Eskimo kisses for the 5th Card...

Basic Grey have done it again and come up with another beautiful Christmas line, Eskimo Kisses, in the traditional colours of red and green, but with an added twist of plum, pinks and aqua. For my card, I've gone for the red and green combo, and decided to see what I could do with a variety of punches.

I first made a 6x4" card blank from a deep red shade of Bazzill cardstock, and trimmed a piece of patterned paper slightly smaller, to 5 3/4" x 3 3/4". I also cut a 2x3" piece of contrasting paper:



I used a corner rounder on the corners of this smaller piece:



and mounted on more of the red cardstock, again rounding the edges. I adhered all pieces to the card blank as shown:



This time I used 2 square punches, one plain and one scalloped, to create a background for the word 'joy', using AC Thickers:





and finally I used a Fiskars border punch to make a decorative strip across the card:



I added a strip of festive ribbon and some holly, to make the finished card:



Nicky x

The 4th Card: Fun and Easy to Make - with My Minds Eye!

If you are like me and love making Christmas Cards, but always find yourself with little time to do so, you will find this little recipe fun and easy. I have used the My Minds Eye - Colourful Christmas Collection. A small selcetion of the Patterened Papers in this range and a 12x12 sheet of the Die Cuts too.

Start with a plain card blank.

Cut with a square punch or die cutter 4 squares of the same size.

I like to ink my edges to help create a better contrast against the white card. I feel this finishes it off much better.

When using the die cuts, I like to sand the edges for a better finish before inking. I use a Basic Grey kit for this.

I then stick all 4 squares down. I've used 3d foam pads.

But obvioulsy you can use tape or glue too. And then I've added very basic embellishments using the die cut sheet to match. To finish I've added stickles glitter to add a touch of sparkly Christmas. And that's basically it.

Here are a slection simply using 3 sheets of paper and the dies cuts.

You can vary the design. Here I've added 3 diamantes and on the card at the back I brushed on some acrylic paint and let it dry before adding the 4 squares.

The third card of Christmas...Eskimo Kisses Card

The papers I have used are from Basic Greys Eskimo Kisses collection I cut out 5 triangle from the papers and used a martha stewart punch to jazz up the longest edge of each triangle

Then I began assembling my tree, the second triangle was placed at a slight angle

as was the third

I made my tree trunk using a martha Stewart punch then spritzed it with lime glimmer mist.

Once my tree was assembled I took some white card and spritzed with a pale pink glimmer mist then stuck my tree to the card and left to dry.

Once dry I cut the white card to size. And matted my design onto basic grey paper and then bazzill card. Then using the punced holes as placement guides I filled the holes with crystals. to give the effect of baubles on a christmas tree.

Here is my finished card, all I need to add is the greeting.

A Cosmo Cricket Christmas Card...Card 2!

I love the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly Christmas range - the papers are vibrant and colourful, but also have the traditional elements which allow you to make cards that are either funky and modern or more classic in their design. I decided to put together a card that made use of some of the traditional elements, such as the sheet music designed paper, alongside some stamped images by Autumn Leaves.

First of all I created a 6x6in card blank with red card and fixed a 4x4in square of the Merry Berry paper to the centre.

Next I made a frame about 51/4in square from the reverse side of the Merry Berry paper, and drew a border around the outside and inside edge using black pen. I cut a length of red ribbon and fixed this around the bottom of the frame using sticky tape.

I then fixed the frame onto the card using foam pads to give a raised effect. I stamped an image of a bird using Autumn Leaves stamps and cut round the edge, leaving a small margin. I fixed this to the corner of the frame using more foam pads.

Finally, I stamped a Christmas message and fixed this to the top corner, as well as attaching some red buttons to the ribbon in the bottom corner. The finished card takes very little time to make and by using stamps you can recreate the embellishments over and over again with very little expense and effort.

The Twelve Cards of Christmas...

Well, I'm not sure where the time has gone this year, already we are halfway through November and I've hardly thought about Christmas! This year, I thought we would have the Twelve Cards of Christmas - I've asked the Design Team to come up with a card each and over the next few weeks we'll be giving you step by step guides to making them. Hopefully you'll find a variety of styles, and maybe something to inspire you... only 5 weeks to go!! Do remember to check back regularly. First up is Stephanie - and we've got two cards here for the price of one!!

Vanessa x

Hi all

Here are a couple of cards I have made using the new MAKING MEMORIES MISTLETOE papers - they really are just to good for words ...... I am so not a card maker but have tried my best to bring you two simple cards for you to achieve with ease ...

The first card HAPPY HOLIDAYS:



1 Start off by cutting green card stock and glueing this onto your card, distressing the edges.

2 Cut a smaller piece of patterned paper, big enough for you to leave about a 1cm border of the green card stock showing when glued into place. Take the patterned paper and punch a circle hole as shown then glue this into place

3 Make a tap top for the top left hand side of the card and add a chipboard flower. Cut the trees and lettering from the patterned papers and mount using 3d foam pads. Finish off the card by using 3D gel pens as shown.

The second card is MERRY AND BRIGHT:



1 Using a piece of red card stock punch a border with your preferred pattern down both sides of the card stock.

2 Cut two strips of patterned paper and glue into place as shown

3 Stamp your letter image onto green card stock (I've used an Imaginisce Snag 'Em stamp - great value!) and place to one side. Cut a strip of red card stock small enough to fit snugly onto your patterned paper as shown. Make a large cross stitch shape then glue this onto place. Finish off by adding a few cut out trees from the patterned paper and adding your stamped image.

Tea for Two

When I got my hands on some of the gorgeous Kitchen Spice papers from Bo Bunny, I initially thought I'd use them to scrap one of my many kitchen adventures with my boys. But when I went through my photos, this one of my mum and I enjoying an afternoon tea treat at the Dorchester Hotel stood out, it seemed to fit well with the colours:



I wasn't sure how I was going to use one particular sheet with a large bold design, until I decided that certain elements cut out would make great accents, so I set to with a pair of scissors!



I raised the cut-out elements on foam pads, for a 3-D effect, and placed them overlapping the photo, which helps draw the eye to the picture.



I added my title using vinyl Thickers, some of the lovely velvet scalloped ribbon from American Crafts, some mini sunflowers, and finished off with a touch of sparkle with some Stickles glitter glue and Kaiser gems.

Another cuppa, anyone?

Nicky x

A mini album...

There has been alot of new stash coming into Papermaze over the last few weeks. So on a trip down there a few days ago i grab some of it to show you on here.

I decided to use one of the new Maya Road Chipboard albums. One of the reasons that i love these, is because you can use as much of it or as little as you like. The one i used here for example had 7 chipboards parts to it, so using both sides that is 14 pages. Now that is alot, so i didnt use them all.

They come undressed. So i normally take of the metal ring that holds it all together and seperate them like this...

I then started on the front page of the album... The first thing i did was to take out the spots as i wanted to cover them with different pattern papers...

I then chose the paper i wanted to use for this. As the new October Afternoon had just arrived i chose that.

I used these two on the front page. They are called Chicken Coop and Root Cellar.

I then added glue to the front of the front page... I normally use wet glue for this...
And then turn it upside down and adhere it...

I then cut round the edge using a knife...

Then i used a Basic Grey File to file down the edges...

I then inked the edges with brown ink...
Next i covered the dots, using the same process...

Now add the circles...
I then added some faux stitching around the edges...

And then added some lettering...
The rest of the pages are covered in the same manner... i wanted the photos to be the main focus on this album so i printed them all off really big!!!