Christmas trees in threes

Hi all,

yep I'm still trying to turn all my many ;) challenges every week into Christmas cards. So when Makeesha put up her weekly challenge, an inspiration one this week, see the pic below my first aim was to extract a Christmas card from it. Strangely enough I came up with an idea pretty quickly but couldn't find the time to actually put idea to paper till yesterday.

And here is what I came up with.

I wanted to use the primary colours in the picture and get some horizontal element in. So I rifled through my DSP stash and managed to find dotty Tempting Turqouise, Old Olive and Basic Grey DSP enough for one tree each. To provide a horizontal but neutral background I ran some Whisper White through my Distressed Stripes Cuttlebug folder. I just used my paper cutter to cut the trees to size and then punched out trunks using the slot punch. The trees were mounted on the Cuttlebug layer, the larger Olive one slightly overlapping the two smaller ones. below the trees I added some Old Olive ribbon, a white button latte button was added as a feature in the middle. I was sorely tempted to add more stuff - rhinestones, brads etc to the trees but I decided it would clash with the button so just added some Dazzling Diamond using the 2 way glue pen. The tree panel was layered onto some Old Olive and then onto a white card base. I stamped the mixed Christmas sentiment all the way round to form a border.

No inside as usual for a Christmas card

Thanks for visiting,

Kim

Recipe:All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Crazy for Christmas (R)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Grey
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder, Petals and Paisley DSP (R), Basic Grey DSP, Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon, Button Latte, glue dots, 2-way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

A Very Merry Pink Christmas

Hi all,

I’m trying my hardest to convert any challenge to a Christmas card at the moment as a way of making a dint in my Christmas cards this year. But when I saw the colour challenge that Makeesha had set this week I had my doubts about whether I could do it. Here’s her colour pick.

However I saw that Cindy Major had put together a really nice Christmas card with the colours so I thought why not! And this was the result.

The card design was very heavily influenced by a card Nichole Heady made recently (see the first one in this post); I also used her snowdrift templates for my DSP at the bottom. Although I had to extend the templates both width wise and height wise. That suggested to me that the standard US card size is smaller than the one we use here in Oz which is something I hadn’t realized. So I started with a Pretty in Pink base and I stamped this with stars from Holiday Spirit (R) using white craft ink. Over this I added two contoured strips of DSP along the bottom, first a remnant piece from Berry Bliss (R), then over that some Basic Gray DSP from the Hostess pack in our catalogue this year. The edges of the DSP have been roughed up with the distressing tool and I also added dazzling diamonds along the top edges using two way glue. You can't see the sparkle in the picture unfortunately. The central image is the Christmas tree from Holiday Spirit, I first inked up the stamp in versamark then in Basic Gray, stamped it onto Pretty in Pink and sprinkled over clear embossing powder. It came out darker than I expected – closer to Black actually. But then since black is one of the challenge colours that was fine with me. Next I tried something I have been wanting to do for a while – try out my Prismacolour pencils – well the white anyway. I used the white pencil to colour all the pink areas within the tree. To finish off the tree I added some pink rhinestones as baubles for the tree. Under the tree I added a little strip of black checked gingham ribbon. Then matted the pink layer onto gray and white. First rounding all the corners. The final element is the sentiment added in the bottom left, also with a couple of rhinestones. I quite like how it turned out.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Holiday Spirit (R), Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Basic Gray
Ink: White craft, Versamark, Basic Gray, Basic Black
Accessories: Berry Bliss DSP (R), Basic Gray DSP, Word Window punch, Corner Rounder punch, Clear embossing powder, Prismacolour pencils, Black checked gingham ribbon, pink rhinestones (Kaiser), Distressing tool from Cutter Kit, Two way glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

Breezy Birthday and Sleigh Time

Hi there,

time again for Makeesha challenge this week a sketch. Here it is:

I liked the sketch as soon as I saw it , but for some reason struggled to come up with an idea. Late Sunday, like 10:30 Pm (this is really late for me) I was still browsing through my stamp file (this was a fantastic idea I picked up several years ago from Tracey Harp, basically when you get a new set, you photocopy the label stickers before you mount them on the stamps and you put that set image in a little folder. That way you can always see everything you have just by flicking through the folder). Ok back to the cards, anyway thankfully courtesy of inspiration from flicking through my stamp file and just plain lots of mulling on it I did some up with some ideas. In the end I couldn't help myself I had to make two if them.

