Finishing off Christmas!

Well I am still catching up with posting some of my Christmas makes. These three cards are variations on a similar theme for my three special Craft Stamping Quartet friends Jo, Judith and Lesley.

Firstly the green version for Lesley.



This uses a K & Co backing paper, the Quietfire sentiment embossed in gold, small and large Marianne poinsettia die cuts and some Crealie leaves (courtesy of Judith - thank you!). The flowers are cut out of gold pearl paper, greeny gold pearly vellum and two shades of green card. The flowers on all the cards are finished off with little gems. 

Next the purple version for Judith. This was really difficult to get a good photo of because it is so reflective. The background paper is purple and silver, the flowers are cut from four shades of pearl and metallic purple and lilac card and the sentiment is embossed in silver detail powder on a matt purple background. This card has silver leaves cut with the McGill Pine Bough punch. During the making of this card I managed to break the punch by standing on it!



Last, but not least a blue and burgundy version for Jo. This also uses a K & Co backing paper, including as the background for the sentiment panel which is embossed in Ruby Obsidian Moonglow Powder. The flowers are cut from burgundy velvet paper, a bluey, purple pearl vellum and blue and green card, inked slightly aound the edges. The lovely ribbon is actually a piece Jo bought for me, but it seemed to work so well, so I hope she didn't mind me giving it back to her!

These cards were a bit of a labour of love because each flower layer had to go through the Cuttlebug twice, once to cut and once to emboss, plus the centres had to be cut out, so that that's 60 journeys through the little green machine for each card! I don't mind really though because these lovely girls are definitely worth it!

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone - hope you are enjoying the festive season with you and yours.

Those of you who follow my blog know that I have to move my crafting indoors in the winter because my shed is too chilly. Well my house clearly isn't much better in this very cold weather because this was the scene that greeted me in my temporary craft room this morning!

I am pleased to say it melted very quickly, but it was really pretty while it lasted!!

I cannot take much credit for the card design above. It is almost an exact copy of a card I saw demo'ed at the Excel Centre show way back in February. If I remember correctly it was on the J & C Crafts stand. Thanks for the inspiration anyway which made me buy this set of two wood mounted stamps - an extravagance I rarely get drawn into these days! Not sure of the brand as I have put my Christmas stamps back in my freezing shed! (EDIT The main tree is a Penny Black stamp - Before the Snow and the other is the Creative Expressions Dotty Tree stamp). The tree and snow effect tree work perfectly together. The card was shaded in ink with a mixture of Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass - one of my current favourite colours and Adirondack dye inks in Pool, Stream and a tiny touch of Denim around a moon mask. The trees were inked in Lagoon Versafine and embossed in a Kaleidoscope EP. Branches of the tree stamp were used to frame the design. The sentiment is from the Waltzing Mouse Vintage Christmas set. The snow tree stamp was then added slightly offset over the previously stamped trees and embossed in white EP. Finally I added some little dots of stickles and added some extra Glamour Dust glitter.

Enjoy the rest of your holiday and keep cosy!!

Elaine x

I've finished my Christmas cards!

I started off with such good intentions of keeping on top of making Christmas cards this year. I did actually start on Christmas cards in the summer for Elusive Images Design Team samples, but my own had to be put on hold. The cards in this picture were made in a big batch, with all the components stamped ready to assemble when I went on holiday in France in October. The deer on the red card design is a Papermania stamp - I just love this design. I added the greeting from the same stamp set on a tiny tag, tied on with red paper string. I finished the design off with punched snowflakes and a little red gingham bow. The green design has misteltoe corners, decorated with self adhesive pearls for berries. The sentiment is from the Waltzing Mouse Very Vintage Christmas set, a really useful set of small sentiments and labels, and the flowers are cut with a small Marianne poinsettia die.

The next card was a birthday card for my brother. I wanted to use the lovely Quietfire Walt Whitman quote stamp again and masked a sun and inked a shaded background before adding stamping. The birds are from a Tim Holtz set. the vine, from Lavinia and the plants are from Crafty Individuals

I really enjoyed making these cards, although they are quiet different in their approach, the second card is closer to my preferred style.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well and you get some time for some creative escape.

Elaine

My first exploding box!

Earlier this month it was my crafty friend Judith's birthday. I wanted to make something special for her as she had been feeling really poorly with a horrible virus. I decided to have a go at making my first ever exploding box card. I have been really inspired by the work of another Elaine on her Magic Boxes blog and in particular, this amazing Indian inspired box which was commissioned by a chap for his wife - lucky girl.

I started with this lovely Persian Shrine stamp from Lost Coast, available from Happy Daze. I embossed the arch in fine silver EP and then cut out the shape and inked panels to go underneath in my favourite Adirondack dye inks over little stars stamped with a Lavinia stamp embossed in clear EP and a Viva clear flourish stamped in archival black ink. I mounted these panels on dark blue and turquoise card layers.  

I made a lid from more blue card and decorated it with the beautiful Elusive Images Indian Flower mandala stamp, glittered in shades of blue, with self adhesive jewels added. I decorated the edges of the box with glitter card and a phrase from the gorgeous set of abbey stamps CI 286 from Crafty Individuals, embossed again in silver.

I decorated the inside of the box with panels stamped with a tree stamp CI 209 from Crafty Individuals,  this gorgeous vine leaf and tiny slender mushroom stamps from Lavinia. Once again I shaded with the Adirondack dye inks in various shades of blue applied with Cut 'n' Dry foam. The central panel was stamped with the vine stamp, decorated with dark blue fabric flowers, with an oval panel with the delight stamp which is from a Hero Arts set. I added a couple of little stamped dragonflies whose wings had been painted with Opal Dust paint.

As always I love this kind of inking, building up the depth of colour and getting a sort of glow in the centre of the panels. I have to say it took me ages to put this together, but I was quite pleased with the end result and felt it had been worth the effort.

Last but not least, if you haven't already seen it, do pop over to the blog of the very talented Lynn Brown of LB Crafts where she has a very generous Tim Holtz giveaway going on until the New Year - someone is going to be a very happy bunny!

Elaine

A White Christmas

I saw a beautiful all white card on the blog of the very talented Christine Dark . I have seen Christine demonstrate a number of times at the brilliant Craft Barn Extravaganzas. She is a truly talented crafter, her skills in watercolouring with Distress Inks are awesome. Anyway, I loved Christine's white card immediately and wanted to try and do a version for rmyself. I did think my version is a rather pale imitation of Christine's perfect card, then I wondered if it is possible to make a pale imitation of an all white card anyway? !

I don't have any large Cuttlebug embossing folders, so I made four square panels using the Divine Swirls folder. I used this gorgeous sentiment which is one of my new stamps from Quietfire. I embossed the sentiment onto another circle of white card in silver detail powder. I love the crispness of this stamp. I still can't get over my childlike wonder at the magic of the embossing appearing this beautifully from under the heat gun!

I made a wreath of snowflakes using a set of Marianne dies, stuck it all together with silicone glue and added some self adhesive gems and pearls.

Not sure who is going to get this card yet, but overall I am pleased with it and loved making it more for pleasure than pressure which is unusual at this time of year.

Hope you are keeping up with your own festive crafting!

Elaine

Feeling seasonal!

Well the snow has finally reached the south of England. Here is one of our squirrels running through it to get to the feeding table. I wish I could put a video on of the way they are bouncing, it is hilarious!!

I have had quite a few cards to make lately. Last week I received an order from a Canadian company Quietfire Design. I have been wanting some of Suzanne's beautiful calligraphy stamps for some time and finally got around to ordering them. It was my Mum's birthday this week and I made a card using this beautiful quote from Walt Whitman on a nestie shape edged with Caramel Adirondack dye ink and Vintage photo Distress Ink and a couple of copper brads. I mounted it onto a piece of Masterboard stamping I did ages ago. I used a whole A2 sheet of brown card from Paperchase and overstamped with leaves in brown and gold. I sprayed the whole thing with Autumn Leaves glimmer mist it has been so useful for several cards. I must try and get some more of that card when I am in London next week as it is a perfect colour for this kind of work. For this card I added some copper embossed leaves which used the same stamp, painted with H2O paints and a piece of brown ribbon.  



We have definitely left autumn behind now though! I am off to make a pot of veggie stew and dumplings later!

Whatever you are doing keep warm!

Elaine