Sunday Snippets - Spellbinders 'JOY'

My snippets card this time uses a Spellbinders set of dies called 'Joy' (S4-1012) that has been patiently waiting for at least a year to have a first outing. I kept looking at it and putting it back as I knew it would be a challenge and a half:

I used:

- 5.75" x 4" white card blank, side opening

- die cut the main JOY part first to get a handle on what size background area would work. I used a snippets of Tonic pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card

- then die cut a Tonic satin mirror 'Black Velvet' rectangle using a die from the Heffy Doodle set of A6 stitched rectangle dies - shame they closed shop as their stuff is/was lovely

- then used a snippet of the same 'Majestic Gold' card to back the black panel and glued them together

- next came the really fiddly part! I die cut all the additional bits from snippets found in the back of an ancient paper pad by Hot Off The Press called 'ForeverChristmas Cards' so that I could closely echo the image on the die set itself and also keep everything nicely toned together. As the snippet were paper, I backed them using some 'Stick It' double sided sheet and a 200gsm piece of white card

- used my baby Altenew die cutting machine to die cut the red poinsettias, green holly leaves, gold centres for the poinsettias and the striped (using paper from the same pack, yay!) inserts for the word JOY

- used a glue pen to add the poinsettias, gold centres and holly leaves onto the main die cut then glued it onto the panel front using two glue pens in different sizes for ease and speed (I did it that way as I would have splodged onto the black background if the image was already in place! I know myself too well)

- at that point I added the striped JOY pieces to the gold die cut. I later realised that I could have die cut the letters into the main gold part then inset the striped letters - but they look fine as they are, IMHO

- added the completed panel to the card front, using thin sticky strips 

- finally, dug out the last of my stash of Mai Flowers small adhesive pearls and added some teeny ones to the tips of some of the firtree bits

- went and had a lie down in a darkened room with a wet flannel over my face

I made two cards the same and have enough snippets in the pad to make a third one. However, this is one of those die sets that I might only ever use the once. I don't know what it is about Spellbinder dies but I've found the same with others in their more intricate sets. Sometimes, no matter HOW hard you faff around, the little pieces you pop on (the poinsettias are particularly bad) just won't line up onto the main die cut. Turning them round and round just made me dizzy until my head hurt. How hard can it be to actually do some precision design and production work? I found the same with their beautiful Christmas Reindeer set a few weeks ago. Sizzix dies can be very complicated, but I always feel that the alignment is really precise so it's worth the pain. Grrrr. Hops down from soap box, sorry to be a 'Moaning Minnie'!

I'd like to enter this card into:

Darnell's NBUS Challenge#68 - the Spellbinders 'JOY' set of dies was having a first outing, at long last!

Also Allsorts Challenge 806 - where the theme is 'Christmas'

I'm so happy that Allsorts will be a fortnightly challenge from December 20th. It's one of my favourite challenges and this gives me more time to make an entry to fit their chosen theme - although one can still enter under 'Anything goes'

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley continues to find and settle into some of the smallest spaces around the house. We now refer to the shower room off our bedroom as 'Dudley's Office' without thinking twice about it. I'll start charging him rent if I find him setting up a desk and laptop in there - small business or not - pun sort of intended! During the early hours of Thursday morning Len was woken up by someone beside the bed on his hind legs with his paws on the bed, ready to tap him awake. Seeing the anxious little face, he knew something was afoot and they both shot downstairs into the garden, where Dudley was promptly sick. Bless his little heart for asking to go out!! Bad me, I slept soundly though it all! He was absolutely fine when it was 'get up, it's a new day' time so we have no idea what that was about. 

We have a new Challenge #493 being run by our lovely Sarn over HERE! Do please come and play - no doubt there will still be some gooodies left over from the Halloween 'trick or treating' haul in the tree house! When I saw Sarn trundling a wheel barrow full of Halloween treats I did wonder however we'd ever get though them all. So far, they're going down just fine and dandy!

