Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 20

Week 20: Woohoo! 20 weeks of card making! I needed to make a few more cards in the Northern Lights theme, so it's another one of those. I love these so much. Each one turns out unique. I used two retired stamp sets here for the moose and the sentiment. Ink colours used are: Rich Razzelberry, Coastal Cabana (retired), Crushed Curry, Night of Navy, and Basic Black. I embossed the sentiment in white. I added a few speckles of embossing powder around the darker edges to look like stars or the Milky Way....something new I tried. I think it worked! The last 2 images show a close up of the "stars". This card is dedicated to my stamp class ladies. If you look close, I stamped the sentiment slightly crooked. I felt so sad. There was no way I was throwing this artwork out. So I tried to fix it by cutting the cardstock a bit. It still looked funny so I layered the navy cardstock underneath at an angle to draw less attention to my mistake. There is always a fix! :)

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 19

Week 19: It's still Monday! Today I felt I needed to do some sponging work. I find it relaxing. I used the same colour base as one of my favourite mountain cards I made last year. In case you missed it, here it is! :)

And this is the one for Week 19, very similar. I basically CASED my own card. I'm not sure which I like better, but probably the mountain one still. Although that little deer is cute :)

The inks for the sky are: Rich Razzleberry, Coastal Cabana (retired), Night of Navy, and Basic Black. The silhouette (I love silhouette stamps!) is from a retired set called To You and Yours Too, and that is stamped in Basic Black. The sentiment is heat embossed in white, and from the same set. I added some silver 1/8 inch ribbon along the side and mounted the card on Melon Mambo and Night of Navy cardstock. I dotted a few stars/snowflakes in the sky with my Aqua Painter dipped in Whisper White craft ink.

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 18

Week 18: Whoops, Tuesday again :) Oh well, at least I'm sticking to it. This week I've started writing out my Christmas cards, I do it all by hand because I'm old fashioned. I saw this post floating around online and thought I'd share it because it's true:

Here is your card for the week: I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock for the base. The fold is different, so I've done a few views for you. I layered a piece of Fabulous Foil Designer Acetate, Basic Black cardstock and Whisper White cardstock. I saw the foil acetate used so much last year online and hardly at all this year. I tied a bit of 1/8 inch gold ribbon on the side, stamped in Cherry Cobbler ink using the sentiment from the Musical Season stamp set. The french horn was cut out of gold foil sheet using the Instruments Framelits Dies.

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 17

Week 17: Today is Tuesday, whoops :) Here is another card we made at the Christmas card class at the beginning of November and 2 additional cards with a few changes....all are done using sponging for the background and the Hometown Greetings Edgelits Dies (I love these!). The last card I heat embossed the greeting in silver embossing powder and added some Wink of Stella for snow.

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 16

Week 16: Today I'm sharing with you a card I designed for the Christmas Card workshop I had last weekend and several alternatives. It uses the Hearts Come Home stamp set in the white circle and the sentiment is from Snowflake Sentiments. The card base is Old Olive, the scalloped framelit was used to cut out the scallop shape in Real Red. Whisper White twine is wrapped around a piece of Merry Music Specialty DSP. Ink used was Basic Grey. The 3 alternative cards also feature gold glimmer paper and gold thread. I think my favourite card is the last one :)

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 15

Week 15: I was on the ball this week, so this post is going up early! I used the Hearts Come Home and Snowflake Sentiments stamp sets. The background is Whisper White cardstock that I embossed using the Softly Falling embossing folder, after I stamped in Basic Grey ink. The red cardstock is Cherry Cobbler and the star is cut out of gold Glimmer paper using the retired star framelits.

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 14

Week 14: Today I was pulled towards two stand-by colours for me, Old Olive and Crumb Cake. I used those for the card base as well as Very Vanilla. The tree stamped in the background is from Lovely As A Tree. The ink and embellishments are also in those colours plus Cherry Cobbler for the sentiment, which is from the Nature Sings set. I used the wreath die from the Santa's Sleigh set to cut out a wreath from the Christmas Around the World DSP to hang around the deer's neck. The deer is stamped and die cut from the Santa's Sleigh sets. I also cut the little bow from the same DSP paper as the wreath. A quick and easy card!

