Bright Leaf Thank-You Card

This thank-you card was made from a Hobbycraft 5x5 white notecard. Firstly I adhered a piece of green polka dot patterned paper from the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook 6x6 paper pad. I used the scallop blade cartridge from my American Crafts paper trimmer to create a decorative top edge and a Tonic Simplicity border punch to create a decorative bottom edge. Next I adhered pieces of Stampin' Up Crushed Curry chevron ribbon to the top and bottom of the patterened paper. I then cut another piece of patterned paper from the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook 6x6 paper pad. I used my Cricut Mini and the Cindy Loo cartridge to die-cut the thank-you sentiment. I then adhered the die-cut paper to the front of the card. I completed my design using dark brown twine, a clear button from Hobbycraft and a wood veneer heart from Studio Calico.

Gilded Reindeer Christmas Cards

So these two cars are my Christmas cards for 2013. I wanted to create a fairly simple design that would be relatively easy to produce in large numbers. I started out with a white 5x5 card blank from Hobbycraft. I used a peice of patterened paper from Crate Paper's Sleigh Ride collection (yes, I know it's last years collection but I just love it so much that I had t use it again this year!). I cut each 12 x 12 sheet into nine 4x4 squares and gently distressed the edges of each using my Stampin' Up distress tool. The stamped design is from a UK stamp company called IndigoBlu - I fell in love with this design, called Merry Christmas Deer, when I saw it on the Create and Craft tv channel. Indigoblu also make a product called FlitterGlu which allows you to use a stamp an image and adhere gilding flakes to it. I used gold and silver flakes for my two card designs. It's pretty easy to achieve quite impressive results, if a little messy - but that's all part of the fun of Christmas crafting! I used red Papermania gemstones for the reindeers' noses. To complete my cards I used hemp twine and wood veneer snowflakes, both bought at Hobbycraft.

I didn't want to give everyone exactly the same card so I varied the design using a different patterened paper from the same Crate Paper collection, as well as varying the colour of gilding flakes I used.