My 2022 Christmas Cards

 Check out the Christmas cards I made this year. 

Using the Gelplate for some night sky backgrounds, was fun.  On the other hand, the embossing was a bit problematic and I didn't think I could do it 30 times, so I gave up after three. 

Next, I decided to use the Peace, Love and Doves background stamp.  Both of these designs meant that I would only need to stamp 15 backgrounds and cut them in half to make 30 cards. This big sentiment compliments it beautifully. 

Can you guess which one I went with for my big batch?  

Which one would you have made a big batch of?

I made about 24 of these.  Adding them to the left over cards from last year and the three I made with the beautiful night sky backgrounds and heat embossing, I ended up with about 35 cards to send out. I don't think I have that many friends!

That's that then... 

Have you finished your Christmas Cards yet? 

Have you sent them out? 

See you next time. 

Recreating Cards #2

 When I need some inspiration, I like to look back at my photos of cards I have made in the past. I often change up the designs or just pull out the same supplies to help me make a new card.  Sometimes, I pull out a card that I made very early in my card making journey and recreate it.  I often choose cards that I made with limited supplies and limited knowledge/ skills. 

This card was made using a stamp set from Winnie and Walter and Memento inks. I didn't have a huge selection of card stocks and I was trying to use up what I had.  I also used a Happy Birthday Die from Kaisercraft. I remember when I made this card, I had so much trouble getting it to fit the card base and look right. I had to add extra strips of card stock to try and get things to look right. 

This time around, I didn't have the same "Happy Birthday" die, so I used a different one from MFT. I also used Catherine Pooler inks instead of my Momento ones. I used Neenah Solar White 80lb card stock. The only thing the same, was the stamp set by Winnie and Walter. I didn't need to improvise so much on this card. I stacked the happy birthday sentiment three times on this second card.  I think that makes a big difference. 

I have to say, there is one thing I would change about this card if I made it again.  I would use a different green ink, or place my darker circles in different places so that the "Happy Birthday" would stand out more. I'm still very happy with how this card turned out. 

I know I promised to share my Christmas card batch... it's coming. I've made them - really, I have. 

Let me know in the comments if you are interested in more details about this card- specific colours of ink, etc. 

See you next time. 

I don't have any Christmas Supplies! Make Christmas Cards using what you have.

 Christmas Stamps and Dies are beautiful and we want them all, right? I know I do. 

When you are just starting out as a crafter, you have limited space or limited cash, it is hard to justify spending money on a stamp set you only use 'once a year'.  Also, many of the specifically Christmas stamp sets, only make one thing or one way. We want supplies that can pull double duty. 

If you don't have any Christmas stamps or dies, you can still make beautiful Christmas Cards.  If you want to invest in something for Christmas I would choose a simple sentiment such as Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Joy to the World.  Something like that. Let's dive in.  

These two cards were made with not one Christmas item! 

The And Sentiments from Catherine Pooler has these three words in it. 
So good, right. I just did some simple ink blending and splattered some 
shimmer spray on the back ground. All of these supplies can be used for other occasions, but when put together, they make a beautiful Christmas Card. Admittedly, I probably wouldn't want to mass produce this card. 

I used a green re-inker in a spray bottle and some gold pigment powder
to spray through a mandala stencil for this background. An alphabet stamp or die set, 
means you can make the Christmas sentiment whatever you want it to be. 
Using the traditional Christmas Colours transforms your everyday crafty stash into Christmas Perfection. 

A simple and elegant embossing folder just needs a lovely gold ink blending over it. 
The lovely "Joy" word from 'And Sentiments'. 

Triangle stamp and a star.  Slap a Christmas sentiment on there and you're good to go. 

One of these cards uses Christmas themed pattern paper, but the other one is just Green cardstock. 
I stamped stars and other patterns to add some interest. But there wasn't a Christmas stamp in sight! 

If you invest in one or two Christmas greetings, the possibilities become almost endless. Check out the first batch of Christmas cards I made with some washi tape and only one Christmas Sentiment. 

The circles look like ornaments on the tree, right?

Circle stamps and a Christmas sentiment. Too easy! 

I used some stars out of a birthday stamp set, for this card. 
It is a bit rough and ready, but cute, right. 

This card is just beautiful. The photo doesn't do it justice. This card is so shiny! 
As Lauren Bassen says, "you got a leaf, make a wreath".
A simple Christmas sentiment, turns these leaf die cuts into a stunning Christmas Card. 
I just love those sequins too. 

There you have it.  9 Christmas Cards that you can make with no Christmas supplies, or just a simple Christmas sentiment. The first year I decided to make Christmas cards, the only Christmas stamp I owned was a "Merry Christmas".  That's it.  I have slowly accumulated more Christmas stamps, one stamp set a year - only if it's on sale! 

