2016 Christmas cards - Day 25 - Decoupage Christmas dinner

The last card this year is a decoupage card from a set from a magazine. I cut around the Christmas dinner image and layered it up with foam tape.

For the background I folded some patterned paper and stuck it to gold card then attached it to the card front. I added the image and a sentiment on foam tape.

Have a very merry Christmas!

2016 Christmas cards - Day 24 - Silver gift tag

I have no idea where this silver card came from, but when I found it I knew it would make a great embellishment for a Christmas card. I kept things simple and added a cat from one of my Newton's Nook sets, a silver ribbon at the top to make a tag, and a silver dashed line around the tag.

This card was made in a hurry, but it I was doing it again I would layer up the background and add some snowflakes I think.

2016 Christmas cards - Day 23 - Wooden bauble

I bought a pack of Christmas coloured (red, cream and green) doilies from The Works and wanted an excuse to use them on a card. This wooden bauble embellishment was from a pack I also got from The Works. I liked the way it looked against the red doily, so I chose a cream and red colour scheme for the card.

I stuck cream and red dotty paper on the card front and then cut a cream doily into quarters. I put a quarter in opposite corners and tied red glitter thread around the card. I put the red doily on top and fixed the wooden bauble on top to finish.

I didn't use any dimensional tape on this card because the bauble already added some dimension, and I wanted the card to be able to be posted as a standard letter. (In the UK you have to pay more for postage if the letter is more than 5mm thick.)

2016 Christmas cards - Day 22 - Golden manger

These cards are quick and easy to make.

I stamped several of the In The Manger stamp and coloured them with Copics, then mounted them on white doilies and layered the image on a strip of gold card on the card base.

Quick, simple and very effective :)

2016 Christmas cards - Day 21 - Snowy baby

I'm showing you a selection of cards today, all using the same stamp from Penny Black. The image is a gorgeous picture of a baby playing in the snow.

For the first card I made a simple shaker with sequins and wrapped ribbon around the bottom of the panel before attaching it to the front of the card.

For the second card I put red and white snowflake paper on the card base, then coloured the image and fussy cut it, and attached it straight to the card.

The third image was stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with watercolour pencils, then I rounded the corners and added satin ribbon on one side before mounting it on the card base.

   

2016 Christmas cards - Day 20 - Stockings

These cards are very simple to make. I cut a curved shape in one piece of background paper and layered it up with a second piece to make the background.

The stockings were a set from The Works and have little loops on top. I threaded a piece of baker's twine through the loops and tied it around the card front. I stuck the stockings to the card with foam tape to give it a bit of dimension.

I added a gold sticker sentiment and dots of gold 3D paint to finish.

2016 Christmas cards - Day 19 - Snowy cat shaker card

Another shaker card today, using a Newton's Nook stamp.

I stamped the cat on card, coloured it with Copics and fussy cut it out. I cut a panel of white card and coloured that in a gradient to be the background for the shaker.

For the shaker itself I kept it simple, cutting a circle out of white card, attaching a piece of acetate and a layer of foam tape, then putting in sequins and attaching the back panel.

To assemble it all I attached the panel to the card base, having it as a top folding card, then sticking the cat at the bottom corner and adding a sentiment banner at the top.

2016 Christmas cards - Day 18 - Cat in a box

Today's card is another very simple one. I stamped the image and coloured it with Copic markers, added the sentiment and stuck on a few sequins to highlight the greeting. The markers bled through the card so I added a plain piece of white card inside to cover the bleed-through.

Supplies:

• Newton's Nook Holiday Cuddles stamp set
• Copic markers
• Black ink
• Sequins 
• PVA glue

2016 Christmas cards - Day 17 - Wooden star

A very simple bauble card today. I started by covering the card base in two different papers. I decided where the wooden star would go and poked a hole in the card at the top of the star. I threaded red glitter thread through and tied it around the top of the card and tied a bow over the hole.

