Not to waste anymore of this precious day...enjoy it, spend time with your families and maybe get a little crafty? I'm gonna try to sneak some time in later this afternoon after the day slows down a bit!
Thank you all again for all of your support!
Merry Christmas to all of you that have visited, shared and been inspired from my page! I appreciate all of the visits, shares and attention that has been brought my way! This blog started almost a year ago as a creative outlet for my crazy, crafty life! I'm so very thankful to have all of you to share my journey!
Not to waste anymore of this precious day...enjoy it, spend time with your families and maybe get a little crafty? I'm gonna try to sneak some time in later this afternoon after the day slows down a bit! Thank you all again for all of your support!
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Today is the day! Today is the last day of my 12 Days of Christmas Card countdown! The time has flown by and it's even closer to Christmas! But don't worry, there is still time to make and send those cards, get those treat bags and boxes decorated and make some handmade ornaments!
I have really enjoyed my time creating and showing off my designs! This countdown has forced me to step outside my comfort zone and even expand on some techniques that I was already familiar with. I hope I have been able to inspire you to create your own card...even if it's just one card! Handmade cards can be just as beautiful, if not more so that store bought. Today's card is a sort of culmination of designs. I used many techniques in creating this card. I used many different techniques such as heat embossing, dry embossing, stamping, paper punches, paper piecing, and bow making (which I'm still trying to master). The main focus of this card was created entirely by me using all of these techniques and pieced together to create one larger piece. This card originally started out as a white and red, peppermint themed card, but as you can see, it ended up being what I would consider as a grown up sugar coated candy card...and I couldn't be any more pleased with the results! And besides...the brown makes me think of chocolate; so I guess it could be a chocolate peppermint card! Now, I want some. How to make this card: 1. Create cardstock base. Mat with two different colors; each one 1/4" smaller than the previous. Make sure that you dry emboss the top mat prior to adhering. I left the bottom of the top mat smooth so that I could stamp my sentiment later. Wrap ribbon where the dry embossing stops and adhere with adhesive of your choice. 2. Trim a small paper doily, almost in half, and adhere just at the top of the ribbon. Place rhinestone swirls just under the doily so that they appear as they are behind and coming out from behind. Take a glue pen and rub on the rhinestones, being careful to avoid the cardstock under them. Sprinkle with very fine white glitter. The ultra fine white glitter is key to giving your punched pieces the sugar coated effect. You will run glue over all of your punched pieces that you wish to coat. 3. I punched out my snowflakes and leaves, both using Martha Stewart punches from previous posts and glittered them. My peppermints were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with red glitter embossing powder. I ran a glue pen over the white areas and sprinkled with the same ultra fine white glitter to give them a sugared look, also. 4. After you have all of your pieces punched out and glittered, arrange them how you like and adhere them together to create one large focal point for your card. Adhere to your base. 5. Stamp your sentiment in the smooth area below your ribbon. Stamp with Versamark and heat emboss with white embossing powder. It is true that time does fly when you're having fun! I can't believe that we are already at the second-to-last card in the countdown. I really hope that everyone has enjoyed looking at all of my designs and that I've been able to inspire at least one person. This is another card that breaks me out of my usual card routine. I'm not normally a fan of gold but I notice a lot of it in trends this year. Take inspiration from things around you, such as fashion, pinterest...almost everywhere! I bought this stamp set and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it; I tried coloring it and wasn't happy with the results and then it hit me out of the blue today...gold!
