Wednesday 25 November 2020

'We'll be gnome for Christmas'

That's one of the 'punny' sentiments in a NBUS set of stamps and dies that I cracked open to make six of these cards a couple of weeks ago, before the shoulder incident:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- layer of SU 'Real Red' card, cut to an eighth of an inch smaller all round than the card blank and glued to the card front

- a 'scenic' background, one eighth of an inch smaller all round - trimmed down from a KanBan scene in the 'Christmas Wobblers' pack of pre-printed backgrounds and glued on top of the red layer

- the little gnomes were bought from Amazon ages ago - mostly as it was the first time I'd seen a little lady gnome stamp quite like this one. Stamped using the Misti and Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink

- coloured the two gnomes using Pro markers

- then came time to die cut them and my asses ears went up! The set of matching dies only has dies for the two other gnomes, which I'd decided against using (as well dies for a toadstool house, signpost and circle for the 'pom pom')!!

- so I had to set to and fussy cut them using small scissors - whilst quietly grumbling to myself then glued the two gnomes in place. Discovered I was one male gnome short and everything had been packed away (so one card in the set of six has just a little lady gnome and a slightly different layout)

- by this time I was VERY just a tad fed up so I skipped using any of the sentiments from the stamp set and dug out a Craftwork cards 'white on black pre-printed' circular sentiment which I snipped the little retaining 'pips' from and then ran a black Whispers pen around the edge to cover the white edge core at the edge

- glued the sentiment onto a background of more 'Real Red' card (punched using a one and a quarter inch SU circle punch) which was then added to the right hand top corner of the card using thin sticky pad snippets

- final touch was to use a SU 'Itty Bitty' round punch to punch out white pompoms rather than use the little die in the set of dies. Then add Stampendous 'Fuzzy Fun Flock' by covering with glue from a glue pen and patting the fun flock onto the pompom

- glued the pompoms in place using Glossy Accents and breathed a sigh of relief

I now have a really uneasy feeling that the dies themselves might have been a starting point for the set of stamps (gulp, hopefully not copyright theft?) and the manufacturer (in China) added the two very cute stamps I used - but didn't design and manufacture extra two dies for those stamps. The set was very cheap, despite a bit of a wait, and it's fun to use although, that'll teach me not to do enough homework before ordering and then using goodies!

The background is seriously chopped down from the original 6" x 9" one. But I knew this when I ordered them - some of them come with really quite childish looking parcels in the snow - as my background did. So that got chopped off straight away and then I nibbled away with the trimmer until I was happy with a final, fairly simple, background. The pack has 36 backgrounds in (6 each of 6 designs) and to be honest saves such a lot of time and effort when you're at the middle of November knowing you just can't make many more cards.

As this is a first outing for a few things (the KanBan backgrounds, the stamps and dies as well as the Fuzzy Fun Flock) I'm adding this into our lovely Darnell's NBUS Challenge #20 HERE.

And of course, I'm adding it into ScrappyMo's Rudolph Days Challenge for November!



23 comments:

  1. Soooo cute! Sound like it caused you a headache to make - worth it though! I hope your shoulder is still getting better - please be careful my friend. Take care and stay safe! Hugs xxxxxxx

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  2. Super card despite your little problems with the stamps and dies. I've never seen the lady gnome but I do recognise her partner. From your description it sounds very much like a freebie set of stamps I had with a magazine (couple of years ago) but which only had the die for a gnome and tiny ones for hands and a parcel, not one for the toadstool house. There were two male gnome stamps in the set.

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  3. A gorgeous card Di, despite the frustration and oops... and a lovely background
    Stay safe
    Blessings
    Maxine

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  4. Happy Rudolph Day!

    This is such a fun Christmas card. Sorry to hear the woes with your purchase . . . but you have made a great card without the dies for these 2 gnomes! LOVE my itty bitty circle punch . . . SOOOO useful . . . and a lifesaver for this card.

    Hugs, Sarn xxx

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  5. Cute gnomes, like you never seen a lady one. Your card is fab.
    L x

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  6. Ooh super cute card Di l love your gnomes they are just so adorable love the background too great card as always x

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  7. Hi Di this is a fantastic card. Those gnomes are just so sweet. Take care. Hugs Jackie

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  8. Gnomes are very 'in' this year and I think these are cute.I sometimes think shapes like these are easier to cut by hand than to try and match to a die. I like the backgrounds and am all for keeping things as simple as possible for Christmas cards. We make so many of them. Kate x

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  9. Cute card - and very fortunate that you made a bunch in advance! Hope your healing is going well.

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  10. Such a cute card. And won't a lot of us be stuck at "gnome" for Christmas. When life hands you lemons----great job overcoming the obstacles. As I am in USA, I will wish you a Happy Thanksgiving .

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  11. OH! Di this and the others I'm sure are just as fabulous, a great background and I LOVE the gnomes. Hope your shoulder is recovering well.
    Faith x

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  12. Hi Di,
    Happy Rudolf Days.
    Oh you do make me laugh so at the antics you get up too when making cards but then I suppose we all do but don't think about how we are grumbling to ourselves.
    Lovee those cute gnomes and yes very unusual to see a lady one.
    You have coloured and fussy cut them out perfectly as well.
    They look brilliant with that Kan Ban background too.
    Thank you for joining the Rudolf Challenge.
    Lots of crafty love. jenny L.

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  13. A super card Di, really super background and great images (very popular this year). Love the plats.

    Kath x

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  14. Such cute gnomes Di and love the wintery trees dp which goes beautifully, and the sentiment backed with red coordinates perfectly. x

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  15. So adorable, Di. Great choice of background.
    I’m just starting to see the fascination with gnomes and just got my first set. Now I need to use it. 😂

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  16. Love your cute gnomes and the wintry background xxx

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  17. What a happy feeling this gorgeous christmas card gives Di, I love it.

    Sue xx

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  18. Lovely card with the fun gnomes! I have a very similar to the masculine one, a freebie with a magazine.
    Hope you feel better now!
    Hugs

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  19. Lovely card Di, love Mr. and Mrs Gnome, fabulous design, Kate x

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  20. Your card is so cute, Di. The little gnomes are adorable, well worth the fussy cutting. xx

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  21. well these sweet gnomes are very decked out for the holidays, Di. and you must have a lot of patience to add flocking to those tiny circles! I would've glued on a pom pom. :) thank you so much for sharing with the last 2020 Rudolph Days Challenge.
    Linda,
    Rudolph Days DT

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