Oh Christmas Trees

No doubt like lots of you I'm fairly busy in the run up to Christmas but am enjoying all the preparations. Maybe one of these years I'll start my Christmas preparations a bit earlier than usual! Anyway I think I'm nearly there with the cards I want to make this year but took a little break away from card making to join in on Hero Arts' Deck the Halls Challenge.

I love little felt decorations so decided to make some to pop on my tree using dies from Hero Arts Merry Christmas Tree stamp and die set. To start with I die cut felt Christmas trees and then die cut green felt circles (from the same Hero Arts set) and a red heart.

Dies - Merry Christmas Tree (Hero Arts) & Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp)

Then I decorated the trees with buttons, stitching, sequins and gems. After the trees were complete I added either ribbon or baker's twine between the tree front and back then stitched the outlines and added wadding before finishing the stitching.

As I had the Christmas tree die out I decided to make another card with a removable decoration.

This time I used up lots of green scraps by putting them in rows of strips, cutting and then cutting again to make a patchy background. After die cutting the tree twice I sandwiched ribbon between the two trees and added buttons to finish. Then I added the tree to the embossed background with glue dots so that the ornament can be removed and used.

I was determined to use up every bit of the scrap background I had left over from making the tree so ended up die cutting shamrocks to put aside for next St Patrick's Day using a sweet die my friend Linda gave me. I've definitely never been this far ahead of myself before for a celebration!

Die - Shamrock (Impression Obsession)

Merriest Wishes

Now that Halloween is over, it's full steam ahead with making Christmas cards. I'm trying to come up with some ideas for quick cards to make for Christmas so I can get a number of cards made in any one sitting, or I should say standing, as I always seem to stand when making cards!

I pulled out the Merry Christmas Tree stamp and die set I got last year to make a card that is very quick and easy to put together. This card is for a relative who loves muted colours and lots of bling, so I went a bit wild on the shimmery gems! I'll probably make a couple more cards like this using different colour combinations.



Stamps & die (Hero Arts) - Merry Christmas Tree & Very Merry Christmas

I started by embossing a square of vellum using a snowflake folder and applied some white ink here and there. Then I embossed the Christmas tree, die cut it and added lots of gems and a bow. The sentiment was also embossed and I lightly inked the edges of the sentiment piece and added a little gem.

I'm submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge (A Few of my Favourite Things category) as I used embossing which is one of my favourite stamping techniques. Also I'm submitting it into the Die Cut Divas Let's Celebrate Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.

Someone here is already in their relaxed weekend mode!

Hope you have a relaxing, fun and inky weekend!