The first one "Breezy Birthday" is intended for my Dad for his birthday (today - its going to be a little late). Here is it.

A close up of the dragonfly

I used the Parisian Breeze DSP as inspiration for the colours. I did the image panel first - stamping the tips of the grass from Inspired by nature across the panel. I decided to wanted to have a dragonfly up on the top LHS as per sketch. So I dug out my Winged Things set (retired) and I wanted it to be sort of translucent. So first I stamped it in Brown Satzon on acetate. Then I tried colouring in his wings with Copics - but it was just too faint. I then stamped a second dragonfly on vellum, and coloured the vellum in with two copics (BG13 and BG18), cut out the wings from the vellum, and adhered them to the acetate dragonfly (also trimmed out). Now I got the effect I wanted - his wings were a lovely bluey colour but still translucent. To finish it off I added a silver brad through the head and stuck it on the the grass panel with two glue dots. The sentiment (from Upsy Daisy) was added at the bottom, accented with a little Baja circle. Below the image panel I added a strip of Kraft taffeta that had been knotted three times - it was that or hemp and I decided to go with this in the end. The broad stripes from the Parisian Breeze DSP seemed to complement the image so that what I went for as the main matte on the card. The inside is just finished off very simply with a bit more of the DSP.

Now for card two - this time a christmas card. I realised in the process of thinking this one up that all my Christmas sets are retired bar Tree Trimmings - sorry about that but retired sets are part of my stash and so far have stayed with me.

Obviously a red and white theme, (real red and Whisper White) I think my initial thought was that I wanted to white emboss the sleigh onto red, so all the layering worked out from there. The white main layer is stamped with stars also from the same set. The embossed central panel was set off with the holiday sentiment from Rivetting (also retired but so very useful) at the top and with a Button Latte button threaded with red embroidery cotton and backed by a little looped white grosgrain ribbon. I added the scalloped border at the bottom to represent the element Keesh had at the bottom of the sketch.

Hope you liked them and thanks for visiting.

Kim

I am running really late with getting dinner ready so I am going to have to leave this without adding the recipes, any questions please just ask.

Pink, plum and burgundy

Hi there,

The guideline for the second Creatalicious challenge was to use pink or plum with burgundy and green oh and some ribbon or lace. I did include the green but I also changed it to pink and plum and here is the result.

And here's a side view to show you the layering and a glimpse of the inside.

To balance out using several colours I started by using a white base. I stamped out several flowers in a mix of Pink Pirouette, Pale and Perfect Plum and Bravo Burgundy, mostly onto Whisper White but I did stamp two Perfect Plum ink onto Pale Plum cardstock flowers. Then I punched or trimmed them out and layered them up in a sort of descending cascade from right to left. I decided on using Kiwi Kiss as the green as it seemed to lift and brighten the whole colour combo – so I stamped three leaves and fitted those into the flower cascade. The ribbon component is a bow of Kiwi Kiss satin added onto the largest layered flower. To finish off the flowers I added some retired buttons (Pretty in Pink and Burgundy) and some pale pink brads. To balance out the flower cascade I’ve added the sentiment in the top LHS corner, framing it with a little paper piercing.

I finished off the inside with a little simple stamping and masking of flowers.

Hope you like it – I must admit I thought it was an unusual colour combo but I am quite happy with how it turned out. It’s certainly making me think about using my Plums and Burgundy inks a bit more frequently.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Petal Pizzazz, Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pale Plum
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Bravo Burgundy, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Scallop circle punch, Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon, Soft Subtle and Riche Regal buttons (R), Bo Bunny pale pink brads, Mat pack and piercing tool, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.

An Aussie Christmas

Hey ho,

welcome back it's time for my card for Makeesha weekly challenge, it was an inspiration challenge this week, a very white and red, bright festive lunch from the looks of it. Here's the pic.

