Christmas cards made quickly

 Hi there.  Thanks for stopping by.   Yesterday (Friday 28th) my friend Suna came over to have a play date with me!   She came after lunch but I started my crafting earlier in the morning after I'd done my housework.   I managed to make 7 cards!   

But today I have 4 quick Christmas cards - inspired by this video from Sophia Laframbois.  It uses two sheets of single sided patterned paper to get two cards, so I used four sheets of paper from Sugar & Spice Studio Nostalgic Christmas and made 4 cards.   I made these last weekend, but had a busy week and didn't get to share. 

I cut the PP into 4" x 51/4" and cut them diagonally both ways.   Then alternate the pieces.   I used some copy paper to add the pieces together then trimmed to 3 3/4" x 5" panels and matted with some red card.   All the sentiment are from a Kaisercraft set Christmas Quotes (had this for nearly 15 years)  Used circles from Gina K Master Layouts 3 and the rectangle is Spellbinders Hemstitch rectangles.  Matted them onto the red card.   Used some die cut Pinkfresh Studio Curvy Leaves and  Altenew Bitty Branches.  

I'll share all the other cards over the next few days.  Tomorrow is the end of November so have my DT card for Die Cut Divas.

Christmas Kickstart Challenge - Just Add Antlers!

 I'm still not well and after a very busy weekend, today I was shattered and still coughing so another day at home.  I did two half days - Monday and Wednesday and had Tuesday and Thursday sick.  Went to the doctors on Thursday - Chest infection and bronchial asthma - so antibiotics and taking time off.  

I rested up today and spent some time in my craft space this afternoon.  I had sorted some digital images over the weekend and two day I printed two old Bugaboo images to enter into the challenge at Christmas Kickstart Challenge.

 

First one used a favourite Christmas image - Puppy Reindeer.   I've used over the years since 2014.

Isn't it gorgeous!  The sentiment was part of the digital images.  I printed and used Spectrum Noir Tri-blends to colour.  Added little bits of Gelly Roll Sparkle clear pen to the bells and on his hat, the stars, the ground.  I masked off the edges and used a Blue Grey maker to add a faux matting layer.   Added some silver die cut sequins. 

My next card also uses a Bugaboo image from 2016.

A cute as reindeer.   Again used the Spectrum Noir Tri-blends to colour.  Added a Kaisercraft sentiment.  A little of the Gelly Roll Sparkle Clear pen on the starts and the Christmas baubles.  

I went to photograph the cards and for the live of me, I couldn't find the first card anywhere.   I honestly couldn't find it at all, then remembered I had cut and folded some card bases and put them in a folder.  Yep, sure enough there it was amongst the bases.    

Hopefully off to work tomorrow. 

Red for Remembrance at Sweet Stampin' Challenge.

 Time to share my card for Sweet Stampin' Challenge.  Our theme this fortnight is Red for Remembrance.   We'd love to see you join us with your RED projects. 

I did a bit of mixed media for my background.   I'm enjoying trying out this technique at the moment. 

My background is some linen like cardstock and I did ink smooshing, and stenciling with some Altenew Coral Bliss ink, some stamping and stenciling using Altenew Cloudy Night and Silver Lake.  Used two different Kaisercraft inks.   Added some little bits of a napkin and added some stenciling with Nuvo Shimmer Paste for some texture.  For my flowers I used two dies... the flowerheads are Altenew Petite Mountain Aven Layering dies cut from red card and the stems from Birch Press Peony Duo Contour layers cut from green card.  I added some Altenew dark purple ink for the flowers shadow areas.   I added the flowers to the card and added a pre-printed sentiment.  Finished with some gold splatters of watered down Slippery when Wet Lunar paste.  

Clean and Simple Birthday card.

 It's one of my colleagues birthday today so I made a card for her.  Inspired by a video I watched by Christine Stokes on YouTube (you can watch it here)   I loved the idea she used to make her butterfly from printed paper using a background from PNGwing.   I have a few backgrounds in my saved files... so printed off one of them onto some off white cardstock and away I went....

Christine often makes square cards, so that's what I did today.   I cut my card base at 5" square, next layer was 4.5" and the main panel 4" - I used a Kaisercraft stamp - Botanical to partially stamp on the background.  I used Altenew's Petite Mountain Aven die to cut the paper I printed.  Love how all the different colours look on the flower and leaves.  Add the sentiment from Altenew Label Love set.  Added some little pinky handmade enamel dots and some glossy accents on the flower centre.  

Card Maker Success Summit - Inspired by Nicki Baxley

 Well the best made plans of mice and men..... My idea to watch more sessions last night were scuttled by the internet doing down last night-  No wifi in the house and no service from the local cell tower... so I had to wait till today to re-watch Nicki Baxley's Easel card session and have a go.   It was a labour of love... made a few mistakes and had to redo my embossed panels a couple of times...but in the end made it!

Nicki's Easel card is a bit different from how I've done them before, but turned out awesome.  Looks like a normal card till it's opened.    I liked her use of green and red card I went with the same colour scheme.  I took an Altenew embossing folder - Beautiful Begonia for my background.   I added some Altenew Vineyard Berry and Berrylicious inks to the edges.  My floral focus is a Hero Arts Vintage Poinsettia stamp and it's matching die. I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black ink and clear embossed.  I used an idea I saw on a video by Jo Simmons, made my own stencils for adding some ink blending.  Stamped it twice and cut out the whole image and then just the cut out the flower part.  Used that as a mask to ink up the leaves and then used the second negative piece to ink blend the flower before die cutting out the coloured image.  Added some gold pen around the edge and added some Zig Glue and added some gold foil in the centre of the poinsettia.  The stopper is made with a Joy die from Chloes Creative Cards - a freebie from a magazine. I added a little sub-sentiment  from a Kaisercraft stamp set. 

As I used a Woodblock stamp for this card, I'm entering it into the Woodblock Wednesday Challenge...

Will be working on more of the sessions over the next few weeks.  Slowly building up the Christmas cards.  

Christmas in July - Fun Fold card.

 I saw a neat fun fold card over at Splitcoaststampers a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to trying it out.   It's called Puzzle Panel Gate Fold    and it's nice and easy to do.  

I decided to make a Christmas card using some pretty Kaisercraft patterned paper.   

Here is the card standing up.  I found the paper when I did my reorganising the craft room... and thought it was perfect for this fun fold.  The base was made with a very dark green cardstock.   I stamped the sentiment for the outside and inside with Altenew Mountain Pine ink.   Both are from a free stamp set from a magazine - a very old one.   

Here it is showing the inside sentiment.   

I'm sure I'll be using this fun fold again as it looks awesome.

Positively Poinsettias

 Second post today - see my Sweet Stampin' Challenge post - HERE

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I've been having a ball the last few days, getting back into my craft room and having a good old play!

I have made around 6 cards in the last week... but today I'm sharing my entry into the Christmas Kickstart Challenge - Positively Poinsettias

I was looking through my stencils for another card and saw my Waffle Flower Layering Poinsettia Duo and decided it was time to make a start on my Christmas cards.  First for 2025! 

Using this stencil certainly makes a quick card. I started with white card and the first stencil - the leaves, dots, stars etc.  I used some Altenew Fresh Dye ink - Eucalyptus.  I added some Lunar Paste (Slippy when wet) with my finger over the stars.  Once it dried, I added the second stencil and Altenew's Burnt Red ink for the flowers. I used the scalloped die from Gina K Master Layout 4 and added to a white cards base.  I stamped a sentiment from Kaisercraft - Christmas Quotes stamp set and die cut with a circle die from Gina K Master Layout 4 and its matting layer in red card.   Added a few little die cut stars.   

Dancing Ballerina

 It's the last day of the month and I'm sharing my card for Die Cut Divas.   We have no sponsor this month, but Whimsy Stamps are giving us a $15 voucher for our winner. 

The challenge this month is to use something NEW!  

I only have a few Whimsy stamps... so when I found they have digital stamps I just had to buy some. 

Here's the card I made using Ballerina image. 

It's such a lovely image.  I printed it and used Alcohol markers to colour her in before fussy cutting her.  I have been following Penny Black's New Year Sketches and used this day 2 sketch - using a large frame I cut from two dies from a Spellbinders set.  I ink blended the background in a couple of Altenew purple inks and added some paint pen dots to the top half of the panel.  I then took a Kaisercraft sentiment - stamped the first two lines on the front and the rest on the inside...  I added my ballerina with some dimensional tape in the middle and glued to the edges.  

Our monthly challenge ends at 9.00pm US Pacific Time 

Craft Roulette #211

I've missed a few weeks entering into the Craft Roulette.  Sunday,  I watched the replay of Episode 211.  An interesting set of parameters -

 

I went CAS with this card.  The greeting is Good Tidings for the recipient - summery sunshine, blue skies and green grass colours, the bike is mechanical and the little bow ties the bouquet of summer flowers together.   The bike is a Kaisercraft stamp and die set called Smile.  I found the little flowers in my stash - think they are from a Spellbinders set.  The sentiment is a Wordie pre printed sentiment. 

The bike stamp and die is being used for the first time, so I'm entering my card into Darnell's NBUS challenge. 

Stress Free Cardmaking Summit -Part 2

 Hi there... I'm back to share three more cards I've made this week inspired by more of the presentations I've watched from the Stress Free Cardmaking Summit...  so a warning that this post is long!

First up I was inspired by Mary Polanco - I actually made two for this one... but simply did not like the first one.... The blues were too green and I found I don't have a medium sized snowflake stamp!  I tried to make on with some fun foam and a die... but my fun foam was too thin and the die too intricate - so that panel ended up in the bin... so back to the drawing board - or should I say the painting board!

For this one, I took some Fabrico Mixed Media paper and masked around the edge.  My first attempt used Catherine Pooler inks to paint, this time I used some Distress Oxides in blues... one little corner seeped under the mask - but that was ok.   I took the snowflake die (a freebie from a magazine) and some silvery shimmery paper and die cut three snowflakes.  I used Altenew's Charcoal Suit grey ink to stamp the Waffle Flower sentiment.   Added some Stampendous Dot Sparkles in silver.  They really are iridescent.  This time my heart was singing.  It was just how I wanted it to look!

Card two was inspired by the presentation by Jess Crafts - her sessions was all about take 12x12 papers and cut them up to make 6 cards.   Well I don't have many Christmas 12x12 papers but do have some 6x6 ones.  So I did just one card - but have enough stripes for at least one more card.  The papers she used had some pages of toppers - I found a topper in my stash... not sure where it came from but I put it to use. 

A nice and quick card to put together as I had cut up my 6x6 at the time I watched the presentation and put it together this afternoon.  Added some Wink of Stella shimmer pen to his hat and finished with some Altenew red enamel dots.  This design will be used a few more times I'm sure - I think I'll make some topper with my stamps, stencils etc. 

And the final one for today - inspired Crafty Al.  Her presentation was all about using Ephemera to make a quick card - using a lovely design.  I found a pack of Christmas ephemera by Kaisercraft - got it when I bought a kit from Uniquely Creative in Australia 2 years ago.  I hadn't even opened it!  And I have two more packs of Nature and Floral ephemera so will be trying out the design and the stepped up versions that Crafty Al provided as an add on to her presentation.   Today's card was the basic design,

The main design element was the soft ink blending behind the ephemera and sentiment.  I used Altenew Firefly green ink for my glow behind the cute Nutcracker which I added with dimensional tape.  Al used small printed sentiments, I decided to stamp a sentiment directly to the card panel.   I used a gold shimmer pen to add some splatter.  

Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate if you made it all the way through.   It's World Card Making Day tomorrow - my time so for me - it's like WCMD weekend as I love trying out some of the challenge in the US - which will be my Sunday!

Just Add Ink - Choose Two!

 I decided I wanted to entry the latest challenge at Just Add Ink - Challenge #653 - Choose Two 

For my card I actually did all three... but mainly Banner and Baby.

