Fantasy Forest

If you would like to make this card which I have named Fantasy Forest this is how.

You will need:

Crimson Cloud Elegant Stag & Sentiments Stamp set

Crimson Cloud Guardian Angel Stamp Set

Spellbinders Shapeabilities Foliage 2

Spellbinders Grand Decorative Ovals die set

Spellbinders Grand Ovals die set

Encore Metallic Silver

Cosmic Shimmer Glue

Creative Expressions Pearl Hat Pins

Stamp & Bond

Fun Flock

Ribbon

Mounting Foam

Let’s get started:

Cut out the three largest of the Decorative Ovals in white card stock.

Cut out the largest Grand Ovals from white card stock and make a crease 1” from the top to attach to the front of the card. Cut 0.5 inches off the bottom to stabilise the oval so your card base won't fall over!

On your smallest Decorative Oval, stamp out the stag in Encore Metallic Silver, sprinkle with Stamp and Bond and heat. Then quickly pour over Fun Flock and leave to dry before you brush off the surplus. Do the same with the Joy & Peace sentiment from the Guardian Angel stamp set. If you don't have fun flock, glitter would work well too.

Whilst you are waiting, ink up another piece of white card stock lightly with Encore Silver Metallic pour over the Stamp and Bond heat and cover with Fun Flock and leave to dry, it only takes a few minutes to be safe.

In the meantime layer up your Decorative Ovals with mounting foam to give your card dimension. Next thread through your ribbon through the holes around the edges of the largest oval. Mine is a soft velvet as the effect of the Fun Flock also gives a velvet look. 

Now your original Fun Flock sheet should be dry and you can cut out as many of the Foliage 2 dies as you would like and lay them out. 

Once you’re happy with the lay out fix with Cosmic Shimmer Glue. Mount up your sentiment with mounting tape and add a few pearl hat pins to give a pearly fragile feel.

That’s it another Christmas card done and dusted!

Enjoy,

Linda

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Mid Winter Festival

This card brings to mind a more of a mid-winter festival, rather than a traditional Christmas card.

To make this card you will need:

Crimson Cloud Language Background Stamp

Grand Nestabilities Large Labels

Spellbinders Cherry Blossoms

Spellbinders Fall Foliage 

Creative Expressions Cream Pearl Hat Pins

Cosmic Shimmer Glue

Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powder- Lapis Black

Versamark Pad

Glitter glue

A piece of your favourite ribbon – optional

Mounting Tape

Silicone Glue

Here’s how:

Take half an A4 sheet of dark green card stock and cut an aperture with the size three Grand Nesties Large Labels die.

Cut another half of A4 in a contrasting green with the size 4 Large Labels die.

Fix one to the other and these form your ‘mount and frame’.

Stamp out the Languages Background Stamp with Versamark and emboss with the Lapis Black.

Take a new sheet of A4 Card stock in the dark green and fold in half. Centre your Language Background and fix to the backing card. Then use mounting tape to attach and centre your ‘Mount & Frame’ over the language backing.

Now you can play!

Cut out as many of the ‘Fir’ branches as you would like from the Fall Foliage dies. I used a whole sheet of A4 to make it abundant, then die cut some pine cones and acorns.

The twigs were cut from the Cherry Blossoms dies.

I had a piece of holly ribbon in my stash which I glued around and under the frame with Cosmic Shimmer Glue. You could use red or tartan if at all; it looks just as pretty without!

Decide on your lay out and fix with the glue. I used silicone inside the pine cones to give them some relief.

Lift the whole thing with some glitter glue and finally get out your hat pins.

I am very pleased with the result and I hope you will be too.

Linda xxx

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Christmas for Men

This is an option for the often "difficult to make for" men in our lives using the second tree in our Script Trees stamp set

I started by creating a card blank using red card stock.

Using patterned paper, I trimmed a sheet to fit the card blank and die cut a square aperture using the Spellbinders Grand Squares.

Using a silver coordinating card stock, I die cut another square to fit in the aperture and mounted onto the card front.

Using the free Christmas Tree SVG from Crimson Cloud I cut out 4 trees in increasing sizes. I started with 3.600” x 3.800” and increased with increments of .200” height and width. 

Recut the second and fourth tree from your pretty paper and attach to the card stock to give some substance.

I stamped by tree onto the top die cut in silver and layered up the trees using mounting tape and fixed to the front of the card.

I stamped and mounted the sentiment with foam tape for dimensions.

To finish I added a few silver gems to create a very pretty but also masculine card for a change.

Enjoy,

Linda xxx

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Lacy Stag

I seem to have come through my minimalist period and as is typical am now travelling in the opposite direction to more and more decadent. But, hey if you can’t be decadent at Christmas when can you?

Deciding that this Christmas I would go for a glitzy but elegant feel I created this card. If you would like to recreate it, this is how:

Cut a piece of card stock 7” x 7” and cover with double sided sticky sheet and cut to the same size.

Decide what you would like to use as your ‘night sky’. I used an elaborate lacy fabric which is semi see-through so I used a matching card stock beneath it.  

You could use any fabric or a glitzy paper bearing in mind you will use it again on your stag. Now apply this to your sticky card stock and trim to tidy if necessary.

Stamp out the stag from Crimson Cloud Elegant Stag and Sentiments Set and cut it out. 

Again I used the same colour as my sky knowing I would be able to see through the fabric. Cover the cut out stag with double sided sticky sheet and your fabric or paper and cut out around the outline.

Using Spellbinders Grand Ovals Nestabilities, cut out two ovals in contrasting colours which you will arrange on your card base create the illusion of depth and forestry. 

On the larger ‘oval’ place the large leaf from Spellbinders Foliage die set only halfway over the right hand edge and cut out, keeping the cut out to use in your ‘Christmas tree’.

Cut the leaf out again in full in a contrasting colour then fix the saved half leaf into the centre with a little transparent glue and hold for a while to make sure it is truly dry then place to one side.

On the smaller oval shape that has been trimmed to your card base, emboss with a smaller leaf from your Foliage dies to give an impression of shrubbery in your forest. Now cut out the same leaf three times in the same colour and set aside.

Layer up your oval shapes with mounting tape one on top of the other. Mount your beautiful stag and fix your ‘tree’ into the cut out area and glue only the centres of your other leaves to finish your ‘bushes’.

Using the Grand Ovals cut another shape that will line up with the top of your smaller oval and stamp with ‘Joy & Peace’ from the Crimson Cloud Guardian Angel Sentiments Set

Stamp out the guiding star from the Elegant Stag Set and cut out. Heat emboss with Encore Metallic Silver pad and Cosmic Shimmer Silver Shine Embossing Powder. I embossed three times to get a really smooth and 3D look. Fix this in place with a silicone glue dot.

Finally use a few bits of the left over fabric or paper to ‘ground’ your stag and decorate. 

Attach  to a 7” x 7” white card base and you’re done.

I think it looks beautiful and I hope you do too.

Enjoy,

Linda

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Love Stretches Your Heart

For your Persian Prince!

Cut out the largest Grand Nesties Squares out twice to create your card base.

Cut the next two smaller sizes in the colours of your choice. 

Emboss your smallest die cut square with the Hedged Maze embossing folder and layer up onto the card base.

Now using Spellbinders Persian Accents, cut out 4 strips to the length of your square.

Layer up your strips facing each other and attach either side of the square. 

Cut out 2 Persian Motif large circles in alternating colours and arrange. 

Cut out a small circle to fit the centre of your motifs and stamp with your chosen sentiment.

Layer up with foam tape and embellish with Persian Motifs smaller flowers. Decorate with pearly glues and brads.

Punch or die cut a decorative border for the top. The border at the bottom of the card is a strip of the waste created by cutting the Accents strip and decorated with brads.

 I hope whoever you make this card for really appreciates it.

Linda xxxx

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British Wildflowers

The inspiration for this card comes from my continual amazement at man’s quiet competition with nature. Man builds a wall,  leaves it neglected for long enough and Mother Nature comes along and reclaims it. The smallest crack of soil and she puts her seeds down and claims it back as her own.

For this card you will need:

 

Creative Expressions British Wild Flowers stamp sheet

Spellbinders Grand Large Labels

Spellbinders Labels Twenty One

Creative Expressions Brick Embossing Folder

Vintage Ribbon Amber

American Seam Binding Moss Green

Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue - Olympic Gold

Cosmic Shimmer PVA glue - Dark Bronze

Encore UltimateMetallic Copper ink pad

Cosmic Shimmer Copper Bronze Lustre Embossing Powder

Here’s how -

Cut and emboss 2 of the 2^nd largest Grand Labels. Score and fold back a quarter of an inch to the top of one and fix together to create your card blank. Cut and emboss the 3^rd largest Grand Label die and mount onto the card with mounting foam. 

The last Grand Label is the 4^th largest which after cutting I ran through the Grand Callibur with the brick embossing folder which I had lightly covered with Metallic Copper to give it that aged look.

Now using Nestabilities Labels Twenty One cut out and emboss the second, third, and fourth sizes and run them through with the brick embossing folder lightly coated once again. Remember to put them in the right way up to line up with the wall! How do I know this?? - you may well ask!  

Lastly cut three of the smallest Labels 21 for your butterflies. 

Stamp out your flowers and sentiment - I chose ‘Love is like wildflowers - it’s often found in the most unlikely places’ in Encore Ultimate Metallic Copper and heat emboss with Cosmic Shimmer Bronze Lustre powder. Using the coloured ink pad and coordinating embossing powder gives the colour more depth I feel.

Using double sided sticky tape attach to your main wall and using the ribbons create a little ruffle above and below your two largest labels. Layer up your label shapes - lining up with the lines of the wall. This makes it look as though the flowers are growing against the wall. 

Mount your sentiment with foam tape to offset and add a couple of pretty brads.

Attach your butterflies and you're almost there. Use a little of the Cosmic Shimmer PVA glues Olympic Gold and Dark Bronze to ‘ground’ your flowers and to pretty them up a little. This ties up nicely with a few pearls created from the same colours in the corners.

Have fun with this one,

Linda

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Layers Challenge

This week we have entered the Allsorts blog challenge - the theme was "Layers"

This cute little card was made with my daughter in mind, and all Mother and Daughters separated at Christmas time.

I cut three of squares in decreasing sizes using the Spellbinders Grand Squares.

Having folded all the squares in half to create triangles I set about blending one of the squares with Tim Holtz Dried Marigold Distress Ink and edged the reverse side. 

The card stock I used is textured so it gave a nice uneven look to it.  

I cut three more small squares (about 2 inches wide) and blended them with ink on the reverse and sides.

Using the tree from Crimson Cloud Script Trees Stamp Set 

and the Dried Marigold ink I stamped the top half of the third largest square which you see standing up. 

The three largest squares were layered together to create the card base.

Using the sentiments from the same stamp set I stamped “WITH LOVE – FROM FAR AWAY” on one of the 2 inch squares and attached the point of the triangle - making sure only to glue the bottom half.

The other two 2 inch folded squares were attached behind the greeting. I created some little parcels from card stock and tied them with string (tip: for the sake of your sanity, fix down with a sticky dot whilst you do this!).  The parcels were arranged and attached to the upright backs of the orange squares.

Along the crease, to increase the 3D effect I cut out a strip from Edgeabilities laid and glued behind the parcels.

On the outside of the card, I punched and attached a decorative border and embellished with gems.

With another sentiment from the set I stamped a tag with “Darling Daughter” once again with Dried Marigold and tied with more string – done!

My Darling Daughter unfortunately cannot have this little card now as she will have seen it!!

But I hope the rest of you enjoy it?

Linda xx

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Pre-order the latest Spellbinder releases

The latest Spellbinders dies are now available for pre-order at www.crimsoncloud.co.uk.
Check out the "Coming Soon" section for these and many more dies!

This is just a taster of the range we have on order - I can't wait for these to arrive!!
Mel xxx Pin It Now!