Christmas Snow Globe

 I'm all for quick and simple card making so I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this Sizzix bell jar diorama die set in a sale in the summer (OK maybe I was thinking ooh bargain!). When I actually opened the packet up last month to make some cards I was met with an assortment of tiny dies and it took a while (and some online assistance) to figure out what went where.

After that it was a question of trying to figure out what card to use for which bit and cutting it all out. I found it easiest to batch cut in 4s or 6s and then store the bits carefully. Then I assembled parts like the trees, the houses etc before finally assembling each one. Along the way I found it easiest to cut some of the tiniest bits (windows, wreaths, bows, snow in white card and colour as necessary with alcohol markers. Similarly I used a single brown card and coloured some parts with a darker brown marker. 

I'm pleased with the final result but boy was it fiddly! I used grey card for the outline, some patterned blue paper for the sky, dark green for the trees, brown for the trunks, house, base and path and glitter silver card for the stars. The rest was all coloured with markers. The sentiment is an old stamp I had made many years ago. 

Nothing left but for me to wish you all a very happy Christmas. May you stay safe and well.

Reindeer and Tree

 This card came about because I wanted to use the grey waste from another project which I will blog later. Because I had made several cards I had a few pieces of this dome-shaped card which I thought would be a suitable backdrop for another Christmas card.

I embossed the grey piece with the Cuttlebug Snow folder and embossed the white card base with the Sizzix Snowfall folder. The difference between the 2 folders is that the Cuttlebug one has an allover pattern of snow whilst the Sizzix folder has a heavier pattern at the top that fades to nothing at the bottom. This is useful if you want to stamp a sentiment at the bottom.

The frame, background and snow mound are all from a Sizzix die set called Bell Jar Diorama. The reindeer is by Marianne with a punched and glossy accented red nose. The tree is from a Sizzix set called Arctic Bear.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

 That is the sentiment inside this card (an old Hobbycraft stamp). The card, which I'm quite pleased with, came about as a result of a request for a holly-themed card. I like the fact it's clean and simple and uses traditional colours.

The card features inlaid diecuts which I was inspired to do by watching Natasha Foote's YouTube channel. The holly was cut with Tim Holtz's mixed media Christmas die. I kept the pieces and coloured them with alcohol ink markers. I added a double sided sticky sheet to the back of the 'waste' and then it was a simple process of fitting all the pieces back in.

The sentiment was a magazine freebie in the shape of a bauble. I snipped the words out and then decided to make to holly berries pop a bit more by adding clear Nuvo drops. Make sure that where there are two or more berries together you do one and wait for it to dry before doing the second one. That way you get nicely defined berries rather than a big splodge (you can guess how I discovered that!). It was all mounted on a white A6 card blank. I contemplated colouring a border around the outside edge but decided I preferred it without a frame.

It's That Time of Year!

 I don't make or send as many Christmas cards as I used to - the high cost of postage these days and the convenience of email/WhatsApp means I only make a few cards. I usually have 2 or 3 designs and I'm starting off with a very old stamp that I may have blogged years ago.

The stamp is called Scribble Snowman by Funstamps. I embossed the image with sparkle powder and then used my coloured embossing pens and clear powder for the hat and scarf. I cut the image out and mounted it on foam pads. The background is a TH/Sizzix embossing folder called Snowfall. The sentiment is also by Funstamps stamped in harbor by ColorBox.

Festive Wreath

 

Back to festive crafting and I thought I'd use my wreath builder template because if you can't make a wreath in the run-up to Christmas when can you? I discovered some leaf frond type clear stamps that were from an old set I remember buying in Lakeland in the good old days when they sold craft products. I'd used some of the floral stamps in the set but I had never used these small wispy leaves before. I used 3 different stamps and Impress Emerald, Spring Green and Versafine spanish moss inks. I wanted some berries and whilst I could have gone for some red Stickles I used a sprinkles stamp from a build-a-cupcake set. The star gems were added to hide an ink blot. I used a circle die to cut out the centre and mounted it onto a 10.5cm square card blank. The sentiment by Paula Pascual is stamped on the card blank in Impress poppy red. I think next time I will position the fronds so that some of them stick out a little to fill the space a little better but on the whole I'm pleased with the result.

Festive Bauble

 Continuing with my Christmas cards I used this Sizzix die which I bought some months ago but hadn't used. I cut it from green card but decided the bird needed to be a contrasting colour so I used gold card for the bird and the two small pieces that made up the hanger. The blank space at the top of the bauble was crying out for a sentiment and this one by a company called Funstamps seemed to fit best. The card base was embossed with a snowflake folder and once the bauble was stuck down I added some candy cane Stickles to the berries and a small piece of wired ribbon.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

There's something about this card I find joyful - it makes me smile when I see it. I think it's the pop of red against the white and grey. The image is by Crafty Individuals, I've had my eye on it since it was launched so when I saw it for sale on eBay I decided to bid for it. I stamped it with Versafine Smokey Grey rather than harsh black - it adds to the faded vintage feel of the image. I made a batch of 12 of these stage by stage with the help of a stamping platform and some exact measuring (for a change). I cut out the card first (8 x 9.5cm) and with a few trial pieces positioned the stamp on the platform so that it fit on the card exactly. After that it was very fast to stamp each image out accurately.

I then used barn door DI with a waterbrush to paint the umbrellas. I wanted to replace the snow on the umbrella but neither a white gel pen nor a white Posca pen managed to give a pure white - both seemed to soak up the red ink and dried pink. Finally I achieved the result I wanted with white enamel accents. When dry I matted the stamped image with some red paper. The base card was embossed with the Sizzix falling snow embossing folder. The sentiment is a well-used stamp that I had made years ago. I debated stamping it in red but I didn't want it to detract from the focal red of the umbrella. I hope the card gives you Joy.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

 Christmas. A work in progress. Watch this space...

Merry Christmas!

My final Christmas card for this year is for my followers and all those who have left such kind comments on this blog. I wish you all a joyful time with your friends and families.

Christmas Cards Part 2

I bought a set of 2 reindeer dies by Joy Crafts earlier in the year and used the larger deer (with antlers) to make this card. It enabled me to use some very old patterned paper (probably the first set I ever bought) which was a bonus. The background is embossed with Cuttlebug's snow embossing folder and the text is by Clearly Besotted. I used a small hole punch to make a red nose which I brushed with Wink of Stella to give a subtle shine.

Christmas Cards Part 1

As I tend to send a lot of Christmas cards to friends and family overseas this Crafty Individuals London skyline stamp is perfect. I stamped it on some patterned paper and heat embossed with WOW black sparkle embossing powder. I heat embossed the star on top of the tree in gold. The sentiment is part of a larger stamp that I masked off.
I made a variation of this card with a background of gelatos:

The sentiment is from a Paula Pascual set.