Monday 16 September 2013

Frugal Christmas card

One of my newest followers, the lovely Nessa over at The Crafty Laydee, has set a little challenge, it runs until 29th September and there's a lovely prize to be won too.

The challenge is to make a Christmas card using goodies which are not Christmas-specific. What a fun idea, and I knew right away what I wanted to make as a particular die set here, Spellbinders Nested Lacey Pennants, has always screamed Christmas trees at me:
I used:

- 6" x 6" scalloped square white card blank

- the front of a black card blank which came with a silver double frame but the outer edge wasn't very well 'silvered' so I chopped it down to the inner silver frame

- Spellbinders Nested Lacey Pennant die and a snippet of white card. I then ran the die cut 'tree' shape through the Cuttlebug using my Quickutz 'Vines' embossing folder - which shows up much better in real life, sigh

- the little red pot for the tree was made by punching an oval from a snippet of red card using SU's 'Large Oval' punch and then cutting one end straight across

- you know all those 'almost used' little acetate sheets of small gems we all seem to have? I gathered all those together and found a surplus of red and clear crystal gems so I popped red ones onto the body of the 'tree' following the embossed 'vine' lines and then added clear ones round the outside

- and in a little box of sequins I even found a silver star shaped sequin for the top of the tree

Job done! I loved thinking outside the box rather than just grabbing Christmas stuff to use. Thank you Nessa for a fun challenge - and why don't you girls have a go?

You are allowed to add a 'real' Christmas sentiment if you wish, that's one thing it's OK to use that's specifically Christmas. I didn't add a sentiment as I quite like the clean and crisp look of my 'frugal tree' :)

Oooer, and I can also link this card into Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge where you have to hand cut, punch or die cut this week - and also Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra where it's always 'anything goes'.

Di
x

19 comments:

  1. Very pretty Christmas card! Great job with Nessa's challenge!

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  2. FAB-ulous tree Di ! And what a great idea-well done you!
    Thank you very much for taking part and for my Blog mention too- I really appreciate it :)
    Nessa xx

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  3. Looks grrrreat as Tony the Tiger used to say!!!
    Think I will have a snoop around my stuff and see if I can dream something up for this challenge! Oh gosh...think I have thought of something as I am typing...off to give it a go!

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  4. VERY clever - love the design.

    What a great imagination you have Di . . . I'm not very good at thinking outside the box . . . I have a very literal brain cell.

    Hugs
    Sarn xxx

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  5. Hi Di,
    what an ingenious idea!
    Very clever. xx

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  6. Ooh beautiful! Nice "out of the box" thinking on your part too!

    Hugs
    Brenda

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  7. Gorgeous card Di, love it.
    Hugs
    Caz x

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  8. ooh it's a great xmas tree, never saw it myself until now LOL!
    Linbyx

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  9. What a great challenge and what a great thought you had, brilliant card, love it.

    Kath x

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  10. Well clambering out of the box certainly worked here. Super. Off to have a nosey cos as you know I'm curfew free at the moment!!
    hugs Mrs A.
    p.s Ouch!! Hoo put that box there?

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  11. Ere, you never told me there wos butterflies involved miss !! Hugs Mrs a.

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  12. Brilliant tree Di, lovely CAS card, Cathy x

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  13. Hello!

    Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving the kind comments! I am a loyal follower of your Queen and the royals - and smiled at the reference to Martha's similarity in looks. :<) How lucky you are to know Mrs. A in real life - I wish I could join you! I visited London for a week staying in bed & breakfasts and then on to Paris where I lived with a family in St. Germaine for a few weeks - will remember it always.

    I have just finished a new set of dolls and will post soon. Wishing you a happy day!

    Hugs,

    Barbara Diane

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  14. AWESOME!! I LOVE this Christmas tree ... such a great way to use your pennant die. Love the rhinestone decorations too. Loll xx

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  15. I like the idea of making a Christmas card with something that isn't holiday specific. You get some real creative outcomes that way.

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  16. Very clean & uncluttered, yet still such a pretty tree. Loved reading how you got from the pennants to the tree. You clever Pixie, you. Also liked that you were able to salvage your silver-y bit as well. This is elegant & sparkly and very frugal. (yes, we card folks are quite frugal, are we not? With all the goodies we must have...yeah, that's definitely frugal!NOT). LOL,TFS & Hugs too.

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  17. Clever idea, Di - love it - thanks for another entry for both CHNC challenges - might even see you again this week (it's still early!) x

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This is a public blog. Those leaving a comment on any post on this blog or entering a piece of artwork into a linky do so in the knowledge that their name and blog link are visible to all who visit this blog and in so doing have published their own personal details and consented to my use of that personal information should they be selected as a winner or to accredit work.