Merry & Bright

H'afternoon my lovelies!

Hope you are enjoying this glorious weather! I have been going through some of my Christmas wooden stamps and I came across a beautiful retro reindeer and a 'Merry & Bright' phrase stamp that I have had for a few years.

I have some gorgeous wooden stamps, but because they are more bulky to store and you tend to use the polymer stamps more, you forget all about them. 

This card is based on one I did a few years ago using the same reindeer stamp. I have some papers by Brenda Walton with a retro theme that go perfectly with this style of stamp.

What you need...

Stamp: Rudolph (2808G) - Judikins; Merry & Bright (60-01160) - Inkadinkado

Patterned paper: Brenda Walton Merry & Bright (651160) 6" x 12" Double Sided Paper Pad - Sizzix

Card stock: red, white

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Punch: snowflake - Kars

Gems: clear

Pearls: red

Adhesives

What you do...

1 Cut a 10cm x 14cm piece of the presents paper, slice the bottom at an angle and fix to the top of a 14cm square blank.

2 Cut a 1cm deep strip of the striped side of the paper and fix under the angled piece.

3 Stamp the reindeer and the Merry & Bright onto white card and cut into angled shapes. Mat onto red card and trim. Attach to the blank at angles.

4 Punch some snowflakes in red card, adhere to the blank and add a clear gem to the centre of each. Add a red pearl to the reindeer's nose.

I know that the Judikins stamp is no longer available, but any simple reindeer stamp would do. The Merry & Bright stamp is available from Craftie Charlie for £6.95, click here to take you to the page.

I'm going to browse through past Christmas card makes and see if there are any that I would like to update, so watch this space.

Have a lovely weekend all and I'll be back soon!

Sending Love

Good morning my lovelies!

It's been a while I know. I have my niece Emily staying with me for a couple of weeks, and with getting commissions done before she arrived, I haven't had chance to make (or post) anything!

I've managed to sneak a few minutes this morning (Emily is still in bed) to show you a card I did way back when I started designing for Crafts Beautiful. It was my third issue (May 2011).

Without further ado do...

What you need...

Stamps: Psych Flowers Block, Round Designers Block - Judikins; Trees, Birds & Messages (CL182) - Hero Arts

Card stock: black, white, amethyst

Ink: Lilac, Amethyst, Boysenberry - Versacolor; Onyx Black - Versafine

Fine-liner: black

Gems: clear

Ribbon: purple

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp a cluster of circles in Lilac, Amethyst and Boysenberry ink and over stamp with black flowers across the top of white card 9.5cm x 10cm. Stamp the sentiment in the bottom right corner.

Draw a stem from one of the flowers on the left and attach a tiny bow.

Mount onto the top left of black card 10cm x 10.5cm and then onto amethyst card 11cm x 11.5cm. Attach to the top left of a white 13cm square blank. Finish with a few gems.

I have always liked the set of cards. I think you can still get the Round Designers Block, I'm not sure about the flowers though, but any round outline flowers would work just as well. Experiment!

I'm going to sign off now. Thanks for calling by and hopefully I won't be as long in posting next time. xxx

Making Spirits Bright

Aft'noon chums!

Sorry I haven't been around for a few days, I've been busy working on a commission for Crafts Beautiful, which is now all finished and posted off.

Last night I spent hours wrapping Christmas presents 'helped' by Bazoo. I have one of those gift wrap cutting thingies, which is now missing, presumed dead. Last sighting of it was under the Christmas tree, in a state of shock, disbelief and finally acceptance that it was no longer for this world.

I have to say, Simon and I were in great danger and it was only through Bazoo's instinct and bravery that we have come through what could have been a truly grisly ordeal. No doubt I will find the gift wrap cutter's body somewhere under an armchair. I will let you know when and where the service will be held. No flowers and no black please.

Back to the moderately sane world. I did manage to make a couple of cards before I started work on the CB stuff. This is a very simple Christmas card, I used solid circle stamps and created a background of different sized dots in greens and red, finishing with a sentiment, ribbon tied in a simple knot and a few gems.

Here it is.

What I used...

Stamps: Round Designer's Block - Judikins; Joyful Greetings - Paper Smooches

Ink: Tea Leaves, Key Lime, Red Magic - VersaMagic; Onyx Black - Versafine

Ribbon: red

Gems: clear, red

How I did it...

Stamp the sentiment with black ink in the bottom right corner of an A6 blank. Stamp dots randomly over the rest of the card with the red and green inks, starting with small dots around the sentiment, then getting larger as you move up the card.

Embellish the 'i' in 'bright' with a small red gem. Apply a few clear gems on a few of the dots and finish with red ribbon wrapped around the card and tied in a knot at the top.

Ta da! There you have it. I think it would also work really well with snowflakes stamped in lovely shades of blue. Hmmm...might have a go at that.

Again, this is a quick simple card, which can be whipped up in no time.

Well then, that's me for the mo, but I'll be back later. Thanks for dropping by. xxx

Retro Noel

Aft'noon Peeps!

Just thought I'd post another Christmas card for you to peruse. I love anything retro, especially 1950's/60's. I think this card captures that era, but with a modern twist, so here it is!

The paper is from the fantastic Peppermint Twist collection by K & Company, I trimmed some of the striped paper at an angle, then I embellished some of the snowflakes with a co-ordinating brad and covered the top of a square blank. I cut a thin strip to border the edge in a contrasting pattern.

The Rudolph stamp is a wood mounted one called Solid Rudolph by Judikins (2808G), this is still available from Stamp Addicts. I stamped him in black Versafine and embossed with clear powder, then trimmed the image at quirky angles. This was then mounted onto red card and trimmed.

Next, the letters N,O,E and L from the Papermania Fun Alphabet stamp set (PMA 9071101) were stamped in black and embossed. These were cut out and coloured in with Promarkers to match the colours in the paper. They were then mounted onto red card, slightly overlapping each other, the red card was then trimmed at quirky angles.

The image and sentiment were then mounted onto the blank. I finished off with a few snowflakes embellished with a glitter dot.

I love the colours in this card, they work really well. I don't think you can get the Peppermint Twist collection now, but if you are lucky enough to have purchased this in the past, why not treat yourself to the Rudolph stamp and have a go?

You don't have to copy the papers and stamps exactly, use anything in your collection and put your own mark on it!

Well, toodle-pip for the nonce. Thanks for visiting, Colette xx

Could it be spring?

Greetings all!!

I'm just sat looking out of my craft room window and the sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky, the birds are singing, the fact that all the trees in the back garden are bare makes you realise it's still winter. Spring is definitely on it's way though. Is it just me or do birds sound different when spring is round the corner?

I have been busy with more commissions for Crafts Beautiful. Plus we've got loads of people coming round to give us quotes on new central heating, radiators and new bathrooms. All these things to think about at the mo, my brain aches. You know what I mean, when it hurts to think, or to put it another way, you can't be bothered to think.

It was my Dad's birthday yesterday. I did him a fab card, I used the new Portobello Road collection from Papermania. It was very British, the main focus being on Big Ben. I placed it on the card at an angle (well it is leaning). Both my Mum and Dad really liked it. Forgot to take a photo - oops - slap wrist!

I have a friend who has just started a new job at the vets where I take Bazoo, so I've done her a Good Luck card with a black cat on it (very apt). Very bright and funky. Also, someone we know is going travelling round the world for a year, so I made her a Bon Voyage card. I remembered to take a couple of piccies this time!

Here I used papers from My Mind's Eye - Good Day Sunshine collection, First Edition - Animal Antics pad and K & Company - Greenhouse by Carolyn Gavin. The aeroplane is from a Cuttlekids die set, the flowers and fence are from a K & Company die cut pad which matches the papers. The Bon Voyage is stamped onto canvas all wonky like.

I used the same K & Company papers and die cuts as before, the black cat is a Judikins rubber stamp and I used the Tim Holtz - Scallops - On the Edge die. A few brads, ribbons and a rub on....ta da!

The photos really don't do them justice, they are so bright and funky in real life. I know the Carolyn Gavin collection is really hard to get hold of, I had to get mine from the US. The Judikins stamp was still available from Stamping Mad last time I looked.

The whole thing about crafting and looking at other people's work, isn't necessarily to copy like for like, but for inspiration and to use what you have or is available and put your own twist on it and enjoy!!

Happy crafting!!!