Love from myself and Dudley, 

Sunday Snippets - 'Merry Merry' Christmas cards

My snippets card(s) today use some Penny Black Stickeroos that I'd already popped onto some gold pearlescent snippets. In the end I trimmed the gold off altogether, leaving just the images - and I made four cards in total, two of each design/image:

I used:

- white card blank, trimmed to 5.5" x 4.25", side opening

- a piece of green backing paper, which is covered in little pine tree branches, from the Honey Bee 'Make It Merry' paper pad - trimmed to just an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card itself

- glued the background paper to the caerd front using Collall glue

- then die cut the corner sentiment using a NBUS die (found on eBay recently) called 'Merry Merry' from the Corner Concepts range by Die-Versions - I think the whole range is now discontinued, sigh. The card I used came from a whole bundle of snippets, tucked into a Tonic packet of pearlescent card called 'Red Velvet' 

- glued the sentiment onto the top left corner of the Penny Black Stickeroo image (both designs came from the 'Woodland Splendor' sheets - somehow I had two sheets!

 

- final step was to add the whole panel to the card front, using narrow strips of thin foam tape - finished!

NB The cards and images are exactly rectangular - I just wasn't positioned centrally to take the photos so they appear to taper off a bit at the right hand end!

I'd like to enter the first card, with the birdie on, into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #68 - HERE -  the 'Merry Merry' die was having a first outing

- Allsorts Challenge #805- HERE -  the theme is 'Magic of the Season' ie. Christmas 

Dudley Pupdate: We had quite a change of direction  on Halloween this year! Although we had everything ready - we actually left our hallway in darkness and just lurked! Len was remotely operating all the lights etc. IF anyone did decide to call. However,  not one single person came to the door. It might seem a lot of trouble for nothing but it actually achieved the aim, which was to see if people would bypass houses that weren't decorated, something that is always publicised around here as being the polite thing to do. In recent years the kids have been getting older (and greedier) and we decided to see if we call time on what was becoming much less fun than it used to be. So, little Dudley was fed earlier than usual that evening, much to his delight. His world seems to revolve around food and cuddles - oddly enough, he really has to be coaxed out for walkies. Other dogs I've known used to go scatty just at the sight of their lead!

Remember, the results from Challenge #491 are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Do come and play with us in the Snippets Playground - the Tree House is loaded with leftover Halloween goodies! Some of the spooky eyeballs have popping candy in - not tried one of those yet!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Sunday Snippets - Triptych Nativity

Here's my snippets card for this week:

I used:

- pale ivory linen card, die cut using a Studio Light 'StencilSL253' die, scored and folded to make the triptych card

- used snippets of Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card as the 'framing layer' on each panel. cut using a die from the same Studio Light set then glued in place

- the Nativity scenes are from a Crafters Companion paper pad calle 'O Holy Night' - the papers have a scene on one side and toning pattern on the reverse. That meant I could juggle exactly where I wanted the cenre panel to be die cut from the scenic side - then use the reverse of a further sheet of the same colour and design 6" x 6" paper to die cut the side panels

- glued the side panels in place

- finally, added the sentiments, die cut from snippets of pale ivory linen card and also Tonic Pearlescent 'Majestic Gold' card. The sentiment dies are Poppy Stamps 'Noel Snowflake' - with the snowflake portion not die cut - and what my storage file index says is 'Peace Circle' by MFT - I've had it for ages and something makes me doubt it's by MFT. So it could be Memory Box or Poppy Stamps - anyone know?

I made four cards in the same design, just using different papers - all still with a central Nativity scene and toning papers from the reverse of a sheet of paper exactly the same. When the cards are folded, the 'peace circle' is the 'front' portion and that's why I chose to make it bolder by adding in the 'waste' from Tonic gold cuts of the same die. I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

- Darnell's NBUS challenge #65 - HERE - the 'Peace Circle' die had its first outing

- Allsorts Challenge #793/4 HERE - under the 'Anything goes' option

Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is/was quietly delighted that recently the temperatures have been more bearable - although they are poised to rise once again I see. I had to apply his monthly flea and worm prevention liquid in a stripe down his shoulders where he can't reach it the other day. We had the usual 'Sand Dancer cum Seven Veils' performance from 'his Nibs' needless to say, as I made sure he had an extra thorough brush and comb out, even though he's got a short puppy cut.

