What I have Been Doing This December with Beautiful Baubles.

I have been making lots with Beautiful Baubles stamp set, some from chance and others by design.

These first two cards were by design, in that I knew what I was going to do before I started. I was going to make a stamped bauble background and layer up a couple of baubles (one die cut) in the other card, and I was going to colour using blenders. The card on the left used the 'spotlight' technique. I stamped out the bauble to make a background with Versa Mark ink and then silver embossed it. While I did that I stamped out some extra baubles and embossed those as well. I then coloured one of the baubles and the extra baubles using blenders. The colour combination on the left used Light Sea Foam, Highland Heather, Pear Pizzazz. The bauble on the right was coloured with Light Pear Pizzazz, Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay and Pool Party.

I did say I stamped out extra baubles (as in the second card) and coloured them.  When I was tidying my table I went to put the left over baubles in a box which I keep on my table for leftover bits and pieces. I started sorting through the things which were in this box as it was starting to overflow and that's when the next couple of cards evolved.
I found some bokeh background panels which I thought would team well with baubles.  I had gone crazy a while back with the bokeh technique.  If you are not sure what that is, here's a quick explanation - sponge 2-3 colours on a piece of Whisper White cardstock, then take a circle stencil and sponge a variety of circles sizes, some overlapping with Craft Ink.




Not only did I find those unused Bokeh backgrounds I also found this 'smooshed' watercolour piece. It wasn't difficult working out what to do with it - just take a look at the card on the right. I teamed the smooched paper with some Sparkling Glimmer paper to make two beautiful baubles.
I also had the flurry of snowflakes sitting on my desk waiting to be used. I had collected this die cut from an evening at Sue Madox's (my upline demonstrator). I was going to make something with it but I had drawn a blank. But while I was making the smooshed bauble card, a lightbulb went off in my head - of course, the perfect background for a snowflake flurry. And so that's how the card on the left evolved.

December Card Class and News on 2019 Classes

This is what we made in our December card class.  We found during the year that making three cards in a session was too rushed and left little time for  exploring card techniques. 

It seems that's what we want to do most in class are techniques! This is what I enjoy too and can't wait to start! 

So taking all that into account I have made a few changes. Firstly, I am reducing the number of cards made in class from 3 to 2.  This will allow for time to learn a technique which then can be added into a Class Technique Book. 

I will have weekly classes scheduled in January and February on a Wednesday and a monthly class on a Friday to begin with. 

All classes run for two hours now with a $20 charge (down from $25).  Also, you will required to bring your own essential tools (eg. scissors, paper piercer, etc) and anything that sticks (all adhesives, dimensionals, rhinestones and pearls).

I am continuing with the complimentary class with any order for over $30 including p/h. A great way of earning free classes! Free classes must be taken within the four weeks following the order date or by negotiation.

November Card Class Cards

 If you wasn't at my November card class, this is what you missed, plus your choice from one of the gorgeous cards from the Timeless Tidings Kit!
Hope to see you in my next class, and can you believe it the last class for the year on 5th December!

Make More Cards with Your Timeless Tiding Kit.

I am a fan of YouTube and I was viewing  a video by Rachel Tessman where she made double the cards by cutting up some of the cards from the kit. I thought that it was a wonderful idea and I thought I would give it a go! My card kit class was coming up so I challenged myself to make some  alternatives to share.  Rachel also had some tips with how to use up the scraps from the gold foil.  She used some kind of plastic wrap which came on a roll which she used to pick up the tiny leftover pieces from the edgings to make another edging. So I tried it with Sellotape and it worked just as well. If you are not following me now it will become clearer with my card examples which follow.
Here's my take on making some alternative designs and some tips to help you with yours.

   The card on the left is the original card kit design and my card is on the right.  I used some discontinued (Always Artichoke) cardstock but Old Olive or Pear Pizzazz would work just as well!  I left off the flagged sentiment and did all my stamping on the inside.
Notice the difference with the gold foil border on the side of the holly?
I used what was left after peeling the border (for the first card) from the foil sheet.  I picked the leftovers up with Sellotape and made it into a new border.  It adhered down and peeled away without any problems. Just had my paper-piercing tool ready to help stick down any stray pieces.

Again the top card is from the kit and I made two cards by cutting the decorative panel in two.
For both of my cards I added a versa mark and gold embossed tree.  The tree stamp is from the Timeless Tiding stamp set.
I mounted the tree piece onto a scrap of Tranquil Tide cardstock and adhered it to a thick Very Vanilla cardbase.  I gold embossed the sentiment from the Merry Christmas to All stamp set.
The second card was mounted on a panel cut from another card kit card base and trimmed with Tranquil Tide Velvet ribbon. The tree panel was mounted on a black section of card base cut from another card base from the kit and trimmed with some gold leftover border trim.
Both cards were finished with some bling! I coloured some rhinestones with a Dark Mango Melody Blender. Almost looked the same as the gold coloured rhinestones provided.

Moving onto the third card from the kit which is the top left card. I made two cards by cutting the decorative piece in two.
The portrait card was made using a section I cut a section from another cardbase (diagonal stripe) provided and adhered it to an Always Artichoke cardbase. I stamped the sentiment from the co-ordinating stamp set onto some Whisper White cardstock. I also stamped the rings around it from an old stamp set Cheers to the New Year. The band of ribbon and bow used the Merry Merlot & Copper Ribbon.
The landscape card used a section cut from one of the provided cardbases, adhered to a Always Artichoke card base. The gold trim was a side piece leftover from one of the stickers sheet.


The last card is very similar to the original.  Again I used the scrap from the first card border trim to border the decorative panel. What you can't see is that the front of the card is sitting on a Whisper White cardbase as I used the back of it (diagonal stripe card base) to make a decorative paper in another card. Also the gold trim on the Merry Christmas sentiment stripe used the edge of a scrap of leftover foil trim. 









Hope you got some ideas, tips or inspiration from this post. I haven't counted up the number of cards I have made with this kit, but it is quite a few more than expected and  I still have some pieces leftover which could still be made into more cards!

Dashing Dear Silhouette Card with Bronze Embossed Edging.

I simply love this stamp set (Dashing Dear), I really should say I love the dear thinlit from this bundle.  I also have gone mad using Bronze foil with the Joyeous Noel Speciality DSP, so much so that I had none left to use on this card.  After the dear was cut from the Whisper White cardstock, I dragged it through my Versa Mark stamp pad and dipped the edges in bronze embossing powder. It gave a touch of bronze to the edges.  If I was to do this again I think that I would tilt the Whisper White paper more when dragging it through the Versa Mark pad to give a wider border
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Three Cards, One Layout Using Merry Christmas To All Bundle with Joyeous Noel Speciality DSP.

Very little stamping with these cards. No need with such beautiful designer papers! The 'merry' sentiment and flourish was stamped with co-ordinating ink from the paper.  The 'Christmas' was cut with a thinlit using Copper Foil. 

Beautiful Day - Watercolour Butterfly

Today's card uses the butterfly from the Beautiful Day stamp set. On my last blog post I stamped it with Versa Mark ink and white embossed it on vellum, I did the same with today's card but swapped the vellum for water colour paper. The sections on the butterfly's wing was simply coloured using Coastal Cabana (light sections) and Bermuda Bay (darker sections) with my Aqua Painter filled with water. I washed around the butterfly with very diluted Coastal Cabana ink. I trimmed the paper down and mounted on some Silver foil paper and  adhered it to a Coastal Cabana card base.  I used the small birthday sentiment from Happy Birthday Gorgeous in Bermuda Bay. The ribbon is some from my stash in Bermuda Bay.