mat and layer the sentiment element.  I think this turned out to be quite an elegant, classy little number!

Card number two features a traditional festive red and green colour combo and was made using the SU! 'Carols of Christmas' bundle.  I think this is such an impressive, versatile bundle, there's so many things you can do with the different elements and you'll get varied looks even though you're using products from the same bundle.  

This card came about thanks to Teri Pocock's fab inspiration.  I love Teri's different coloured ornaments but I decided to simplify for card group and so I stamped my ornaments in Real Red ink only.  I made my A6 sized card base from Old Olive CS and added a Real Red mat layer.  Wow, that bold sentiment packs a real punch, I love the dimension it has!  I stamped the ornaments on a separate piece of white CS, die cut them and popped them up.  I embellished the ornaments with tiny punched Gold Glimmer Paper dots.  

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I used the poinsettia dies from the 'Card Front Builder' Thinlits die set to cut the fancy corners at the bottom of the Whisper White panel.  I used the dies again to cut  out Real Red poinsettias, I inset them and added Gold Glimmer Paper dot centres.  I stamped the sentiment (from the 'Labels to Love' set), punched it out with the 'Everyday Label' punch and glued the label inside.  

Card number three also uses products from the 'Carols of Christmas' bundle - the sky detail and tree dies from the 'Card Front Builder' die set.  I love the dramatic black and white with a touch of Old Olive!  I made a Basic Black A6 card base and cut out the sky detail at the top of the card.  I die cut the trees and stamped and die cut the sentiment oval.  I used an MFT Die-namics 'Snow Drifts' die to cut my snow, I adhered the trees behind and popped up the oval.  In the SU! A/W catalogue I spied this 'make simple stars to add to your creations with the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies' tip - a tip I acted on by cutting out Silver Glimmer Paper stars to add some twinkle!

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I cut a strip of tree design paper from the 'Merry Little Christmas' DSP pack.  This paper has black trees printed on a white background but I altered the paper.  I used a brayer to apply Old Olive ink over the white - being able to colour the paper with any ink colour is  marvellous eh?!  After gluing the strip of paper to the white panel I drew a line above it with a black Sharpie marker and stamped the sentiment.  The envelope is simply decorated with die cut trees.

A lovely afternoon and a few much needed Christmas cards to add to my box - time very well spent!

Supplies for snowflakes card:
Stamps: SU! 'So Many Scallops' set, Penny Black 'Beautiful Season', My Cute Stamps 'Let It Snow!' set
CS: PaperMania 7" x 5" white card blank, SU! Early Espresso, Whisper White (thick & regular) & Copper Foil Sheet
Patterned paper: SU! 'Year of Cheer' Specialty DSP pack
Ink: SU! Early Espresso
Tools: SU! 'Winter Wonder' embossing folder, SU! circle punches, SU! 'Stitched Shapes' & 'Layering Squares' Framelits die sets, water spritzer bottle
Embellishments & accessories: SU! silver ribbon, rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals

Supplies for 'Deck the Halls' card:
Stamps: SU! 'Carols of Christmas' & 'Labels to Love' sets
CS: SU! Old Olive, Real Red & Whisper White, Gold Glimmer Paper
Ink: SU! Real Red
Tools: SU! 'Card Front Builder' Thinlits die set, 'Layering Squares' Framelits die set, 'Everyday Label' punch, 1/8" circle punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals

Supplies for trees 'Merry Christmas' card:
Stamps: SU! 'Hang Your Stocking' set, Hero Arts 'Very Merry Christmas' set
CS: SU! Basic Black, Old Olive  & Whisper White, Silver Glimmer Paper
Patterned paper: SU! 'Merry Little Christmas' DSP pack
Ink: SU! Old Olive, black Sharpie marker
Tools: SU! 'Card Front Builder' & 'Mini Treat Bag' Thinlits & 'Stitched Shapes' Framelits die sets, MFT Die-namics 'Snow Drifts' die set, brayer
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals
Ruth

Roses Thanks Blueprints Card

My lovely friend Lesley gave me some M & C Boutique dies from the Works, a Rose Design die and a pack of Swirl Square nesting dies, what a sweetheart!  I used the pretty Rose Design die to make Lesley a thanks card.

I cut the die out of Whisper White CS and using sponge daubers I added Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Sweet Sugarplum and Rich Razzleberry inks to colour the die cut shape.  I really liked the coloured outline but I decided to go a step further and use the outline die cut shape as a stencil so I could get coloured solid leaves and roses too.  I held the die cut in place on a piece of Whisper White CS, added ink colours, again using sponge daubers and then glued the outline shape on top.  Hmmm, because I'd used the shape as a stencil I'd got some ink haloing around the image.  It looked OK, just a soft smudgy halo but I decided I'd fussy cut around the die cut outline shape anyway.  A few quick flicks with daubers around the edges took care of any stray white bits!

