Razzle Dazzle

What a fabulous set is Razzle Dazzle in the new summer mini. I am trying different non Christmas colours with the stamp sets from the new summer mini. For this card I have used Taken with Teal teamed with Whisper White. I have punched  the butterfly with the new butterfly punch and then stamped the butterfly stamp from the Butterfly Prints which I embossed with white embossing powder.

For the centre piece I used the scallop border punch to add a little bit of interest to the centre greeting from the Best Yet set.

New Summer Mini Set: For Everything

Splitcoast Stampers have lots of challenges - this one is for CAS46, which stands for clean and simple cards, I don't think I have got out of Christmas mode yet because I have still made this card in Real Red. I used the circle cutter from the Summer Mini which is great to make circles of different sizes and the stamp set (also from the Summer Mini) For Everything. I also added some buttons from Bold Brights and ribbon as well

My Very Last 2009 Christmas Card

With only a few days left to Christmas I have finally finished all my Christmas cards and this is the very LAST one that I made. I liked this one as it has an extra insert inside with a special addition to the card.

The photography as usual leaves a lot to be desired because that Christmas scene is actually a circle in real life cut with the new SU cutter but in this picture it looks like an oval (who says a picture never lies). So I must have been standing at a funny angle to make it look like this. (lol)

Anyway it is a lovely card with lots and lots of layers (anyone who knows me will know that I love lots and lots of layers) the front it has seven layers (choc chip, very vanilla, old olive, Haiku DSP, old olive, choc chip and very vanilla) and that is not counting the ribbon. (Then there are even more layers inside)

Stamps; A Wish for Peace, Classic Christmas, Many Merry Messages
Ink: Old Olive Versamark
Paper: Old Olive, Choc Chip, Very Vanilla, Haiku DSP
Accessories: Punch and Clear Embossing Powder Choc Chip Ribbon

Late Night Stampers Challenge No 50

Non Traditional Coloured Christmas Card

The challenge for the Late Night Stampers Yahoo Group this week is to make a Christmas card in non traditional colours. This card was made with Elegant Eggplant and So Saffron using the stamp set A Wish for Peace. The greeting is from the Best Yet stamp set which is a level 1 Hostess Gift

This is defintely the last of the Christmas decorations for this year, I don't think the Christmas tree will take any more decorations. These ones have been done the same way as the one from yesterday but they have been decorated with a different punch and some glitter as well (what is a Christamas decoration without some glitter?)

More Christmas Decorations

We have been making a couple more decorations for the tree.  Where are they going to fit on the tree? These ones were made from the left over pieces of DSP Holiday Treasure from when we were making the Christmas bon bons. I simple stuck several of the scallops together to form the ball, then I went around the outside with the Horizontal Slot Punch and cut slots all around the edge of each scallop. I then crimped a piece of 1cm Old Olive card stock and fed that through all the slits and joined it together to form a circle.

The flower decoration is just punched from the Boho Blossom punch and a rhonestone brad added to each. We made another couple which I will show you tomorrow (with lots of bling)

Christmas Pudding

This is the card I made for a friend who loves to cook and makes the most fabulous cakes and puddings and if you look further down this post you will see a picture of the lovely cake I received from her that came in a lovely red tin (how lucky am I?)  I thought a card of a pudding was more fun to make than a chrismas cake  (and I put a little hinge on the top that lifts up to say Merry Christmas.) On the inside of the card I have put a little mini plum pudding and holly as well it really is very cute.

Now I have to make a box of cards (she loves the ones made with the serviettes ) so I will have to get my thinking cap on and get started pretty quickly)

The Glitter Queen is in Glitter Heaven

I saw some of these glass decorations on a few SU sites but had never seen the clear glass balls in Melbourne. Spotlight had a sale on yesterday so off I went and guess what was 50% off !!! plus I had a discount voucher that could be used at the same time.  How good was that, so off course I bought double (or maybe even triple the amount I needed ) so I didn't really save any money (lol) but I did get the glass balls and boy have I been having fun.
So girls get out all those reinkers (I have used Rose Red, Real Red, Olive Green and Pacific Point) - all the SU colours are fabulous and I am going to try out lots of them (I did say a bought a few of those glass balls didn't I). The Fine Supernova glitter (and a bit of dazzling diamonds thrown in as well - I really am in glitter heaven) is fantastic for these balls.
The ladies from my classes know that I wouldn't be happy having all that glitter just inside,  so I used the red sticky strip on the outside of some and added some chunky glitter .
I must say I had my heart in my mouth when I tried the embossing on the outside. I wrote names and Merry Christmas with the Versamark pen and used silver embossing powder, then I very quickly heated it with the heat gun (waiting for the big explosion) but it was fine they were pretty hot but none broke. The writing is a bit wonky but it was ok for a first effort

The red ball I embossed the merry christmas and holly from the Christmas Classics onto acetate and cut it out and glued it on with Tombow Glue which is great it dries fast and is clear when it is dry.
The only thing you need to be careful about which might be a good thing to remember if you try these is to wear rubber gloves you can see my hands after the first two colours and I still had a few more to go!!!!

Mojo 116

I haven't done a Mojo Monday for a while so I thought I would have a go at this week's one. I love the red, silver and black combination so I tried it for this card and I was very happy with the finished card.

I started off with Real Red and then layered Metallic Silver and then Whisper White and Black on top.  I used the Baroque Motifs stamp set and embossed the background swirl with silver embossing powder. Then I embossed one star (or is it a snowflake) in silver on black and the other in black on silver. The Christmas tree is from the Christmas Classics set and has been embossed in black on the Metallic silver and  the Merry Christmas (from the same set) is embossed in silver.

The Polka Dot Real Red ribbon is from the new Summer Mini (the whole card was these colours because I wanted to use this ribbon - I just love the white polka dots)

Christmas Decorations continued

I thought that by the time your children grow up (my youngest is 20) the fascination with the Christmas Tree would wear off but no bright and early on December 1 there were my two youngest decorating the Christmas tree.  Over the years we have gone through  many crafts and nearly every decoration on the tree is now handmade (and lots of them by the kids themselves) We made many, many balls with sequins and pins, bells with folded edges, material balls and even smocked balls (there were no volunteers from the children to make those). Very few get thrown out and if you look closely you will see many are missing some bits and pieces, but I think that makes them all the more loved. This year we have been making the 3D stars and little Christmas trees( from SU - DSP) which you will see further on in this post.  I will have to stop taking up new hobbies as there is no more room on our tree.

Lots of these lovely 3D stars are appearing as Christmas decorations I got the pattern for mine from Lynn Pratt's blog (thanks Lynn the instructions were very easy to follow), for our tree we made them a bit smaller than the pattern suggested. Our first attempt the red one we stuck with normal tape and it didn't hold for very long as you can see in the picture if you look closely. So we went back and restuck them with glue dots which worked much better.

Tutorial for Christmas Decorations

A few people have emailed me for a tutorial for these decorations so I have put together some quick instructions for these:
Step 1: Cut out 5 squares - 8cm, 7cm, 6cm, 5cm and 4 cm

Step 2: Draw a diagonal line with pencil and then mark 2cm down on that line. Draw a horizontal line approx 3cm long

Step 3: Cut across the 3cm horizontal line

Step 4: Being the bottom of the square up and slide throught the slit.

Step 5: Tape this on the back to secure. Repeat for each piece

Step 6:  Cut a piece of chocolate chip card stock 13cm x 3cm and put two line of red sticky strip on this piece, start attaching all your pieces, adding sticky strip to the top of each point to secure. When all pieces are attached trim the brown card stock to fit the top piece

When finished you can decorate however you like - lots of bling is always good

Christmas Decorations

Well this decoration started out life as a star but it was a very wonky star so it got changed to a christmas tree. It can either be used as a decoration by itself or on a card as in the two examples.  I had heaps of DSP strips left after making my bon bons and wanted to use it up. They are very quick and easy to make.

















If you are a bling person like me you can add that very easily as well. All I did was punch out some 1/2 inch circles covered them in Crystal Effects and added some Chunky Glitter. Of course they are more glittery in real life.