I (and Len when he's trimming) find we have to play sneaky with him. He turns his back, so I work on his plume of a tail, he whips back round to face me with a glare, so I dive in with a brush or comb to do his front paws and legs, so he stands up like a boxing hare - and I race in and tackle his tummy, chest and (ahem) personal areas! He falls flat on his front with nose pressed against my chesticles.  so I tackle his back - and so it goes on. Oy Vey - what a workout. We're both exhausted afterwards. If anyone's seen the film Edward Scissorhands sequence where he cuts the hair of several neighbours - that's me, hands, arms and tools flying as fast as possible. I just need Edward's pure white face and we're away!

It's Saturday evening and across the landing I can see him cosied up to Len on our bed, ready for an early night. But, always with one eye open ............ in case there might be treats on the horizon!

Remember, the results from Challenge #485  are now published in the Snippets Playground HERE. 

Hope to see you on the swings for the current challenge as that runs for almost another week. The number of entries is extremely low so far - perhaps folk are on holiday and so on? I know that three sets of neighbours around us are all off on Summer cruises - not all together, I hasten to add!

Love as always, Dudley and yours truly,

Rudolph Days Challenge - February 2024

Helen Nile has stepped up and taken over the Rudolph Days Challenge - hooray, well done Helen! And many thanks to Maureen (Scrappy Mo) and her DT for running it for so long.

I decided to try to get a bit further ahead with my 2024 Christmas card making and did an 'assembly line' run of 10 cards, same basic design, a mixture of various sentiments  - and 10 different Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' ready printed images:

This card, using an image from 'Winter views' is my entry for the current Rudolph Days Challenge - HERE.

I'd also like to add it into Darnell's NBUS Challenge # 58 HERE - the sentiment stamp sets were having a first outing

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white linen card base, folded to be either tall tent style or side opening, on the short side

- used pieces of the white linen card left from cutting the card bases to die cut rectangles using a Lil'Inkers 'Stitched Rectangles' die

- used snippets of Tonic Pearlescent card in 'Majestic Gold' and 'Luna Silver' to cut rectangles to just add a narrow 'frame' around the outside of the stitched white layer

- stamped a sentiment onto each of the Penny Black 'Masterpieces made easy' images using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink and stamps from two small Penny Black sets called 'song of peace' and 'winter vibes'. The sentiments are a little different to usual Christmas ones and there are times when I do need Christmas cards with more thoughtful messages and sentiments 

- assembly time!  Glued the images to the stitched white linen card rectangles, then glued the pearlescent pearlescent layer to the back of each stiched/image layer

- used very narrow double sided foam tape to stick around all four sides of the back of the completed front panels

- used a glue stick to allow some movement room and then adhered the completed panels onto the card blanks 

- 10 Christmas cards, finished!

This is another one of the cards, very typically Penny Black as you can see:

And here are the other eight cards - for my own records as much as anything:

I'm such a greedy little Piglet - I've bought every single set of Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' over the years they've been producing them. They're rather addictive and I still have a bunch of unused ones to play with!

Both the hedgehog images came from the 'adorable amour' set and the rest came from five different sets - I won't list them but Buddly Crafts are a UK stockist and all images can be seen on their website. I do recommend them, for their stock of USA craft items, decent prices and great service! Click the link - I dare you! 😂

Decoupage donkeys!

I made another Katy Sue image 2023 Christmas card which was hand delivered to a friend who loves horses. I thought these donkeys were really cute, even though they aren't exactly show jumpers:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- a backing piece of Tonic 'Firestone Red' mirror card 

- then the decoupaged image - the dark line above the robin shows the shadow from one of the umpteen layers 

- the double layered sentiment in 'Firestone Red' mirror card was made using a Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' die

- final touch was a 'stamp' on the envelope, from the same Katy Sue decoupage set

I'm posting these on here for the record - this next Christmas I may do it all again and just make sure that different friends receive different cards. Me not totally daft! 

