Two Snowflake Border Season's Greetings Cards

The Works have some really great dies and they're great value too!  As I love snowflake designs I couldn't resist the snowflake border die.  I knew I wanted an Island Indigo and Pool Party colour combo but wasn't sure whether I wanted a white or silver foil snowflake border so I cut out both.  As I'd cut out two borders I thought I may as well make two cards!

This card was the one I put together first.  I've used a die from the MFT 'Blueprints 18' set to cut an angled shape mat layer and I glued the border to the shape.  I stamped the sentiment using VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I adhered three snowflake sequins and added rhinestone jewels to the snowflake border.

For the second card I decided to emboss the Island Indigo angled mat layer and I used the SU! 'Softly Falling' folder.  This time I stamped the sentiment on the Pool Party card front using Island Indigo ink.  I die cut a silver foil snowflake from the SU! 'Seasonal Layers' die set, glued a 3/4" Pool Party circle behind and adhered the snowflake to the mat layer with a large glue dot.

I stamped the same sentiments and images on the insides of both cards and envelopes.  

I stamped a snowflake border on both envelope fronts.

Nothing is popped up on these two cards so they'll be perfect for posting.  I'm happy that I've added another two Christmas cards to the box!

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Snowflake Sentiments' set, Penny Black 'Snow Brackets' stamp, My Cute Stamps 'Let It Snow!' set
CS: SU! Island Indigo, Pool Party& Whisper White, SU! Silver Foil Sheet
Ink: SU! Island Indigo, VersaMark
Tools: MFT Die-namics 'Blueprints 18' set, M&C Boutique snowflake border die from The Works, SU! 'Seasonal Layers' Thinlits die set, 'Softly Falling' embossing folder, 3/4" circle punch
Embellishments & accessories: SU! white EP, rhinestone jewels, snowflake sequins, Dimensionals, large glue dot
Ruth

Cut Out Design & Ornament Warmth Of Christmas Card

A while ago I bought the Sizzix Tim Holtz Mixed Media and Mixed Media #2 sets of dies but hadn't got around to using them on a card.  I like that the negative cut out designs are large enough to make an impact on a card front so that not a lot else needs to be added.  Cards that come together quickly are great for me as my crafting time is limited these days - and quick Christmas cards are definitely what I need this year!

I made a Bermuda Bay A6 sized card base and die cut the design from a layer of Whisper White CS.  As I'd used an elegant cut out design I chose an elegant Christmas ornament to go on the card front.  I placed the ornament without sticking it down so that I could gauge where I wanted the sentiment to go and decided on a split sentiment.  I've cut the 'Wishing you a season...' sentiment stamp apart as that's easier than masking off part of the stamp.  I added a die cut silver foil ornament topper to the ornament, added some silver cord, popped the ornament up and sprinkled on a few silver sequins.

Here's the inside and the envelope.  I've used the lovely stringed ornaments stamps from the SU! 'Carols of Christmas' set and I couldn't resist hanging one from the sentiment!  The 'Merry Christmas' stamp is another one that I've cut apart as I know I'll use it more that way.  To finish off I sprinkled three more silver sequins inside the card.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU! 'Carols of Christmas', 'Ornament Keepsakes' & 'Snowflake Sentiments' sets
CS: SU! Bermuda Bay & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Bermuda Bay
Tools: Sizzix Tim Holtz 'Mixed Media' Thinlits die set, SU! 'Holiday Ornament' Framelits die set, SU! 'Delicate Ornament' Thinlits die set, SU! circle punches
Embellishments & accessories: SU! silver sequins, Dimensionals

Ruth

Leaves & Daisies Thank You So Much Card

My lovely friend Lesley gave me a gorgeous leaves die from The Works.  I just had to die cut it as soon as possible, it's beautiful, especially cut from gold foil CS!  I didn't have time to make a card with it then so the die cut has sat on my desk for over a week and now I've been able to create a card with it - a thank you card for Lesley.

I made an A6 card from SU! Basic Black CS, added a layer of gold foil CS and cut a black CS square to mount the leaves and flowers onto.  I chose to use open petalled die cut flowers to tie in with the open design of the leaves.  Black, white and gold is such an elegant combo!  The stamped and die cut sentiment label is popped up.  A fab die from the SU! 'Trim Your Stocking' die set was used to cut out gold foil dots which I placed on the sentiment label and flower centres.  It's going to be a die I reach for often as small dots come in so handy and the die cuts out 8 at a time - brilliant!

I came across Concord & 9th's 'Select a Size Edge' dies whilst looking for something else and I thought they looked really interesting.  I made the mistake of watching the video and you know what happened next, that's right, the die set was added to the cart.  I've used one of the dies in the set to cut a fancy edge on the panel for the inside of the card.  I love the fact that there are alignment tabs on the dies so you know what size to trim your paper to and then you can easily align the die and get a perfectly centred cut.  I added a strip of patterned paper, stamped a sentiment, stamped some sequins and added 3 gold foil dots.

Out came my wonderful envelope punch board and in a jiffy I'd made an envelope.  I popped up a stamped and die cut name label and added a couple of gold foil dots to finish.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts 'Sending You Love' set, SU! 'Painted Petals' & 'Hello Darling' sets
CS: SU! Basic Black, Whisper White & gold foil CS
Ink: SU! Basic Black Archival
Tools: Leaves die from The Works, Sweet Dixie 'Daisy Set' dies, Hero Arts 'Small Tag Frame' Frame Cuts die, Concord & 9th 'Select a Size Edge' die set, SU! 'Trim Your Stocking' Thinlits die set, SU Envelope Punch Board
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals
Ruth

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!  This kit came with gold foil envelope liners but they were so thick that folding them resulted in a really ugly crease.  I opted not to use them as envelope liners and will use them as gold foil CS instead!

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