Christmas cards in a gift bag

I'm enjoying making the little tote bags and this time I've done a Christmas one containing 6 4" x 3" Christmas cards, all stamped with matching envelopes.

I used Reason for the Season stamp set 

to make the background paper for the bag and the cards and I have to say, I didn't find the 3 step stamping very easy or at least not as accurate as I would have liked.  Maybe I should have used my stamp positioner to get it perfect but overall, I do like the effect - certainly enough to make another set, Lol!

I'm hoping to sell these at our charity event at the end of November.

Tempus fugit

Time really does seem to fly, I can't believe I last update my blog in August :o

I have a few things to share so here goes.

Firstly, I held a coffee morning on 25th September in aid of Macmillan and I made some little boxes containing one Ferrera Rocher  or Lindt chocolate and put them in a basket so that when my guests left, they could each take one.

 

The Ferrero Rocher box was slightly bigger than the Lindt chocolate box  and so I knew the difference (in case someone didn't like or was allergic to nuts) I put a different greeting on the top.

Next are some 4" x 3" note cards which fit nicely in a tote (which I have yet to photograph).  The idea for the little tote came from Craftyhallet who is very talented and makes some amazing things.

Edit:  The bag is here :)

Today is my son's 28th birthday and this is his card - very simple for me but I sort of ran out of time.

Because I didn't know what to buy Adam, I got him a Next gift card and made this gift card holder 

and this one for a Starbucks gift card :)

I'm sure I have other things to share, but off the top of my head, I can't remember so I may or may not be back later Lol!

a few cards...

I've made a few cards over the last couple of weeks and these are the ones I have remembered to take a photograph of.

My brother's 65th birthday card:

 and a new home card for him too

and some cupcake birthday cards which I clearly forgot to take a proper picture of.

Thank you cards

Following Erin-Rose's 1st birthday and the exceedingly large amount of gifts she received, I offered to make some thank you cards for Adam and Lucy to send out.

I kept them small and simple given that they needed 20 plus and here they are - mostly I made 3 or 4 the same to make it quicker.  I'm not quite sure why they look so pale and pasty here but they aren't in real life.  Of course if I knew how to fiddle with the colours on the laptop I might be able to improve their appearance, but I simply have no idea how to do that and am not sure I want to go there at the moment Lol!

And this is the box they all go in.

All the stamps, ink pads, punches and card are Stampin Up :D

Watercolour wings stamp set

I absolutely love this stamp set and I can't stop using it.  When I first saw it I wasn't interested and then started seeing examples of cards made with it and I knew I had to have it.

This card in particular took my eye

and I knew I had to case it right away.

This is my version - a slightly different colourway but that's about the only thing I changed.

However, I feel it's a bit superficial -  the belly band makes the card and once you take it off you're left with something fairly plain.  

I made an insert for it but would welcome any input as to how I can make the whole card had the wow factor rather than just the front.

I also made a set of note cards using the smaller butterflies in the same set.

This is the box for them to go it

and here are the cards.

More Stampin Up cards

Time flies by so quickly and there are never enough hours in the day and sometimes I forget to do things - like upload cards to my blog for one.

I made this one for my niece's 30th birthday a couple of weeks ago.

I used Stampin Up new in colours - mint macaron for the card base and the new envelope paper on the front.

My UK Scrappers team, the Bijoux Belles did a recent bookmark swap and here are the two I made - again using Stampin Up papers.  

The flower is and origami flower called kusudama and is very easy to make.  There are loads of videos on You Tube if you want to try it.  I have made something very similar to this in fabric but I rather like the look of the paper one.

My final cards are these... 

I saw something similar on Pinterest but as per usual, I forgot to pin it so apologies to whoever inspired me.

A different colour way...

and a different shaped card.

Kinda eclectic thank you card

My husband's mother has dementia and lives in a care home where she is extremely well looked after by some wonderful people.  We heard yesterday that one of these wonderful ladies is retiring and so my husband asked me if I'd make a card for her that would hold a gift voucher so I set to work.

I turned to one of my favourite SU stamp sets - Kinda eclectic and had a mooch around Pinterest for some inspiration and came up with this.

We will substitute the Hobbycraft club card with a garden centre gift card but I needed something to gauge the size with.

I made a matching envelope too which I don't seem to have taken a photo of but while I had the stamps out, I made a couple more cards using different colours.

Also over the weekend I made another gift box of thank you cards which I hadn't managed to get around to uploading.

The box measures 3.5" square, is 1.5" deep and holds 6 thank you cards with matching envelopes.

Butterfly birthday card

I made this card a couple of weeks ago and forgot to upload it.

Very simple, but quite pretty I think :D

Ouch!

My friend Sue has a sketch challenge over on her blog (with a prize) every month and I do try and support her and enter a page as often as I can.

Here is June's sketch

and this is what I came up with.

Erin-Rose is wearing a bib with cherries on it so I wanted to use the new Stampin Up DSP stack called cherry on the top as I thought it would be perfect.

Why don't you pop over to Sue's blog and see what the challenge is all about?  Maybe you could win the prize this month!

Maria's birthday card

I wanted to make a special card for my friend Maria's birthday and I saw this ages ago and really liked it but never got around to making one.  Anyway I thought it was perfect for what I wanted with a little tweaking - I wanted to put some 4" x 3" notecards and envelopes in the drawer so made it bigger.

This is the result:

This is the box

and the box open

the easel card inside

and the little drawer showing the note cards.

New whisper white thick card

I am so pleased that Stampin Up have finally brought out thicker whisper white cardstock.  Although I love the normal stuff, I didn't feel it was strong enough for a card base.  Anyway, mine arrived this afternoon and this is what I have made.

The front of the card is the normal whisper white and I printed the words on my computer then masked and stamped the flower images down the side using a second stamping of basic grey ink so it was fairly subdued.

I punched out a heart from scrap card and glued it to the back of some fabric to use as a template for cutting out the red spotted hearts.

and added some bakers twine.

Sneeky Peek...

at the new "in" colours from Stampin Up catalogue which is out at the beginning of June.

I made these 5 tiny cards to showcase the colours - I'm not sure if they are my cup of tea or not...the jury is out Lol!

From left to right the colours are watermelon wonder, mint macaron and tip top taupe and below them are cucumber crush and delightful dijon.  The tiny strip of paper which you can hardly see is from a new 6"x 6" called cherry on the top.

Let me know what you think

Matchbooks

My friend Maria has started a swap group on FB for our UKs team the Bijoux Belles.  Last month, the theme was tags - make two and send them out to whoever Maria drew out of the hat for you.  I didn't take part and when I saw the photos of all the lovely tags, instantly regretted it so this month when matchbooks were mentioned, I decided I would join in.
These are what I came up with:

I thought they might look nice in a box - well I like making boxes so why not!

All products used are from Stampin Up apart from the chocolate!