Christmas Cards 2013 - red reindeer and snowflakes

Gosh, another year has gone by and it's Christmastime again.

So here is this year's card.

This is a great design because you can get a little production line going and whip the cards up fairly quickly.

As always, coming up with a design takes the longest time...

Tools: Hero Arts stamps, Versamark clear ink, gold glitter embossing powder, Cuttlebug snowflake folder, red metallic cardstock, green paper offcuts, felt reindeer (old, from Borders; also used here and here).

Butterfly Wedding Card

This is a card I made after taking Online Card Classes' Kick Start class. You are meant to be inspired by the card creation of a number of very talented card-makers and designers, and it was certainly a fun and motivating couple of weeks.

I love the colours and design of this card very much - even though I nicked the design part of it. Alright, I was inspired by a number of cards in the class!

 The card is a large square, so I had to make an envelope to fit it. The envelope flap has the same doily edging as the front of the card.

Inside of the card has a sentiment and a matching stick-on button.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Patterned paper: Various (forget which ones, sorry)

Stamps: PSX (old)

Ink: Stampin' Up!

Punch: Martha Stewart
Jewels and Button: BoBunny Design and American Crafts

Wedding Card - Love

Here's a Wedding card for my cousin in Canada - the third and final sister getting married. The cards for her sisters are here and here.

This card was made using some pretty patterned paper and the Hero Arts starburst lace stamp printed onto paper and vellum and cut out. I do like the dreamy turquoise colours in this card, even if I say so myself.

Inside of the card has the starburst lace stamped in shadow ink, with a Stampin' Up! greeting.

Christmas cards 2011 - hole in one

Here are my Christmas cards for the year - this is one of the simplest designs I've made in ages, purposely so because I've left it so late...

Never mind, I was inspired by a card from the Hero Arts flickr pages and simplified it because I had to make several. There are two versions here, a pink card and a green one.

I used the Cuttlebug machine (with Nestabilities die) to cut a circle in the card and patterned paper.

I love the colours of this card, so girly and pretty.

This green one is more Christmassy in flavour. 

Inside of the cards.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up!

Patterned paper: Jillibean Soup

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Stampin' Up!, Colorbox

Ribbon: Stampin' Up!
Jewels: BoBunny Design

speak-easy cool

A lovely food issue of the 'speak-easy' zine is available now
(from here, be quick).

So even with all my going on about cutting down on magazine and book purchases and e-reader envy, this is a really great little issue and a keeper.

One of the best things is the food-related articles, written by well-known foodies and bloggers including @lemonpi and @leetranlam (who is also the creator of the zine).

And the other thing is the delightful hand-made touches, such as the photos stuck onto the page with washi tape, a diecut doily, and the cute stamped images of forks and spoons.

This is what I want to do with my recipes and craft stash one day...

Gorgeousness.

Shabby chic Happy New Year card

One of the advantages (and/or disadvantages) of making your own cards is that family members get wind of it and start asking for 'just something simple, for Mabel's birthday'.   I don't mind making cards with this type of brief, because it's so vague that it leaves lots of room for interpretation.

So, on Christmas day, Mum asks for a card to send to friends that she received a Christmas card from, but didn't send one to. Solution: a new year's card!

I went with a shabby chic country theme because the friend is from the country:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft by Stampin' Up!
Patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket 'Circa 1934', October Afternoon 'Modern Homemaker'
Brad: Pebbles Inc
Rub-on letters: American Crafts
Scallop and circle punches (for flower): Stampin' Up!
Border punch: Fiskars

Hi there - welcome to the neighbourhood

 This card is for a new neighbour - or for someone you haven't seen in a while!

I loved using the American Crafts papers for this card; the bright colours and clean graphic designs are both happy and sophisticated.

Welcome!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Patterned papers: American Crafts - Teen (Debate Team), Craft Fair (Ida Zipperelli), Abode (Shady Lane)

Chipboard stickers: American Crafts - Dear Lizzy

Letters: American Crafts - Apartment

It's a Girl - a new Baby card

This is a card I made for one of my Canadian cousins.  She recently had a baby girl, which calls for an appropriately feminine and pretty card.

The pink and white flower-patterned paper is from the Dear Lizzy line from American Crafts.  I cannot tell you how much stuff I've got from this range, except to say that it is a lot. And I haven't used any of it up till now.

By the way, this is the wedding card I made last year for the same cousin.

Supplies

cardstock: bazzill

patterned paper: American Crafts dear lizzy; Basic Grey urban prairie

rub-ons: American Crafts kate sidekicks

butterfly punch: Martha Stewart

border punch: Fiskars

round punches: Stampin' Up!

corner rounder: Corner Chomper

rhinestone: Prima

ribbon: anon 

The old 'Butterflies in a Frame' trick

If you're a visitor to markets and craft shows, you may have noticed how popular are paper butterflies stuck into a wooden box frame.  There are so many different designs around these days, and they've always appealed to me because of their simple, clean style.  In fact, part of the appeal of the butterflies (or birds, or whatever design is chosen) is that they are sometimes handcut from vintage papers - very delicate yet bold.

So of course I think to myself "I could do that!".  This type of decoration has been around for years, and I first thought of making my own about 2 years ago.  However, with one thing and another (aka 'procrastination'), I've only just completed the project.  As it was, both pictures took less than an hour to make.

The box frames are from IKEA (bought, er, 2 years ago).  The butterflies were cut from various scrapbooking papers and from an old crappy novel I was about to throw out (Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, if you're interested).  To save time, I used a Cuttlebug machine with a butterfly die cut - so much quicker than handcutting, and less prone to error and frustration.
The butterflies are attached with 1/2" quilting pins on foam core board.

The final effect looks pretty good, I think.  The feeling of relief at finally getting them out of the way is... priceless!

Butterflies cut from an old yellowing novel, attached to black foam core board.

Butterflies cut from scrapbooking paper, on white foam core board.

Getting a bit of a craft display going on the upstairs landing.

What day is it again?

I like to think of myself as being intermittently creative. That is, occasionally, I’ll come up with something artistic and go “ooh, that’s nice”. But those days can be pretty far between, which is why my craftiness is only a hobby.
Lin Mei, on the other hand, does it for a living. Which is why her input was greatly appreciated in the creation of this lovely calendar. LM came up with the design, as well as a great example for me to, um, rip off.

It’s not that easy, though, as we found out on that hot day in a non-air-conditioned house. It took us about 3 hours to come up with the ‘right’ colour combinations – we finished the calendar just as the cool southerly change blew through.

Here is the end result. The patterned papers are Basic Grey (Urban Prairie range), the bird cage transparency is by Hambly, and the ribbon and stamps are by Stampin’ Up!. Not too shabby, just shabby chic.

PS: We had lunch first at the Zumbo chocolate café (ham and cheese brioche, nice) and were going to go back for dessert after the marathon craft session. But, dammit, the café closes at 4pm on weekdays! Denied!

Gentleman callers

To complement the adorable girls of the world, Allison from Stampinwhenican has provided some more clip art images, including boys of the world and also some delightful ‘everyday’ children (the little vampire boy is real cute).

So, I made some matching partners for the girls.