Sparkles Christmas Die-Cuts

The new challenge at Sparkles Christmas Challenge is 'Die-Cuts' and there are two great sponsors of the challenge this month.  Di's Digis are giving a $10 voucher and Crafty Individuals are giving a Surprise Prize.

This is my final month as Guest Designer and it's also my favourite challenge as I love die-cutting!   I have chosen four different dies for my card and as all the pieces of card were from my snippets drawer I'm popping across to the playground to enter the challenge at Pixie's Crafty Workshop.

Card blank: 6" x 4" white pearl
Dies: Memory Box 'Grand Merry Christmas' and 'Mini Holly Leaves', Spellbinders Shapeabilities D-Lites 'Garden Weave', Creative Dies 'Nesting Poinsettia' (magazine freebie)
Embossing: Kars tan embossing mat
Snippets: Dark red hammer, green matt, white pearl and gold holographic card

I die-cut the 'Merry Christmas', trimmed it and attached it to the lower half of the card blank leaving a small white border.  I die-cut and embossed the 'Garden Weave' from white pearl card and attached it to the upper corner.  I die-cut the outer poinsettia leaves from green card.  I then die-cut and embossed three red leaves from red hammer card - these were shaped slightly before being glued together.  I used the 'Mini Holly Leaves' die to cut the berries from the tiniest snippet of gold holographic card which I had kept 'just in case I ever needed a tiny piece of card' and today is the day!  The berries were glued to the centre of the flower before it was attached to the front of the card with Pinflair glue.

I hope you like my card and look forward to seeing your creations.

Kath x

Sparkles Christmas Decorations

This is my second month as Guest Designer at Sparkles Christmas Challenge.  Our challenge this month is 'Christmas Decorations' and we have two fabulous sponsors. Crafter's Companion are offering a £10.00 voucher and Deedee's Digis are offering a $25.00 voucher.

Any type of craft creation is allowed for the challenge - this can be an actual Christmas decoration or a decoration as part of a card design - I decided to make a card with one of my favourite Memory Box dies.

Card blank: 7" x 7" white silk 

Dies: Memory Box 'Traditional Ornament' and 'Lydia Ornament, Presscut 'Merry Christmas'

Embossing: Kars tan embossing mat

Card: Cerise and gold mirri, white silk

Other: Cerise ribbon, sequins

I die cut two Traditional Ornaments from cerise mirri card and die-cut and embossed two Lydia Ornaments from gold mirri card.  I glued the gold die cuts onto the cerise bases and then fastened cerise ribbon to the rear.  I attached the ornaments to a square of white card and fastened the ribbon onto the rear of the card.  This was then layered onto a slightly larger square of cerise mirri card and attached to the card front.  I made two small cerise bows and glued them to the top of the ornaments.  

I die-cut the Merry Christmas from both cerise and gold mirri card, attaching the gold on top of the cerise to give a shadow effect.   I then attached the sentiment to the lower edge of the card.  To finish, I added three pale pink sequins to the card.

Kath x

Sparkles Christmas Distress It

I'm so pleased to be Guest Designer at Sparkles Christmas Challenge for the next three challenges - thank you to Caz for inviting me. This month's challenge is 'Distress It' and we have two fabulous sponsors. Fantastic Ribbons are offering a £10.00 voucher and Marianne Design have a surprise prize.

Those of you who follow my blog will know that I'm not a 'Distress It' type of crafter, so I'm feeling a little out of my comfort zone!   I decided to use the last few sheets of a Kaisercraft paper pad which had been a magazine freebie last year and one of my favourite Woodware Christmas stamps to make this card.

Card blank: 6" x 6" kraft

Stamp: Woodware 'Christmas Date'

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black and Tim Holtz Distress Ink Bundled Sage

Paper: Kaisercraft 'Christmas Collections' paper pad (magazine freebie)

Other: Diamond Stickles

I trimmed a dark maroon and a floral sheet of paper to layer onto my card blank.   I distressed the edges of each paper with the blade of my craft knife and inked the edges with Bundled Sage before attaching them to the card.  I stamped the image onto a sheet of beige paper, distressed and inked the edges and then layered it onto a piece of maroon paper which had been distressed and inked in the same way.   This was then attached to my card.  I stamped the holly and numerals onto green and maroon papers.  I cut these out and paper pieced them onto the card using Pinflair glue under the leaves to give some dimension.  To finish I added Diamond Stickles to the snowflakes.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's cards for this challenge.

Kath x