My DIY Prayer Retreat- Part 2

 Last time, I told you about my DIY Prayer Retreat. 

It was so good. I also promised to share with you a few of the insights I had during my retreat. 

1. I love listening to Praise and Worship Music. Why don't I listen to it more?!  Therefore, I will listen to my Christian Music playlists when I craft and during my quiet time - maybe not everyday, but so much more than before. 

2. Memorising Scripture really changes my mindset and it helps me to focus on God's love. Therefore, I am going to start using my scripture memorisation app again. Why did I stop? If you want to learn more about this app, click here. 

3. I need to give myself more opportunities to both be still and move.  Not at the same time.  LOL. I also need to do some mindful breathing from time to time, because breathing is important and focusing on my breath is like a little reset button. I always wanted one of those. 

I hope you have found these posts about Prayer Retreats helpful and you can use them to design your own. Of course, it would be wonderful to go to a retreat that is designed and lead by someone else, but we have to be practical about these things. Sometimes in some seasons of our life (often when it's most important to take time to retreat) a weekend away is not feasible. You can do it yourself.  I did. 

Until next time

My DIY Prayer Retreat- Reflection

 I had such grand plans for my school holidays in June. I was going to spend time with various friends, learn how to play lawn bowls, watch netflix, go on a wellness retreat, start a new exercise regime, make lots of cards, declutter my wardrobe and study, do my taxes, cook freezer meals for the new school term and read a novel. OMGGM.  Grand plans! 

When I caught a bad cold three weeks before my holiday and was still feeling awful a week before the holidays, my plans changed! 

The first week, was spent in bed, mostly.  I slept during the day! I watched netflix.  That's about it.  I did manage to go to the specialist. 

Then, the BFF asked me to house/cat sit for her and I had a brilliant idea. There was no way I could do all the things. Staying at the BFF's, on my own, was a good opportunity to have a DIY Prayer Retreat. I had seen some blog posts about DIY retreats. I was seriously excited as I prepared and it did not disappoint. The best article I read was this one from Arabah Joy. I recommend reading it and thinking using the ideas from there to plan your own retreat. 

You could also check out this Pinteret board with some of the articles and quotes that I used during my retreat. 

You might be wondering what I planned for the retreat... 

The Plan

 8:30 am Worship and Reflection - listen to worship music- craft

 9:00 am Quiet worship music, read psalms and call to worship. Then journalling setting up an intention. 

10:00 am Reading Bible Study/ Devotional

10:30 am Reflection and Journaling- 

11:00 am Gratitude Journalling- crafting

12 noon Lunch

12:30 pm Confession and Continued reading 

1:00 pm Journalling

1:30pm Praying for others- make cards (?)

2:00pm Music and Reflection Journalling.

This is how it actually turned out. 

9 am (I started late, but that's okay): worship music, prayer asking God to guide me and journalling

11am Gratitude Journalling- Read praise and worship Psalms (played worship music during this time too).

12 noon Lunch

12:30pm Reading Articles about grace, body image, diet and nutrition and note taking about these. 

1:00pm Journalling- prayer

1:30pm Writing a list of people I wanted to pray for and prayer.

2:00pm Reflective Journalling- planning for future reading, small steps for the future (next retreat, daily to do's in light of reading and prayer). 

Will I do it again? 

Absolutely. 

Also, I came to a few conclusions while I was 'retreating' and I will tell you more about that next time. 

If you get the opportunity, a few hours or even just one, being still in God's presence and digging deep into His word is so worth it. Do it! Whenever you can. 

Until Next Time, God Bless You. 

Recreating cards

I made this card in 2018. It was very near the beginning of my card making journey. I had limited supplies, but my stash was starting to grow. I love this card.

I thought it would be fun to recreate/ CASE this card, using my current supplies. I don't have the Happy Birthday die anymore. I gifted it to a crafty friend. I used a different die, but the stencil is the same. I tell you, it was much easier to make this card this time around. A paper trimmer makes a huge difference and so does experience! 

I also used different inks- Catherine Pooler instead of Memento.  I decided to do the ombre inking horizontally down the card instead of vertically. I also used glossy accents on the word die cut which was stacked for dimension. 

Even the photo is better! Haha. 

Bye for now. 

Wedding Card Creations and a Bonus Card

Love is definitely in the air. 

Check out these wedding cards I made recently. 

The Love Birds

The love birds with their bird house are a stamp
from a Gina K, which is now retired. 
The "Congrats" is from the You Did It Stamps set
by Catherine Pooler. 

 

Mr and Mrs Shake it up

Glitter cardstock frames these heart shaped sequins in a shaker card.
It doesn't get any better than this! 
The sentiment is stamped using silver embossing powder. 

Congratulations- Bonus Card

This Clean and Simple card has some heart shaped texture
created with a 2D embossing folder. It's hard to capturein a photo.
Gold heat embossing for the sentiment sets off the gold foiled border. 
No need for sequins or other embellishments on this simply elegant card. 

This one might be more appropriate for an engagement card. I did some experimenting before landing on the designs of the two cards above. The experimental pieces and some scraps were laying on my desk and before I knew it, I had made this card.  This is the best kind of bonus card. It's going in the stash, because engagements do seem to sneak up on me. So rude how people don't give me warning when they are thinking about getting engaged. Lol. 

Until we meet again,

Critter Cards- without colouring

If you spend a lot of money on critter stamps, you feel like you need to use them.  At least, I do. Sometimes, I don't feel like colouring my critter stamps. The thing is, there are so many other ways to use your critter stamps.  You just need to think outside the box. Let's look at a few ways you can make cards with critters, without having to build a scene or do any colouring. 

#1 Ink blending

You don't even need to ink blend realistic colours or place them where you expect.

The colours just make a bright background for the line art to sit on. 

So cute.

#2 Stamp onto coloured cardstock

You won't get any shadows or light, but it doesn't matter. 
Stamping these cute elephants on different shades of grey
cardstock gives enough contrast. A touch of stencilling
and a sweet sentiment, means this card came together
so easily and it really packs a punch.  

#3 Just stamp it  

This gelpress background didn't need much. 
Simply Stamping the hedgehogs on a basic shape is enough. 
The sentiment is simply stamped too, with a black mat. 
I'm really happy with how this card turned out. 

#Heat Embossing

This white heat embossed cat on black cardstock is so cute. 
You could heat emboss in white on brightly coloured cardstock too. 
I sent this card to a friend whose cat had crossed the rainbow bridge. 
She loved it. 

There you go, 4 ways to use your critter stamps without colouring. 

Do you have any other special tricks for using your critters (or any line art) without colouring them? 

Please share them in the comments below. 

 

More Critter Cards- Simple Scenes

Scene building is not really my thing, I can do it, but it takes a lot of effort for me.  When I have stamped out a critter and taken the time to colour it, I want a background for it, but I want the critter to be the star of the show.  Let's check out these very simple scenes set for some sweet critters. 

A cloud stencil with some light blue ink, makes a cloudy sky. 
Some post-it tape and light green ink, blends to make some grass. 
Use a card panel with a circle aperture to add some white space. 
Pop up the card panel, with a simple stamped sentiment too. 

This scene is just a bunch of critters holding up a 
Happy Birthday sentiment and some balloons. 
The background has some light ink blending around the 
edges and corners so there is a highlight in the centre. 
It doesn't get much simpler than this. 

The sentiment strip becomes 'the ground' on this card.
Some light ink blending behind the critter acts as sky. 
How cute is this dog holding the bunch of balloons in his mouth! 

I had fun building this scene! The cats are just playing
with little balls and string. They are climbing shelves and
looking down on the world. Judging you. 
I didn't worry about grounding or carpet or wallpaper. 
All those card makers who can do that are awesome. 
You can still make a great scene without feeling overwhelmed. 

Just some ink smooshing to make this bubbly, watery background
for this adorable whale was needed. Keeping the scene smaller than the card
by using a wide strip give the card some white space, a sort of frame and makes
the scene building so much easier. 

I used masking to contain this scene. 
Simple shapes and a bit of post-it tape and we're done. 

This is almost a one layer card with some great masking. 
A grey alcohol marker was the only real addition to ground the critter. 
This dog is so cute! 

That's that then, 

Next time, Critter cards for when you don't feel like colouring! 

 

Critter Cards and Stencils

 I love critter cards and critter stamp sets.  They are so cute! 

I am not great at using critter stamp sets and making critter cards.  I am getting better at stamping out the critters and colouring them. I don't feel quite so intimidated as I used to when I saw a critter set. I don't have lots of critter stamp sets, but the collection is growing a bit. The thing I really struggle with, when it comes to critters, is how to use them on my card.  I'm not great at scene building... too much work babe! While I can come up with a scene and think of a great story for the critters, the time and effort to get my scenes to look right are just too much.  

So, let's take a look at some cards I've made using critter stamps from my stash. 

A brick wall stencil makes a cute backdrop for these "hot" chicks.
An action wobbler means that the critter is the star and
 the fading out brick just compliments it making a cute little scene.
I can totally see these chicks exercising in their home gyms!

Just another stencilled backgound here. 
The monkey looks like he is hanging around in the jungle. 
I didn't have to worry about trees, ground, or sky,
but this totally works.

