13 Cards from 1 Sheet!

Well, maybe 2 sheets plus the base cards and some other bits and pieces!

I found this 12 x 12 Christmas paper from Pavlova Papers in my stash a couple of weeks ago and thought I would see how many Christmas cards I could make using this sheet of paper. I also used a 12 x 12 sheet of green American Crafts card as an option for layers underneath the Christmas paper.

As you can see from the pictures, I also used additional cardstock to provide embellishments and layers other then the red and green. However, I did use the Christmas paper on every card and ended up with just a few little scraps left over.

The stamps I used were from my own collection of many stamps, including Montarga, Stampers Anonymous, Rubbadubbadoo and others.

I used some Nellie Snellen dies (Christmas Trees) and Spellbinders Nestabilities (deckled rectangles, ovals and scalloped ovals) and a Tim Holtz On the Edge die.

This was a fun exercise for me because it made me think about different ways I could use smaller bits of paper. It also helped me to get started with making my Christmas Cards!





In making these cards, I used 1 sheet of 12 x 12 christmas paper, 1 sheet of 12 x 12  green American Crafts cardstock, 13 red base cards (A5) and 4 pieces of A5 cream card, some ribbon, embossing powder, inks and brads. I estimate the cost of making these cards to be about $6 (NZ). Not too bad really, especially if you are on a budget!!

A Yellow Calendar Tag

The Calendar Challenge over at the Craft Barn for this week is for the calendar to use Yellow and to use masks.

For this tag, I chose to use scattered straw distress ink on the base. I distressed it by screwing up the tag, colouring it and wetting it then dried it and ironed it flat again!

I used mustard seed DI to colour up the masked images which are from Tim Holtz. I put these at the top and bottom of the tag. I then used the negative of the same mask to make a design on the calendar with the mustard seed DI.

I edged the tag with wild honey and rusty hinge to give it a bit of depth. I also added some brown paper flowers and some elegant swirls cut from green card. The ribbon is seam binding coloured with mustard seed DI.

I am entering this tag in the Craft Your Days Away challenge (Tags) and the Allsorts Challenge (5 Flowers) as well.

Triangle Star Card Video

I have just finished another video on making a triangle star card.

Katie brought the instructions to us at our workshop day for Crafty Girls recently and it was a fun little card to make.

The written instructions for making a card like this can be found here.

New Video

I spent some time last weekend making a couple of videos that I have finally finished editing.

The first one is making a pyramid card that some of my friends have been asking for.

Check it out below! The written instructions can be found here.

A Perfect Pear

This week, The Stamp Man Challenge is entitled "A Perfect Pear" and when I saw this, I immediately thought of the lovely pear stamp I bought from Montarga a few months ago.

For this card, I stamped the image onto green card and heat embossed it with gold EP. I layered it onto gold paper and created a very fine border then laid that onto green corrougated card that I had wrapped some fine gold braid around the end.

I punched the corners to make little insets and threaded the same gold braid from corner to corner to create a frame. The picture truly does not do the stamped image justice!!

This card also fits the Allsorts Challenge this week - Keep it Simple.

12 Week Calendar Challenge

I was blog hopping the other day, catching up on all the things that are going on in blogland and I came across this neat challenge from the Craft Barn.
The challenge is to create a calendar each week for the next 12 weeks.

I decided that I would make each month of the year on a large tag, cut using the Tim Holtz Tag die. So I started doing them yesterday - catching up on the first two weeks challenge themes and doing this week's theme as well.

The first week's challenge was blue and crackle, so I coloured the tag using Adirondack Snow Cap dabber then Faded Jeans distress stain. The paint underneath provided a lovely base for the stain and gave the tag a dappled look. I then edged the card and the calendar (January) with Stormy Sky distress ink.I stamped a Stampers Anonymous Life stamp on the tag as well.

The flower was made using the tattered florals die (TH again!) and I used glimmer mist in a frosty blue colour to spray the flower to give it a bit of a shimmer.

The crackle part of the tag is on the ticket, which I stamped with a Stampers Anonymous stamp in Versafine Black ink then edged with stormy sky DI. I painted it with distress crackle - Rock Candy and left it to dry before attaching it to the tag.

The second week's challenge was red and embossed. For this one, I covered the tag with Christina Re paper that had a red flourish on the corner, then distressed it eart and Wings TH die, then embossed with a spots embossing folder. On top of that, I inked both up with embossing ink and covered with clear UTEE. I did this twice and it produced a lovely shiny coating on the hearts. I then edged the hearts with a gold pen.

I made the roses from red paper and a 6 petal flower punch. I spritzed them with gold glimmer mist then attached to the tag along with some green leaves that I cut with a leaf die.








I cut the key with a CB cut and emboss folder then inked with walnut stain and vintage photo DIs and covered with crackle paint - Rock Candy. I attached this to the tag using some seam binding that I coloured with the barn door DI.

The challenge theme for this week was green and flowers with some embossing. I stamped a new flower stamp from Montarga on the bottom of the tag then embossed it with clear EP. I added a clouds stamp and embossed that before making a mask to cover it. I then brayered peeled paint DI over the top of the embossed image. I gradually added more colours with the brayer - tumbled glass then stormy sky. The claendar (March) was glued to the centre of the tag and I added butterflies that I stamped (Tanda stamp) and coloured blue and green with copic markers, then embossed with clear EP. The ribbon is seam binding that I coloured using peeled paint DI.

I really enjoyed making these tags and look forward to the next week's theme!

Card Class - Fancy Folds

 We are planning another card class at The Scrappin' Patch again. This month will be Fancy Folds and I have some sneak peek pictures of the sample cards.

This time, we have a slightly different take on the pyramid card - one that will fold flat and fit into a large square envelope.

 Then we have a more complicated folded card that looks just stunning when it is completed. With a sheer ribbon bow and a lovely lacey doiley, the Spellbinders die cut sets it off nicely.

The last card here is a three fold card with a special scalloped border. It also has a nice slanted top on it. Adding some flowers and brads, just finishes it off well.

Check out the Scrappin' Patch website for more details and to book for the class.

Next month we will be doing Christmas Cards - in time for sending overseas. I also hope to be in-store doing some demonstrations using Distress Inks during October. Check out the Scrappin' Patch website for more details.