I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas !

Good Morning !
Actually I'm not  ! Especially after last winter; us Brits are bemoaning the dreadful weather we endured during the last Christmas season and beyond (and before !!!). I'm not sure we'll ever stop talking about it !

Anyway, I have some snowy cards for you today as I continue with my white on white theme . I have embossed both these cards and used a background stamp ( "Bella Toile " ) which sadly retired  but " French Filigree " or " Parlour Prints " from the new catalogue will give a similar effect or a smaller swirly type stamp randomly repeated like the one from "Creative Elements ".

The card stock is whisper white and naturals ivory for the embossed designer frame; I have also used some vellum left over from one of  the cards in the previous post. My punches are getting lots of use nowadays; the white band across the card is made from the lace ribbon border. The snowflake is stamped from " Delicate Doilies " and the sentiment from " Winter Post ". The pale gold powder is non SU as I wanted a very pastel finish to this card. I then added some SU pearls but I need to do some detective work as one seems to have made the great escape (I've just spotted it's missing as I am writing this post ) !

Here is more detail; I use sahara sand to stamp the sentiment as it is so subtle.

I started with a very vanilla base for my next card and used the gold powder again and some white too, just to lift the scheme. Everything else SU except the swirls, it just needed something extra ! Similar swirls could be stamped and trimmed out from " Everything Eleanor ". The smaller snowflake is from " Winter Post " and the frame embossed from the set of designer frames.

I love working in this limited colour palette; white, silver and grey  (use the second and third print from the ink basic grey ) also look lovely enhanced with some rhinestones and don't be afraid to mixup all the pale neutrals as they look gorgeous together !

I have my lovely ladies coming later for their fortnightly class (Christmas cards of course)!

Thank for your visit, do stop by again ! 

Hugs Jane x

White Christmas !

Morning ! Hope you are enjoying your Sunday ? I have finally managed to get some half decent photos today as we have lovely winter sunshine here in Worcestershire today (  jolly cold wind though ! ) . It struck me that I was not adding enough texture to my white on white cards and I think that may have been why I was having little success. So I have tried to put that right; see what you think !
Both cards are 15 X 15 cm and based on whisper white card with a punched edge. This one has a topper made from the scallop circle die in naturals ivory card which has been run through the perfect polka dots embossing folder after I had stamped my trees from " Lovely as a Tree " in crumb cake ink !

The lace ribbon border was used to punch from the neutrals DSP paper stack and the frame is embossed using the oval from designer frames.

The sentiment is from " Welcome Christmas " and has been trimmed down and  mounted on a little banner. Snowflakes are waste from a non SU punch and I have added some SU pearls.

Here is some more detail, I think that texture is the key on neutral projects and of course all white is hard to get right so add in neutral colours; for both these cards I have used crumb cake, sahara sand and soft suede inks.

The next card appears to be another wreath ! I am a bit obsessed with them and a couple of Christmas ones have appeared in my house already ahead of the big decorating session ! This one was randomly stamped  and then trimmed out middle first ( this is easier and more stable to cut than the other way round ).

I have used a piece of white vellum mounted and edged on top of my base card. I used the lacey holly stamp from the gorgeous " Pines and

 Poinsettias " and just stamped using whisper white ink in rows until I had covered the background. The ink needs time to dry on vellum so leave it a good half hour ! To punch on vellum, use a dry non permanent glue to attach the vellum on top of a sheet of printer paper ( line up the edges

 accurately ) and then punch the two layers as one .Then peel off the printer paper and use your fingers to roll off the unwanted glue and then use as desired ! If you don't do this the punch will eat the vellum !!! The vellum will have a nice curly edge which I like but it can of course be flattened if you prefer. The sentiment is from " Christmas Post " and I use a bit of card left over from the first card for the banner and added some very vanilla seam binding ribbon to complete

This close up shows the detail on the stamped vellum, it gives such a pretty effect and you don't need to be too accurate with your stamping ! I added some pearls and a little glitter glue to finish. I'll continue with this theme at some point as there is lots more to explore !

In the meantime here is something deep and meaningful for you to ponder by Lou Holtz !

" Ability is what your'e capable of doing,

Motivation determines what you do ,

Attitude determines how well you do it !" 

Have a wonderful day and thank you so much for stopping by !

