Winter Woodland Festive Cards

Oh gosh, now it is already November! Christmas is only a few weeks away and have not even thought about the design for the Christmas cards for our own use - especially the ones that we need to post and that need to be flat and light. Something is telling me that these cards might get made in a mad rush yet again and might require a trip to Southfield Stationers to get more card blanks and envelopes ...

Good that the design team cards are progressing much better. Here are the newest cards created with the Winter Woodland collection by Helz Cuppleditch and Trimcraft. I just love the adorable images.

Both cards use 15cm square white card blanks.

For the snowman card I 'misused' an aperture card blank by turning it into a frame. The decoupage image does not completely fill out the aperture, but matching snowflake background paper as well as the flowers and holly pieces disguise the edges. For the holly pieces I used the die strip by Britannia Dies.

For the second card I used glitter stickers and wooden elements from the collection for the toppers. For a more natural feel I decided to display the underside of the frames rather than the coloured side. As further embellishment I tied Woodware organza ribbon into a decorative bow and attached a fabric brad with the help of glue gel.

Product lists and step-by-step instructions for both cards are available in my Trimcraft gallery.

Floral Christmas Cards in Traditional Colours

Firstly apologies for the lack of blog posts over the last few weeks. I just needed a bit of time and a 'creative break' to get over everything that happened recently. I had already started crafting a bit again, but a visit to the Hobbycrafts Show at  the SECC was exactly what I needed to bring final closure and to focus again on the future. Christmas might still be challenging, but hopefully lovely memories will be dominating.

Back to Basics Christmas - Joy of Christmas

But now back to 'business as usual'. For the first cards I would like to share with you I used the Dovecraft Back to Basics Christmas collection in traditional colours in combination with the doily die set from Trimcraft's Me to You Christmas collection. Both cards also have in common that cardstock in vintage metallic colours is used for the matting and layering.

For the card above I used the entire doily set, which cuts and embosses just beautifully and can easily be combined with circle and scalloped circle dies, to create a focal point.

Back to Basics Christmas - Floral Season's Greetings

For the second card I just used one of the frames, which can be created with the doily die set, and mounted it onto a vintage gold scalloped circle. The Me to You Christmas mistletoe embossing folder helped to create some texture for the scalloped circle and the green cardstock of the banner.

As I designed both projects for Trimcraft, product lists and step-by-step instructions will again be available in my Trimcraft gallery.

A weekend dominated by mixed emotions

Saturday started in a lovely way with the Ross Papercraft Show at the the Meadowbank Stadium. It was fun, there were more exhibitors than ever before and I managed to secure some good bargains. And did I stick to my budget? Erm, ... no ... But the lovely tools, embellishments and dies were worth it.

But as soon as I was home and started to put my feet up with a nice cold drink the sky seemed to literally cave in. It is difficult to digest that our family got hit by two tragic losses at both ends of the age spectrum on Saturday - one expected and limiting suffering but still extremely sad, the other one completely out of the blue.

I have been feeling sad and tearful all day, but instead of tossing and turning in bed I might as well still get a bit of work done and catch up with my blog.

Visitors at the Ross Papercraft Show could see these two cards amongst the sample cards at the Stampers Grove stand.

For the Jacobite card I used the Crafty Stamps images 'Jacobite Warrior' (SC165N) and 'Arthurs Seat' (SC159M). I combined it with paper roses by Wild Orchid Crafts, thistles from Stampers Grove (the home of Crafty Stamps) and an embossing folder from Sheena Douglass' Indian collection.

The second card is created using Crafty Stamps' rockhopper penguin (AN143B). It is based on  a Dovecraft 5" x 7" card blank that I transformed with the help of Sue Wilson's background die from the Californian collection. The Sue Wilon die and the wooden shapes on this card are also from Stampers Grove.

Both images are stamped with VersaFine ink pads and coloured in using Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Derwent blender pens.

Winter Woodland Hedgehog

I think I only realised how stressful the uncertainty and fear around the outcome of the referendum was when my stomach decided that it was payback time. So instead of a relaxing and crafty weekend I spent a good part of Friday (after I came home from work) and nearly all day Saturday and Sunday wrapped up warm in bed or curled up on the sofa. Not really what I had in mind ...

But now it is business as usual again and I can share the next card with you.

I just love the wee hedgehog from the Trimcraft's Winter Woodland collection, which is based on the lovely illustrations by Helz Cuplleditch. For this card I opted for an image from the glitter decoupage pad.. And I also could not bypass the gorgeous embossing folder. I hope that Trimcraft will bring out a lot more embossing folders and dies, as they are great to work with and I am impressed by their quality.

If you would like to re-create this card (only for personal use and not for competition entries, please), you can find a product list and step-by-step instructions in my Trimcraft gallery.

Christmas Cards with Wooden Shapes

Twelve Days of Christmas - Someone Special

Oh, what a dreadful day it was here today - dark, cold, foggy and wet. And as so many leaves are now coming off the trees, it was a good indication that autumn is here. The weather was slightly better in town, but here the fog did not lift all day. Although it was not raining at the time I ended up with completely damp clothes just by walking from the bus stop to the house, as I had to walk through the dense fog. I had not experienced anything like that before.

But hiding away in the house for the rest of the day gave me at least the chance to start catching up on project instructions.

Today I would like to make a start with three Christmas cards that I created with the new Dovecraft Twelve Days of Christmas collection by Trimcraft. All of them feature tartan papers from the collection and wooden embellishments.

Twelve Days of Christmas - 25th December

 Twelve Days of Christmas - With Love

I prepared detailed product lists and step-by-step instructions for all three projects. Just click onto the titles below the images to get directly to the relevant pages in my Trimcraft gallery.

Twelve Days of Christmas

 Oh, Trimcraft have brought out so many lovely new Christmas products this year. The Dovecraft collection 'Twelve Days of Christmas' features beautiful papers - many with beautiful red and green tones - as well as images from the popular song. There are also loads of gorgeous embellishments available.

On the card above I have also used one of the brand-new embossing folders (this one is from the Me to You Christmas collection). I have now used the embossing folders a number of times in my Cuttlebug and have always had a beautifully deep and very even impression. I am really delighted with the quality of these Trimcraft embossing folders.

For the fir tree branches I used a die by Marianne Design.

You can again find a product list and step-by-step instructions in my Trimcraft gallery.

Dovecraft Back to Basics Christmas Collection

Amongst the new Christmas products by Trimcraft there is one collection that caught my eye immediately due to the superb colours: the modern style of the brand-new Dovecraft Back to Basics Christmas range. I just love the beautiful papers and embellishments.

Today's card is relatively quickly to make. My main focus for this project is to showcase the patterned papers.

A product list and step-by-step instructions for this card are available in my Trimcraft gallery. And for those fellow 'die addicts': I used the holly strip by Britannia Dies for the holly elements.