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 13

Week 13! On time for once haha! Today I've got a copy-cat version of the October 2017 Paper Pumpkin monthly craft kit subscription that Stampin' Up! offers. Here is what the kit makes, if you missed out this month or want to make a bunch more, don't worry. I'm here to show you how to make something very similar!

I've decided to make a similar card as the one with the Christmas ball hanging off the branch. It came pretty close! I didn't have any of the green and black plaid paper, but Stampin' Up! has something similar to that in the kit in the Holiday Catalogue!

Shake, shake, shake! I love a shaker card! I used Old Olive card stock for the base. For the top layer, I cut a circle out of Whisper White cardstock with my circle thinlits (you can use any circle cutter, punch, or trace something round if you don't have the dies and Big Shot). I stamped the branch from the Christmas Pines stamp set in Old Olive. The ornament top and hanger is from a retired set called To You And Yours Too, but it's easy enough to hand draw if you don't have something in your existing sets.

I cut a piece of plastic window sheet and glued that to the back. I stamped the sentiment in Cherry Cobbler (also from Christmas Pines) on a small square of Whisper White cardstock, just larger than the circle. On the backside of the larger white cardstock, I used foam adhesive strips around the back edge of the circle (make sure the pieces touch so that the shaker pieces don't fall out, there are YouTube videos out there if you need a better visual) and dimensionals around the rest of the back side. I added some shaker bits that I had leftover from previous projects (use up what you have laying around or use a small die or punch to cut some new small pieces) and laid the small square on the back side before flipping the whole thing over. I then stuck it down onto the Old Olive card base. Super easy!

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 12

Last week ran away from me, so this week you get 2 posts on one day! Here's what I missed posting for Oct 16th...
Week 12: The Hometown Greetings Edgelit Dies are one of my favourite items from this year's Holiday Catalogue! Here is a quick and simple card with a splash of Wink of Stella glitter as falling snow. Colours used for the ink and cardstock are Whisper White and Night of Navy. The sentiment at the bottom is from the Snowflake Sentiments set.

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 11

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I was busy making and eating turkey dinner yesterday, so my week 11 card did not get done on time. Better late than never! This week I've gone with Old Olive cardstock for the background, layered on top is a piece of paper that I've done a shaving cream technique on in a few shades of green ink. I cut out a tree shape from the Santa's Sleigh Thinlits set. Behind the tree is some glitter in an envelope made from window sheets to form a mini shaker card. The stamp is from the Watercolor Christmas stamp set. And to finish it off I tied the top with a few wraps of Linen Thread (probably one of my favourite and most versatile Stampin' Up! products). #stampinup #christmas #card #christmascard #2017 #watercolorchristmas #santassleigh #green #oldolive

Countdown to Christmas: Week 10

I have a feeling I'll be waking up to snow on the ground Monday morning (as I write this blog post Sunday night). So, I ran with the theme...snow! I used the Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder to make the background snowflakes on the Whisper White cardstock. I mounted that on Night of Navy, trimmed on one side to show the silver glimmer paper behind. The snowflakes are from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits and have also been cut from the silver glimmer paper. The sentiment was stamped in Night of Navy ink and is from the Christmas Pines stamp set. I added a bit of thread behind the sentiment, because extra glitter is always fun. Happy Monday! :) #snowflakes #winterwonder #stampinup #christmas #christmascard

Countdown to Christmas: Week 9

I love plaid. The Christmas Around the World Designer Series Paper (DSP) has two lovely plaid patterned papers. This package is double-sided, so if you don't like the design on one side, chances are that the other side is good. I used Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock. The tree was cut from Old Olive cardstock, using the Santa's Sleigh dies set. I cut it twice and used Tombow to adhere the two trees just down the middle, so it has some dimension. Before gluing, I inked up the top tree in Versamark then heat embossed the whole tree in clear embossing powder, to give it a shine. Then I mounted the tree with dimensionals. The sentiment is from the set Watercolor Christmas and is stamped in Old Olive and a few rhinestones sprinkled on top to give it some bling. #christmascard #card #christmas #stampinup #tree

