Hubby's Xmas Card

I think this will probably be my last Card to be posted till the New Year, I hope that you will understand, its always a busy time of year and I want to concentrate more on my family for the next couple of weeks.

The card today is the one that I gave my husband for Christmas this year, it has been made with the Sizzex Pointsetta Flower Petals and Centre Die 655222. I punched out seven of the large petals, six of the smaller petals, one red centre and two yellow, these were then layered up to create the flower.

The card base was created out of a Gold Embossed A4 card folded in half to make a A5 card, then I used a strip of embossed vellum cut with the Fiskars Holly edge punch, this I put down the centre of the card, on top of this I created the flower with the Woodward Embossing Leaf punch arranged into a circle and put the flower on top. The centre was created with some silicone and some of the small embellishment beads, in many colours.

The greeting was one that I already had in my goodie box.

I want to wish all my visitors a very Happy Christmas and a Wonderful Crafty New Year.

A Xmas card for a gorgeous Granddaughter

Todays card was created for my husband's first Granddaughter on her first Christmas.

I used the Cute Companions Christmas Cd and stamps from Crafters Companion for this one, I printed out a background design of a front door and window, this I decoupaged with the extra's that come with it, finishing it of with clear glitter to make it catch the light.

The mice were stamped out and painted with H2O's and left to dry, then they were cut out and arranged on the background to look like a family singing carols in front of the door.

I then printed the patchwork letters from the other Cute Companions Cd, then again I coloured them with the H2O's and stuck onto the front of the card.

This was then mounted onto a silver mount and again onto a red A5 card.

Daisies

This card was made for a friend of mind after she had a operation in October this year, as a Get Well Card.

The main card was one that I already had that, which was embossed with a really lovely design, I used chalks to bring out the pattern, and around the Oval which helped to give the daisies a mounting.

The three daisies where made with the medium daisy punch, I punched out two pieces for each flowerhead and tipped the edges with pink felt tipped pen, then I cupped them and pinched the petals together, then stuck them on top of one another staggering the petals as much as possible, the centre's are small circle punched out pieces that have been cupped and on top I have stuck some small embellishments.

The daisies were then mounted on top of leaves that were punched from a fern leaf punch, and where were arranged to look like a bouquet.

My Rose Picture

Todays blog is one that I promised to put up awhile ago, its the first Rose that I ever created and couldnt part with so I made the above picture instead.

As I have explained before the rose was made with the balloon, heart and circle punches, and moulded with the deet tool and then mounted by layering and leaving to dry. This does take a time to do but its certainly worth the work as it gives such a stunning result, if you'd like to read how to do it, I used the Leonie Em book 1.

The little white flowers are made with the four leafed clover punch, cupped and stuck onto the card along with the stalks which are made from rolled up green paper to give the illusion of stems. The rose leaves are created from the birch leave punch and the white flower leaves are with the oak leaf punch, but using a lighter green paper.

These are then arranged and stuck to a backing card, lastly I attached a yellow ribbon around the stems, then I have cut it to fit a picture frame that I like, I hope that you do as well.

Sweet Violets

Todays card was originally based around the 3 violets that I created with my floral punches. They were punched from Violet and Yellow paper consisting of 4 small ovoid petals, 1 small snowflake for the base, 1 medium ichyou leaf, 1 small sparkle for the stamen and 3 to 4 birch leaves for the leaves for each flower.

I punched out the shapes and before starting I used a violet pen to create the markings, then I started cupping and embosing the ovoid petals, cupping the snowflake and the ichyou leaf with my Deet tool. These were then attached to the snowflake to create the flower, the centre was created with the small cupped sparkle. I also cupped and shapped the leaves ready to attach to the card.

The card itself was created with a piece of white card folded in half, then on top of this I used the shades of purple ink pad and a flourishes stamp to create the background. The stamped image is one of the limited edition stamps of Elusive Images which I stamped with Versafine Peony Purple ink pad, and the greetings were also done with the same inkpad.