Baby deer decoupage

I really had such a lovely time making up a bunch of Katy Sue decoupage images, for cards to be hand delivered to some of our neighbours. This card was given to a lovely couple - partly as the gentle deer reminds me somewhat of Yvonne. My nickname for her equally nice husband is 'Billy the Fish'. He's a keen fisherman - sea trips mostly (barf!) and he often trots around giving away his 'catch'. I've made a umpteen potato topped fish pies, courtesy of his generosity. I learnt to always have some frozen prawns in the freezer, in expectation of a delivery!

So, here's Yvonne and Billy's card:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- a backing piece of Tonic's mirror card in 'Rose Platinum' - cut to just a little bigger than the image itself. It looks silver, but is the prettiest shade of pale pink in real life

- the image had been assembled by 'moi' using thin sticky pads, glossed over with glue stick for a little bit of wiggle room - and then I just added it to the card, using Collall All Purpose glue

- the double layered sentiment in 'Rose Platinum' mirror card was made using my cherished Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' die

- final touch was a 'stamp' on the envelope, from the same Katy Sue decoupage set

I would like to enter this card into the current Allsorts Challenge #760/1 HERE. The theme is 'cold and ice' - or anything goes.  I think that a snow scene is cold enough? Brrrrrrrrr!

Speaking of cold, a lot of the central South of the UK has had power cuts today (Tuesday 2nd January) due to Storm Henk and Hampshire was hard hit. We were in the midst of it and at one point there were 181 areas affected - including us. Thank goodness for engineers who were obviously out in the thick of it, switching supplies to try and provide a continuous service, whilst they repaired the faults.

Hope you all had a good beginning to 2024 - and that it's a brilliant year for all of you.  Dudley seconds that too!

Sunday Snippets and some teeny Christmas cards

There's a new Challenge being run by Sarn, over in the Snippets Playground HERE. We do hope you manage to find time to come and play! It's a busy time for most of us, but a little break to relax and craft often renews those energy cells!

I had a couple of NBUS dies which had been waiting for ages to step out and be used - and this is one of the cards I made:

I used:

- 3.75" x 3.75" square white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of the same white card, which was then die cut using a Penny Black 'snowflake stitch frames' die before being glued onto the card front - leaving a narrow border around the edge

- to add the backing to the tags I would be die cutting a bit later required a bit of pondering here but in the end I adhered the patterned snippet to some 'Stick It' sheet then backed that with some fairly lightweight white card (I made a whole batch of eight at once so in fact if wasn't as fiddly as you might think)

- the snippets of patterned paper came from two of my favourite LOTV paper pads 'Frosty Christmas' and 'Krafty Christmas' - I never ever throw out LOTV snippets!

- then drew around the outline of the tag die before trimming it to just slightly smaller then the outer edge - about .25" all round

- that left me with a tag shaped piece of reinforced LOTV paper on top of which I could then glue the die cut tag with the word 'Joy' across the middle

- then die cut a tag twice, using more white snippets, before gluing them together for dimension. The die is by Poppystamps called 'Joy Tag' - it's been around since 2016 so is most likely discontinued and knowing me I'll have picked it up on clearance!

- finished!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #57 HERE xxx. The dies I used were both having their first outing.

Also, Christmas Kickstart Challenge #81 HERE - where this the theme is 'If it's Christmassy, link it up'.

Dudley Pupdate:  Len gave Dudley a pretty thorough trim earlier in the week. He looks rather shorn and so small that it's like having a puppy back! 

I've said before that he always does a sand dance around the top of the grooming table to make life more fun/awkward. It's funny to watch but no fun to try and grapple with him and do the trimming at the same time! I think both Len as well as Dudley were exhausted at the end of the session!

The past couple of nights I've found Dudley pressed right up against me so I pop one arm out of the duvet and just cradle him in the crook of my arm holding him close. I don't think he's actually cold, he's just aware that his coat has had a thorough trim! By the time Christmas arrives his coat will have already sprouted beautifully.

With love from Dudley and myself, 

Sunday Snippets and a twinkling star

My snippets card for today is almost a direct steal from Chrissie Stokes over on YouTube - I already had a snippet of silver glitter paper handy and the star shaped die just 'happened' to fall into an online shopping basket! Such a sparkly outcome:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening

- piece of the same white card, trimmed to 5.25" x 4" then a star shaped aperture die cut using a Creative Expressions die called 'Aurora Star'  

- I then followed Chrissie's method to the letter and flipped the aperture panel over before sticking strips of narrow foam tape to each side of the star points as well as just inside the outer edges of the panel 

- stripped off all the backing from the foam tape then ran a glue stick over all the exposed adhesive surfaces, to allow some 'wiggle room' when doing the next steps

- added the trimmed down piece of non-shed sparkly silver glitter card behind the star itself, flipped the panel over and then adhered it onto the card front - BTW, the silver sparkle card is absolutely pure silver - utterly gorgeous. 

- final touch was a sentiment, die cut from the little piece of leftover silver glitter card as well as from plain white card as a backing layer

- layered the two together and glued the sentiment in place at the bottom right of the card, using a glue pen

- and of course, the die I used for the sentiment is my favourite Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas'. At the moment I keep mine on the top of a small magnetic 'Surprise' box, which sits on my desk to stop me from losing small dies whilst working. Yup, another idea from Chrissie!

- finished!

A couple of things about the card. First of all, huge thanks to Chrissie for all the inspiration (and 'spend enabling'!) over on YouTube. This is the link to her channel - Val, myself, Brenda L, also pretty sure Darnell is .............. and no doubt quite a few of you are - already subscribed (which is free, it's just another term for following). I really loved making today's snippets card and the result is nothing short of stunning IMHO - all thanks to Chrissie and the idea of lifting the star aperture panel away from the main card itself. 

Foam tape - Chrissie uses Stix2 products and her roll of very narrow foam tape is mahoosive when new! I can't do wrestling whilst crafting - but a little search some while ago turned up some really great, very narrow self adhesive foam strips on Amazon. Here's the link if you feel tempted - they will probably last you for years!  

Card bases - I mostly use a stock of Craft UK 5.75" x 5.75" square card blanks to use 'as is' and  for trimming down to USA A2, plus various smaller square card, sizes. Over time, I've found that it's not necessarily the cheapest option - but it works for me as the card is so robust, pre-scored and a decent shade of white. For top layers, where water or alcohol isn't involved in the colouring - I will often use part of another (same range) card blank.The card will take a stamping directly onto it in any ink BTW, so it's really good to hold onto snippet strips. Then you can stamp your sentiment ....... either directly onto the card base - or do it onto the snippet and then die cut or trim down to suit. And of course the white strips are also super for die cutting a second sentiment to reinforce the top layer, coloured or not. I do have a variety of larger sizes from the same range.

Sarn has posted the results of Challenge #467 over in the Snippets Playground HERE. As ever, there are some great choices as 'Picks' - and a lucky prize draw winner too! 

Dudley Pupdate: I'm typing this late on Friday afternoon and, as he so often is, Dudley is curled up underneath my desk ......... doing his best to have a sneaky lick of my feet. Len has begun to put up some of the outdoor Christmas lights - and it's incredible how Dudley almost hops around in excitement when the boxes come down from the loft. It's probably the one place inside the house that he hasn't explored, so he possibly thinks that's where all the 'magical' stuff lives!

There's still one week of the current challenge left to run! Check underneath this post, make a card and come and play with us. I'm sure some of you will still be rushing to make those final Christmas cards so check those snippets! There's a decent chance to win a nice prize if you join in the draw. 

With love from Dudley and myself,

Ho, ho, ho!

I recently saw Chrissie Stokes over on YouTube using a great 'HoHoHo' die and after a bit of sleuthing, found one the same being sold by Ali Express - as a bonus it actually comes with a second version as well. Then I wanted a die set to cut Santa's face, but in the end cheated and bought some ready made toppers from a lady on Etsy. The thought of all that fiddly assembling for the run of six cards I planned to make was certainly the deciding factor! 

