Christmas penguins

 It appears that I have been neglecting my blog in favour of FB and Instagram ..... Time to put that right!

I am sharing this with Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge 'Anything Goes'.

I have christened a set of new stamps from Creative Expressions, penguins shaped as baubles!  The images were stamped in Versafine Clair black, then coloured.  I masked off the central one to bring him to the front of the group.  The sentiments are from Papermania (possibly) and Visible Image.

The complete stamped image was then matted onto a Julie Hickey die, I didn't have any coloured cardstock with me, but I do really like the white on white :-)

Black and Gold Christmas card

 

First Christmas card of the year!  Though to be honest, I did make it last year ..... but it got lost in a pile before I got to blogging it and I have just rediscovered it :-)

I am entering this into the Cardz 4 Guys black and gold challenge.

From the card base up: gold mat, scalloped mat in pearlescent Graphite (Julie Hickey die), white mat embossed with a dotty embossing folder, and a Christmas die-cut in gold (brand unknown) which was matted onto graphite and the outline cut by hand.  

I was stuck as to where to put the sentiment, but decided on a SU punched shape in graphite and a tiny peel off.

Day 91: Christmas card - blog challenge

I am sharing this card with Retro Rubber, Anything goes, use an old stamp.

This bells stamp has a label with a 2005 date, I started stamping in 2003, so it's one of my oldest :-)  I heat embossed in gold, along with the sentiment from SU, which is a couple or three years old.  The panel was matted onto a simple patterned paper background, which is gold foiled, but it doesn't show well in the photo.

Keyword RRCB138

See you tomorrow!

Day 82: Mono-metallic Christmas card

Another day, another blog challenge!  This time I am sharing with Sparkles Christmas Challenge, who would like a card featuring bells.
I bought some paper pads from The Works recently, and this is one of them, called Metallic Mono.  Shades of black, white, silvery grey and gold, several papers are gold foiled, it is beautiful and will make many many cards, not only Christmas but I think it will do for masculine ones year round too.
I found this bell stamp, it's from 2005!! The sentiment is SU, as is the punch used to cut it out.  Both were heat embossed in gold.  The paper panel is die cut with a deckle edge die from Crealies, the plain black mat and the image are done with square dies from Tonic.  I inked round the sentiment tag rather than mat it.
See you tomorrow!

Day 81: Shaped Christmas card - blog challenges

I am joining three challenges today - A Place to Start and Jingle Belles both of whom are asking for a shaped card, JB also being a Christmas card blog - also Christmas Card Throwdown who would like some snowflakes featured.
I started by cutting a card blank using Nesties Label 28, then cut another panel for the topper.  I already had an inked piece of card, so used the next sized die down, to create the mat.  The base of the easel card ie the half without the fold in, was run through a dotty embossing folder - I find that most Nesties have too big a border to just leave blank and embossing is an ideal filler.  Then I embossed the top panel and attached the mat to it, then attached to the folded hinge side of the card.
The snowflakes and sentiment are from an SU stamp set 'Flurry of Wishes', I heat embossed in silver and cut out using their matching punch.  The sentiment was done with a washi tape punch and forms the stopper for the easel.  Both snowflakes and sentiment are attached with 2mm foam for dimension.
I am pleased with this one, though it did take me ages to get three decently stamped/embossed snowflakes!
See you tomorrow!

Day 79: Christmas card - blog challenges

I am playing along with three challenge blogs today. Retro Rubber, Double Trouble and Craftyhazelnut's Christmas challenge.  RR and DT are partnering with each other, RR has a sketch and DT a recipe and optional twist. Craftyhazelnut has an 'Anything Goes' Christmas theme, with an optional twist of using washi tape.

 Ingredients:  3 - Colors 

                           2 - Embellishments   

                           1 - Seasoned Stamped/Digital Sentiment 
                                (clear or rubber stamp more than 
                                one year old)

Using the sketch, create a project using at least one angular shape without round corners, i.e., triangles, quadrilaterals such as square, rectangle, parallelogram, rhombus, etc.

I think I have managed everything .... LOL. 

