More of the Same

Not being one to waste a good idea (I don't have enough to be careless of them) I made another handful of cards using yesterday's design with different papers and colour schemes. The darker blue has random patches of purple hidden in its depths so I found purple mirri card for the circle and tag which goes quite well, especially being toned down by the silver ornament shape; I did make one with a purple ornament but decided it really was too much of a good thing and reversed the colours for the rest. The pale blue is yesterday's discard - I suddenly thought of the glitter papers I'd been using for iris folding and the dark blue goes quite well. I didn't bother to emboss those circles because when I tried to, the die cut through the soft paper completely! The ornament and tag are in silver mirri and on each card the sentiment is a silver peel off - I love using a self coloured background for these and being raised they stand out surprisingly well.The snowflakes were made using the large Martha Stewart punch, Glacial Snowflake.

Just dies!

As I hinted last time: now for something completely different! Actually I spent much of today finishing off 25 IF cards, with inserts cut, folded, stamped and stuck, and my personal stamp on the back of each. I do have a few more waiting to be made, but if they stay in the box this year they'll be available for next year.....

I saw something similar to my new design several weeks ago on the JustRite blog, made as a Christmas tree ornament using the largest Spellbinder bauble die and with a stamped centre. I decided to adapt it for the long, narrow blanks I bought recently (they measure 8" x 3") and found the second largest die was a perfect fit. First I covered a card with pale blue snowflake paper but couldn't find anything lying around which was just the right shade for the scalloped circle; I know I must have something but I wanted to do a mock up quickly rather than spend a lot of time agonising. So the snowflakes were laid aside, I foraged in a file of decorative papers (instead of hunting all through the bits covering the floor) and came up with this red, which I bought very recently. The dies were fitted to odd scraps of green and silver mirri and as I laid them in place to judge the effect I remembered seeing a little poinsettia which I'd made to show a friend. More scavenging on the floor (please don't tell me I'm the only one who does this?!) brought it to light and thus the card was born! Into Production Line Mode: I covered 5 more in the rest of the red paper, die cut 5 baubles, 5 circles and 5 Labels #4 all from scraps of mirri card left over from making up the IF cards, and then, with the smaller Marianne dies, the required bits of 5 poinsettias which I'll put together tomorrow and stick onto the cards. Add insert sheets (stamped) and there we are, another half dozen cards added to the box.

Next Tuesday we are going to Germany for three days to visit the Christmas markets in Cologne and Rudesheim. I've wanted to go for years so am looking forward to it very much, but when we come back there will be a lot happening and I may not have time to make any more cards. Never mind, I've done quite a large proportion of those we shall be sending so feel quite satisfied (and I've just realised I have 6 birthday cards needed for December plus our son's on 2 January). I'm going to try to photograph them all together, just for the fun of it.....maybe they will be my blog header picture for the festive season.....watch this space!

Tree and Holly Leaf

I'm still folding for Christmas - I found another pack of tree cards yeserday so have been making them up as a change from bells, then this evening I've gone back to baubles. So far I've made only one holly card because I messed up the first one by covering the front in holly patterned paper but didn't like the finished effect, however I was able to salvage the IF and mount it behind a new front which you can see here. I had to trim the white card because the leaf looked a bit lost, and the berries are punched from mirri card because the only red gems I have are too small, but from an overall shaky construction I'm pleased with the finished effect and will get cracking on making some more. By the way, the tree is mounted on gold with a gold star and peel off greeting (I cannot bring myself to make anything but green trees). You may be relieved to hear that this will probably be my last IF post because I've now shown samples of all the designs I have: plenty more of the same to make up but next time I hope to have something completely different to show off.

More IF, this time it's bells

I've been iris folding like mad since my last post, and as well as making some red baubles I have gold bells mounted on gold, and silver bells mounted on red. I added punched holly leaves and red gems to each bell and was so taken with the effect that I added gems and/or bows to the baubles previously put away and labelled 'finished and ready to send' (so I don't have a nasty shock in December when I discover I've forgotten to add an insert with stamped sentiment). It certainly improved the overall appearance; I did scan one of them and was going to replace the picture in my previous post with the later one, until I realised the gems don't show up very well, so you'll just have to use your imagination (colour matched gems, one in the middle of the hanger and one pendant at the bottom).

Eighteen IF cards down, 27 to go.....

Iris Folding for Christmas

A couple of years ago my local craft shop held a one day sale in midsummer. Among other things I bought some packs of single layer cards with apertures for iris folded Christmas designs; these were ridiculously cheap and 'three for the price of two' so it would have been churlish to reject them. I recently discovered that I have the books which contain the patterns for these designs so yesterday I organised myself to make a few cards while watching television. The first shock was discovering that each pack contains five cards (nowhere did it say this on the packet) so I now have 10 completed cards with an IF bauble and 15 more lined up waiting. Then there are 5 trees, 5 holly leaves and 10 bells..... I'm very happy to make a handful of cards on a production line system; I wouldn't want to do even 30 of the same design at one time but increasing the total number of completed cards by tens in a short while is very satisfying.

Of course, I varied the colours. I have a lot of IF papers and like to use shiny and/or textured patterns of the same colour within one design - here, the bauble is in shades of blue echoed by the mirri card mat and the stamped greeting inside, while the iris, bauble hanger, greeting and tiny peel offs which edge the aperture are silver. I also used purples with silver, and greens and golds each with gold accents, but decided it was sufficient to show just one.

Must go - I have a few more IF designs calling to me.....

More Poinsettias

It looks as if there might be a couple of themes to my Christmas cards this year - you've already seen various snowmen, and now here is another type of poinsettia . I stitched the front some time ago but forgot about it until this morning; it took a while to find but eventually turned up safely in the first place I had looked in, though not before I had searched several other possibles as well! I really am quite well organised, but I swear my craft room is inhabited by aliens who move all my bits around when I'm not looking.

The pattern is from an online site Pinbroidery (there's a link in my Favourite Craft Sites sidebar) from which you can choose patterns, pay with PayPal and download complete with all necessary diagrams and instructions. The only thing you have to supply is the thread and beads: they don't seem to have found a way yet of supplying those via the internet! I have used shiny threads and red & gold beads; the mat once again is gold mirri card. It really is mounted straight but I had 5 or 6 attempts at scanning and this was the best I could do, because the bulk of the beads made the card slide around. Hmm, a spot of low tack tape would have solved that problem, but it will have to wait until DH is finished with his magazine editting.

Poinsettias for Christmas

It's certainly been a week of red flowers: I've been out several times selling poppies for Remembrance Day and made this Christmas card in between. The stamp is from Joanna Sheen and the flower from a die set by Marianne, the first I have tried. It isn't as deeply embossed as I would like so I'll remember to add another shim or two next time, but I'm pleased with the layout. I saw samples of the flower when visiting a fantastic new-to-me craft shop with friends last week but having bought it I discovered afterwards that it is also available in a smaller size which might look better on this size card. Ah, well, I'll just have to find an excuse for visiting my local craft shop and see if they have that one in stock, and meanwhile I'll make larger cards! I have bought sheets of red and green card specially for cutting the flowers (I have enough yellow for centres) so I will set up a production line and see if I can increase my total number of cards completed in a short space of time. Unfortunately although the stamp is excellent and gives a good crisp image it took me a long time to colour with Promarkers. I'm not very happy with the greens I used and may go back to the aquarelles I was getting to grips with before succumbing to the Promarkers eveyone was raving about....I do not delude myself that any tool will ever make me an artist!