Snowflake Flurry

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. You know what is the mother of getting your mojo on for creating Christmas cards? Making your list of people you are going to send cards to, counting the cards you have already made and realising you still need to triple your card stash. Nothing like CAS designs to the rescue - I think I created at least six cards today 

Today's card was inspired by the colours over at House of Cards. I'm also linking up over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is Let It Snow, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Baby It's Cold Outside and Sparkles Christmas Challenge where the theme is Embossing.

I created the background using Distress Inks, splattered with water and added heat embossed snowflakes. The sentiment is a mix of a STAMPlorations stamp in black on vellum and a STAMplorations die, cut from silver and gold mirri card. 

Card: 200 gsm white card, vellum, gold and silver mirri card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes, STAMPlorations Noteworthy 2
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink Iced Spruce, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, Tsukineko Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black
Other: Gold, silver and white embossing powder, CUTplorations Holidays Word die

Don't forget there is still a few days left to use my code STAMPGIRLKAROLA to get 20% off products in the NEW RELEASE and 5x7 STAMP CLUB categories and to get a free metal die with your order from the STAMPlorations store.

Artsy Snowflakes

I haven't made many snowflake cards this year. But when I saw the sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch I knew I needed to get my snowflakes out of hibernation. Inspired by the CAS Watercolour challenge I made one card with watercolour resist using Brushos and inspired by the CAS Mixup I made one card with sponging, adding die cutting as my choice. I'm also linking up with Cute Card Thursday where the theme is Snowflakes and Sweet Stampin' Christmas where the theme is to be inspired by a song (Let It Snow).

I started both cards by die cutting a panel of watercolour paper using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die. Then I stamped the snowflakes from Stampin' Up Endless Wishes in Versamark and heat embossed in clear powder. Then I used Tim Holtz distress inks in Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire to ink the background of the first card. I then spritzed the background with water with blue Perfect Pearls to give it a more distressed look and make it a bit shimmery. For the second card I sprinkled various blue, turquoise and green Brushos onto the background and spritzed with water with blue Perfect Pearls. I used a larger Stitched Rectangle Die to die cut a mat from light blue Centura Pearl paper. I also die cut the sentiment using the CUTplorations Let It Snow Phrase die from the same Centura Pearl paper. Last, I attached the panels onto white card.

Card: 250 gsm white card, 300 gsm Daler&Rowney Watercolour paper
Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Inks Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire, Brushos
Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, CUTplorations Let It Snow phrase die
Other: Perfect Pearls blue, Ranger clear embossing powder

Holly Jolly - Snowmen

Baby, it's starting to get cold outside. If not cold, then at least dark. After the clocks going back this weekend, I won't manage to see daylight while at home during the week. It's dark when I leave and dark when I come back. Let's hope there will be some snow at some point, at least it makes everything seem a bit lighter!  With days cold and dark, theres no distractions like enjoying the great outdoors. So what better than barricading yourself into your craft room with a huge mug of hot chocolate and finish those last Christmas cards you need (because playing along with us over at Holly Jolly all year has obviously helped you finish most already!)

Our new challenge over at Holly Jolly is Snowmen. What a perfect theme to get into the Christmas card creating spirit! Or Christmas tags, or any other Christmas related crafting. Pop over to Holly Jolly to see what the other ladies of the DT have created to inspire you. Our generous sponsors this time are Stitchy Bear, All Dressed Up Stamps and Crafty Sentiments Designs. 

For my card I used a Crafty Sentiments Designs digi called Snowman Frame, which I coloured with Copics. I created the background by stamping snowflakes from the Stampin' Up Endless Wishes stamp set in Versamark and embossed in clear powder. I used multiple blue Tim Holtz distress inks to ink the background. I die cut the Merry Christmas using a Lawn Fawn die, and heat embossed a sentiment from the Penny Black All Is Bright set in white onto dark blue card. Then all that was needed was to assemble it all, matting on blue card and adhering onto a square white card.