These I mounted on mauve pearlescent card, cut with the long Classic Retangle Scalloped Die. I then mounted this onto the card and put a large mauve organza ribbon around the middle.

I finished the card with a arrangement of three violets which I stuck to the card with silicone glue and tucked the leaves under the flowers to create a setting.

Watercolouring the Dandelions

Todays card is made using the Hero Arts Dandelion stamp, Ive used my Marvy le Plume pens to ink the stamp. I used Butterscotch first for the flowers then Light Green for the stems, after which I misted it with water and stamped it onto a light cream watercolouring paper.

The card itself was made by using a light green card folded in half and the edge was embossed using my scor-pal board, creating a square design.

This was overlayed with a gold pearlescent vellum stamped with white Memories inkpad and a Flourishes design. I attached the vellum using a piece of ribbon with a blue flourishes design, top and bottom with a bit of double sided tape.

The Dandelion stamped images have been mounted onto Orange Holographic card that has been cut with one of the long Rectangle Classic Scalloped Nestabilitie dies. I decided to use both the images as they are just slightly different, the top one was stamped first and the bottom one second and they give a lovely faded effect.

The greeting was made by printing it of my computer in the horizontal and then mounted again onto the Orange Holographic card and then positioned in the box effect edge.

A change of direction

When I started this card last evening, I had a bit of a accident while trying to use my Nestabilities, I cut it to close to the image, so I cut it out and decided to use it on its own.

The Image is one of Sarah Kays stamps which I coloured with my aquarelle pencils and then with my Koi brush, I blended out the colours.

To make the card I used three of the designs from one of the Willow Design Cds, I used one to print onto the card which I folded in half, the second and third designs I layered up with one I used the threading water design punch to give it a pretty edge. On the edge of the second paper I used a spotted ribbon, which I attached with tape.

The stamped image I mounted onto a mounting of firstly plain pink pearlescent card which was punched using the Nestabilitie Scalloped large circle, then a piece of printed pearlescent card was cut with the classic large plain circle, and on top of this is another circle cut at the same time then by using one of the EK edge punches a Circle was created with a heart edge, the centre has been removed making it look like a doilly, I then added a peeloff around the edge.

To finish the card I used one of the Ribbon Label Nestabilitie dies, and then mounted with a piece of the printed paper with a peeloff edge and a greeting was added with a ribbon through the ends and attached to the card again with tape.

A card for Georgina

I have a very good friend who Ive know for about 40 years, and she has a granddaughter who's going to one next year, so I wanted to make her a special card for the occasion.

I used one of Sarah Kay's beautiful stamps, this is stamped onto white card and coloured in with aquarelle pencils, then I used my koi waterbrush and the Artquest paints to give it a glimmer finish.

I cut the picture with one of my Wizard Nestability dies and mounted this onto a dark blue pearlescent card using the larger die. The background card I put through my printer using a cd that I have in my collection, I then printed another of the patterns onto paper this time to use as a sleeve, I used my threading water punch on the two edges.

I attached a spotted ribbon to the back of the sleeve with some double sided tape and attached this over the fold of the card. I then mounted the stamped image onto the card. I used another of the ribbon papers on the cd to make the greeting which I manipulated with my graphics program to add the actual greeting, this I then mounted on a piece of the same dark blue pearlescent card, embossed the edge and mounted onto the card. To finish to card off I stuck small ribbon roses along the ribbon, to soften the effect.

Cards for my Mum and Mother-in-law

Todays cards were made just to let my mum and mother in law how much I loved them.

Both of them were made from Joanna Sheen's Fashion Boutique, I used two of the lovely ladies and also their backing papers. Firstly I printed both sets of the backing papers onto card, one to use for the card and one for the mount. I did this for both the ladies, the main picture of the lady, I printed onto photo paper making sure that the setting on my printer was set to the right paper and the best photo print.

