December 2014 Card Group Projects

It was our last card group meeting of 2014 today and a lovely time was had by all!  Plenty of chat and chuckles, we exchanged Christmas cards, Lesley made everyone a die cut tealight lantern, Sue baked the most scrumptious lemon cake to go with our afternoon cuppa and we finished off by exchanging Secret Santa gifts - a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!

I designed three items for the ladies to make, a birthday card with a matching gift bag plus a thank you card.

This elegant Authentique patterned paper caught my eye and I thought it was perfect for one of my favourite colour combos - black and white plus one additional colour.  A very simple card with a flourish stamp, punched oval sentiment element and ribbon.  Simple but classy too I hope!  I used the Gift Bag Punch Board and a piece of 12" x 6" paper to make the matching gift bag.  The tag was made with circle punches.

Here's the inside of the card.

Project three was this floral Kind Thanks card - thank you cards can come in very handy after Christmas!  I stamped the beautiful IndigoBlu Rose Blush stamp in Cherry Cobbler ink onto Very Vanilla CS, stamped the SU! Weathered stamp over the top in Crumb Cake ink, die cut the fancy banner shape and inked the edges of the banner with Crumb Cake ink and a sponge dauber.  I layered the vanilla banner onto a larger Cherry Cobbler die cut banner shape.  The Sizzix 'Banners, Fancy' Framelits dies are a new acquisition and I love them - I'm a sucker for elegant brackety shapes!  The die set comes with two smaller label dies perfect for sentiments so I used those and popped up the sentiment element over a strip of Cherry Cobbler CS.  Some punched and shaped flowers with rhinestone jewel centres completed the card front.

The inside and envelope were decorated with simple stamping.  I love this floral image muchly!

We always exchange Secret Santa gifts during our December meeting.  I decorated a wooden favour box and placed my purchased gift inside.  I painted the inside and out of the box with vanilla chalk paint and then added patterned paper and the ribbon border.  I used Peeled Paint Distress Stain to colour the wooden tree shape and I added gold glitter domed circles.  I've tied the tree around the handle with gold cord and a ribbon bow which means it can be easily removed.  That way the box can be used all the year round, not just at Christmas time.  Margaret A was the recipient of this favour box and inside there was an Inkylicious stamp set and two Memento Dew Drop ink pads.

The ladies that come to my monthly card group are such a lovely bunch, I'm so lucky!  I gave them each a star ornament as a little gift from me.  I painted each wooden star with metallic silver paint, added a star die cut from silver glittered card and placed a sparkly embellishment in the centre of each star.  Here are all nine ornaments complete and ready to be packed away.

Here's a closer look.

Supplies for card and gift bag:
Stamps: SU! 'Elements of Style' set, Personal Impressions 'Medium Everyday Messages' set, Penny Black 'Lovely Day'
CS: PaperMania A6 white card blank, SU! Basic Black & Whisper White
Patterned paper: Authentique Classique Elegant Five
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black
Tools: SU! plain and scalloped circle & oval punches, WRMK Gift Bag Punch Board, Crop-A-Dile
Embellishments & accessories: black satin stripe organza ribbon, Dimensionals

Supplies for Kind Thanks card:
Stamps: IndigoBlu 'Rose Blush', SU! 'Weathered' background stamp, SU! 'Thank You Kindly' set
CS: PaperMania A6 cream card blank, SU! Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake & Very Vanilla
Ink: SU! Cherry Cobbler & Crumb Cake 
Tools: Sizzix 'Banners, Fancy' Framelits die set, EK Success & Woodware flower punches, flower shaper & moulding mat, sponge dauber
Embellishments & accessories: SU! rhinestone jewels, Dimensionals

Supplies for favour box:
Patterned paper: Kaisercraft Christmas Carol - All Ye Faithful paper
Embellishments & accessories: wooden favour box, wooden tree shape, Cosmic Shimmer Vanilla chalk paint, Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Distress Stain, dark green grosgrain ribbon, PaperMania gold shimmer dome stickers, gold cord

Supplies for stars:
CS: SU! Silver Glimmer Paper
Tools: Sizzix Stars Framelits die
Embellishments & accessories: PaperMania Create Christmas Star Wood Shapes, Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shimmer Paint, SU! Frosted Finishes embellishments, white satin stripe organza ribbon, glue dots