Christmas Card Club #24: Teabag Fold / Origami

Honetly, I cannot believe it's time for another Christmas Card congregation. But here we are and the theme this fortnight is Teabag Fold / Origami. Our lovely Karen Pettit of Stamping In Pink decided that we should flex our fingers and get creative at the same time.

And that's what I did. The main character on my card project is a wreath made from 8 pieces of 2" squares, each painstakingly folded and assembled in a circle.

Since there's a quite a bit of action with the folding, I kept the rest of the card simple bit some unknown green patterned paper for the background and dotted the corners with Ivy Green LP. The wreath is framed with Spellbinders's Square Fleur de Lis diecut and dotted with some Gold LP on it. The greeting from CBS Sweet Little Sentiments, stamped on a piece of velum with Brilliance Graphite Black. I finished the card with a red bow.

Here's a close-up of the wreath. I cut up an 8" square patterned paper from Dovecrafts's Vintage Christmas into 2" squares and got 16 bits from the sheet. Then I inked the edges with TH Peeled Paint and folded each piece. Next, I assembled 8 pieces into a circle by tucking one edge into the other, holding down with a little dot of fast-drying glue. Finally, I glitzed up the edges with Stardust Stickles and finished with some Ruby Red LP.  I made 2 wreaths from one 8" square patterned paper.

You can see that the wreath is quite dimensional but it obediently squishes down when stuffed into an envelope, which makes it perfect for mailing. Thank you Karen for this wonderful challenge. It really made me think and do a little research. It's always nice to learn a new skill, allowing me to add "can fold itty bitty bits of paper" on my CV!

I can't remember where I found this folding technique on the net. But as soon as I find it again I'll add the link so you can have a go at making these cute little wreaths.

EDIT: 
* Found it!!! Check out this awesome tutorial to make this Paper Fold Christmas Wreath. *

In the meantime, here's a list of the rest of the Christmas Card Club girls. I have a feeling these ladies have something crafty up their sleeves. Why don't you swing by and see what they're up to.

Karen P ... Maureen ... Margaret ... Carol ... Lizzie ... Hazel ... Karen B ... Sue P ... Sylvie ...
Sue J ... Zoë ... Christine ... Mary ... Lorraine ... Rita ... Rachel ... Valery ... GranMargaret ... Kate

Hanging my wreath at these challenges:

CHNC #203: Go Green - green bg paper, green LPs

CHNC Extra November: AG Christmas
Christmas Card Challenges #51: Colour Combo / AG Christmas
My Perfect Life Festive 48 #45: AG Christmas
Festive Friday #44: Photo Inspiration
Crafty Calendar November: It's All About Christmas
Creative Corner: Let It Sparkle

Have a blessed Sunday, folks. Looks like we might have some sun today. But it's early days yet and anything could happen. Stay warm and dry!

Beijinhos!

Polkadoodles #46: Clean And Simple

Woohoo....It's Friday and time for a new Polka Doodles challenge. And for the anti-Woohoo news: it's a CAS challenge. I was reminded repeatedly that the project should be simple, lots of white space, not over-embellished and definitely NO CHOCOLATES. So I made this:

I used Libby the gypsy girl from the Fredericka Mini CD collection and dressed her up in Christmassy colours with the help of Graph'It markers. You can also download Libby as a single digistamp.

The sentiment is from Gingerbread Twist. I wanted to make a Christmas card with a twist and the "Naughty or Nice?"  seemed an appropriate greeting, given my fertile imagination! I think this card will do nicely for a certain bachelor friend of the family. If Libby were to turn up at his door on Christmas eve, that will be his holiday wish sorted! LOL.

As promised, no chocolates BUT while no one was looking little gold choc wrapper landed in her basket. Some gold stitching, 3 eyelets, (quite) a few Liquid Pearl droplets and it's done.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

Hair: Warm Greys 08, 06, 04

Skin: Cotton, Flannel, Nude, Skin, Light Caramel, Peach

Red: Ruby, Lipstick, Tomato, Coral

Green: Amazon, Sequoia, Forest, Normandy

White: Neutral Greys 01, 02, 03 

Basket: Cacao, Sienna, Cognac

And on the inside I used the flower and sentiment from A Home For Christmas CD Collection:

Libby's taking her basket of festive cheer to these challenges:

Brown Sugar #120: AG
Sister Act #83: AG Card Only
Delightful Challenges: Happy Holidays
C.R.A.F.T. #285: Christmas
Ruby's Rainbow: Non Traditional Christmas
CHNC #202: Keep It Flat
CHNC Extra November: AG Christmas

Now it's over to you, my friends. Create a project and link it up over at Polka Doodles Challenge blog by Noon (UK Time) November 20th. The winner will receive a fabulous bundle of digis from the Polkadoodles store.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. It's almost the weekend... plenty of time for crafting ahead! And again I say "Woohoo"!

Beijinhos!

Chocolate Baroque: Follow Your Passion

Hello, my friends. I want to share with you a card that I made using Chocolate Baroque's new November release stamps. You can see the original post over at the Design Team Blog. Here I want to tell you about the products and tools used in creating this card.

This stamp of three trees in three seasons is from the brand new Autumn Edges A5 sheet, which is perfect for the reflection technique.

Here's what I did:

1. Stamp the trees using VersaMark and heat set with Stampendous Fine Detail Black EP.

2. Ink the tree stamp again, this time with *VersaFine Smokey Grey. Using a stamp-positioner, stamp onto the imaging sheet. The imaging sheet is now a "stamp" with the reflection of the original stamp. Quickly match up the tree bases on inked surface of the imaging sheet to the stamp tree bases on the card and press down firmly. Work fast before the ink dries on the imaging sheet so that you get a good clear reflection. Heat set. To avoid messy smudging, use water-proof ink (such as VersaFine) because the background will be created with water-based Distressed Inks.

(* Late Edit: I received several emails regarding my choice of VersaFine Smokey Grey for the reflection. Here's why:  I wanted the reflection to be just a little lighter than the trees. As seen in the water it should be just a touch "weaker" than the trees on the ground. It made sense to me at the time. What do you think?)

3. I wanted to keep this card light and went for pales shades for the sky with TH Distress Inks: Milled Lavender, Victorian Velvet, Worn Lipstick and a hint of Dusty Concord at the corners. Apply little dots of White Opal Liquid Pearls on the sky.

4. For the river bank I used TH Antique Linen, Crushed Olive and a touch of Peeled Paint. For subtle shimmer I traced a very thin line of Gold Liquid Pearls to create the water margin.

5. For the water I blended TH Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean very very lightly. I traced a thin broken line of Baby Blue Liquid Pearls close to the water margin and similar littles lines with Opal White Liquid Pearls to create movement in the water.

6. The sentiment is from Butterfly Dreams A4 sheet, stamped with VersaFine Majestic Blue.

Here's a close-up of the image. Hopefully you can see some of the details. There's lots of shimmer and texture in real life which don't come through in the photo. But it's really pretty.

A few challenges for this card:

Addicted To Stamps #121: AG
Inspiration Destination #7: AG
Wonderful Wednesday: AG
Word Art Wednesday #158: AG Inspirational
Crafter's Café #90: Friendship

I hope you give it a go because it's one of those cards that you can dress up or down to good effect. It's a simple card, although it looks "complicated"... and you should know by now I don't do complicated ... not so close to Christmas anyways!

Thanks for stopping by on this cold and wet day. I hope the sun is shining where you are. See ya tomorrow!

Beijinhos

Tuesday Throwdown # 221: Swirls And Pearls

Hello friends! Time for a new challenge over at Tuesday Throwdown. The theme this week is "Swirls and Pearls" and the good folks over at Sweet & Sassy have given the design team a few super-cute images to play with. Being a dog lover I couldn't resist this adorable little Christmas Puppy. You simply must check out more of Sweet & Sassy's sweet digis on their online store.

I had planned on making a shaker card, but then I forgot to put in the "shakes" before adhering the frame. But if asked I will say this card turned out exactly as planned ... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

The front of the card is a piece of acetate. On the inside is the image of
the Christmas Puppy. I stamped the swirls in the bg with CBS and
VersaMagic Sea Breeze. Then I added a few pearls to the swirls.
For the snowy ground, I drew wavy lines with Baby Blue Liquid Pearls
and Stardust Stickles. 

Here's a close-up of the adorable Christmas Puppy.  I coloured him
with Graph'It markers. The greeting is from CBS Merry Little Christmas.
Sorry about the reflection - acetate is not easy to photograph.  

A couple of swirly accents on the inside and another greeting from
CBS Merry Little Christmas.

Parading the little pup at these challenges:

Craft Your Passion #239: Somethings Beginning With B - boot
Cutie Pie Challenge #81: Festive Furry Friends
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round November: No Patterned Papers
Christmas Card Challenges #50: Faith Based / AG Christmas
Completely Christmas #37: AG Christmas + Twist: Let's See Some Blue
Crafty Sentiments: AG
Partytime Tuesday #189: AG

Now it's your turn to create a project based on this week's theme: "Swirls And  Pearls". For ideas and inspiration, take a peek at what the rest of the DT members have made. Remember to link up your project at the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge Blog by 3pm Pacific / 11pm UK  Monday, November 17th. And the most important requirement: Have Fun!

Thanks for stopping by today. It's getting rather chilly... the cold snap is getting to my bones. Urgh! Wrap up warm and stay dry y'all.

Beijinhos!

Polkadoodles #45: Recycle It!

Helloooo Friday! Wooohooo! Aren't you glad the week is almost over over?!  If you're wondering what to do with yourself over the weekend, then head on over to the Polkadooles Challenge Blog where we are continuing the "Recycle It" theme. The design team has prepared more inspirational ideas and we'd like to see your project too.

Here's my humble offering ...a  testament to my love for all things shiny (chocolaty, nutty, yummy). I started with one (yeah, right!) precious Ferrero Rocher. By the magic of Christmas and with the help of Santa's little men ....

.... voila! We have a sweet tag with all the sugary goodness of the one that started it all! Waste not, want not more! :)

As you know, my project started with something decadently yummy wrapped in gold sitting proudly in a brown paper cup. I used a piece of left-over patterned paper from Festive Hollybobs, a sweet angel and candy canes from Angelberry Christmas and a sentiment from Gingerbread Twist to make a tag. The gold wrapper is now a band in the middle of the tag and the brown paper cup is now a halo around the angel. Extra embellies from my stash: red ribbon, red and white WRMK baker's twine, Stardust Stickles on her wings and gold, red and green Liquid Pearls. I also used Graph'It Markers (Burgundy, Cherry, Neutral Grey 1 & 2, Amazon, Sequoia, Normandy) to add extra colour to the candy canes and sentiment.

I'm tagging along with these challenges:

Festive Friday #44: Christmas Photo Inspiration
4 Crafty Chicks #219: Bingo - Ribbon, Patterned Paper, Dies, FREE, Twine
Crafty Little Fairies: Not Square
Delightful Sketches: Patterned Paper
Crafty Ribbons #106: Christmas With Ribbon


Now it's over to you, my friends. Create a Christmas project and link it up over at Polka Doodles Challenge blog by Noon (UK Time) November 14th. The winner will receive the fabulous new Work & Play 7 Collection worth £11,99  from the Polkadoodles store. The identity of the lucky randomly chosen winner will be announced on Friday, November 21st, along with the DT's Top 3 entries.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you'll have fun with this challenge .... I sure did! Must make a few more tags... oh the sacrifice in the name of friendship! :)

Have an awesome Friday, friends!

Beijinhos

Chocolate Baroque: Autumn Apples

Hello, folks! It's chucking it down like crazy here. We are being assaulted by little icy missiles. The sky is grey and gloomy. Perfect for crafting. But hey ho... someone's got to finance this addiction!

I've been playing with Chocolate Baroque's latest November release. You can check them out here. There are two new sets. I would describe them as warm, cosy and so perfect for homemade gifts as well as gratitude / friendship cards.

Today I'm going to show you a card featuring the luscious apples from the new Mellow Fruitfulness A5 sheet that will leave Snow White wanting more. I'm also using a leafy border stamp from the new Autumn Edges A5 sheet.

Here's how I made it in 5 easy steps:

1. Ink the edges with TH Vintage Photo DI and randomly stamp the leaf from Autumn Poppy with Antique Linen DI. Stamp the solid leaf image from Autumn Edges with TH Peeled Paint DI about two thirds down.  

2. Stamp the apples from Mellow Fruitfulness with Memento Tuxedo Black. Colour with Graph'It markers (Ruby, Tomato, Cacao, Chocolate, Olive, Military and Lime) and fussy cut.

3. Die cut Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circle LG in brown and Spellbinders Standard Circle LG in cream. Ink the edges of cream piece with TH Vintage Photo DI, matt and stitch onto the brown piece.

4. Stamp the sentiment from Pretty Poppies with TH Barn Door DI and adhere to the card base.

5. Add the fussy cut apples and finish with some red & white baker's twine by WRMK.

And now for a close-up. You'll notice that the apples are slightly dimensional. That was a last minute additon. I stamped just the apples, coloured, fussy cut and adhered them to the original image with a few 1mm foam squares. It makes the apples pop... popping pommes!

Let's take these apples to town:

Shopping Our Stash #176: Leaf Me Alone!
Great Impressions November Challenge: Thankful Thoughts
Sentimental Sundays #231: AG
Card Mania #59: Use Your Dies
Craft Dee Bowz November Challenge: Add A Handmade Bow
Get Creative #1: AG Optional Twist - Stitching
Fairytale Stampers #46: Something New - new stamp

Thanks for stopping by today and for all your well wishes. I'm on antibiotics now and will be sorting out that tooth as soon as the inflammation has settled. Wisdom is overrated, methinks! :) Stay warm and dry, chums.

Beijinhos!

Christmas Card Club #23: Snowmen

Well well, here we are in November! How did that happen, I ask ya?! In any case, the Christmas Card Girls have come together again for another show and tell. This fortnight, our lovely Lorraine picked the theme of "Snowmen".  Looking at my card now, I didn't quite follow the theme. Can I get away with just one Snowman?

The images are from Chocolate Baroque's Snowy Penguin and the sentiments are from Christmas Magic clear stamp sets.

I inked up the bg with TH Chipped Sapphire and Tumbled Glass.
The snowflakes are stamped in Versacolor Silver and added a few
Liquid Pearl dots for texture. 

Here's a close-up. I coloured the little guys with Graph'It markers,
fussy cut and adhered them to the bg. Then I slapped on some
Stardust Stickles for a little sparkle and shine.

The inside looks like this. 

You may be aware that I am scrambling to make cards for Vera Yates and Jennifer McGuire's Caring Hearts Card Drive to collect cards for the elderly in nursing home. If you'd like to join in, just head on over to Jennifer's blog post on the Caring Hearts Card Drive for all the details.

Here are 3 more quick makes for the cause with the same Snowmen theme - three Snowmen! Yay!

I stamped the Snowman with Versafine Black Onyx on watercolour paper.
Kept it very simple with a few snowflakes in the bg with VersaMagic Sea Breeze. 

Here's a close-up. I used Caran d'Ache Supracolor Soft
Aquarelle pencils. Added some Stardust Stickles for a little
icy sparkle.  I stamped the greeting with VersaFine Majestic Blue.

A few challenges for this card:

My Perfect Life: AG Christmas
Addicted to Stamps #119: CAS
Christmas Card Challenges #49: No Embellishments
Jingle Belle Rock: Feature A Creature
Graph'It #44: Water /Ice/ Blue/ Purple
CHNC #201: Sparkle
Completely Christmas #36: AG Christmas Twist Add A Robin


Here's a list of the rest of the Christmas Card Club girls. These ladies are exceptionally good at what they do. I highly recommend you swing by for a dose of inspiration.

Karen P ... Maureen ... Margaret ... Carol ... Lizzie ... Hazel ... Karen B ... Sue P ... Sylvie ...
Sue J ... Zoë ... Christine ... Mary ... Lorraine ... Rita ... Rachel ... Valery ... GranMargaret ... Kate

Have a lovely Sunday, friends. I'll be back tomorrow .... playing with a few brand new stamps! Thanks for dropping in!

Beijinhos!

Eclectic Ellapu November: Favourite Colour Combo

Oh my word! Can you believe today is the first day of November?! The days are just zoooooming by ... I am not ready for 2015. Are you? Luckily, over at Eclectic Ellapu we have a month long distraction from the impending panic and mayhem of Christmas.

The theme for the Pink Team is "Favourite Colour Combo" and the Purple Team's brief is "Leaves & Foliage". You can choose to play with either team or both. There are no limits to the number of entries and you can make anything - cards, home deco, altered art, scrapbook LO etc.

Here's my offering for the Pink Team. I'm fickle about my fave colour. It's a seasonal thing and lately I've been drawn to the rich colours of Autumn.

Lots of TH Distress Ink action here. I blended the following inks:

Background: Aged Mahogany, Spice Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed

Moon: Squeezed Lemonade, Vintage Photo

Hills: Walnut Stain

The fairy is from Chocolate Baroque's August Fairy DL stamp sheet and the falling vines are from the June Fairy DL sheet. I stamped these with Versafine Black Onyx. In keeping with my current fave colours, I used an orange card base.

Here's a close-up of the card. I added some Gold Liquid Pearls around the vines. For sparkle I applied Diamond Stickles around the sun and Stardust Stickles on the fairy's wings. The sentiment is from an old favourite of mine: a discontinued DL sheet by Chocolate Baroque called Oriental Florals A Thing Of Beauty.

On the inside I stamped the vines with TH Wild Honey and a sentiment from the CB's Birthday Words A5 stamp sheet.

A few challenges for this card:

A Creative Need October: Yellow and Orange
Brown Sugar #118: AG
Seize The Birthday: Washi Tape / AG Birthday
CCEE #1444: Let's Make A Scene
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge: Fantasy
The Crafter's Café #88: Things With Wings - fairy
Sisterhood of Crafters: Fall Colours

Now it's your turn to create and link up your labour of love over at the Eclectic Ellapu Challenge Blog. Remember, we have 2 concurrent challenges: "Favourite Colour Combo" for the Pink Team and "Leaves & Foliage" for the Purple Team. You can enter one or both challenges as many times as you wish, but make sure you link up your projects by 11:59pm GMT on 30 November 2014.

It's All Saints' Day today - a holiday in Portugal. Pity it's a Saturday today... no extra day off work! Thank you so much for dropping in. The days are getting shorter and colder.... what better excuse to stay in and craft, eh? I'll be back tomorrow with something frosty... wink wink.

Beijinhos!