Christmas - tags

Tags are always fun for Christmas!! Here I have teamed them up with a little bit of ribbon and some snowflake punchies!! The background paper is decorative paper - light blue and white - which has been colour printed with an all over pattern of snowflakes!! I also added stitching with a white gel pen. The snowflakes are a font (WWflakes) which I cut and pasted one at a time, duplicated, coloured and resized to create this all over pattern. The embossed greeting has been cut from cardstock embossed with the greeting embossing folder from CraftsToo from Ecstasy crafts!!

Therese

Christmas cards - Queen Anne's lace

I love the look of pressed Queen Anne's lace for Christmas!! These surely are the snowflakes of summer and once pressed can present your holiday greetings most elegantly!! I created this card so the central scalloped element can be removed and used as an ornament on a tree!!
The main element features an ivory scallop (Nestibilities), a pressed flower attached with a single glue dot in the center and a clear scallop, cut from packaging, that protects the flower. I have attached the clear scallop using a small piece of double sided tape beneath the hanger (green crochet thread) which securely attached the two scallops. I punched a 1/16" hole at the top of the card to pass the hanger to the inside of the card where it is attached with invisible tape. This will allow easy removable once it has arrived at its destination. The two snowflake punchies (MS) help to keep the scallop ornament situated on the card and provide a link to the colour printed greeting. The background is gift wrap that has been stamped with an all over snowflake pattern.

So consider using pressed botanicals in your Christmas greetings - small cedar branches, small ferns to simulate Christmas trees or small red oval shaped leaves (euonymus or contoneaster) to create poinsettias!! They are really great combined with handmade paper!!

Therese

Christmas cards - Shimmer and Glitz

The main feature of this card is the shimmery fabric!! It is similar to vellum when it comes to attaching it - you have to do it discreetly so the adhesive does not show through. In this case, I used some double sided tape behind the greeting and several tiny pieces behind the snowflakes which pretty much disappeared once they were well burnished from the front. The ribbon which is attached to the inside of the card front fortunately keeps the left hand side of the fabric secure and the brad through the fiber snowflake on the right mechanically adheres the fabric to the card. I used shimmer paint on the cardstock before I embossed the greeting with a little embossing folder!!

The shimmery fabric is often featured as a gift wrap at this time of the year and I have purchased it with several different designs including snowmen and script holiday greetings!! Follow this link for information on making your own shimmer paper using supplies you probably have at home!!

Therese

Christmas cards - batik snowmen

These cards are part of ones I created for the girls that requested kits for my last class!! Wax resist - I am still on that kick!! I used the embossing folder (crafts too - Ecstasy crafts) open, placed the paper on the "bumps" and rubbed on clear wax to which I later applied a wash of watercolour!! Once dry, you just have to wipe the waxed areas to remove any colour which really makes the image pop. Because this image takes up so much of the card front I chose to add a simple colour printed greeting at the top. I mounted the greeting with a small piece of 3D foam tape in the middle, punched holes through all the layers on either end and inserted the ribbon, wrapped it around the card and tied the ends in a double knot on the front. Quick and easy and can be made up in a wide variety of colours!!

Therese