Happy New Year

Happy 2016 to you.  Thank you for coming back for a look at my blog.  I hope to be a little more reliable this year, but who knows?  

I thought I would first rehash a little Christmas for you with my card and also the cards received from friends. 

First up is the card I sent out.  Once again I was under a bit of pressure to get it done and sent off, so wasn't my best effort.  The embossing folder is a PortaCraft bought in a "junk" shop for $4.00.  Seriously, how come everyone else charges so much when they can be sold for this price?  I just don't understand it.  Anyway, I really love this design and also the fact that it has a border around it as well.  All the rest is purely Stampin' Up.  The trees are from Lovely as a Tree set and the sleigh is from Holiday Home.  Although it's not obvious in the photo, the circle (or Christmas bauble as it's supposed to be) has been sprayed with Champagne Mist so it is all sparkly and pretty.  

Here are a few of the cards we received - in no particular order, just the way they were photographed. 

No, we didn't copy, but this one is similar to mine.

This card isn't actually handmade but done by a laser cutter, but still it's beautiful. 

 So, once again a beautiful selection of cards from friends and family.  Clever bunch, aren't they? 

Saturday's cards

On Saturday I had my last card day for this year.  I didn't want to do Christmas cards cause I still haven't decided what I am doing for mine yet, and asked for suggestions.  One suggestion was the tunnel card and the other was for Christmas packaging.  One was easy, and the other a little more complicated.  

This was the tunnel card, which is very similar to one I had done before and pretty much the same apart from the decorative edge.  

The next card was what I called a Tea Light card - original huh!  And in the end I did relent and make it a Christmas card just in case anyone who attended had not done one before.  

Can you see the tea light glowing behind the vellum?  You can in the picture below.  The base card was in Soft Sky and I pulled out some very old Stampin' Up papers that I found and used them, and they matched pretty good.  

 

This is a card that if you are planning to make, you need to hand deliver so you can give the recipient a tea light as well.  The card is an A4 sheet length cut to 10 cms, and then scored at 10 and 20 cms to achieve the fold.  Cut the star shape through both the paper and cardstock so it lines up perfectly, then stamp the star on vellum and emboss, and then the silver layer is just the outside edges with a square cut out centre so the vellum has nothing behind it.  Pretty!

Christmas cards

This is the last few cards our family received at Christmas.  I really do have a very creative bunch of friends and family members.  

 

Happy New Year

Well, I did have all good intentions of posting last week, but life just got in the way.  Or perhaps it was just laziness on my part.  You'll never know!

It took me a l-o-n-g time to get back into making cards this year.  After the stress of the Christmas cards, I just put everything away and wasn't really interested, even though I did have new things to play with.  Sometimes you just need a break.   But this Saturday is my first card class for the year so over the last 2 weeks I have been busy preparing cards for the day. 

Have you seen the new catalogues yet?  I bought those lovely butterfly thinlit dies and have had a lot of fun using them.  I hesitated because I thought they would be a bother popping all those little bits out, but then some very clever person suggested using dryer sheets, and it really does make a difference.  Better than greaseproof paper.  I also love using the Lotus Blossom 3 step stamp.  I have borrowed this one off a friend, but I really need to get my own, or get a new one for her.  The flowers really are pretty and there are a couple of different ways to stamp them, ie. just using one colour or using two different shades or even adding a white layer to the mix.  And quite easy to use too - no stampamajig needed. The upside of this set is that it's available free with a $90 order, but the downside is you have to spend $90 to get it.  But with all the new goods in the catalogue, it's not that hard to go.  

Anyway, cards.   Thought you might like to see some of the Christmas cards our family received from some very clever family and friends.  

Some beautiful cards there.  More Thursday.  

Happy Christmas

This will be my last post for a short time.  Thank you for checking my blog out to see what I have been up to, and thank you too for your comments and encouragement during the year.  I hope you all enjoy your Christmas break, enjoy the company of family and friends and stay safe.  We will be spending the day with Greg's family and then later will hopefully be able to catch up with all my family.  Fingers crossed they all can make it. 

This is what our family Christmas card looked like this year.  Instead of trying to be stunning with a touch of wow (which I don't always achieve), our cards were whimsical and fun.  Poor old Santa will be glad of a rest after all that spinning.  The collective photos were taken at night after I realised I had better photograph them before being popped into envelopes, the others during the day so much better colour representation. 

To those of you who received a card from us, remember they are worth at least 10 cents.  Make sure you rescue those two 5 cent coins before throwing it away.  You may just need 10 cents one day!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

More Christmas Cards

I recently went to another class with Michelle Le Breton and thought you might like to see what we made.  I really enjoy going to classes where everything is all thought out for you, no decisions need to be made, and everything is pre-cut as well.  So you just have the chance to relax, chat a little and copy the samples.  It's also a chance to use products that you don't have and occasionally, for me anyway, it makes me change my opinion of what I thought of them when I first saw them in the catalogue. 

Michelle's first card was made with the Under the Tree papers and Get your Santa On set.  Quite a simple design, but it looks great.   

Next up we got to use the Tree Punch and more Under the Tree DSP with an alphabet die set. 

The last card was my favourite, which uses the Stars Framelits and Many Merry Stars set, along with a mask using the Confetti punch.  
  

On Thursday I will let you see the boxes we made using the Many Merry Stars kit.

Welcome to 2014

Thanks for checking in, and Happy New Year to you.  Hope your year has started off well and you enjoyed your Christmas break.  

We managed to have hubbie's family here for Christmas Day, and apart from all the cleaning, re-organisation of furniture and deciding where everyone would sit to eat, it was a very easy and relaxing day.  Then the kids and I drove up to visit my Dad, and along the way were able to catch up with all my sisters at some point during the trip.  I am quite pleased that I was able to drive all the way to Dad's in a day, a distance of about 740 kms.  I know to some people this is just a normal and easy trip, but to me it was an achievement.  But not something that I'd like to do too often.  

Anyway, back to crafty stuff.  

Thought I might show you some of the cards received for Christmas from my crafty and clever friends.  

 

What do you think?  A talented bunch with lots of beautiful embossing folders, die cuts, stickers and stamps used.  It's a shame they have to be taken down and put away. 

 

More Christmas Cards

Sorry, but I still have a few more Christmas cards to show.  I told you I made a few extras to show.  

If you enjoy making your own Christmas cards, but are not that keen on stamping, then this card may be something you could do.  I have used some leftover Christmas papers from last year and simply created 3 strips or banners, attached a strip of cardstock with a sentiment and used one of the coloured buttons made with the Buttons and Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Molds kit.  I am sure your friends would be happy to receive something like this. 

But with a little stamping you could create a card with a little more sparkle by using a swirl or flourish, emboss it with silver or gold in this case, attach a sentiment on an ornament shape with a bit of ribbon and another relatively easy one to do.  I stamped both layers of Cherry Cobbler at the same time and inserted a piece of white matt just to bring it out a little.  A little more involved, but still very Christmasy. 

 

And I have to wish my big sister a very happy big ??th birthday for Thursday.  Hopefully your family will spoil you this year and take you somewhere special for dinner.