Hugs Jane x

Oh No ! Not more Christmas Wreaths !!!

Hello!
I do apologise for no posts so far this week and I have no white on white cards for you !!! There is a reason for this, to be truthful I have really struggled to put together anything worth posting and they are not easy to photograph ! I've also been playing with heat embossing , can you believe that I have never tried this technique until now ! I love it but now need more powder colours, as is always the case when you try something new ! So, to sum up, I have lots of bits which will evolve into cards eventually !
I do however have a couple of wreath cards to share as I have been trying to perfect the art of using a good eye for judgement as I am too impatient to measure out my stamp spacings ! They are a variation on some I did earlier, but these are simpler as they are stamped entirely on the card stock with the exception of the sentiment.

I have used my favourite Christmas stamp set from SU " Pines and Poinsettias " and worked in two inks - lucky limeade and old olive. The bling is glitter glue and the sentiment from " Welcome Christmas ".

Here's a little more detail. This is another 10 minute card; I have been designing lots of these of late as my cards, as you know tend to usually be far too detailed. Looking at lots of other lovely blogs you learn that some times simple is best. That's not to say I won't spend several hours making cards for my daughter and OH this year, as I will and probably on Christmas Eve ( as is unintentionally traditional ) !!!!

I went down the soft suede and crumb cake route for this one with a bit of old olive  for the holly ! The sentiment sits on a decorative label punched from real red card stock and edged in soft suede ink - the sentiments for both cards are stamped in cherry cobbler ink.

I am going now to persevere with my white cards ! I will not be beaten !

Hello to new viewers from Down Under and the Far East; thank you for stopping by ! Have a great day wherever you are and happy crafting !

Hugs Jane x

Stampin' Up Baby Cards !

Morning !
As promised I have a few more baby card ideas for you today !
Using the same Stampin' Up stamps , inks and papers as in yesterdays post I ran up some more very simple cards which are quick and easy to make !

This card has a little taffeta ribbon and some flowers punched from all my scrap card using the itty bitty punches.I never waste anything and always punch out shapes from waste card and store them in box for future use !

This card has been embossed to create a frame for the baby using the designer frames and I have added a background stamp for the sentiment from " Everything Eleanor ".

These final two are 10 minute cards. So simple and uncomplicated to make! 

I'm getting withdrawal symptoms from Christmas crafting and plan to do some shades of white cards over the weekend, if I get time ! Today my daughter and I are making our mincemeat and Christmas puddings as it is her day off uni and she needs some time away from assignments ! So we're going to dig out the Christmas CD's and enjoy some special time together !

Have a great weekend !

Hugs Jane x

Hello Baby !

Hello ! I have had a couple of days away from making seasonal goodies and thought I would show you some baby cards I have been creating. We are just coming to that time in our lives when some of our friends children are getting married and you know what usually comes after that !!!
I have made these using two new a la carte stamps - " Elebration ", which is the cutest little ellie I have ever seen , and " Bring Baby " which is traditional and features a delightful waving baby carried by a stork !!!
I love pink and blue together, so have made cards that are very plain and traditional in theme.

My colours are bashful blue and pretty in pink and I have also used the polka dot paper from the patterns DSP stack ( white with a grey dot ). Edge punches are - the eyelet border and scallop edge border and I used the fancy flower punch and 2.5cm circle punch in addition to the scallop circle bigz die. To add some texture I ran some of the card through the perfect polka dot embossing folder. 

The new " Letter It " alphabet is lovely and I like that you don't have to cut out the actual letter, which can be so fiddly. I added some onesies from 

" Bundle of Love " to break up the lettering.

I rarely do cutsie, but this is the most adorable little ellie, which lends itself to baby and children's cards. These cards are so basic but it's nice to do a uncomplicated card when the image is so lovely; it doesn't  need any more fuss !

My last card featuring the waving baby !!! I've mounted him/her on top of a couple of hearts made from the scalloped heart of hearts embosslit die and added a sentiment from a retired SU stamp but I've just checked and there are baby sentiments in both " Petite Pairs " and " Teeny Tiny Wishes "

I have more to come on this theme ! Not sure what will evolve, so do watch this space !

May I just welcome any new visitors from here at home and all around the world, it is so good that you took the time to check out my little blog ! I tend to post 2-3 times a week so do come back and see what I have been creating !

Hugs Jane x