Christmas cottage card - Holiday Home

I've started making Christmas cards, inspired by some dies I purchased recently.

This little house in the Holiday Home set is one of my favourites and I love the greeting, too.

The wreath around the edge plus the snowflakes finished it off nicely.

I think I'll have trouble giving this one away ...

Supplies:

Holiday Home polymer stamps - Stampin' Up

Real Red, Marina Mist, Whisper White and Hunter Green cardstock - Stampin Up

Small Snowflake dies - Impression Obsession

Wreath die - Tupelo Circle - Memory Box

Uniball Signo white pen

Spring Blossoms

A birthday card I made this week for a stamping friend.

I love colouring with Prismacolor pencils on coloured cardstock, and especially seeing the white pop against the background. But when I tried adding white trim to the card it didn't seem quite right, so I dulled the white blossoms a little by colouring a very light layer of tan over the top.

Indescribable Gift stamp set - Stampin Up

 Happy Birthday stamp - Stampin Up (retired)

Canvas background stamp - Stampin Up (retired)

Punch - Stampin Up

Fabric rose - Stampin Up

Lace - Dollar King

Foliage die cut - Memory Box

Hey there, Sunshine

Just dropping in to say that I've resigned from Stampin' Up!, but will still be posting some of my stamping projects here from time to time. I absolutely loved being with Stampin' Up! during the past 6 years, but the time had come for me to move on. Since I resigned in February, I've been busy with family projects, music teaching, and some casual teaching. I've also discovered a love for mixed media art, and using my craft supplies in whole new ways. Stay tuned!

Wondrous Wreath Christmas

The Wondrous Wreath stamps and Wonderful Wreath Framelits dies are so much fun!

I had a great evening with friends stamping out a series of Christmas cards.

I am loving the Hardwood background stamp, which I bought recently, I'm sure I'll be using this a lot in the new year, too, for all sorts of cards, especially now that I've got the newer larger Stampin' Scrub (at last!) which makes it so much easier to clean the large background stamps!

For this card I used the retired Polka Dot background and a retired border punch.

And here's a card similar to the first one, using Melon Mambo instead of Real Red.

I love the way Soft Suede and Baked Brown Sugar work together on these cards.

Colours: Soft Suede, Baked Brown Sugar, Pear Pizazz, Old Olive, Real Red, Melon Mambo, Whisper White

Stamps: Wondrous Wreath, Good Greetings; 

(the Merry Christmas on the first card is from a retired set)

Dies: Wonderful Wreath Framelits die

Holiday Home

As soon as I saw the Holiday Home stamp set, I knew I wanted it.

But when I first played with it, I had trouble knowing just what I wanted to do with it.

Stamped on white it looked kind of plain, and it was hard to colour in a way that looked effective.

Then I saw the set stamped on Crumb Cake, and from that moment I haven't looked back!

I stamped the houses on Crumb Cake and Soft Suede, and used a white pencil to create highlights on the glass. I love using Prismacolor pencils for this type of colouring.

 I created a rich background using a dark blue with some daubing around the edge, and stars stamped in white, and made the lamplight "glow" using two shades of yellow.

This has to be one of my favourite cards ever.

I made a few other cards using the Holiday Home set, with the snow scene from White Christmas in the background.

The greeting is from the retired Mixed Medley set.

And once more, this time coupled with some lacy adhesive tape for a pretty Scandinavian effect.

Once again I loved using my white prismacolor pencil to colour snow and highlights.

The Stampin' Up! white chalk pen is also great for drawing snow falling or sitting on top of branches.

I posted all my cards today, these ones are sitting out in the street post box now, waiting to cheer someone's Christmas.

Christmas Card Class this Week

I've got a few spots left in my class this Wednesday night!

We'll be using some of my favourite stamps of this year.

Here's a sneak peek of two of the cards:

Details

Wednesday 10th Dec, 7.30-9.30pm

$25.00 to make 8 cards.

Supper and ALL tools & materials included

Address: northern Sydney, address given on enrolment

Book: email me to receive details of address and payment method.

I hope you can come!

Petite Petals

The Petite Petals stamps and matching punch 

are perfect for quick and easy cards.

I used the Tag Topper punch to make a tag 

-  a quick background to scatter the flowers on.

Loving the paper from the Fresh Prints designer series paper stack.

No dilemmas about which colours to use,  

I just pulled out Real Red, Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake inks and cardstock 

to coordinate with the paper stack.

Greeting stamped in Early Espresso (my go-to colour for greetings)

For the second card I stuck to the 2013-2015 In Colors

and stamped them repeatedly giving a faded look to some flowers.

I love that it's so easy to have a handpainted look.

I had so much fun making and decorating tags that I just had to

order the scallop tag topper punch also ;-)

The Petite Petals stamp set + Punch bundle 

is a  bargain at $34.75 for clear-mount (134822)

or $39.75 for wood-mount (134821)

Click here to order now.