More than one blast from the past.

My brother in law has been sorting out  his mum's personal effects after she  sadly passed away in February. She kept a box she called her treasure box. In her treasure box she kept all the things she valued. The contents of her treasure box would be considered rubbish by anyone else. 
Among her treasures were pretty much all the cards I made her over the years. A lot of the cards I made her were made long before I found Stampin' Up or before I had a blog.
  Dave asked if I would like my cards back,  Of course  I said yes. I thought it would be interesting to see how my cards have changed over the years and some may even be a source of inspiration for new cards.
 So I thought I might share a few of them with you.

You have to remember when some of these cards were made there  was  not the vast array of tools and  materials  available as there are today.  I didn't do much stamping in those days as I struggled with colouring the images and I didn't understand the different types of ink. I hated the fact I always got embossing powder stuck where I didn't want it. I didn't have Google,  YouTube , the craft channels or  a crafty friend to ask where I was going wrong.  So all my stamping stuff got packed away for years. Then I found Stampin' Up and my whole crafting world changed. So there is little or no stamping on the cards in this post.

I remember making this one. The flower was punched out using a huge petal punch that was so hard to use.  

The sentiment was printed using a my pc and printer.
The heart border is a Martha Stewart punch and it's one of my favourite punches along with the fern punch I used on this card. I made the box and decorated it to coordinate with the card.
It seemed I liked making boxed cards then.

The next card was created in Alan's mums favourite colour "green". This card has three layers to it, an acetate wrap on which an oval panel was glued. Then all those flowers were stuck to the panel.  The edges of the acetate were trimmed with gold peel off borders. I am thinking this was the first birthday card I made for her after Hubby and I got married because it contains some of the wired sparkles from our wedding. the next layer is a white base card with a  broad strip of green paper on one side. The last layer is the insert. This insert was probably the most involved and fancy insert I have ever done.  it's funny but if you had asked me what the insert of this card was like last week before seeing it again , I would have sworn the image was in colour. I do remember printing it off in colour, but obviously  changed my mind and used a black and white version.  Again I made a box for it.

  

This Christmas card  I think may have been a kit I bought from a craft show.  as I recall it was a bit of a fiddly, fussy card to make. I didn't enjoy making this one and I was quite pleased when it was finished.



She also had our wedding invitations and order of service in her treasure box along with the tags I had made to go on her presents on her birthday , Christmas and Mother's day.











                                                                                        


We kept our wedding invitations very simple as we only had 12 weeks to plan and get our wedding organized, so we didn't have time for complex  invitations. 

This is the stack of cards Dave gave me back. I won't bore you will sharing all of them. The later cards are probably already on here .

Black & White Christmas Card

I have to say, this is not the black and white card I had in mind when I started it.

But I made huge mistake and not wanting to scrap the whole card.

  I decided to stamp the greeting in white on black card  and cut it into an oval and stuck it over my huge blunder. 

The little scene at the bottom of the card was created using the Sleigh Ride edgelits from the Stampin' Up winter mini catalogue.

I die cut the village and the sleigh and ran them through my mini  Xyron  (adhesive machine) and then smothered them in white glitter. 

  I stuck them onto a strip of black card, added a narrow ribbon along the top edge and then onto my white base card overlapping the black oval a little. 

The snowy background was created by taking a dull pencil and dabbing the tip onto my white ink pad  and then onto the black card repeatedly until you have the desired effect.

Once the white ink was dry I added a little bow.

One Tip I would like to share when using any Xyron adhesive machine.

The instructions will tell you to rub over the elements hard before peeling off the clear strip. This is to  break the edges of the glue around your elements, giving a cleaner edge to your elements.

Sadly, I find this is still not enough, (as you can see in this photo) there is still a little too much adhesive around the edges, despite my attempts to tidy up the excess glue before applying the glitter. 

As you can see the sides of the houses are not as sharp as they should be due to the excess adhesive at the edges.

 My tip is  not only to rub firmly all over the elements you have glued, but to take a small ball tool or  Biro and draw around the edge of each element firmly, before removing the clear strip. You will get a much cleaner edge by doing this and  it's well worth spending a few seconds doing this rather than trying to clean up the edges after. 

Card made from Christmas cracker

Boxing day Hubby and I went to my sister's for a meal. 
During the course of the meal my eye kept being drawn to the pretty holly patterned Christmas crackers that lay in pieces on the table.
I couldn't help but wonder how I could re use them.

I gathered up a few pieces and placed them in a pile ready to stash in  my handbag...When I wasn't looking my brother-in -law gathered them up and took them off to the bin.

Bin diving is not my favourite past time, so I sent my sister after him to rescue them before they got soiled and damaged in the bin.

This is a gate fold card I made with one of the Christmas crackers and a die cut sentiment, which I covered in red glitter.

I am not a fan of gate fold cards.
I am never sure what position to stand them in to show off the whole card, so I tend not to make them.

Inked Snow Scene Tutorial

 These cards have been much admired so I thought I would share the technique with you so that you too can make this card.
 Except it won't be this card as no two cards come out the same.
Which makes everyone unique.

The tools and materials used are very basic.

2 shades of blue ink 
2 sponges or daubers.
1 dark green ink pad and matching marker if possible (just incase)

Versamark clear ink pad

A pine tree stamp and a splatter stamp

I have used the pine tree from the Stampin Up  " Lovely as a Tree" stamp set.

and the splatter stamp from the stampin up "Gorgeous Grunge" set.

4x4  Whisper white card stock,   (it's so smooth and easier to sponge on.)

Scrap paper cut  a long curvy line across it. 

Lastly a glue pen and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

Let us begin....

 Ink up the splatter stamp with clear versamark ink  and randomly stamp the the top half of your white card and allow the ink to dry.  ( about 10 mins)

You won't see very much  on the card at this stage as the ink is clear.

 Cut a curvy line across a sheet of scrap paper. I am using a mask I have used before so you can see it.

This is going to be your mask for  creating the drifts of snow and I will refer to this scrap paper as your mask from now on.

Lay your mask across your 4x4 card stock
about an inch and a half down from the top and sponge the sky starting on the mask and work  upwards onto your cardstock.

Never start sponging directly onto the card stock as the ink is too intense and you'll end up with big circles of ink you can't disguise.  

Keep applying the lighter blue ink  (I used Stampin up's Marina Mist) until the whole area has been covered.
You will now notice the versamark ink starting to show through the blue ink. 
The Versamark  creates a  ghosting effect  giving the  impression it's snowing.

Apply more ink at the edges of the card and long the wavy line of your mask than in the centre.

Once you have covered the entire area take your darker blue  ink  (I used stampin up's Night of Navy) and sponge a little over the edge of your mask and around the edges of your cardstock,  this will give a little more depth to your snow drifts. Be careful not to over do the darker blue. 

Tip.... Try not to get hard lines of colour the key to success on this is softness ... BUT  if you do get the odd hard line  of  darker blue blend it out by adding more of the light blue over the area.

Work down the cardstock by applying the light blue  starting  on the mask paper  and working upwards onto the cardstock leave  a narrow white strip at the top of each drift.



Blend in until you reach the bottom.
Move your mask around to vary the direction and slant of the drifts.

Stamping the Trees. 
All the trees on this image have been created with the same stamp.

You will need your mask again for this.


Before I continue I will share a little tip.
Something I discovered many moons ago.

If you look to the picture on the right you will see the tree doesn't meet up with the snow drift and  looks  odd.
That is because I lined the mask up exactly with the snow drift before I stamped the tree.
Yes,  I did that on purpose to show you what not to do. 

If this happens to you, it can be rectified by drawing in the lower tree trunk and branches with a marker pen in the same colour ink. So it's not the end of the world.

My tip to avoid this happening in the first place is to position your mask about  1 or 2 millimetres lower than your sponged  snow drift.  (see photo on left)
With a little practise you'll become an expert at judging just how much space to leave.

Now you know how to position your mask for stamping the trees.

Line up your mask with your snow drift leaving the tiny gap and make sure your mask is large enough to cover the lower part of your work.

Ink up your tree stamp and  stamp your tree over the mask and onto your cardstock.   
As the mask is covering most of your work only the top of the tree will be stamped onto your card, creating what appears to be a small tree.
Move your mask down to the the next snowdrift  where you want your next tree to be and  repeat the process.  Make one tree in the foreground a complete or almost complete tree.




Ideally you want to have an odd number of trees. Odd numbers always look better.

When you have stamped all your trees  use a glue pen and add tiny dots of glue randomly over the trees and add  Dazzling Diamond glitter.

Finally ......
It has taken me three hours to do this tutorial, which is two hours and  forty five minutes longer than it took to make the card.
I have to say,   this all looks quite involved and time consuming  but it's not. I could have made a dozen of these in the time it's taken me to write this up. LOL

Sharon's Santa Suit card

This Santa's belly card was made and  sent to me by Sharon a Stampin' up demo in the Berkshire area.
Sharon has used  an assortment of dies and punches to create this card.