Here's one of the cards:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening

- piece of Craft Perfect/Tonic 'Inca Gold' Mirror Card - trimmed to 5.25" x 4" and glued onto the card front

- a piece of the same white card embossed using Kaisercraft's 'Holly' embossing folder and trimmed to 5" x 3.75" then glued onto the the gold mirror card layer

- I'd already sat here one evening and made up a whole bunch of the 'HoHoHo' sentiments to use up a load of snippets - layered each one onto the same die cut only in white for additional stability 

- glued a gold 'HoHoHo' sentiment onto the bottom part of the card

- then added a ready made Santa using thin sticky pads, finished!

I made three gold and three silver ones and my sentiments on the whole batch of cards were made using snippets. As always, metallic card is a hard one to capture in a photo. The toppers all have a hole in the design so can also be used as gift tags.

Speaking of metallic card, it's impossible to find more of some of the Craft Perfect/Tonic range of mirror card - anywhere online. Notably 'Inca Gold' and also 'Firestone Red'. They've been on back order for ages now - just hope that Tonic aren't winding down their mirror card range!

I'd like to add this card into Darnell's NBUS challenge #56 HERE.

Also, into the current Allsorts Challenge 'Christmas Time' HERE. 

Sunday Snippets - Penny Black Christmas cards

I rustled up a pretty quick batch of Christmas cards, using some Penny Black 'Masterpieces made Easy' toppers, along with their fabulous 'Stick and Shine' stickers and foils:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, all side opening

- die cut the 'frames' from snippet of white card using a die from the Avery Elle 'Postage Stamp' set of dies - cut eight to layer them for more dimension

- glued the frames together and set then aside

- dug out two gold and also two silver mirri card snippets, which I trimmed to fit just underneath where the white frames would sit

- glued the mirri card panels onto the card fronts then glued the white 'postage stamp frames' on top of them

- already had the chosen Penny Black Masterpieces Made Easy images set to one side and I knew that I wanted two to have gold borders of mirri card and the other two to have silver borders

- time for the sentiments to be added and I used some NBUS Penny Black sentiments from their Stick & Shine 'Xmas Classics' set of sentiments - one at a time - then rubbed Penny Black Gold/Silver 'Metallic Foil' over the top as I went

- added a couple of snowflakes to the 'robins' image then rubbed more silver foil on the top

- glued the image panels onto the already assembled cards - done! 

Four more Christmas cards added to the very healthy pile!

The 'Masterpieces' are printed on linen effect card, but the 'Stick and Shine' still worked great. Basically, it's like the old 'rub-ons' we used to love, only you're left with a clear sticky surface ready to adhere the foil. That sticky surface is why I foiled as I went of course, can be tricky to align straight and 'just where you want them' unless you have the right light and never fiddle with them once they touch the card! Ask me how I know this?! But, as always, nigh on impossible to get the gorgeous bright shine to show up well in a photo!

The images came from three different 'Masterpieces made Easy' sets, two from 'Reflections', one from 'Across the Miles' and one from 'Snowy Sensation'.

As it was a first outing for the Stick and Shine sentiments, I'd like to enter this into Darnell's current NBUS Challenge #56 HERE. 

The results of Snippets Challenge #466 are over on the Snippets Playground HERE.

Dudley Pupdate: I was woken up at around 6am the other morning, when it felt as if a little herd of  Mountain Goats with pointed hooves were tripping all over my shin bones - ouch! Yup, it was Dudley on our bed, trying to get up close and personal with me for a cuddle. He got his cuddle but oh boy, that did hurt! How can a small dog exert such pressure through his little legs legs?

There's still one week of the current Snippets Challenge to go, hope to see you in the Playground soon if you haven't played already - make a card, come and play. Look for the post just before this one. 

