Christmas Magic (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have some Christmas projects for you today, using the lovely selection of seasonal stamps currently on offer.

My first card uses stamps from the Snowy Scenes/Turtle Doves multibuy stamped onto green paper using white embossing powder. I added tiny red gems to the tree and snowflakes for a little bit of Christmas bling. To complete the background, I added a stamp from the Nature Fragments stamp set, stamped in dark green ink. I also stamped a sentiment from the Christmas Magic clear stamp set in the same colour onto a piece of scrap paper. I edged all of the pieces of paper with green ink and then matted them onto dark green card before assembling my project.

My second card was created by stamping a large ornate pear from the Pears and Baubles stamp set onto my background using brown ink. I coloured the pears using a mixture of green and yellow coloured water based marker pens and a waterbrush. I filled in the background between using a blue marker pen and a waterbrush. The main image was stamped onto a die cut piece of card using gold embossing powder, and coloured in with the marker pens in the same way. I edged the background with toning blue ink. I added a large flourish from the Butterfly Dreams stamp set, using gold embossing powder.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

A Snowy Scene and a Fragment Flower (posted by Claire)

Good morning, Claire here with a couple of samples to share. I always look forward to the release of the new Christmas stamps and this years stamps are gorgeous. I've used the gorgeous snowy cottage from Snowy Scenes as the focal image from this card

The background was made using some of the new snowflake stamps and the Christmas Magic clear stamp collection. I stamped and embossed the sentiment with silver embossing powder. Next I  stamped the snowflakes using Distress Ink in Iced Spruce and lightly distressed the edges of the card before matting on grey card. I stamped the image with the same ink and used a waterbrush to add some shading. Next I used a zig glue pen and clear glitter to add some sparkly snow. I die cut the image with a spellbinders die and layered it up over another die cut adding some silver gilding wax to highlight the embossing. I added a de cut poinsettia and a holly vine to finish off.

My second sample today was made using Tangled Fragments. As soon as I saw this stamp I had the idea to use it as a flower head.

I began by stamping the fragment in versamark on some card that I'd covered with some Ranger Tissue Wrap. I embossed with Gold embossing powder and added some colour with a red Graph'It marker.

 I stamped in the stem using a stamp from Diamante Delights and added some black seam binding ribbon. To finish off I added a couple of crystal buttons topped with little twine bows.

Thanks for visiting today

Claire xx

Snowy Christmas in July (by Shirley)

Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well and ready to see some Christmas designs during the hot months of summer :)   At least it's hot where I live in Ontario, Canada which feels great after our long cold and snowy winter. 

I like to get started on Christmas cards early and as soon as I saw the Harlequin Fragments I thought they were a great match with Harlequin Christmas.

The background was created by blending Festive Berries and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks. I stamped the fragment from Harlequin Fragments with Festive Berries DI.  I stamped the bubble edge from Decorative Edges with Seedless Preserves DI and I coloured them with a white gel pen.

The Harlequin ornament and sentiment from Warm Christmas Greetings were stamped with Cobalt Archival ink.  I coloured the ornament with Dylusions inks and cut it out to attach over the background. 

I was very happy to see the two new Christmas sets, Snowy Scenes and Turtle Doves.  Both sets are full of beautiful smaller designs which have been great fun to use while getting a good start on Christmas cards. 

The background above was created a while ago and sitting in my stash.  It looks like I used Turquoise Dylusions inks (possibly a 'mop up' sheet) which I stamped with Big Bold Background Snowflake Shadow and coloured the snowflakes a little with a Tombow marker.   I stamped the Snowy Scene with Colbalt Archival ink, coloured with Prisma pencils and die cut with an ornament.   I was inspired by a design former DT member Elaine created a year & half ago using the same die.  As soon as I saw the little scenes in the set, it came to my mind to use my die for the first time.   Let it Snow is a clear stamp available on it's own or part of the Big Bold Christmas Words clear set.


I have one more card using the same little Snowy Scene image:

The background above was created with Lime and Green Dylusions inks.   I over stamped a little snowflake from the Snowy Scenes set and used TCW Starfall stencil with Distress Ink and TCW Circle Explosion stencil with Viva  Mother of Pearl light blue molding cream which has a silver hue.  I coloured the main image with Prisma pencils and added lots of glitter to the snow.   

Thanks for your visit and have a great day!
Shirley

Christmas in July (by Asha)

Hello, fellow crafters. Have you seen the new Christmas stamps? They are delightfully magical! I had a play with the Snowy Scenes A5 sheet and produced this little number:

I created the background by first stamping the snowflakes and heat embossing them in white. Next I worked on the night sky by blending several shades of blue and puple Distress Inks. For a touch of sparkle added pale purple bling in the centre of the larger flakes. For the ground I blended a couple of neutral shades of Distress Inks.  That wonderful sentiment is from the new Christmas Magic clear stamp sheet.

Here's a close-up of the lovely image from the Snowy Scenes A5 sheet. I coloured the church with alcohol markers and carefully cut it out from it's original scene. Then I adhered it to the background I had prepared and finished the card with a few red bling on the tree.

Thank you for stopping by today. Make sure you drop in regularly to see more inspirational work from the rest of the Design Team.

Beijinhos,
Asha

Christmas Birds (posted by Judith)

Hi Folks, I have a couple of Christmas samples for you today, using stamps from our Snowy Scenes/Turtle Doves multi-buy offer. Generally, I like to work with bigger cards, but I found myself making some cute 6" x 6" cards with the lovely images.

My first card was created by stamping the owl image down the side of the card, and extending the tree trunk to the bottom of the card with a black pen. I masked over the image, by stamping onto masking paper, and then stamped a tree image from Reindeer Landscape onto the background twice. The sentiment comes from the same set.

I embossed some snowflakes from the multibuy set onto the background using white embossing powder, and then coloured the background, using Distress Inks. I removed the mask from the owl image, and coloured it with pencils. I added a little bit of glitter glue to the hills, and once this was dry, I attached some organza ribbon before I matted the background to some black card.

My second card was created by sponging a piece of white card with green ink, and then stamping around the edges with the end of the swirly bird and pear image, using the same colour green ink. This gives a subtle tone on tone effect. I die cut a pear image from a piece of old book paper, and coloured this with green and orange inks, before sticking it to my background.

I stamped the bird and pear image in black ink over the die cut pear. I stamped the image again onto a piece of white card, and coloured it with pencils, cutting out the bird, leaves and pears. I decoupaged these onto the die cut pear. I added a sentiment from the Pears and Baubles stamp set.

 

Keep checking back for some lovely samples from my team mates using these stamps. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Introducing Snowy Scenes, Turtle Doves and Christmas Magic

Hello everyone, I hope that you have been enjoying the warmer temperatures recently. In the crafting diary, our thoughts are turning towards Christmas at this time of year. So I would like to introduce the first of our 2014 Christmas stamps to you. These are a wonderful addition to our Christmas collection as stand alone stamps, or to mix and match with our existing stamp range. There are a mix of both modern and vintage images on the stamp plates.

We have two A5 stamp sets, the first of which is called Snowy Scenes:

The second is called Turtle Doves:

Both sets are available at an introductory price, but as usual you can save even more money by taking advantage of our multi-buy offer.

We also have Christmas Magic, one of our expanding collection of clear stamp sets. These words will make a very useful addition to your Christmas card making or for gift tags  The set is also available at an introductory price.

Introductory prices are available on all 3 sets until 31st August 2014.

My sample uses stamps taken from the Turtle Doves stamp set. I used one of the corner branch stamps to create a wreath by stamping repeatedly in a ring onto a white card, using green ink. I coloured the berries using a Distress Marker and a waterbrush. I embossed the two turtle doves using gold embossing powder, and coloured those in the same way. The sentiment comes from the Christmas Magic clear stamp set.

There will be some fabulous inspiration from my Design Team mates using these lovely stamps coming very soon.

Judith