Design team makes...Christmas Cards

Hello everyone...Genny here. As most of you are, I'm desperately trying to make my Christmas cards. Apart from the orders that I have to complete..I have my own to make. And as I have a litter of kittens taking over the house..it's a bit of a job..lol. As I write, the kittens are causing chaos in the parlour. When it comes to Christmas cards I seem to find it harder to make my own..when I get orders in the customers know what they would like..so it's easy. With my own I have to find something I really like and they have to be easy because normally I leave myself very little time. That's one of the reasons I love the Margaret Tarrent paper pads that have been produced by Joanna Sheen. I was lucky enough last Christmas to have been given one by Julie here at JB Crafting to work with...and have still got some left. The images are fantastic and very nostalgic. They remind of the images in books that I had as a little girl.

On the pads there are the images and greetings, alongside some easy decoupage. I found it a great way to also use some of my huge stash of Christmas papers.

The other thing that I love to do is to find a stamp that I love and batch make a lot using the stamp as the focal point. As Julie stocks  a fantastic range of Stampendous Stamps...I picked this wonderful image of the little House Mouse, drawn by the very talented Ellen Jareckie.

I just love this image of the little mouse balancing the ornaments on his nose. Again it is a perfect way of working through my stash. I have to say that I collect papers..I may never have to buy any more..but I know that I will..lol

I hope that I will have given you a little inspiration. Julie has such a wonderful shop filled with fantastic goodies...an Aladdin's cave of inspiration..so if you are wondering what to do..why not pop in and take a look. I hope that the weather is being kind to you, wherever you are...we have had snow here..so it's a perfect time to stay in and craft. So until next time..take care and happy crafting.

Design team makes...using Hobby Art

Hello everyone....Genny here. What a week so far. I had meant to blog on Monday but with the weather and the joys of BT..it just didn't happen. I hope that the weather is being kind to you, wherever you are. We have had serious flooding in the village here..it was unbelievable. I have lived here for 25 years and have never seen it as bad as it was. People had to leave their cars on high ground and wade through water that was above their knees. There are waterfalls cascading down the mountains..where there was none last week. I was lucky because I'm situated at the top of the village. So with all the rain..which is still continuing today..I'm keeping warm and staying in to craft.

My first make is a new home card. It was created using the Hobby Art Townhouse scenic stamp range. I created a little row of cottages and a little garden scene. For the next card, I extended the scene and used it to make a christmas card. I stamped the houses,coloured them and added them to an oval. I also stamped the christmas tree and snowman. I coloured the top half of the oval to look like sky and stamped the santa and reindeer on to it.

And as I had a spare circle..I just had to make a sheep card..lol. The stamp of the sheep is a Penny Black one. I do have a collection of sheep stamps because living where I do..I'm always surrounded by them. And they always make me smile. For this one I stamped and coloured my sheep and then cut it out. I coloured the sky and added the sheep. I then added some snow..using white acrylic and of course I had to add some glitter. All the colouring was done using my promarkers, I added snow using white acrylic and the glitter was diamond dust..but any white or crystal glitter would do.

The great thing about making cards using these stamps is that it quite easy to batch make and you can add as much or as little detail as you want to. So until next week..and I hope that the weather is kind to you all...take care and happy crafting.

Design team makes...Christmas Bauble Cards

Hello everyone...Genny here. The next three Christmas cards are a continuance of the cards that I made last week. I decided to make a bauble shape and decorate within the shape.

I began by cutting a bauble shape out of some thin card and then used that as a template to ink inside. I then used a mixture of Hobby Art 'scenic' stamps and my tapestry stamps to decorate.

As you can see, I went from a scenic in blue...to a snowflake decoration in blue to a snowflake in pink. Then I added glitter, jewels and ribbons. It was great fun to make and if you don't have the confidence to cut the shape..just take a look at the templates or stencils that are available.

I hope that you have found a little inspiration. So until next time...take care and happy crafting.