Penny Black XMouse Ornament & snowflakes

Hello peeps! Hope you are having a great weekend where you are - it is freezing where I am - so it didn't take much encouragement to make a Wintry Christmas card. Plus a set of new Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland embossing folders appeared in my mailbox on Friday. It is a fantastic set - check it out here at Fat Cat's Card Corner. Boy, I sure do LOVE this new set.
There's not much to explain about this card. Just a simple one-layer-card with this cute little Penny Black mouse. Isn't he sweet? I coloured him with OMS and Prismas, then added some fine glitter to the mouse's cheeks, ears and to the snowflake he is hanging onto. I lightly chalked around the image with blue chalk. Lastly, I added some white pearls to most of the snowflakes on the dry embossing. It only took me 20 minutes! That must be a record for me!

I think I could make a bunch of these just with different images or even just a sentiment instead of an image.

I'm popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers Technique Lover's Challenge TLC277 of One Layer Wonders from about 2 weeks ago. I've made so many layered cards of late, that it was nice to get back to basics.

On a totally unrelated note: did you hear that Elzybells Art Stamps (UK) is closing down? Ackk! One of my favourite stamp companies. You can read about it here on the Elzybells Blog.

Thanks for stopping by - back in a few days with another card.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Penny Black 'Xmouse Ornament' 1873H, Sentiment: Impression Obsession Sentiments 1 WP16

Ink: Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Winter Wonderland embossing folder set (6), Kaiser pearls - snow white, Art Institute transparent Glitter - Shabby Chic set, Art Institute Designer dries clear adhesive, Kaisercolour chalks, Odourless Mineral Spirits (OMS), Prismacolor pencils, Stampin' Up corner punch

Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland Christmas baubles

Hello and thanks for visiting :-)

I had this idea in my head to make an all-white Christmas card using only embossing - no designer papers, glitter or stamps - something that was easy to mass-produce for Christmas - and this is what I came up with. My little Craft Room has been a hive of activity this week - what a mess - it looks like something exploded in there while my mojo has been running on overtime!!

Not much to explain. I corner-punched the cardstock before I did the embossing - otherwise you will squash/mark your embossing with the punch (yes, I know that's logical, but I found out the hard way!). The baubles are one of the folders from the new Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set and I made two score lines with my Martha Stewart scoring board, THEN used my timeless Swiss dots embossing folder on the ends. By doing the score lines first, you can butt your dots folder up against the line so that you will be sure it is straight.

ETA: Thanks to Joy who emailed me as she was stumped at how I did the dry embossing - it never occurred to me to explain it - so here's how I did it:

I started with a separate piece of white cardstock to my actual card – the size I generally use for a card-front on regular (ie: non-square) cards is 15cm high x 10.5cm wide (which is just a shade over 6 inches x 4 inches if you prefer imperial measurements instead of metric). So it is then easy to pop your separate piece of cardstock into your embossing folder to put thru your Cuttlebug.

Once I had finished my embossing & added the ribbon, I then glued this separate sheet of cardstock to my card front which I had already corner-punched and is the same size as my separate sheet of cardstock – in this instance, I chose to have a top opening card – and neatened any edges that were sticking out – so it LOOKS like it is just a one layer card but in reality, it is 2 layers – the embossed/decorated front panel is just attached to the actual card front - you can hardly tell unless you are looking for it. In fact, I do this for many of my cards.

The reason I like to do it this way is for several reasons:

1. So it is easy to do the dry embossing
2. If I add a ribbon, I can hide the ribbon edges under this layer so they don’t show at all – looks neater that way
3. I can do the inside of the card before I attach the front panel, and if I mess it up, I can throw that bit away and do it again (and you have no idea how many times I manage to smudge the inside greetings or stamp them crookedly or even upside down - insert groan and rolling eyes here...LOL!) - it's like my fail-safe escape plan for my dumb dingbat stamping methods......

I hope this makes sense. If it doesn't, please feel free to email me - my addy is at the top LH side of my Blog.

I thought the card needed a little pizazz, so I added the sparkly red star brad to the ribbon. I actually cut the prongs off and glued it on - I couldn't get the prongs to wrap neatly around the ribbon plus the ends were sticking out, so it was much quicker to cut the prongs off and glue (I will know that for NEXT time so I don't have to fiddle and fiddle and fiddle LOL!!)

I'm popping this card into this week's Splitcoaststampers CAS75 Challenge of "Dry embossing" - plus I am entering it in the ABC Christmas Challenge of "O is for Ornaments" - with the added option to add some gloss and shine to your creation - which is my red sparkly Star brad. The brad doesn't look very sparkly in the photo - no sunshine here today - cold, dull, Wintery and cloudy so not great for showing up "sparkliness"!

Hope you like my CAS card - and thanks again for stopping by!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swiss dots embossing folder, Ornaments embossing folder from Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set, organza ribbon, red glittery star brad, Stampin' Up corner punch, Martha Stewart Score board, Cardstock: white

ETA: I just learned today that this card was chosen as one of the top three over at the ABC Christmas Challenge "O is for Ornaments" so I will be receiving a special little blinkie to add to my Blog. Woo hoo!!