Love, as always, from Dudley and myself, 

Penny Black Masterpieces for fast cards

The other day I made five cards in one batch bake for Christmas 2023, using some of the huge stack of Penny Black 'Masterpieces Made Easy' toppers I have here, no two are the same I might add:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blanks, all side opening

- each card then had a scalloped layer of white card glued on top, die cut from the same white card stock, using the largest die from the Taylored Expressions'Petite Scallop Rectangle Stacklets' set of dies 

- left the Penny Black toppers at their full size for this particular run of cards and trimmed suitable card stock to be a narrow backing for the images

- then mounted the images onto pieces of flat, thin and cut narrower craft foam before gluing all the layered on to the card itself

- final touch was the double layered sentiments, which I'd worked out and also made a pot full of beforehand. Using my current favourite Tonic Studios 'Mini Moments Merry Christmas' die of course 

- the toppers came from the following sets of Penny Black Masterpieces, left to right and top to bottom: 'Icy Winds',' Reflections', 'Critters Cuddles', 'Across the Miles' and finally 'Christmas time'.

Out of interest, Penny Black have brought out at least two new Christmas 'Masterpieces' topper sets. They aren't exactly a cheap addition to a card, but I feel they're worth it for speed and possible impact! IMHO of course.

Christmas decoupage and some challenges!

I recently posted a set of decoupaged  'robin Christmas cards' on here - and it reminded me of what a gentle and relaxing technique it is. 

I then spotted someone selling, in a FB 'Decluttering Group', a huge (24!) Christmas bundle of Katy Sue's die cut Christmas decoupage sheets. I've assembled a few images and really love them. This is the first completed card:

I used:

- 6" x 6" square white scalloped card blank, made by Craftwork Cards - it's years since I used a scalloped card and have fallen in love with them all over again - just as well as I have a box full of them in various sizes!

- decoupage sheet called 'Bear with Snowman' from the Katy Sue 'Christmas decoupage bundle' 

- popped out all the pieces, keeping them in their respective layers - snipping off the little 'pips' of card where they'd been attached to the whole sheet as I went

- and this is where things almost went askew (to put it politely) - I usually use thin snipped up sticky pads for the assembly process - but had a wild idea that Pinflair silicone glue for decoupage would be quicker and even cheaper and so had ordered some from Amazon

- I really love the end result but almost gave up in despair partway through - that stuff is sticky and oily at the same time and I hated using it!

- layered the completed decoupage panel, using Collall glue, onto a 5.5" x 5.5" square piece of Tonic 'Firestone Red' mirri card - having run a silver calligraphy pen around the edges of both the image panel and the red mirri card 

- then glued the whole panel onto the front of the card

- added a little tag which also came in the decoupage sheet, having also run a silver calligraphy pen right around the edge - I added the label using thin sticky pads as by then the silicone glue had been given its marching orders - amazing how quickly the tube goes down as well - not a money OR time saver

- before sticking the tag to the image panel I made a dinky little bow using red metallic cord and glued it onto the tag using a tiny drop of 'Glossy Accents', which I'd weighted down using a thick very heavy old acrylic stamping block to let it dry and not make a leap for freedom!

- finished off by adding a couple of the 'extras' including a border strip from the decoupage sheet to the envelope - not something I usually think of doing but am always impressed when others decorate their envelopes!

So, my big lesson was that silicone glue and I do NOT get along well together - it took ages to clean up my glass mat as well as any tool that had come near the stuff - thank goodness for  having a bottle of 'Sticky Stuff Remover'!

Another thing I realised was that some of the topmost layers on the few images I've assembled so far are too small and fiddly to add without jeopardising the look of the whole  thing. So I just glue those flat onto the topmost layer using a glue pen. I'm referring to really teeny, tiny pieces - and it doesn't spoil the 3D effect in any way.

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #78 'Chillin' with my Snowmies'

Darnell's NBUS Challenge #54 - the whole set of decoupage sheets was my NBUS item 

Rudolph Days Challenge for September  

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #77 - 'Just Elfin' Around' - Reminder

Jumping in with a reminder that we're halfway through the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge with Jo's reminder post HERE . It's one of my favourite challenges and always a pleasure to join in with the fun. The current theme is 'Just Elfin' Around'' - ie. one or more elves on a Christmas card of course!

