Christmas with the 'Gentleman Collection' Papers for Meg's Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So pleased you dropped by.

I have finally started making my Christmas Cards.  Yes, I know, I have started them way too late, but my life has been a bit hectic over the last couple of months and hubby and I have been away on the most wonderful holiday as well so I haven't really cottoned onto the fact that Christmas is just around the corner.  Oh My Gosh!!!  Did I just say that!!  Yikes!!  I really do have to pull the proverbial finger out!!
 Anyway, back to the business at hand (before I totally freak out LOL!) I'm here to share a couple of Christmas cards that have been made with some sheets from Meg's Garden's 'Gentleman Collection' and I really love how they have turned out.  You all know that it is not necessary to use dedicated Christmas paper to make your Christmas cards.  For me, it's more about the colour and texture than it is about the designs so I decided that the 'Gentleman Collection' papers would be perfect.

Card No. 1

I did use a small piece of Christmas paper from Kaisercraft underneath but the top layer is 'A Gentleman's Auto' 12" x 12".  Did a tiny bit of spraying with watered down Distress Ink in 'Peeled Paint' and 'Pine Needles'.

Used some fabulous 2Crafty Chipboard  (Element Set 1, Card Word Circles - Christmas and Mini Reindeers) and a die cut  from Memory Box.  The lovely lace is also available from Meg's Garden.  

Love that gorgeous deep red bloom.  Meg's Garden has some beautiful flowers available in her shop but you should check it out on a regular basis as the stock does change from time to time.   To the cluster I added some die cut leaves, berries, gauze, the lace of course and some bits of twine as well.  

The inside was also decorated with the same paper.  Heat embossed the edges with gold and I created a pocket on the left hand side to hold some gift vouchers.  The right hand side was left blank so I could write the sentiment.

Card No. 2
This one is very similar to the first.  The sheet used here is 'Gentleman' 12" x 12" and I've just added some different colours and different embellishments.

Spread some crackle around on this one and inked it with 'Fired Brick' DI.  The tags are a freebie received with a crafting magazine.

Used the same type of flower and lace in the cluster but this time I added some dodo wire and different berries as well as a piece of  gold mesh and some die cuts.

The inside was decorated the same again just with different colours and different stamps and I've added a small piece of dry wall tape as well.

There you have it!!  My 'Gentleman Collection' Christmas cards.  As I said before, I am really pleased with how these cards turned out so I will be making all of my cards this year in the same manner.  I will be posting those up over the next few weeks so I hope you will pop back here to take a look.  In the meantime why not take a look at all the amazing creations from my Teamies over at the Meg's Garden Blog.  You can find it HERE.   To take a look at all the fabulous products Meg has in her online store, click HERE.

Meg's Garden products used
'Gentleman's Auto' 12 x 12
'Gentleman' 12 x 12
Dodo Wire
Lace 1.6cm white

Thank you so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

Marg oxox

Christmas Cards # 3

Hi everyone!!!  Welcome to my blog ... so pleased you came for a visit.

I'm back to share with you the last of the Christmas Cards I made for this year.  These are the ones I made for close family and some special friends, although I must say, all of my friends are special.  They must be to put up with me!!  hehe!!

As with the other cards I've shown you, these are all basically the same card just made with different papers.   They are Easel Cards and all of the base papers are from Meg's Garden's 'Musical Christmas' and 'Christmas Time' Mini Packs and the trees were made with a number of different Kaisercraft Christmas papers.

 Construction of the tree is simple.  You just cut a triangle to whatever size you want from chipboard or some other type of stiff board, glue a small frill of border punched paper along the bottom and then fill the shape with leaf diecuts from different papers.  It is a little time consuming but I thoroughly enjoyed making these, they are a lot of fun.  You could add some glitter here and there or maybe a few small gems to represent lights or even use some white puff paint or embossing powder to represent snow but I left these plain.  I felt the different colours of the paper was enough.

The star at the top of the tree is a plastic snowflake which I painted with gold acrylic paint.  The label is from Kaisercraft to which I added the greeting sticker and the diecut is the 'Virtuoso Music' Die from Memory Box.

 The inside was decorated with more of the papers from Meg's Garden and I just added a diecut oval shape with the sentiment and also a Kaisercraft 'Holly Border' flourish.  The flourish was coloured with Versa Color in Scarlet and Green  and I also added a few red gems to represent berries.

 Here is how the card looks standing up ...  

 ... and here are a few pics of some others made with different papers.

On this one you can see the little bit of border punching I did on the paper.  It doesn't show up quite as well on the others.

Once again, this is just a sampling of the cards made.  

Not sure if I'll be back here before Christmas so I would like to wish all of you a wonderful and joyous Christmas.  Hope you all have a fabulous day and many Blessings to each and every one of you.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Christmas Cards # 2

Hello everyone!!  I hope you are all well and enjoying your day.

I'm back again to share with you another Christmas Card.  This one is actually the template for most of the cards I've made for Christmas this year.  To make things a little easier on me ( and I'm always looking for ways to make things easier on me .. hehe! )  I usually decide on a design for my Christmas cards and then make them all pretty much the same except for the papers I use.  Actually, I use two designs.  One for the general cards for close friends and distant family and another for my immediate family.  This card is the one I used for close friends.

I love the traditional colours for Christmas and the papers I've used are from small pads of different Kaisercraft Christmas Collections.  I had bought so many pads last year that I felt I'd better use them up.  I simply layered a few mats cut from different papers in different sizes ( one of which was matted on some cardstock ) and then also added a little banner which was matted on cardstock.  Added a frame cut out with Marianne Creatables Frame and Swirls Die and then placed a greeting label over the top.  Added another die-cut  in between the frame and the label to add a bit more interest.  This die is the Snowflake Sprig die from Memory Box.  I simply cut the piece into three and spread them out under the label.

