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