Christmas

I haven't had much time for blogging these past couple of weeks so while I'm relaxing with a glass of bubbly I thought I'd quickly blog a few Christmas cards before the year is out.  These for the final 3 cards I made (on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning!) for my hubby, my Mum and Aunt.

The first one is one of my favourite Uptown Girls from Stamping Bella coloured with copics, a little (poor) inking around the image some DP and some words cut on my silhouette and stuck on.  I finished the girl with puffy foam and then decided to cut the shape and discovered that puffy foam squashes quite badly in your die cut machine!  On a good note, if you scrape it place again with a ball tool, it does re-puff a little......  The shoes got the same treatment but I coloured it with copics once puffed.

These two both feature super cute digi images from Wee stamps.  I picked the snow fairy for my Mum who loves birds.  I picked the other one for my Aunt as she looks after our cat when we go away.

Both were coloured with copics with more words cut on silhouette - finished with glossy accents and some Christmas bling.

My first big publication

This week's challenge at Less is More is the perfect opportunity to share a card I made over 6 months ago which I will be giving to my DH for our Anniversary next month which is the theme at LIM this week http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/week-98-anniversary.html

 

I haven't been able to share it before though as it was accepted for publication in the latest issue of Paper Crafts magazine in the States.  I was soooooo excited when I got my "happy mail" email letting me know my submission was accepted - I'm sure they heard me scream across the Atlantic.  This is the magazine, and here's the cropped page showing my card with the new graphic showing I'm a first time designer :-D    When it landed on my doorstep and I flicked through to find my entry I had another little scream - needless to say the grin just keeps on growing.............

Very simple design using one MFT stamp set with some tiny gems, some glitter paper and a PTI die cut heart which was layered up to make a dimensional piece before being covered in glossy accents.  As it was for a fella I paired the glitter and gems with newsprint and kraft cardstock to give it an overall masculine feel and tone done the bling ;-)

CASology gift

The cue word at CASology this week is gift and it made me think of one of my favourite Christmas stamps so I had a play  http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/week-23-gift.html

I'm not sure where the little elf is from now as I didn't label it but I just love him.  Simply stamped and coloured with copics for glossy accents on his glasses and flower soft for the fur trim.  The sentiment is from There She Goes embossed in white onto the red base card.

CASology Sparkles

I had a quick play with the CASology cue word this week - which is sparkles - but for the life of me I can't get the sparkle to show up in my photo.

 

You'll just have to take my word for the fact that those little dark dots are actually beautifully sparkling little pale green gems :-(  I just added them to a simply stamped star wreath from Stamps by Chloe which was stamped in pool party ink.

I'm entering it into the following challenges:

 http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/week-22-sparkle.html

http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/12-week-49-christmas-is-coming.html

Little trees all in a row....

This week it's a return to one layer week at Less is More and the challenge is to have a row of something on your card http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/one-layer-week-97.html

I have a thing for Christmas trees - my hubby comments whenever I pick up a new Christmas tree stamp that I should really use more of the ones I already have - so I've had a go this week with 3 different 4" square cards all featuring a row of trees!

This tiny stamp is from a mixed clear sentiment set (sorry don't know which one) and I just stamped it with gumball green ink in between some scored lines - uber CAS.

These trees are from a set by Kirsty Wiseman - again just stamped in gumball green on top of scored lines which I masked off so I could get the trees at different heights.  The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Compliments of the Season stamped in real red.

This final one is my favourite - I'd love to have topiary trees decorate outside my door.  This one is actually not trees at all though - I made the trees using bauble stamps from Stampendous (Damask Season).  I stamped them upside down in gumball green again and then carefully inked up the "metal" top that the baubles should dangle off using brown ink taking care not to get any on the actual hanging loop and then the top became a perfect plant pot on the bottom ;-)  Same sentiment as before and then I just finished off by colouring the holly berries using a sakura glitter pen in red stardust.

I should have been out making a dent in my Christmas shopping today but I am gripped by a virus I just can't shake so I'm going back for a lay down now.  Catch you all later.

Less is More with Red and Green

I've really not had much time to play again this week but I did catch the latest LIM challenge on Saturday and made something which ended up in the bin, then tried again and got a so-so result which I'll share below and then finally I made something properly CAS that I actually like!

This is my so-so - inkylicious Christmas tree swirl glitter embossed in green on kraft and then I used an embossing pen to emboss over the star details so I could emboss them again in red glitter.  Finished with washi tape sentiment.

This is the one I like (well in fact I love it and have made a set of 6 as I still need more Christmas cards this year - I've made tonnes all year but still not enough!).  Very quick, simple and purely CAS.  The door is a die cut (memory box) and the wreath I cut from DCWV sticky backed card on my cameo (very easy to replicate a design in studio to print a lot across your card strip)  The box is from the same shape set cut from paper and then I decorated the wreath with small red gems.  The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse stamped onto a ribbon die (Simon Says Stamps) and then the door is popped up on dimensional foam to allow definition from the white background.

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/week-96-colour-challenge.html