Christmas cards for my nearest & dearest

Christmas Gifts

I had a lot of “nice” coffee jars that were just too good to throw away.  I didn’t really know what to do with them then I hit on the idea of snowmen sweet jars.  This soon formed into the idea that I could make them for Christmas gifts, with different fillings & colours for friends, making a really personal gift.

Material assembled, ready to make a start.

Hats and scarves were knitted, pom-poms for buttons and snowflakes (Sizzix Sizzlit Seasonal set #654374 and Sizzix Frame, Snowflake #657906) were cut from self adhesive paper to decorate the jars. 


The jars were filled with scented tea lights, sweets and even dog treats (for a friend's dog)

First post of 2015

 

Wishing all our readers a very happy & healthy 2015!

Season’s Greetings

Wishing all our readers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year

Christmas is almost here . . .

Christmas preparations are well under way (just as they should be).  This year we have been lucky enough to have two babies who are celebrating their first Christmas – how exciting!

I took a “1st Christmas Bauble” and personalised it with baby’s name and the year.

Of course, Baby’s 1st Christmas cards had to be made.  Whilst both cards look the same, they are both different, making each unique – perfect.

         

So nice to do . . . .

so I did it again.

I so enjoyed making the Art Nouveau style card for my friend, that I decided to make it again for my cousin.   Same techniques, just a different letter.

 

Lest We Forget

Thinking of you

I wanted to let friends know that I was thinking of them.  I wanted a cheerful (in an understated way) card.  I chose my colours carefully and was pleased with the result.

Fabulous Four!

I needed to make a card for a fabulous 4 year old, who is a huge football fan.

I hand cut the 4 from a white card blank and from red metallic paper.  The stamp is one of my old favourites, stamped onto white card and coloured with promarkers.

Flower Birthday

I love making flowers from parchment paper.  This design was from an old copy of Pergamano magazine.

Wedding time

A simple but effective card for our friend’s son that recently married.

Friends

My friend (a colleague of DH), has got a new job.  We’re so pleased for her and of course I wanted to make her a card.
I went with an unusual design for a new job card but nonetheless, I think it works quite well.
It’s based on Art Nouveau, with a parchment letter, mounted on a Swiss dot embossed card blank and some wonderful black loopy adhesive tape, to complete the design.

Birthday Poppies

I love poppies, have a garden full of them and even have a cat named Poppy!

I needed to make a card for my favourite aunty for her birthday and was delighted to see in the October issue of Parchment craft, a card with a poppy design.

I really enjoyed making this card and thought the little 3d butterfly was soo cute.  I added the happy birthday ribbon, I don’t usually use black for this, but I thought it would bring out the middles of the poppies.

Birthday time

Time for DH to celebrate his birthday.

As a budding sax player, his first card was was easy.  A clip art sax image, coloured with Promarkers

Another Zentangle, this time using the word “Dad”

Silver Card

My card for DH – another pop-up box, but this time for our silver anniversary.

21

DS was 21 recently.  Mind you, I don’t feel old enough to be the mum of a 21 year old!!

The first card was a “pop-up”box card.  Three of the flaps were decorated with pics of DS at various ages,  and the front flap was covered in sheet music washi tape with a nice big 21.  Using a 2 and a 1 paper clip for the greeting part, 2 keys and a stamped quote, the card soon came together.  Please note: the personal greeting has been erased using paint shop as I forgot to photograph it before I wrote on it (duh!)

The second card is simply the outline for a number 21 printed on card, then using my Rotring pens, zentangled.  I had great fun doing the zentangles and was pleased with the result.  Mounted onto a gold card (embossed with my gear embossing folder & swiped with a gold ink pad) – a simple but effective result.

48 cupcakes

I needed to make a celebration cake for the anniversary party but I wanted something a bit different.  With a bit of planning, 2 silver trays (from the charity shop) and 48 cupcakes, I ended up with something different!

Silver Roses

This year, I decided to teach my self to crochet.  It was something that I had been unable to master, despite my Mum trying to teach me, yet, she did teach me how to knit.
With much perseverance,  a bit of cussing and a lot of time on the web, I finally managed to make a shawl.  I was so proud of myself.  Two more shawls later, I decide to have a go at crocheting roses – silver roses to be precise.
 


Not bad for a beginner.

A silver bride & groom

A bride and groom figurine, glued to a small cake stand

Silver beads glued around the base (what a job!)

“25” added using paperclips

Based “blinged up”  using small & large gem stones and my gem heat applicator

Project 25

We decided to have a party for our silver anniversary.  Of course, I made the invites.

The 25 was cut using a Sizzix Christmas die (Sizzlits Decorative Strip – stacked words Christmas 658257).  I embossed a white postcard (Textured Impressions Embossing & Stamp Set – Flourish 658280) and I used a silver ink pad to highlight the embossing.  I edged a plain white card with silver dotty washi tape, added some ribbon and hearts with our names – I was pleased with the final result.

Couldn't resist . . . . . .

I’m not usually interested in the latest craze or fad and am not one for jumping on the band wagon.  However, this time, I simply couldn’t help myself, I had to have a go at Loom Banding.  Having seen articles on the web, features on the good old Beeb and lots and lots of loom band stuff in the shops, it was easy to pick up a loom and some bands to have a go.
After a few false starts, replacing the stupid plastic hook that was included, with a metal crochet hook, I soon began to understand why loom banding was such a big thing.  Oh and did I mention it is VERY addictive

Parchment anniversary

Friends of mine celebrated their anniversary, the day before they came to NL to celebrate our anniversary.  I wanted to make another parchment card (I did tell you that I like working with parchment).  I found the basis for the design in one of my craft magazines, changed it to what I wanted and this is what the finished card looked like.

The addition of the washi tape along the top completed the card.

Butterfly birthday

My friend loves butterflies, so I made her a butterfly card.

I love working with parchment, but it is always a worry towards the end of the design – one mistake and the card needs a clever cover-up or it’s a scrapper.  I’m pleased to say, that this one was fine and my friend loved it.  The happy birthday is the same as the previous post (Sizzlits Die Set 3PK - Card Phrases Set #3  - 657524)

Still Summer

Well, everyone is back to their respective day jobs, but the sun is out, so I guess it’s still summer – how lovely.

It’s been a busy time here of late, loads of birthdays, a new baby and DH & I celebrating our silver wedding anniversary.  We had a party, which was fantastic  and a great opportunity for lots of crafty makes & bakes.  So, now to begin the show & tell from the summer . . . . . . . .

A dear friend of ours turned 65 this summer, so what better than a card made using the Sizzix vintage buttons embossing folder (657672) and the Happy Birthday Die (657524 -Sizzlits Die Set 3PK - Card Phrases Set #3)

Birthday Aunty

Still using the postage stamp set (see previous post for details), this time I actually used the rubber stamp that was in the set.  The butterfly, background and stamp frame were coloured using Copics and again the card blank was embossed with the flourish embossing folder 658280 and again, swiped with a sepia ink pad

Anniversary

Friends of ours recently celebrated their 7th wedding anniversary.  Having fallen in love with my new Sizzix goodies, I wanted to use the postage stamp set again.  I took a wedding photo of theirs, recoloured it in sepia, resized to suit and then printed this onto card.  I embossed a pearly gold card blank using the Sizziz Textured Impressions  flourish & postcard set 657666.  I swiped a sepia inkpad over the embossing to make it stand out a little more.  The postage stamp was cut using the Sizzix Framelits with stamps set, postage stamps 658295 and a gold peel-off number 7 was added in the corner.