Countdown to Christmas: Week 8

I must admit, Mondays seem to sneak up on me. It's not like I don't know they are coming. It's always the day after Sunday. But the days fly by and whoops it's Monday again lol. Next week I'm aiming to get a "wow" card done up that I really like. Anyways, here's another quick and easy card...I saw a couple of card ideas floating around on Pinterest with this design. This is my version of a snowman using the Swirly Scribbles Thinlit Dies. The bow and sentiment are from the Holly Berry Happiness stamp set. The background snowflake is from the Colourful Seasons stamp set. The cardstock is Island Indigo and Soft Sky. #snowman #card #ChristmasCard #StampinUp

Countdown to Christmas: Week 7

I felt a wreath card needed to be made, so here it is for week 7! Using the Holly Berry Happiness stamp set, I created a wreath with the two holly leaves stamps in Garden Green. The ribbon is from the Holiday catalogue in Real Red and the rhinestones were coloured with a red Sharpie pen. Quick and simple card to send to someone far away this Christmas! :) #christmas #card #stampinup #wreath

Updated to show a second version of the same card, mounted on Basic Black and Real Red cardstock.

Countdown to Christmas: Week 6

Sorry for the delay! I was just finishing up my craft room re-organization. I bought some new shelves this past weekend and had to wait for my husband to build them and then get all of my "toys" off the floor and organized onto the shelves. I'm not quite done, but done enough that my desk has been cleared off for creating! I wanted to try out the new Winter Wonder Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. It's a pretty snowflake design and it looks amazing on the foil sheets! The foil is so hard to get a good picture of. I also used the skinny silver wash tape and the sentiment is from the Hearts Come Home stamp set. And a couple of rhinestones. Is there such a thing as too much bling? I think not :) #stampinup #stamp #Christmas #card #Christmascard #WinterWonder #embossing #snowflake #foil #silver #washitape #washi #heartscomehome

Countdown to Christmas: Week 5

Woohoo! Week 5! It's been hot here, summer's last hurrah (I hope). Hard to get into Christmas mode when I'm feeling like I'm roasting over an open fire. At least my craft room is cool! Here is a quick card with a tropical feel that was made for the Christmas in July class. I think the branches look a bit like palm leaves when stamped this way. I used the Christmas Pines stamp set and a rhinestone for a bit of bling! #stampinup #ChristmasPines #card #Christmascard

Countdown to Christmas Week 4

Wow! Week 4 already! Summer is flying by. I thought I'd create a card featuring a full moon, as we have a solar eclipse happening today. Where I live, we are not in the path of totality, but we're still experiencing about 70% coverage. The moon and sentiment I heat embossed using clear embossing powder. The moon is the circle from the High Tide stamp set. The sentiment is from Hearts Come Home stamp set, which is from the new 2017 Holiday Catalogue. The cute edgelit die of houses at the bottom is a co-ordinating set of dies called Hometown Greetings Edgelits Dies, buying the bundle saves you 10%! I sponged Night of Navy and Island Indigo ink for the sky and added a bit of Daffodil Delight cardstock behind the houses, which were cut out in Night of Navy. The base for the card is Island Indigo. #christmas #christmascard #stampinup #christmas2017 #heartscomehome #hometowngreetings

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 3

Week 3: This is a card I designed for my Christmas in July class this year. The Holly embossing folder was sponged with Pear Pizzazz ink and the berries were coloured with a Cherry Cobbler marker. The ribbon is retired Cherry Cobbler linen (2016 I think?). The sentiment is stamped in Cherry Cobbler using the Happy Christmas stamp from Oh, What Fun onto a circle stitched frame lit. The cardstock is also Pear Pizzazz. #christmas #stampinup #ohwhatfun #holly #christmascard

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 2

Week 2: I wanted to try out the shaving cream technique for an ocean-themed card, but I thought this piece looked somewhat like outer space. So, I made it into a Christmas card featuring the Star of Light stamp set and matching dies. The blue cardstock is Dapper Denim and the ink used for the shaving foam swirls is Dapper Denim and Smoky Slate. #stampinup #christmas #christmascard #star #staroflight #technique #shavingcream #shavingfoam

Countdown to Christmas 2017: Week 1

Starting July 31, I will be sharing new Christmas card ideas every Monday up until December 25th! 

Week 1 is a Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) effect card featuring a sentiment from the Nature Sings stamp set and a polar bear from the retired White Christmas stamp set. The background is sponged on using ink in layers. There are many YouTube videos demonstrating this if you would like to learn how. #christmas #stampinup#naturesings #polarbear #northernlights #auroraborealis