Now I'd got my main image sorted I needed to design the card.  I turned to my trusty MFT 'Blueprints 14' die set which makes coming up with a layout SO fast and easy.  After making the Rich Razzleberry 5 1/4" card base and die cutting the card front elements I only had to arrange and adhere everything in place.  I popped up the roses and added a rhinestone jewel to the centre of each rose.

Here's the inside of the card.  I love that the Blueprints 14 die set elements are perfectly sized and proportioned, it really does make creating a card quick and easy!

I added a patterned paper strip to the front of the envelope and popped up a die cut name label.

Supplies:
Stamps: 'Thanks' from SU! 'Live Your Dream' set, 'Thanks So Much' from SU! 'Simply Sketched' set
CS: SU! Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum & Whisper White
Patterned paper: SU! 'Blooms & Bliss' DSP pack
Ink: SU! Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry & Sweet Sugarplum
Tools: M & C Boutique 'Rose Design' die, MFT Die-namics 'Blueprints 14' die set, Sizzix 'Card, Fancy Frame Flip-Its #2' Framelits die set, sponge daubers
Embellishments & accessories: SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals
Ruth

Embossed Silver Heart Happy Anniversary Card

I have been so ill with a nasty cough and virus for the last 2 weeks which meant that due to being completely wiped out and feeling really unwell I have done absolutely nothing at all.  It was our wedding anniversary this week and, of course, I wasn't prepared and hadn't made a card in good time.  Working on the 'better late than never' principle I finally managed to spend some time in my craft room to make a card for Owen.

The SU! Memories and More 'Color Theory Card Pack' proved really useful and enabled me to create the card without having to think too much, thank goodness!  Once I'd chosen the elements from the card pack I made a Berry Burst mini gift bag as an envelope and made a card base to fit inside measuring 5" x 3 1/2".  To decorate the gift bag envelope I die cut the heart border from a strip of white CS, adhered a piece of white CS behind and inlaid silver foil hearts into the strip.  I offset two 'for you' die cuts to give a shadow effect.  Here's the card and the gift bag envelope together.

Here's just the card.  I attached the circle paper panel to the background panel using brads before adhering the whole thing to the front of the card base.  I die cut a silver foil heart and embossed it with the 'Falling Petals' embossing folder.  I cut two plain white hearts as well and stacked all three hearts together for dimension and I popped up the heart.  I stamped and die cut the sentiment banner, offsetting a silver foil banner behind the white one and popped that up also.

Here's the inside of the card.

Late though it was, at least Owen got a hand made anniversary card!

Supplies:
Stamps: 'Happy Anniversary' sentiment from SU! 'Cheer and Wishes' set, 'All My Love'  from 'Sincere Sentiments' magazine freebie set
CS: SU! Berry Burst & Whisper White, SU! silver foil, SU! Memories & More 'Color Theory Card Pack'
Ink: SU! Berry Burst
Tools: SU! 'Falling Petals' embossing folder, 'Mini Treat Bag' Thinlits die set, paper piercer
Embellishments & accessories: silver brads, SU! Dimensionals
Ruth

Snowflake Trio Merry Christmas Card

Snowflakes are very much a favourite motif for me and I always enjoy creating snowflake Christmas cards.  I've used pretty snowflake dies and stamps plus some Dapper Denim ombre paper, all products from the SU! 'Color Theory' suite of products.  Some silver ribbon and rhinestones add a touch of sparkle too.

I started off by making a Dapper Denim A6 sized card base and adhered the Whisper White CS and ombre paper panels plus the ribbon and bow.  I cut out three snowflakes using dies from the 'Seasonal Layers' Thinlits die set, punched out small circles and glued those behind the snowflake centres.  I popped up the snowflakes and the stamped and die cut sentiment oval.  Whilst I had all the supplies out I decided to make another card the same.  I'm also planning to make more of this design but in different colours.  I'm really going to have to make multiples of cards as I definitely won't have the time to make my Christmas cards all different this year!

Here's the inside and the envelope.  The snowflakes and sentiment label were stamped using Dapper Denim ink full strength and stamped off once to tie in with the ombre design of the paper on the front of the card.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Colorful Seasons', 'Hang Your Stocking' & 'Labels to Love' sets
CS: SU! Dapper Denim & Whisper White (thick & regular)
Patterned paper: SU! 'Color Theory' DSP stack
Ink: SU! Dapper Denim
Tools: SU! 'Seasonal Layers' Thinlits & 'Stitched Shapes' Framelits die sets, 'Everyday Label' punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! 1/8" silver ribbon, rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals
Ruth