I started by choosing some pretty pink gingham paper.   I found a Kaisercraft stamp with the banner so stamped it directly onto the paper and used alcohol markers to add some colour.   I stamped the Mama and baby elephant (Uniquely Creative)  and coloured with my Tri-blends.  I used a Gina K Master Layout oval and it's matching frame.  I found a freebie stamp set that had some baby sentiments.  Not sure where it came.  In fact I can't even remember getting it.  

This one will most probably be for my son and daughter in law as they are expecting a girl - within the next 6-8 weeks.  

A few more Christmas cards

 Over the weekend, I manage on Saturday to get three quick Christmas cards done.  Both very CAS

This one used two different Kaisercraft stamp sets.   I clear embossed the presents and used my new Tri-blend pens.  I die cut the panel with Gina K Master Layouts 2.

Another Kaisercraft stamp set.  Using some Catherine Pooler inks to stamp the banners and the holly.  The holly was coloured with the Tri-blends.  I matted with some gold matt card and onto a dark green card base.  

And finally

This one using a sweet stamp from Montarga (a NZ company)  I used a smaller Master Layout die and some scrap green woodgrain paper.  This was left over from making a origami Christmas tree.  I only used an 8" square for the tree so had a few cutover bits that were perfect for a card layer.  

Sunday was spent playing in my craft room with Princess Grace.   I introduced her to Colour Burst/Nuvo shimmer powders.   Magic as she said... She loved tapping the powders on and then watching the magic happen as she spritzed the card.   She loves inking and stamping - she is so serious when she is making her "cards"  We certainly had fun with her.   She's like the Energizer Bunny... just keeps going and going.  I was very tired when Mummy and Daddy picked her.  

OCC Spring Card Camp 2022 - Day 5 & 6

 

I'm back working this week, albeit working from home... but that means less time to spend crafting.   I'm getting a little behind in my homework... but made harder because each day there are lots of different techniques and ideas and I really want to try them all....

Day 5 - Stamped Wreaths.  Our tutors for this day were Laura Bassen and Daniel West.   Laura did a stamped wreath by using some fine lines to help placement of the stamps and Daniel did a reverse masked circle to stamp around for his wreath - and some embossed resist.   Both tutors made gorgeous cards.    I was inspired by Laura - but to make things easier for me, I used my Gina K Wreath stencil.  

A very CAS wreath using some Catherine Pooler "Tilly's Garden" stamps and CP inks.  The sentiment is from a Gina K stamp set.   A few little coloured gems finished the card. 

Day 6 was all about colour blocking... out tutors were Keisha Charles and Lea Lawson.   Keisha gave us ideas about using dies to colour block and Lea did some different type of colour blocking with hot foil and stencils.  I used some scraps to do my colour blocking - using  two panels I made in Day 1 that my stamping got messed up on.   

I took the darker and lighter panels and cut them up into two inch squares. Then layered them my card base.  I trimmed it down and then dry embossed then with a dots and spots folder.  I swinked some Delicata Gold ink across the top.  Added a big sentiment panel - a Kaisercraft sentiment cut with a Spellbinders die.  A few sequins to finish and it was done. 

I'm entering this second card into the Let's Squash It Challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by.

OCC Spring Card Camp 2022 - Day 3 & 4

Note: Photo heavy post 

Hi there.   After feeling really blah on Friday - and not doing anything other than watching my class videos, I had a better day on Saturday and got a lot of backgrounds made with the techniques.  And today, was feeling even better so got 4 cards made...

Day 3 - 2 for 1 inked backgrounds.   Our tutors were Kristina Werner and Jenny Colacicco.  Kristina showed us techniques using a Gel Plate or even stamps and Jenny did a stencil technique using watercolour paper with ink and water.   I didn't get get around to doing any of Jenny's techniques so my first three cards are using Kristina's technique with the Gel Press. 

Kristina used a 6" round gel plate - I used a rectangle plate but liked the look of a circle so cut out a circle from card to make a mask.  I only have a few Distress Oxide inks - mainly in soft colours so had a go.  First go used some Wilted Violet DO and Broken China.  I used a Memory Box stencil (Raymelle) and added a layer with a touch of Worn Lipstick.  I got a bit of ink where I didn't want it... so trimmed the panel down and added a lilac card backing and some purple metallic washi.  Kristina did a bit of faux stitching on her cards so I tried it too.  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft and I die cut some little hearts from different die sets..

I tried again with some more of the Worn Lipstick and Wilted Violet.  

I did added some of the blue ink as well.  For this one, I trimmed the panel down and added a frame I had in my "stuff to be used" bowls.  I added two layers of thin stripes of card for dimension. I did the same for the sentiment... it's the centre of Altenew's Circled Greetings - hello.  Just cut out the sentiment bit.  Added a sub-sentiment from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Hello set.   Finished with a few pearls.

My third cards is the Twofer bit of the above ones...  As I was using the brayer to add the ink to the gel plate, I brayer-ed the extra ink onto a card to get some lovely interesting patterns. This is what I made with that panel 

I trimmed the panel down and using Altenew's Antique Silver powder, embossed the Woodware set - Floral Wonder by Jane Gill.  I added a sentiment from the LDRS set.  The panel was matted onto Lilac card and then onto a dark grey card base. I added some pink sequins to finish.  This one was hard to photograph.

Day 4 -  Embossed resist with a Twist.   Heather Hoffman and Mindy Egan were the tutors and had two awesome techniques.  Heather used embossing and then used a layering stencil to to the resist.  I still have to try this one.  Got a new Altenew layering stencil this week so it's on my to make list!  Mindy's twist used embossed background and a Gel Plate and Shimmer powders.   So I pulled out an older Hero Arts background stamp and some Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders.  

The background stamp is Flower Medley (circa 2012)   I stamped in Hero Arts Unicorn ink and embossed with white powder.  I then used the Gel Plate with Aqua Lagoon, Purple Violet, Candy Pink and Peacock Green powders.  I spritzed the powers and the card and pressed it onto the plate.   The colours diluted a bit more than I thought they would, but love the soft look I obtained.  I was inspired by a Jennifer McGuire video for the card design.  I used Gina K ML 4 flag - modified to increase the length.  The sentiment is from Kaisercraft - Best Friend set.   The butterfly is 2 layers I had in my little bowls. 

Thanks for getting this far.  I'm back to working tomorrow - but will still work from home as I'm still coughing.   I have to stay isolating till I'm symptom free for 24 hrs.  All in all, I got off quite lightly... so pays to be fully vaccinated and boosted.    

Christmas Kickstart #59 - Let the Sentiment take centre stage!

 Hi there....we've been feeling the effects of Cyclone Dovi in the past day or so.... high winds and humid weather.  This morning we lost power for two hours.  Luckily hubby had just boiled the kettle so I got my cup of tea in bed - had to have cereal instead of my usual toast.    But it did mean I spent some time in my craft room today.  

I'm a little behind in doing the Gentleman Crafter's sketch challenges.  But I'm printing them out for when I need a little inspiration.   Which is what I did this afternoon.  

I used this sketch as a basis for a Christmas card.  

I always amend the sketch to make a 4.25" x 5.5" card as that is the size I prefer to make.  The sentiment (from a Kaisercraft set) was my starting point.  The grabbed a Christmas paper pack and sorted through it to get some papers that went well together.  

I'm adding this to this month's challenge at Christmas Kickstart #59 Let the Sentiment take centre stage!

Omicron has taken hold here in NZ now... Today's cases 810 up from 454 yesterday and 373 the day before.  Getting a bit scary now.   Stay safe out there people

Baby cards

One of my friends asked me to make a baby card for the son of another friend.  He and his partner had a little girl a little while ago.   So I made two cards for her to chose from. 

First card (the one she chose)

I saw a sketch on the web that I used for the base of my card.  It had a circle which I changed to an oval.  I used Gina K Master Layouts 1 to cut the oval and layer.  I stmaped the Elephants from Uniquely Creative's Hey Mama set onto some watercolour paper and used Altenew's Woodless watercolour pencils to add the colour.  I used the matching dies to cut Mama and Baba out.  The gingham paper was added to a pink punched edging.  I stamped the Kaisercraft sentiment directly onto the gingham piece.  A few pink enamal dots finished off my card. 

Second card.