Unity A Beautiful Sight - A Winter Wonderland

Hi and welcome :-)

I made this clean and simple DT Christmas card with a new Unity stamp called 'A Beautiful Sight' that Fat Cat's Card Corner sent to me this week. The words behind the tree are from the Christmas song: Winter Wonderland - which is one of my favourite Christmas songs. I know it's Summer here at Christmas, but I still love all things "snowy" for my Christmas cards. And I especially LOVE white and gold Christmas cards - they just seem to speak "elegant" which I hope is what I achieved with my card. It is very, very difficult to take good photographs of gold on a card - I tried outside in the sun, but the gold looked all dark and miserable or reflected so much sunlight, the white background all but disappeared, so did a compromise and photographed it in my home with reflected sunlight from my kitchen window but with the overhead kitchen downlights on to show up some sparkle. Not easy - but I hope you get the idea of what it really looks like - and it is much nicer IRL!

The snowflakes embossing is one of the folders from the Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set (there are 6 folders in the set). I stamped the tree with gold pigment ink and heat-embossed it with gold embossing powder, then diecut the panel with my Deckled Rectangle Nesties and popped the panel up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals).

I diecut two snowflakes and popped them up on 2mm mounts, then added a dot of gold pearl dimensional paint in the centres - does take quite a while to dry though (at the time of writing this post, it's now some hours since I did it, and it's still not quite dry - probably will take overnight). You can get this paint at Riot Art and Craft Stores, and comes in a little bottle about the size of Stickles/Kindyglitz and isn't expensive.

The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy. I'm pretty sure the ribbon came from a $2 Shop and was on a reel that had a couple of metres.

Challenges:

It's been ages since I played one of the Stamp Simply Challenges by Sharon Johnson and this week's challenge is:

Stamp Simply #163 – Tis the Season for Clean and Simple

where Sharon wants us to make a clean and simple card with Christmas or Winter in mind.

Thanks again for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Unity 'A Beautiful Sight' Itty Bitty rubber stamp IB48 (comes as rubber mounted with cling cushion)

Ink: Versacolor gold pigment

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Snowflakes folder from Winter Wonderland set, Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die, Spellbinder Deckled Rectangle Nestabilities, gold embossing powder, heat-gun, Bow Easy, gold dimensional fabric paint, 1mm/2mm mounts, Ribbon 1-1/2" - 38mm wide, Cardstock: white

Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland - Hanging Christmas Baubles

Hi and welcome to another scheduled post whilst I can't access my computer for 2 weeks (sniff!!).

Another quick and simple Christmas card using one of the embossing folders from the Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set - available here from Fat Cat's Card Corner in Queensland.

Not much to explain. The sentiment was heat-embossed with gold embossing powder and the stars next to the sentiment were diecut from my Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die (which includes snowflakes and stars). I added some fine gold glitter to these stars.

The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements, and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy. The star on the bow was punched with a Carl CP-1 star punch and was glittered with gold glitter.

Thanks again for stopping by - this should be my last scheduled post (hopefully) and things will be back to normal and I will be able to come and visit you all again.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Sentiment from Inkadinkado Silhouettes 97289 Clear stamp set (retired)

NOTE: Edited to add: Thanks to Nanette for alerting me to the fact that the original stamp set name I listed (Hot off the Press 'Christmas Art' HOTP 1006 clear set) was incorrect. It is definitely by Inkadinkado!


Ink: Versacolor gold pigment

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Hanging Baubles embossing folder from Winter Wonderland set, Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die, Carl CP-1 Star punch, fine gold glitter, Art Institute Designer dries clear adhesive (for glitter), Bow Easy, ribbon, Stampin' Up corner punch, gold embossing powder, heat gun, Cardstock: white, gold, burgundy

Cuttlebug Season's Greetings - CAS Christmas cards

Hi and thanks for taking the time to visit my Blog :-)

I whipped up a couple of CAS (Clean and Simple) Christmas cards where I let the embossing folder do all the hard work and then simply embellished them. You can find this Cuttlebug 'Season's Greetings' embossing folder at Fat Cat's Card Corner. I corner-punched the cardstock BEFORE I ran it through the Cuttlebug - if you do it the other way, you will squash or mark your embossing.

I added some light blue rhinestones to the snowflake centres, then added the silver-edged sheer blue organza ribbon in 2 separate elements - the bow was made with my Bow Easy. I threaded a Snowflake charm with silver cord then threaded the cord through the blue ribbon bow centre and tied a knot which is hidden underneath the bow centre. I did add some Fray Stop to the edges of the silver cord and the blue ribbon - you can find Fray Stop at Spotlight, Riot Art and Craft or even you local supermarket.

And here is the white version:

I decided to layer the white embossed panel onto Bazzill Bling Aqua cardstock (not sure of the actual cardstock colour name - that's just what I call it!) - which matched my sparkly aqua ribbon perfectly - then layered that onto more white cardstock. The layer borders are very small - only because I kept trimming to make them even, then kept trimming because I trimmed one crooked, and had to make that straight which then made that border narrower than the others, so I kept trimming, trimming.........sheesh, don't let me prune your rose bushes or you will have no garden left LOL!!

The ribbon was again attached in 2 separate elements and the bow was made with my Bow Easy. Because this ribbon frays terribly, I added Fray Stop to it first, let it dry, THEN cut it - that way, it doesn't fray at all. I diecut a snowflake, added Opal fine glitter, then glued this to the bow centre, then added a Kaiser Lagoon rhinestone to this snowflake and rhinestones to the snowflake centres on the embossed panel. Here is a wee close-up of the snowflake.

Easy peasy for mass producing and great to have on hand for those unexpected cards you always need at the last minute. I don't know about you, but I always get a few cards from people I didn't expect - usually in the week before Christmas - so I always like to have a few "extras" on hand for those times.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Card #1 - blue

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Season's Greetings embossing folder, silver snowflake charm, Bow Easy, organza ribbon, silver cord, Fray Stop, Kaiser light blue rhinestones, Cardstock: light blue

Punches: Stampin' Up corner

Card #2 - white

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Season's Greetings embossing folder, Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die, Bow Easy, metallic aqua ribbon, Fray Stop, Kaiser Lagoon rhinestones, Opal fine glitter, Designer Dries clear adhesive (for glitter), Cardstock: white, Bazill Bling Aqua

Punches: Stampin' Up corner

Penny Black: Message from above - a Thank You card

Hello and thanks for popping in :-)

I made this 'Thank you' card for a friend in the USA who has taught me so much about cardmaking and specifically, how to colour using Prismacolor pencils and Odourless Mineral Spirits aka Magic Coloured Pencil.

It is a simple, one-layer card (OLC) which are my favourite type of card to make.  The image was coloured (as you would have guessed) with OMS and Prismas plus Derwent Coloursoft pencils, and I added some pink glitter to the flower petals, the bird's tummy (bit hard to see in the photo) and there is lemon glitter around the edge of the letter.

The dry embossing was coloured lightly with pearlescent chalks using pink, lemon and blue, and I added these same colours around the image as well so it all ties in together.  They look so pretty IRL as they are shimmery.

The tiny pink hearts next to the sentiment are my all-time favourite little leftover punchies from my Arrows Border punch which I use all the time; I glittered these with Kindyglitz Crystalina.

I am entering this card into the My Time to Craft Challenge #113 of 'Quick and Cute' - where they want you to make something that is quick and easy.

I am also popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers Ways to Use it Challenge WT286 of  'Just One' where you are to stamp on a single sheet of cardstock.  There's nothing I love more than just getting back to basics with a card and having no layers.

That's about it for me - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Message from above' 2617J, Sentiment from Wendy Irving Expressions J6412.01 clear set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Sizzix Textured Impressions embossing folder from Hello Kitty® Spring Set #2 (656149), Odourless Minerals Spirits, Prismacolor pencils, Derwent Coloursoft pencils, paper stumps, I-Kan-dee Pearlescent chalks, Art Institute pink and lemon glitter (Shabby Chic set), Art Institute Designer Dries clear adhesive (for glitter), Kindyglitz Crystalina, Cardstock: KW Doggett 'Knight' white, pink (for tiny hearts)

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border

CAS Matchbox Sympathy card using Craft Concepts Budding Vine embossing folder

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

Over at Splitcoaststampers, this week's Clean and Simple Challenge CAS91 is 'With Sympathy', so I set to work to make a simple card to have on hand. This card came together so quickly and easily - I love it when that happens!

Recently, when I was at my local Riot Art and Craft shop (Aussie store), I found these blank white Matchbox cards (they are A2 size and come in a pack of 8) and thought they looked nice. Of course, you can make your own. I couldn't find a tutorial on SCS or by Googling it so perhaps it is called something else in the USA (?). Anyway, I think by the extra photo of the opened card, you could see how to make your own plus I added some directions/measurements below. Note that this card already came with the scalloped edge on the LH flap.

I embossed the RH flap of the card with my gorgeous Craft Concepts Budding Vine embossing folder (LOVE this folder!) and the LH flap was embossed with one of the narrow folders from the Cuttlebug 'With Love' set.

The ribbon actually ties around the card, and you slip it off to open the card. I diecut the tag using one of the tags from the Spellbinder Ribbon Tags Trio, then threaded the ribbon thru and tied it at the back of the card. I made a bow with my Bow Easy and glued this to the ribbon but made sure I didn't touch the cardstock in the process otherwise the ribbon/sentiment wouldn't slip off the card - the bow is meant to look like it is around the daisy stems.

I punched two tiny hearts using my EK Success Arrows border punch (the leftover punchies when you use the punch look like tiny hearts) and glued them to each side of the sentiment. Lastly, I added some fine white glitter to these hearts plus the centres of the daisy flowers on the LH panel. This is a really white glitter - it doesn't have the blue/pinky tones that some white glitters have - and I prefer my really white one for Sympathy cards to give an understated look.

Here is a photo of what the card looks like when you slide the ribbon off:

The inside of the card simply says "With Sympathy".

And here is a close-up of the sentiment panel so you can see the tiny white-glittered hearts:

For your info if you were going to make your own Matchbox card from scratch:

* the LH flap is 1-1/2" wide

* the RH flap (which tucks under the LH flap a little) is 4-1/4" wide

* the card bottom (base) is 5-1/2" wide

* the height of the card is 4-1/4"

Take a sheet of cardstock 11-1/4" long (x 4-1/4" wide), and use your Imperial Scor Pal/Scoring Board to score lines at 1-1/2" (which will be the LH flap) and 7" (which will be the RH flap).

