Sparkly Gift Tags

I really enjoyed joining in on Simon Says All That Glitters is Gold Challenge so when I woke early this morning gathered together some supplies to get a start on Christmas gift tags for bottles.

Dies - Eliza & Kate Snowflakes (Simon Says Stamp), Fancy Cut Christmas (Hero Arts), Circle Nestabilites (Spellbinders) and Stitched Circles (Pink & Main)

I think shaker cards are so fun so made a shaker to go on my first tag. I adhered five glittery gold stars to the plain black background of the shaker element, added a mix of sequins and stars and used a gold frame over the acetate to trap all the shaker pieces inside. A pretty bow, not made by me but recycled from a box of chocolates, finished off the look I wanted.

I love the way my friend Linda used a die to emboss the background on her bicycle card here. So I did the same with the Eliza Snowflake die on this tag, added the Kate Snowflake cut from glittery card and a little gold gem to the centre of the snowflake.

When I was taking photos of the tags on the bottles who should come along with his own bottle of Buck's Fizz looking for a chase - Toby! I don't know if it was coincidental or if he recognised the similarities between what I had and one of his toys, but I had a good laugh when I saw him and managed to get him to pose for a few seconds after I chased him down the corridor.

Snowflakes and Sequins

As soon as I saw Hero Arts Paper Layering Snowflakes die set I knew I had to get it. I love the way the dies can be either used to do partial cuts on card so the layers can be popped up for some extra dimension or, by adding the frame dies, they can be used to cut out snowflakes. Today I used the die for partial cuts but at a later stage I'll be cutting the snowflakes out completely to make decorations for our Christmas tree and also for more cards, gift tags and gift wrap. Lol that's of course presuming I'll have a lot of crafting time between now and Christmas!

Anyway on to the card. I used the dies on a panel of white card and added it to the card base. Then I used glossy accents to adhere sequins to the centres of the snowflakes. I always love a little, or a lot, of sparkle on Christmas cards so added strips of gold glitter card to the sides of the panel.

Dies (Hero Arts) - Paper Layering Snowflakes & Fancy Cut Christmas

Since I was on a sparkly roll I also die cut the sentiment from glitter card, layered it twice, for strength and dimension, and added it to the card with foam pads.

These dark, wintery evenings give me a good excuse to start lighting candles again. So I decided to decorate a couple of chunky jars to hold nightlights. Soon these will go on our mantelpiece along with greenery and some Christmas decorations.

Die (Hero Arts) - Paper Layering Snowflakes

Again for the jars I used the dies to do partial cuts on a panel of card, popped up the snowflakes and added strips of gold glitter card and sequins.

I'm submitting the card into Hero Arts Holiday Card Making Challenge.

Non Traditional Christmas

Over at The Love! - Handmade cards, ATC’s & other Crafts group on Flickr there's a fun challenge for October. It's to make a holiday project in non traditional colours. I have to admit I usually make my Christmas cards in traditional colours, but with this challenge decided to go a bit wild (for me:)) with colours and used a lot of black which is another colour I wouldn't usually use on Christmas cards.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Ornaments Stamp & Cut and Vintage Post (sentiment)
Die (My Favorite Things) - Pierced Rectangle Frames

I die cut the frame, adhered it with foam pads to a panel of black glitter card and again used foam pads to adhere this to my card base. Then I coloured and added Wink of Stella to baubles images my friend Linda sent me (thanks again, Linda!) and added bows made from baker's twine. I really enjoyed trying out different colours on my Christmas card so will definitely make a few more Christmas cards this year using non traditional colours.

A Couple of Valentines

For the past number of weeks a few things have completely taken up my time and kept me away from card making but I'm happy to be finally back in the swing of things again to make a Valentine for my hubby. I ended up making two Valentine cards as I thought the first one might be too girly for him. The little glimpse below probably says it all really:)

I had some pretty wedding table sprinkles in my stash and thought they, along with some beads and pearls, would make a nice background for a couple of lovely die cuts my friend Linda sent me - thanks again Linda:) So the card came together fairly quickly once the glue I used for the sprinkles and beads had dried. This month's challenge over at Hero Arts is Fabulous Flowers so since there are flowers on the heart die and flowers in the sprinkles I'm submitting this card into the challenge.

Dies (Hero Arts) - Floral Heart Stamp & Cut by Lia and My Monthy Hero January Kit Add On

After making the card above I thought I'd try to make a more masculine looking Valentine using a favourite Hero Arts die and the inlaid die cutting technique.

Dies - Renaissance Heart (Hero Arts), Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp) & Alphabet (Docrafts)

Even though I was going for a masculine look I couldn't resist using glitter card in the heart to represent the sparkle hubby brings to my life - sorry for the soppiness but I think I can get away with it this week:)

I'm submitting the cards into A Blog Named Hero's is A Bit of Sparkle Challenge and the Die Cut Diva's Love, Marriage and Anniversaries Challenge.

Ruffled Flowers

I was sorting out my woodblock stamps and came across a flower I love but haven't used in a while. Since I needed to make a couple of cards I embossed the flowers four times, trimmed them to the sizes I wanted and applied distress inks (dried marigold for the first card and a mix of shabby shutters, salty ocean and tumbled glass for the second one).

Stamps - Ruffled Flower (Hero Arts) & It's Your Day (Hero Arts)
Dies - Bundle of Stitched Shapes (Simon Says Stamp) & Tags and Bookplates (Docrafts)

The background for this card was made by dragging a Hero Arts mint to green ombre ink pad across white card a few times. After cutting the background into panels I used a die from Simon Says Stamp's Bundle of Stitched Shapes to add the stitch lines. The sentiment was embossed in gold on a die cut from Docrafts Tags and Bookplates die set. A little sparkle was added to the flower with diamond stickles and some gems. I'm submitting this card into Simon Says Stamp's Ombre Challenge.

For the next card I used up scraps of silver glitter card I had left over from making Christmas cards. I just cut strips of the card to go behind the flower and used it for the die cut sentiment too.

Stamp - Ruffled Flower (Hero Arts)
Die - Thanks Stamp & Cut (Hero Arts)

A sprinkling of sequins and gems were added for a little sparkle.

Winter Cheer

Only 42 more days till Christmas so I'm going to have to speed up my Christmas card making! Today I used Hero Arts' pretty Winter Cheer tag set by Lia to make three cards like the one below.

Die & stamp set - Winter Cheer tag set by Lia (Hero Arts)
Embossing folder - Snowflake Trim (Darice)

I die cut the ornament from silver card and added gold sequins and stars as my shaker elements. The gold thread I used for the bauble has been in my wool stash well over twenty years, so long in fact I can't even remember what I originally used it for!

The sentiment panel was embossed in gold and added to the bauble with foam pads. One of my favourite Christmas embossing folders was used for the background.

Recently I also used the tag set to make a set of Christmas gift tags for a Scramble I hosted over in the Hero Arts Flickr group. The theme was to use recycled bits and pieces on Christmas tags. In this instance the ribbon on the gift tags came from a box of chocolates. The chocolates are all long gone at this stage and I'm glad to have finally used up all the ribbon too:)

Supplies (Hero Arts) - Winter Cheer Tag Set by Lia & Fancy Cut Christmas

I'm submitting the card into Hero Arts Holiday Cardmaking Challenge.