My Metallic Holiday Card also reminds us of something that can be overlooked many times....the inside of the card! I chose to do only design on the outside and stamp my sentiment in the same gold emboss on the inside rather than outside. This is a great way to put something on the inside and not have to worry about what to write. Just stamp, sign and go! Well, let's get to it! How to make this card: 1. Cut your white cardstock base and fold. 2. Cut your gold metallic cardstock and mat with white cardstock. Adhere these to your base. Using thin, gold ribbon, wind around the middle of your matted section several times. Spread out your ribbon that goes the sides and gather in the middle. This will give your ribbon less of a bunched up appearance and more the effect of a bow. 3. Stamp your image with Versamark and heat emboss with gold embossing powder. Cut around image with very sharp scissors. Adhere image to card using foam adhesive dots. 4. To finish off your card; stamp your sentiment on the inside using Versamark and heat emboss with gold embossing powder. I chose to stamp mine in the bottom corner. Who says that it always has to be in the middle? But place yours where your little heart sees fit. I can't believe that my countdown is almost over already! I'm having so much fun showing off so many different cards, styles and techniques. This countdown has made me really branch out my creativity. I've had the opportunity to use new products, try some new techniques and even some that I thought I wouldn't like or be good at. Where am I going with this? Well, it's today's card that I'm really breaking out of my creative mold. This piece has a large picture on the front that required more coloring that I am usually comfortable with but I am really please with the end result.
Today's card would make a great choice for a more masculine card or just a break from the usual snowmen, snowflakes, gingerbread, etc but still has the all the Christmas feel. While this card may seem difficult, it really isn't. The car and tree are colored with watercolor pencils. They are very forgiving and give you an uneven, watercolor look to your image. I don't like the streaky look of conventional markers and copic markers can be an expensive purchase. Let's get to it! How to make it.... 1. Cut your cardstock base, create your fold and mat with piece of coordinating cardstock. 2. Stamp your image on white cardstock. To make coloring easier and to prevent bleeding from your blending marker; stamp with Versamark and heat emboss your image with black embossing powder. If you don't have these items or don't feel like embossing; simply be careful and don't spend too much time on the image itself with your blender pen so the ink won't bleed. 3. Color your image with watercolor pencils; blending with a blender marker. To create lighter shades and less visible pencil strokes, color a small spot on another piece of scrap cardstock, dip your blender in that and color as such. Unless you need a darker color saturation, this is how I prefer to color most of my images. To finish your image; dab glue over your ornaments and sprinkle with red glitter. Because...what is Christmas without some sparkle?!?! 4. Adhere your image to your cardstock base; making sure you leave space to stamp and heat emboss your sentiment under your image. 5. To finish; place three brads on the right top corner. This simple trick lets you fill in a bit of space without being too overpowering. Lastly, tie a coordinating ribbon on! Today's card features a super simple and clean design. This is a great card for a beginner to start their cardmaking adventure. This design only requires two colors of cardstock, 1 color of ink and embossing powder and Versamark if you choose to heat emboss the sentiment.
This card came about from a design I found on Pinterest using just white and silver. I love the simplicity of them and they go great with snowflakes (one of my favorite-est things!). Without further ado... How to make this card: 1. Cut your base from white cardstock and create fold. Cut a small section from ribbon and tie around the top of your card; creating a bow. 2. Using a snowflake punch ( I used Martha Stewart's Alpine Snowflake punch) punch at least 2 snowflakes out and place rhinestones in the center of each, set aside for later. 3. Cut a rectangle out of silver glittered cardstock; round the edges, this will be your mat piece. Cut another rectangle out, making sure it's 1/4" small than the silver one; round the edges. 4. Stamp snowflakes in a random pattern on the white cardstock, and place rhinestones in the center of them. If you choose to heat emboss; stamp your sentiment with Versamark then heat embossing powder to create your embossed sentiment. 5. Apply one of your snowflakes to the top of your cardstock using foam dimensional dots. Adhere the white on top of the silver using foam dimensional dots. Adhere the entire matted center piece to the card base also using foam dimensional dots. 6. Lastly, adhere second snowflake to center of bow on the top of the card. My country snowflake card brings back my favorite color of this season...kraft! I love how this color adds style without being an overpowering color or taking away from anything you may use; even white! This cards uses snowflakes and the pine branch punch and combines them to give you another idea of a wintery wreath. Without using any Christmas-specific colors or theme specific symbols; this is also a great card to send anytime during winter for almost any occasion.
This card has two of my favorite must haves for this season...kraft and snowflakes! Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE (borderline obsession) snowflakes. So, let's get to it! To create this winter card... 1. Cut and fold your kraft colored cardstock base. Using a paper towel and white acrylic paint, distress the edges heavier than the inside of the card. Stamp your sentiment in one of the lower corners using Versamark and heat emboss with white embossing powder. 2. Cut a one inch strip of cardstock and punch with a border punch. I used Martha Stewart doily edge punch. Then I added dots of glue with my chisel tip glue pen and sprinkled with ultra fine white glitter. Adhere your punched and glitter strip to the top of your card. 3. Punch out several branches of white pine branches (Martha Stewart punch again) and add glue and glitter to the entire fronts of all of them. Then create a circle by gluing them in a circle, overlapping slightly. 4. Adhere snowflakes to top of branch wreath, using small foam dimensional dots. I love adding dimension to all of my cards. I feel this gives it a finished look compared to most store-purchased cards! I chose to glitter the tips of all of my snowflakes, but you could leave this step out if you choose to. I used six snowflakes in total. Next, add clear rhinestones to the middle of three of your snowflakes. To finish your wreath, tie a bow from silver ribbon and adhere to top of your wreath. 5 To finish, simply adhere wreath to your card base! Today's card features another wreath. Yes, I do love them! And double score for me...I managed to make TWO cards without and kraft colored cardstock! I know; it's a shocker for me too! But have no fear because the kraft will be back in the very near future.
There are certain symbols that many people associate with the holidays and wreaths are one of them. With a few simple supplies, these cards are easy to make and give such a great impact. Let's get to the fun part! How to make this card: 1. Cut cardstock base and fold to create your card base. Cut a mat in same color as base; round the corners and dry emboss with a dotted embossing folder. This could also be done with a stamp; heat embossed or a lightly patterned paper! Adhere to base with foam dimensional dots. Set aside until after the next step. 2. Punch several branches out of green cardstock using the Martha Stewart branch punch. To create wreath, glue each, overlapping the next in a curcular fashion, until you have a fully formed wreath. Using a paper towel and white acrylic paint, lightly distress leaves until you get something you are happy with. There is no wrong way to do this part so don't worry too much about messing it up! Adhere red rhinestones and cardinal bird (Jolee's) to card. 3. Take ribbon, wrap around top of your wreath and glue back. This will give the impression that your wreath is being hung from a door, window, etc. Adhere wreath with foam dimensional dots to your base and also adhere ribbon to base with adhesive of your choice. 4. To finish up, tie a bow using the ribbon that is hanging your wreath. Adhere about half way down the "hanger" ribbon and that's it! Firstly, my apologies for not getting yesterday's card up! I took a day to do some shopping with my other half and it ended up being and all day affair. It was nice being able to spend time together, child-free but I am certainly paying for it today! But...you now get two cards today to make up for my absence yesterday!
So, let's get to it! Today's card features a simple design in colors that don't always come to mind as a holiday combination but look great together! If you love snowmen, glitter and cute little red birds, then this may be the card for you! To make this card: 1. Cut base cardstock and creat fold. Mat printed snowman paper on top half-ish of card and be sure to round the corners to create the same look as mine. Go around the edges of your snowmen with a fine or chisel tipped glue pen and add fine white glitter to add some sparkle to your snowmen. 2. The snowflakes on the bottom were dry embossed on and a fine white glitter applied to the center of most of them. If you don't have access to a machine to dry emboss, you could heat emboss them on or even use another printed paper with snowflakes on them. OR even leave the bottom plain white. Any of these options would look great and work well with this design! 3. For the middle, I cut ribbon and adhered it. Next create a multi-looped bow to adhere to the center. For the snowflake, I used a paper punch and added glue and fine glitter all over the top, this will tie it in to the glitter on the snowflakes and snowmen. 4. To finish off your look, I added a cardinal that I had leftover from another card project (these are a multipack of Jolee's cardinals). The sentiment is part of another stamp that I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with red glitter embossing powder. I cut it out with some fine point scissors and adhere with a foam dimensional dot. Today's Christmas Card of the day is a card featuring a cabin and winter scene with coloring and 3-D snow added for texture. This technique some of you may know as a form of "spotlighting" that was popular a number of years ago. I wanted to give old life to an older technique and make it relevant for today. This works great if you aren't comfortable with coloring your entire piece or just don't feel like coloring all of it. Let's not waste anymore time and let me tell you how to make your very own! 1. First, cut out and fold your cardstock base (notice my use of kraft again. Told you I can't get enough of it...and there will definitely be more of it on the remainder of the countdown!). Next, cut a coordinating piece of printed stock or paper and mat it with a solid color, using a piece of matching ribbon over the middle of the two, this should create the nice series of stripes running the length of the card. 2. Stamp your image on another, lighter piece of coordinating cardstock. One of your images will be the base picture while the other you will need to punch out in a shape of your choice; the section you will be coloring and embellishing. 3. Color your punched scene. For mine, I used water color pencils and a blender pen. Then; using a glue pen, I added glitter to the rooftop of my cabin. Lastly for this part; I added dimensional snow using a product called "Snow Writer". It comes in a small bottle with a very pointed nozzle, allowing you to put it on very precisely. I sprinkled glitter on to my snow before it dried to give it a sparkly look also. 4. Tear or cut out your image and mount it on cardstock and mat again. After you've created all of your matted layers, adhere your embellished, punched image with a foam dimensional dot. 5. To create the poinsettia embellishment, I used one from a set of Jolee's embellishments and punched out the pine branches using the same Martha Stewart punch that we've seen already in use on other cards! Adhere these to the corner of your card and you're done! It was really difficult to get pictures that show the detail in the snow and color but I hope you can get the idea! So that is card #5! I hope everyone is enjoying seeing them as much as I do making and showing them off! Drop me a line, send me a pigeon, leave a comment, email me, you get the idea! Have an idea or suggestion or a topic that you would like to see? Let me know! Have a technique or topic that you would like a tutorial on? Let me know!
If you know someone that would like to view the 12 Days of Christmas Cards or if you have your own blog; drop me a link so I can check it out! So as always, and until tomorrow... Craft on! Today's card features only two colors and a bit of texture but not any loss of impact. If you haven't noticed by now...I am completely in love with kraft-colored cardstock! I use this color all of the time. It makes a great base color, mat choice and a great accent color. This color is very versatile. It can be used on a large variety of themes and color schemes.
Back to the card...I love this card because of it's simplicity, how easy it is to make, and because it has pearls and rhinestones. I love all things that sparkle and/or glitter. How to make this card: 1. Start by cutting your cardstock of choice to create your card base. After creating the fold in your card, wind a small diameter of twine around the top of your card several times and make a knot with 2 tails. Place 2 pearls on the bottom of one tail and 2 rhinestones on the bottom of the other. Use a sponge or paper towel and white pigment ink to go around the edges of of the card and sentiment, if desired. 2. Using at least one snowflake stamp and white pigment ink; stamp your snowflake image in a random pattern. I used two different stamps and used the smaller one to fill in smaller spaces in between the larger snowflakes. 3. Stamp your sentiment on an oval piece of cardstock with Versamark if you choose to heat emboss it. Add embossing powder and heat emboss if you choose to do so. Using a foam dimensional; adhere your sentiment over the top of a smaller, scalloped oval punched cardstock. Place pearls in the middle to finish. 4. Using the same small twine; create a multi-loop bow and adhere the pearls and rhinestones to the tail ends of the bow and adhere bow to top corner of sentiment. 5. To finish off the look; place pearls and rhinestones in the center of random snowflakes. Today's card is as promised...a card easy enough for beginners and experienced card makers, alike. For this card I used coordinating vintage style paper. This card can be made in no time; allowing you to create several if you happen to have a large list.