I finished by adding the star on foam tape and sticking on a gold sentiment at the bottom. In retrospect it doesn't show up very well, so if I was doing the card again I'd put the sentiment on plain card and make a banner for it.

Supplies:

• Dovecraft background papers
• Wooden star embellishment from The Works
• Gold sticker sentiment
• Glitter thread
• Foam tape, double sided tape

2016 Christmas cards - Day 16 - Peace, love, joy

I love the image of the two cuddling cats on this stamp. I coloured them with Copics and then die cut an oval and mounted it on gold card. I stamped the sentiment above the cats.

I embossed the card front three quarters of the way down and made a slit in the fold of the card to feed the thread through. Finally I mounted the image on the card with foam tape.

You may have noticed that I only ever emboss part of the cards with the snowflakes. That's because the snowflake embossing folder doesn't reach all the way to the bottom(!) so I have to work around it.

Supplies:

• Newton's Nook Christmas Cuddles and Fox Hollow stamp sets
• Snowflake embossing folder
• Gold card and white card
• Green glitter thread
• Foam tape and double sided tape
• Copic markers

2016 Christmas cards - Day 15 - Dewdrop inkpad tres

Something quite different today, inspired by Kristina Werner's holiday card series. For her series this year on YouTube she had an intro sequence (pictured below) with stylised trees. I was struck by the shape of them - the same as dewdrop inkpads. I decided to use that as a design for a card.

I printed the inkpad straight on to the card base four times then used 3D paint to draw on a trunk and branches. I added small star and dot stickers to decorate the trees, and a sticker greeting. To finish I tied glittery thread around the card.

It's very simple and quick to do and I was quite pleased with the result.

Below is the inspiration image. Click the image to go to Kristina Werner's YouTube channel with lots of cardmaking ideas.

Supplies:

• White card bases
• Dewdrop inkpads
• 3D paint
• Glitter thread
• Sticker greeting and decorations

2016 Christmas cards - Day 14 - Snowy reindeer

Today's card is quick and simple. I used backing papers that were free from a magazine and cut a panel smaller than my card base. I used the Holy Night die set to cut kraft paper to make the ground, then attached the papers together and put them on the card base.

The deer are made of felt and had gems stuck on them. I didn't like the look of the gems, so I pulled them off and added spots with a brown Copic marker to hide leftover glue on the felt.

To finish the card I added strips of purple washi tape as a border around the outside.

Supplies:

• Paper from my stash
• Felt reindeer
• Washi tape
• Double sided tape
• Holy Night die set from Concord & 9th

2016 Christmas cards - Day 13 - Kitty Christmas stockings

This is another simple card to make. If I'd wanted to I could have
added more of a background, but I decided to keep this one simple.

I stamped the stockings and sentiment on the background and the cat on a separate piece of card and coloured them with my Copics. I rounded the corners of the background and mounted it on purple glitter card, also with rounded corners. I cut out the cat image and added it to the card with foam tape, then attached the panel to the card base.

Supplies:

• Newton's Holiday Mischief and Holiday Wishes stamp sets
• Newton's Holiday Mischief co-ordinating dies
• Copic markers
• Purple glitter card
• Glitter gel pens
• Corner rounder punch

2016 Christmas cards - Day 12 - In the manger

I fell in love with this stamp - Penny Black's In The Manger - when I saw it. The image is beautiful and it a lot of fun to colour.

To make the card I stamped and coloured the image on to white cardstock. I cut a piece of white card just smaller than the card base, stamped a sentiment on the bottom and die cut a frame in the top two thirds. I mounted the image behind the frame then drew around the frame border with a gold gel pen.

I finished by tying gold thread around the white panel and mounting it on the card base with foam tape.