For this card I started with sweet Patterned paper.  I then cut the circle and scallopped circle from Spellbinders.  My little bear is from Docrafts -Mini Thinking of You.  I use Uniti alcohol pens to colour my bear and then took a nubbly rag and some of the colourless blender to give the texture of fur.   I fussy cut it out and added to the layered circle.  I stamped the Kaisercraft sentiments directly over the patterned paper.  

Thanks for stopping by today.  I had my first COVID immunisation yesterday.  The jab site is a little tender but other than that, I'm feeling good. 

WWC314 - Dawn's Challenge: All About Occasions

 Hi there.  Time for a new challenge at Watercooler Wednesday.  I'm the hostess for this challenge with an All About Occasions.  

I had fun making this Birthday card.  I made the background by sponging Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide inks onto my white panel.  I then took a Kasiercraft stamp called Botanical and a Delicata 4 metallic ink pad to add the stamp.  I used all 4 of the colours on the ink pad.  I then took the Gorgeous Gardenia Outline die from Memory Box to make the roses.  The pink (Altenew Magenta) was sponged onto some card and added behind the outline.  I messed up the leaves, so had to cut them separately and add to the roses.   I stamped the sentiment from a Hero Arts Hello There stamp and die set. A few gold sequins finished up the card. 

Come and join in the fun at  Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and check out the project from the other designers.  Then take our challenge and link up your project to the challenge post.    We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday 3rd of May at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 11.00 am NZ time ) to link up your project 

Rainbow flowers.

 I struggled with this month's challenge at my NZ Swap group - Rainbows.   I finally came up with a very CAS idea. 

I used a Stampin' Up punch to cut a rainbow of flowers.  I do have a match stamp somewhere in my stash - but I couldn't find it.  Need to do a tidy up for sure!.  I decided to add the pearl centres for some texture.   I used a Kaisercarft sentiment which I really like. 

Thanks for stopping by - the weekend is starting for me and I'm hoping to get some  time in the craft room.  Hope you all have a great weekend 

WWC #311 Kath's Challenge - All Things Feminine.

 Hi there.  Well we've had a bit of a change up at Watercooler Wednesday Challenge blog.  We will now be running a fortnightly challenge.   More time for you to join us with your lovely creations... 

We've updated our challenge titles too.... still the same but a bit less of a mouthful.... so onto Kath's challenge - All Things Feminine,

Believe it or not - this flower is a Christmas one.  Yes, it is a corner floral from a freebie Christmas set by Clear Impressions.  I stamped the L-shaped florals around my card and then added little bits of the stamp in the spaces.  The sentiment is from a Kaisercraft set called Way of Life.  I coloured the flowers with some Altenew Woodless Watercolour pencils and some Jasart pencils.  I didn't add any water to the pencils.  Really happy with the results. 

Come and join in the fun at  Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and check out the projects from the other designers.  Then take our challenge and link up your project to the challenge post.    We'd love to have you join us.  You have until Monday 22nd of March at 5 pm Mountain Standard Time (Tuesday at 12.00 noon NZ time) to link up your project.

 

Shabby Chic/Distressed at Sweet Stampin' Challenge blog.

 Hi there.  Time for a new challenge at Sweet Stampin' challenge.  Our theme is Shabby Chic/Distressed.

My card is similar to one I did a week or so ago.   It is a Sepia looking card. 

I started by taking some watercolour paper and wet it thoroughly.  I then used some Walnut Stain Distress Ink smooshed onto my glass mat and painted it onto the paper.  Once it dried, I took a Kaisercraft set (English Rose) to stamp the roses in Versafine Onxy Black.  I stamped the lace stamp in the Walnut Stain ink, the flourishes in Gathered Twigs DI and also in Versamark and white embossed.  I used the Gathered Twigs to stamp a word stamp from Catherine Pooler - Birds of a Feather.  I stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Classic Beauty set in the Versafine Onxy Black and clear embossed it.  I took a white gel pen and went around the edges on the rose and leaves.  I trimmed the panel with a Gina K die and added to a Kraft card base.  

Do come and join us at Sweet Stampin' for our challenge.