Hello again and welcome back to the Casually Crafting blog hop! This month our theme is ‘Winter is coming’!
The Casually Crafting Design Team are a group of Independent Stampin’ Up! demonstrators that want to share our love of crafting with you all. We will be sharing what we love every 3rd Friday of each month. Make sure you check out the rest of the Design Team’s creative projects using the photo links at the end of this post.
Winter is coming
Oh my goodness… I’m not so sure it’s winter is coming as opposed to winter is well and truly here! My craft room has been chilly today and there is definitely a nip (a BIG one) in the air here in Northern Ireland. It’s been a strange old year and I’m not quite sure were it gone – it has certainly flown in. I really do love this time of year; even with the chills. Wrapping up snug with a rug in front of an open fire watching a Christmas movie, cheesy but what’s not to love.
In recent days and weeks I’ve had Christmas movies playing in the background as I craft and I must say I do tend to get distracted on occasion! Sometimes I love to craft in silence but with the house being noisy with on child working from home and the other having college classes at home there isn’t much silence to be found and a good old Christmas movie hides the noise they make!
With Christmas well and truly on the way I’m trying to juggle work with making projects for my own family too, so with that in mind I set to crafting this months projects.
Trimming the Town Suite
So first off I made one of my favourite style of cards, the one I’m best known for – a pop up box card. I used the trimming the town suite for this one to create a card that you’ll be able to display for years to come by incorporating it into your Christmas Decor!
The base is a sheet of thick whisper white and I decorated the panels with Trimming the Town designer series paper. The tree patterned one was perfect for the bottom panels and I opted for the snowflakes for the upper panels. Next I cut three snow banks, one with the trees and two without. I have to say I love a bit a of glitter at the best of time but it is a MUST for Christmas so I added some (retired) dazzling diamonds along the edges.
Using basic grey ink I then stamped two houses, a wreath and a car, I used old olive to stamp two large, and two small trees. These elements were all coloured using the Stampin’ Blends in pool party, old olive, poppy parade and smoky slate. For the sentiment I used the ‘Merry Christmas’ from the Perfectly Plaid stamp set and stamped it in misty moonlight before die cutting it using the stitched shapes (oval) dies.
After adding the elements to the card I finished by adding an extra panel of whisper white to the rear to give it extra strength and just to finish it off. What I like so much about this style of card is that it folds flat into a 6″x6″ envelope and when the recipient opens it that’s when the magic happens!
And just in case you’re still not convinced that winter is on the way… well I had to use a snowman didn’t I?
SNOWMAN SEASON
For this card I used thick whisper white to create the card base and then layered a piece of whisper white that I had embossed using the winter snow embossing folder.
For the stamped layer I again used whisper white and stamped the snowman in memento ink. I then inked the edges with coastal cabana. My tool of choice for inking is a good brush – and I’m delighted to say we are getting some in the new catalogue – but more on that another day! Brushes give a beautiful even soft layer which can be built up easily. The snowflakes were stamped in second generation coastal cabana. For the colour I used my Stampin’ write markers but you could use blends or ayour favourite colouring medium. I finished by added the sentiment and some self adhesive snowflakes.
Tropical Christmas
Some people get to spend Christmas in sunnier climes… and this next card is a recent commission that I received via my Etsy store. It used the coming home stamp set also. For the panels of this card I used the direct to card technique by swiping my ink pads across the cardstock before embossing it… The palm tree I did using punches and snips and the kitty cat is from Grace’s garden. I’m not listing all the products used in this one just thought I’d share it for fun and to remind myself that winter isn’t chilly everywhere!
I really hope that you liked my projects for this month and they inspire you to get making, I’ve listed all the products (including links) below.
Don’t forget to click on the photographs below to continue hopping and see what the rest of the Casually Crafting Design Team have come up with!
Thanks again for hopping by! See you soon!
Love Me x
Casually Crafting Design Team Photo Links
Click on the photos below to continue along this month’s hop from the rest of the Casually Crafting Design Team and don’t be shy about leaving comments we would love to hear from you!
Product List
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Beautiful Projects Gillian. Wouldn’t we all love to be sipping cocktails under palm tree right now! x
Love these cards, great fun pop up box cards, especially like the idea of a tropical Christmas now it’s getting colder
Lovely projects Gillian, my favourites are the snowman and the pop up trimming the town box, such a lovely card to give to someone as a keepsake.