Still Seasonal

I'm still going on with the Christmas cards while all the right bits and pieces are readily to hand and although these items are only used for a short time each year it is surprising just how much seasonal 'stuff' has accumulated over the years.  Each year I tell myself I don't need anything new but usually something or other takes my fancy and gets added to the pile.  The stamp used for the twig with berries is a new addition for this year with the poinsettia stamp and the backing papers were new before last Christmas.  The dies of course can be used any time of year although being cut out in red turns them into 'seasonal'.  Both sets of stamps are clear polymer which is handy because they all required double stamping - poinsettia was cut out with scissors.

Backing papers - Craftwork Cards pads from 2015, probably discontinued
Twig and Berries - Stamp from a recent magazine freebie set
Poinsettia - Stamp set from Stampin' Up 2015 Christmas catalogue
Banner - Stampin' Up die set
Circles - Tattered Lace dies

Seasonal Bear

Another Christmas card today using an image and some bits and pieces which were lying around on my desk.  The bear was triple stamped and the bow double stamped and punched out.  I then found some background paper and a sentiment border strip to make up the card, finally adding a couple of stray flowers and a swirl to match.  Purple seems an odd colour to use for Christmas cards but I seem to remember it was popular several years ago and I still have most of a paper pad  in those colours hanging around and it needs using.😍

Background - Papermania Christmas pad from a few years ago (Docrafts)
Bear - Stampin' Up polymer stamp set including the bow
Punch - Stampin' Up Holly punch
Flower and Swirl - from oddments on my desk

Pixie Snippets Playground

I promised you a card with lots of snippets today and here it is ready for the Playground this week - do take a look HERE to see what Di has made for us and to see some of the lovely picks from last week's entries.  As you see this is another Christmas card and the actual tree is made by cutting a 'tree shaped' triangle from green card and then layering LOTS of little die cut fir tree sprigs over it.  I added a die cut flower pot and star and then would you believe I raided a little box of 'waste' bits of all shapes rescued from punching out fancy borders, die cutting and the like (I usually save any useful looking waste), sad I know but at least some of them have now been used!!  Luckily a good rummage revealed some tiny red flowers and a few matching small shapes so that I could decorate the tree which was then layered onto a white snippet circle which had been embossed before cutting off a small section.  Some more slightly larger snippets of seasonal paper and card for the background, a banner sentiment and that's another card for the Christmas box which is filling up nicely.

Background - paper from pad free with magazine
Flower Pot - Joanna Sheen die
Greenery - die cut from small snippets of various green card using a free die
Sentiment - Stamp from Stampin' Up on die cut banner (Sue Wilson die)
Embossing Folder - Stampin' Up

Trees

I'm still on a roll with Christmas cards and this is another fairly simple stamped one using a stamp with matching die for the scene and trees and a silhouette one from another set for the Santa flying across the sky.     I started by stamping the scene and colouring in the trees before masking off the lower portion to brush ink across the sky area.   A few pine sprigs were stamped around the top and the silhouette Santa stamped in the sky.  The trees were then die cut and embossed before adding embossing ink to the raised areas and heat embossing using white detail powder.  A touch of glitter on the snow in the background and that's it.

I've been playing around this morning with a serious amount of snippets as well so watch out for the resulting card tomorrow.

Scenic Stamp - Creative Expressions designed by Sheena

Santa and Reindeer - from a set of seasonal Cardio stamps

Pine boughs - from a  free set of  Christmas stamps

Trees - Die from Creative Expressions

Nearly Tempted

I spotted a magazine article which was of course tempting people to buy a set of stamps at the very least and almost succumbed when I remembered I had a set of polymer stamps which could be used for my version of the idea.  Although these stamps are basically floral they aren't actual flower images, rather they are a set of separate images of quirky petals, leaves, seed pods and the like which can be built up into all manner of designs.  I started with some white card and stamped a little border along the top, then built up a flower - these areas were then masked off before creating the background using powder colours, spritzed with water and once dry the addition of some distress ink around the edges.  Once dry the masks were removed and a little detail added to the flowers using  coloured pencil.  The stamps have a companion CD so I printed off a couple of the backing papers, cut them down to size and added a simple greeting.  This was fun to do and due to the random nature of the powder pigments there is no way it can be repeated exactly but it was fun to do and I have a few more ideas ready to be tried.

Stamps - Lavender Tea set with companion CD from Polkadoodles
Pigment Powders - Pixie Powder from Cosmic Shimmer

Robin

Another quick Christmas card for the box, this time using a robin stamp which has been coloured with  watercolour brush pens.  I'm trying to keep my Christmas cards fairly flat because of the extra postage for anything with a bit more dimension.  There is some glitter on the snowy branch but not sure it shows up here.

Background paper from a free pad
Image - Creative Expressions stamp by Sheena Douglass
Colouring - Zig Clean colour fine tip brush pens
Die Cut - Sue Wilson Noble s Pierced squares

Santa and Rudolph

Two days in a row, how's that for blogging?  I've had this stamp for ever - well ever since the early days of stamping when it was possible to buy 'grab bags' of unmounted stamps which were always great value and a very varied selection.  To think that I used to buy the  double sided sticky foam to mount them and cut and sand my own wooden blocks from scraps of timber - unmounted stamps were unheard of then and as for clear polymer, certainly none around. I reckon I'm talking some 15 years ago - how things have moved on if we stop to think about it.

Anyway back to the card - the image was stamped and coloured using coloured pencils and the card was finished with a banner and sentiment mostly using up oddments of kraft card, all onto a piece of printed background paper.

Background - from a paper pad by Craftwork Cards 2015 I think
Image - stamp of unknown source in a grab bag probably over 15 years ago!
Colouring - Coloursoft pencils
Banner - dies from Stampin' Up