Wednesday 21 November 2012

Assorted Colours Christmas Cards

Hi everyone!

Hope you are all getting cracking with the annual Christmas card-making madness! I am beginning to get a little tired trying to make new things all the time so I decided to do a set of Christmas card in assorted colours!

It's a reasonably simple card and can easily be mass-produced. It certainly is not a traditional sort of card, but it works for people down South where Christmas sits in the middle of summer.


Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 1 goes perfectly with the new Papertrey Ink Over Under Easy set and make a nice focal point. I just added a bit of bow to the mat and also stamped it with coordinating inks in the background.


This could easily be sold as a set or gifted as one. The Over Under Easy set has lots of other sentiments so could easily be used for other occasions too!

Anyway, hope you liked these. Will try and post more cards later.

PS - I have officially become a doctor! Eek! First day at work tomorrow!!!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
STAMP: [PTI] Over Under Easy: Holiday Additions, Background Basics: Sheet Music
INK: [PTI] Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf, Royal Velvet, Summer Sunrise; [SU!] Melon Mambo; [VersaFine] Onyx Black
PAPER: [PTI] Stampers' Select White, Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf, Royal Velvet, Raspberry Fizz, Summer Sunrise
OTHER: [PTI] grosgrain ribbon (Lemon Tart, New Leaf), satin ribbon (Aqua Mist, Royal Velvet), saddlestitch ribbon (Raspberry Fizz); [Spellbinders] Nestabilities: Labels 1; foam tape

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Moved in!

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a fab weekend. I've spent the last weekend moving houses and now I can officially say I've moved out of home.

Things have settled down in my new place (with one other flatmate) and I can now proudly say that I have a giant desk the size of a single bed for all my crafting goodies. It is a nice change having all those cardstock sitting on the table.

Remind me to show you all a photo later sometime...

Anyway, I have one card to share today (because I'm savouring the others for later). I was just told by a friend yesterday that she was getting married in January. She hadn't even told me she was engaged! Given that I have known both bride and the groom since beginning of high school, going back 11 years, I thought I'd better make them a special card. Especially knowing that they did a simple email wedding invites (if they had told me sooner, I could have made handmade ones!!!).


Note the new card background. No longer on my bed! Well, I might still if I get sick of moving downstairs for photos. Haha.

This card is hot off the press. And I thought I'd stick with the hexagons since I'm having so much fun with it. I used the sentiments from Love & Marriage set and heat embossed it in gold. Butterfly die cut was smudged with 3 different inks using the Tim Holtz Blending Tool and then sprayed with a bit of mist.

So that's it from me. Hope you all liked the card. Now I'd better get back into Christmas cards!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
STAMP: [PTI] Happy Hexagons, Love & Marriage
INK: [PTI] Berry Sorbet, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise; [Versamark] Watermark ink pad
PAPER: [PTI] Rustic Cream, Stamper's Select White
OTHER: [PTI] Cover Plate: Hexagons, Half & Half die collection, Beautiful Butterflies die collection; [Tim Holtz] Blending Tool; [Filigree] embossing powder (gold); foam tape

Thursday 8 November 2012

Happy Hexagons are here!

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd better post today before things get too hectic. I have an exam tomorrow (and I am going to flunk it!) and then moving houses this weekend so won't have much time to post I suspect.

My PTI order finally arrived yesterday and unfortunately I couldn't get my hands off it! I had been eyeing the hexagon and harlequin cover plates for some time now and had to nab them when they were both in stock.

They were definitely fun to play with but require a fair bit of patience as it does take time to stamp and assemble them! But the results are rather striking even when you didn't think through colours. I am aware that Nichole Heady has some formulas or layout to make them look nice with the number of pieces needed for each colour. However, being me, I couldn't be bothered and I just went with random placements which still worked perfectly fine.

So I made two cards yesterday instead of doing some studies (seeing as it won't affect whether I graduate or not, and you all know the temptation when you get your hands on somethine new after 6 months of nothing!).

Now, the hexagons or the colours have nothing to do with Christmas, but I figured I may as well use the new Christmas stamp sets too. Whoever receives these can be baffled at my designs ;)

I used some Royal Velvet here because it's not a colour I use very often and it went with the new ink I got (Royal Velvet, Smokey Shadow and Winter Wisteria).


Next up is a bit more cheery and more fitted to our New Zealand summer Christmas. Still doesn't look anything like a Christmas card, but hey, it's handmade! ;)


 So there it is from me. I'd better do some work just to make myself feel better. Why I agreed to take part in the exam I do not know (since I did have a choice whether to sit it or not!!!). Anyway, wish me luck in moving around all my junk to the new house and I am very much looking forward to a new corner desk which will now be set up primarily for crafting purposes (seeing as I won't be getting much homework to do once work starts!).

Thanks for coming around :)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

{Sending Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday}
STAMP: [PTI] Happy Hexagons, Over Under Easy: Holiday Additions
INK: [PTI] Royal Velvet, Smokey Shadow, Simply Chartreuse, New Leaf, Winter Wisteria, Autumn Rose
PAPER: [PTI] Royal Velvet, Rustic Cream
OTHER: [PTI] Mat Stack 4 die, satin ribbon (Royal Velvet), Cover Plate: Hexagon die; foam tape

{Wishing You a Cozy Holiday Season}
STAMP: [PTI] Happy Hexagons, Happiest of Holidays
INK: [PTI] Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate, Summer Sunrise, New Leaf, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores; [SU!] Daffodil Delight
PAPER: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Stamper's Select Delight, Vintage Cream
OTHER: [PTI] Cover Plate: Hexagon die, Tag Sales 5 die


Friday 2 November 2012

Merry Christmas Santa Claus

Just a quick post today (I'm sure I've said this numerous times before too), and I am definitely running out of titles to use for my posts as the number of holiday cards increase. 

I made a card last night using the Tremendous Treats: Christmas stamp set. I have to admit I really struggle to use this set. When I first got the Tiny Treats set, I knew I wanted images to be bigger, but after the Tremendous Treats was release, I just could not figure out how to use them.

Well, as with any crafter, Google Image is your best friend ;) I quickly Googled for some ideas and I give all credits of designing this card to Shelly, because I practically cased her card out of desperation!


The design is more or less the same, but I can't say "Warm Wishes" in New Zealand seeing as it's the middle of Summer here in December. So a quick change-over to my favourite Santa Claus did the trick.

I have to admit that the PTI Kraft ink works and looks so much better on Kraft cardstock. Versamark used to leave very very subtle impressions unless you heat embossed it, but the Kraft ink is just perfect for the background imaging as it is not too bold or subtle.

Anyway, that's it from me today. Thanks for coming around!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
STAMP: [PTI] Tremendous Treats: Christmas, Tiny Tags II
INK: [PTI] Dark Chocolate, Kraft, Vintage Touch: Tea Dye Duo; [Adirondack] Pitch Black
PAPER: [PTI] Rustic Cream, Kraft, Pure Poppy
OTHER: [PTI] Tiny Tags die collection; [Spellbinder] Nestabilities Labels 1 die collection; [Copic] Sketch Markers (T1, E00, E21, E13, R24, R29, R59, Y32, Y35, Y38); baker's twine (red)