Friday 29 April 2016

Twelve Cards of Christmas - again! - with Sugar Pea Designs

Now you might all think it's getting ahead of the game with all these Christmas cards, but right now, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was winter given on Wednesday we walked home from school through a blizzard. Yep, a blizzard. Remind me it's May on Monday, won't you?

So here's the next set of twelve cards that I made over the weekend. Again these were made with the fabulous Sugar Pea Designs sets and I created them using my Letterpress as a stamping tool - that was necessary to get all the circles lined up.



It was an idea I had last year, but didn't manage to put it into practice until now. I very gently took the back piece of acetate off the stamps, so that they were all still stuck on the other piece, and placed them onto the lid of the Letterpress. I then peeled off the acetate from the front and hey presto, they were all there perfectly lined up. I then took the first circle off and replaced it with the appropriate animal representing the words.


I then inked up the circles with Memento Ladybug and Cottage Ivy - there are 6 of each colour - and stamped them onto a piece of Neenah measuring 4.5x6.5 inches. I kept inking until I was happy with the coverage. I then carefully inked the animal in Memento Tuxedo Black and stamped it. The best thing is I didn't need to clean all the stamps until I was finished as I knew they wouldn't move and smudge.

I repeated the process for all 12 animals. I then coloured the images with Copic markers and trimmed the panels to 4 x 6, although the panels with the images on the bottom row are slightly larger as the images themselves seemed bigger than the others.

I then cut out 12 cards to fit, leaving a half inch at the end to add some patterned paper - naturally Let's Bokeh in the Snow. My new ATG came in really handy again for quick sticking.

Here are all of the first 6:


And the rest of the set.



Below is a list of what I used to make these cards and where I purchased them. Please note I DO NOT USE affiliate links :)


So I think officially I am Christmas carded out for now, but you never know, I may get inspired again. I do feel much better having these in stock, even if they took a while to do.

Another aside, is anyone interested in buying my set of 12 Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers? I bought them back in June last year and have never got on with them. They've only been used a few times. Wanted to let them go to a crafty friend before I put them on eBay if I can as I hate seeing them sitting there unused. Please leave me a comment and I will get back to you - UK only, otherwise with postage, it isn't really worth it. 

Thank you so much for visiting today. Have a great weekend - it's the Tour de Yorkshire here this weekend, so will be lots of people cycling around!

Tuesday 26 April 2016

Twelve Cards of Christmas - Sugar Pea Designs Sugar Sketch 50 #SPDSS50

Hello again! Well what a week so far - from glorious sunshine to hail and snow, it sure is weird for the end of April, but I suppose the saying 'Ne'er cast a cloot, 'til May is oot' now makes sense! You must wonder if we Brits talk about nothing but the weather.... ;)

I have been busy like a little Christmas bee. Really busy. I have made 24 Christmas cards in the past 4 days. Yep, 24, or two sets of 12, because I made them bulk in the same way - and that was an interesting experience trying to think of turning a creative process into a production line.

They have all been made with Sugar Pea stamps, their Everyday is Christmas and Twelve Days of Christmas sets, which I love, and this first set of twelve were inspired by Sugar Sketch number 50.



I started by stamping and Copic colouring all the different 12 animals onto Neenah card stock. I then stamped all the number and word circles. I used my Letterpress to get really good coverage of the ink. I then die cut both out using my SSS stitched circles. The animal is in a larger circle, for practical reasons, but I also think it highlights them too.



I then die cut more circles from scrap patterned paper - it's all Lawn Fawn. I made up 12 A2 cards from white card stock, and rounded the corners with my Corner Chomper and then scored it at various intervals. This gave it some interest, but also helps me line up the circles. I then set all the pieces out onto the cards on my craft desk and moved the patterned circles around until I was happy. I then got to work with my ATG and stuck them all down in place. My personalised stamp on the back of the card and job done!



Below is a list of what I used to make these cards and where I purchased them. Please note I DO NOT USE affiliate links :)



Some pictures of all twelve - and the beginnings of a nice stash of cards for the festive season.





Thank you so much for taking the time to read and for all your lovely comments. I really do appreciate every single one.

In an aside, I've added a little watermark that I managed to create using Pic Monkey. What do you think? Always welcome your thoughts and your advice!

I'll be back with more Christmas cards later in the week, then I'll spare you for a while!

Tuesday 19 April 2016

You Rock - Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Hello again - so soon! - Thank you for all the kind words on my recent video. I really do appreciate all your comments :)

As I type, toddler is sleeping and the sun is pouring in the window - I tell you there's nothing like a bit of sun to lift your mood, so we shall make the most of it when she wakes up again and have a nice slow walk to school.

So I'm back with a few simple one layer cards for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. This week the focus is on Lawn Fawn products, and although I only have one stamp set, I do own nearly all of their Let's Polka paper pads, so they had to come out.

There are a lot of photos because each of them is slightly different!



These were quite simple to do. I started by stamping the rocks onto an A2 card made from Neenah cardstock. I then masked it using some sticky post it notes. I then masked off the whole card on either side of the rock and the top and blended with some distress inks - you can get a better idea from the pictures below. You don't have to mask the images, but I wanted a little flexibility and also an idea of where to put the paper piecing - sometimes I change my mind mid card so I like options!



Then it was just a case of stamping the rock onto two different colours of polka paper that I had in my scrap box, cutting them out and gluing them on top.




I then added the sentiment on the outside and another on the inside - this one has You Rock on the inside, but the green one I went a bit further and stamped this:



I love mixing stamp sets together! I loved the whole paper piecing and ink blending so much I decided to do it with some of the plaid paper.




This one is layered onto a coloured card base because I got distracted and blended ink onto the back of the Neenah :(, but it was saved! This one says 'let your dreams soar' inside.

Below is a list of what I used to make these cards and where I purchased them. Please note I DO NOT USE affiliate links :) 

The colours of distress inks were: Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters.
 



Thank you so much for taking the time to get this far through all the picutres. Hope your weekend is off to a polka dotted, plaid, flying start!

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