I made two very similar cards, just switched the colours around a bit:

I used: 

- A6 size white card blank, tent style

- image from MFT's 'Christmas sELFies' stamp set, stamped using VersaFine Clair 'Nocturne' ink

- coloured the image using Polychromos pencils plus a little tickle of clear 'Wink of Stella' on the ornament as well as the jaunty little bell on the elf's hat (he's my absolute favourite in the whole set of stamps to be honest!) 

- the backing papers are from what's left of two well loved LOTV Christmas paper pads, die cut with a die by Heffy Doodle from their 'Stitched A6 rectangles' set  

- then die cut a backing layer from the white card which had the image stamped on it, using the same Heffy Doodle die

- things got a little bit 'tricky woo' as it might have been better not to die cut the outline of the backing layer until later on - but no matter, this little ship steamed merrily on, 'toot, toot' on the horn!

- so, I die cut the aperture around the image using the perfectly fitting MFT 'Selfie Square' die on top - into the stitched edge piece of white card, thereby releasing the image ............. and sat pondering my next move for ages as this was 'recovery from potential disaster' time!

- then a little light came on and I taped the white card (removable tape!) complete with aperture on top of the patterned paper and nestled the 'Selfie Square' die into the aperture then die cut it. Bingo, they lined up - success!

- I now had two matching 'frames' which I glued together then glued them onto the card front before losing the plot

- and all that was left was to pop the waste square of patterned paper onto the back of the die cut image to even up the levels, and glue them into the aperture!

- sorry that was so convoluted but I needed to write it here for my own future reference as a way of only die cutting one layer at a time to end up with this card - I needed a lie down afterwards! And Dudley cuddled up for 40 Winks as well!

Many thanks once again to Jo for inviting me to be a Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and I'd really love it if you would come along and join in with the challenge - this is the LINK to the Challenge post itself. It's still open until the end of the month, so you have plenty of time to come and play - we need more of you!!.

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #77 - 'Elves'

I'm back as Dotty Jo's guest designer for the month of August - over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge - HERE!  As always, it's a joy to be asked and I do love sticking to a theme - especially when it's a Christmas one.

This time, it's 'Elves' and I had the perfect set of dies, waiting in one of my NBUS baskets for its first outing! Perfick timing.

This is the result:

I used: 

- A6 white card blank, side opening

- a snippet of white card, embossed using the Crafts-Too 'Merry Christmas' embossing folder - then trimmed to leave an eighth of an inch margin around all sides 

- glued the embossed panel onto the card front

- die cut the 'elf' from two layers of black card and glued them together for stability - the dies on the card are all from the Sizzix Tim Holtz 'Santa's Helper' set of dies

- glued the elf at his jaunty angle onto the card front - using a glue pen

- then the fun began! I sat with a pile of red, green and gold snippets, my mini Altenew die cutting machine - and almost went crazy working out 'which die did what' to make the Christmas presents but I succeeded in the end. The trick, at least it works for me, is to cut and assemble ONE present at a time - it takes longer but is a lot less confusing - and also to add a further layer of card behind the main part for both stability and dimension 

- glued the presents and their ribbons together individually as I progressed until I had them all lined up in front of me ready to roll. At that point I discovered I was missing the fully assembled flat shaped present - it was like a man-hunt in here. I'd just swept the little scraps into the waste bin so had to up-end that for a search. Then, I suddenly wondered if I'd accidentally cleared it away with the tiny scraps of unused double sided sticky pads I'd been working with to prepare the presents for sticking onto the card front - and there it was leering at me through the poly bagl Big sigh of relief here

- so the final steps were to add the presents to the front of the card then glue the huge bow onto the top present - using two snippets of thin foam pads on top of one another to bring the level of the top of the bow up to the same as the present box itself

Many thanks to Jo for inviting me to be a Guest Designer over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge and I'd really love it if you would come along and join in with the challenge - this is the LINK. It's open until the end of the month so you have plenty of time.

I'd also like to enter this card into Darnell's current NBUS #53 challenge for August - HERE. The 'Santa's Helper' set of dies are my NBUS - and they might well remain as 'almost NBUS' for the foreseeable future too!