Little Christmas Bird and More Cards !

Hello !
I have had a busy week designing and making more Christmas cards and planning projects incorporating some of the new stamp sets and Designer Series Papers from the brand new Stampin'Up catalogue. They have finally arrived from Germany this morning and so I will have another busy few days putting together my designs; so keep in touch to see something new !

You may remember this wet stamping technique which I used in one of my blue posts ( 27th September 2011 ), I know this method will be used over many times and I like the way the ink 'bleeds' on these two of a kind cards ! I started with watercolour paper and a mask and  restricted myself to just one stamp set ( "Winter Post " ), I also used old olive, real red, soft suede, river rock, pear pizzaz and crumb cake inks. The water intensifies the pigment in the inks so don't go too dark !

I also used the " Bigz scallop circle " die for the main shape and the " Scallop Edge Border " punch for the long side of this card. These are quite quick to create as once the paper is wet you need to catch it before it dries out so I plan my stamping before I start and then just go for it !!! If you make any errors just place a few strategically placed snowflakes over them !!!

The beauty of these cards is that no two are alike as each one is a mini piece of artwork. I added a tiny bit of glitter and used the "Scallop Edge Border " punch for the long side on this one. You could add more stamping on the base card and add bling to the border, but I wanted the artwork to stand out !

Here is a little more detail, these cards don't have fancy embellishments, just simple ones made from paper and stamped ink but they do have a naive charm about them. It is very easy to buy expensive card elements and put them all together but it's so nice to make your own; so much more satisfying and think how much money you can save ! The materials for these cards literally cost pennies !!!

Before I go , I had a little play with the "Bird Builder" punch from SU at the weekend and made a cute tree decoration which barely took any time at all. This idea is quite common but I haven't seen a SU version, so here it is ! I punched two birds from gold card and used white ink to stamp onto the body using the snowflake from the "Winter Post". I then cut matching 1cm long slots with a craft knife horizontally across the back of the bird about 5mm in  (cut these separately before you glue the two bodies back to back and make the slots about 2-3mm deep ). Then the wings, cut from a piece of vellum ~ 6cm x 9cm rectangle ~which is also stamped with the snowflake design. This is then edged with the "Scallop Edge Border " punch and pleated along the width of the narrow side by hand. Choose some narrow  ribbon and thread this through the slot first then holding the pleated wings firmly together post them through the slot under the ribbon ! No glue is needed as the paper and ribbon fill the gap and hold quite firm !

Phew !!! What a lot of instructions for something so simple, I have tried to give you lots of tips so it should work first time for you ! Hopefully you can see the slot clearly, its a bit fiddly, but if you make lots, maybe in different colours or maybe in black and white you could decorate a small tree or wreath and they could also be used for wedding decor.

Must dash now and get the ironing done before the other half gets back from work. Hope you have enjoyed today's projects; do please let me know your thoughts and thanks for stopping by !

 Hugs Jane x