My Five Favourite Christmas Cards of 2014

Over on A Scrapjourney blog, Debby has challenged us to choose our five favourite Christmas cards from 2014..... not as easy as I thought, but here are mine. 

1

 I chose this card because the Spring Fold is one of my favourite folds at the moment. I love the cute Little Claire image too. 

2

This was a one off card I made for a crafty friend who adores glitter and has every imaginable colour!  I used two dies at the same time and was pleased how it turned out.  It really was very glittery - I kept finding the black glitter from the glitter card for days!!

3

 This next card was the first time I'd tried using inks to get a snow drift effect.   I love this particular Lavinia stamp too.

4

 I chose this one because I love the simplicity of the design.  It's a beautiful die and needs very little added to the card to get an elegant look. 

5

Finally, this took my right out of my comfort zone - paper piecing - a new technique for me.

This will be my final post of 2014.  Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog this year, I have really appreciated all your lovely comments.   I wish you all a happy, healthy and creative 2015! 

Another 100th Birthday Card

In anticipation of my daughter asking me tomorrow if I have a spare 100th birthday card, I've made a second one today. 

I've kept to the same colour scheme as the first card, (see previous post).  The design is similar to the one I made HERE which I really liked, except I've changed the colours, the die cut on the left and the style of butterfly, so it looks quite different.  The butterfly is an old Spellbinders die, which I think has been discontinued.  I've attached the butterfly with foam pads.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

That's Crafty Challenge Blog ~ Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew #77 ~ Anything Goes

100 Years Young

This is the first time I've made a card for someone 100 years young.  I first met Kitty over twenty five years ago, when we both supported the same local football team.  She really is the most amazing lady and is still a regular at the football stadium, watching our favourite team.  Her eyesight is not what is was, so I wanted my card to have lots of textures, with a fancy fold.

Our team plays in blue and white, so the colour scheme was decided for me!  I made a Tri-shutter card, which is easier to make than it looks!   I used blue and white pearlised papers which I embossed before covering all the panels. 

Here are my instructions for cutting and scoring.  I hope they make sense.

1. Cut base card 5½" x 12".

2. Score at 2", 4", 8" 10" (only 1½" down at the top and 1½" up from the bottom at the 2" and 10" points).

3. Measure in 1½" on both the long sides and cut from the 2" score line to the 10" score line.

4. Fold along the score lines as shown in the photo.

(I used an A4 sheet of card, which is slightly less than 12". I altered the score lines slightly so they were exactly evenly spaced out.)

The card folds flat and fits easily into an envelope.

As requested by Di, I'll be sharing this card on Pixie's Snippets Playground 

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

That's Crafty Challenge Blog ~ Anything Goes

Creative Card Crew #77 ~ Anything Goes

Melodie

For the first time ever, I handmade all our Christmas cards - all 107 of them! I think I'll start making the Christmas cards for Christmas 2015 in January! 

The challenge on the Lavinia Stamps blog for December is 'Add a Flower'.  

For this card I chose the lovely Lavinia 'Melodie' fairy stamp, which I stamped with a black Memento ink pad, before colouring with Promarkers and a silver Wink of Stella glitter brush for the wings.  The flowers were punched with snippets of pink card, embellished with tiny pearls to match the background.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Lavinia Stamps Challenge # 12 ~  Add A Flower 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Weeks 156 & 157 ~ Used pink snippets
Butterfly Challenge #20 ~ All Kinds of Fairies
That's Crafty Challenge Blog ~ Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew #77 ~ Anything Goes

Christmas Gifts

It's actually 23rd December today, but I'll be posting this after the 27th, in case certain family members happen to look at my blog over the next few days!  I've been busy making little gifts for three little elves (aged 3, 5 and 6) to hand out as extra little prezzies at a family party on the 27th.  I've got their little elf hats ready!

First are Post-It note holders.  I started with a freestanding  acrylic photo frame and then decorated a piece of 6" x 4" patterned paper.  The Card Candi was attached to the outside of the frame.  Not the best of photos, the Post-It note holders are all the same size, although they look smaller at the back, and I had a bit of a problem with the reflection too.

Next are altered notebooks, I've attached a magnet on the back.  I love these cute little tool brads!

Finally, something for the little elves themselves, which will be at the bottom of the sack.  Personalised drawing books, which started out as plain jotter pads.  I made a cover with embossed card and decorated them all with a Frozen theme. I've got them some crayons too, as a plain drawing book with nothing to draw with, is not a lot of use!

I've lots count of how many snippets I've used today, so I'll be off to play in Pixie's Snippets Playground when this post goes live.

I would also like to enter my Post-It Note holders for the  following challenge:
Allsorts Challenge Blog Week 290/291 - Last minute gifts

With Sympathy

I always find it difficult to come up with a design for a sympathy card.  A friend's nephew was tragically involved in a fatal accident this week and I've been trying to think, over the last couple of days, of an appropriate design for a card to send.  I didn't want a design with lots of flowers, as I wanted to make the card a bit more masculine.  By chance, a die I won for a challenge back in September arrived yesterday.  It seemed fate that it arrived this week, because as soon as I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for my card.

I was wondering about the best way to add a sentiment, when I remembered seeing the instructions for a clever way of getting the sentiment into a die cut shape over on Pixie's Crafty Workshop HERE.  The die is "Birds on a Branch" by Die-namites.

As I used blue, black and white snippets, I'll be sharing my card on Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 156 & 157, when it reopens in the morning.

Elsa

A birthday card is needed for a special little girl who will be five this week.  As the film Frozen is very popular at the moment, my card has an image of Elsa, from the film.

The image was a free colouring picture for children I found online, so I printed it and coloured it with Promarkers and stardust pens.  The dress and cape were then covered with a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush.  I used white Papermania foam letters for the name, but coated them first with the clear glitter brush to make them sparkle. I didn't like the font of the letter 'a', so a did a little creative cutting to turn the 'q' into the right sort of 'a' for a five year old!  I added tiny pearls to the snowflakes and a tiny clear gem to the neck of the cape.

I used snippets of silver holographic card to mat the printed sentiment and punch two little snowflakes, to I'm off to share my card on Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 155

Mask Storage

My crafty friend, Lynne (Lindy-Loo), made a great storage folder for her masks.  At a local monthly crop and craft day last Saturday, I decided to make my own mask storage folder, following her instructions..... in fact I sat next to her in case I got stuck!

I bought a pack of coordinating scrapbooking papers about 8 years ago, so I decided it was about time I used them!  I covered chipboard for the covers, the hinge is inked and embossed grunge paper,  something I've never used before - thanks for the grunge paper, Lynne. 

 

I used an envelope maker to make the envelopes from the scrapbooking papers and cut off one of the flaps on each one. It was a bit of trial and error to make the envelopes the size I needed for the masks to slot inside, as one of my masks was slightly larger that 6 x 6 and the size I needed was not listed on the envelope maker.  I inked through the masks on squares of white card and attached them to the front of each envelope, so I know which mask is inside each envelope.  Split rings hold the folder together, so more envelope pages can be added.  The finished folder is kept closed by tied ribbon to stop the masks escaping!  

As I used white card oddments, I'm popping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 155

Slow Down.....Take It Easy!

Just time this afternoon to fit in a quick get well card for a male friend who had an op today.   

I wanted to keep the design CAS, so I backed the dots die cut with a snippet of red and stamped a simple image, which I coloured in with Promarkers.  The sentiment is just perfect for the person I'm making it for.  I think he'll need reminding more than once to slow down!

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 154 ~ Use snippets

Last of my Christmas cards!

Oops! I miscalculated how many Christmas cards I need to make this year......I'm about a dozen short!  I bought this die recently after seeing the lovely effect of the die on Pixie's Crafty Workshop HERE.    It sort of fell into my basket when I was buying something else! I intended to use it for next year's cards, which I'm going to start in January....well that's the plan!  So it's having an early airing to make the last of my Christmas cards this year. (I'll make a note of who had this design this year.)

I had several snippets of red pearlised thick paper so used die one piece, then attached it to a white card blank, rounding all the corners.  A clear gem in the middle and a silver peeloff sentiment finished off the card.  Just eleven more to make..... off to find some more snippets!

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 154 ~ Use snippets

Christmas Cats

I'm certainly getting my money's worth out of my new stepper die!  All my previous cards using this die have been decorated with patterned papers, so I decided to emboss plain card instead.

I used the same stamp and colour scheme as I did on this card HERE. The embossing folder is a Stampin' Up one, although I can't remember the name of it.  I wish the makers of embossing folders would always print the name of the folder on them!  The Little Claire's image was coloured in with Promarkers and I used a Spellbinders 'Daisy Chain' die to cut out the image. The bauble has been covered in Glossy Accents and I've added holographic Card Candi down the sides. 

Christmas Sparkle

I had an odd strip of black glitter left over from a previous card, so I thought I'd use it to make a couple of Christmas cards.

I've used both the Memory Box 'Merry Christmas' die and the Die-namics 'Peek-a-boo Stars' die on other cards recently, but never the two dies together, so thought I'd try and use them on the same card.   My first attempt was fine, until I realised that the star cutouts were upside-down, so this is card two!   I hadn't actually noticed until I punched out a star for the top and then it looked really obvious.  I'll have to do a bit of creative cutting with the first card and reassemble it in a different design, so I don't waste it! The sparkle looks much better IRL, but I think it just about shows up in the photo.  

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

Lisa B. Designs ~ Christmas Sparkle
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 154 ~ Use snippets

Rugby Fan

Another male birthday this week....this time a rugby fan.  As the team supported wear blue and white, I used this colour scheme for my Joy Fold card.

 Two brads keep the card closed. 

The next photo shows the card open, revealing a space inside to write the greeting.  

The patterned papers are both Anna Marie Designs.  The stamp is a Creative Expressions one and the image was coloured in with Promarkers.

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:

 Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 153 ~ Used black snippet
Addicted to Stamps Challenge #92 ~ Lots of Layers
Penny Black and More Challenge ~ Anything Goes

Monochrome Merry Christmas

After making a pile of Christmas cards in traditional colours, including using the Memory Box 'Merry Christmas' die HERE for many of them, I thought I'd make a few using just black and white.

I used a black card base and embossed a thin strip of black card for the top half of the card.  The snowflake was cut out with a paper punch and a clear gem finished off the card.  I was really pleased with the result and it made a change to pack away the red and green card!

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 153 ~ All snippets used, except for the base card
Inspirational Challenge #70 ~ Christmas Card with an optional twist of no red and green.