Quick and Simple Stamped Christmas Cards

Well I can't ignore it. Christmas is truly on it's way and it's time I started getting serious about making my Christmas cards.

I don't know about you, but though there are cards I will spend a couple of hours on for special people, if I need to make a lot of cards, I need to simplify so that I can make lots in less time. 

Sometimes though when batch making cards you don't want to make them all the same right? 

So when I received the Abstract Christmas stamp set I was overjoyed, because this was a stamp set that was very versatile, (not to mention that it comes with so many mix and match seasonal sentiments that work great with other stamp sets).

So below I've shown a few examples of different ways I've used this stamp set and each card took only around 15  minutes to make on average.

A stamp set, some ink and embossing powder, plain card,  a couple of basic rectangle dies and simple embellishments was all it took to make these cards and I finished them all in an evening. 

You can find a link to the stamp set I used below.

Time to get started on those Christmas cards!

Ribbon Girl - 15 minute Christmas Cards

Hello!

When it comes to making Christmas cards it can be quite difficult creating batches of them that don't take you ages to make, but still are distinctly unique. Each of the 4 cards I'm showing today took 15 minutes or less to make and yet are completely individual.

To make my cards I used some simple rectangle dies, a Celebrate word die from MFT Stamps, some super cheap Christmas decorations I bought in a supermarket last year, some white and Kraft card for bases and the following items from The Ribbon Girl.

Time to Sparkle mini pack 6 x 6 papers

(This mini pack means you don't get tons more paper than you need, but more than enough to make a lot of cards, the designs are all gorgeous and at a bargain price!)

Cream/Brown Rustic Gingham 15 mm Ribbon,

 5 mm Mixed Pearls Chocolate Brown, 

White Pearl S/A Assorted Sizes, 

6 mm White Pearl and Diam Self Adhesives 

Thanks for visiting!

MFT Super Star Card Contest

Hello!

Life has been super busy and of course like all things, the stuff that you really want to do always occurs when you have virtually no time to do it.

So I was not surprised when the MFT 2017 Card Design Superstar contest cropped up right when I barely had time to draw a breath. With only 2 weeks to go before I jet to Orlando to teach at this year's Whimsy Stamps Craft Retreat, I'm in the middle of preparing all my kits and instructions, plus organising all the usual holiday stuff like travel insurance, currency etc. plus getting all my cards made and photographed for the October release countdown  which will happen right at the time I'm preparing to leave and whilst I'm over there. In addition I'm super busy at work and up to my ears in this years Health and Safety audit.

So whilst I have managed to scrape 2 cards together (by the skin of my teeth and very close to the wire, I don't consider them my best work. A shame indeed but time was against me and it is what it is.

So what did I get time for?

First off is my entry for the Clean and Simple Genius Category

I kept things simple...no surprise there being what the category is, concentrating on one off set image , coloured with zig watercolour markers and using some stenciling with distress inks to highlight it on my card. A simple sentiment stamped in black ink on the other side and a few snowy white gems radiating to give the impression of snow. I mounted my white layer on a lilac one for a little extra contrast.

I used the following MFT products.

Toasty Greetings Stamp Set (no longer availalbe)

Toasty Greetings Die-namics (no longer available)

Radiating Rays Stencil

Blueprints 31

Next is my entry for the Coloring Virtuoso Category

I love the cute animals from the Jungle Gym set and wanted to put them in front of a sunset. 

I made the sunset by blending Distress Inks in Seedless Preserves, Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral and Carved Pumpkin on some Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper.

I watercoloured my images with my Zig Markers, brush and water using the following colours:

Light Brown, Oatmeal, Dark Oatmeal, Dark Gray, Pale Pink, Light Violet, Purple, Bright Yellow, Orange, Gray Brown, Mid Green, Olive Green, Dark Brown, Deep Brown, stamping them on Strathmore Bristol Smooth also.

After adding my frame to my background and base card and arranging my imaged on foam tape, there wasn't too much room for a sentiment, so I went for a simple one from the Lovable Leopards Set embossed in white and cutting the banner down to size.

I used the following MFT products on my card:

Jungle Gym Stamp Set

Jungle Gym Die-namics

Grassy Edges Die-namics

Pierced Rectangle Frames 

(no longer available, so I linked the stitched version which is almost identical)

Lovable Leopards Stamp Set

I didn't sadly get enough time to make anything for the Inovation Master Category, oh well there's always next year!

Thanks for visiting!

Whimsy Stamps - Pretty Lil Present

Hello!

I have a super quick share today for you. This is a sweet shaker card I made using the new Pretty Lil Present from the September rubber release.

I kept things very simple, colouring my image with Zig & Distress Ink Markers and fussy cutting her to mount on top of my shaker frame.

I added a simple sentiment heat embossed with white embossing powder on a pink banner and finishing with some coloured gems by Little Things from Lucy's Cards.

I used the following Whimsy Stamps Products on my card:

Have you seen the selection of sequins that Whimsy Stamps has to offer?

You can find them all here.

That's all for today but I'll be back soon.

Altenew - Happy Retirement

Hello!

Recently a lovely lady in my department retired and I was asked to make a card for her.  I made it quite large as the whole department needed to sign it, so I made it 5 x 7 and added an insert so there was more space to write.

I used the Peony Bouquet stamp set from Altenew, stamping with Versamark ink and embossing with Altenew Crisp Pure White embossing powder. 

I coloured the flowers and leaves with my Zig Markers, using Yellow, Bright Yellow and Orange for the flowers and Light Green for the leaves.

I made an ink blended panel using Fossilized Amber and Abandoned Coral Distress Oxides and glued that to the centre of my card base, gluing a panel of vellum over the top to give a soft appearance.

I cut one MFT Snow Drifts Cover Up Die-namics in smooth white cardstock gluing it to the back of a white cardstock frame cut with MFT Pierced Frames Die-namics. 

I used my Gansai Tambi Starry Colors watercolours to splatter some small gold dots over this and then glued it on the front of my card, covering the edges of the vellum and blended panel.

I cut another piece of white cardstock with MFT Double Stitched Rectangles STAX and stamped a retirement sentiment in Versamark ink, from Whimsy Stamps Happy Sayings stamp set and embossed this with Altenew Crisp Embossing Power in Antique Gold.

I blended a scrap of watercolour paper with distress inks in yellows and oranges and then cut out the word HAPPY with MFT Happy Greetings Die-namics layering it up with another 2 cut from white cardstock and adhering it abover my stamped sentiment. I them glued the rectangle to the centre of my card.

I fussy cut all my flowers and leaves and arranged them around my card, adhering them with foam tape for some dimension.

To finish I added some gold enamel dots I made with Pale Gold Nuvo Drops, and some Crystal Clear sequins.

I hope you enjoyed my project today, I really enjoyed making it.

Thanks for dropping by!

Whimsy Stamps - Merry Moose-mas

Hello!

I hope you've been enjoying the September release from Whimsy Stamps. Today I'm sharing a CAS card made with  the new Merry Moose-mas rubber stamp which I have linked for you below.

I stamped with Black Onyx Versafine ink onto Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and then coloured in the image with my Zig Markers.

I used Light Brown, Light Oatmeal, Deep Violet, Turquoise Green, Dark Gray and Light Blue (snow).

I then masked my image off and used Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and a mini blending tool to stencil a cloudy sky in the background.

I made an A2 card base from some purple cardstock, used a large rectangle die to trim my coloured panel to a little smaller than my card base and stuck it down directly.

The sentiment I chose is taken from the Abstract Christmas clear stamp set which has a fabulous range of Christmas holiday sentiments and also that wonderful tree, and I stamped with Versamark ink, embossing with some white high detail embossing powder on a scrap of the same purple cardstock I used for my card base. I cut this into a banner and popped this up onto some foam tape, gluing another shorter banner directly beneath it.

I finished off with a few iridescent gems.

Whimsy Stamps products used:

Affiliate links are used on some products. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on my link, I receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support when using these link

That's all from me for today, thank you so much for dropping by!

MFT - Wild About You

Hello!

It seems ages since I shared a card made with MFT Stamps doesn't it? August and the beginning of September have been so busy, between work, my daughter and her partner coming to stay for a few days, being ill and preparing for the Whimsy September release and the Whimsy retreat (less than 4 weeks away now eeeek!) it seems like I haven't had a spare moment for anything.

Strangely enough I have plenty of MFT cards in my draft folder, I just haven't had the time to blog any. So I'm rectifying that today with a card made using the MFT Wild About You stamp set.

This was from last month's release and I loved the fun and quirky look of this one, I decided to use the stripes on each of the animals (I didn't use the Zebra from the set on this card), to give them a rainbow treatment and paired it with a sheet from the Party Patterns paper pack which went perfectly.

I used my zig makers to colour them in 

Colours used: Yellow, Bright Yellow, Yellow GrenViolet, Orange, Light Green, Pink, Light Blue, Blue, Light Gray.

added a few details with a white gel pen and a black glaze pen,and cut them out with the matching die-namics. I cut a frame with the MFT Pierced Rectangle Frames Die-namics to frame the lion and giraffe and popped everything up with some foam tape. 

The sentiment which is from the same set, I thought was perfect for these rather different looking animals and I split the sentiment in 2 to fit the design of my card.

I finished the card with a sprinkling of matching enamel dots.

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Whimsy September Release Countdown Day 5

Hello!

We're so close now to the new release from Whimsy Stamps going live and today I have a couple of cards to share with you using the Let's Dance set.

This set was the Customer Appreciation Set last month and will now be available to buy.

For my first card I used the tutu stamp to stamp an outline in black ink,  over some ink blending and water splattering, and then used the die from the matching Let's Dance die set to cut it out.

I blended a little Twisted Citron distress ink around the edge of a panel and mounted with some craft foam that onto some turquoise cardstock mounted on top of my card base.

I popped the tutu onto the top panel with some foam tape and stamped a sentiment from the stamp set below it in black ink. I finished with a few sparkling clear sequins.

For my second card (I shared this card last month when showcasing the CAS stamp set, I used the ballet shoes from the set to stamp out 5 pairs of shoes in a row, colouring them in rainbow colours. I stamped a sentiment from the set above them and stamped several musical notes from the set in colours to match the shoes, by using my zig pens directly on the stamps.

I added a strip of patterned paper at the top of my panel, adhered all to a yellow card base and finished of with a few matching gems.

Items used:

Here's all the stamps/dies from today's showcase.
 

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Whimsy Stamps September Release Countdown Day 4

Hello!

I'm back for day 4 of the September release countdown from Whimsy Stamps.

Today I'm showcasing 2 clear stamp sets and 1 matching die set, that are perfect for your Christmas cards.

The first set is Abstract Christmas which has this lovely abstract Christmas tree made from circles and lots of fab mix and match seasonal sentiments, you'll see that I've used these sentiments on some of my other Christmas cards.

I've made a few cards with this set as it's so versatile and just the thing for making batches of Christmas cards to send out, but you'll have to wait a couple of days to see the others.

For this one I stamped the Christmas tree in Versamark ink on Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and embossed with detail white embossing powder.

Then I used my Zig Markers and a water brush to colour in the circles. I used a combination of Turquoise Green, Turquoise Blue, Purple and Pink.

I stamped my chosen words in VersafineOnyx Black ink under the tree and then cut out the whole thing with a stitched rectangle die and popped it up on some craft foam on some turquoise lustre cardstock mounted directly to my base card. I finished off with a few sequins in matching colours.

