Christmas Workshop makes

Popping in to share makes for this month's Christmas workshops.  We are getting stuck in to all things Christmas with the option of some gift box / packaging ideas for those really special gifts!

Today's post will be about all the cards and tomorrow I will post more versions of the tall gable box and an easel drawer box. I have decided to share these before the workshop this month, which I know some of you will like LOL!

I will be updating the Links to Products page with more info on products used, dies, papers, images etc where this are still available. Just need a little time to put in all the links so please be patient :)

Without further delay then, the first project to share is a matching tag and card (good for a man as no frilly things around!) and a nice way to dress up a bottle

My previous post contains info about an offer over at Meljen's designs where Melissa has a sale until November 30th - the snowmen used on the card and tag different size digi images which come pre coloured, so super quick to make up.

And to follow is a card made with a much loved Sarah Kay Christmas image - the card is slightly narrower than A5 with different sized front panels. 

the image was coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos pencils

The inside of the card:

The next card is quite feminine and has a 'Country Christmas' feel about it - the digi elements were from Nitwit Collections Holiday Bouquet collection which I adore.  and I am addicted to this spellbinder ornament shape on this card as you might notice LOL!

the same papers used on the inside of the card as the front. The papers are subtle enough to line the card inside and still be good to write a message on..

The embossed ornament shape has a different feel embossed. Sorry the photo just doesn't do it justice - I need more practice!

Some more red - it's my favourite Christmas colour after all!!

This little bear is sooo cute... I haven't used bear images in a long while and I couldn't resist that along with lots of glittered edges...

Above shows the easel card closed and below the easel in the standing position

Muted papers for the inside too, and loads of space to write a special Christmas message..  I will post the box version of this card tomorrow ;)

So another colour combo I use often is blue and white, and I love this cornflower shade of blue especially at Christmas time. The doves were the first ever set of Flourishes stamps I bought and the stamp design is simply stunning.

Lots of die cuts and embossing on this one!

Coloured with pencils again (note to self - paints and markers are being neglected..)

Some new snowflake dies from Marianne D..

Used those sentiment Stamps from The Snowman released by Crafters Companion - fabulous sentiment selection for all of your Christmas cards in one pack. Below is how the card will look closed...

Also note the different pressure used embossing the front of the card and the inside with the same embossing folder - the versatility of the Jus Cutz machine is fantastic and no shims used!

Last but not least is a card  using the Spellbinder ornament die - yep the shape lends itself to so many things, including using with stamps which don't specifically fit the die, like the Angel Trail one from Inkadinkado used below:

This card has white embossing powder heat embossed on purple card, dry embossed snowflake corners and stenciling (the die used as a stencil for stamping the image and for using the distress ink.

Will be back tomorrow with the boxes

Sarah Kay Vintage Christmas

It's no secret that I like using blue and brown as a colour scheme, like pink and green I just love the way the colours work well and decided to use the cornflower blue and chocolate brown colour again, along with pencil colouring.

For this card, I used brown and blue pearls from Cottage Crafts Jean's range, which you can find here, and my new Spellbinders ironwork motif, along with papers from Bearly Mine designs digi pack, which is called Festive Fun.

This ironwork die looks great with lots of pearls!

Here is another version of the card which is slightly different, using different papers and with the paper edges stamped using Lili of the Valley's Grunge Corners polymer and Grunge Christmas Postmarks polymer stamps.

The paper is from Craft Creations, and you can find it here.

The inside of the card, to match the front, and below some images of the layering and texture.

I coloured this one with Twinkling H2O's, so a different feel again with the same image.

Hope this post got you feeling all Christmassy and festive!

more crackers and cards

So here are the all the colours made so far, as promised, original tutorial found here.

...and some more Christmas cards to show you!

I am making one more embossed design this Christmas, so only one more Christmas to show in next couple of days and then I can start thinking of other themes, and in the meantime these are the last of the more elaborate ones:

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a robin, and this one is a cute stamp from Inkadinkadoo. I used a cuttlebug border to emboss the berries and branches and a Martha Stewart corner border combo punch set for the top; coloured with twinkling H2O's and stickles added to make some sparkle.

Gold never photographs or scans well so apologies for the photos, the colour scheme was brown gold red and cream.

... and a side on view to show the layering with foam pads and apertures cut with nestabilities.

this next card is a real cutie!

The stamp is from Serendipity Stamps Inc and the number 1128qcl Seal.

There was minimal colouring in this one, as the stamp just says it all!
The lacey circles and centre diamond shaped die cuts are from Nestabilities dies called Fleur de lys and lacey squares.
The paper is from Craft creations found here (snowflakes on white)

and here is a close-up, so you can see I added lots and lots of stickles!!

The next card is a forever friends one and I still love using these images, especially the Christmas ones.

I used two cuttlebug embossing folders in this one, the holly one for the background and the bubble one to emboss the brown circle for the pudding.

to make the pudding:

• cut a cream and brown circle the same size, and emboss the brown one.
• draw custard drips on the cream one and cut out the 'topping' part, ink the edges with a pale biscuit colour and glitter it with stickles gold ice,
• after which you can glue to the brown circle,
• add holly leaves cut out of funky foam and gems or dew drops for the berries.

The last card is a Sarah Kay one, also make with a nestabilities die called Snowflake border, and the stamp is called Noel Joy.
the embossing is done with a cuttlebug folder, used twice on an A5 piece of card, and the image is also coloured with twinkling H2O's and glittered.

here is a close-up showing where I added stickles to the embossed frame as well.

Workshop cards

so here are the workshop cards from yesterday, sorry its a bit late posting, but I was a little tired after the day we had, and just wanted to relax last night.

...this time there are only 5 cards, because we also made a gorgeous layout with help from a very talented scrapbooker called Charmaine - check out Char's blog here!

I still want to do the welded lettering on my robo today, so my LO wont be posted til later or tomorrow! I can see me doing a lot more of them now too. We also had the opportunity to see Char's cricit in action (okay much easier to use than my robo!!) and so everyone was able to personalise their layout at the workshop too, and I am sure this will be the first of many workshops where we can do layouts.

So here are the cards, most had an autumnal feel and I wanted to do some final birthday ones before we head into the halloween and christmas themed projects.

A window card using one of Tracey's Emma images from Fred She Said (these are available in black and white to resize and print, and you can ask for your own sentiment as well as getting the digi kit with general or blank signs OR as pre coloured ones)

some detailed photos from the side so you can see window which was made by cutting the aperture with nestabilities as well as the acetate and frames with nestabilities too, decorating with punched flowers and card candy.

The dea of where the flowers and figure are placed, means you can hide the sentiment or writing inside the card, and still have the window effect without the need for a tri fold card .. hope that makes sense..


two more mens cards this time:

I decided to use an image I have been longing to use for ages now!! also from Fred She said... and also available as pre coloured or black and white digi images!
We decoupaged the precoloured images and did lots of layering with nestabilities dies.
The embossing on the bottom was done with a cuttlebug border embossing folder on pearlised cardstock, so it shows up really well.


The next one has an autumnal feel with the apples and the colours. I found this stamp on ebay and I think its an old PSX one which is retired, just love the PSX images they are very detailed and are just so nostalgic.

We used big n juicy ink pads and a brayer to colour the leaf border which was cut (two strips) using an EK success border punch - nice and messy but great fun, and then we coloured and layered some more!

The next one was made using some of the new lacey circle nestabilities dies, which I cant wait to use again and again on my christmas cards, and some quickutz and spellbinders autumn leaf dies, as well as the spellbinders fancy tags labels (again! I love those so much) and a magnolia tilda stamp.


the stamping was done using two stamps, and a masking technique:

• stamp the tilda onto card stock and onto thin paper
• cut out the paper version
• use the paper tilda to cover the stamped cardstock version
• and finally stamp the bench over that
• the end result is the fugure sitting on the bench

...the leaves were arranged and threaded throught the lacey squares...

our final card was using a Sarah Kay stamp and also embossed the sentiment in gold embossing powder on the red apple die cut (the die cut is from cuttlekids die from provocraft)


most of the cards in the workshop have been coloured with twinkling H2O's with the exception of the tilda one, which was ocloured using the pencil crayon / sansodor technique.

I hope you enjoyed popping by and email or leave me a comment if you want to know about any of the matyerials or techniques used!

Special Christmas

Here is a special Mom and Dad card - I saw this stamp last weekend and had to buy it, even though I had all of my christmas cards made, I knew just what to do with it the minute I saw it (I wish that would happen more often!!)