When printed, I folded one of the cards in half to use for the card, and used the other for one of the mounts. I cut out both ladies and the darker one I mounted onto black card and then onto a blue/green holographic card, the pink lady was mounted directly onto pink holographic card. I then mounted both ladies onto their respective second backing sheet/card, this was then mounted again onto pink holographic card for the pink lady and blue/green holographic card for the darker lady, after this they were mounted onto their own respective cards. The pre-printed greetings were ones that I already had were then attached in the left hand corner of the card.

The flower bouquets were created from silk flowers and babys breath, then I covered the wires with a piece of lace and ribbon, these were then mounted onto the cards on the bottom right hand side.

Embossed Flowers and Puzzle punch card

Todays cards is made with the new puzzle punches and the Woodware Flower Embossing punches. I used several of the flower punches to make the flowers, the Dahlia, Chrysanthamum and the Snow Crystal, and the small Blink, Blink punch for the centre.

With pearliscent vellum (you have to use vellum with these punches or ordinary paper wouldnt emboss as its likely to get stuck in the punch) I punched out two shapes from each punch, with these I cupped slightly and then layered them up, in the centre's of each I put a punched out Blink, Blink shape, with a touch of gold glitter glue on each of the stamens. You can if you like, emboss these flower shapes with Holographic embossing powder before layering them up, it gives them a bit more glitter and shine.

To make the card I used a 5"x5" template, and on the base I used one of the Artylicious papers from the Elusive Images Cd's, on top of this I placed the puzzle punched paper that I had punched out using the Quilt punch, you will find the details as to how to use the punch on the wrapping, its a bit to difficult to explain how to do it here, but once you get the hang of it, its not quite so bad.

On top of the puzzle punched paper I put the three embossed flowers and the greeting.

whiff of joy are giving away a surprise gift every day untill christmasWelcome to the Whiff of Joy Advent Calendar,Each day a new window will open with a surprise gift for one lucky visitor, the new window will be posted at 00.01 GMT everyday and the winner of the previous days gift will be posted at the same time.Don’t forget to check everyday after 00.01 GMT at Creative ideas by KatharinaDecember 1stAll you need to do, today, to be in with a chance to win an extra Christmas Gift is to leave a comment with a link to your blog, mention the Advent Calendar in a post on your blog, that is it, easy isn’t it?Whiff of Joy Adventcalendar

All roads lead home

Todays card is another challenge to myself, to show another friend of mine Liz of http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Make-A-Lasting-Impression from whom I acquire all my Creative Expression Stamps, how much I appreciate all she does for me.

The stamps I used for this card are from the "Village" and "Holly" range by Sheena Douglass. I stamped the village street scene onto white card and then coloured it in with Aquarelle pencils, then using my Koi waterbrush I used it to blend the colours and to make it look natural.

After this I mounted it onto green card and then on wine card. The base card is white A4 card folded in half making it a A5 card, on which I used the small pointsetta stamp with the Shades of Red inkpad, stamping one straight from the pad then a second one to make it look cloudy. When dry I attached the wide red ribbon across the bottom.

The stamped image was then mounted on the card over the ribbon about an 1" from the top, the greeting is another of the stamps from the above range, this was mounted onto the same colour card as the larger image.

The two pointsetta's were punched out with the Large Dahlia punch from the Punch Bunch range. I have attached another photo to give you some idea as to how I create the Pointsetta, but I have also written the method I used to build up the flower.

The punch has several different size petals on it, I used the large petal to make the leaves and the next size for the lower layer of petals and an even smaller leaf shape for the top layer. These were moulded into shape with the deet tool, the knife edge is used to make the vein in the middle and then turned over and used to make the smaller veins. I used 3 medium punched out snowflakes to attach the leaves for the bottom layer (green), and the second layer (Red), and the third and top layer (Red). The centre is two small sun shapes (yellow)which are snipped and then cupped, into which I have stuck three small punched petal shapes (green), which are also cupped and stuck into the centre of the yellow sun shapes. I have finished this of with red and gold glitter glue.