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.



We Three Kings......

I was really chuffed that 'Simply Cards & Papercraft' printed a photo of my Lego card in their magazine this month, on their letters page.

Another eight Christmas cards finished today, all of this design.

The stamp was an old Anita's one and the image was coloured in with Promarkers and Stardust glitter pens.  The embossing folder was Crafter's Companion 'Snowflakes' - a bargain buy at the NEC this month for only £1!  It was size 5 x 7 so perfect for covering the whole of the card front. I added a silver spot to each of the snowflakes to highlight them.

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 153 ~ I used red snippets
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes 

Bambi

Now, I'm not usually a person who does découpage, in fact I've never done it before.  All that cutting out seemed a bit fiddly for me, but a free gift with a magazine I received yesterday was a Découpage and Paper Pack.  So, sat in front of the TV last night, I decided to cut out some of the pieces. I'm sure I remember a quote about  idle hands being a bad thing!  I quite liked the patterned papers in the pack, so this is the card I came up with.  

The little deer had six layers including the base layer.  I wasn't sure of what to use to attach the layers, so I used foam pads, cutting some of them up into tiny pieces for the legs.  I seem to remember seeing silicone glue being used for découpage, but as I didn't have any, I had to make do with foam pads.

Noel

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all my American blogging friends. I hope you are all having a wonderful day!

Today's card is another Christmas card, this time in black, white and silver.

I used a Die-namics star die for the panel and attached black glitter card behind the tiny star apertures, although I'm not sure you can see the glitter in the photo.  The stamped the Noel image was heat embossed with black embossing powder.  Although it was one stamp, I cut out the four letters, then matted it first on silver and then on black glitter card.  I punched three stars out from the glitter card to add the finishing touch. 

I would like to enter my card for the following challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes 

Twit Twoo

Another birthday card today.  There is something about owls I just love and I seem to have quite a collection of owl dies and stamps - but you can never have too many owls!

For this card I've used a Tattered Lace owl die.  I've added a couple of little eyes to make him come alive.  I used a Darice embossing folder 'Wood Grain' for the background. The leaves were punched with a Woodware leaf punch.

I would like to enter the following challenges:
Allsorts Challenge Blog - Week 286 ~ No design papers allowed

Fairy Musician

Another new follower to introduce today.  Miranda's lovely blog Bolletje Lucky is translated into English, so pay her a visit and see her lovely designs.

The latest addition of the Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine has a fabulous set of fairy stamps as the free gift.  I used one on a stepper card for a friend's birthday tomorrow.

As it's a silhouette stamp, I kept to the theme of red, white and black, one of my favourite colour schemes.  I added a couple of red pearls to the stamped image to give it a bit of details.  Red, white and black snippets used today so off  to play in Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 152.

I would also like to enter the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps Challenge #92 ~ Lots of Layers
Penny Black and More Challenge ~ Anything Goes
Loves Rubber Stamps Challenge 127 ~ Things with Wings

Embossed Butterfly

Another butterfly card, this time a CAS one for my sister-in-law.

 The die I used for the panel down the side is a new one I bought at the NEC this month - I do like having a birthday in November, with birthday money to spend at the NEC!  It's a Memory Box die - 'Piestra Tile'.  The butterfly was punched out twice, then embossed before layering it to make it look 3D.  I used little black pearls for the body.  

I would like to enter the following challenges:

Country View Crafts' Challenge Blog ~ Bugs, Bees and Butterflies
Allsorts Challenge Blog - Week 286 ~ No design papers allowed

I'll be popping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground when the gates open tomorrow, as I used red snippets on my card.

Paper Pieced Butterfly

The challenge on the Butterfly Challenge Blog this week is 'Paper Pieced Butterflies'.  After looking through all my butterfly stamps and punches, I decided to use the lovely Lavinia 'Zen Butterfly' stamp.

I first stamped the image on a snippet of white card, then again on two contrasting oddments of Papermania patterned paper.  I cut out the top wings from one of the patterned pieces and the bottom wings from the other.  I then attached them over the original stamped image.  The body was coloured in with a purple Wink of Stella Glitter pen.  I found a VERY old butterfly corner punch, which I used for the purple piece of card. It pays sometimes to tidy my craft room, as I discover things I'd forgotten about!  The matted image was attached with foam pads,  as it made the corner butterflies stand out.  The dainty embossed background is one of my favourites.

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

Butterfly Challenge # 19 ~ Paper Pieced Butterflies

Country View Crafts' Challenge Blog ~ Bugs, Bees and Butterflies

Loves Rubber Stamps Challenge 127 ~ Things with Wings

I'll be popping over to Pixie's Snippets Playground when the gates open tomorrow, as I used lots of snippets on my card.

Snow and Sparkle

The Lavinia Stamps challenge this month is 'Snow and Sparkle', so I thought I'd try to creating a snowy background for the Lavinia 'Star Gazing' stamp.

After a couple of false attempts at using a mask with the ink to create the snow drifts, I finally worked out the best way to do it.  I made a mask by cutting a piece of acetate, as I find it easier to use than paper.  Little white pearls were added to the scene for the falling snow.  I used two Spellbinders Arched Window dies to make the window frame.  Star Dust Stickles were added to the centre of all the snow flakes on the patterned paper to give them a bit of sparkle, before finishing off with punched silver holographic snowflakes.

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

Lavinia Stamps Challenge #11 ~ Snow and Sparkle 
Stamping Sensations November Challenge ~ Christmas
Lisa B Designs Monthly Challenge ~ Christmas Sparkle
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 151 ~ Used silver snippets
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge ~ To the Moon
Divas by Design ~ Let It Snow

Christmas Kittens

I'm getting there with my Christmas cards..... 62 made so far.  This is my latest one, a spring fold card, using a cute Little Claire stamp.

The image was coloured in with Promarkers, Cool Grey 1,3,and 5 and Poppy.  I covered the bauble with Glossy Accents which gave it a lovely domed effect, which is hard to see in the photo.  I added clear gems to the punched border at the bottom to give a bit of sparkle.....after all, it is nearly Christmas!

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

Little Claire's Challenge # 51 ~ Shaped Card 
Stamping Sensations November Challenge ~ Christmas
Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 151 ~ Used red snippets
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra ~ Anything Goes 

Hedgehogs

I just had to share the birthday card I received this week from my great nephew.  I thought it was pretty impressive for someone who was only five last month.  What cute hedgehogs!

I even got a hedgehog inside the card!

Craft Fair

What a busy couple of weeks!  I've eventually found time to get back on my blog again. One new follower to introduce this week.  Bonnie of 'Stamping with Klass' makes the most beautiful CAS cards.   

I had a stall at a craft fair since the last time I blogged.  

Not exactly a success, although I was one of a few who just about covered the cost of the table!  A Saturday evening on a cold and wet November evening, in a hall tucked away in a quiet road is not the best time to have booked a stall at a craft fair, I discovered!  Only about fifty people turned up to buy anything.  But hey-ho, I'll know for next time and the £16 I paid to have a stall all went to charity, so that was okay.  My daughter has a charity place in the London Marathon next year and needs to raise £1,400.  The sale of all my cards etc will be going towards this total, so the £1 I took, after paying for the stall, is the start of my fundraising to support her.  £1,399 to go! I'm looking out for a few more local craft fairs where I hope I'll have more success.  The day after the craft fair I went to the NEC in Birmingham with a couple of friends for the Hobbycraft Show.  There were so many crafty things to tempt us with..........and we lost all our will power to only buy things on our wish list!

So, onto a couple of cards made this week, a Get Well Soon card and a Sympathy card, both for men.

I usually make my own stepper cards, but this card was done with a stepper card die, which is great for making a fairly quick card. It even cuts out the patterned paper to decorate it.  The patterned paper was left over from a previous card and I used a snippet of white card for the scalloped oval, so I'm off to play at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 151.

I made this design of card recently with a white base card, but the effect looks so different using black.  

Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Firstly, I have another new follower.  I especially love the cute images Janice uses on some of her cards.  So go over to 'Stamping Mad' to see her lovely creations. 

I decided I need to keep going with my Christmas cards, as well as making other cards, so this is my next design for this year.

I've stamped and coloured twenty of these Rudolph images, so just nineteen cards still to make of this design!  The stamp is an old Anita's one and I've coloured the image with Promarkers and a red Sakura Stardust pen to add a bit of sparkle to the decorations hanging from the antlers.  When Rudolph was coloured, he had a black nose from the stamp.  I decided I really needed to give him a shiny red nose.  The only way I could work out how to do this so it looked okay, was to cut an oval using a snippet of red holographic card. The patterned paper is from a Christmas paper stack I bought at the NEC Hobbycraft show last year.  From memory, it was just £1 - bargain!  I hope they've got some good bargains next weekend, when I visit!  Card Candi finished off my design.

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 149 
Stamping Sensations ~ Simply Christmas
Little Claire's Challenge #50 ~ Christmas Theme
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge #201 ~ Sparkle

Happy Birthday

It's now three months since I worked out how to add a followers button.  I just want to say thank you to everyone who has become one of my followers, I'm now up to thirty two! Thank you for all the lovely comments made about my cards.  They really are appreciated.  I thought I'd start introducing my followers from now on, so you have a link to all their lovely creations.  My latest follower is Pam, who makes the most amazing cards, so please pop over to her blog, Pamscraft, to see her beautiful designs.

I wanted to take a particular Happy Birthday die with me on holiday last week, but after searching high and low I couldn't find it.  It wasn't in the box where I keep all my dies, but as I hadn't had a chance use it, I was beginning to think I hadn't actually bought it!  So I took my similar Merry Christmas die away instead and made a batch of Christmas cards like this one HERE. After discovering the receipt for the Happy Birthday die yesterday, I knew it had to be somewhere.  Eventually I found it yesterday evening and started mass producing some cards, all slightly different, for my craft stall next weekend.  Here is a selection of the ones I finished off this morning.

The football is a peeloff, put onto stiff card, cut out and attached with foam pads. 

 I used  patterned paper for this one, punched out two flowers and double layered them, then attached a brad for the centre.

The penguin was made using my Stampin' Up owl punch.

Here is the Stampin' Up owl again - in its natural state! I backed the word 'birthday' with plain dark green paper to make it stand out.

Although I used snippets on all these cards, the owl card is my favourite card on this post, so I'm going to share it in Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 149

 Here's that little Stampin' Up owl again, this time turned into a Minion.

Finally, a simple punched butterfly as an embellishment, decorated with tiny pearls.

I would like to enter my butterfly card for the challenge over at Country View Crafts where the theme is 'Bugs, Bees and Butterflies'.

I love this Memory Box die as it is so versatile, especially for making a quick card.  Apart from the card blanks, everything was made with snippets, another good reason to use this lovely die.

Anchors Aweigh!

I've got a stall at a charity craft fair next week, so I thought I'd better start making a few more cards particularly suitable for men. I thought this embossing folder and anchor punch would look good together, so this is the card I came up with.  

T

The embossing folder I used was a Cuttlebug one, 'Anchors Aweigh'.  

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

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 148 ~ Used black snippets

Embossed butterfly

The Butterfly Challenge #17  is 'Emboss Your Butterfly' so, as I need to make a birthday card for a friend's birthday next week, I decided to make her a butterfly card.

The background was embossed with a Swiss Dot embossing folder.  I made a silver frame using Nestabilities and attached it over a circle of white card, using foam pads.   The large butterfly was cut out with a Spellbinders die I bought years ago, which I really love.  It cuts out two butterflies at the same time, both embossed and one with holes.  I cut the butterflies out in dark blue and silver and attached the silver one behind the blue one.  I also now have a butterfly the opposite way round to use on another project.  I hope this makes sense - it sounds a big confusing reading it back! The butterfly is also attached using foam pads to make it stand out.  The little white butterflies were cut out with a Sizzix die which cuts and embosses at the same time - if you look carefully, you might see the embossing! I keep forgetting how difficult it is to photograph mirror card.  The silver shines through the holes in the butterfly beautifully, but looks a bit dark in the photo.  

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

Butterfly Challenge #17 ~ Emboss your butterfly

Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 148 ~ Used silver and white snippets

Christmas

I arrived home yesterday from not so sunny Devon.  Our little caravan is now packed away for the winter and will be kept warm in a barn until next Easter.  There was not much room in the car this time to take the usual amount of craft stuff (in case of bad weather), but I managed to make thirty four more Christmas cards, with another ten partly done.  The card below is one of the ones I finished off today.

A quick and easy one, using up some snippets of Christmas papers.  As the left hand side has Christmas words on, I decided the card didn't need a Christmas greeting.  The holly punch is one I picked up at a car boot sale for a bargain price! I do like a bargain!

Off to share my card over at Pixie's Snippets Playground - Week 148  then I need to make a birthday card for a friend.  I have an idea in my head for a butterfly card, so if it works out, I'll pop over to the Butterfly Challenge.