Last Christmas Card

Heres the last Christmas card I made.  I cant believe its over for another year...

I ran out of cards and as usual struggled for inspiration. But thankfully remembered that I had lots of swaps on my display boards from demonstrators I have met over the last few months.  The inspiration comes from a swap done by Carol, who I understand CASEd it from a card made in September by DianeP on the In Love With Stamping gallery.  Heres the link to the one Diane did and her blog is http://craftwithstyle.blogspot.com/.  Thanks Amanda for reminding me who made the swap!

I coloured some Platinum Shimmer Paint with Not Quite Navy ink from my reinkers, applied it to the circle image with a sponge dauber and stamped onto Whisper White card.  Then I stamped the oblong star eight times around the circle in Marina Mist ink.  The spacing was so easy with the clear mount sets - I didnt have to do any measuring and they are almost evenly spaced!

As the sponge dauber was still loaded with the blue shimmer paint (and I didnt want to waste it!) i went around the edges of the card in a stroking motion to apply the paint to the outside edge.  This didnt quite work on the first few I made, but as I the ink became less heavy and I got the hang of the effect I wanted, it did look better.

To decorate the star I used one of the large brads from Hodgepodge Hardware in the centre and some basic rhinestones (boy, do these sparkle!) before wrapping the ribbon around the card.  The ribbon was just Whisper White 3/8 Grossgrain which I dyed - again using reinkers in Not Quite Navy. Another brilliant way of colour coordinating everything from SU.

The star topper was just matted and layered in Not Quite Navy and Marina Mist, applied to the card blank and the sentiment added.

The reinkers came in really handy with this card.  At first, I just wanted to colour the Shimmer Paint - it was only as I was layering the star and the mats of card up that I realised that we dont have any Not Quite Navy ribbon (great planning there then!).  The ribbon came out very slightly lighter than the card (but it was such a slight difference, you could hardly tell).

Ok, thats my last Christmas Card post - for this year anyway.

Happy New Year Everyone - hope its a good one for you!!!

Take care
Jan

I hope that you have had a great time with your family and friends over the Christmas period.

Apart from having a really bad cold and cough its been a lovely Christmas for us.  My Mum and brother came over for Christmas Day lunch and then we went to DH Dads for tea. All the family in a two bedroomed flat (about 28 adults and loads of children!!!).  It was a bit like musical chairs though - if you went for anything to eat or drink, you lost your seat!

Santa brought me money this year as there are lots of things I would like to get from SU - wah hoo!!  I also bought a nice bracelet with some of the money (this was partly because DH was wanting me to get a bicycle with it - yer, right...!)

I was quite ill over Christmas and couldnt deliver some of the presents and cards until recently, and I didnt want to post any pics of the items I made before everyone had seen what they were getting.  As I delivered my last items yesterday, I thought I would share them.

Heres the mini calendar and note holder.  Yes, its using my favourate DSP - Lap of Luxury - its so nice, I just couldnt resist using it.  I also made these for each of my lovely Stampers 10 ladies (hope you liked them!?)

The acrylic holders were part of a share over at In Love With Stamping ages ago and I hadnt had much chance to use them.  The holders are designed to hold paper between the layers so I just cut the DSP to size and slid it in.  The pens were a little bit fiddly, but I loved how they looked when they were done.  I bought the little calendars from a local craft shop and they were just adhered to the front of the holder with post it notes attached to the back.

I struggled to find a way to hold the pens but the ribbon seemed to work OK.  For the ones at the front (using the narrow Grossgrain ribbon) I made loops of ribbon which the pen nib sits in.  Then I wrapped a strip of ribbon around the holder to hold the top of the pen.  The wider ribbon did work better though and I didnt need to do anything else to hold the pens as the ribbon is strong enough on its own.

Heres a photo of the back showing the post it notes attached to the rear of the holder.

The friends sentiment is from Tiny Tags and was mounted onto a scalloped oval stamped with Perfect Punches.

Sorry its taken so long to post photos of the holders.  I will post a picture of the last Christmas cards I made (not using a Christmas themed stamp set though!) in the next couple of days. 

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas period and thanks for bobbing over.
Jan
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Merry Christmas Everyone!

As I have a shocking cold I havent been able to do any crafting or pass on the cards and gifts I am wanting to post on here.  The last thing I want to do is pass on this horrible cold.

So, I just wanted to wish everyone a

Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I will post pictures of the cards and other items as soon as I can.

Jan
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Serene Snowflakes

I think I am safe to post this now as most of my ladies have their cards.

Heres one of the cards I made for my past hostesses and some of my customers.

I got the idea from some Card Candy made by Sara here.

The snowflake paper was made using the one sheet wonder technique - covering a sheet of Whisper White cardstock with stamped images in different sizes and coordinated colours, here Night of Navy, Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks.  Spots of Chrystal Effects were applied to the tiny snowflakes and Dazzling Diamonds glitter sprinkled on to give some bling.  Once this was dry I trimmed it to fit the card blank

A thin strip of Marina Mist card was punched using the scalloped edge punch and attached to the back of the snowflake card - it doesnt need a wide strip of card as most of it is covered.  The top of the snowflake card was covered in a strip of 3/8" Night of Navy Grossgrain ribbon and it was then attached to the card blank.

To make the large snowflake topper I stamped the large snowflake onto Whisper White card in Night of Navy ink and used my paper peircer and mat template to decorate the corners.  Then I stamped the large snowflake again with Versamark onto Night of Navy card and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  The main four large points of the snowflake including the centre were cut out and mounted with dimentionals onto the Whisper White topper and a large rhinestone brad put through the centre.  This was then mounted onto Marina Mist card and attached to the card blank, overlapping the snowflakes.