Don't forget that if you are going to use a border punch on the LH flap, you would need to add extra width to that flap so that once you have punched your border, the RH flap would still tuck under the LH flap, otherwise it will be too narrow and won't tuck in.

The good thing about this style of card is that you can turn it around and have the small flap at the RHS instead, or vertically so that the small flap is at the top, or the other way up so that the small flap is at the bottom. Very versatile and something a bit different to the norm - and easy.

If you need any clarification of the measurements etc, please don't hesitate to EMail me - or leave me a comment and I'll edit this post. My addy is at the top LHS of my Blog. Make sure you put "cardmaking" in the Subject Line so your EMail doesn't get spammed!

Thanks again for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Sentiment from Wendy Irving Expressions J6412.01 clear set

Ink: Stazon Jet Black

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Bunch of Daisies embossing folder from 'With Love' Cuttlebug set, Craft Concepts Budding Vine embossing folder, Spellbinder Ribbon Tags Trio, Bow Easy, white organza ribbon 10mm - 3/8" wide, .008 fine white glitter, Designer Dries clear adhesive (for glitter), The Paper Mill White A2 Matchbox cards PMAZMW - Riot Art and Craft

Punches: EK Success Arrows Border

House Mouse Sleepy Stocking: Clean and Simple Christmas Hat

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

I made a clean, quick and simple card using just the hat and one of the sentiments from my House Mouse 'Sleepy Stocking' set.  This particular set isn't up on Fat Cat's Card Corner's website yet, but keep an eye out - I'm sure it will be soon (there are already some House Mouse sets listed here).   I coloured the hat with Prismacolor and Derwent Coloursoft pencils plus OMS, then added some Polar White FlowerSoft - I LOVE the texture that the FlowerSoft adds - it is such cool stuff!!

The main image panel is up on 1mm mounts (dimensionals).  The ribbon is a much brighter green IRL - more like Irish Green - but being sparkly, it was rather difficult to photograph.  The green and red cardstock underneath the main image panel is also a bit brighter IRL.

The embossing on the white cardstock is a Cuttlebug Embossing folder called:  Season's Greetings  although my cardstock was smaller than the folder, so some of the writing isn't on my cardstock.

Lastly, I added a green pearl either side of the sentiment, and a red pearl to the diecut snowflake on the ribbon.

Although I have already made a card for the SCS Inspiration Challenge IC253 - see this link for the deets - I was so inspired by the John Lewis Department Store, that I made another card.  This card was inspired by this red and white Christmas ornament here.  I really liked the red & white combo and the red border, which made me think of my new Eyelet Nesties and how I could layer some red cardstock underneath to make a border.  I did end up adding the green cardstock layer and the green ribbon - the card ended up needing a little "pizazz".  I would love to get the round Eyelet Nesties one day - I think I would use them alot - in fact, I would love to see similar Nesties but with snowflakes or stars instead of the circles.  Oh well, it's nice to dream.......

Thanks again for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  House Mouse Sleepy Stocking JSHM006 unmounted rubber set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Snowflake #2 die, Season's Greetings embossing folder, Spellbinder Eyelet Nestabilities, sparkly green ribbon, Bow Easy, FlowerSoft Polar White, Aleen's tacky glue (for FlowerSoft), 1mm mounts, Prismacolor pencils, Derwent Coloursoft pencils, OMS, paper stumps, Kaiser pearls:  red and green, Cardstock:  red, green, KW Doggett "Knight" white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner

Sympathy card using Cuttlebug and Sizzix embossing folders

Hello and welcome :-)

I found myself needing to make a Sympathy card during the past week for a lady whose husband passed away.  It's never easy making a Sympathy card and I like to keep things simple.

I corner-punched the cardstock first (if you do it after the embossing, it squashes and marks the embossing - maybe that's a 'no-brainer' but I have often done it after, and then wished that I hadn't!!) - then used one of my narrow embossing folders from my Cuttlebug 'With Love' folder set.  I added the Scor-pal line so I could butt my Sizzix Textured Impression embossing folder up against the line - that way, I knew the embossing would be straight.  I have found that if I do the embossing first, then add the Scor-Pal line afterwards, it is almost always crooked.  Even if you squash the Scor-Pal line a little, you can just re-do it.

The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  The sentiment panel is up on 1mm mounts.  I only had really wide organza ribbon, but folded it in half and it turned out looking OK - though it was a bit fiddly to hold it folded in half while I was putting it through my Bow Easy!

I added some very fine white glitter to the flower centres as well as the punched hearts on the sentiment panel.  It's a really white glitter which I prefer for my Sympathy cards - this glitter is not like Kindyglitz Crystalina which has the pinky-blue hues in it.  Adds that bit of "something" but still understated and not over-the-top (well, that is what I hoped to achieve).

I'm popping this card into this week's Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge IC253 where the inspiration for your card comes from the John Lewis Department Stores website.  While I was thinking about what to make for this card - and thinking of a bunch of white flowers - I came across this image of beautiful white freesias.  As soon as I saw them, I thought of my Cuttlebug 'With love' narrow bunch of flowers folder and my Sizzix Floral Flourishes folder - the stems and unopened buds on the freesias reminded me of this Sizzix folder: hence my combination of the two folders.

Thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Wendy Irving Expressions J6412.01 clear stamp set (I believe this set is retired but is still in stock at a few stores - bit hard to find though)

Ink:  Stazon Jet Black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, With Love embossing folder set, Sizzix Textured Impressions Floral Flourishes and Vines #656259 (comes as a set of 2 folders), Scor-Pal, 1mm mounts (dimensionals), Spellbinder Oval Nestabilities, Designer dries clear adhesive (for glitter), Bow Easy, white organza ribbon, Cardstock: white

Punches:  Carl CP8 Heart (has 2 different-sized hearts), Stampin' Up corner punch

Elzybells: A little Winter magic!

Hello and thanks for dropping in!  Here is a quick little one-layer Christmas card using my favourite Cuttlebug folder from the Winter Wonderland set.  I really love the embossing on this particular folder - it's just so pretty.  It is available at Fat Cat's Card Corner here.  I actually started this card in August - but only just got around to colouring the image - it's just been sitting on my desk buried amongst all the other stuff (you know how it is LOL!!!).

I coloured the image with Prismacolor pencils and OMS, plus I used a Lyra Skin tone pencil for the face which I recently bought from my local Art Store.  Lyra pencils blend beautifully with OMS.  I added some Liquid Applique to the coat and ear muffs and let that dry overnight before I applied my heat-gun to make it "pop".  I did actually paint over the Liquid Applique (once it had cooled) with white acrylic paint because the Liquid Applique comes out an off-white colour which looked kind-of "dirty" against the white cardstock, then added Kindyglitz on top to make it sparkle.  I lightly chalked around the image with blue chalk.

The snowflake on the ribbon was diecut using the Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die set, and the snowflakes dotted around the embossing were punched from my Martha Stewart Snow Flurry edge punch (they are the leftover punchies when you punch a border with it), and these snowflakes are up on mounts.   I added tiny red rhinestones to the centres.   Here is a little closeup:

I attached the ribbon in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

Both the image and sentiment are by Elzybells Art Stamps UK who are closing on the 30th September.  These particular images have sold out, but there are still alot of other stamps - including Christmas ones - that are still available but you'd better be quick!!  I still can't believe they are closing - it is such a shame :-(

Challenges:

I am entering this card into the Crazy 4 Challenges C4C56 of "Bling".

And the Allsorts Week 71 Challenge of Plain and Simple.

Plus I am also popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers Free for All Challenge F4A21 of Snowflakes and Pearls from July - which was what I was originally started making the card for.

Anyway, that's about it for me.  Thanks for visiting - I'll be back in a few days with a Vintage Christmas card!  

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Elzybells Ice Skater 10-080, Sentiment from Elzybells 20-053 Mini Messages - Winter

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Snowflakes ef from Winter Wonderland set, Cuttlebug Snowflakes #2 die set, OMS, Prismacolor Pencils, paper stumps, Lyra Skintone pencil, white liquid applique, white acrylic paint, Kindyglitz Crystalina, Bow Easy, gingham ribbon, 1mm mounts, Kaiser rhinestones SB711 red (largest rhinestone on ribbon), Basic Grey Bling-it red rhinestones (tiny red ones on snowflakes), Kaisercolour chalks, heatgun, Cardstock: white

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner, Martha Stewart Snow Flurry edge

Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland - Burgundy Christmas Baubles

Hello and welcome :-)

This is another scheduled post whilst I have no access to my computer for 2 weeks :-(   Hopefully, I will get a few extra cards done during that time.

Anyway, back to my card:  I did a similar one a couple of weeks ago which was white (see here) and this is the burgundy version.  Not much to explain - so quick and easy.  All I did was round the corners with a corner punch and add the ribbon.  The ribbon was done in 2 separate elements and the bow was made with my Bow Easy (I LOVE my Bow Easy!!).  The star was punched and I added some gold glitter.  Note to self:  add glitter to star BEFORE gluing to card so you don't spend an hour getting all the gold glitter out of the ribbon and the embossed parts of the card - duhh!! 

This embossing folder is part of a Cuttlebug set called "Winter Wonderland" and is available here at Fat Cat's Card Corner in Queensland.

Back in a few days with another scheduled post!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:  

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Baubles embossing folder from Winter Wonderland set, Carl CP-1 Star punch, fine gold glitter, Art Institute Designer dries clear adhesive (for glitter), Bow Easy, ribbon, Stampin' Up corner punch, Cardstock: burgundy, gold 

Penny Black Celebrating - my DH's birthday card

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

I made this quick little card for my DH's birthday this past week.  Now that he has the card in his hot little hand, I can post it here.  I tried to colour the cat in similar colours to our own cat - Ruby.  There is a photo of Ruby on the LHS of my Blog if you want to see her.  She is such a character and fetches just like a dog (mainly with pipecleaners or hair scrunchies), and if she wants your attention, she will drop something at your feet or your lap, stand back and miaow at you for you to throw it.  She is one cute puss!


Anyway, enough waffling and onto the card!  I diecut the circle from the blue cardstock first then ran the cardstock thru my Cuttlebug using my new Indentz embossing folder (which I sourced from the UK). 

Recently I rang KW Doggetts (an Australian paper company) for a Sample Pack of different brands of smooth white cardstock specifically to use for the Gamsol Magic/Magic Coloured Pencil technique.  They were very helpful and generous with what they sent me - and all for free!!   I had a great old play and found that their brand: "Knight" smooth cardstock was magical - the colours blend out so beautifully and perfectly, and this is the cardstock I used for this birthday card.  And it's so white.  Much whiter than Beckett Radiance.  It was an absolute joy to colour!!!  In fact, I was so impressed, that I rang and placed an order and asked for 12" x 12" size which is very practical for my square cards 'cos I can just cut them in half.  My order was ready in a day and I was able to go and pick it up from their factory which is only about 20 mins drive from where I live.  They have a retail store where you can grab a box and fill it up with different coloured/brands of cardstock/vellums for a set price - ahhh, it was heavenly!!  I have no connection to them, but thought it was worth mentioning if you love using the Gamsol Magic technique, but don't know what cardstock to get if you are in Australia.  You can just ring up and ask for a sample pack and then you can decide what weight (ie: gsm) you like to use.  I believe they have offices in some of the other States of Australia.


I lightly coloured the background with blue chalk (which you can hardly tell from the photo!).  I added Art Institute transparent light blue glitter to the balloon.  The tiny hearts next to the sentiment are the leftover punchies from my EK Success Arrows border punch.

The fawn cardstock border was made with a Threading Water punch, and I added a Scor-Pal line above it.

Thanks again for stopping by.  Have a great weekend!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Celebrating' 1472E, Sentiment from Crafter's Companion 'Popcorn the Bear' Bunches of Love set  

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Indentz 'Happy Birthday' embossing folder, EK Success Arrows border punch, Fiskars Threading Water punch, AI blue glitter (from Shabby Chic set), AI Designer dries clear adhesive, Spellbinder Circle Nestabilities, Scor-Pal, Kaisercolour chalks, OMS, Prismas, fawn and blue gingham ribbon, Cardstock: royal blue, fawn, KW Doggetts Knight smooth white 

Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland - White Christmas Baubles

Hi and welcome to my little world :-)

I thought I would have a little change of scenery from making Vintage cards to make some quick and simple cards for Christmas using one of the folders from the fabulous new set by Cuttlebug called "Winter Wonderland".  It is available here at Fat Cat's Card Corner.  I have made a couple of others which I will upload here to my Blog over the coming weeks.

The gold snowflake on the ribbon was diecut using my Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die and gold cardstock, then I glued some very fine gold glitter to it.

The longest part of the card was waiting for the glittery snowflake to dry!  Here is a little close-up of it.  It was lovely and sunny here today, so I was lucky enough to catch a little bit of sparkle in the photo!

I am popping this card into the Clean and Simple Challenge CAS75 of 'Dry Embossing' over at Splitcoaststampers.  It's great that there is no time limit to play the challenges at Splitcoasters so you get to see lots of people's cards made for each challenge.

I am entering this card into the Our Creative Corner Challenge of "It's Embossable" where you can use any type of embossing on your card, eg: heat, dry etc.  Wish me luck!!

Thanks again for stopping by!  Back in a few days with a birthday card.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Winter Wonderland embossing folder set, Cuttlebug Snowflake #2 die, fine gold glitter, Art Institute Designer dries clear adhesive (for glitter), Bow Easy, ribbon, Stampin' Up corner punch, Cardstock: white, gold

Stampendous Bee Daisy - bee happy on your birthday!

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

I had to make a quick card for my niece's birthday later this week, so this is what I came up with.

The beautiful embossed frame is by Craftwork Cards which I bought from The Craft Barn in the UK.  They come in packs of ten with all sorts of designs and are perfect for square cards which I love to make, and I love that they have the scalloped edge too. 

I coloured the bee with OMS and Prismas, then glued on black and yellow Fun Flock using Art Institute Designer dries clear adhesive, then added clear glitter to his wings, pink to his antennae, plus pink and lemon glitter to the flower.  I lightly chalked around the image too.  The tiny lemon and pink hearts are the leftover punchies from my Arrows Border punch (but your probably already know that by now if you follow my Blog 'cos I use them ALL the time.....lol).

Here is a little close-up of the flocking.  I keep wanting to "feel" the little bee - he's so soft and furry!

I'm popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers CAS75 Challenge of dry embossing.  See this link for the deets.

Thanks again for stopping by.  Have a great week!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Stampendous CRE214 Cling Bee Daisy, Sentiment: from Crafter's Companion 'Popcorn the Bear' Bunches of Love set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Odourless Mineral Spirits, Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, Stampendous Fun Flock: Lemonade Yellow and Black, Art Institute transparent glitter: pink, crystal and pink (from Shabby Chic set), Art Institute designer dries clear glue, Kaisercolour chalks, EK Success Arrows border punch, Stampin' Up corner punch, Craftworks cards embossed frames: mixed bouquet, ribbon, Bow Easy, Cardstock: white, pink, lemon

Penny Black Party Time and Cuttlebug Grace's Frame + a Blog Award

 

Hello, and welcome to my escape from the ironing basket!

I made this card for the Splitcoaststampers 'Free for All' Challenge F4A20 of 'Show us What Ya Got' where you find the most recent thing you purchased that is still in its package and use it - see this link for the deets - so it didn't take much prompting to open up my new Penny Black clear stamp set - the newly released "Party Time".  I also just recently bought this Cuttlebug Grace's Frame embossing folder from Fat Cat's Card Corner, so I couldn't wait to rip open the packaging and use this gorgeous folder.

I'm also popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers Clean and Simple CAS75 Challenge of 'Dry Embossing'. See this link for the deets.

The image was coloured with Odourless Mineral Spirits and Prismacolor pencils.  I stamped a 2nd image and cut out just the present and popped it up on a 1mm mount (dimensional).   I went to town with the pink glitter on the balloon and present - {sigh} - I just love glitter - messy but I love sparkly things!!   I lightly chalked around the image with Kaisercolour chalks for the blue sky.   The bow was made with my Bow Easy.  The pink colour of the bow matches perfectly to the pink cardstock IRL, but for some reason, the pink cardstock looks a bit more purpley-pink in the photo.  The pink cardstock was embossed with my Jamara embossing folder.

This card took me very little time to make and will be going to my 3 year old niece for her birthday later this week.

* Two Awards from Anna in Wisconsin, USA *

Anna from her Blog: Anna's Papercrafts has been so kind and given me not one, but TWO Blog Awards and made some lovely comments about my Blog - thank you sweetie - it really made my day!  Anna is a newbie to the Blogging world having started blogging only a few months ago and posts nearly every day.

I am supposed to pass this award onto 10 other Bloggers.  I would love to pass it on to countless bloggers who have inspired me and encouraged me - every single person is worthy and it is impossible to choose - I truly think you are all amazing.  I'll just list a couple for now:

Lollychops - Lolly is incredibly crafty lady and among other things, has these amazing Flower tutorials.  Recently I crocheted some of the flowers using the tutorials from her Blog and I was so happy with how they turned out.

Indigo Inklings - Jay has lots of Cuttlebug & embossing folder tutorials, Coloured Pencil tutorials, Big Shot tutorials - I have learnt so much from her.

Thanks again for stopping by and thank you for all the lovely comments you have been leaving - they are so appreciated.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Sentiment and Hedgie by Penny Black: Party Time 30-049 clear set 

 

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black 

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Grace's Frame and Jamara embossing folders, Prismacolor pencils, OMS, paper stumps, 1mm mounts (dimensionals), Art Institute transparent pink glitter (from Shabby Chic set), Art Institute Designer dries clear adhesive, pink satin ribbon, Bow Easy, Stampin' Up Corner punch, Kaisercolour chalks, pink gems, cardstock: white, pink

Cuttlebug Perfect Perennials Birthday Card

Hello and thanks for stopping by to have a peek at my Blog :-)

Woo hoo!   I'm actually on-time for another Splitcoaststampers Challenge!  This card is for the CAS75 Challenge of Dry Embossing.  If you follow my Blog, you will know that I LOVE my Cuttlebug so the Challenge gave me the perfect excuse to use my new Cuttlebug 'Perfect Perennials' die/embossing folder combo.  It's so handy to be able to emboss and diecut a window at the same time; I can see myself using this folder alot for quick and simple cards.  The corners were all rounded with my SU corner punch.

I coloured the hedgie with OMS and Prismacolor pencils, then lightly chalked around the image for the sky and ground, and added a bit of pink chalk as well to match the pink cardstock.  The hedgie looks a bit washed out in the photo but it isn't IRL - the pink embossed cardstock came out really dark in the photo so I had to lighten it which made the hedgie a bit too light, and this was about the best adjustment I could get to make the whole card look kinda normal!

I added some fine crystal glitter to the flowers, the hedgie's envelope and the tiny heart (which is the leftover punchie from my Arrows border punch) next to the sentiment.   I attached the ribbon in 2 separate elements and made the bow itself with my Bow Easy (don't know what I'd do without my Bow Easy!).

This card is going to my SIL for her birthday.  Thanks again for visiting!  TTFN!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Hedgie from Penny Black: Party Time 30-049 clear set, Sentiment: Crafter's Companion Someone Special Popcorn the Bear set 

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug 'Perfect Perennials' Emboss Plus, pink gems, odourless mineral spirits, paper stumps, Prismacolor pencils, Kaisercolour chalks, Art Institute crystal transparent glitter, Art Institute designer dries clear adhesive, Stampin' Up corner punch, EK Success Arrows Border punch, ribbon, Bow Easy, cardstock: white, pink

Crafter's Companion Bunches of Love for my niece's birthday

Hi and welcome to my Blog :-)

I made this card for this week's Ways to Use it Challenge on Splitcoaststampers WT278 Yellow sunshine where you are to use yellow in a card.  See this link for the deets.  Yellow is not a colour I use very often, so this challenge gave me the perfect excuse to ink up this cute little duck.

This clean & simple (CAS) little one-layer card is going to my niece for her birthday.  Not a whole lot to explain really - the duck is from an unmounted 'Popcorn the bear' set by Crafter's Companion - and was coloured with Odourless Mineral Spirits and Prismascolor pencils, then I added some little strokes with watered-down acrylic paint to add some feathers (you will probably need to click on the piccy to see them), then blended the feathers in by adding a wash of watered down yellow paint over the top.  I did a similar thing with the centre of the flower too.  I love how you can combine the pencils and paint to create some "extra" texture to an image.

Because I am the Glitter Queen, I added pink glitter to the duck's heart and purple glitter to the flower petals and around the edge of the sentiment tag.  The tiny little purple and lemon hearts underneath the birthday sentiment are the leftover punchies from my Arrows border punch.

I chalked around the image for the sky and ground and lightly chalked the dry embossing.  I attached the ribbon in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

Thanks again for stopping by - have a great weekend!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Bunches of Love set by Crafter's Companion, Impression Obsession Sentiments 1 WP16

Ink:  Stazon Jet Black (for the sentiments) and Memento Tuxedo black (for the duck)

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Sizzix Textured Impressions 'Hello Kitty Spring Set' #2 embossing folder, Odourless Mineral Spirits, Prismacolor Pencils, paper stumps, Kaisercolour chalks, JoSonya Acrylic paints, paint brushes, Bow Easy, yellow button, yellow sewing thread, 12mm-1/2" wide ribbon, Art Institute Transparent Glitter - pink and purple from Shabby Chic set, Art Institute Designer Dries clear adhesive, EK Success Arrows border punch, Cardstock: white, purple, lemon

Another Christmas card using the Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set

Hello and thanks for popping by my Blog :-)

Haven't had much time for cardmaking this week because it's school holidays plus it was my DD's 7th birthday. We went to see Toy Story 3 and it was really fun - highly entertaining for both children and adults.

I did manage to squeeze in another quick one-layer-card this past week again using one of the folders from the new Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland set except this time I turned the folder up the other way. Here is the link to the first card I made using this folder.

I watercoloured the image with acrylic paints and added blue transparent Art Institute glitter to the letters and orange glitter to the snowman's hat. I added Crystal Lacquer to the snowman's hat so it looks all shiny. The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.

I'm also popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers Clean and Simple Challenge CAS02 of 'One button will do'. See this link for the deets.

Thanks again for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Stampin' Up Big on Christmas (retired)

Ink: Stazon Jet black

Accessories: JoSonya acrylic paints, paint brushes, crystal lacquer, Art Institute transparent blue and orange glitter (from Shabby Chic set), Art Institute Designer Dries clear glue, Cuttlebug, Winter Wonderland embossing folder set, 10mm wide ribbon, blue button, blue sewing thread, Stampin' Up corner punch, Bow Easy, cardstock: white

Penny Black : Dancing Chick - Mother's Day thank you

Hello and thanks for popping in :-)

I made this quick and simple little card the other day to give to my SIL & her DH to say "thanks" for having us 'round for Mother's Day lunch.  It was great catching up with some of my extended family.  As I was dropping into my SIL's home just over a week ago, I wanted to bring this card along but it was foggy at my house - I had hoped it would lift by the time I dropped my DD at school, but it hadn't, so I stood on my decking in the freezing cold fog trying to take a photo of this card!  I bet I must have looked really silly LOL!!  The sun was trying to poke thru so I sort of got a reasonable shot, but anyway, what can you do?!!

The card was super-quick and easy to make. I diecut the card with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinder Scalloped Square Nestabilities using the Tutorial by Bev Rochester (Bev's Blog is: All the things I love) which was posted on the Whiff of Joy Tutorials and Inspirations website.  Been wanting to make one of these cards for ages but didn't know how until I stumbled across it the other day.  

I made the Scor-Pal lines first then embossed the top and bottom panels with my Cuttlebug and small dots folder from the "Just my Type" set.  This cute little image was coloured with Gamsol and Prismacolor pencils - but I watercoloured the grass with Acrylic paints.  I lightly chalked around the image for the sky and added pink and lemon chalks to complement the image.  

I added Kindyglitz Crystalina to all the flowers,  plus fine lemon/pink glitter to all the tiny hearts (the leftover punchies from my Arrows border punch - I use them ALL the time, don't I?!!).  The bow was made with my Bow Easy.

I'm popping this card into the Splitcoaststampers (Clean and Simple) CAS56 Challenge of 'It's hip to be square!"

Thanks again for stopping by!  See you again soon!

Jocelyn

Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Penny Black 'Dancing Chick' 2564F, Sentiment: from Impression Obsession WP16 Sentiments 1 clear stamp set

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug, Dots embossing folder from Just my Type set, Spellbinder Large Scallop Square Nestabilities, Bow Easy, lemon organza ribbon 7/16" - 12mm wide, EK Success Arrows border punch, Scor-Pal, Gamsol, Prismacolor pencils, paper stumps, JoSonya acrylic paints, paint brush, Kindyglitz Crystalina, .008 fine lemon and pink glitter, Cardstock: white, lemon, pink