I decided to go with the festive idea anyway and make a Christmas card, fairly straight forward but I was quite happy with the result. Here it is.

The idea of using a red flower as/on a Christmas bauble sprang to my mind when I was mulling over the image (while as usual putting my Mr 1.5+ to bed). So I got out my Eastern Blooms (I so love the big flower in this set, but its been a while since I've used it - too much new rubber - Petals Pizzazz for example, just finished a card with that set last night too - so stay posted for when I can find the time to get it online - sorry I digress). Ok I stamped the big flower in Real Red on Whisper White, then using my circle cutter system (Martha Stewart) there were a few curses as what I was cutting slipped and I had to start again but eventually I managed to get my flower cut out and a larger circle border in Real Red. I layered my flower layer onto the red base, add one end of the word window punch with a hole for hanging and there you have a bauble! To finish it off I did add another flower trimmed out over the top and mounted on dimensionals, and just added a subtle hint of glitter on the little white spots in the middle. The bauble was hung from some of the lovely extra wide striped RRH ribbon in our current mini using some silver cord. I fished around in my white scraps and found a large piece of white cuttlebuged with the snowflakes folder and decided that it gave a subtle but nice texture to the background and in keeping with the festive spirit. Finally right down the bottom I just stamped the sentiment simply below the snow flakes.

Sorry no inside today - I usual keep most of the space free in Christmas cards so I can write a fair bit in there.

Hope you like it. Thanks for visiting and drop by soon as I should have more things to post in the near future.

Kim

Recipe: All SU unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Eastern Blooms. Short and SweetCardstock: Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Extra wide striped Riding Hood Red ribbon, silver cord (R), Cuttlebug snowflakes folder, 2 way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Hoot hoot hooray

Hi there,

this week Makeesha Byl's challenge was colour based. Here is her combo.

For some reason when I was mulling over ideas of what to do, while putting my Mr 1.5 to bed, and my mind turned to owls. The colour combo was a good match - yes but why owls? and then I remembered that I had gone for a walk around the annual flower festival we have here in Canberra (Floriade), apparently its the biggest in the Southern hemisphere, and it is quite spectacular. Anyway at the little shopping village at the festival I went past a little shop selling an iron worked owl (very cute) with his wings out spread and sitting on top of a 1.5 M long pole. It would have been just lovely to have him flying over the garden at home, and it was my DH's birthday so I seriously contemplated buying him - except I would have had to carry him all the way back to work!! a tad awkward to say the least. However if he is still there next time we all go for a visit he might just come home with us. So that's where the idea for the owl came from and here he is.

I've seen lots of cute animals made from punched shapes and I'm sure I could have found an owl out on the web but I decided to have a go myself first and see how I went - and I reckon he turned out quite well. I used the large oval to make his head, then nipped a dip out using my 5 petal punch, his eyes are made layering 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4 inch punched circles. His ears are two of the petals from the 5 petal punched flower. His body is another large oval, covered with overlapping "feathers" made using the small oval punch each cut in half and then the bottom edge sponged with chocolate chip ink. For his wings I used the large oval punch to punch one oval from Good Morning Sunshine DSP then cut it in half. Then using the small oval punch I punched out three ovals, one was cut exactly in half the other two roughly at one third of the way - so that I had a small, bigger and biggest "feather" for each wing. His feet are just three of the petals cut from one of the Spring Bouquet flower punch. He is perched on branch (narrow twill tape pressed into my choc chip ink pad), and leaves were just cut freehand from old olive DSP stock. The clouds were created by sponging some Not Quite Navy ink carefully over the top of a punched out scallop circle. Finally I pinched the "Hoot Hoot Hooray" from the SU set " Owl Together Now" and added "its your birthday" for the sentiment . I just used my mini alphabet set to stamp it out on scraps of Very Vanilla using the challenge colours and there you have it.

Recipe:
sorry about this but have an overabundance of sick chlidren this week so I don't have the time or hands to type this in, any questions just ask.

Thanks for visiting.

Kim