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!

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.

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.

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.