Christmas with Crafty Stamps

Today I would like to share two more cards, which incorporate images from the new Crafty Stamps Christmas collection, with you.

For the first card I opted for a sparkly and yummy cream and brown creation. I used the gingerbread man stamp XM121F and the Christmas sentiment set XM113S. The images are teamed up with an ivory card blank, Centura Pearl cardstock, glittered paper from a First Edition 'Festive Treats' paper pad, Woodware organza ribbon, Stickles glitter glue in 'Diamond' and Liquid Pearls in 'Dark Chocolate'.

My dies for this project are round nesting dies, scalloped circle dies, a label die by Xcut and a die by Marianne Designs for the leaves. For the borders I used a geared punch by Tonic Studios. The paper flowers are by Wild Orchid Crafts.

For a softer look I stamped the gingerbread man and the sentiment in 'Rich Cocoa', a Memento ink pad. Spectrum Noir pens were my medium of choice for the colouring.

The second card is more experimental with white cardstock, silver mirri card (and crafters will know how difficult this is to photograph) and red metallic card. The holly branches are cut from silver mirri card using a die by Marianne Designs. The holly image is 'painted' using red and green embossing powders and then set with the help of a heat gun. The image comes from the holly and snowman set XM2S.

Merry Magic Collection

Trimcraft have brought out a brand-new young and fresh Christmas collection in contemporary colours: Merry Magic.

For this card I used the following products:

* 12.5cm x 12.5cm square card blank
* Merry Magic designer paper pack
* Merry Magic 3D stickers 'Presents'
* Merry Magic individual adhesive gems
* snowflake acetate by Crafter's Companion
* green Core'dinations cardstock
* holly branch die by Marianne Designs
* Cheery Lynn window frame die

Step-by-step instructions for this project can be found in my Trimcraft gallery.

Fizzy Moon Christmas

Am I the only one who is sitting here with a tear in the eye? After the brilliant Olympics and the fabulous Paralympics with heroes like Oscar Pistorius it is just so weird that London 2012 is now history.

But the cute Fizzy Moon always manages to cheer me up, so let's finish the weekend with him. The Christmas For Him Decoupage & Paper Pad plus a white square card blank, some foiled die-cut snowflakes from Crafter's Companion, lace, lilac Woodware organza ribbon, Dovecraft adhesive gemstoness in 'Pastel' and Pinflair glue gel as well as a corner around were all the items I needed for this wintery card.

Step-by-step instructions for this card are in my Trimcraft gallery.

Have a good start into the new week!

A bit more of that Christmas spirit

Here are now two more Christmas projects created with brand-new Christmas stamps by Crafty Stamps. The high quality rubber stamps on kling foam are really great for precise and evenly stamped images.

The first project is something a bit different - a plate-like card with a stand. For this card I used

* Candle and bell set XM3S by Crafty Stamps
* Black Memento inkpad
* Spectrum Noir pens in IG1, BG5, CT3, CT4, GB4, DR 6 and DR7
* Adorable Scorable cardstock by Hunydory/Crafter's Companion
* Core'dinations cardstock
* First Edition paper pad 'Festive Treats' by Trimcraft
* White glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield
* Circle and scalloped circle cutting dies
* Large circle and scalloped circle cutting dies
* Oval cutting dies
* Plate stand die by Joy! Crafts
* Poinsettia and holly dies by Marianne Designs
* Paper roses and rosebuds by Wild Orchid Crafts
* Stickles glitter glue in Frosted Lace
* Dovecraft adhesive gemstones 'Brights'
* Adhesive
* Grand Calibur
* Toolbox essentials

The second projects sports a distressed look in green and black with some hints of colour. The 'ingredients' for this project are

* Holly stamp XM125D by Crafty Stamps
* Black Memento inkpad
* Spectrum Noir pens in IG1, DG2, DG3, DR4 and DR6
* Tim Holtz Distress Marker in 'vintage photo' (for the shading of the reindeer)
* Core-dinations cardstock
* White glass-smooth cardstock by Southfield
* Round cutting dies
* Die'sire die set 'Waltz Frame' by Crafter's Companion
* Reindeer die by Cottage Cutz
* Holly die set by Marianne Designs
* Die-cutting machine
* Corner rounder
* Tim Holtz sanding grip
* Adhesive
* Toolbox esentials

Thanks for visiting my blog. And please look out for more Christmas projects, which will follow very soon.

Winter is on the way

Yes, believe it or not, even I am now on the Christmas card bandwagon. There are already so many gorgeous new products around that I could not resist any longer. And over the next weeks I will share many projects with new goodies with you.

Today I am starting with a lovely new snowman stamp by Crafty Stamps. Inspiration for this project was the nice clean and cold air on a winter's morning. To give it this more 'frosty' feel I opted for white, light blue and silver as the main colours with a lot of mirri card and a bit of glitter.

Here are the 'ingredients' for my 15cm x 15cm square card:

• Large snowman stamp XM129Q by Crafty Stamps
• Spectrum Noir pens
• Black Memento ink pad
• White linen cardstock by Southfield
• White glass-smooth cardstock (200gsm) by Southfield
• Textured light blue cardstock
• Silver mirri card
• Adhesive pearls
• Stickles glitter glue
• Circle and scalloped circle cutting dies
• Cheery Lynn holly corner die
• Snowflake embossing folder
• Die-cutting-machine
• Adhesive
• Toolbox essentials

Smashing Edinburgh International Book Festival

Today I am happy and can look back on round about two fantastic weeks, but also have a tear in my eye. The Edinburgh International Book Festival has yet again been fantastic with such a calm and very enjoyable atmosphere during this busy festival time, but it is coming to an end tomorrow.

After all events there are book signings with the authors. But this year I was also faced with a challenge: How do you get eBooks signed? While I still love the actual books I have the work of some authors solely as eBooks due to running out of storage space.

The solution for me is a smash book. I have been thinking about starting one for all those tickets from sport events, concert, etc. that you want to keep but can then only find by accident for a while. And it also seemed ideal for collating book festival tickets alongside signatures of authors.

I prepared the pages before the event, asked then the authors to sign in the smash book and finish the pages off after the individual events. The pages shown here are just a taster. And my smash book is already turning into a very treasured item.

Wedding Acceptance

Today I undertook my first attempts with gilding flakes and Indigo Blu Flitter Glu - and had a fight at my hands. I applied the Flitter Glu to a stamp, but sometimes the cardstock was tearing when I lifted up the stamp. When I used the stamp in such a way that it hardly touch the cardstock I could lift it up, but the image was not complete. A touch up with a cheap paintbrush worked well.

But removing the stickiness on the rubber of the stamp was a nightmare. I washed it in water right after use, but I also had to use the specific stamp cleaner twice to get the stamp halfway back into working order. I doubt that I will do that again to any of my stamps any time soon. I will rather stick to highlighting areas by applying Flitter Glu with a paintbrush and then using gilding flakes.

I am actually quite pleased with the result - just the cleaning up process was too lengthy. And as I got a bit of glue along the edge of a fingernail, I am sporting a bit of red and gold myself ...

And here is what I used to create the acceptance card:

• Big heart stamp by Crafty Stamps (RM105F)
• Heart cutting die by Joy! Crafts
• Wedding ring die by Marianne Designs
• QuicKutz alphabet dies
• White textured and white smooth cardstock
• Gold metallic cardstock
• Red mirri card
• Adhesive gems
• Indigo Blu Flitter Glu and Lancashire Rose gilding flakes