Christmas Festival....

 

Just popping in quickly before running out to the orthodontist for DD1.....

 

Here's my entry for Can You Case It? # 75

 

More Christmas cards....I'm onto a theme I think!! 

 

Colours: Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler

Stamps: Petite Pairs, Festival of Trees

Other: Merry Moments DSP, Stamp'n'Write markers, basic pearls.

 

Happy Stamping...Manda xx

A little Christmas in June.....

 

 

 

I spent today with one of my very best girlfriends.....and even with 7 children between us, we managed to get some stamping done!!!  We decided to get a head start on our Christmas cards for this year, and we chose from the stash some (retired :-( ) Christmas product from past years.  Thought you might like to have a quick look at what we made.....

 

Card 1 - Rudolph

 

Very simple but loving the red nose......use the smallest pearl from the Basic Pearl pack and colour it with a red Sharpie permanent marker.

Card 2.....Penguin.

 

Stamp twice, once in Basic Black, once in Real Red.  Fussy cut the beanie and scarf and pop up with little pieces of dimensionals.

 

 

Card 3 - Snowman scene

 

Stamp the tree 3 times, making sure that the middle tree is slightly higher.  Fussy cut and pop with dimensionals your snowman.  Punch border is just 2 large ovals punch and attached to the back of the sentiment.

 

 

Card 4 - Christmas Cheer.

 

Celebrating the DSP pattern.....a very simple (if large) sentiment panel with a sideways bow.  I still love the wide grosgrain ribbon - long since retired, but a favourite none the less....thank goodness my girlfriend has quite a supply!!!  Ties the most gorgeous bows.

 

Colours: Whisper White, Real Red, Baked Brown Sugar, Garden Green, Soft Sky, Basic Black

Stamps: Cheerful Christmas, No Peeking (both retired), Wondrous Wreath

Other: Nordic Noel DSP, Basic Pearls, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda

The Year So Far......

Well.....the year so far....craft wise has been more prolific than it has been for a while.  Due to a change in positions at work, I find that I now have more time for crafting, which is great.  It did take me a little while to find my creative side again, and I have been experimenting with some products that are either retired or from *gasp* other companies. But I thought I'd give you a quick snippet of creations from my year so far.....

 

Starting with Christmas.....  A good friend found some Hershey's nuggets and kisses and together we found this cute little Christmas tree online.  I created these red and silver ones for the Christmas Day table.....

 

A childhood friend had a significant birthday in January, so I created this card for her to celebrate the milestone.  I used Blendabilities (discontinued now *insert sad face) and Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana cardstock.  I stamped the images from I Like You hostess set in Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder.

A work colleague had her birthday in March, so I created a set of cards from the SU! Painted Blooms DSP, available in the Occasions Catalogue.

 

In April, one of the mum's from school had her fourth baby, at last a girl after 3 boys. The sentiment circle is from A Fitting Occasion and the giraffe and congratulations is from Zoo Babies.

 

A close up of the sentiment circle to show the split heart detail, taken from the background paper.

 

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this quick snapshot of my year so far.....

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda xxx

Card #10......

 

This card features a technique I taught at my last technique class.......a starburst (or sunburst) of DSP.  I've edged each piece of DSP in this card, as it only has contrasting patterns and I felt it needed a bit of a lift. I've used Lucky Limeade ribbon, but still current is the Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda xx

 

Card #9......

 

This card I paired Wild Wasabi with Primrose Petals.....which is a slight deviation from the colour scheme, but it needed something lighter than Cherry Cobbler.  The sentiment is borrowed from a friend. Primrose Petals ribbon is still available. 

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda xx

Card #8.....

 

More of the gorgeous tulle ribbon on this one, and Ornamental Keepsakes and Mixed Melody. 

 

Love the giant rhinestones too.......what's not to love about bling!!! 

 

Happy Stamping....Manda xx

Card #7..........

 

Stamp set this time is Ornamental Keepsakes and matching Framelit set.   Also has Petite Pairs hiding down the bottom right. 

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda  xx

Card #6...........

When you make a collection of cards, I always seem to have one or two that I prefer over the others.  Card #2 and this one are my favourites from this set.  Maybe because they are more detailed?  Anyway.....here tis.....   Uses the Warmth and Wonder stamp set. 

 

Happy Stamping....Manda xx

Card #5.....

 

Candlelight Christmas DSP (retired) had a gorgeous flocked pattern window sheet as part of the collection.  This card highlights this paper.

 

It also uses the frame from Welcome Christmas stamp set (retired).

 

Happy Stamping......Manda xx

Card #4........

 

Lots of pearls and lush vanilla ribbon,  Stamp set is retired Wacky Wishes.

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda

Card #3.....

 

This card uses the retired  stamp set Heart of Christmas. Also uses the Apothecary Accents Framelits.

 

The ribbon is retired tulle ......but it's gorgeous to work with. :-)

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda

Card #2......

 

This card uses stamps from the current hostess set "Warmth and Wonder" in the Holiday Seasonal Catalogue. 

 

Happy Stamping......Manda

Card #1.....

 

Here is card number 1.  This card uses Welcome Christmas (retired) stamp set and Apothecary Accents Framelits.

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda

A Christmas Surprise.....

 

So what is inside?

 

Over the coming 10 posts, I'm going to show you what I've created (times 4) on the first few days of my holidays.  I have really enjoyed some crafting time, and am looking forward to some more before I have to put my nose back to the grindstone. 

 

For this and the next 10 posts in the series, supplies are:

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade

Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade

Stamp Sets: a variety of Christmas sets, both current and retired, and a couple of borrowed sets from other companies.

Embellishments: Candlelight Christmas DSP (retired, but I didn't have my current Christmas order when I started the project), pearls, rhinestones, various ribbons, punches and framelits.

 

Happy Stamping......Manda

Be of Good Cheer Christmas....

 

This is another quick and simple yet effective Christmas Card, that's easy to mass produce, which at this time of the year, when I haven't yet sent any cards, as I am still to make them,  is a good thing.

 

 

This time I've used Be of Good Cheer DSP from the IBC and the Christmas sentiment from a hostess set.

 

 

Stamps:  Wacky Wishes

Ink: Gumball Green, Very Vanilla

Card stock: Gumball Green

Other: Be of Good Cheer DSP, Gumball Green Ribbon, Cherry Cobbler button and Bakers Twine, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Windo Frames Collection Framelits.

 

Happy Stamping....Manda 

 

Stamp-A-Stack 3

 

This is the last card that we made, and again I've used the Festival of Prints DSP Stack.....I love this for quick and simple Christmas Cards. 

 

I've stamped the 2 longer baubles straight onto the base card and then stamped the smaller bauble onto some scrap and used the Holiday Ornaments Framelits to cut it out and pop it up.  I've hand drawn the strings holding up the baubles....the straight line is in Raspberry Ripple (and I've used a ruler), the freehand curvy line ins in Lucky Limeade.

 

Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Petite Pairs

Ink: Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple

Card stock: Whisper White, Raspberry Ripple

Other: Festival of Prints DSP Stack, Raspberry Ripple Ribbon, Basic Pearls (I've also used Dazzling Diamonds and it looks great too), large oval punch and Lots of Tags Sizzlits.

 

Happy Stamping....Manda

Stamp-A-Stack 2

 

This is the second card we made at the Christmas Stamp-a-Stack.

 

This one is so simple and elegant, and a fantastic one to mass produce.  And it's easily adapted to the DSP from the Stack in the Mini......just change the colour of your ornament, matting and ribbon.

 

Stamps : Ornament Keepsakes

Ink: Gumball Green

Card stock: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green

Other: Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Extra Large Pearls, Festival of Prints DSP Stack

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda

Stamp-A-Stack 1

 

Hi there....

 

Thought I'd share the first card from my Christmas Stamp-a-stack this year. This one is my favourite of the 3 that we did, not sure why, but I just love it.

 

Stamps: Daydream Medallions, Heart of Christmas

Ink: Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Rich Razzelberry

Card stock: Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Rich Razzelberry, Whisper White

Other: Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Basics Glimmer Brads, Labels Collections Framelits

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda

It's beginning to look a lot like......

CHRISTMAS!!

 

 

And now that I'm on holidays, I'm slowing getting my creative mojo back....Yay!!

 

 So the first thing I thought I'd share with you are some gifts that I made this year.

 

 

I made a set of these magnets for each of the staff members who I work with at school, and they were also the gift that I gave to the ladies who attended my Christmas Stamp-A-Stack.

 

They are based on an idea shared by my stamping sister Bec at a team meeting earlier this year.  The base of the magnet is a beer bottle top from the home brew section of the supermarket.  Run it through the Big Shot and it makes a cool embellishment with a bit of DSP and some Crystal Effects.  I've also used Crystal Effects to glue a magnet to the back of the bottle top and then packaged them up.

 

Happy Stamping.....Manda xx

 



Last Christmas post.....

I promise this is the last post I'll make for now about Christmas.

This is a glass ornament that I made for some of my demo friends.  I've white embossed Dasher and then used a combination of Crystal Effects, reinker and shimmer paint to make the snow.  I've then sealed it all with a spray sealer.  Add some ribbon and a tag, and there you go. 

And this photo is another jelly bean bottle, using a sheet of Real Red paper from the Playdate DSP.

Looking forward to posting some new creations for you all soon......

Happy Stamping......Manda