A Batch Of Snowflake Merriest Wishes Cards

We've just come back from a lovely, relaxing break in the New Forest with our very good friends Debs and Mike.  Before we went I'd started a batch of Christmas cards and today I was able to finish them off.  I very rarely make a batch of cards but I realised that I wouldn't have enough Christmas cards this year unless I made multiples of some designs!

Here's my completed batch of 20 cards and envelopes.

This photo shows the card front, inside and envelope.

I die cut the snowflakes and cross stitched rectangles first, then I stamped the sentiment on the card fronts, stamped the insides of the cards and then stamped the envelope flaps.  The MISTI certainly makes short work of stamping a batch of cards!  I punched circles and small snowflakes for the centres of the large snowflakes and assembled the snowflakes.  This afternoon all I had to do to finish the cards was to glue the die cut cross stitched rectangles in place and to pop up the snowflakes.

Here's one of the cards.  The white cards are A6 sized, the large snowflakes were die cut from SU! Pool Party CS, I used SU! Bermuda Bay CS for the die cut cross stitched rectangles and the punched circles and I stamped the sentiment in Bermuda Bay ink.  I punched the small snowflakes from SU! Silver Glimmer Paper to add a touch of festive sparkle.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I used Bermuda Bay ink for the sentiments and the snowflakes on the envelope flaps.  I used Pool Party ink to stamp the snowflake ornament hanging from the sentiment.  All the hanging snowflakes were stamped in exactly the right place thanks to the marvellous MISTI!   

My World Cardmaking Day project for this year was to make a batch of 10 Christmas cards.  I had a lovely day in my craft room creating them and it's very satisfying to see them all boxed up ready to be written out.  I'll be sharing those on the blog in December after they've been given out!  

I definitely want to make another batch of Christmas cards but I've got other stuff to work on first.    

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts 'Very Merry Christmas' set, Hobby Art 'Christmas Robins' set, My Cute Stamps 'Let It Snow!' set
CS: SU! Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, SU! Silver Glimmer Paper
Ink: SU! Bermuda Bay & Pool Party
Tools: Sweet Dixie 'Large Swirly Snowflake' die, Memory Box 'Cross Stitched Frame' rectangle die set, SU! 3/4" circle punch, X Cut snowflake punch, MISTI
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals

October 2016 Card Group Projects

Yesterday afternoon we got together for our October card group meeting and a very enjoyable afternoon it was too. Val and Margaret celebrate their birthdays this month and both ladies treated us to home baked goodies - Chocolate Brownies and Lemon and Blueberry Traybake - both delicious! Crafting and cake - a perfect combination!

The first project I designed for the ladies to make was a tealight gift box made using Pool Party CS and mistletoe patterned paper from last year's SU! 'Season of Cheer' DSP pack. I bought Passionfruit and Blueberry tealights to fill all the boxes.  I thought the 'Making spirits bright' sentiment was ideal to use for a gift of tealights so I stamped that onto a tag made from a die cut Pool Party ornament.  I cut an ornament topper from platinum CS and tied the ornament tag to the ribbon bow with white baker's twine.

Here's another view of the gift box.  

Making a card to match the tealights gift box seemed a good idea so that's the second project I created.  Here's the card and tealights gift box together.

Everyone loved the spinner card we made last month so I designed an ornament spinner card for this time.  I used the same patterned paper as I'd used on the box and the colour combo is Pool Party and Always Artichoke.  The Pool Party fancy die cut ornament was glued over the top of an  Always Artichoke plain punched circle.  I added a platinum topper, a die cut bow and some rhinestone jewels.  The sentiment label is glued flat to the card so it doesn't interfere with the spinner.  The spinner element is made using a round 3D foam pad sandwiched between two pennies.  The Always Artichoke panel with the spinner channel cut from it is popped up with 3mm thick 3D foam tape.  

Here's the inside of the card and the envelope.  I stamped the mistletoe sprig inside with stamped off once Pear Pizzazz ink and stamped the sentiment over the top in Always Artichoke ink.  The two mistletoe sprigs on the front of the envelope were stamped in Always Artichoke ink.

The third project was a snowman card made with my MFT Blueprints 14 die set and using the layout shown at the bottom right.

I made a 5 1/4" white square card base, added a Bermuda Bay die cut stitched square, a white rounded corner square embossed with the SU! 'Northern Flurry' embossing folder and a black die cut scalloped border.  I stamped the snowman onto Whisper White thick CS, coloured him using ProMarkers, fussy cut him and popped him up onto a Soft Sky die cut rounded corners rectangle.  I placed a Bermuda Bay punched snowflake onto a Soft Sky punched circle and added a pearl to the centre.  I fixed the sentiment label in place and added the snowflake circle element over the top.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I stamped the snowflake cluster in stamped off once Bermuda Bay ink and stamped the sentiment over the top in black ink.  I used full strength Bermuda Bay ink for the snowflake cluster on the envelope flap.

Val mentioned yesterday that she couldn't fully remember the triple time stamping technique.  A perfect opportunity for me to include a triple time stamped Christmas card as one of next month's projects then!  

Supplies for tealights gift box:
Stamps: SU! 'Tin of Tags' set
CS: SU! Pool Party, Crafter's Companion Centura Pearl Platinum
Patterned paper: SU! 'Season of Cheer' DSP
Ink: SU! Mossy Meadow
Tools: SU! 'Delicate Ornament' Thinlits die set, SU! 'Decorative Label' punch, SU! Simply Scored
Embellishments & accessories: SU! white organza ribbon, SU! white baker's twine 

Supplies for ornament spinner card:
Stamps: SU! ''Sweet Essentials' & 'Peaceful Wishes' sets, Hero Arts 'Miracle of the Holidays' set
CS: SU! Pool Party, Always Artichoke & Whisper White, Crafter's Companion Centura Pearl Platinum
Patterned paper: SU! 'Season of Cheer' DSP
Ink: SU! Always Artichoke & Pear Pizzazz
Tools: SU! 'Sliding Star' Framelits & 'Delicate  Ornament' & 'Pretty Pines' Thinlits die sets, Spellbinders 'Labels Trio' die set, Memory Box 'Grosgrain Ribbons' die set
Embellishments & accessories: SU! rhinestone jewels, round 3D foam pads, 3mm thick 3D foam tape

Supplies for snowman card:
Stamps: Hero Arts 'Wonderful Christmas' set, Inkylicious 'Santa's Sleigh' set, PSX 'Snowflake Medley'
CS: SU! Bermuda Bay,Soft Sky, Basic Black & Whisper White (regular & thick)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Bermuda Bay, various ProMarkers
Tools: MFT Die-namics 'Blueprints 14' die set, SU! 'Northern Flurry' embossing folder, SU! 'Modern Label' punch & plain circle punch, X Cut snowflake punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! pearl jewel, Dimensionals