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
Christmas Card Challenges - Anything Goes
52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Emboss Resist
Hiding In My Craft Room - Any Holiday
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
Crafting With Friends - Anything Goes
Simply Create Too - Baby It's Cold Outside
Crafty Girls Creations - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Throwback (pick any previous challenge; I picked two, December 2014 Holiday cards and January 2014 Blues)

Card: 300 gsm white card, Vanguard VA020 Marine Blue, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, coloured 240 gsm card navy
Stamps: Crafty Sentiments Designs digi Snowman Frame, Stampin' Up Endless Wishes, Penny Black All Is Bright
Colouring: Copics
Ink: Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress inks Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire
Other: Ranger clear embossing powder, Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangles dies, Merry Christmas boder die

Pink Christmas

Do you know that feeling when you just finished chopping chillies, washed your hands and then administered eye drops to yourself, naively thinking washing those hands has removed all of that fiery burning stuff? If you don't, consider yourself lucky! It did take my mind off the itching in my eyes, that's fore sure. 

After recovering from my brush with chilli-induced blindness, I wanted to play along with the current ColourQ challenge, having planned to do so all week, but just not quite getting around to do it. I decided to CASE my earlier small and cute Christmas cards to make a larger version. I really love how the card turned out! So quick and easy, and one layer is the cheapest option for posting as well. I'm also linking up over at Crimbo Crackers where the theme is Pink and ABC Christmas Challenge where the theme is U for Unusual Christmas Colours. I'm also linking up with The Unicorn Challenge where the theme is Think Pink. Last but not least I'm linking up with Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where the theme is Throwback, you can pick any of their previous challenges. I picked "In the clouds" from January 2015, as I love the snow clouds and those small, unique snowflakes just drifting down, like the clouds breaking up into minuscule pieces. 

I started by creating a mask by die cutting a Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle die, and used the mask to ink using distress inks. Then I used a watercolour brush to flick some water drops onto the inked background to create the splashes. I used a silver Sharpie to draw the border. The next step is really crucial, I used my embossing buddy liberally to make sure the embossing powder would only stick to the ink. I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark and embossed in silver powder. Last, I stamped the sentiment in black and added a few adhesive gems of that final touch. 

Card: 300 gsm white card
Ink: Tsukineko Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress inks Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick
Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes
Other: Silver Sharpie, Papermania Silver embossing powder, adhesive gems from my stash

Quick and Easy One Layer Christmas Cards

Oh wow, I am on the highest of sugar highs. Today I spent the afternoon with a distinguished group of fantastic ladies making the most delicious chocolates. As in proper handmade artisan chocolate, none of that Cadburys "I've never seen a cocoa been but I'm pretending to be chocolate" stuff. Chilli chocolate, strawberry and poppy seed, limegrass and cocoa chocolates and the most amazing basil chocolate. I know, it sounds crazy. But it's aaah-maaa-zing. And combined with a good merlot. Again, I know it sounds crazy, but it's just the most gorgeous flavour combination. If you are somewhere in Cambridgeshire and need delicious chocolates, take a look at Boutique Mama Bombon, run by the lovely Gloria. 

 

Before I went off galavanting on my chocolate adventure, I finally tackled my Christmas card dilemma. I needed a quick and easy design to make Christmas cards for my colleagues. I spent a bit of time Pinteresting (yes, it's a verb, I have decided so) and found two lovely (the red card over here and this one here) cards which I combined in my mind into an easy and quick design, which I made in four colours. 

I started by cutting out 20x10 cm (4x8 in) pieces of kraft cardstock and folding them into 10x10 cm (4x4 in) cards. I made a 10x10 cm (4x4 in) stencil with a 5x5 cm (2x2 in) square opening to ink through (note to self, for mass production, make the stencil out of acetate and not paper as the colours start eventually bleeding through the paper). I did multiple copies of each colour and found that the best way was to ink all cards in one colour before proceeding to the other stages, as that gave the ink a bit of time to dry before the embossing. After inking, I drew the white frames around the inked area with my gel pen, and used a watercolour brush to splash water droplets onto the ink to create the bokeh look. I wiped the water droplets with a piece of paper. Next the crucial step to avoid getting the embossing powder stuck all over the inked square - dab vigorously with your embossing buddy (anti-static bag). If you don't have one, I would suggest either leaving to dry until the next day, or drying with a heat tool. 

