A Heavy Metal Birthday

It's been awhile since I got out the Ten Seconds Studio coloured aluminum and play around. Recently I needed to make a birthday card. I ran a couple shades of pink metal sheets through the Cuttlebug with some embossing folders and backed with Sookwang Tape to secure. I covered the join with a piece of pink velvet ribbon, which is a nice soft contrast to the shiny metal.

It is difficult to get a good photo of metal as it is so reflective. I tried a few angles here.

The flower was die cut twice with Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die and then I punched out a scallop and used a TSS mold to raise the letter "C" for the birthday girl's monogram. I used the ball and cup to add dots around the rim, and lightly sanded away the colour. The flower looks better In Real Life but you'll have to take my word for it!

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!

May your days be merry and bright!

How did I use that tag?

Remember this tag?

Here is the card I made with it:

O Christmas Trees!

Here is my last card for the monthly Christmas Card Challenge over in the forum at Waltzingmouse Stamps. For December we were tasked with creating a one layer card. 

While my card is one layer, I tried to make it interesting. I created an oval by selectively embossing the Holly Ribbon embossing folder in my Cuttlebug. To do this, I place a wooden frame with an oval cut out over my embossing folder and fed it through the machine. This created pressure on all areas around the oval cut out, but left the center oval smooth and flat.

Then I stamped and masked the small and large trees from Nutcracker Sweet and chalked a gradient background. I coloured the trees with Copics. I buffed a silver green metallic wax over the embossing to highlight it a bit, then added a red bow to complement the scheme. Even though it is one layer, I think it has a lot of dimension to it. The teal blue green and lime are a little out there for Christmas colours so I am also entering this in the weekly Christmas Card Challenge that asked for non-traditional colours, and the Seriously Creative Challenges for the simple theme of Christmas.

Christmas Tag and Card for a Knitter

Here's a tag I made from Ten Seconds Studio gold coloured aluminum and a Waltingmouse Stamp from the Nutcracker Sweet set. I ran the metal through my Cuttlebug to emboss with D'vine Swirls:

And here is a special card I made for my dear friend (and avid knitter) Mary:

Front of card, Stampington & Company stamps.

Inside of card

Christmas Card Challenge - CAS Style

The Waltzingmouse Stamps Christmas Card Challenge is coming to a close for 2011 and I have really enjoyed the monthly sparks of creativity. That is, until November. That month, our hostess Lynn Mercurio announced that Clean and Simple Style was the theme. I am sure Lynn thought she was doing everyone a favour choosing something simple. However, this is the theme that was my nemesis. I am not comfortable with white space. I don't do simple. And one look at my crafting space dispels any notion of clean.

It took a month and a half but I finally got inspired. I don't actually need any more Christmas cards, but little gift cards will come in handy as I shift into baking and gift-wrapping mode this week.

The rule was they needed to be completed in about 10 minutes, and once I had the idea for these, that's about how long they took, even with the heat-set Swarovski crystal in the center. They run about 3.5 inches square and I cuttlebug embossed the card front before adding the Frame It layer with the Very Vintage Christmas Stamp Set snowflake at its center.

Clean and Simple Style vanquished! I have entered this in the WMS Sketch Challenge, too.

Labels and Tags for a Good Cause

Today was a fun day! My department hosted the December Monthly Celebration (communal coffee break) at work and we held a baking day to prepare for it. We baked so many goodies (10 or 11 recipes) that we had enough excess to make up five Incredible, Edible Gift Baskets to have as door prizes. We collected Twoonies (the Canadian $2 coin) and gave out draw tickets. All the money ($132) will be going to a local food bank.

I used a number of Waltzingmouse Stamps to create labels and tags. I covered a bottle of wine with a sleeve and a Labels 21 die cut from gold mirror card. Very luxe. Then I added a label made from one of my newer Irish purchases, the Seasonal Remedies set. For the items above, I was greatly inspired by a WMS design team member, Laurie Schmidlin, and her sweet gift set pictured here.

Homemade Raspberry Jam

For this wee jam jar, the sentiment (also from Seasonal Remedies) was embossed in silver, as was the holly medallion stamped from the Around Christmastime set.

The jam and homemade "Rainforest Crisps" packaged for a draw.

Santa (also from Around Christmastime) is featured on this large tag made with the 2010 Heirloom Ornaments Spellbinders die. I embossed the fellow in gold. I dusted off my EZ Bowmaker to create the gold wired ribbon bow.

Wine bottle stands upright in this gold star-shaped wire basket with sleeves of cookies in each of the star points.

Closeup of the fun label for the wine.

Below you can see one of two coiled wire baskets we filled with my personal fave. The simple label is created with Majestic Blue Versafine using a stamp from the Rescue Remedies set.

Homemade Almond Roca - the best!

It was a fun day with my staff making the goodies, and then a fun, fast half hour break with our colleagues to enjoy the fruits of our labours. A nice way to usher in the Christmas season, raise money for charity, and play with my stamps!