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.

Nativity Gift Tags

Today I'm playing along with two challenges, the Holiday Gift Tag Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and Hero Arts' Stamp Your Story Inspiration Challenge.

Well the sun may be splitting the stones outside but with the release of Holiday Cards and More I'm already thinking of Christmas, and a good thing too as I'm usually rushing at the last minute with Christmassy bits and pieces! I love the cover on the magazine and can't wait to get my hands on it so I can see what else is inside!

I'm thinking of wrapping some Christmas presents in plain white paper embossed with snowflake and for a few will steer away from the usual Christmas colours. So going away from traditional colours, I made some gift tags that were inspired by this gorgeous and fun Halloween card created by Kelly Rasmussen. I just love the fabulous sky Kelly created as well as the colour combination and silhouettes against the sky.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Special Delivery & Greatest Gift

I wanted the tags to have a similar shape to The Stations of The Cross in our local church, so to start with I die cut the windows using Spellbinders Window One die, and cut off the pieces in the middle that I didn't want. Then I applied distress inks (mustard seed, dried marigold, spiced marmalade and barn door) to cream card and sprinkled some water on it. Once dry I cut out panels, stamped the scenes and adhered the panels behind the windows. To finish I just added a tiny star rhinestone to the centre tag and added string to them all.