Polar party Christmas …

The tiny snowflakes from the serene snowflakes set has got to be one of my favourite Christmas stamps from Stampin’ Up!  I am so sad that this set is retiring – will totally miss it!

I teamed the snowflakes with the polar party stamp set to make these Christmas cards and gift bag, with a little dazzling diamonds and adhesive rhinestones for added Christmas sparkle.

Here’s what you need to make today’s projects – all supplies from Stampin’ Up!

cardstock: pretty in pink, bashful blue, whisper white; stamp sets: polar party, serene snowflakes; ink: bashful blue, pretty in pink, black stazon; punches: scallop circle, circle; accessories: dazzling diamonds, two-way glue pen, adhesive rhinestones, pretty in pink dsp, pretty in pink taffeta ribbon, stampin’ dimensionals, tombow multi purpose glue, blender pen, stamp-a-majig.

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Christmas in July …

Well – it’s never too early to start, as they say!

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The gorgeous everyday enchantment designer series paper is still available until the end of July – just a few more short days.

It is so lush and so versatile and the colours are just perfect for any occasion – including Christmas!

When my friends came round the other night, we made 3 Christmas projects …

I love the colours on this card –

real red and lucky limeade go so well together …

I wrapped a length of organdy ribbon around the card, and tied in a neat bow.  This ribbon is so pretty and is absolutely FREE with a £45 spend during July – don’t you love freebies?!

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Then we made a square acetate card … (not so easy to photograph).

Love the snow flurry on the acetate – so pretty in real life and certainly had the wow factor.

You can see the snowflakes a little better on the photo below …

We added more of the very pretty ribbon, and a few of the tiniest adhesive pearls to the bauble …

… do you recognise the sentiments yet ?

The sentiments on both cards come from the jolly jingles jumbo wheel which I’ve cut up into separate stamps - there’s a free tutorial showing how to do this on my blog here.

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To go with the cards, we made a matching pillow box and gift tag.

We used the triple treat flower to make the poinsettias -  stamped, punched out and adhered together, with a little dimension added by curling the petals and leaves with a bone folder.

More of that pretty ribbon attached the gift tag to the pillow box.  The ribbon is just the right size for tags, and ties in perfect tiny bows – cute!

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We also learned how to make envelopes of any size using the simply scored scoreboard – no measurements to remember!  Never be lost for an envelope for your projects again!

And here’s all 3 projects together in a different colourway…

I loved taking non-Christmas stamps and paper and turning them into festive fun!

Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Cardstock: real red, whisper white, lucky limeade; Inks: lucky limeade, real red, so saffron, white stazon; Stamp sets: triple treat flower, serene snowflakes, jolly jingles jumbo wheel; Punches:  1 1/4″ square, fancy flower, 5 petal flower, Accessories: everyday enchantment dsp, adhesive pearls, stampin’ dimensionals, sticky strip, tombow liquid glue. *a

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Polar party gift tags …

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As promised, these are my swaps I made for the Stampin’ Up! craft day at Michelle’s.

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I love Christmas and, as so many of us are already starting to think about our Christmas make and takes, I made Christmas gift labels using the two tags die and some Christmas stamp sets…

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Do you recognise the sentiment I used?

It’s from the jolly jingles jumbo wheel which I have un-mounted from the wheel and cut into separate sentiments – there’s a free tutorial on my blog here showing how to do this.

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Our team of Pink Lads ’n’ Ladies is growing all the time so there were lots of swaps to make. Here they are altogether … all 38 of them!

Handmade gift tags can make any present look extra special, and making your own gift tags is a great opportunity to use up your scraps of cardstock, designer series paper and ribbons.

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I used whisper white craft ink to stamp the snowflakes several times on the tags, and tore strips of whisper white cardstock for the snow.

Each polar bear was stamped in black stazon ink, then coloured with various colours from the in-colour 2010-11 range, applied with my aqua pen.  The colours go together so well and looked great when I put contrasting colours together.

I then cut the bears out with paper snips and used tombow liquid glue to attach them to the tags.

I cut lengths of grosgrain ribbon and attached to the tags with linen thread.

Finally, I stamped the sentiment in black stazon ink and added an adhesive rhinestone.

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It was good fun swapping with everyone.  So after another great day at Bicester, I came home once more inspired by our team’s creativity, having had such a great day of craft, fun and laughter!

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Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Cardstock: pear pizzazz, peach parfait, poppy parade, concord crush, blushing bride, whisper white; Inks: pear pizzazz, peach parfait, poppy parade, concord crush, blushing bride, melon mambo, whisper white craft, black stazon; Stamp sets: polar party, serene snowflakes, jolly jingles jumbo wheel; Accessories: grosgrain ribbons in pear pizzazz, peach parfait, poppy parade, concord crush, blushing bride, linen thread, adhesive rhinestones, aqua painter, two-tags die, big shot, stamp-a-majig, paper snips.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream …

The theme for this week’s challenge on the Make My Monday challenge blog is

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

How could I resist? I got out my stamp sets and brayer from Stampin’ Up to make this card…

I haven’t used my brayer for a little while, so it was fun to give it an airing once more. The glossy white cardstock from Stampin’ Up makes it easy to get a great result with the brayer. I also added a little sponging around the edges with my sponge daubers.

I mixed dazzling diamonds with some crystal effects and applied in dotted lines to add some sparkle and glitter to this dreamlike card, and then mounted it onto a bashful blue card base.

I hope it’s what the ladies were looking for from the challenge – it was fun to do anyway!

Papercraft supplies from Stampin’ Up!

Card recipe: cardstock: glossy white, bashful blue; stamp sets: just believe, notably ornate, autumn days, serene snowflakes; inks: wisteria wonder, elegant eggplant, bashful blue, black stazon; accessories: stampin dimensionals, sponge daubers, speedball brayer, dazzling diamonds, crystal effects.

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