Origami Christmas Tree tutorial

I found these photos in a draft post - not exactly sure what happened at the time of me loading them on the post but they never went live, so here they are.  I think the photos are self explanatory, it was really a lot of fun making this tree so am happy I came across this post!  I might make some more for next Christmas now that my memory has been refreshed.  

Friday challenge over at Keryn's Cards

It's not to late to join in Keryn's challenge for this week - here is my take on her challenge, to use Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White.

Razzleberry Melon Contempo Christmas

I got a chance to use my new Contempo wheel the other day when I designed this card for a shoebox swap last week at Keryn's Krew monthly meeting and I really like how the card turned out.  I based it somewhat on a Clean and Simple Sketch I used some weeks ago for this card, and love the sparkle the silver glitter paper gives to the finished product.

I had been playing around with a few different versions of the ornament when I was designing this card, which I then used for the second easel card - waste not, want not I say!

This is the card for the shoebox swap.

And this is the card made from 'left over' ornaments!

"Poinsettia" Christmas tags - we all need to have some on hand!

I made these little flowers to add to the card I posted yesterday but then changed my mind and added the ribbon and brad instead - so what to do with pretty glittered flowers??

I punched the shapes out of patterned paper, the stamped some "To: From:" sentiments on plain white and punched those out and sandwiched them together to make them a bit firmer.

Then it was all a matter of arranging the flowers and various leaves, adding the gold cord and hey presto, they were finished.

Leaves punched with Bird punch

Leaves hand cut - freeform.

I made the green shape {looks a bit like a heart} from spare wings punched with bird punch.

What I used:

Card: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red

Ink: Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker

Tools and other fun stuff: 1 3/4" circle punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Ornament punch, Decorative Label punch, 1/16" punch, non SU cord and patterned paper, MS gold glitter.

Bird Punch Christmas tree

I went a bit mad with the bling today - I love lots of sparkle on my cards and Christmas is the one time of the year you can go really indulge these 'secret passions' without all the guilt - a bit like Christmas dinner really: the diet goes out the window and you go for it!

It's another card from the Australian Papercraft and Cardmaking mag, a companion to the bird card.

My interpretation of the card [click for a larger view]

Card in magazine

What I used:

Card:  Chocolate Chip, White, Old Olive, Play Date DSP [retired]

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Stamp Set:  Sincere Salutations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Square Lattice EF, Bird punch, Small Star punch [retired], Lots of Tags Sizzlets die, Spellbinders Label 1 die, rhinestones and glitter paper, Stampin' Dimensionals.

Autumn Days Christmas Card

I've always loved this pinecone image from the Autumn Days stamp set, earlier in the year I used it to make another Christmas card.

What I used:

Card:  Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Holly Jolly DSP [retired]

Ink:  Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Stamp Sets:  Autumn Days, Best yet [retired]

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note die, Spellbinders die, 1/8" Old Olive ribbon, Square Rhinestone Brad, Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Bird punch Christmas Card

As you may have guessed, I'm in full Christmas card making mode lately.

Last year I bought an Australian Cardmaking mag and it had this lovely trio of cards which I meant to make last year but never quite got around to it, so this year I will.

For 365 Cards challenge "making a list and checking it twice": paper, ribbon, pearls, embossing powder.

[This is my version]

[This is the card from the magazine]

What I used:

Card:  Chocolate Chip, White, Holly Jolly DSP (retired)

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark Watermark ink.

Stamp sets:  Contempo Christmas

Tools and other fun stuff:  1/4" Chocolate Chip grossgrain ribbon (retired), 2-Step Bird punch, black embossing powder, heat tool, Spellbinders Label 1 die, sewing machine.

Contempo Christmas Top Note

Was playing around with some retired Jolly Holly DSP from last year and to start with was going to use some Delightly Decoration ornaments, but in the end decided that this cute Christmas tree was the way to go...

If you look very carefully you'll see I used a snippet [aka left-over] of Old Olive card on the centre join - it was from a previous Top Note shape, thought the curvy shape went quite well!

What I used:

Card:  Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Holly Jolly DSP (retired)

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive

Stamp Sets:  Contempo Christmas, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  Top Note Die, Stamp-a-ma-jig, corner rounder punch.

Delightful Decorations

I was having a look over at Splitcoast Stampers yesterday and came across a couple of sketches that I thought would be great with the Delightful Decorations set - I'm always on the lookout for new ideas to use this set.

Afterwards I realised I sort of amalgamated two different sketches SC356 and SCS290 - but here is the result anyway.

I used the red 'sticky tape' to attach the glitter and it is just fabulous - nothing falls off it!  I also run the 2-way pen around the circle of DSP and added some more glitter to that - what I meant to do and forgot was to add some gold cord to 'anchor' the decorations the the Top Note diecut.....

What I used:

Card:  Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Riding Hood Red, Old Olive

Stamp Set:  Delightful Decorations

Tools and other fun stuff:  Ornament punch, Top Note die, Vintage Wallpaper EF, 3/4" circle punch, sticky tape, MS Gold Glitter, 2 way pen.

Clean and Simple Dasher

Saw a lovely sketch over at the Clean and Simple blog earlier today and felt inspired to ink Dasher up once again - some people may think it's a little early for Christmas cards but I like to make mine while I'm nice and relaxed and if I wait until December that's not going to be the case!

[Besides last year I posted cards off to Chile in the week of December and they got there mid February!! so all things considered I feel I'm pretty much on time this year....]

What I used:

Card:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Holly Jolly DSP (retired).

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Stamp sets:  Contempo Christmas, Dasher

Tools and other fun stuff:  Decorative label Punch, corner rounder, rhinestones.

Mini Christmas card plus NO shipping charges for Wellington crafters!

These Christmas images are really darling to watercolour, this little penguin is from the same set at the snowman featured on this card.  So easy to do, just stamp, colour in and you're done!  A little glitter for that added festive cheer and you don't even need a greeting on this one.

IGNORE THAT $9.95+ SHIPPING CHARGE THIS WEEKEND...!

If you live in Wellington I am offering to pay for your shipping charges on your Stampin' Up! order placed between today and Sunday evening (18th Sept).  Why you may well ask?  Well, lots of reasons:  it's a beautiful day today, the All Blacks are playing their second game and it's National Day in Chile on Sunday18th September - people there usually get a bonus in their pay packet on this day, so you get free shipping as your bonus :)

PLUS if you live in North Wellington I'll even drop it off at your house, other areas of Wellington you are most welcome to come and collect your order when it arrives.  Just email your order though to me at frances.poff@hotmail.com and I'll put it through  for you.

Anyway, back to my card - it is 3"x3" and turned out rather cute I think!

What I used:

Card:  Black, White, Melon Mambo, Baja Breeze

Ink:  Black,  Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze

Stamp Set:  Big Bold Birthday (retired), Punch Pals.

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scalloped Border punch, Vintage Wallpaper EF, glitter.

Rosette tutorial

Oh dear, last year I posted a photo of the Christmas card I made my mum and dad on a Stampin' Up! Facebook page and only today realized there had been quite a few people asking how I'd made the rosette!  So, apologies for the delay in getting back to you, and without further ado here is what you were all asking for!

Start by scalloping a length of Old Olive card and scrunch it up carefully.  I used two lengths to make the rosette.

Colour in your image with Stampin' Write markers (I used the Christmas tree from the "Loads of Love" Stampin' Up! set and Chcolate Chip and Old Olive pens) and punch it out with the 1 3/4" circle punch.

Sew along the non-scalloped edge of your scrunched up card with the largest stitch possible, and gather as you would a piece of fabric.  Now, I must add that it was quite hard to do this, so you may want to skip this step and hand pleat your card for the next step (I was experimenting at the time with gathering card on the sewing machine)

This is what the back of my image looked like after I'd stuck the  card frill around it.  You need to use a very strong adhesive like SU's Sticky Strip to hold the folds in place.

Here is the finished rosette, ready to be placed on your project.

Gather the rest of your supplies:  Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock, Play Date DSP and Real Red 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

The greeting is from Contempo Christmas - love that set!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, happy crafting!  Needless to say this technique works for lots of different occasions, not just Christmas.

Autumn Days Christmas

A card in traditional Christmas colours using the conifer stamp from the Autumn Days stamp set, using Stampin' Write markers to colour in the stamp this time.  Kept it quite simple with a spot of embossing, a little piercing and that's about it.

What I used:

Card:  Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive Stampin' Write Markers.

Stamps sets:  Autumn Days, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Tools and other fun stuff:  1 3/4" circle punch, Word Window punch, piercing tool and template, Scallop Border punch, Square Lattice embossing folder.

Too early for Christmas cards??

I know Christmas is a few months away but came across this little snowman amongst a collection of stamped images and thought I'd give him a proper home!  Isn't he cute?  The basic layout and colour combination idea came from a card I saw ages ago on Splitcoast Stampers,

What I used:

Card:  Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Whisper White

Ink:  Garden Green, Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze

Stamp sets:  Loads of Love, Punch Pals

Tools and other fun stuff:  Scalloped Oval punch, 1/4" Real Red grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals.