Masculine cards - some simple ideas

Hi blogging friends

I have been a busy little bee (read:  snowed under!) in my craft room making masculine birthday cards as well as sewing a cat costume for my daughter to wear to school at an event they were holding the other day.  Most of the men in my immediate and extended family have birthdays in August.  Throw in a few girlfriend's birthdays in August as well and boy, that sure fills up the month; not to mention Father's Day here in Australia yesterday (Sunday 2nd September).  Phew:  that's a lot of cards!!

Sometimes people ask me about making masculine birthday cards and how to approach the task - and I think alot of the time, it is just far easier to keep it simple and not overthink it.  After spending a few years approaching masculine cards with the viewpoint of "they are so hard" which meant I felt like I was defeated before I had even started, I took a step back this year and decided to have a really good look at what was actually hard about them.

I have spent quite a bit of time this year looking at masculine cards in the shops and they are, for the most part, simple eg:  a picture of a yacht and a sentiment; sometimes it just a sentiment - either that or they are just plain rude or vulgar which I don't see the point of and seems to defeat the whole reason behind sending a card!   You see the same sorts of cards with a bottle of wine, a golf club, a football or a sports car - nothing fancy but pleasant to look at.  Most men spend 30 seconds looking at a card - and most of that time is reading the inside and not looking at the front.

So how do I approach my masculine cards with a view to not making the process difficult?  

I really just use simple layouts that I know work and try to pick an image that isn't too detailed to colour or use a pre-coloured topper/paper tole/decoupage image.  I think that pre-coloured toppers or decoupage/paper tole images are just fantastic and make the process easier. There are so many toppers etc. available now that are just perfect for masculine cards whether they are a sport-loving man, a dog lover or a man who likes to read books.  Even just having a fairly large sentiment as the focal point can be enough - see THIS card that I made for our cousin's 90th birthday.   If you don't have a sentiment shaped like the one that I used, have a play on your computer eg: Microsoft Word, and print one on cardstock instead.

 
And I love to use kraft cardstock - it seems to shout MASCULINE to me - and you can brighten up the card with a small amount of a brighter colour so your card isn't too dull.

The two cards I am sharing today were for my husband's birthday and my brother-in-law's birthday - and use the Docrafts Wellington Bear images which I love so much. This first card was for my husband:

As you can see, it is a very simple layout - one of my "go-to layouts".  The image is diecut decoupage (paper tole) so all I had to do was pop out the pieces and put them together with dimensionals.  The sentiment is from the same pack and this is popped up on dimensionals.

I added a blue heart button to balance the sentiment and ribbon.  I sewed some blue sewing thread through the button as I don't like naked buttons on my cards then glued the button on using Crafter's Pick Incredibly tacky glue (LOVE this glue!).

I used my Perfect Layers Tools to trim the blue cardstock layers to 1/16" and the kraft cardstock layers to 1/8".  The ribbon has had Fray Stop added to the cut ends to stop them from fraying.

The dotted designer paper is from the LOTV Country Gent pad and the striped paper is from the Wellington Bear pad.  As you can see, I added a layer of blue cardstock to brighten up the kraft cardstock a little.

Now, here is my 2nd card which I made for my brother-in-law:

As you can see, it is another very simple layout - one that I use alot and is another of my "go-to layouts".  I was actually putting the finishing touches to this card as my brother-in-law was chatting to my husband in the kitchen - talk about last minute!

The main image is a topper so no layering on this one.  I popped the sentiment up on dimensionals just to add a bit of interest. The side border was punched with my old favourite:  Fiskars Threading Water.  The 3 copper brads are by PrintBlocks.  As per the first card, I added Fray Stop to the cut ends of the ribbon.

The plaid designer paper is from the LOTV Country Gent pad and the striped paper from the Wellington Bear pad.  The layers are trimmed to 1/8" using my Perfect Layers Tools.

I hope my cards inspire you a little in your masculine card making.  You can check out my other Masculine cards HERE.  I have a couple of other masculine cards to share over the next few weeks:  watch this space!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great week!

Jocelyn


Card Recipes:

Card #1 -

Stamps and Ink:  None

Designer paper:  Lili of the Valley Crab Apple Lane 'Country Gent' 8" x 8" pad, Docrafts Wellington Bear 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Docrafts Wellington Bear decoupage (paper tole) pack (incl. sentiment), dimensionals, blue heart button - Dress It Up Icecream Soda #2779, blue sewing thread, Crafter's Pick Incredibly tacky glue, brown stitched grosgrain ribbon, Fray Stop, Perfect Layers Tools, cardstock - kraft, blue

Card #2 -

Stamps and Ink:  None

Designer paper:  Lili of the Valley Crab Apple Lane 'Country Gent' 8" x 8" pad, Docrafts Wellington Bear 6" x 6" pad

Accessories:  Docrafts Wellington Bear topper and sentiment, dimensionals, Print Blocks copper brads, Perfect Layers Tools, brown stitched grosgrain ribbon, Fray Stop, cardstock - kraft

Punches:  Stampin' Up corner punch, Fiskars Threading Water border

Forever Friends Kraft Notes - 2 cards

Hi blogging friends

The weather has been absolutely crazy where I live:  days and days of extremely windy weather and I am just so tired of it and ready to move onto Spring.  I have been looking like the Abominable Snow-woman dressed in layers of clothes when I have had to venture out - yet I was still feeling like an iceberg as the wind has been so bitterly cold!  Somewhere in my travels, I have picked up a yucky virus and feeling pretty blah so only going out when I absolutely have to. 

I guess the up-side is that I have been very busy in my craft room and I am sharing 2 cards today:  the first card is a birthday card I made for my great-niece's 8th birthday and the second card is a Friendship/Get Well/Support card for a friend. 

I have been very good with using my stash of designer papers this year but when I saw the Forever Friends Kraft Notes range released by Docrafts earlier this year, I couldn't help myself:  I thought the range was so pretty and of course, being a teddy-bear lover, well.......need I say more LOL!!  And here is the result:

The main image is a topper from the A4 diecut toppers set.  As you can see, I added a couple of pink rhinestones to the flower centres and a pink button to the larger flower centre.  The buttons were glued on with Crafter's Pick Incredibly tacky glue.  I diecut a flower using a Die-namics Daisy die and only glued down the centre so I could bend the petals up then glued on another pink button.

All the layers were trimmed to 1/8" using my Perfect Layers Tools.  Kept everything very simple so it was a nice quick card.

By the way:  the pink layer between the kraft cardstock and designer paper is a sheet of pink paper from the Kraft Notes paper pad.

Whilst I still had all my gorgeous stash out, I made a 2nd card which I am giving to a very special lady who is currently undergoing some medical treatment and thought that the Teddy with the heart seemed to be the perfect image to say:  "Sending hugs and much love as you journey through your treatment".

The main image is from the Kraft Notes diecut A4 Decoupage - Special Day set.  Because everything was diecut, it was very easy to pop the pieces out and put them together with dimensionals. 

The sentiment is a freebie from an issue of Quick Cards Made Easy (from a couple of years ago) and I simply layered it onto light teal cardstock and hand-trimmed the border.  The hole was punched using a 3/16" circle punch.

Challenges:

I am entering my first card in the following challenges -

Papertake Weekly Challenge of Occasion-ally where you are to make a card for an occasion such as birthday, wedding, christening etc. 

Splitcoaststampers - Ways to Use It Challenge WT427 of May Flowers where you are to use a flower on your card.  There is no time limit to play SCS challenges and this challenge is from 16th May.

And I am entering both cards in the Crafty Creations Challenge of 'Make 2' where you need to make two cards, two tags, two scrapbook pages, two gift bags, two pieces of jewellery, etc . . . any type of craft is acceptable, as long as you "Make Two" (they don't have to be identical but they should have either the same style, colours, papers, images or pattern).

Thanks for stopping by! 

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Card No. 1 -

Stamps and Ink:  None

Designer paper:  Docrafts Forever Friends Kraft Notes

Accessories:  Main image from Docrafts Forever Friends Kraft Notes A4 diecut toppers, Perfect Layers tools, Big Shot, My Favorite Things Die-namics Daisy die, twine by Doodlebug Valentines assortment, Fray Stop, pink buttons from stash, pink sewing thread, Crafter's Pick Incredibly tacky glue, tiny pink rhinestones by Molossi, cardstock - kraft

Punch:  EK Success Abstract Flower

Card No. 2 -

Stamps and Ink:  None

Designer Paper:  Docrafts Forever Friends Kraft Notes

Accessories:  Docrafts Forever Friends Kraft Notes A4 decoupage pack - Special Day, dimensionals, twine by Doodlebug Valentines assortment, Perfect Layers Tools, Fray Stop, pink pearl - Hero Arts CH173 Hearts Accents pearls, sentiment - freebie from Quick Cards Made Easy magazine, cardstock - kraft, light teal

Punches:  EK Success Abstract Flower, Carl CP-1 3/16" circle

Knitted Cat Bookmark and Felt Owl Egg Cosy

Hi blogging friends

A special welcome to my new Followers!  Thank you for following my blog!

As promised on my last post, I am sharing my knitted cat bookmark and felt owl egg cosy which I made for my daughter's 10th birthday (in July).  I adore knitting and find time to knit most days as I find it so calming and relaxing.  I haven't shared my knitting before on my blog as I am not really sure how to take photos of my projects but anyway, here goes:

 

The Cheshire Cat pattern is from the UK Knit Today magazine - Issue 84 - April 2013, and was designed by Tina Barrett.  The cat was knitted using DK yarn and 3.25mm (UK size 10) knitting needles.   I did my face a little differently to the instructions as I used black beads for the eyes instead of embroidering them.  The remainder of the embroidery was done using black DK yarn.   The head is stuffed with polyester fiberfill.  The legs and tail were knitted on double-pointed knitting needles which made them a tube eliminating any sewing of a seam making life easy.  Here are some more photos:

 

 

As you can see, the body is flat which lies in the book and the head, legs and tail hang out the end.   In case you are wondering what the book is that the cat is lying on:  it is Simon's Cat.  Here is a close-up pic of his sweet little face:

 

 

 And now, here is the Felt Owl Egg Cosy:

 

 

The pattern is from a book called Super-Cute Felt by Laura Howard which is published by CICO Books.  The edition I have is dated 2011 and I just checked around and it is still readily available.  I really LOVE this book - so many cute projects including Christmas and the instructions are easy to follow:  I highly recommend it if you like playing with felt like I do. 

 

I embroidered my eyes a little differently to the book and used my Big Shot and Lifestyle Nesting Circle dies to diecut the eyes - so much easier than handcutting them.  I also diecut the Chevron felt pieces using a Chevron Stripes Die-namics die by My Favorite Things.  The original pattern had embroidery in that part but I thought it would be fun to use my dies instead.  That's the great thing about dies:  they are not just limited to cardmaking!

 

Here is a pic of the back of the egg-cosy:

 

 

The heart was also diecut using a heart die from the MFT Die-namics Notched Tag (and stamp) set - and all the embroidery was done using 3 strands of embroidery floss.  The outside of the owl was sewn using sewing thread.

 Hope you like my little projects.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Jocelyn

 

 

Docrafts Tatty Teddy easel birthday card

Hi blogging friends

It's been beautifully sunny and mild today where I live and even though it is still technically winter, I can sense that spring is just around the corner.  I had about 15 minutes of "me time" at lunchtime and sat in the sun reading a cardmaking magazine - oh, it was BLISS and so good for my soul!

The card I am sharing today was for my daughter's 10th birthday earlier in July.  She loves Tatty Teddy (as do I) so I was especially pleased when Docrafts brought out their Tatty Teddy range of designer papers, decoupage, pre-coloured toppers and sentiment panels, ribbons etc. etc. - everything that you need to make your own Tatty Teddy cards.   Because it is a little while since they brought out this particular range, I was lucky enough to pick up a few packs on special at the Picture to Page Scrapbook show in May - yay me!

I really went to town with the Easel Card as you can see and tried to make it as pretty and as sparkly as I could.  The main image, designer papers and sentiment panel are all from the 'Especially for you' A4 decoupage pack.

Just as an aside, if you are feeling confused as to what is decoupage and what is paper tole:  paper tole is also known as 3D decoupage so technically, both names are correct. Where I live, we call the layering of cut images together paper tole (well, that is what my teacher called it when I did a course at a local community centre) and when I  did decoupage at the same centre, we cut out intricate images, glued them onto a painted wooden item, then added about 50 layers of lacquer over the top so you ended up with this beautiful, glossy surface and you couldn't feel the edges of the images because of all the lacquer on top (and it took forever to do - all that waiting for the lacquer to dry and the sanding inbetween layers - but it looked amazing in the end).  I find it a little confusing but I guess it is really just semantics when it is all boiled down!

The main image came diecut so it was super-easy to just pop the pieces together with dimensionals.  The pink lace doily was diecut using a Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily die and my Big Shot.  The pink diecut heart is a Memory Box Sofia Heart die and I added some tiny pink Molossi gemstones to all the flower centres on the heart.  

If you have a close peek, you might see that I tied on a silver charm underneath the ribbon bow on the back card panel.  On the back of the charm, it says 'Made with love'.  The ribbons were attached in 2 separate elements and both bows were made using my Bow Easy.  I added some Fray Stop to the cut ends of the ribbon to stop them from fraying.  The pink paper roses are from Enthaily Wholesale (Australian company).  Because the roses had a yellowy-green calyx underneath them, I removed that part because it didn't match my colour scheme and looked pretty awful.  Instead, I diecut a star from the Light Awesome Aqua cardstock and glued that underneath the flower - which looked much nicer.

The sentiment panel is up on dimensionals and I used 3 pink Sparklets (an EBay purchase) to hold the back panel in place.  The Sparklets were glued on using Crafter' Pick Incredibly Tacky glue.  The pink diecut corners on the bottom panel are a Cuttlebug Vintage corner die (I used my Cuttlebug for diecutting them as I don't know the correct sandwich for my Big Shot).  I added 3 tiny pink Molossi gem stones to each corner of the Vintage diecuts.

I went crazy with the Kindyglitz Crystlina glitter glue all over the card which I know is a little hard to see in the photo but believe me when I say that most parts of the card are glittered LOL!

On my next post, I will share the knitted Cat Bookmark and a felt Owl Egg Cosy that I made for my daughter.  I have a great passion for knitting and making small projects with felt but just run out of time to share it all here on my blog, but I hope to be able to share more of these and other crafts with you.  I have my finger in so many crafty pies and my hands are always busy with something - I just can't seem to keep them still!

Before I go, I thought I would share a photo of my cat Ruby.  I was trying to take a close-up of her pretty face and her beautiful green eyes but she didn't like the camera being so close - and this is the result.........

Should I be scared.................LOL!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn 


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  None

Ink:  None

Designer paper, Main Image and Sentiment Panel:  Docrafts 'Me to You' (Tatty Teddy) - Especially for you A4 decoupage pack

Accessories:  Memory Box Sofia Heart die, Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily DL102 die, Cuttlebug Vintage corner die, My Favorite Things Die-namics star die, Cuttlebug and Big Shot machines, silver charm, pink paper roses (Enthaily Wholesale - Australia), light teal organza ribbon, Fray Stop, Bow Easy, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, dimensionals, tiny pink gemstones - Molossi Australia, pink Sparklets - EBay, Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue, Perfect Layers Tools, cardstock - pink, Colormates light awesome aqua

Lili of the Valley Teddy Topper friendship card

Hi blogging friends

I made a special thank you/friendship card for my beautiful friend C who has just been so amazing with her support of our family as we continue to go through the ups and downs of our loved one's ongoing medical condition.   I love our chats on the phone and because C loves cardmaking too, we have so much to talk about. 

One thing that I have found through caring for my loved one, is that it is very socially isolating; others move on with their busy lives and you get left behind because you have so little downtime: and you almost feel like your situation is "old news".   I honestly don't think I could have gone through all that we have without C - and I know, that if I am feeling down or I want to chat about anything, I can just reach for the phone and call C.    Knowing that I can ring someone who completely understands how I feel has been a tremendous help and made me feel not so alone.  Now that C has the card in her hot little hands, I can share it here on my blog:

The cute little teddy in his field of daisies is a Lili of the Valley (UK) Teddy Topper which has been retired as I cannot find it on their website anymore.  LOTV do have an EBay Outlet Store where they have lots of their retired toppers and if you are lucky enough, you might be able to find this topper.  You can find the link to their EBay Store HERE.  They do post to overseas but you have to ask for a quote first.  The sentiment is also by LOTV and was stamped using Versamagic Pretty Petunia chalk ink.  I used my Martha Stewart Lace Heart edge punch to punch the yellow heart (ie: the heart is the leftover punchie) which is popped up dimensionals.  I added Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the heart, butterfly and all the flower petals and the teddy's cheeks (not that you can see it in the photo as the weather was so dull and difficult for photography).  I corner-punched the topper using a SU corner punch.

The designer paper is digital by NitWit Collections -Just Ducky Too.  The white embossed base is a 6" x 6" embossing folder by Crafter's Companion - Floral EF6:  I love this large folder - so perfect for card bases for those of us who make square cards!  Just as an aside, Crafter's Companion have just released some Christmas 6" x 6" embossing folders - ohh, there are some really pretty ones and I have ordered the snowflakes one as I have wanted a larger snowflakes embossing folder forever!!   

The yellow ribbon was added in two separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy; I added Fray Stop to the cut ends to stop them from fraying.

Thanks for stopping by - have a fab weekend!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:  Lili of the Valley UK - General Greetings Small ST063

Ink:  Versamagic Pretty Petunia chalk

Designer paper:  NitWit Collections - digital - Just Ducky Too - Copyright Mary Fran © 2006- 2013 Nitwit Collections™

Accessories:  Big Shot, Spellbinder Scalloped Square Nestabilities, My Favorite Things Die-namics Scallop edge die, Crafter's Companion Embossalicious Floral EF6 6" x 6" embossing folder, yellow organza ribbon, Fray Stop, Bow Easy, dimensionals, Perfect Layers Tools, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, cardstock - white, lavender

Punches:  Martha Stewart Lace Heart edge (yellow heart), Stampin' Up corner

Penny Black Stickeroo birthday card

Hi blogging friends

Just for something a little different, I made a quick little birthday card using two Penny Black Stickeroos as I have a ton of birthdays coming up over the next 2 months:

This is also my card for the WordPlay Saturday July Challenge of "Birthday".  See THIS link for more details on the challenge.

Before I added the Stickeroos to my card, I lightly chalked the white cardstock with some blue chalk for the sky and a little bit of brown for the ground - not that you can see it all that much in the photo.   The sentiment is also by Penny Black from their Tiny Wishes clear set.  I punched a heart using a Martha Stewart Looped Hearts edge punch ie: the heart is the leftover punchie from using the punch - then popped it up on dimensionals.  I added some Kindyglitz glitter glue to the heart, flowers and bee wings.

The pink cardstock underneath the image was diecut using a Nellie Snellen Doily flower multi-frames die and my Big Shot. 

The designer paper has been in my stash for a while and is by Echo Park - Country Drive.  I am still on my mission to shop my stash rather than buying papers and really just buying some on the odd occasion when I see them on special.  All the cardstock layers were trimmed to an 1/8" border using my Perfect Layers Tools.

Lastly, I tied on some ribbon and attached some pink pearls to the bottom right-hand side.  I added some Fray Stop to the cut ends of the ribbon.

I thought about adding some flowers or some other fancy thing but decided to keep it simple so it is pretty flat and I can just pop a thin piece of bubble wrap over the card to protect it and it is still flat enough to not cost more to post.  Plus I always struggle with adding lots of embellishments to my cards for some reason (?).  I love what other cardmakers do with adding flowers, flourishes, fancy corners, diecuts, bits and bobs but they just don't seem to look right most of the time when I do it - just can't seem to get the card to look "balanced" and it looks too busy.

I think you could use this card for not only a birthday but for friendship or just to say "hi". 

Before I go, I thought that I would share 10 random things about myself - just for something different to my usual posts:

1. My favourite season of the year is winter:  all that layering of clothes, wearing a scarf, mittens and long socks - snuggling down in bed with lots of blankets - sitting by the fire on a cold day - bring it on - I LOVE it!
2. I am a big fan of the UK show Time Team as I have a keen interest in British archaeology.  Although the show has now finished, I sit glued to the TV watching the repeats.  I was so sad when Mick Aston passed away a few weeks ago.   I also have a passion for Egyptian history and archaeology.
3. I was Dux of my Business College when I graduated (blush, blush) but if I had my time over, I would have chosen to do something in the field of archaeology rather than a secretary (or a bookkeeper as I became later on).
4. Apart from the UK Time Team, my other favourite TV shows are NCIS, Mythbusters and Call the Midwife - plus I watch AFL football no matter who is playing.  I also love to watch older shows like Seinfeld, Frasier, M*A*S*H and Stargate SG-1.  Not into all the reality TV Shows - it all just seems like a storm in teacup compared to being a full-time Carer!  All the so-called "drama" and couples arguing/fighting and the manufactured suspense I find irritating.  I am probably in the minority as the shows seem to rate their socks off! 
5. In my 20s, I was heavily involved in motorsport and was co-editor of a monthly motorsport magazine.  I also had my own racing car and competed in club level motorsport all over the state in which I live. 
6. I do NOT dance - EVER!  Not even at my own wedding.
7. My favourite football team in the AFL is the Geelong Cats and my favourite players are Joel Selward and Tom Hawkins
8. I am so thankful that my mother taught me how to knit and do embroidery when I was a child as I continue to love those crafts.
9. My favourite singers are Josh Groban and Michael Buble. 
10. I love to grow my own herbs and I make my own salad dressings using them.  You only need a few basic ingredients and it takes literally minutes - and tastes delicious.  Best thing is that you know what's in it and it really only costs a few pennies to make. 

So there you have it - a little bit more about me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:   Sentiment from Penny Black clear set Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Designer paper:  Echo Park Country Drive 12" x 12"

Accessories:  Penny Black Stickeroos from 'A Bunch of Love' sheet, pink stitched grosgrain ribbon, Fray Stop, Kaisercraft Hot Pink pearls, Kaisercolour chalks, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, Nellie Snellen Doily Flower Multiframes dies, Big Shot, dimensionals, Perfect Layers Tools, cardstock - white, rose pink, buttercream

Punches:  Martha Stewart Looped Hearts punch

Wings of Joy - Splitcoaststampers Christmas Fan Club

Hi blogging friends

I have some happy news!  I was asked to be a Guest Designer for the Splitcoaststampers July Fan Club Christmas Challenge!  WOW!   I nearly fell off my chair when Stacy (the Challenge Hostess) sent me a PM (private message on SCS) a few weeks ago and it took me about 2 seconds to reply "yes".  I feel so honoured to be asked.   The Fan Club Monthly Christmas Challenges only started this year and it is great to make a card each month to add to your Christmas Stash.  I only needed to make one card for the challenge, however, I decided to make 2 - one more layered and one clean and simple so that Stacy could choose which she preferred - and much to my surprise, Stacy chose both!  I do confess to being a little nervous when I was making my cards as I am a quiet and reserved person and never ooze with self-confidence.  Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed making my cards as I adore making Christmas cards - my favourite type of card to make!

My first card uses one of my favourite Christmas sets by Taylored Expressions:  Wings of Joy.  I stamped the image onto watercolour paper and coloured it with a mix of Lyra and Faber-Castell watercolour pencils and a paintbrush.  I added some Cotton White Fun Flock mixed with fine glitter to the bird's hat using Tombow Monoglue, and some Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the bird's wing as well as the holly leaves and berries.

The gorgeous designer papers are by My Mind's Eye - 12 days of Christmas.  I love, love, LOVE the colours in these papers - so pretty. 

The poinsettia was made using the Layered Poinsettia dies by Spellbinders and my Big Shot.  I used the 2 smallest dies for my flower then punched 3 circles from green glitter cardstock using a Carl CP-1 3/16" circle punch.  The Spellbinder dies come with the berries dies but they are too big for when you just make a smaller flower.  I bent the petals (technically, I think they are leaves) up to give them some dimension and used dimensionals for putting the flower together.  Here is a close-up - and you can see the Fun Flock on the bird's hat a bit better too:

The bottom panel was punched using my old favourite punch - Fiskars Threading Water. 

The grosgrain ribbon is by Dovecraft and the button which has had some sewing thread sewn through the holes, was glued on using Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue.  I added Fray Stop to the cut edges to stop them from fraying.

The layers were trimmed using my Perfect Layers Tools.  The red cardstock layer on the card base was trimmed to 1/16" and the green cardstock has been trimmed to 1/8".

Finished size is 5-7/8" x 4-1/8" imperial or 150mm x 105mm if you are metric.

My 2nd card is very simple:

The dry embossing is a Sizzix Textured Impressions embossing folder which was layered onto gold glitter cardstock then onto burgundy cardstock.  Both layers were trimmed to 1/16" using my Perfect Layers Tools. 

I again used my Spellbinders Poinsettia dies but punched the berries using my 3/6" circle punch out of gold glitter cardstock - and popped up the petals with dimensionals.

Finished size is 5-3/4" x 4-1/2" imperial or 146mm x 115mm if you are metric.

That's it:  easy peasy!

If you are a Fan Club Member of Splitcoaststampers, come and join us for the challenge and get ahead with your Christmas cards to avoid the rush later in the year.  Hope to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe - Card #1:

Stamps:  Taylored Expressions - Wings of Joy

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black

Designer Paper:  My Mind's Eye - 12 days of Christmas 12" x 12"

Accessories:  Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, 140lb watercolour paper, Lyra + Faber-Castell watercolour pencils, paintbrush, Big Shot, Spellbinder Rectangle Nestabilities + Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities + Layered Poinsettia dies, Perfect Layers Tools, dimensionals, Dovecraft ribbon, Fray Stop, Stampendous Cotton White fun flock mixed with fine glitter, Tombow Monoglue, Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue, green button + matching green sewing thread, cardstock - Christmas red and green

Punches:  Carl CP-1 3/16" circle, Fiskars Threading Water


Card Recipe - Card #2:

Stamps, Ink and Designer paper:  None

Accessories:  Big Shot, Sizzix Textured Impressions Joy w/Frame embossing folder #657981, dimensionals, Spellbinder Layered Poinsettia dies, cardstock - white, burgundy, gold glitter