More Christmas cards

I'm really enjoying these MME papers. This card is another simple layout.

The next card was originally inspired by a card in the Stampington gallery which I fell in love with when I first started crafting. It changed along the way and is now nothing like the card that inspired it. It is an A5 gatefold card. I don't have a good picture of the front as it didn't want to stay closed. But this is one side of the gatefold .

The base card is brown and I have scuffed the edges with gold ink. The inside looks like this.

Making a start on Christmas

I fell in love with these Inkadinkado stamps (a clear set called "Holiday Greetings") the first time I saw them. It was an impulse purchase quite out of character for me. But the more I use them the more I love them and I'm beginning to see how versatile they are going to be. In fact, I can imagine being able to do my whole 2009 card quota with these 6 stamps. Which would be a shame as I bought several other Inkadinkado sets very close to Christmas last year and never got to use them.

My starting point was a blog post from Stamp Talk with Tosh. I love the way she'd coloured the images and attempted to do something similar. I stamped a sheet of images and enjoyed working on them in front of the tv, using Distress Inks, the odd marker, 'puffy colours' (a dimensional medium with a glossy finish which Elaine kindly brought back for me from her European trip and which I used on the poinsettias) and my trusty Clear Stardust pen. You can just see the sparkle in the images at the top of the sheet. I was really pleased that I seemed to get a nice balance between subtle and glam.

I managed to find the gorgeous Signature Christmas papers from My Mind's Eye to use with them and split the pack with my crafty friend Lesley. My first card was very simple but I thought the stamps needed very little to show them at their best.

By accident I found that once mounted, the images were a nice size to go on my tri shutter card so that became my second card.

I decided to make the panel for the handwritten greeting into a little card-within-a-card and to stamp with an image from Winter Trails which co ordinates with the design on the front.

A third card is almost finished but needs a final touch. I feel I'm on a bit of a roll so maybe I'll find the missing piece for my card this evening.

For Elaine

This was a card I sent to my crafting buddy Elaine who has just had a birthday. You may be able to tell from the photo that the gates are embossed onto acetate and are slightly bowed across the card. The plan was to have them open separately and lead to the inside of the card gatefold style. But I wanted them to have a bit of life so I scored them at the 'post' so they didn't lie too flat. But when I offered them up to the card to measure the fixing points, still in one piece, they formed the bow shape and I liked them that way. Of course the extra depth that created really warranted a box which wasn't part of the original plan. So I put them in a slightly more generous envelope and trusted to luck. Elaine is far too kind to tell me the true state the card arrived in but I fear it didn't look quite like this when it reached her.

The gate stamp is from Beeswax and the vegetation beyond the gate is from the Elusive Images Wild Flower plate. 'Imagine' is from Elusive Images WIGL plate.

Victorian Washstand Tile

This card was 100% inspired by a Victorian washstand tile. I made it as a challenge to myself when I found myself admiring the tile and then realised I had the stamps to reproduce all the elements. The card consists of a black mirri card background, a cream coloured frame mounted on foam tape and layered geraniums which are behind the frame at the base but 'grow' out over the frame. When I made my first attempt I stamped and embossed the frame and flowers on one piece of card. But I decided it was too flat so this version has a separate frame and two layers of flowers. The original flowers were coloured using Tinkabella inks. I loved the 'glazed' finish of the inks but the colour wasn't quite right. I'm still not entirely happy with the colour but these flowers are quite lustrous. They were painted with two shades of mica watercolours and then I used blended pink and orange Tinkabellas over the top. The tile had a butterfly in the top right corner and I was ready to stamp mine but then decided it was the perfect place for a greeting so I used a peel off instead.

The card blank was part of a mixed pack and is high gloss. I'm not sure I've seen anything like it for cardmaking before.

All stamps are by Elusive Images.

Strawberry season

I bought this little board crate full of strawberries a couple of months ago. I have to be honest and admit the crate appealed to me even more than the strawberries did. It slots together like those balsa wood model kits you can buy. So I took it apart, stamped and embossed on what had been the inside and put it back together inside out. The brown colour is original. In places it was slightly darker, almost as though it had been lightly scorched. So I touched it up with Distress Ink to enhance the effect. I'm really pleased with it because, for once, it actually turned out just the way I wanted it. I'd told myself if I messed it up I'd just have to force myself to eat another kilo of strawberries. But I haven't seen these since so it's as well I got it right first time.

In the photo it is modelling with ink pads but that's just so the pictures of the strawberries (now on the inside) don't detract from the design. I can't decide how to decorate the inside. I was going to do it with papers but I'd need to seal it as I want it to be robust enough to be of practical use to me.

On the receiving end

I've discovered something even nicer than sending a handmade card and that is receiving one. I was lucky enough this year to receive cards from two talented ladies. As fellow members of the Graphicus Guild we share similar tastes so these friends knew exactly what I would appreciate. The first card was from Elaine, who has kindly agreed to me putting a picture of her card on here. The photo doesn't do the card justice. It's a luxurious black velvet card with not one but two stunning chandeliers. Each is highlighted with jewelled flames. Gorgeous!

The second card was from my crafting kindred spirit Lesley in her very distinctive style. I was going to post a picture here but Lesley has put it on her own blog so why not go there and pay her a visit. Again, the picture doesn't do justice to Lesley's subtle shading. She has built up the image using masks and stamps in both background and foreground. The swooping bird is deliciously pearly.

I feel so lucky to have these cards on my mantelpiece and, more importantly, to have made friends of these clever and generous crafters.

Dry spell

Dry spell? Not outside the window I know, but here on my blog it's been very dry. In fact I struggled to remember where to find the 'New Post' button! Time has been the problem. Now I have the time as I've broken up for the summer. But the juices aren't flowing again yet. This card took some time in the making and is modest but hopefully the start of a more productive era. I've used some glittered marble card, panels embossed in my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder, some flowers and ribbon from my stash and flourishes courtesy of my crafty friend, Lesley. The image has been glazed with clear embossing powder and I was pleased to see that my white souffle and clear stardust pens both show through the glaze, although that might not be obvious from the photo. The card is to congratulate my cousin Matthew and his wife Naomi on the birth of their son, Max.