Snip, Snap, Crop

My last crop night for the year I didn't feel like scrapping so I took along this pack of chipboard toppers that were free with the Australian Simply cards magazine a short time ago. I found some old papers in my stash that matched the colours, found a couple of card maps and had a play. I had a couple of sticker sheets for greetings as I forgot to take my stamps and I think they came out kind of cute.  Not likely to be blogging before Christmas so to all my friends and family have a lovely Christmas and New Year and make sure you take some time out to be creative in the New Year. Melissa

Day 5 was a class about His and Hers holiday cards so I had a go with the designs by Kelly Rasmussen. Can you tell which is the feminine and which is the masculine?    The wrap up day had a faux letterpress technique by Jennifer MaGuire which I did like the look of and it took me ages to work out what I could use for it when I suddenly remembered a free die that I got with a magazine recently and used that. It is definitely a technique I need practice at because this is my second attempt  and I still have spots that I missed and places where I needed to scratch colour away. For a nice simple clean card it does work well though. The rest are just some extras that I did whilst playing with my stash at a crop last night. Stamps are from Whimsy stamps Christmas greetings and a Stampin' Up  single purchase stamp for this season. Last are left over stickers from a My Minds Eye - All is bright sticker sheet and some die-cuts. Thanks Josie for that lovely gli...

Just  a quick share using the same stamp set as I mentioned being the theme of Day 4 lessons. My take on Shari's and Kristina's cards using the Technique Tuesday - Good Cheer clear stamps by Ali Edwards.   There are not many picture stamps in this set so my play is limited but I'm sure there are lots of things I can come up with if I put my mind to it.  Now to venture on to day 5 lessons for a play...... Thanks for dropping by.....

I'm loving day 4 classes although I have not yet done the cards in the manner in which the lesson was intended. The lesson is about stretching your Christmas stamps and getting a few different designs from the same set of stamps.   I actually loved the colours and design of Shari's cards in the first part of the lesson so stuck with it and found an old Kaisercraft tree stamp. The greetings are from Technique Tuesday - Good Cheer by Ali Edwards and Paper Xtra - Christmas greetings.   I have definitely decided I am a stamp with the dye-ink first and then emboss over the top, kind of girl as I could just not bring myself to do it the other way around.    The rest of my shares today are designed by Ann Gerlach - my local Stampin' Up demonstrator   for her Stamp a Stack Christmas class that I went to on Tuesday afternoon. I did change up a couple (sorry Ann) when I got home but in the main stuck with the ones she had as the examples. Clearly I do no...

Just when I thought I was catching up nicely with the classes and keeping on top of the lessons, they throw in a couple of bonus weekend lessons..... Such great value these classes and so much fun to have a go at.   This top pair of cards are from Cristina Kowalczyk's idea of using stencils. More simple CAS cards that look very effective. I have used two different stencils from Crafter's workshop with some star sequins and bling on one with Kindyglitz on the other for the decorations. Stamped greetings are from Spellbinders - Heirloom ornament free stamps with a recent magazine and the Stamps of Life - lights4christmas set. The same three distress inks used on both cards - Peacock feathers, Peeled paint and Mustard seed.      This second pair of cards are from the teen crafters bonus ideas lesson. The card on the left inspired by Tanner Bell's design using the last of some scraps of Cloud 9 papers from several seasons ago.  The stamp on this is fr...

Another great idea by Shari Carroll was a CAS card that I have turned upside down really. It's a little different to the technique she was showing but I didn't have any stamps that would work with her technique so tried something a little different. I also do not own any long greeting stamps that would go across the card so instead found some old silver peel off stickers and painted them white with a paint pen and used that instead of a white embossed greeting. Stamp is from The Stamps of Life - holly4christmas set and I have coloured it using some frixion marker pens that I received as a gift from a Japanese exchange student. I really love the simplicity of this design but at the same time I am feeling like I need to add something to the bottom section of the card.  I will be good and resist the temptation though...... Happy Craftin'..........

 Shari has shared a great idea for using your die-cuts or punches for layering and this also makes a great card for using up all those scraps. It's a simple embossed background with stamped or patterned paper ribbon strips layered with a tag die-cut negative and punched circle with a stamped image and greeting on top. These are Kaisercraft papers from a freebie 6 x 6 pad that I received with a magazine recently. Stamp is from the Stamps of Life - Joy2christmas ? (I think) was the set. The die-cut sentiment is yet another from the Teresa Collins - December 25th Cricut cartridge which seems to be my go to cartridge for this years workshop. At least I am getting my monies worth from it. Thanks for stopping by..... Happy Craftin'...........