Hello crafters! It’s a long weekend here in Sydney, Australia and Saturday was World Cardmaking Day. Did you make a card?
Normally, I love to host an open house on World Cardmaking Day, however, as we are still in lockdown I enjoyed a couple of online craft and chat zoom sessions instead. Not quite the same, but hopefully next year we can gather together in person again.
Even since I saw the Christmas Whimsy Card Kit on page 2-3 of the July – December 2021 Mini Catalogue I’ve been waiting for its release. On Saturday afternoon, four of us zoomed together as we created with this kit.
Here’s what you get in this kit – I love that the acrylic block and ink spot are included. After you make up your cards you still have a block, an ink spot and a stamp set that you can use to make even more cards!
Kits are ideal for this sort of virtual crafting as they are not complicated to make, everything you need is included in the kit and everyone has the same materials. With a kit there is no need to do any pre cutting either, which makes it so much faster to make a stack of cards!
Here’s what I made during the zoom. Two of the cards are assembled as per the instructions and two are my own variations.
Card one is an outdoor sleigh card. The only stamping required is the snowflakes on the night sky, the “Merry Christmas to you” sentiment tag and the greeting inside the card.
Card two depicts an indoor scene, with the girl reaching up to pop the star on top of the Christmas tree.
For card three I used my paper snips to chop up the presents from the sleigh and place them under the tree. I also added the boy from card two who is holding the present so it looks like he is about to add another present to the pile under the tree.
I had cut a length of the gold twine to attach the tag in card one but I had found the length suggested to be a bit too short, so I recut a longer piece of gold twine. So as to not waste this shorter piece of twine, I added it to this card to create a Christmas star garland, using some of the gold star stickers from the Christmas Whimsy Card Kit.
Card four uses the leftover sleigh that I had chopped the presents off. I thought it would look cute to have the girl pulling the sentiment across the front of the card.
A bow of the gold twine through the tag finishes this card. All of the cards come with a gorgeous gold edged envelope.
So, which version do you like the best? I love the whimsical feel of them all and the fact that this Christmas Whimsy Card Kit takes all of the hard work out of crafting! It was so relaxing connecting with friends and crafting this kit together on World Cardmaking Day.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Kate Morgan. I can’t wait to see what Kate shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s host of The Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie and she will have the list of all those participating.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Hello crafters! It’s the last week of SALE-a-bration so I decided to make a Christmas card that uses my favourite SALE-a-bration item. Yep, you guessed it, it’s the Be Dazzling DSP!
I’m also using a punch bundle that I initially overlooked in the July – December 2021 Mini Catalogue, the Stars are Shining bundle. At just $53 this a really affordable bundle with a versatile stamp set that includes 5 Christmas sentiments, 4 ornament stamps and a large cluster of stars on 1 star stamps you can punch out to create 6 separate stars.
This Be Dazzling DSP just had to be paired with the punched out stars and the “Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star” sentiment!
My Basic White card base measures 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 “; the Be Dazzling DSP layer measures 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 “; and the stamped Basic White top layer measures 4 1/2 x 4 1/2″.
After stamping in the star stamp in versamark and heat embossing it in gold embossing powder I punched the stars out with the Starlit Punch and also used punched stars out of the Be Dazzling DSP. With these 2 punches I had plenty of stars to cover my card.
A wonderful snowflake embellishment sits behind the largest Be Dazzling star, with the smallest stamped and gold embossed star sitting on top.
Gold metallic Simply Elegant Trim wrapped around the bottom of the card under the sentiment.
I’ve stockpiled a few packets of this Be Dazzling DSP to use on my Christmas cards this year. If you want to use the Be Dazzling DSP on your Christmas cards too it will be retired this Thursday, September 30, so don’t miss out!
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Kate Morgan. I can’t wait to see what Kate shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s host of The Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all those participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight, here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Hello crafters! I had planned to make just one card this week, but a simple mistake and a desire not to waste my craft materials actually led to three cards instead. I think I’ll claim that as a win instead of a loss!
Originally, I intended to make a shaker card using the Christmas Cloche bundle, the Cloche Shaker Domes, the Be Dazzling DSP and this soft, snowy tree patterned paper from the Harvest Meadow DSP. Isn’t this pattern just stunning?
After stamping the cloche outline and the bird image from the Classic Cloche stamp set and colouring it in with my light and dark Crumb Cake Stampin’ blends, I die cut the image out using my Cloche die.
Unfortunately, I then glued the stamped and die cut image to the DSP layer that I had ALREADY ADHERED to my card front. I totally forgot that with a shaker card you use the DSP as the TOP layer to hide the self adhesive edges of the Cloche Shaker Domes!
So my shaker card became a 2D “postal version” of a shaker card instead, embellished with a Pierced Blooms Dies bow cut from the free SALE-a-bration Be Dazzled DSP.
I love these sentiments from the Classic Cloche stamp set. I’ve stamped them in Crumb Cake for each of my three cards, using a different sentiment for each card.
Take two and this time I remembered to use the cloche die to cut my DSP and adhere the DSP over the top of the card front AFTER I had adhered the Cloche Shaker Dome to the Crumb Cake card stock layer.
The shakers inside the Cloche Dome are the metallic gold and silver sequins from the Sequins For Everything embellishments.
So, why did I make a third card?
After I had die cut the opening for the Cloche Shaker Dome card I realised that the negative die piece looked just like a bell, so I die cut another “cloche bell” from the Be Dazzling DSP to match and made a quick musical card to not waste my scraps.
The Merry Melody 3D Embossing Folder was the perfect choice to emboss the Crumb Cake cardstock layer. In case you are wondering, the musical score is Joy to the World.
Die cut circles of the Be Dazzling DSP to create bell clappers make the bells more realistic.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Tina Gillespie. I can’t wait to see what Tina shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s host of The Heart Of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, and she will have the list of all those participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight, here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Hello crafters! I’ve got two cards for you this week that use a great technique for crafting with scraps of DSP. I was inspired to revisit this “paper patchwork” technique after seeing a Sweet Symmetry DSP paper patchwork card made by Martin Stone, one of the very talented Artisan Design members.
Although these cards use the FREE SALE-a-bration Peaceful Prints DSP, you can use this design/layout with any DSP. The secret to getting great texture is to scrunch up each square of DSP before adhering it to the card base. When you adhere, use Multipurpose glue and don’t adhere right to the edge of each square – let the edges stick up.
I split the Peaceful Prints DSP into the reds and greens and cut 3x3cm squares using my paper trimmer. Each card also has one larger 6x6cm square of DSP which I stuck down first and then added the other squares around it.
This red card uses the DSP in Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Sahara Sand and Basic White. The card base is half an A4 sheet of Cherry Cobbler and the deer from Peaceful Deer is stamped in Real Red.
I added a bow of linen thread to the deer.
The green card has exactly the same size and layout – I just flipped the card over to landscape before attaching my Garden Green Deer and bow of linen thread. The card base is Basic Black and the DSP is Garden Green, Sahara Sand, Basic Black and Basic White.
After photographing my cards and uploading them to my website I suddenly realised the deer and the trees on the DSP are adhered upside down on my card, whoops! Hopefully the elegance of the stamped and punched deer draws your eye away from noticing my mistakes!
Red or green? Which card is your favourite?
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Christine Blain. I can’t wait to see what Christine shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, as she has the full list of links for everyone who is participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight, here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Hello crafters! For my cards this week I’m using the Whimsy & Wonder DSP and the Seasonal Swirl dies again, this time pairing them with the Well Defined stamp set and matching embossing folders.
I’ve also created my own matching embellishments using the leftover iridescent foil that surrounds the Wonderful Snowflakes embellishments. There is plenty of spare foil here – don’t waste it! Use your dies and punches to create homemade embellishments to match your cards.
The different elements I used for each card were inspired my the particular definition I chose from the Well Defined stamp set. I think this first card is my favourite.
I’ve used the stamp that has “Winter” as the definition word, so I used the snowflake patterned DSP, the snowflake Wintry Embossing folder, one of the Wonderful Snowflakes embellishments and tiny stitched stars from the Seasonal Swirl dies. Subtle Shimmer Sequins add a final touch of bling.
Card two uses the gratitude definition stamp, so the Thanks embossing folder from the Hello and Thanks embossing folders and stitched hearts were the obvious embellishments choice. The iridescent heart is die cut from leftover iridescent foil using the largest heart die in the Seasonal Swirl dies.
I like that this card uses mainly Christmas products to make a thank you card.
Card three is features the “Christmas” dictionary definition that references presents, so I used the Whimsy & Wonder DSP pattern with presents and holly on it. The holly embellishments are die cut using the Seasonal Swirl dies and the iridescent foil bow is die cut using the bow die from Pierced Blooms dies.
Which card is your favourite?
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the lovely Michele Taylor … I can’t wait to see what Michele shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, as she has the full list of links for everyone who is participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
This week I was inspired by a beautiful card made by a Dutch Stampin’ Up! demonstrator called Berdien Weideveld. I loved the way her square card featured the Whimsy & Wonder DSP.
Berdien’s card also used a variety of retired products as well as several products I don’t own, so I’ve loosely CASED her card by changing my card to a rectangular design and only using current Stampin’ Up! products I already own.
I originally bought the Sparkle of the Season bundle with the intent to make wreath wards, but I still haven’t made one yet! I am, however, getting a lot of use out of some of the other elements in this bundle, such as the holly berry and holly leaves dies and the “Merry Christmas” sentiment on my card today.
These stitched rectangles would definitely have to be my most used dies, despite the fact that they are designed to fit American sized cards, not our Aussie card bases, which are made from half an A4 sheet of cardstock.
When I lined up four of the stitched rectangles across the card front, there was a much wider border of Basic White at the base of the card compared to the top and the sides. So I used one of the Basic Border dies to turn this problem into a feature instead.
The Wonderful Snowflakes are white cardstock on one side with an iridescent foil on the other side and you get 24 in a pack. They are such a great embellishment and an easy way to quickly add texture, dimension and visual interest to a card.
This card design could be made out of any of our beautiful designer series papers (BONUS: it only uses a small amount of DSP) and the stitched rectangle dies make it so easy to line everything up!
I was soooooo tempted to add a touch of the FREE Be Dazzling DSP to my card but I resisted! I actually made 6 cards over the weekend and I didn’t add the Be Dazzling DSP to a single one. I think I might be having withdrawal symptoms though, so prepared to be dazzled again next week!
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Kate Morgan. It’s her birthday today. Happy birthday my friend! I can’t wait to see what Kate shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, as she has the full list of links for everyone who is participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
When I was a child my mum had a box of vintage Christmas cards that I used to love looking at and tonight I’ve combined a few different stamp and die sets to try to recreate this vintage vibe.
This style of card making is a lot of fun but also a little bit risky as I really have no idea what my final card will look like. I gradually add and remove different elements to build up the scene as I go.
I originally intended to use the Christmas Season bundle but the scale just didn’t work with the little bird from the Birds & Branches stamps. So these are the stamp and die sets I’ve used instead.
Sparkle of the Season bundle
Birds & Branches stamp set
Christmas to Remember
Birds & More dies
The shading on the card base is created with a blending brush and Bermuda Bay ink pad. Add ink to your blending brush and then start in the middle of the card and swirl outwards, gradually building up the colour.
The speckled effect is easy to create. Once you’ve finished blending your background use the inner tube of a Stampin’ Spritzer to gently tap to drop water onto the blended background.
The bird was stamped in Pale Papaya and Poppy Parade, the pine needles in Just Jade and the pinecones in Cinnamon Cider. The branch was stamped in Cinnamon Cider and also die cut from Cinnamon Cider cardstock, trimmed to fit my card.
I die cut a wreath and holly leaves in Just Jade cardstock and then cut them up randomly to add texture and dimension to the card. The holly berries are die cut in Poppy Parade cardstock.
A touch of Wink of Stella adds subtle sparkle and shimmer to the little bird.
The Christmas to Remember sentiment stamp set has a lovely mix of fonts. I used two different stamps to mix up the fonts for my Merry Christmas Sentiment.
A bow of linen thread was the final touch.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Tina Gillespie. I wait to see what Tina shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link, please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, and she will have the list of all who are participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
Do you use your Stampin’ Up! catalogues for inspiration? I find them such a wonderful source of ideas and this week I’ve taken my inspiration from the 2019 Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalogue.
The 2019 Stampin’ Up! Holiday catalogue had very clever instructions on how to use your paper trimmer and the small Gleaming Ornaments Punch to make quick and easy Christmas crackers. As these ornament punches are currently available to purchase in the clearance rack (on sale for $35.40) I thought I would adapt this design and make a set of Christmas Crackers using the FREE SALE-a-bration Peaceful Prints DSP.
I’ve used 6 of the patterns from the Peaceful Prints DSP to make 6 crackers – I will make another 6 crackers using the reverse sides of this DSP before Christmas.
Here’s my template to make the crackers using the small ornament punch.
Trim a sheet of DSP to 9 x 8 inches
Score along the 8 inch side at 1 inch (this creates the flap for adhering the sides of the cracker together) and score again at 3, 5 and 7 inches
Fold along all these score lines
Fully insert small ornament punch to the edge of the DSP, ensuring the score line is in the centre of the ornament
Punch every score line at both ends of the DSP
Also punch at the 9 inch edge, lining up the centre of the punch with the edge of the DSP
Now score in the opposite direction, along the width of the cracker at the top, bottom and the centre of the punched out areas (see photo above) and then fold these score lines as per the photo below.
To assemble the cracker, fold up the 1 inch fold flap so that the DSP side that will be on the outside of the cracker is facing up.
Place Multipurpose Liquid Glue on this flap and fold over the cracker at the 5 inch fold, lining up the punched out areas. Press together to adhere.
Cut ribbon of choice into 14 inch (36 cm) lengths and tie into a bow at each end.
You can decorate the crackers any way you want. I used the Peaceful Deer bundle, the FREE SALE-a-bration Be Dazzling DSP and the Tailored Made Tags Dies to create coordinating deer tags for my crackers. I used some Sahara Sand twine to attach them to one end of the cracker, but you could also simply adhere them to the top of the cracker.