I have some more photos to share but they will have to wait as I wont get to see everyone before Christmas. 

There would have been more photos, but had a slight problem... I made lots more cards last week after running short.  I handed these out to some people at work on Monday, then realised that I hadnt taken any photos of them (DOH!).

Hope you are keeping warm and safe. 
Thanks
Jan
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Its coming too fast...

OMG how quick is Chistmas coming this year?

Sorry, but I cant show you any pics for anything as I have been frantically making cards & gifts for people and I havent delivered them yet!  I just wanted you to know I am still here and to promise that I will get some posted in the next few days.

Its been mad lately here - I even went to Meadowhell on Saturday - with Ian!  I refuse to go in December as it gets so mad near Christmas but I was gobsmacked at how quiet it was. I have seen it busier mid week!!! Ian refuses to go at any time but with the threat of snow lurking he said that he would come too (bless him).

Anyway, almost sorted for Christmas now - I hope you are too - just have to hope that all the pressies I have ordered on line for Ian come in the next few days.  Otherwise I may be out on Christmas Eve to get him something to open - Ahhhh.

Thanks for stopping by.
Jan
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Convention Blog Hop

Did I mention that I went to the Stampin' Up! Convention?  Tee Hee - sorry, I am still a bit giddy about convention!!! 

Just to prove we were there me, Sara and Joanne (my SU Mummy and Grandma) had our picture taken on stage.  I know, its not very often you see photos of me but I thought I would make an exeption!  We decided to each make a scrap book page as a momento and then have our own mini blog hop.

The blog hop will be live from 10.30am on Sunday 12th December - so if you try to view some of the links they may not be live. 

Hopefully, you have come here from Saras blog here.  I love how she has done hers A4 in size!

I used a 12x12" sheet of Elegant Eggplant as the base as it looked so nice near to Saras top.  The other colour I decided to use was Real Red - to pick up the red on the giant stamp blocks and red heart on the large tag behind us.  I wouldnt normally use these colours together but I do like them on the page.

The photo is mounted onto Real Red card which has been punched all the way round with the Scalloped Trim Border and Corner Punches.  I created a pocket using foam pads around the sides and bottom edges to give a deep layer to slot the convention programme into.  Then I used the punches on a thin strip of card, secured it to the side and laced some Real Red 1/8 Taffeta Ribbon through the scallops.  The ends were just tied in a bow to finish.

We were given name badges to wear at Convention and I really wanted to keep it safe - so I tied a piece of red ribbon through the fastener and glued it to the front of the programme.

Whilst we were there, we had the opportunity to buy a lovely stamp called "Love What You Do".  You can see it here as I stamped it in Elegant Eggplant ink onto the base card - it is so sweet!!!

Hope you like my scrapbook page - I do enjoy doing them but dont like having my picture taken, so its not that often that I get nice photos to scrapbook.

Thanks for stopping by - its over to Joannes blog now - just click here.  Have a great weekend!!!

Jan

Gents Birthday Card

Hope you are all getting back to normal after all the snow!?  Ours is melting now (thankfully - I am so fed up of it now). 

Have you been watching Corrie this week - OMG its been amazing.  I cant believe that last nights episode was live - no mistakes, brilliant planning and totally gripping. 

Trouble is, I havent done any crafting this week (sorry!) so I have just been looking through my photos and came across a card a made a few weeks ago and realised that I had forgotten to post it on my blog - Oops!

I made it in November - a mad month in our family for birthdays - for my brother in law and it was a really quick card to make.  The beer glass was stamped twice in Stayzon onto Whisper White card and then one of them was coloured it in using my markers and punched out using my 1 1/4" square punch. 

Part of the froth was cut off when I punched it out so I cut off the froth of the other image and mounted it on dimentionals directly over the top. This was matted onto some So Saffron card which had been punched out using my 1 3/8" square punch.

I stamped the "Cheers to You!" onto Whisper White card, punched it out and again matted it onto So Saffron Cardstock. 

The Designer Series Paper is called Blueberry Crisp and its gorgeous isnt it?!  I just cut out four squares and mounted them onto So Saffron cardstock just leaving a tiny border and matted the layers onto Not Quite Navy card and thats it - done.

Well, I need to go and get cracking now - I must do some christmas cards, otherwise I will have to go and buy some (aaaaahhh!).

Thanks for calling!
Jan
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Painful week and not just with the snow...

Hi everyone!

Its been such a hard time for everyone this week with the snow hasnt it?!  It took me nearly 3 hours to get into work on Tuesday and have been snowed in since Wednesday.  Luckily I can work from home though so I have been nice and warm, watching all the snow.

I have also been in quite a bit of discomfort this week as I had a nail treatment which caused me to have an alergic reaction and i ended up with blisters under my finger nails (I know, yuk!) but the worst of the pain is over now.

Anyway, heres a photo of one of the Christmas cards that I made recently.

I used one of the baubles form the Tree Trimmings stamp set to make the snowflake.  The bauble was stamped out six times in Real Red ink onto Very Vanilla cardstock and tiny drops of glue was added along with red glitter.  Once the glue was dry, I cut each one out and put to one site.

After punching out some flowers using the Boho Flowers Punch in Old Olive and Real Red cardstock, I glued the six baubles to a large Old Olive flower to help me space them evenly.  Then I put two smaller Real Red flowers on top, offsetting them. 

To finish the snowflake off I put a large brad from the Hodgepodge Hardware set in the centre and mounted the whole thing onto a die cut mat of Very Vanilla cardstock.

This was then mounted onto mats of Real Red cardstock, Old Olive Deigner Series Paper (retired) and then onto a 5" square card blank.

Hope you are coping ok with all the snow and thank you for bobing over to see my blog.

Jan