Christmas Cheer



It's unfortunate I dont have any Cat's Pajamas Christmas stamps to work with, but this birthday one seems to work okay on this Christmas card! The papers are from Carta Bella's Christmas Day collection, and I stamped the image on the papers too, so I could cut out the presents and stick them over the image. I coloured the bunny with copic markers.

Stamps: Birthday Bunny (The Cats Pajamas), Sweets of the Season (Flourishes)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz), Copic Markers

Cardstock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin up), Neenah Solar White

Paper: Christmas Day (Carta Bella)

Accessories: Prima flower, Spotlight Lace, Hemptique twine, Bag O Buttons buttons, Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, Stampin Up scallop border punch

A Very Merry Christmas To You

So I decided to go a little out of my comfort zone for this card. I usually always do very traditional colours on my cards, Whites, creams, deep reds, and dark greens. But I thought I'd have a go at something bright. What do you think! The papers are from Kaisercraft and I cut a large circle out and added dazzling diamonds to the edge all the way round, and used Stampin Up ribbon to turn it into a bauble. I ended up making 5 of these, and on the last one, my sewing machine broke, the needle snapped and the whole thing jammed. So it's the last sewing I'll be doing for a while :( Maybe I'll have to ask Santa for a new one this Christmas ;)

Stamps: Stampin Up (unknown set)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Pink Pirouette (Stampin Up)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler,

Papers: Mint Twist (Kaisercraft)

Accessories: Spotlight lace and buttons, We Are Memory Keepers floss, Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, Stampin Up ribbon, Stampin Up scallop edge punch, sewing machine

From Our House To Yours

I can't seem to make a Christmas card without one of these Christmas trees on it! Oh how I long for the new Verve Holiday Greetings stamp set for a little variety. It's a bit late to get it to use on Cards for this year, but I will definitly have it for next year! In the meantime, with a mixture of forest moss ink and dazzling diamonds permanently on my fingers from these tress, I bring you this latest Christmas card. Gotta be one of my faves. With my sewing machine out of action, I used a white gel pen to add detail to the border and around the circle. The papers are from Simple Stories' Handmade Holiday.

Stamps: Poinsettia Christmas, Winter Tree (Verve)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Forest Moss (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Kraft, Basic Black (Stampin Up)

Papers: Handmade Holiday

Accessories: Spotlight lace, Bag O Buttons buttons, Stampin Up linen thread, dazzling diamonds, white gel pen

Christmas Blessings

With all the green Christmas trees I've been doing, I decided to go neutral on this one. I inked it with Old Paper ink and added some dazzling diamonds. I used the gorgeous Handmade Holiday papers from Simple Stories, and Verve's Christmas Blessings stamp. I found it really hard to sew around the oval (much more difficult than circles!), if anyone has any tricks, let me know!

Stamps: Christmas Blessings, Winter Tree (Verve)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White (Stampin Up)

Papers: Handmade Holiday (Simple Stories)

Accessories: Spotlight lace, Stampin Up button, Hemptique twine, Verve pennant trim die, MFT Stacking stars die, Stampin Up dazzling diamonds, Spellbinders oval and petite scallop oval, sewing machine 

Birthday Surprise Set

So I really needed a mental break from the Christmas cards so decided to tackle the Mojo Monday 266 sketch (the top card), albeit, a little late! I do love a sketch with lots of layers :) And I couldn't stop at one card. I loved the colours and papers I used so I decided to make a set of 3. I used two stamp sets - Verve's Birthday Surprise, and My Mind's Eye's Blubell (from The Sweetest Thing collection). I think they match perfectly! Papers are My Mind's Eye also.

Stamps: Birthday Surprise (Verve), The Sweetest Thing Bluebell (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Really Rust (Stampin Up)

Papers: Indie Chic Ginger (My Mind's Eye)

Accessories: Prima flowers, Spotlight lace, We Are Memory Keepers twine, Stampin Up buttons, Bag O Buttons buttons, Spellbinders label die, Sewing machine

Merry Christmas

Hi there! Sorry for the blog break I've had. It's so hard this time of year to keep up with all my to do's. I'm finally getting on track making all my Christmas cards though which is great because it's still November! Yay! This one I have for you today is one I made with some offcuts from other cards. Then when I went to sew on it, the needles snapped in half on my sewing machine! I wasn't having a good night. Needless to say, I had to cover up that sewing issue, but I do really like how it all turned out. The papers are from Simple Stories' Handmade Holiday collection. I love kraft colours, and to have it in a Christmas collection is great! I pieced some offcuts together and layered them on some olive cardstock and cut the frame from Spellbinders antique frames die. I used a white gel pen around the kraft circle, and yes, that's another one of the Verve Christmas trees. 

Stamps: Merry Christmas (Inkadinkado)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper & Forest Moss (Tim Holtz), Always Artichoke (Stampin Up) 

Cardstock: Whisper White, Kraft, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin Up)

Paper: Handmade Holiday (Simple Stories)

Accessories: Spotlight buttons and lace, Prima flower, Stampin Up dazzling diamonds, Spellbinders antique frame die, White gel pen

Merry Christmas

I love this Christmas trees stamp from Verve, which I only ordered earlier this year, so I'm super excited I'm finally getting to use it! This is the first card I'm making with it, but I know I'm not going to be able to resist doing more. I have so many ideas! The ones on this card are sponged with Forest Moss ink, then Always Artichoke ink on the tips. I used dazzling diamonds on each zig zag level. This sketch is for Vival La Verve Week 4, and I promise that the dotted paper is in two separate pieces, like in the sketch, I just happened to put the circle over the top.

Stamps: Merry Christmas (Inkadinkado)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Early Espresso, Always Artichoke (Stampin Up), Forest Moss (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso (Stampin Up)

Paper: Home For Christmas (Fancy Pants)

Accessories: Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, MFT double scallop border, Spotlight buttons, sewing machine

A Very Merry Christmas To You!

While on my holiday a couple of weeks ago, I just happened to stumble accross a craft fair :) I took my 2 and 1/2 year old to the beach in the morning so he would be too tired to walk around the fair, so I popped him in the pram and he slept the entire time I was there! That meant for some serious shopping :)

I bought some chipboard reindeers from a stall by Scrapmatts. I had the intention of using it on a scrapbook page, but couldn't resist putting it on one of my Christmas cards. This sketch was perfect for it! 

I sponged the chipboard with Old Paper ink, to make it a bit darker and "golden." The ribbon on the card was tied around a 6 x 6 paper pad I bought from the fair, so I'm unsure of it's brand. Stampin Up perhaps? Needless to say, I kept it and it's getting used :) The papers are from one of my favourite Christmas collections this year - Christmas Day, by Carta Bella.

Stamps: Stampin Up (unknown set)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Christmas day (Carta Bella)
Accessories: Ribbon (unknown), Spellbinders oval and scallop oval, Stampin Up oval punch, Bag O buttons buttons, Ranger liquid pearls, sewing machine

Viva La Verve - Week 5

I'm a bit out of order, but this is my take on the Viva La Verve Week 5 sketch. I've come to the conclusion that I can't do clean and simple, this card is about as simple as I could make it! I used papers from Fancy Pants' Home For Christmas collection. The stamp is Penny Black from 2010 - and I just happen to be using it for the first time! I coloured it in with copic markers. I used a hint of dazzling diamonds on the owls hat, and sponged around the sentiment tag with old paper ink.

Stamps: Wise Wishes (Penny Black)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)

Papers: Home For Christmas (Fancy Pants)

Accessories: Spotlight lace, Spellbinders label die, Bag of Buttons buttons, sewing machine

Merry and Bright - Viva La Verve Week 2

I'm running a bit behind on my Viva La Verve sketches this month, luckily it's a 5 weeker! And I've sat and stared at this sketch for ages couldn't come up with an idea. But I have challenged myself to complete every sketch making a Christmas card until all my Christmas cards are done. I'm making multiples of anything I have the products to replicate! So I turned the sketch sideways, and used 3 Christmas baubles I cut out of some old Fancy Pants paper as the 3 embellishments. I used dazzling diamonds around the sentiment.

Stamps: Sweets of the Season (Flourishes)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black

Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)

Paper: Christmas Magic (Fancy Pants)

Accessories: Spotlight lace, Stampin Up dazzling diamonds, Bag of buttons buttons, DMC cotton perle, sewing machine

Wish

Here is another set of cards I made, inspired by an earlier card (the middle one - scroll down to see that post). I just love these papers from Fancy Pant's The Good Life collection. After seeing them, I must admit, that I felt like giving scrapbooking a try again! I thought the colours would be perfect for a page on my son! While I procrastinate about that, I made these two cards to match that bike one. Here's a close up.

I think the one on the right would be a great neutral birthday card, for a boy or girl! A good one to keep in my stash :) I used copic markers to colour the bunnies, very lightly, including the cakes. I thought the papers were quite bold so didn't want to colour too bright!

Stamps: A Girl and Her Cake, Forget About The Cake, Wheel Love, Birthday Bunny (The Cat's Pjamas)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White
Papers: The Good Life (Fancy Pants)
Accessories: Button flowers die, Cloud border die (The Cat's Pjamas), Mini Pennant die, jumbo scallop die (My Favourite Things), Stampin Up heart punch, Spellbinders circle, scallop circle, oval, scallop oval, scallop square, Bag of Buttons buttons, Stampin Up scallop edge punch, We are Memory Keeperws floss, sewing machine, dimensionals

Enjoy Your Day

Hi! It's been a while since I've been able to blog, as I've been on a holiday to visit my gran for her 92nd birthday! She is doing well, still living by herself, and I love seeing her! While I was there, I visited a couple of the local craft stores, and went a little nuts buying up a whole heap of new products! Especially 6 x 6 pads! So I have a so many new papers to show you! Onto this card though! I made it before I left for my holiday, but am only just getting around to uploading it now. And just in time too! It's for Verve's World Card Making Day Challenge, which closes tomorrow! I used a stamp from the Big Wish stamp set. Papers are from My Mind's Eye. The inspiration for the card came from a card I made a while ago, and I ended up making a third card to make it a set of 3! (See photo's below).  

Stamps: Big Wish (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Grey (Stampin Up)
Papers: Honey (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Stampin Up button, Bag O Buttons buttons, Prima flower, Spotlight lace, We are Memory Keepers floss, Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, sewing machine

Hello Baby!

A friend of mine, is having a baby girl in a few weeks, and I wanted to make her a special card and matching gift tag for her present. And I'm so pleased with how it turned out. She loves doilies and lace, so I couldn't help but overloaded both the card and tag with both! 
There's LOTS of layering, and it took me an age to put together! I used papers from My Mind's Eye Be Happy collection. The Spellbinders tag die is from their original Fancy Tags set, which I had in  my upstairs cupboard ready to sell next swap and sell day at my local scrapbook store! I have all the other tag sets but they were all too big to use! Needless to say, this tag die has made it's way back into my craft room for good :)

Stamps: Hello Baby (Flourishes)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers (E01, E02, E93)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up), neenah Solar White, Bazzill
Papers: Be Happy (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Spellbinders circle and tag, Packaging Direct doilie, Bag o Buttons buttons, Spotlight lace, Ranger liquid pearls, sewing machine


Hello again! Before I posted this, I was inspired to make a boy version of my girl set above. My sister's baby is due soon, and my mum think's she'll have a boy, so I made this with her in mind. I'm not sure if she'll have a baby shower, but I wanted to try an invitation and card to make it a little different to the set above. 

I don't have a huge collection of copic markers, so I couldn't quite match my colouring to the Be Amazing paper I used, but I think it turned out ok. I did the same triple layering on both here, although it's a little hard to see on the invitation, and lots of sewing.

Stamps: Inviting (Stampin Up), Hello Baby (Flourishes)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers (BG11, BG13)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up), neenah Solar White
Papers: Be Amazing (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Spellbinders tag, MFT stacking stars die, Packaging Direct doilie, Bag o Buttons buttons, Spotlight lace, sewing machine

Time To Celebrate - Girl or Boy?

My husband and I have a 38th birthday dinner to go to tomorrow, and as hard as I find cards for men in this age group, I still continue to make them for our friends. However, as it turns out, I probably won't give this one to him, as after finishing it, it seems a bit on the girly side? What do you think?
Anyway, about the card....I used papers from Echo Park's For the Record 2 Documented. Although the white circle is from For the Record 2 Tailored. Just didn't have enough paper left to match in the Documented pad. I cut diamonds from the same paper as the half circle to add them to the top right corner and a kraft button from Stampin Up. 

Stamps: Big Wish, Birthday Bash (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Kraft (Stampin Up)
Papers: For The Record 2 Documented (Echo Park)
Accessories: Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, Stampin Up button and twine

Happy Birthday - Viva La Verve

It's October 6th, and that's WORLD CARDMAKING DAY! Yay! I'm so happy to be involved in this wonderful world of papercrafting. It's a great place to be :)
Now, you wouldn't think that looking at the first sketch of the month for Viva La Verve October, that it would be all that difficult, but I really struggled with what to do with the long rectangle in the middle of the circle. Everything I did just looked weird! Finally, I came up with the idea to hide it as much as possible! Lol! I used papers from Echo Park's Sweet Day collection. The two banners are actually hand cut from one of those papers!

Stamps: Party Time, Big Wish (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Pink Pirouette (Stampin Up)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Sweet Day (Echo Park)
Accessories: Spellbinders circle, scallop circle and banner dies, Bag O Buttons buttons, Spotlight lace, sewing machine

Mojo 260 - A Bit Late!

So I finally got around to making a card for Mojo Monday 260! I had every intention of making it earlier in the week, but the days just got away from me, and here I am posting it on the following Monday! Why is it that holidays are always busier than your regular wekks!
Anyway, about my card! These cool papers are from Fancy Pants' The Good Life collection. I don't do a lot of scrapbooking, but when I saw this collection, it made me want to make a page of my son! Don't know when I'll get around to it, but the bug has hit me again, so I've bought a few 12x12 collections in case I feel the urge one day :)
The stamp is from The Cat's Pajamas. I coloured it in with Copic markers and cut it out with a craft knife. The clouds are white cardstock layered on vellum and sewed.

Stamps: I Wheelie Love You (The Cat's Pajamas)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White
Papers: The Good Life (Fancy Pants)
Accessories: Spellbinders circle and scallop square, MFT jumbo scallop border, TCP cloud border, Stampin up heart punch, We are Memory Keepers floss, Foof-a-la buttons, sewing machine

As Special As You Are

These gorgeous papers are from My Mind's Eye Six by Six Meadow collection. They have beautiful floral and leaf patterns that can work so well in a card with minimal accessories!! I added some of my favourite lace, and used my pennant trim die from verve to cut two pennants for the top left. I shaded around the circle with old paper ink.

Stamps: Birthday Surprise (Verve)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Meadow (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Prima flower, Stampin Up button, Stampin Up linen thread, Spotlight lace, Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, Verve pennant trim die

Birthday Wishes

I'm not great with my camera.....yet. I'm still learning, and I think it shows in this photo! It's a little bit dark. Sorry! Hope you can look past that and see the second card I made with my birthday free time :) I used papers from My Mind's Eye Lavender collection. More new Verve here too - the Pennant Trim die is so adorable, and I'm going to get a good use out of it! Saves me cutting out my little banners now!

Stamps: Forget About The Cake (The Cat's pajamas), Borderline, Joyful Blooms (Verve)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers

Cardstock: Whisper White, Rose Red (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White

Papers: Lavender (My Mind's Eye)

Accessories: Verve Pennant Trim die, Kaisercraft pearls, Packaging Direct doilie, Sewing machine

Happy Birthday To You

Hi! And happy Monday! It's my birthday today, and one gift I've been given from my husband, is a few hours of "me time," which I chose to use to make cards! Of Course! I started with the Viva La Verve CAS sketch for September, and I have to say, it's probably the toughest sketch I've had to do! I really struggled with it. I had to change a few things in it, but finally came up with this card. I used lots of new Verve too :) It's a bit dark in the photo, but the flower and scallop border are actually brown. 

Stamps: Birthday To You, Borderline, Thatched Banner (Verve)

Ink: Early Espresso (Stampin Up), Old Paper (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Very Vanilla (Stampin Up)

Papers: Dilly Dally (My Mind's Eye)

Accessories: Prima Flower, Stampin Up scallop border punch, We are Memory Keepers floss, Spellbinders circle 

Birthday Wishes - Mojo 259

Hi there! Julee from Verve has a great sketch for us this week! Check it out HERE. On my card, I used my favourite collection from My Mind's Eye's last release, Bluebell. I stamped doilies (from MME Cutie Pie stamp set) in Old Paper ink on the grid paper in the background, and sponged the edges. I also sponged the petals of the flower. Behind the flower, is a frame and larger flower image that I cut from the corner of another piece of Bluebell paper. The birthday stamp is from Verve's new Borderline stamp set. And you can't see it too well in the photo, but I sewed around the edges of the background paper and floral paper.

TIP:  I'm not sure if anyone else does this or not, but I often cut any circles I need on the card from the middle of one of the background layers, which is obviously covered up. That way, I don't have to use another piece of paper!

Stamps: Borderline (Verve), Cutie Pie - Lavender (My Minds Eye)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White
Papers: Bluebell (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Kaisercraft flower, Kaisercraft pearls, Packaging Direct doilie, Spellbinders circle, sewing machine

Simply Wonderful - Viva La Verve

Ok, so I bought these Prima papers loving all the cute pink, peach and black designs, but every time I went to use them, I just couldn't get a good combination and would give up! But the Week 3 Viva La Verve sketch sparked an idea! The papers have some gorgeous floral designs on them, and so I cut some of the flowers and leaves out to pop up with some dimensionals, and got out my much loved, but very much under-used Polka Dot Greetings set, from My Favourite Things. Once again, I used my favourite lace - and I really did try other options though! I used Stampin Up markers for shading around the circle.

Stamps: Polka Dot Greetings (My Favourite Things)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Apricot Apeal & Blush Blossom markers (Stampin Up)
Cardtsock: Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin Up)
Papers: Rondelle (Prima)
Accessories: Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, Spotlight lace, sewing machine, dimensionals

Fabulous Birthday - Mojo 258

 Hi there! Today's card is for Verve's Mojo Monday 258. I had these papers out on my desk and originally planned them for something else, but decided to use them for this sketch. I had to add the square panel behind the circle because the blue strips clashed too much with the yellow backgroud, but after a bit of sewing and distressing, I think it turned out well. The gorgeous flower is a VERY old Prima flower, which I lightly sponged with Old Paper ink. The circle is also sponged with that ink.

Stamps: Birthday Surprise (Verve)
Ink: Night Of Navy (Stampin Up), Old Paper (Tim Holtz)
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Bluebell (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Bag O Buttons buttons, Prima Flower, Stampin Up linene thread, Spellbinders circle and scallop circle, Spotlight lace, Tim Holtz edge distressor, sewing machine, dimensionals

Viva La Verve Week 2

Oh boy this sketch stumped me! (Viva La Verve Sep Wk 2) I just couldn't come up with anything I was happy with! But as I rumaged through my flowers, I saw a packet of old grey prima flowers that I hadn't opened. So I found some papers to match and here it is! I've been sewing a lot on my cards lately so I wanted to give that a miss on that one - which was very hard I might add! So as a replacement, I added some lace to the floral panels which I think looks adorable! The flower had some glitter on it which I didn't like, so i roughly painted it with white acrylic paint. 

Stamps: Big Wish (Verve)
Ink: Basic Grey (Stampin Up)
Cardstoock: Whisper White, Basic Grey (Stampin Up)
Papers: Honey (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Prima flower, We are Memory Keepers grey floss, Spotlight lace, Kaisercraft white acrylic paint
   

Viva La Verve September Week 1!

I'm super excited to be making cards for Viva La Verve again! After missing the last two months, I'll have them in nice and quick this month! I love sketches with circles on them, because they give me the opportunity to use a doily! And although you can't see much of this one, I couldn't resist adding it! The papers are from Echo Park For The Record 2, Tailored. The image is from the Flourishes set, Zinnia's, and is coloured with copic markers. I sponged the edges of that with Old Paper ink, as well as, very lightly, the edges of the two small circles with the script writing. 

Stamps: Wordy Birds (Verve)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Old Paper (Tim Holtz), Copic markers

Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up), Neenah Solar White

Papers: For The Record 2, Tailored (Echo Park)

Accessories: We Are Memory Keepers floss, Bag of Buttons buttons, doily (packaging direct), Spotlight lace, Spellbinders circles, dimensionals, sewing machine

Birthday Wishes

I made cupcakes today - for no reason at all :) Just felt like a cupcake kind of a day! And so I decided to make a cupcake card with similar colours to the ones I made. Inspiration truly is everywhere!! The pretty papers are from My Mind's Eye's Tangerine collection. I coloured the image with copic markers, although it's on regular cardstock so the blending is not the best! The lace I used on this card is from a local store here in Australia (Spotlight), and I use it on so many of my cards - I'm a little obsessed with it at the moment. I must buy more!!!

Stamps: Cupcakes (Hero Arts)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Cardstock: Whisper White (Stampin Up)
Papers: Tangerine (My Mind's Eye)
Accessories: Foof-a-la buttons, Stampin Up taffeta ribbon, Spotlight lace, dimensionals, sewing machine