Tidings of Comfort and Joy....

  

This is my final Christmas card for the year, dedicated to you, my Blog readers. Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout this year, I truly appreciate it.

I hope you are able to share in the spirit of the season with those who are important to you as well as those who may be in need. It is a time to count our blessings and I'm thankful for living in a safe and beautiful country with the freedom to express myself; the benefit of health and employment and the love of family and friends, among many others.

 

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year and whatever you do, stay safe.

 

Jolly Holiday Gift Card Holder

Hi again

It is amazing what you can achieve when the man of the house is away and the most serious cooking you have to do is to put something between 2 slices of bread .

I wanted to make a couple of gift card holders and was inspired by this one from Sue Bayliss that looks like a gift box and the faux bow is cute.  I have kept the same gift box look, but I have constructed the inside differently as I wanted to have somewhere to write as well. The Jolly Holiday DSP and matching Cherry Cobbler cardstock give a really bold look, so I kept the decoration simple.  Here is the closed up view - the finished dimensions (excluding the faux bow) are 5" x 4 1/2".

 

This is the magnetic closing - they are really thin - not more than the thickness of a dimensional when closed and they open really easily, so there is no pressure on the cardstock. 

 
Here is the gift card holder when it is open. There is a plenty of room to decorate and write your greeting and the gift card pops out when you open it up.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Snow Swirled
Card stock & Papers	Cherry Cobbler Textured, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Jolly Holiday DSP
Ink	Old Olive
Accessories	Old Olive Satin ribbon, Filagree Brad, Green Rhinestone brad, Fine Galaxy Glitter (on tree), Magnetic catch (not SU)
Tools	Scallop Trim Corner punch, Large Oval and Oval punches, Wide Oval punch, Word Window punch, Tree Tops Combo Die (not SU), Lots of Tags die, Big Shot, Dimensionals, sponge daubers, Sticky strip, Anywhere glue stick

 Enjoy your week.

 

Mojo Monday Christmas

Hi there

I haven't done any Mojo Monday Sketches for a while, so when I saw  Sketch 168 I took the opportunity to create this Christmas card. You are probably totally over Christmas cards by now, but I still need to make a few more (and to  start sending them as well!). 

I'm still loving the Christmas Cocoa DSP that was in a recent promotion bundle.  The combination of Real Red and Soft Suede give a lovely richness and a contemporary twist to Christmas. The panel behind the tree is dazzling diamonds glitter on Jac paper. This stuff is fabulous with glitter or flock as it has a really high tack and keeps the glitter in place and not all over your project. The tree was hand cut with a ruler and craft knife.

 
I have also been making some treats as gifts for friends and I used the same colours for the bag toppers. The one on the left is a gorgeous rich Rocky Road made from a recipe from the lovely Chris Henderson and the other is classic sugar topped shortbread.

 

Project Details
Stamps	Perfect Punches, Delightful Decorations
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Textured White, Real Red, Soft Suede, Gold mirror card (not SU), Christmas Cocoa DSP
Ink	Real Red, Soft Suede
Accessories	Real Red Satin ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Real Red brads, Clear adhesive rhinestones
Tools	Scallop Oval punch, 1/2" square punch (not SU), Ornament punch, 3/4" and 1" circle punches, Itty Bitty flower punch, Top Note Die, Big Shot, Petals a Plenty Embossing Folder,  Dimensionals, sponge daubers

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

  

A Blue Christmas

Hello again

Thank you to all those who left me comments on the previous Blog Hop post - I really appreciate your kind words. Some people have asked me about details for the tag box, I hope to put together the dimensions and construction details shortly and will reply to those who have emailed me.

The weather here in Melbourne has been really weird this week - if I didn't know better, I could mistake it for the tropics.  It has been alternately hot and steamy or bucketing down with rain, but great for our new lawn, though (below). It has also put the newly installed drainage through its paces and thankfully it has passed with flying colours.

Now onto card business. I've had a card in my head for the last few days, so while I had the 'Welcome Christmas' stamp set still on my craft desk, I put this one together.  It is also the first time I've used the 'Music Notes' roller. Given that music is usually in straight lines, I wanted to make sure that it looked that way on my card. I used some of my favourite respositionable Dotto adhesive to stick the cardstock to the Stampin' Up! grid paper I always have on my desktop. I counted the squares out on the grid paper and then used the Stampin' Around Wheel Guide to get the straight rows and evenly spaced notes. The end result comes into the non-traditional Christmas category but it is nice for a change. What do you think?

 

Card Details
Stamps	Welcome Christmas, Heard from the Heart, Music Notes Roller
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Textured White, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Marina Mist Patterns Stack
Ink	Versamark, Marina Mist
Accessories	White Organza Ribbon
Tools	Scallop Trim Border punch, Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Sponge Daubers, White embossing powder, Clear embossing powder, Heat gun, Big Shot

I hope to be back during the weekend. Have a good one.