These crackers are empty right now because I am going to fill them with yummy treats closer to Christmas, such a Ferrero Rocher chocolate, Lindt Balls and little jokes. To fill them at a later time, simply untie the bow at one end, pop the treats inside and retie the bow.
You can make these Christmas crackers out of any DSP to match your Christmas table decoration.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Michele Taylor. I wait to see what Michele shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Sharon Davern, as she has the full list of links for everyone who is participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
This week I’ve used a sentiment stamp set from the new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue that could be easily overlooked, but I was lucky enough to win from my upline Claire, the Well Defined stamp set.
I’m not sure why I hadn’t used this stamp set before as I love dictionary definitions. In fact, I’ve just finished reading an amazing novel called “The Dictionary of Lost Words”, based on the true story of the women who were involved in the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s a part of history I had never heard of before, beautifully told in one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Although these stamps have been created to look like an official dictionary entry, I’m not sure they would have been included in either the official Oxford Dictionary or even in the Dictionary of Lost Words!
I’ve got plenty of ideas for cards to make with each of the dictionary definitions, however I’ve just used the “holiday” definition stamp today because I wanted to pair it with the Sweets & Treats stamp set for a fun, festive and food-themed card.
Stampin’ Blends in light and dark Old Olive, Real Red and Soft Suede give my card a traditional Christmas colour scheme, with scribbles of the light Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blend to anchor the images.
The sentiment is stamped in Soft Suede before being mounted onto the chopping board die from the Cookin’ Dies. I love how this little die embosses the card stock at the same time as it cuts out the shape of the chopping board.
I stamped two extra the holly sprigs from the plum pudding image and fussy cut them out to add a little more festive cheer. Red Rhinestone jewels are the perfect fit for the little holly berries and add a touch of bling to the card.
I must admit, although I adore the plum pudding stamp, I actually hate plum pudding, Christmas cake or any desserts that include dried fruit. I would, however, happily eat the cupcakes, toffee apples and definitely the cherry pie!
I had a lot of fun making this card – I hope it puts a smile on your face too!
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Michele Taylor. I wait to see what Michele shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Tina Gillespie, as she has the full list of links for everyone who is participating.
You can purchase any of the products I’ve used tonight here.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday.
In the meantime, wherever you are in the world, stay safe, stay calm … and keep on crafting xxx
The new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue and SALE-a-bration catalogues go live tomorrow so I’m sharing another card that uses some of these beautiful Christmas products.
I’m not really a sparkly girly girl at all but I just can’t stop using this FREE Be Dazzling specialty designer paper from the SALE-a-bration catalogue. I’ve taken a zillion photos of my card to show you just how gorgeous this Be Dazzling specialty designer paper is!
I’ve also used one of my favourite bundles from the July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue – the Happy Holly-Days Bundle. Last week I shared this card with you that featured the adorable bird coloured in – this week I’ve used the holly stamp and the Holly Border Punch from the Happy Holly-Days Bundle.
What’s that stunning striped Designer Series Paper I hear you cry? It’s my favourite DSP from the new July-December 2021 Mini Catalogue, called Whimsy & Wonder Designer Series Paper.
I cannot begin to tell you how stunning this DSP is. The colour combination is: Polished Pink, Blushing Bride, Mossy Meadow, Mint Macaron, Misty Moonlight and Iridescent. It is foiled on one side, with gorgeous background patterns (like the stripes I’ve used today) on the other side.
This card layout would work with any Designer Series Paper – just pick up the colours in the DSP for when you colour in the holly. I used light and dark Polished Pink, Mossy Meadow and Mint Macaron blends to colour the holly and then I fussy cut it out. If you don’t enjoy fussy cutting just use the holly punch to punch out cardstock in colours that co-ordinate with your DSP.
An added bonus of this punch is the little dots it punches out – don’t waste them! Just like I did with the Deer Builder punch on this card, I’ve used these dots as tiny embellishments.
These tiny dots can be tricky to adhere as they are so small. I find the easiest way to do this is to place a small amount of multipurpose glue onto the silicon mat and then insert the sharp tip of your “Take your Pick” tool into the glue. Use this tip with the glue to pick up the back of the embellishment, place it on your card and gently press down as you slide the “Take your Pick” tool out from under the embellishment.
Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the incredible talented Theresa Gerrard. I wait to see what Theresa shares with us today!
If at any time you find a broken link please head to the blog of this week’s Host of the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop, Rachel Woollard, and she will have the list of all who are participating.
Thanks for visiting my site. I’ll be back with another card on Wednesday. If you’d like a copy of the forthcoming July-December mini catalogue and the Sale-a-bration catalogueplease get in touch.
