Flourishes Winter Bouquet

I found some of the most gorgeous, traditional stamps from Flourishes in the US and was delighted when I received them a couple of months ago.
I have already made a card with the Dove and Holly Set recently and this is the second one I have done with flourishes clear polymer stamps and have to say they are beautifully detailed and the artwork is stunning, so they are worth every cent spent on them.
This one I chose as a Christmas card, but would also be great for a winter birthday too!
the green mount is made with spellbinders lacey squares and the colouring with twinkling H2O's.

Blue and white snowman

here's one to show you which I made with an image from PC Crafter from a set called Cold hands warm heart found here.

Used an EK Success punch called Swiss cheese cos it reminded me of snowflakes falling, and also embossed the white with a cuttlebug folder after embossing.

The Snowflakes are made with a cuttlebug die called snowflake#2
the sentiment stamp is second hand and has no name on it unfortunately.

and some more Christmas ones

..some more cards to share with you for my favourite time of year, made this week. I love Christmas, cos I get to use copious amounts of glitter and / or stickles and polar white flowersoft and I LOVE that!

So I have three in one post to show, and there will be more next week provided that the mojo is flowing in the next couple of days!

The first is a snow scene card, which stamp I used on a smaller square one a few weeks ago here. I cant see the name on the stamp but its from Anita's range and is from 2002 (I bought it second hand on ebay)

I coloured the imge with twinkling H2O's and embossed the bottom with a cuttlebug border folder and then added a sentiment which was embossed onto the blue pearlescent card using Purple Gerbil (see link on right hand side bar to ebay shop) white titanium embossing powder.. glittered with stickles and aded some flowersoft to finish..
PS the image is stamped in stone grey stazon, not black, so its a little softer!

This one is in red and white, one of my favourite traditional Christmas colour combinations, is made using a Lily of the Valley stamp, new out this year.
Partial cuttlebug embossing on this one around the image, and more glitter stickles and a cuttlebug snowflake die used for the flakes, and coloured in twinkling H20's again.
I used brilliance moonlight white pigment ink to ink around the red bit on the sentiment.

The last one is a Victorian image from a Joanna Sheen CD and the backing paper on the card is just made for this image I think - if you want to buy this digi paper, then hop over to Bearly Mine Designs, where you can purchase it from Donna as a set called Christmas Joy here.

Kilkenny Hurling card

a HUGE thanks to Di from Di's Digi Downloads, that I was able to make a card which turned out really well considering the image is just purrfect! (sorry couldnt resist that he he!!)
this card is a bit of a comiseration for a Kilkenny Cats fan..
and if you like / following hurling matches, and know what happened this year, you will know what its all about...!

I hope you like it Richard and I hope the Cats win next year!

Tina Wenke Colour themed card

here's a different card .. its a Tina Wenke stamped Birthday card for a 90th Birthday but it Offaly colours - green, white and gold.
The embossing is done with a cuttlebug folder (a bit predictable but I love embossing..) and I have used nestabilities to cut the appertures and sentiments parts - the edging on the green is done with scalloped edged scissors.
the paint used to colour the image is twinkling H2O's again and I added gold gems to finish off the sentiment as a tiny bit of stickles added to the image.
the gold doesnt show up very well on the picture, it came out a bit dark, so glad it turned out better than the pic in RL!

Di's Digi Snowbabes Sleighride Card

Awwww this is such a cutie, I couldn't wait to layer and get colouring when I saw it.

Di thanks for more superb Christmas images, andyou can buy this image here on Di's Digi Downloads blog.

I printed the image on slightly thinner smooth white cards, around 180 gsm and then used partial cutlebug embossing to emboss areound the image which was coloured with Twinkling H2O's.
Brilliance moonlight white pigment ink takes a while to dry BUT is worth the wait as it gives a lovely white edge on matt or pearlescent card and I added pearls and stickles and flowersoft for snow and sparkle!
The scallops are made with a stampin up punch.

more Christmas cards

.. couple more christmas makes to show you all, hope you like them... internet slow to upload these for some reason?!

these couple of cards are very traditional and simple in design, but I like them all the same.
The first is a nativity card which is in white and navy (I did one last year in cream and navy and like both colour schemes now)
the image is coloured with twinkling H2O's and the punching is an EK sucess deep edger punch which does not like heavy card so it was very hard work.

The sentiment stamp is an old one I bought second hand as is from Hero Arts and the image is an Inkadinkado Stamp.

The next card is made with a Joanna Sheen CD called Victorian Christmas (the image and the backing paper are from the CD).
I used Craft Creations Gloss coated paper to print on - its cheaper than photo paper and doesnt disintegrate on the edges when you use a craft knife, is easier to cut the detail AND its not too glossy and easy to curl (PS Craft Creations say you need to see what printer you have to see if its compatible with that paper - check out their forum for more info)

The berries are made with glue gun dew drops coloured with melon colour alcohol inks and the snowflake is cut from a nestabilities die, the greenery is a McGill fine fern punch.

thats all for now!

Special Lily of the Valley Christmas Card

I have to make start on my Christmas cards, and nowhere better than the extra special ones, so here's one for parents.
Its a stamp I got from Lily of the Valley called Bringing Gifts and layered up well so it belongs in a box which can be decorated or used to actually post the card in.
The card stock on the card front was embossed with a cuttlebug folder and the blue layer cut with scallop edge scissors.. lots of stickles and flower soft too!
The snowflakes are from a cuttlebug die with three different flakes on it - I have used it time and time again and can recommend it.
The colouring was done with my favourite medium, twinkling H2O's!


The picture isn't great cos my camera batteries were low, but there's a closeup below:


If you look carefully, you can see the metal bells that tinkle when you shake them and also the strung pearls which is my newly found favourite embellishment at the moment so expect to see some more projects with those pearls on them!

Baby Decoupage Cards

just a couple of cards to show you layered in decoupage onto gingham paper... the decoupage prints were from Craft Creations and the soothers I found on ebay ages ago!

Making it with Meslyn Christmas Critter Challenge

Sorry I havent posted very much but RL been busy and not feeling the greatest, so only one card to show you for our monthly Meslyn Challenge and the good news is there is ANOTHER £10 voucher up for grabs!!


So when I got the goody bag a few weeks ago I just couldnt wait to use this little frog, he is so cheery and festive, and the bright lime green colour is just gorgeous, so it ended up being an easel card and I used the die cut decoupage and also a tag for the inside - these items are from Pepper and Friends..

the papers were from Card making downloads / Scrapbooking mad and the punch is a fiskars border / corner one.

here are some closeup pics to show you the detail and the glittering / layering.

Join in the Challenge, have some fun and get those Christmas cards made!