Supplies:

• Penny Black In The Manger stamp
• White cardstock
• Double-sided tape and foam tape
• Copic markers
• Glitter thread
• Newton's Nook Holiday Wishes stamp set
• Black ink pad
• Gold gel pen
• Frame die

2016 Christmas cards - Day 11 - Waterclour tree

Today's card is very simple. I watercoloured a big bushy tree with red baubles on to a postcard-sized piece of watercolour card, added a punched glittery gold star on top (I've been using those a lot this year I know - I found a tub full of them in my stash!), and mounted it on a card base.

I'm not the best at watercolour but I was quite pleased with how this turned out. I was annoyed at myself for catching the edge of the baubles with the wet green paint though. Leaky baubles, grrr!

2016 Christmas cards - Day 10 - Stitched tree

These stitched tree cards are easy to do and look very effective if you use glittery thread. I stuck with tone-on-tone for my cards, but they'd look great in any colour combination.

I made a template (see below - click the image for a larger version to print) of where to put the holes, then poked holes through the front of my card using the template as a guide. The numbers show where the threads should go - 1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc. You could also add a final line along each side to create a point at the top.

To finish the card I added a star punched out of glittery gold card at the top, and a sentiment at the bottom. If you stitched the design in a plain thread you could add gems as baubles as well.

As a variation I tried doing the stitching on the bottom and one side instead of the two sides. I added in the third side with one long stitch. It was quite effective, but I think I prefer the version with the sides stitched.

Supplies:

• Glitter thread
• Needle
• Sentiment
• Glitter card stock
• Star punch
• Gems

2016 Christmas cards - Day 9 - Christmas tree shaker card

All my shaker cards to this point had been very simple shapes, so I thought I'd try something different for this card.

I started by part embossing a piece of white card with a snowflakes die, then used square dies to cut out a Christmas tree shape. I filled the shaker with sequins and gold punched stars, then fixed green card to the back. I finished with another gold star on top of the tree and a sentiment at the bottom, then fixed it to a card base.

If I was doing this card again I think I'd add glitter glue lines inside the tree shape (like tinsel) to add a bit more interest to the shape.

2016 Christmas cards - Day 8 - Recycled crackers

A quick one today. Last year we had some crackers with this gorgeous pattern on them. After they'd all been pulled I thought they were too nice to throw away, so I rescued them, cut them down to rectangles and put them aside to flatten out.

After a few months I pulled them back out, mounted the cracker pieces on gold card and put that on red card bases. Very simple but quite effective.

2016 Christmas cards - Day 7 - Contented mouse cross stitch

I enjoy doing cross stitching, especially the small kits you can buy for a pound or so. When I saw this little kit I immediately thought it would make a lovely Christmas card. I did the cross stitch in a couple of hours one evening, altering the pattern a little bit around the flame.

For the card, I cut a piece of red card just smaller than the card base. I chose an oval die the right size for the image and then attached the cross stitch to the card base with double sided tape, and the red window piece on top with foam tape. To finish I added a gold sentiment at the bottom.

    

2016 Christmas cards - Day 6 - Sleepy kitty

This stamp made an appearance in last year's cards as well, as it's one of my favourites. It's a House Mouse stamp and I love the mouse taking a nap on top of the sleepy kitten's head.

I made two cards in a similar way, I keeping things simple.

For both cards I stamped the image and watercoloured it, with pencils for one and paints for the other, then mounted them on red card.

For the smaller card I stuck on a sentiment and some gold ribbon to finish the card.

For the large square card I stamped a sentiment and mounted that on the same red card, and used strips of the same card on the side of the card base, which is embossed and has a satin finish.

The finished card is very simple with the image being the focal point.

2016 Christmas cards - Day 5 - Dimensional nativity scene

I love biblical images on Christmas cards and when I saw this new die cut set from Concord & 9th I wanted to use it. Concord & 9th is an American company but I found Seven Hills Crafts, which stocks US products in Britain.

The set includes three layer dies, a curved shape which could be used to shape the top of the card, a tiny star and the word 'Noel'. I used the layers and the small star for this card.