I love how she has used the square scallop punch and the stamp punch to create the buckle and a  label die to create the beard.

I am ashamed to say I didn't send Sharon a card this year, for two reasons  one being I only made a few cards  and two being  I couldn't find her address. I hope she will forgive me.

Simple Christmas card

This month I saw my 3rd anniversary as  a Stampin up demonstrator. I am sorry to say this will probably be my last anniversary.
The current economic climate has taken it's toll on so many people and made it  impossible for me to continue.
 So many people I know have been hit so hard by the downward spiralling economy, including myself. As much as  I love the stampin up products,   I can't keep on buying  products just to reach my quarterly figures. Dear hubby as patient and as understanding  as he is of my addiction, would have a fit if I did.
So unless a miracle happens this will be my last year on the SU demo list.

I will  continue to post cards and other items I make as and when I make them.
I have to say I have been busy making doll's clothes for my Grandaughter and have really enjoyed getting back into sewing.  We also  have another grandchild on the way.
So...
I think it's a good time for me to take a small break from the paper crafting
and start using up all the boxes of fabric lurking  all around the house, hidden away in  chests, ottomans and plastic boxes stashed away in the loft and shed.
Not to  mention the  cloakroom  size cupboard that is stuffed full of fabrics.....
I am now feeling the need to make a teddy bear and try my hand at quilting.


 Ooops, I just told hubby the answer to all those,  What's in there?" questions, that  I just answer with a,  "you don't want to know?"  and bless him,  he leaves it at that.

Christmas Ornament Punch

This is very similar to a card I posted a few weeks ago but this time I have used the New Christmas Ornament punch from Stampin up.
This is not the exact shape and size of the punch as I shaved a little off the end to used on another project and this was the piece that was left over. I hate wasting card and I decided to use this slightly reduced ornament shape anyway.
So I daubed the edges with cherry cobbler ink, embossed the snowflakes with silver embossing powder and added a knot of real red grosgrain.
I then stamped the flourish from the season of joy stamp set onto white card stock using the basic grey ink pad, stuck the bauble over the lower part of the flourish and stamped Merry Christmas at the bottom.
Finally, I mounted the whole thing onto real red card stock.

Snowflake Christmas card

The acetate window sheets were used for this see through card.
I stamped the acetate with Stazon using the serene snowflake stamp set .
I stamped the navy card with one of the larger snowflake stamps in the set, but this time I stamped it with shimmer paint . I applied the paint with a sponge dauber to the stamp taking care not to flood the stamp with paint.
I set one of the new stampin' up jewels in the centre of the snowflake and then placed three more jewels on the far side of the card.
I used the new stampin up lace edge punch on the side of the card.
This was then layered onto whisper white card and mounted on to the acetate base card.
I cut two pieces of whisper white card the same size and stuck one inside the card for the greeting and one on the back of the card, by doing this you hide the adhesive strips and it also gives you somewhere to stamp your,..... "Handmade by Joanna blogs"

"Time for bed "said Zeberdee....... and tonight, I will go willingly zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Glitter Heart Cards

These two cards were very quick and
simple to make, they had to be as it
was quite late when we got home from my mother -in-laws with my Stampin' up parcels .
I didn't have much time to play before going to bed.

I used the small Stampin' up heart punch, whisper white card stock Rich Razzleberry ink and the Plum/ burgundy Cosmic glitter which is so very close to Rich Razzleberry in colour I usually call it Razzleberry glitter.

I used razzleberry grosgrain and cardstock for the second card. Don't forget you can click on image for a closer view and then click again for even close view.

Christmas easle card

This was a bit of an experiment really.

The bauble.

I used my largest circle punch to punch a hole in some scrap card and used the hole in the card as a stencil. I took a dauber and real red ink pad and daubed the outside edges of the circle working my way into the middle. I wanted the colour at the edge to be much stronger than in the centre.

I removed my stencil and dried the ink with a heat tool.I then stamped the snowflakes with versamark ink and embossed with silver embossing powder. Using my large circle punch again I punched out the bauble and mounted it onto green card which I had stamped with a pine needle stamp and glittered using a quickie glue pen and stampin up's green glitter.

Added a red bow and mounted onto red plaid paper then onto greencard then onto my easle card base.

Of course you could just ink the edges of the circle you punched out at the begining with your dauber.

My original intention was not to punch it out the end. I intended to stamp my pine branch directly onto the same piece of card as the bauble, but for reasons only known to me, I changed my mind.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Winter Post Card