Thursday 21 September 2017

Scrappy Christmas Cards


How are you going at getting ready for Christmas? I've been making some Christmas cards and some Christmas jewellery gift boxes for a friend who makes jewellery.

These cards have been made using offcuts and scraps from the Christmas card kits that I prepared for the Rural Women's Retreat a few weeks ago (see one of my earlier blogs). I cut up DSP (Designer Series Paper) for the card fronts and was left with a whole bunch of strips measuring around half an inch wide. I found a video on You Tube about how to use these so I gave it a go.

I made three cards using scraps - I still have plenty of scraps to make some more!

Cut your card base to whatever size you want (mine are 4" x 6"). You'll need a piece of cardboard cut to size for your card (mine are 3.5" x 5.5"). Any old cardboard will do, you won't be able to see it when you've finished - it's a good opportunity to use those pieces of cardboard that come with the packs of DSP! I used Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets on the backing cardboard so I could lay down the strips easily. I could have used glue but I didn't want to be bothered with applying more and using it before it dried, plus the Adhesive Sheets give you full 100% coverage on the backing, no bits falling off later.

Lay down the strips diagonally in any order to make a nice pattern. Start in the middle and work out to the edges. Try to use paper that is the same thickness (but different widths are fine) and don't worry about what piece goes where - there's no right or wrong with this technique. Don't forget to use both sides of the DSP, too. Once the backing is fully covered, just trim off the excess paper around the edges and adhere the front to the card base. Stamp your sentiment onto Whisper White cardstock using coordinating ink, then punch or die-cut the labels, mount them with Stampin' Dimensionals and decorate the card with some rhinestones. You can use coordinating cardstock to make a mat if you choose. Here are close up shots of the three cards that I've made so far.

This one has a Cherry Cobbler mat under the front piece and I punched a Starburst in Garden Green to place under the sentiment label.

I love the Stitched Shapes Framelits dies, that 'stitching' around the edge gives it that extra oomph

This technique works on cards in any format (landscape or portrait)

I also used some scraps to make pinwheel embellishments for those gift boxes that I mentioned earlier, but more about those next time.



Thanks for reading, I hope it's given you some ideas.

Ellen Budden



No comments:

Post a Comment