Because the detail is in the die cuts, the card is very quick to put together. I die cut all three layers in one pass by carefully positioning my dies on the card, then it was just a case of trimming the edges and layering everything up.

The only issue I had was that the dies are designed for a US sized card whereas my card base is 6"x4", hence the decision to do a portrait card. There are notches on the cutouts for making a more 3D card - pictures are on the Seven Hills Crafts product page here.

I really like the effect this card gives and I'm sure the die will get lots of use for next year's cards.

Supplies:

• Holy Night dies from Concord & 9th
• White cardstock
• Starry night paper free from magazine
• Foam tape
• Sizzix Big Shot die cutter

2016 Christmas cards - Day 4 - Snowman shaker

I have some gorgeous snowy sparkly sequins I got from a pound shop and the perfect use for them seemed to be in a shaker card.

I stamped the snowman on to a piece of card and used watercolour pencils to colour him and a wintery sky.

For the top panel I cut a piece of card the same size as my card base and die cut an oval for the shaker scene. I embossed the snowflakes over the top half of the card and stamped the sentiment on the bottom section.

Finally I assembled the card with two layers of foam tape around the window and added in a generous sprinkling of sequins.

Supplies:

• Wood mounted snowman stamp (no idea where it was from)
• White card
• Inktense watercolour pencils
• Black Ranger archival ink
• Sentiment stamp from Newton's Nook (Fox Hollow?)
• Snowflake embossing folder free from magazine
• Sequins
• Acetate, double sided tape, foam tape

2016 Christmas cards - Day 3 - Purple fox

I wanted to try a non-traditional colour scheme for some of my cards. I'd coloured this little fox without having any idea what to do with him, then I found the purple card he's mounted on. It was actually part of the packaging of some crafty supply I'd bought, but it was a pretty colour and it looked good with the fox.

The image panel was a bit blank without anything on it, so I tied the glitter thread around the side and then mounted the panel on the purple card with foam tape. I stuck the panel on to the card with double sided tape.

To finish the card I stamped the 'peace on earth' sentiment from the same stamp set and added sequins to add to the sparkle.

Supplies:

• Newton's Nook Fox Hollow stamp set
• Frame die
• Glitter thread
• Sequins
• Black Ranger archival ink
• PVA glue, double sided tape, foam tape
• Copic markers

2016 Christmas cards - Day 2 - Meowy Christmas

I wanted to do a Christmassy tag to mount on a card, and as I was looking through my stamps I realised I'd never used this particular image before, so out it came.

I stamped on to the tag (which is the back of a tag which came on a new pair of jeans!) and coloured with copics.

The cat's collar tag is coloured with a gold sparkly gel pen, and I went over the red floor with a clear sparkly nail polish top coat to add more shimmer. I'm a great believer in using what you have to craft with, and the shimmer looks really nice.

I rounded the corners of the tag, then cut a piece of red and white snowflake paper as a background and rounded the corners of that too. I stuck that straight to my card base, then mounted the tag on foam tape.

I stuck the string where I wanted it using PVA glue, and finished by rounding the corners of the card base.


Supplies:

• Newton's Nook Newton's Holiday Mischief stamp set
• Copic markers
• Glitter gel pens
• Dovecraft vintage Christmas 6x6 paper set
• Ranger archival black ink
• Corner rounder punch
• Double sided tape, foam tape, PVA glue
• Glittery nail polish

2016 Christmas cards - Day 1 - Fair Isle mittens

I'm going to do a Christmas card series again this year, starting with these mitten cards. I took my inspiration cards from two created by Kristina Werner in her holiday card series (here and here).

I started by masking off the sides of the front of the card then used a Memento dewdrop ink pad in Lady Bug to stamp a series of Fair Isle patterned stripes in a block, leaving space above and below.

