Rudolph Days - January 2020

I came so close to missing entering January's Rudolph Days challenge over at ScrappyMo's. Am squeaking in at the last minute with this card I made yesterday afternoon:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank, side opening

- piece of white card, die cut using Lil'Inker's 'Stitched Rectangle' set of dies

- Memory Box 'Snowflake Marquee' die, to die cut the centre of the stitched panel

- snippet of gloriously glittery (non-shed) silver card just over slightly larger than the white panel, onto which I glued the die cut white panel with two edges (top and one side) the width I wanted the end result to be

- then trimmed the other two edges (bottom and the other side) to match. The reason I did this proved to be a right decision. I was unsure how much 'wiggling' I'd be able to do when gluing together plain card and a rougher glittered card - answer proved to be zero. So at least I had two edges exactly lined up as I wanted them to be and the additional trimming worked a treat

- at this point I'd intended to heat emboss a silver sentiment - but a little rummage turned up some small silver Merry Christmas peel offs so used those instead, mostly for speed

- then glued the whole panel onto the front of the card and left it at that - clean, and hopefully elegant

I bought this die long before Christmas but this is its first outing. You can also use the 'waste' pieces from the die cut to make a design, also with a gap for the sentiment. Most images of cards I've subsequently looked at on the internet seem to favour this - but I'm more than happy with this way of using the die by cutting into a panel of card and backing it with a contrast. Largely as at least the design is placed totally evenly and level! And our Darnell did the same with a similar card recently so if it's good enough for her then it's good enough for me :)

Given a little bit of time, this would be great for 'batch baking' a few cards all the same but let's be thankful I even managed to make the one!

On the subject of Lil'Inkers - sad to say that Laura is closing the business down. She's had a huge sale running, but stocks are so low it's probably too late to grab a bargain. Many thanks to a sweet friend who gave me the heads up though.

Batch baking Christmas cards

I realised that my target of 12 Christmas cards per month might not be hit in August, so had a little bit of a batch baking session. I made six cards, three of each colourway:

I used:

- 4" x 5.5" white card blanks

- pearlescent white 'Centura' card, deep red satin mirri card and gold mirri card for the candles and entwining ribbon - die cut using a Memory Box 'Tall Taper Candle' die (having backed the card with Stick-It adhesive sheet

- plain white card onto which I layered and pieced the candle and entwining ribbon

- deep red satin mirri card and gold mirri card to back the image layer

- layered everything up using Collall All Purpose glue

- to finish off I added a gold peel off sentiment, at that point after what seemed like hours of work, no way was I gonna risk stamping and embossing in gold!

After uploading the photo I noticed that although the 'entwined ribbon' on the left card is gold all the way, the reddish hue in the bottom part of the gold mirri is the reflection of the top I was wearing when I took the photo! Apart from setting up the camera, running out of the room and taking photos remotely it's just something I have to live with I suspect - unless anyone has any easy solutions? Anyone suggesting 'Don't use shiny mirri card' will be immediately sent to stand on the naughty step!! ;)

And, although I do love this die, so much so that I gave one away as a Playground prize back in August last year, there's definitely a knack to using it if you want to fill in the candle and ribbon with die cut pieces. I think it looks really elegant with just the outline, but this time round wanted to experiment a bit.

I've found the same problem it with some other dies too - if you're not careful when assembling the die outline and 'filling in' pieces, the outline could be slightly distorted which ends up causing problems with unwanted overlapping or even gaps.

My way round this was to cut all the pieces I wanted to use, sort out what was what and line them up in little rows. Then, I carefully peeled off about a third of the protective backing from the adhesive which was on the die cut outline, starting from the bottom - and stuck that bottom third onto the card panel I was using. That gave me something of a starting point for the bottom half of the candle and two of the ribbon twists. Then it was just a case of carefully working up the length of the outline, peeling off about a third of the backing again, gently applying the outline and adding in the inserts - and the same for the top third.

By doing the process in stages (OK, so it takes a little bit longer but so worth it!) you're applying the framework of the image bit by bit rather than in one fell swoop where there's much more chance of distortion. Ask me how I know this :)

I just KNEW I'd read thoughts about using this die elsewhere, and just found it over at Cathy's blog. Her solution would work wonderfully well too - especially if you're gluing the pieces in place rather than using the sticky adhesive backing.

I'd like to enter these cards into Rudolph Day for August over at ScrappyMo's, where it's always 'anything goes'.

And of course, I deliberately used gold on the cards so I could play along over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge this week (use some gold) - and I'm also entering into Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for August, where it's also always 'anything goes'.

Di
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Less is More - More Than One Tree

The current challenge over at Less is More is 'More Than One Tree', and over at Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge it's 'Go Green'- either colours or upcycling (I went for colours). And this card is also for Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra for November, which is always 'Anything Goes':

I used:

- 5" x 5" square white card blank

- Memory Box die called 'Pine Border Outline, and snippets of gold mirri card (already backed with Stick-It self adhesive sheet) run through the Cuttlebug

- the same die once again and three different snippets of green card, also already backed with Stick-It self adhesive sheet then run through the Cuttlebug

- the next part was really like doing a jigsaw, just mixing the greens and popping them into the spaces in the gold die cut which was adhered to the card first of course, some of those tiny pieces were mighty fiddly! Of course, as there are three greens I managed to make three cards in total just by swopping the different shades around

- then I fell back on something I very rarely use - peel offs - for the sentiment and also the gold outline star

- after all these years since I began using peel offs, it wasn't until yesterday I worked out such an easy way to handle them. Normally I'd just peel them of the backing sheet and an intricate sentiment would often end up a bit distorted, no matter how long I allowed it to 'relax back into shape'. But this time I gently eased the bottom of the sentiment from the backing sheet by sort of rolling it away whilst supporting it along the length of a long pokey tool before just easing the whole sentiment away - works a treat! A fine knitting needle would be an alternative to use

When setting up to make these cards I got carried away and now have, sat sitting on my desk, the makings of a further three cards. It depends just how much self-punishment I feel up to though!

Di
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