For my second card I used the Oh What Fun stamp set which is a lovely set with lots of small fun Christmas images. I stamped out Santa with his sleigh a few presents and a row of trees, coloured them with my Zig markers and cut them out with the matching dies. I also used one of the Stitched Border Trio dies to cut out a snow bank from smooth white cardstock and stamped a sentiment from the set onto it. I made a back ground panel, stencilling some clouds with Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire distress inks and then popped all my pieces on with varying thickness of foam tape, arranging the presents so that it looks like they are spilling out from the sleigh.

I mounted the whole thing onto a dark blue card base.

Affiliate links are used on some products. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on my link, I receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support when using these links


Thanks for visiting!

Whimsy Stamps September Release Countdown Day 3

Hello!

Welcome to day 3 of the Whimsy Stamps release countdown for September. We're showcasing more stamps and dies from the new release today, which will all be ready to buy on the 7th.

Today I used Snowflake Penguin from the Illustrator Lee Holland. Isn't he just the cutest with his little Santa hat?

I did initially make this a one layer card, masking the penguin and creating the stenciled sky, but unfortunately I ended up bleeding some of the red from his hat (as you do with red) and so fussy cut the image and glued it onto a new stenciled background.

I still kept the card very simple, just adding a stamped sentiment from the Abstract Christmas set (you'll get to see this stamp set tomorrow and it's pretty awesome) and a few gems.

I coloured the little penguin and his snowflake with my Zig markers using Light Gray, Dark Gray, Red, Wine Red, Light Blue, Pale Pink, Bright Yellow and Ochre

Items Used



Affiliate links are used on some products. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on my link, I receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support when using these links

Thanks for much for dropping by, I'll see you tomorrow!

Ribbon Girl Card Challenge - September

Hello!
We're back from our summer break over at The Ribbon Girl blog  with the fist challenge for September.
As it's the first Sunday in September it's a card challenge, so you can use anything you wish, it just has to be a card.

My nephew requested a card for his girlfriend similar to another card I made recently but in purples and with a love based sentiment. This is what I made for him.

Apart from the stamps, ink and white cardstock, all products used on this card were from 

The Ribbon Girl and I've added the links below:

Ribbon Girl Products Used

Maja Design Vintage Spring Basics Papers

Round Doily Lace Chipboard Frame

Monograce Chipboard Heart

Ivory Magnolia Flowers

10 mm Open Lilac Roses

Lilac/Purple Beaded Berries

Pale Green 2 Tone Leaves

Cheesecloth

Mauve Rose Lavender Vintage Seam Binding

5 mm Ivory Pearl Flatbacks

3 mm Ivory Pearl Flatbacks

Lucy's Crystal Sparkly Shaker Selection

I do hope you can join in with our challenge, there are prizes for 3 lucky winners:

First prize:  Papers from Maja Design, Sweden - the prize will be sent directly to the winner

Second prize:  £10 voucher towards a shopping spree at The Ribbon Girl

Third Prize:  A stamp of the winner's choice from LOTV

Thanks for dropping by!

Whimsy Stamps September Release Countdown Day 1

Hello!

Welcome to day one of the August release countdown. Over the next 6 days we'll be sharing lots of inspiration with you using all the new products from the release which will be available on the 

7th September.

I fell in love with this grumpy looking kitty from the word go.

He looks like the perfect YouTube meme doesn't he?

I coloured him up with my Zig Markers, using Light Gray, Dark Gray, Red, Wine Red, Mustard, Ochre, Light Oatmeal Dark Oatmeal, May Green and Deep Green. 

I fussy cut him out and mounted him on some white cardstock with a piece of Christmasy patterned paper cut with a border die, and mounted the whole thing on some red cardstock. 

Whimsy products used:

Affiliate links are used on some products. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on my link, I receive a small commission with no extra cost to you. I truly appreciate your support when using these links

The sentiment is actually a little bit of a sneak peek from the October release as it's from a stamp set that's coming out then but shhhhh, don't say I told you so.

I finished off with a few glittery enamel dots made with Nuvo Drops.

Thanks for dropping by!