Batch maker, batch maker

Guess what I made for today? Yes, Christmas cards!

I know I'm doing a lot of these but I need a lot.

These are eight cards of the same design, but are not identical.

I started by stamping one version using a selection of small stamps from the stash and a few different colours of ink.

I heat embossed the large Christmas word from Crafti Potential, using gold embossing powder.  I then randomly stamped around the edge of the word to create a border.

To finish I added a raised sentiment in a bright red card.  I liked the original but when it came to making more I decided that I needed a lot more interest in the background.

This time instead of four stamps, I used seven! I think it adds more depth to the border and makes it more interesting.  What do you think?

To finish off I added each panel to a DL size card base and added the red 'Merry' to complete the sentiment.

I'm really pleased with these and I've made several version on this theme.  I'll share those another time.

TTFN Jude xx

Candles - or are they?

Hello again.  Today I have a quick and simple card for you.

I used a flat stamp and an open leaf stamp to create some birthday candles.

I stamped the plain border stamp at different heights in several colours of Memento ink.  I then used the leaf and orange ink to add flames.

A touch of Wink of Stella gave the candles some sparkle.

A fun sentiment and a happy birthday banner stamp finished it off. I told you it was quick!

This is a great idea for getting more from your stamps.  Try to imagine some of the simple shapes in other ways.

TTFN Jude xx

Scandi Bear

Good morning folks, I hope you are having a good week so far, Today's card was a bit of a "let's see what this would look like" card, and I'm glad to say I really like it lol.

Well, all except the big crease in the top corner, which happened as I was putting the adhesive on to the back of the image to stick it on the card!!! oh well at least I know it looks nice and I can make some more 😏.

All of the stamps, including the polar bear and jumper are from last month's issue of Creative Stamping magazine. I wanted to see what it would look like all stamped in red, for a 'Scandi Christmas' feel.

I used Versafine Satin Red ink, which is a beautiful ink for detail stamping, on to cream card. 

Then I added a piece of deep red embossed card to a cream deckled edge card blank, and added the image on top. Very, very simple to make, but they do make lovely cute cards.

Hope you like it too, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

Playing in the snow

Good morning folks, I hope you are having a good start to the week. I had a bit of a play with inky backgrounds last week and today's card uses one of them.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks in Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, and Faded Denim, to blend a sort of wintry night background, onto watercolour card.

Then using a star stencil and Picket Fence Distress Ink, I added in some stars too.

For the main images I used a couple of dies that came free with issue 168 of Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine. I cut them using the same Watercolour card and then inked them again with the Distress Oxide inks.

I laid everything out onto a pale blue card blank and decided how high I wanted the images to come and then trimmed them at the bottom. As I was adding a sentiment to the bottom layer, I stamped that first before adding it onto the card using foam tape.

The sentiment is a Lawn Fawn Winter Scripty Sayings stamp, stamped with Jet Black Archival ink. I finished the card with a few drops of Nuvo Snow Blizzard Crystal Drops, and the odd bit of clear Wink of Stella.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

Faux Shaker

Good morning all, and Happy Halloween. I hope you had a good weekend and are having a good start to the week. Unfortunately there was no blog yesterday as our craft room was unusable due to working on the kitchen again at the weekend. Why is it that when you do anything with the kitchen the whole house ends up a mess????? 

Anyway, we did treat ourselves on Sunday by going out for lunch and 

 then to the cinema to see Thor. Chris Hemsworth, need I say more?😊.

Right, on to today's card, this one is a faux shaker, using printed acetate instead of sequins or beads. I used the small Snowglobe Die from Clearly Besotted, and a Simon Says Stamp Circle Christmas Greeting stamp, which I stamped on dark blue card and then dusted over with Mica Powder.

Then I added a circle of pre printed acetate to give it the look of a shaker card, but without any of the depth or weight for posting.

For the background I used a piece of pale blue textured card and then a dark blue mat, which was cut out with a Lawn Fawn, Stitched Squares die.

The smaller square was an off cut I had left from a stamped background I had made using Distress Inks and a snowflake stamp.

Then I added some sequin snowflakes and a Britannia die cut sentiment.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

Easy makes

Happy Thursday friends and welcome back.

Today I have another example of a card that is easy to make and quick to mass produce.  

I took a piece of Christmas paper and another of white card and cut them both out with a die slightly smaller than a standard card blank.

The two pieces were stacked together and I cut through both layers at an angle.  This makes the top and bottom halves of the card front.

To separate the two pieces I added a strip of gold shimmer card.  I then stamped a sentiment to match the angle.

For a simple card I left it there but I could have added more stamping or sequins for more detail on the white half.

The card can be changed up by amending the proportions or using different colours.  The possibilities are endless.

Hope you like this idea.  TTFN Jude xx

1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation stamping

Good morning all, I hope you have had a good weekend. We had a really busy day on Saturday in the garden, we removed a piece of old lawn and replaced it with some artificial grass. Sounds really simple doesn't it. But believe me it was backbreaking, and my brother did most of the work lol. Anyway, it now looks lovely, and Molly approves 😊, so it was definitely worth it. 

Right, today's card was made after watching some Jennifer McGuire video's, and led to me having a go at 2nd and 3rd generation stamping. The technique, (if you haven't tried it already) is to ink up your chosen stamp and stamp the image, then stamp the image again elsewhere on the page a 2nd and even 3rd time without re-inking. 

Depending on the type of ink you use, will depend on the results you get. For this one I used dye inks, so my 3rd stampings are very feint.

I used Memento inks in Teal Zeal and Dandelion, with a couple of different butterfly and bee stamps, and stamped them randomly across the panel.

Then I cut the large butterfly using a Spellbinders die, and inked it with the same colours.

I stamped a greeting using Tuxedo Black Memento ink, and then layered the panel with a yellow mat, before putting it on a polka dot card blank.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

Beautiful Day

Good morning all, I hope you have had a nice long weekend, and hopefully a bit nicer weather than we have had. To say it's now May, It seems to be getting colder not warmer!

Anyway, today's card is back to a favourite of mine, the Beautiful Day stamp and die set from Altenew. I love these big, bold flowers, and they look just as good stamped in blue as they do in pink, red, yellow etc.

I used the Altenew, Cool Summer Nights, Crisp Dye ink set to stamp the layered flowers, and the Tropical Forest set for the leaves.

The sentiment is the one that comes with the set and this is stamped with Altenew Jet Black ink.

I stamped my first flowers on to the card panel, then I stamped a third flower, and another leaf, cut them out with their matching dies and added them on top, raising the flower on foam pads. 

Then I matted the panel with a coordinating blue card and added a few clear dew drops on top.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx

You are amazing

Good morning all, I hope you are having a good week. I'm off to have the root touch up today, you know to cover the twinkly bits that I'm still in denial about. Thinking about going grey all over so that it just blends in lol.

Anyway, today's card was an experiment with a new stamp set and some of those new  Distress Oxide Inks by the very clever Tim Holtz.

I was very lucky to win an incredibly generous giveaway on Instagram from the lovely Beverley at Uniko stamps, 6 stamp sets!!! So today's card is made using one of those.

I stamped the Fun Flowers set from Uniko, randomly on a piece of Kraft card. Then I blended, Wilted Violet, Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio and Worn Lipstick distress inks all over the top.

These inks blend so easily, they are absolutely gorgeous, and beautiful colours too. Then I went all over the design with my Spectrum Noir Glitter Shimmer pen in clear. I'm not sure the camera has picked up the sparkle all that well but believe me it does look lovely.

The sentiment is from a WPlus9 set called That is All, and I finished it off by sticking the panel to a deep purple card blank.

Hope you like it, take care and I'll see you soon.

xxx