Next I pierced holes in the corners around the edge of the pattern and threaded some brown and white baker's twine to create a border, tying a bow at the bottom. I cut another short length of twine and stuck each end to the mittens, then fixed the mittens to the card.

Finally I used a dab of pva glue to stick the twine in a loop shape.

The mittens I used are foam self-adhesive shapes that I bought from The Works, as are the stamps I used for the background. I love that shop for affordable embellishments at this time of year!

Tiny Tatty Ted cards

Why is it that it's always easier to make cards for girls than boys? I wanted to make some cards suitable for my godson and cousin's baby boy this week. I found a pack of 6"x6" Tiny Tatty Ted paper in The Works and it was perfect for boys' cards.

I used nesting oval dies to create the frames for the main image and mounted them on a plain white oval of the same size as the larger frame.

Assembly was really easy - using a sheet of patterned paper for the background, added the frames in the centre and blue triangles in the corners, then cut out the pictures of TTT and mounted it in the centre of the frames with foam tape.

I'll add sentiments as I need to use the cards.

Quilted greeting cards

Last month I bought the Quilt Square Cover-Up die by Die-namics, and this week I had a play with it to see what it looked like. You can't see it in this picture, but the die has stitch detail around every piece and looks particularly good on card or thicker paper.

I kept it simple for these note cards, paper piecing different patterns of paper with brown card and adding stamped and coloured images on top. I will add sentiments as well when I use the cards so I can customise them for the occasion.

I cut down one of the cards to the size of the die - 4"x4" - which looked very effective, and kept the others as the full 4"x6" size to allow space for the sentiment later.

Gardening birthday card

I needed a card for my dad's birthday this week. Usually I go with a vintage vehicle theme, but he also likes gardening so when I saw these papers I thought I'd change things up this year.

I started by matting a piece of welly patterned paper on brown card then tied green and brown baker's twine around the card and secured it on the back with tape.

I cut out the seed packets from another piece of patterned paper and cut a banner from white card ten matted them as well. I wrote 'happy birthday' on the banner and stuck it to the background with double sided tape.

The packets were stuck down with foam tape, and to finish I threaded brown gingham ribbon down the side, then attached the panel to the front of the card with foam tape.

 What I used:

• Card base with holes cut for ribbon
• Ribbon, baker's twine and brown card from my stash
• Papers free from a magazine
• Scissors, foam tape, double sided tape, black fine liner pen

Newton's Nook review

I get most of my stamps online, usually from eBay, but occasionally when there's something I particularly want I go straight to the manufacturer. I love the Newton's Nook stamps (probably because I'm a cat person!) so I wanted to treat myself to some stamps ready for the new year.

I was really impressed when I opened the package and inside were my stamps, wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed with a piece of pretty washi tape. Inside the stamps were tied up with a piece of baker's twine with a little card saying thank you with a picture of the real Newton on it. It was such a lovely little touch, I was really impressed.

There was only one downside to the whole thing, and that was the cost of getting them sent to the UK. The postage was actually reasonable ($6.50) but when they arrived I had to pay a customs charge of almost £15. I did know I'd have to pay something, but I wasn't expecting it to be that much - it was more than the cost of another set of stamps.

But I have found a UK distributor now (sevenhillscrafts.co.uk) so if I get the urge to buy any more then I know where I can go to avoid the customs charge!

On to the stamps themselves, I bought the Fox Hollow, Holiday Wishes and Newton's Christmas Cuddles sets.

I liked the variety of different sentiments on the Holiday Wishes stamp set, which is the main reason I ordered it, but the stocking and bauble strings are cute as well and I've got a few ideas on how to use them.

The sentiments are cute on Newton's Christmas Cuddles as well, but I thought these stamps are a lot more versatile. The kissing kitties and the cats with the intertwined tails could be a Valentine or anniversary card, and the presents and the cat in a box would do for any birthday. The same is true of some of the images in the Fox Hollow set, which I decided to get because I do have some friends who (very strangely?!) don't like cats!