After finishing the background, I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark and heat embossed in white powder. Again, I stamped all cards I had made in one colour and added the embossing powder, and then heat set them all in one go, it's so much quicker once the heat tool gets properly hot. Last, I stamped the sentiment in black ink, and added the adhesive gem. I also stamped a sentiment inside the card. I kept all the stamps mounted to clear blocks all the time (I don't have that many blocks so I mounted the sentiments on each side of one block, just quickly ink up one side, stamp on the front of the card, swap the block around, ink up and stamp the inside). All in all, it took about 3-4 minutes per card, and I have made 15 so  far with another 15 or so to go. I might even create a few more colour combos just to keep it interesting! 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
One Layer Christmas Cards - Anything goes (I chose not to play with the optional twist of using silver)
ABC Christmas challenges - Unusual Christmas colours (the purple, orange and turquoise cards)
As You Like It - Monochrome or colour (obviously monochrome for me this time, for the convenience of mass production)
C.R.A.F.T Challenge - Christmas 
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
One Crazy Stamper - Christmas/Halloween/Fall

Card: kraft card
Inks: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distress inks in (for the blue card) Broken China, Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire; (for the yellow card) Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Festive Berries; (for the purple card) Victorian Velvet, Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves; (for the turquoise card) Iced Spruce, Cracked Pistachio and Peacock Feathers
Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes
Other: Papermania Seafoam White embossing powder, Signo white gel pen, clear adhesive gems from my stash

Stampin' Royalty Guest DT - Keep It Simple

I can't believe this is already my last post as a Guest Goddess over at Stampin' Royalty. I've had a great time creating with the talented ladies of the DT and feel sad it's already time to say goodbye. The good news is of course that I can pop by and play along whenever I want to, so it's not goodbye, it's just "See ya later"!

This week the challenge is to Keep It Simple. As I have finished my summer holidays, I'm already starting to look forward to Christmas as it will be the next time I will get a bit more time off work (yes, I am very dedicated and hard working...). And I thought it might be a good idea to use my old stash of Christmas crafting goodies to remind me that I don't really need to buy any new Christmas stamps this year, but should instead try to use the stash I have got (ok, fat chance I actually won't buy anything, but still...). 

I stamped the Seasonally Scattered "Merry" sentiment using Soft Sky, and then added some Marina Mist and Pacific Point using markers before stamping onto Whisper White card. I then heat embossed the Christmas sentiment from Endless wishes in silver. I also heat embossed silver snowflakes onto Marina Mist card for the back panel. I thought this was all that was needed for a quick and easy clean card. This would be a great design to mass produce as it's quite quick and easy to make, and it would be easy to make different colour variations of it. 

I would like to link up with the following challenges:
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Clean and Simple
Crafty Calendar Challenge - Christmas in July 
My Time to Craft - Christmas in July
Sweet Stampin' - No Designer Paper
Happy Little Stampers - CAS
Card: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Marina Mist
Stamps: Stampin' Up Seasonally Scattered, Endless Wishes
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Stampin' Write markers Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Tsukineko Versamark
Other: Silver embossing powder

Clever snowflake die card

Wow this week has just flown past, it's already Thursday and I haven't manage to write a blog post all week. I can proudly announce that I have managed to go to the gym three times this week, so it's not like I've just been sitting around doing nothing. But I can't wait for tomorrow afternoon, I will most certainly leave work right on time and not a minute later, and then hit the craft room like the craft-starved woman I am. Maybe with a glass of Pimms as well... oh, I can't wait for tomorrow afternoon!

This card is made using a very clever die that has just retired from Stampin' Up. I used a great hammered white cardstock which gives the card a really great look. I also die-cut a piece of silver paper from All Is Calm for the snowflake. Then I simply stamped the snowflakes and sentiment. Really quick and easy card but the clever die makes it look really intricate.

I am linking up with the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Something beginning with F (flakes of the snowy kind... is that cheating?)
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew - Use a sentiment

Card: 300 gsm hammered white card
Paper: Stampin' Up All Is Calm
Stamps: Stampin' Up Endless Wishes
Ink: Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana, Pear Pizzazz, Smoky Slate
Other: Snowflake Card Thinlits dies