If you want to get really fancy, use some texture/ embossing paste
through your stencil. This partial stencilling looks so cool. 
If your critter is looking a bit lost, just add a plain die cut shape behind it.

I have some critter cards with simple scenes to share with you next time. Until then, let me know how you use your critter stamps. I'm always looking for new ideas. 

Brayer backgrounds...

I have wanted to purchase a Brayer for a long time. I had seen crafters use it in lots of different ways.  When I got a gelpress, I had to get a brayer. I loved it so much, I ended up buying another one!  I have one for paint and one for ink.  Jennifer McGuire has two videos demonstrating ways to use a brayer. 

While you can use a brayer to apply ink to large background stanmps, your gelpress and embossing folders, you can also use it to apply ink directly onto the paper.  Rolling the brayer in the ink and then onto the cardstock will give you an interesting texture and you will never be able to make two backgrounds that looks exactly the same. I had loads of fun playing with my brayer, inks and different paper/ cardstock.  Have a look at these. 

This card background uses the matte side of some photo paper.  
A big die cut sentiment and this card is done.  How cool is that? 
You could do something similar in any other colour combination. 
I like ot use inks that "play nicely", mixing together without making brown. 
Of course, I think I used brown in this particular card, but usually I wouldn't. 

These cards look similar because they use the same colour combination. 
I used the shiny side of the photo paper for these cards. The card to the left
is made mostly from scraps.  The sentiments on these cards were cut from 
backgrounds that were also made using my brayer, ink and stencils. 

These cards are actually quite 'flat' but there is quite a bit of dimension. 
I achieved this, by rolling different shades of green ink on the card panel. 
There are darker and lighter spots on the card which sort of reminds me of 
a patchy field where the kids used to practice soccer. Using a grassy stencil
I ink blended over the top to give it a different texture. The hexagons were
just diecut from a hexagon nesting die set. Adding a simple sentiment strip,
finishes this card off perfectly.  No need for further embellishment. 

You could use any analagous colour combination and several different types of cardstock to play with this technique and make lots of backgrounds. One last card for you..

All the paper in this card was coloured using my gelpress.
The ink was applied using a brayer. It gives a softer feel. I really like it. 

Get out your Brayer and have a play.  See what you can make with it. 

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

One Stamp Set - Five Cards!

Here is another set of cards that I have made using just one stamp set.  Well, maybe not just one. This is the fabulous HB2U stamp set from Sugar Pea Designs.  It's probably retired.  It was first made for a Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval collection.  It has a big sentiment of "Happy Birthday to you" and three balloon shapes, - circle, star and um, a long one - some confetti and a balloon string!  It's lots of fun.  I wasn't able to buy the dies for this, so the balloon die cuts are actually from another stamp set.  You could use any big birthday sentiment and balloon stamps and dies to make these cards. 

A technique I learned from a Jennifer McGuire video. 
It makes for a great effect on a simple card. 
1. Stamp the big sentiment, using the MISTI.
2. Use temporary adhesive to attach the balloon die cuts onto the cardfront.
3. Use the MISTI to stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment again. 
4. Remove the balloons and reattach them using foam tape to give some dimension.
5. Add other balloon die cuts (or stamping) around the sentiment to continue the fun. 

Just a swipe of ink smooshed on a craft mat, makes a messy background.
All that's needed is the big Birthday sentiment and some balloons. 
This card is so quick and easy. 

Just one balloon stamped in various colours, or all the balloon stamps, 
makes a great party back drop for the Happy sentiment. 
This card really took no time at all. I have made similar cards in various
colour schemes, like the ones below. 

This small stamp was a great price, because it was only 3x4.  I have used it to make so many different cards with it. It doesn't take much to make a great card with this stamp set.  Look at these. 

Two colours, one balloon stamp and the curly birthday
sentiment sets the scene for this fun and festive shaker card. 
I think this must be one of the easiest shakers I've made. 

Some patterned paper and this big birthday sentiment
are the perfect match for a quick and easy card. The font
on this sentiment seems to go with anything! 

I've had this stampset for more than 5 years. It was one of the first photopolymer stamp set I bought and it was so worth it!  I have made so many cards using this stamp set.  The ones I've shown you today are just a few of them.  Everyone needs a stamp set like this in their stash.  It's definitely been a staple in my stash since I bought it and while I have many more stamp sets, I still reach for this one often.  Sometimes I use the whole set, or just one stamp from it.  I was devastated when I accidentally tore the  sentiment when removing it from a block.  I couldn't bring myself to throw it away and I couldn't replace it.  I mended the stamp with some painters tape and it's not quite good as new, but it stamps well enough and the whole set lives on!  I'm curious, what is your birthday stamp set staple? Let me know in the comments.