Cardmaking - Little Green Fir Tree

Hello Everyone,

Hope your day has turned out to be a good one. A very warm welcome to my newest followers, Megan and Karen.  Thank you to you all for taking the time to check out my blog, I really appreciate it.

I have another quick and easy Christmas Card to share today ...

... and it's another one that features one of the stencils I was playing with last week. And, again, I think it's a card that is suitable for both a male or female recipient.

There really was not much to the making of it but here is how it was done.

• I had already inked up the beginnings of the topper, using Lawn Green Gentle Blend (Pinflair) and the Fir Tree stencil from Imagination Crafts on a scrap of white card but I decided it needed a bit of bling. First, I squeezed some clear glitter glue (a very old one that came free with a craft magazine) along the edges of the tree 'branches'. Then once that had dried I glued gold stars here and there over the tree. (The stars are the kind of confetti you find strewn on tables at parties or, as happened to me, come in a birthday card and get scattered all over the carpet when you open the envelope!)
• Next I matted the tree topper onto a piece of Snow Green Background Card (old stash from Kanban), wrapped twine (more stash) around the two layers and then adhered it all to a Kraft card base measuring just 4" x 5¾" (yet more old stash). The twine is quite thick so I used dimensional sticky tape to stick the topper down, otherwise it would not have lain evenly and wouldn't have looked good at all.
• The final touch is the computer generated greeting which was printed and punched out with a 1¼" circle punch (Stampin' Up). The matting was created by punching another circle from the Snow Green card, cutting it in half and sticking them to the back of the greeting leaving a little edge showing. (Hope I've explained that clearly enough).

Goodness! It took longer to write up the steps than it did to make it - it really was a very quick make.

I feel that I should explain the old stash thing. After a sort out of all the stuff I have stashed away - I know, I do a lot of sorting out, sigh - it became clear, crystal clear, that I probably had enough to last me for life. It's embarrassing! So I'm digging deep and making a determined effort to use all that old stash up. I really don't need any more new cardstock or pretty patterned papers as they become available ... I will resist temptation. Really! I will!

I'd like to submit this card to the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge # 306 Vintage or Anything goes

CHNC challenge extra for November 2016

Take care folks and have a great evening.

Sunday Snippet Card - Silver Fir Tree

Afternoon All,

I'm back with another card made from the toppers from the session I had last week with stencil templates.

This is another that I think will do very well for a male recipient because it isn't too 'girly'.

How it was made.

• for the fir tree topper I took a snippet of white card, some silver Buff-It Craft Polish (Pinflair) and the smaller of the fir trees in an Imagination Crafts Stencil Templates. (These stencils do not come with the name on the packaging so I'm calling it Fir Trees.) Using a palette knife, the silver Buff-It was applied to the stencil and left to dry naturally. 
• once the tree was completely dry, the topper was trimmed down and matted on to a piece of midnight blue card. This card has a very shiny surface - sorry, I have no idea of the manufacturer.
• next a base was created from white cardstock cut to create a non-standard size card measuring 5¾" x 6¼" ... non-standard to enable me to fit the topper which measures 5½" x 2¼" to the card front. 
• next, another piece of the blue card was cut just a smidge smaller all round than the card base and adhered to the front. Then a piece of the patterned card cut even smaller was layered on top of the blue. Both the blue and the patterned paper are very old stash - bought several years ago at the craft show in Glasgow - which is why I have no maker's information to share.
• to finish the topper was attached to the left side of the card front and three silver enamel dots (from The Story Of Us by Simple Stories) to the top right corner. 

It's a very simple card - there's really not too much going on - but it was quick to make and with only about 50 days to go to Christmas and being well behind with my cardmaking, quick and simple is good.

I'd like to submit this card to the following challenges:

Snippets Playground week 254

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge # 306 Vintage or Anything goes

CHNC challenge extra for November 2016

Merry Christmas Challenge #5 - Anything Christmas goes

Hope you are having a perfectly lovely Sunday.

Cardmaking - Christmas Wreath

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a lovely day. Thursday afternoon is a good one for me because I go along to the craft club. Today I had a great two hours crocheting whilst enjoying, as usual, the very entertaining and interesting craic from all the lovely ladies who attend the club :)

Once I got home I decided to spend a bit of time cardmaking and this is the card I made.

This card was made using one of the templates I picked up at the SECC show on Saturday - you might have spotted it, and the beginnings of the topper, on my desk in yesterday's post. Because it was a quick and easy make I'll not do a step by step of 'how I made it but list instead the supplies used.

• Cardstock - a scrap of white for topper; a 12x12 sheet of green (maker unknown) cut to form a 6" square base; red (Bazzill Basics Tomato) for matting the topper.
• Template - Christmas Wreath from Imagination Crafts
• Inks - Tim Holtz distress inks, Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Crushed Olive, Evergreen Bough, Shabby Shutters
• Embellishments - Red Berry Nuvo Crystal Drops; Red & Green enamel dots from Studio Calico

I didn't use any dimensional adhesive on this card which means it can be mailed without costing a fortune in postage.

I'd like to submit this card to the following challenges:

CHNC challenge 305: anything goes as long as it's Christmas

CHNC challenge extra for November 2016

Now I'm off to do some couscous to have with the chilli stew I left cooking in the slow cooker - love my slow cooker.
Happy Crafting,