The triangle on the sketch immediately suggested a Christmas tree, so I picked one of the SU Christmas releases from (I think) 2018 or possibly the year before - Snow is Glistening.  The sentiment comes from the previous year's set, Flurry of Wishes.  I heat embossed in gold and cut out, mounted on 2mm foam for dimension.

The background paper, which I found in an old magazine freebie set, has nothing but angular shapes on it :-)  More than 3 colours - black, white, aqua and gold. 2 embellishments - ribbon and tiny gold pearls on the tree. 1 or more old stamps.

I haven't used actual washi tape - but the sentiment is punched out with a washi tape punch .....does that count???

I needed a 7 x 5 card to fit everything on!  I really enjoyed this one and finding that this particular sentiment fits that punch so perfectly was an added bonus :-)

See you tomorrow!

Day 64: Hexagonal Christmas cards

The assembled hexagon cards.  I die cut the blank from an existing square one.  The sentiment (Stamping all Day) was added to the centre of the wreath.  To save a lot of fiddly gluing, I put the stamped panel flat to the mirri, but raised the mirri onto the base with foam tape, which creates a bit of a shadow effect and looks very nice :-)

See you tomorrow!

Day 61: Preparation - Christmas card toppers

Batch cardmaking - I stamped/embossed the Penny Black wreath in silver and die cut into hexagons.  I still need to add the sentiment.  Then the mats were die cut in silver mirri using a Card Making Magic die set.

See you tomorrow!

Day 58: White on white Christmas card

A white on white Christmas card ... a bit challenging, especially when it comes to the sentiment.  The layers, from the base up, are as follows: card blank, panel with a 7 x 5 bordered embossing folder (Card Making Magic), central panel with dotted embossing, oval lattice die cut (Presscut), bauble base, bauble top, and debossed sentiment panel cut twice for depth. I think that makes eight layers! The whole bauble set is by Sue Wilson, not previously used. Phew!  I am definitely going to make the baubles again now I have rediscovered them.

See you tomorrow!

Day 42: Christmas card with holly

Another day, another Christmas card...... I just like making them!

Apologies for the poor photo, the light conditions weren't good today, the card is much lighter IRL!  The background paper is an old Simple Stories one and I had prepared the base card some time ago.  When I took it out of the box I noticed that the top of the panel wasn't cut straight, resulting in an uneven appearance to the card.  So I took some gold peel-off lines and added a frame, taking care to position the top line so that it covered the uneven gap.  The holly stamp and sentiment are from two different SU sets, stamped and heat embossed in gold.  

See you tomorrow!

Day 39: Christmas card with SU baubles

Playing around today with some Christmas stamps bought last year.

The patterned paper is from an old magazine freebie pack.  The stamped/embossed baubles and the sentiment are from two different SU sets, the baubles have a matching punch.  They are mounted onto foam pads and a peel-off line is used for the 'string'.

See you tomorrow!

Day 25: Gold on ivory Christmas cards

As promised yesterday, the second colourway for this stamped image, gold on ivory.

See you tomorrow!

Day 24: Silver on white Christmas cards

Some simple stamped/embossed/coloured Christmas cards today.

The stamp is from SU, I coloured in with watercolour markers, but it was very fiddly, so I think I may stick with the simply embossed image in future!  This is the silver/white colourway, the ivory/gold will be tomorrow.
See you tomorrow!

Day 6: Christmas card

Another blog challenge today.  This time I am sharing with Shopping our Stash, their theme is Sun, Moon and Stars.

Hopefully we won't be locked in until Christmas.....
I stamped the SU image 'Lovely as a Tree' in black, masked off a circle for the Moon and shmooshed Distress Oxides in shades of blue and green in the appropriate places.  Then I over-stamped the Moon with clouds, using an Inkylicious set which has the mask, stencil and stamp, in a browny-grey (SU granite).  The Father Christmas and sleigh stamp is also from Inkylicious and the sentiment is a very old one from my collection ... possibly Papermania.  I made two and will possibly do more, they are relatively quick to make.
See you tomorrow!