How to make this card: 1. Cut your base and adhere a mat that matches your coordinating paper but doesn't drown out the color too much. Go ahead and cut a small slit in the fold of the card where you will like your ribbon to go around. You can use one of your scissor blades or an exacto knife also works really well for this. 2. Create 3 small banner, each one progressively shorter than the previous. Go ahead and make a "V" shaped notch on the bottom of each one. Now adhere them to your matted base, evenly spacing them out. 3. Stamp your sentiment on the front. I used Versamark to give a watermarked look to the sentiment. To make this project more beginner-friendly; you could use a premade tag or other premade sentiment. This time of year is a great time to find tags and such to help save you time. Also a great idea if you have many cards to make! 4. Lastly, tie your coordinating ribbon, knot it and trim the ends to your desired length. Rather than give you 2 turtle doves the this second day of Christmas; I thought you may want to see another great card instead. Yesterday, I posted the card design that I will be sending out to those my mailing list, so I thought it appropriate today to show you the card that was my original idea for my cards.
This card is a take on the Autumn Door Card that I previously featured back in October...ish. This card is a great example of how you can take a look or product that you love and use it in different ways for different occasions. Personally, if I'm going to spend the money on a die (Spellbinders Edwardian Door) I want to get my money's worth and use it over and over without looking terribly repetitious. Ok...now how did I do this card? 1. I cut my base card out of simple white cardstock and layered a green mat on top, followed by dry embossing my kraft cardstock with a brick pattern by Tim Holtz. After these were layered on, I got to work on my festive little door! 2. I used my Cuttlebug to die cut the door and layered a piece of vellum behind the door to give it the appearance of frosted glass. Lastly, I put a small white brad on the door to give the appearance of a door handle. 3. For the wreath, swag and ribbon accent, I used one of my favorite punches from Martha Stewart. This is an evergreen branch punch. I had to purchase mine online as I couldn't find one at any retailers in my area. After you have a bunch of these punched out, you will glue them end to end in a circle for the wreath and end to end in opposite directions for the swag and accent. Afterwards, apply red rhinestones and small red bows to both your swag and wreath. 4. To finish up, glue a bow to the front of your evergreen embellishment and adhere the door the the base of your card with dimensional dots. As I debated which design to go with first and so on; I figured I might as well give you my Christmas card for this year. I started out not really sure what I was doing with this card other than I knew that I LOVE using the branch and leaf punches to make these wreaths! They look so classy and you can dress them for almost any season that it's hard not to fall in love with them!
How I made this card: The base is made from kraft-colored cardstock. I seriously can't get enough of this color. I have been using for everything! I think it provides a rustic look without using the standard white or black card bases. To get the white splatters on the back ground, I simply watered down some plain white acrylic paint so that it was very thin and flicked it on with my fingers and blotted it dry to get a lighter effect. The "stitching" is done with a white gel pen. I can't sew a straight line and I think this technique works great if you don't want to haul out the sewing machine! For the wreath, I punched out the leaf branches using the same punch that I used on the fall (large) wreath card and pieced them end to end with a glue pen. To get the look of snow/frost on the wreath, I waded up a piece of paper towel and dipped it in (undiluted) white acrylic paint until I had the look I wanted. The wreath is finished off with a simple white bow and some small red rhinestones. The sentiment was stamped in Versamark then heat embossed with red glitter embossing powder, stamped simply on white cardstock to help tie in the white of the bow. Before adhering the sentiment, I wound and adhered red satin ribbon and mounted the wreath and sentiment with dimensional foam dots to create some dimension. I am so UNBELIEVABLY excited to present my 12 Days of Christmas Cards that I could practically burst! I absolutely love this time of year. I've tried to figure out the reason why I love it so much but I think it is just a combination of everything that makes me love it so much. There's the baking, cooking, family time, presents, snow, decorating the tree, seeing my kids eyes light up with possibilities of the season, gift wrapping...oh my gosh I would seriously go on and on...
Keeping all of that in mind, there are so many things to do this time of year that it can be hard not to get overwhelmed with it all. So, I thought I give some tips on choosing and making your Christmas cards so that it can be a fun and stress-less event! Without delay; here are my top 5 tips for helping you choose your card design: 1. Check out your stash! Look at what you have to help you create your design. Many times we get so much stuff that we forget what we have and buy more or similar items. Doing a pre-shopping inventory will save you time and money in the long run! 2. Use coupons and sales to your advantage! Coupons and sales are aplenty this time of year and you can get many items cheaper this time of year than any other time. 3. Plan early! This is so important! You don't need any more stress this time of year and if you plan ahead early enough you can always use more coupons/sales to get what you need at a better deal! Planning and buying early can help stop those last minute trips to the craft after you've realized that you're all out of that must-have item that is probably not on sale and you've already used your coupon... 4. Set a budget! Know how much you want to spend and stick to it! This will also help you with sticking to your chosen design. Making your cards should break the bank! Also, plan for postage of your cards! 5. Choose a design that is do-able for YOU! If you are new to card making pick a simpler design that won't get you stressed or flustered. This should be a fun experience, not one that you regret! If you are more experienced, make sure that you pick a design that is do-able for the amount of cards you will need to produce. For instance, if you have a design that requires large amounts of intricate piecing or time; it would be best not to have to make 100 of those. OR you could always make a few of the more intricate cards for closer friends/family and another, less time intensive design for the rest of those on your list. Plan wisely because I'm not kidding you when I say it will save you time and a few gray hairs! Now here's my top 5 tips for creating your design... 1. Ok, now that you have your design...stick to it! Don't second guess it, don't look for other cool/new designs that might try, don't try adding new stuff. This is a budget killer and a good way to make you want to pull your hair out after you've started. Remember that at one time you loved the design for a reason...now stick to it. I say this from experience, my cards always start as one idea and usually end as something else. It's great to experiment while your choosing a design but not after you've made the plans, bought the items, etc. 2. Set aside a schedule time to work on your cards. Whether you choose to do some daily, weekly, whatever; schedule some uninterrupted time and stick to it! Pick a time that works best for you, morning, night, weekends, whatever; just stick with it. 3. Work in small batches. Most cards have more than one piece of papercrafting that will need to be adhered to make the final project. So, if you have a card that has a stamped present, a stamped sentiment and a ribbon for instance, work in batches. One day you can cut your bases and put ribbon on them. The next time you may stamp and color your presents and so on and so forth. It works much like a production line and feels more organized. 4. Repeat after me..."Fat cards cost me money!". Yup, we all love our dimensional foam dots but remember that after your cards reach a certain thickness, they will need to be sent at a higher postal rate, rather than standard stamp price (no, I don't know the price of a stamp right now..sue me :) ) If you can fit your enveloped card through the slot in your paper trimmer (about 1/4" wide), then you should be able to send it without any additional postage. One dimensional can mean the difference of .50 cents and $2.00 per card. Craft wisely! 5. Have fun! I know I shouldn't have to say this but crafting should be fun and not a chore. So put on some music, or sip some cocoa, get the family involved...you may be amazed how much they enjoy helping, or even get a group of friends together for a card making party. I've always wanted to do this! I hope some of these tips will be helpful! So, now my fun begins! Check back today for the unveiling of first of my 12 Christmas cards. Whether you're new to card making or experienced, I hope to have something for everyone. If you have your design picked out, then come on back to ooohh and aaahh! See y'all back later! Craft on! |