Partial Die Cut Holly

Hi there

In this post I'm sharing a card I made at the Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat last month (yes, I made lots while I was away! lol)

One of the techniques we were working with was partial die cutting and I had taken a few stamp sets with me which had co-ordinating dies, perfect for this technique.

I think I was being a bit adventurous when I chose this die for a technique I hadn't had much practice with!  It was certainly fiddly and took a bit of planning trying to figure out the measurements for the fold in the card base so that it would fit in a standard C6 envelope!  The top of the die cut needs to be placed where you would normally place the fold.  Lets just say, lots of trimming was involved.  The front of the card was finished off by heating embossing a sentiment in gold and adding some double score lines.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Christmas Poinsettia (and co-ordinating die); Happy Little Stampers - Christmas Joy
• Ink: Altenew - Moss; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Gold Rich

Challenge entries:

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Last Minute Christmas/CAS

Happy Little Stampers - December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

Uniko - Challenge #44 - Christmas

STAMPlorations - December CAS Card Challenge - Anything CAS Goes

Back soon!

Layered Wreath with Gold Inlay Die Cut

Hi there

Next up this afternoon I'm sharing a Christmas card I made a while ago but haven't yet shared.  This one uses a lovely stamp set and dies from Clearly Besotted.

The wreath is created from a layering stamp set and I love how this looks.  The pale green of the wreath I stamped first, then the mid green, then the holly leaves and berries are builder stamps from the same set.  I die cut the Merry Christmas from some gold mirror card and inlaid this into the card panel, ensuring I had retained all the 'itty bitty bits' from the card front, which I then popped back into their original positions.  The panel was adhered to a panel of the same gold cardstock and then adhered flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Layered Wreath
• Ink: Altenew - Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen, Ruby Red
• Die: Clearly Besotted - Merry Christmas Die Collection
• Gold Mirror card from stash

Challenge entries:

Allsorts Challenge - Challenge #447/448 - Seasonal Flowers

Sweet Stampin' - Christmas/CAS

CAS on Friday - Challenge #123 - Christmas

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #284 - Winter/Christmas

Christmas Cards All Year Round - December Challenge - Anything Goes

Penny Black and More - December Challenge - CAS

Uniko - Challenge #44 - Christmas

STAMPlorations - December CAS Card Challenge - Anything Goes (Gold)

STAMPlorations - December Challenge Theme and Sketch - Stamps and Gold

Thanks so much for joining me, I'll be back with more Christmas makes shortly!

Watercoloured Snowman

Good afternoon

Back today to share another card I made last month whilst staying with Sarah up north.  This snowman stamp was an absolute bargain from The Works.  It was £1...and also buy one get one free!  So he, along with another little Christmas stamp obviously fell straight into my basket!

I stamped the image on watercolour cardstock in VersaMark before heat embossing in white.  I then watercoloured him using my Derwent Inktense pencils.  I used a stitched rectangle die to cut him out, and mounted it on a larger rectangle cut from the same stack.  Before mounting I added some score lines to my card base to add a detailed frame, then adhered the panels with a sentiment flag underneath.

Materials used:

• Stamps: DoCrafts - Mini Clear Stamp: Christmas Assortment; Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Christmas Sentiments
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow - Opaque Bright White
• Dies: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Rectangle Stax; Stitched Sentiment Strips 
• Coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils

Challenge entries:

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #284 - Winter/Christmas

Christmas Cards All Year Round - December Challenge - Anything Goes

Uniko - Challenge #44 - Christmas

I'm just sorting through photos of cards I've not yet shared so I'll be back with more very soon :)

Less is More Weeks #360 and 361 - Sketch

Good morning, crafters

It's Saturday morning and therefore time for a new challenge at Less is More.  We have a Sketch challenge for you this time and to give you more time to participate, and to give the Design Team a break over Christmas, this challenge will run for two weeks.  Here's the challenge sketch...

Happy Little Stampers continues as our December sponsor so please play along for a chance to win the monthly prize.

Here's my DT card, and this one marks the start of my Christmas card makes for 2018!

I die cut the holly wreath and then, after covering with VersaMark ink I heat embossed it three times using gold embossing powder.  I left it a few minutes to ensure the embossing was set and then adhered the wreath to opposite corners of the card base.  I then stamped and heat embossed the sentiment in the same gold powder onto a stitched sentiment strip cut from red cardstock.  This was then popped up on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Dies: Tonic - Holly Bouquet; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Sentiment Strips
• Ink: VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Gold Metallic Rich
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Christmas Sentiments

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - December Anything Goes with Dies Challenge

STAMPlorations - December CAS Card Challenge - Anything Goes (gold) 

Uniko - Challenge #44 - Christmas

Thanks so much for visiting today, and for supporting Less is More throughout this year.  I hope you find the time over the Christmas break to play along with this sketch challenge.

Emboss Resist Snowflakes

Hi guys

Just popping by to share another Christmas card I made recently, using snowflakes with emboss resist.

On some white cardstock I stamped the snowflakes in VersaMark and heat embossed in white.  I then blended over them with Distress Inks and cut a panel using a fishtail flag die.  This was adhered flat to the card base and I then added the sentiment strip, with the sentiment heat embossed in silver which was popped up on 3D foam.  To finish, some tiny clear gems were added to the snowflake centres.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Uniko - Stunning Snowflakes; Marion Emberson - Sparkling Christmas
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Ink - Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass, Dusty Concord
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White, Metallic Silver
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Fishtail Flag Stax
• Clear gems from stash

Challenge entries:

Allsorts - Challenge #446 - Cold and Frosty Colours

Sweet Stampin' Challenge - Last Minute Christmas/CAS

Creative Inspirations - Challenge #284 - Winter/Christmas

Dream Valley - Challenge #169 - Christmas

Uniko - Challenge #44 - Christmas

Thanks so much for visiting, I'll be sharing more very soon :)

Brusho Snowflake

Hi guys

Just a quick post to share another card I made last month whilst at the Happy Little Stampers Craft Retreat.  This time when we were playing with Brushos.

On some watercolour cardstock I sprinkled and spritzed some Brusho crystals.  Once dry I die cut the snowflake.  After popping out all the little bits from the inside of the die cut I adhered the snowflake to my card base.  I die cut a sentiment strip and stamped the sentiment in purple (unfortunately, I can't remember which ink this was - Altenew I think).  The strip was popped up on 3D foam and to finish I added some glittery enamel dots.

Materials used:

• Dies: Tonic - Winter Snowflake; MFT Die-namics - Stitched Sentiment Strips
• Ink: Brusho - Turquoise and Purple
• Stamp: Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Christmas Sentiments
• Accents: Happy Little Stampers - Enamel Glitter Dots

Challenge entries:

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Challenge #446 - Cold and Frosty Colours

Happy Little Stampers - December Anything Goes with Dies

Christmas Cards All Year Round - December Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for popping by, I hope to be back tomorrow night with more makes I've recently made.

Monochromatic Merry Christmas

Hi there

Tonight I'm sharing another of the cards I made whilst away last month.  This was one that I made whilst sat around Sarah's dining table along with Kylie.  In no time at all we made a delightful mess of her dining area (in fact, I've found a photo I took at the time which I've shared below! lol)

Right, back to the card...

I started by covering my card base with black cardstock.  I then die cut the houses die from white cardstock and stamped the sentiment in black.  Before adhering to the card base I coloured a few scraps of card with a yellow ProMarker and adhered these behind some of the windows.  I didn't have any star stamps with me while I was away so I completed the card with the embossed silver star when I returned home.

Materials used:

• Die: Happy Little Stampers - Neighbourhood Die
• Stamps: Happy Little Stampers - Mixed Christmas Sentiments; Clearly Besotted - Merry Little Christmas (star)
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; VersaMark
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Metallic Silver

Here's the mess we made!! :D 

...and I've still no idea what to make with that stag head!


Over the next few days I plan to blog the remainder of the cards I've made but not yet shared with you, so please do pop back if you have the time.

Thanks so much for all your support and lovely comments, I read each and every one x