TLC250

This is my entry in TLC250 which is the technique Challenge for this week on Splitcoaststampers, the directions are all there on Splitcoast so if you want to have a try you will end up with one of these lovely little Tag Bag Boxes. I thought I would use the Pink Flamingo DSP from SU and I have embellished it with some extra flowers cut out from the same sheet. The base of the box is made with Tempting Turquoise  cardstock and the ribbon is alsoTempting Turquoise. The tag is done using the Oval All Stamp but I put For You in it instead of Best Friends.  If you look closely there is also some Dazzling Diamonds on there (as if I could leave that off)

So Cute

Well I must say I was right into Christmas mode and doing well with the Christmas cards when along comes daughter No 1 wanting a baby card!!! My mind just went blank, all that was coming to mind was Christmas cards- then I had this flash of inspiration I would change the little Christmas Stocking into a baby bootie. I just love the new stamp set from the Summer Mini Eggcoutrements ( I had to check how to spell that one) with the beautiful scallop border so I did a little border on each of the booties with this. I only had to make a pink one but I thought why stop at one and had to make a blue one as well.  They are just so cute!!!

Stamps:  Eggcoutrements., Polka Dots and Short and Sweet

Cardstock:  Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue and Whisper White

Accessories: Scallop Punch and matching ribbons

Chrissy Presents Under Control

Well I must say I have had fun making all these bon bons and the lovely little santa stocking cards and everyone I have given them too loves them as well. So far I have made 30 of each - I asked the children how many they needed and made a list but they have been more popular than I thought with the kids so I am a few short now!!! So I will have to make some more.

I had seen lots of people using the santa stocking shape to put gift cards so I thought I would make a card out of it and have it opening at the bottom so it could stand up by itself.  I love the new ribbon in the Summer Mini with its lovely polka dots so I used the polka dot stamp on the toe and heel to match it.  With SU lovely punch to finish of the edge I was very happy with the finish.

Stamps:  Christmas Classics Polka Dot

Ink: Real Red

Paper: Holiday Treasure DSP Real Red and Whisper White

Accessories: Punch and ribbon

Tutorial for Bonbons

Christmas Bon Bon

1.   Cut DSP 24cm x 19cm

2.   Score along the 24cm length at 3cm, 7.5cm, 16.5cm and 21 cm

3.   Score along the 19cm length at 4.5cm, 9cm, 13.5cm and 18cm.
      Fold along all score lines

4.   On the inside of the bon bon mark with a pencil an X in each box as in the Picture 1 and draw a line  through the centre of each of the diamonds

Picture 1

5.  Using your paper cutter cut along each of the lines drawn in the diamonds as per Picture 2 and 3

Picture 2

Picture 3

6.  With scissors cut out the sections shown as per Picture 4 below

Picture 4

Picture 5   Run your bone folder over each of the lines marked with arrows and fold each of these small sections

7.  Turn bon bon over to the right side. Place red sticky strip on the edge of box to join.

Picture 6

8.  Remove tape and join you now have your bon bon shape

Picture 7

9.  Twist top of box toward the folds and the areas you have used the bone folder on will collapse in very easily

Picture 8

10.  The bon bon end should look like this

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Picture 9
 
 
11.  Do the same to the other end and your bon bon is finished ready to decorate. Have fun. They really are quick and easy (my third bon bon only took 8 minutes to make)

Picture 10






Fill your bonbons with anything you like (being a bit of a chocoholic mine will all have choccies in it)

Christmas Bonbons in 8 minutes

This is the first three of 20 Bonbons I have to make I started making the Twist Box style ones that I have seen on a few peoples blogs but they weren't sitting very well for me so I decided to alter the pattern . In my next post I will have a tutorial on how to make these. So far I have only made three and I timed myself on the third one and it only took 8 minutes so I thought these were definitely the go for those presents for teachers or friends. What you put inside them is entirely up to you. I have put lovely Lindt chocolate balls inside mine (being a bit of a choccy lover myself).  Even with the gold twine on them the ends open and close very easily each time.  so with one sheet of DSP paper and about 6 Lindt balls and a little decoration (you can go as blingy as you like) you have a lovely little present.  I have made some lovely cards to go with them - I will share them in a few days time.