Let it Snow!

Hey!

It's Bev here today. I can't believe I have done two months of DT posts here and that we are less than a month away till the BIG day! Who else is on full on Christmas mode? Mild panic is starting to set in with all the cards I still need to make and all the other Christmas creativity ;)

So, I'm back today with some more Christmas cards to share with you. You've probably got to know me a little by now and some of my favourite things. 

Snowflakes! I love snow flakes and all things snow. They make me so happy and inspire me to create, especially when I feel under pressure or my mojo is lacking a little. Do you have a theme or something that inspires you?

For my snowflake duo I used Flora & Fauna Mini Snowflakes, this cute set is a bargain at £3.95 and my favourite Altenew ink colour collection, Sweet Dreams. 

For this first card I wanted to replicate a snowflake flurry and used the three lightest shade of inks to stamp the snowflakes. The sentiment is from another of my current favourite sentiment stamp sets, Concord & 9th Mistletoe Messages.

You can just about see that I added a little detail to the snowflakes using a white gel pen. It wasn't particularly necessary, but I was inspired to do it! 

For my second card I was inspired by the current sketch over at CAS Colours & Sketches seen HERE and below.

This time I used all the stamps from the Flora & Fauna Mini Snowflakes clear stamp set, even the cute little 'let it snow' sentiment.

As I already had the colours out on my desk, it seemed practical to use them again on this second card. I used some foam adhesive to raise the sentiment panel up and create more of a focal point.

That's all I have to share with you today. I hope I have given you a little more inspiration with your Christmas card making. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends & those who celebrate.

Have a wonderful day & see you back here next week!

Crafty Hugs 

Bev

Ho, Ho, Ho - Merry Christmas!

Hey!

It's Bev here today. I am really getting into the Christmas spirit now and I have a trio of Christmas cards to share with you using the recently released Winter Stencil Strips from MFT.

I didn't think I would really get into using stencils, but they are really good fun and there are so many techniques you can use them with. Plus they are really good value too, especially this one at £5.50 and a choice of 4 designs in one!

For my first card today, I couldn't wait to try out the MFT Merry Christmas Blend stamp and give it a rainbow look! 

Choosing to stamp it in a rainbow of colours was quite time consuming and required some masking while inking up. But with the use of a stamping tool it was pretty easy and straight forward. I used Altenew inks in Ruby Red, Orange Cream, Fresh Lemon, Parrot, Ultramarine, Azurite & Ultraviolet.

After I had stamped the sentiment, I went and added the snowflake stencil in Altenew Silver Lake ink and added some sparkly liquid adhesive to the snowflake centres. With the stencil having four designs in one, you need to use a scrap piece of paper to mask the designs off that you don't want to ink!

Next I used the same snowflake design to create a lovely background using Altenew Dew Drop ink.

I added gloss white liquid adhesive to the snowflake centres and this time finished the design with a trio of snowflakes and the 'Let it Snow' banner sentiment from Concord & 9th Mistletoe Messages Stamp Set.

The sentiment and snowflakes are adhered to the card using foam adhesive so that they stand out from the background. I used Altenew Aqualicious and Teal Cave ink colours.

Lastly for today I have a super quick clean and simple card using the HO, HO, HO design on the stencil.

I used Altenew Ruby Red ink for the stencilling and I added the 'Believe' sentiment, also from Concord & 9th Mistletoe Messages stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink onto a scrap of white card & adhered using foam adhesive.

So much fun with one stencil and a couple of stamp sets. I hope I have inspired your Christmas card making a little. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Bev 

Altenew Ink colours used can be found HERE in the Seven Hills Crafts Store and all the colour families I have used are currently in stock :)

Lapis Lazuli 

Enchanted Garden

Gentlemans Gray

Sweet Dreams

Pocketful of Sunshine

Tropical Forest

Warm & Cozy

Red Cosmos

Rainbow Wreath

Hey & Happy Thursday!

It's Bev here and today I have something a little bit different to share with you. I don't know about you, but I am always finding creative inspiration on Instagram lately. Recently I saw a beautiful rainbow wreath made from die cuts and it's been on my 'to make' list ever since!

I've also been having a 'treat yo'self' week and ordered lots of new crafting supplies, including the Winter Greenery dies from the recent WPlus9 release. These are designed to match the coordinating stamp set Winter Greenery, but I have just used the leaf sprig die seen on the right of the product image below.

I set to choosing a rainbow of coloured card offcuts from my stash and set to die cutting three of each colour and I have 15 colours as I just love colour and couldn't leave any of my favourites out! 

For the base of the wreath to secure the die cuts to, I used the Wreath Base available from the store and seen below. It is a jute wrapped wire ring and is perfect for adhering card, paper, felt and more.

Before I started adhering the die cut leaves, I added some linen thread to be able to hang the wreath once it was finished. I then started by adding one of each of the colours of leaf to the base using liquid adhesive, similar to this Lawn Fawn Glue Tube.

After adhering one of each colour I went back adding another of each colour, until I had used all three leaves of each colour.

I procrastinated for some time as to how to finish off the wreath and finally settled on the 'With Love' sentiment banner from Concord & 9th Mistletoe Messages stamp set. I've adhered this to the wreath using foam adhesive. 

I also added some adhesive crystals randomly around the wreath for a little added sparkle and interest. I think in all this took me about 3 hours to make from start to finish and it was thoroughly enjoyable. 

I am now thinking of trying a stamped & die cut rainbow version! The leaves in the stamp set are 2 step, so you could really play around with colour layering. I will be sure to share if I do get round to making it.

That's all from me today. I hope you have enjoyed seeing my project as much as I enjoyed making it! Until next time, thanks so much for stopping by.

Crafty Hugs

Bev