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

A Birthday Card and some Happy News!!!

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

I have another card to share with you but first I'd like to anounce that I WON one of the fabulous prizes in the Pion Design giveaway!!!!!!!  Their latest paper collection is on it's way to me as I write this!!!  I am so excited and cannot wait to receive them and start creating!!  Thank you so much Pion Design!!  If you'd like to check out their blog you can find it HERE.

Now that the excitement has died down (well, mine anyway! hehe), here is my card.

My oldest son celebrated his Birthday last week and this is the card I made for him.

 The base is black cardstock and the papers are from Kaisercraft's Attitude and Base Coat Range.

The design is based on Astrid Mclean's Booklet Tag Card.   I love the style of this card (you've probably noticed I've used it quite often) especially for male cards.  Not sure exactly why but I guess it just suits my 'masculine' style a bit better.

 The stamps I've used are BoBunny's Stained Textures.  The cracked paint and the paint splatters were done with Walnut Stain Distress Ink through templates from ScrapBook n Craft. 

The chipboard clock and the Cog Border are also from Scrapbook n Craft.  The single cog pieces are from Imaginarium.  All of the chippies were coloured with Versa Magic 'Midnight Black', Versa Color  in 'Silver', 'Bronze' and 'Lapislazuli' and Kaisercraft 'Red Gum'.

 The front of the card was decorated with some plaster tape (which is available from any Hardware Store) some of the 'Base Coat' paper cut into strips to resemble wood planks (an idea I 'lifted' from Adriana Bolzon .. you can find her blog and her wonderful creations HERE) and a piece of brick wall, a printable clock, a corrugated tag, some chippies from Imaginarium and even a metal washer.  I also wrapped a piece of Crafter's Cord around it and added a couple of brads as well.

A close-up to show the colouring on the chippies.

Sorry guys, didn't realise this post would be so long but, there it is.  My oldest son's Birthday Card.  Happy to say it was very well received.  Hope you liked it too.

Thank you so much for visiting and a huge thank you to all you lovely people who leave me such warm and encouraging comments.  I really, really appreciate them very much.  

I'd also like to wish all my American visitors a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Please take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Birthday Easel Card

Hello everyone.  A warm welcome to  my blog ... so pleased you are here.

Hope you are having a great day and that the weather wherever you are is exactly how you like it!!

I'm sharing an Easel Card with you today.   It is my daughter-in-law Kerry-Jean Watson's birthday today and this is the card I've made for her.  Actually it's a bit like taking coal to Newcastle, making cards for Kerry-Jean, simply because she makes cards as well, and really gorgeous ones too.   You can check out her blog HERE.

The base is black cardstock and the papers are a 12 x 12 sheet from Kaisercraft's Sweet Nothings and another 12 x 12 from their These Days Collection.
The base paper on the front was cut on the diagonal and border punched with Martha Stewart's Doily Lace Punch.
Here is how it looks standing up.

I needed an embellishment in the top left corner of the card as it looked a little empty when closed.  Tried a lot of different things but nothing was quite right.  I'm sure you all know how that goes, right?  It's a pain!!  You sort of know what you want but nothing works, until I paid a visit to Heather Jacob's Blog and, surprise! surprise!, found just what I was looking for.   On her last layout, at the top of the page,  she used a lovely little tag and button and voila!! that little light went on in my brain ...  just what I want for this card!  Her tag is prettier than mine but I'm really happy with this,  it was perfect!  Thank you again Heather, I always know where to go for inspiration.  You can check out Heather's blog HERE.
The gorgeous acetate butterfly is from Designs-Galore which can be purchased at Meg's Garden.com.   You should check out the store, lots of yummy goodies to be found there.  HERE is the link.

The chipboard gate is from Twiddleybits and has been coloured with Versa Color Lapislazuli and Kaisercraft Red Gum.  The small rose is also from Kaisercraft but I'm not sure where the bud is from,  that has been in my stash for a while.  The leaves were cut with my Silhouette Portrait and inked with Versa Color Emerald Green.

The large flowers are from Prima  and I've just added some netting, some stamens and a couple of wire twists to the cluster.

The inside was covered with the same papers.  The greeting and the sentiment were printed on  my computer and then the shapes cut out around them.   I edged the Happy Birthday tag with Adirondack's Gold Acrylic Paint dabber  but I used a brush to apply it.

The wooden flourish is Kaisercraft's Fancy Border and it's been coloured with Versa Color Lapislazuli and Bronze and also Kaisercraft's Red Gum.

You know, the best part about making your own cards is the look on people's faces when they first see what you've made for them.  I'm really happy that Kerry-Jean was pleased with this one.

Thank you so much for visiting, I do hope to see you back again.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

An Anniversary Card with a Difference ...

Hello there everyone ... welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a great day.

I've been away for a little while and, strangely enough, I'm having trouble getting back into the swing of things, but I would like to share a card with you.  

My son and his wife celebrated their 20th Wedding Anniversary last week and this is the card I made for them.

 As you can see by the title of this post this is a card with a difference and that difference is that it is almost a Mini Album.  I decided to put a few photo mats inside so they could take some photos of their celebrations and use the card as a keepsake.  

 It also has a few journaling cards in there as well.

The papers used are a mix from Kaisercraft's 6 x 6 Curiosity Paper Pad and also some 12 x 12 pages from their Vintage Timeless Collection.  I have also included some stickers and tags from G45's Romantique Collection.  All the papers were distressed around the edges and then inked with Walnut Stain Distress Inks.

Made some quarter circle pockets and edged them with a strips of pearls and also did a little stamping with a Kaisercraft Stamp.

The small bling hearts are actually from Office Works!!

 Made two pocket pages and two photo mats and also added a few butterfly strips from G45.

The sentiment was printed on a sheet of paper from Kaisercraft but I'm not sure which collection it is from.  I  then cut the tag shape out on my Cuttle Bug, embossed the edge and painted that with gold.

Here is a close-up of the flower cluster on the front.   The large flower is from Prima and the small roses are from Kaisercraft.  Added some gauze and a few stamens too.

  I also added a few strips of music washi tape.

For the closure I simply cut the shape out of cardstock by hand added the extra layers with the greeting and glued it down to the front at one end.  I've  used a small piece of velcro to keep the card closed ...
and there you have it.  Not just a card, not really a Mini Album but, rather a mix of both.

Thank you so much for visiting and I would love it if you would take the time to leave a little comment to let me know what you think.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg