Blogmas Day 4 - Handmade Christmas Cards

Oooh do I have a big juicy Christmassy post for you today!  So, I'd been planning on doing a step by step guide/tutorial on how to handmake Christmas cards literally for months, and on Thursday I actually sat down to make some, nothing like leaving it until the last minute eh?  Anyway, when I spammed facebook/twitter/instagram with pics of me making cards, I had a couple of people specifically ask how I made that particular design/style.  Now, these were left overs from last year, so I wasn't planning on making a bunch of them for this year, but I have made a few for the sake of this post for you :)  Anyway, I'm waffling now, so without further ado, here's how to do it :)

What you'll need

A pair of scissors

Double sided sticky tape

An assortment of card (colours of your choice)

A rubber stamp

Spongy sticky tape

An Ink it up ink pad (I usually use silver)

A Heat it up heat tool

Plain cards (size and colour of your choice)

Some Heat it up embossing powders (of your choice - I used snowflake and holographic mostly)

A piece of paper to protect your work area

Either a craft tidy or a piece of folded paper to pour unused glitter back into the tub

Step 1 - take your chosen stamp and the ink pad, and ink up the stamp well.

Step 3 - push the stamp down really hard on your chosen card for the stamp background.

Step 3 - you'll be left with this silver print on your card.

** YOU'LL NEED TO ACT FAST WHILE IT'S DAMP/TACKY **

**********

Step 4 - pick the Heat it up powder you want to use (I'm using Holographic)

Step 5 - generously cover the print to ensure it's completely covered

Step 6 - tap off the excess into a craft tidy or your folded piece of paper (then pour excess back into the pot)

**********

Step 7 - this is what it will look like

Step 8 - plug in the heat it up heat tool, wait for a good 5-10 secs to heat up, then hold it about 1inch away from the design, and slowly move it over, you'll see it change texture / colour as you go

Step 9 - take some scissors and cut out the design, leaving a small border around it

**********

Step 10 - this is what it should look like

Step 11 - cut out a rectangle of your chosen fancy paper to sit behind it, it'll need to be bigger than the stamped shape to leave a border and cover the back of your stamped card in double sided sticky tape

Step 12 - stick the stamp cutout onto the fancy paper, centering it

**********

Step 13 - take some spongy sticky tape and cut out two strips to sit on the back of the topper you've created

Step 14 - stick to chosen card, and done!

Step 15 - be very careful when putting glitter back into pot, this can happen :p

Also, have some fun with it, experiment with different embossing powders, different stamps on different cards and with different inks - each time you'll get a completely different effect, some will work and some won't, but finding out is the fun part :)

There'll be another instalment of card making in about a week with some different designs so watch this space!

This months big pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Anastasia from Fashion Ramble - be sure to head over to check out her beautiful blog <3

Christmas Card Craft Challenge - CCCC

Yes I know what you’re thinking, what the hell am I doing writing a post about Christmas in July.

And, with that, I’m not a million miles away from you.  However, with the task I’m setting myself this Christmas, I need to start planning it.  We’re over half way through the year, and time just keeps going faster and faster.

 Last Christmas I set myself the task of hand making every Christmas card I sent.  It’s a task I achieved and thoroughly enjoyed doing J

I came up with 4 different styles of card, and small variations within that theme.  I also ‘spread the love’ by putting a message on facebook to my near 400 friends, that if they wanted a Christmas card from me, they just had to inbox me their address.  The result was me sending a lot of cards, to people I wouldn’t have normally sent them too, and you know what?  I loved it J

So this year, I intend to do the same, but I’m also stepping it up a notch.  I’m going to handmake everyone’s presents too (this is excluding my husband – I’m sure he’ll want a real present)  J  I already have some ideas and things I’m going to start practising.

Your Challenge should you choose to accept it

Here is where I give you my invitation, I invite you all to hand-make your Christmas cards this year too J  I’ll be doing a series of tutorials on how to do different Christmas cards and different designs, all of which you are welcome to copy.  So, if you’re not super creative you don’t need to worry, I’ll guide you through it.

What I’ll also do, if you have a blog and you decide blog about it we can do a little tit for tat thing, I’ll do a list of your blogs that are doing it and post it on my blog, and in return when you post about your Xmas card project, just link back to me at the bottom of the post.

Who’s up for this fabulous Christmas Card Craft Challenge then?  Leave a comment below J

Pixi3 out

xXx