The poinsettia was cut out from different papers with my Silhouette, and the leaves were also cut with my Silhouette and then slightly shaped and edged with gold Versa Color. 

The inside was decorated with some strips of the paper which were edged with Martha Stewarts Doily Border Punch.  The sentiment was cut out with Couture Creations Victorian Square Die.

Here are some pics of a few of the other cards made.

This is just a small sampling. I won't bore you too much by showing all of them but I think, from these piccies, you get the idea.

In my last post I complained about leaving all my Christmas preparations to the last minute, which is what I always do, but now I can report that I am finished!!!   All cards made and posted, all presents purchased and ready to be wrapped!!  I can't believe how easy it all was this year.  Took a while to get the cards done but the pressies were all over and done with in one shop!!!  I really amazed myself!!  Hope all your Christmas preparations go as well as mine did.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Take care, be safe, and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Christmas Cards - #1

Hello everyone!!  A very warm welcome to my blog!

So, I guess everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas.  Life is starting to get quite hectic around here.  Shops are chocka-bloc full of people every time we go and it's getting more and more difficult to find a parking space!  I know!! I know!!  If I had been better prepared I would have done all my Christmas shopping ages ago and had all my cards made!!  I say that every year and every year it's a last minute rush..  Don't know why I just can't learn from past mistakes!!  Ah well!!  Maybe next year??!!!

Anyhow, I have a card to share.  One of the Christmas ones I've been busy with.

The papers I've used are from Meg's Garden's Christmas Time Collection Mini Pack. Distressed the edges and added some hand sewing.

 The gorgeous ribbon also is from Meg's Garden.  It was ivory originally but I coloured it with Fired Brick Distress Stain.  Simply sprayed it onto my non-stick mat and then ran the ribbon through it. I love how it turned out.  

 The wreath was cut from cardstock with my Silhouette Portrait.  I simply tweaked it a little and added some small branches to fill it out a bit.  Added the small gems for berries and the 'snow' is white puff paint.  

Some closies.

 On the inside I used some Kaisercraft papers but I don't know which collection they are from.  The border punch is Martha Stewart's Doily Lace. 

 Found the little verse on the net, printed it onto some cream cardstock and cut it out with Couture Creations Victorian Square.  The sprig was cut from another Kaisercraft paper with Memory Box's Snowflake Sprig Die.

 I used Versa Color  'Olive' and 'Scarlet' for the stamping but don't actually know where the stamp is from.   I know it looks light and uneven but that was actually the look I was going for so I'm quite happy with it.

 The die cuts underneath the wreath are Couture Creations Crystal Star and Memory Box's Tiffany Frame.

I haven't finished all my Christmas cards as yet but I am getting there.  Luckily the overseas ones have already been posted so hopefully they will get to their destinations on time.  

Thank you so much for visiting, I know how busy everyone must be at this time of the year and I really appreciate you taking the time.

Take care and God Bless.

Marg oxox

My First Meg's Garden DT Project!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are having a wonderful day!!

I am super excited to share with you my very first DT project for Meg's Garden.

For this project I have created a card with some photo mat pages on the inside so that you could take some pictures of your Christmas celebrations and keep them in the actual card itself.

Using one of these types of cards each year, you could keep a record of Christmases through the years all in their own tiny little album.  You only need to take a few photos each time and the card wouldn't take up anywhere near as much room as a Mini Album.

I've used the Musical Christmas Collection paper pack for this card.  These papers are absolutely gorgeous and the paper pack is the perfect size for card making. 

On the front I have created a Christmas tree from some of the DP mixed with some red, white and green cardstock.  The idea for this tree actually came from one of my favourite card makers, Dorota.  She makes the most gorgeous cards.

 The tree is made using a triangle of paste board or chipboard as a base and then just layering different foliage die cuts until the base is filled.  I've also mixed in a bit of gauze here and there.  It was then lightly brushed with gold acrylic paint and I also glued on some gold crystals to serve as the lights.  The star at the top of the tree is from a sheet of gold stickers that have been in my stash for some time as are the stars  around the edge. 

The 'Noel' is part of the design on the paper. I've simply fussy cut the letters from another sheet, glued them onto some paste board and edged them with the same gold paint.

 There's not a lot of embellishment in this card simply because it would then have become too bulky and besides, these papers are pretty enough to stand on their own.  I've simply used some of Meg's beautiful lace ribbon on two of the pages and also placed a few of the gold stickers here and there.

Placed inside the main pockets are a couple of plain photo mats  which could also be used for journaling.  

  On the inside cover is a small tag which was stamped  with the sentiment, then gold embossed and another of the gold stickers was placed on the edge. 

 Two of the pages have corner pockets made out of a piece of clear acrylic that came from some pakaging  I had.  Cut them into heart shapes and placed a sticker on each of them.  They can be used to hold journaling cards or just as decoration on the edge of a photo.

Here is a close-up of one of these pockets ...

... and here is a closer view of the layers on the tree.

I had such a wonderful time creating with Meg's gorgeous papers and I am so thrilled to a part of this amazing Design Team.  Thank you so much Meg for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Meg's Garden products used:

A Musical Christmas Paper Pack.

1.6cm White Lace Ribbon

HERE is the link to the Meg's Garden Blog so you can check out the beautiful creations of the other Team Members and HERE is the link to the shop so you can check out all the marvelous products.

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope I have inspired you to create some Christmas goodies with Meg's Garden products for yourself.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg