Happy Christmas!

Well Christmas Eve has arrived and we're all very excited around here!

Today I just had one final Christmas card to make for this year.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Snowy House & Christmas Reindeer

I'll be sad to see my Christmas stamps going away for a while again, but considering I had to resort to sending some shop bought cards, maybe I shouldn't put them away for too long!



Now I’m off to do a bit of last minute wrapping and some food prep for tomorrow. I hope you have a very Happy Christmas and wish you good health, happiness and lots of inky fun in 2014!

Secret Santa

Over at the Hero Arts group on Flickr we have a little Secret Santa fun going on. Each Secret Santa is sending a Christmas card, a Christmas ATC and a little present to someone else who is taking part in the exchange. We'll only find out who our Secret Santa is when the package pops in through the letterbox.

I was playing Secret Santa to Laura and now that Laura has received her parcel I can show photos here. Well this Secret Santa was a forgetful Santa and forgot to take a photo of the little pressie but I did take photos of the ATC and card.

I just love the happy reindeer in the Christmas Reindeer set and pulled out one of them for the ATC.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Christmas Reindeer, Tiny Star Background, Designer Snowflakes
and Special Delivery

The reindeer was coloured with ProMarkers and layered in places for some dimension. To make the background, I applied distress inks (broken china, faded jeans & tumbled glass) to white card, spritzed water on the star background and stamped the panel. Then I stamped some snowflakes using faded jeans distress ink and embossed the sentiment. I wanted lots of sparkle on the ATC so added stickles to the snowy ground and white dots on the reindeer's jumper (sweater). In case it wasn't sparkly enough I also added a glittery red frame.

Next up is the card.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes and Special Delivery

For this one I embossed snowflakes on a panel of kraft card, inked the edges with white ink and did a bit of distressing. After stamping the sentiment and adding some gems, I layered the sentiment circle on a glittery die cut. To finish I just added a strip of ribbon and a bow.

I really enjoyed making the ATC and card for Laura and needless to say a trip to my lss to buy some little bits and pieces for her was fun too:) Hope you are having a fun and inky weekend:)

Fabric Card & Pastel Christmas Tree Set

One of my favourite Christmas stamps from this year is Shari's Tree No. 3. When I first saw it it made me think of a Christmas tree that could be appliquéd onto a quilt. So out came the fabrics and I ended up using them for the whole card front, with some card used as backing for a bit of firmness.


Stamp (Hero Arts) - Shari's Tree No. 3

I stamped the tree on fabric, added another layer of fabric at the back, and stitched the outline using a machine. After cutting out the tree I gently frayed the edges back to the stitching and added some buttons. For the background I used a white fabric with a white design and the "snow" is a piece of batting. A piece of red fabric was used for the card front. After die cutting both of these pieces I also gently frayed them around the edges to give a fuzzy look.

As I had the tree stamp out, I decided to go ahead and make another card by stamping on various pieces of pastel coloured card. In the end as I had to stamp four trees anyway, I made a set of cards changing the sentiments on each.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Shari's Tree No. 3, Very Merry Christmas & Special Delivery

I die cut the kraft panel pieces, stamped the tree on them and then added some stitching.



After that I embossed the sentiments and lightly applied white ink around the edges.



I paper pieced the trunks and popped the branches up on foam pads for dimension.



For the background I embossed snowflake panels.



I can't believe I made five cards today - must be a record for me, lol! I'm submitting these cards into the current Hero Arts Challenge (A Few of my Favourite Things category as I love stamping on fabric and also love paper piecing) as well as Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge.