Christmas Cards 2015

I was not sure if I was going to make my Christmas cards this year as I just left myself a couple of weeks.  I had not started before I went on holiday, I just did not realise how little time I was leaving myself, especially as my time was then taken up with sorting out the break in,  That threw me out completely and it was hard to get into the mindset of making Christmas cards.  

I decided that I was going to have to make them really quickly this year and would not be able to make them fancy.  I had seen a similar card of Sue Wilson's blog but wanted to make mine a little simpler due to the time constraint.

I have been MIA for a few weeks now as I had a two week holiday in Walt Disney World but came back to find that we had been visited by an unwelcome visitor whilst we were away and have been dealing with the aftermath of that.  Insurance companies are not the easiest people to deal with and of course we are now adding extra security.  Not the best sight when you walk through the door after a long flight but are now near the end of the process.  I have learnt to deal with an insurance company that deals with claims themselves and not through third parties.

I was glad that I had booked a workshop locally to me before I went away, otherwise I don't think that I would have gone.  I have never done a class with this tutor before but it turned out to be an enjoyable class and quite a small one which was good.  It was nice just to be able to concentrate on crafting and clear my head of anything else for a few hours.  It was a good interlude among all the mayhem.

It was making a Christmas Wreath from an MDF kit although you could make cards and tags instead of the wreath.  I wrapped the frame with Hessian before decorating with the poinsettia leaves and petals.  I used a different technique for each part and had fun making this.  It was a nice small class and just what I needed.  

I find that the hardest card for me to make each year is the one for my husband.  One of the reasons is making it so that he does not see it - he does like to pop into my craft room to see what I am making - usually I don't mind but not when I am making his!  This year was expecially hard as I was also getting everything ready for our holiday.  My mojo had just got up and left and of course found my self running out of time. 

I started with some paper I had picked up in a small craft shop in Page, Arizona a couple of years ago, which had ties printed on it.  I then used a Joanna Sheen die to cut out the shirt.  I used blue glitter card but then cut it out again in white card to make the collar, cuffs and tie stand out. 

I cut out 2 of Sue Wilson's Stacked Diamond Striplets lengthways on some light blue card and mounted this on some darker blue card.  I then cut out the greeting using Sue Wilson's Scripted Happy Birthday and to finish just added some blue gems.

 

 

Mother and Aunts Birthday

As usual, I made a birthday card for my Mother, and then made a similar birthday card for her sister, whose birthday is about 7 weeks later that my Mum sends her.  As my Mother always likes the cards I make for her, it has become a tradition that her sister gets the same from her.  It also saves my Mum having to go out and choose a card as this way she knows she gets one that will she likes rather than searching through the card shops for one.  My aunt also enjoys the fact that she gets a hand made one.  It is nice that me and my mother play a part in her card each year. 

I made my mothers card in blue and my Aunt's in white.  I got the idea from Sue Wilson so of course it was using her dies and stamps.  I just loved her one so much I had to make it. I used the Floribunda stamp design by John Lockwood for Creative Expressions and coloured it in using distress markers. The background was Sue's Striplet die Lattice and lace and I added an embellishment to each flower.

The sentiment was again made using my foiling machine but I also put a very small picture of the roses on this which does not show up in the photo too well but made it more personal. It is also nice to see the two card next to each other and how different they look although are the same.

 

Card for a friend

I decided that I would again use Sue Wilson's dies and the matching stamps for my friends birthday card, which again I made at the last minute.  I started off using the Tied Together Embossing folder by Couture Creations - which is one of my favourites - onto Coconut white card. I mounted this onto a pale blue card.  

I then used the Kalika Trio  stamp which matched the Greek Collection Kefalonia die and coloured this in using Copic pens.  I then cut this out with the Kefalonia die and using the same set cut out a smaller filigree die cut to go on top.  The sentiments was made using my foiling machine.

To finish, I just added some Creative Expressions dazzler from one of their multipacks of various sizes.

With Sympathy Quick Card

Must be the age I am getting to but I do seem to be making a few With Sympathy cards recently. They also usually need to be made pretty quick and this was a quick card to make.  This was one to send to a colleague of my husband.

I just used two dies on this - Sue Wilson's new Expressions With Sympathy die (she must have known I was going to need it) and one of the dies from Spellbinders Crosses 2.

I just layer some white card onto a blank black card and then made another layer of white card onto black card 2 cm smaller and then mounted the two die cuts in black.

With these cards, I think that the more simple the better and it is the words that go inside that make the card.  

John Lockwood Workshop

Well,  I guess it is about time that I mentioned the dreaded 'Christmas' word and the first card I made this year was in  John Lockwood workshop that was nearby in my local craft store.  It was only a morning workshop as John was doing a demonstration in the afternoon and I also had a football match to go to.

The project that John had chosen was using Sue Wilson's dies from the Festive Collection and was the Christmas Angel 2015 and also either the Poinsettia Mini Striplet or the Snowflake Mini Striplet. I chose to use the the Poinsettia Mini Striplet.

This was quite a quick project, although John did keep us enthralled with his stories - he really was a fantastic person to do a workshop with.  

The background was created by cutting out the Snowflake mini striplet 3 times onto some Antique gold foundation card and then mounted onto black card.  We then cut out the Christmas Angel in black card but coloured her using gilding wax.  We then coloured the stars but I used a different coloured wax than the Angel.  We then mounted the angel and stars onto acetate and attached to this to the card, creating a domed effect.

We then made the box to go with the card and for the box lid, just used the same striplet to create fancy top to the box.  The base was black card and again we used the Antique Gold card for the top.  I must admit that I made the box top at home as the class had overrun a tad and I did have my football match to get to.

I was also able to make another quick card whilst I was waiting for the class to catch up and made this card just using two of the angels cut out and mounted slightly off each other. Again they were both cut in black card and one was coloured using the gilding wax.

I certainly hope that my local store has John back again next year - I have already reserved my place if he does come back.