Rudolph Day Challenge # May 2023

I am trying a few different techniques to make cards this year as my hands have not allowed me to do much stamping and colouring, so this month I had a go at casing a card I received last Christmas. I liked it but it didn't lend itself to recycling as the only option would have been to just cut out the whole card front and put it on a new card base - not what I do. 

So instead I used Photoshop to download one of my 'go-to' backing papers and typed the word Peace on to it in upper case letters. Then I isolated each letter and adjusted its size to add interest.

Next I searched though the hundreds, (possibly over a thousand) scrapbook kits that I have on my computer, trying to find a Christmas one that had pictures of the nativity characters that weren't cartoon ones. It turned out I had very little choice but eventually settled on these ones.

I sliced the group of three kings to give one single one that I moved behind the letter 'P' and two that I placed in front of it. I similarly split the two shepherds to put one in each layer, and resized the Mary-Joseph-baby trio to fit nicely into the letter 'C'. 

I then spent ages searching for an angel that was seated and looking down and managed to find one in free clip-art. So I resized her to sit on top of the A.

When I was happy with the composition, I cropped it to fit on a DL card and printed it. 

Then I ungrouped the layers and removed the three front layer elements to print separately, and finally removed the back layer leaving only the script. I was able to trace this, and cut it from some gold textured paper in my silhouette, also cutting a simple star from my library.

After many years of using my silhouette cameo machine, I have now learned to successfully use the print and cut feature, (I have had very mixed results up to now but I think I have finally cracked it!), so I took my three printed foreground characters, traced them in the silhouette software and sent them to cut out. 

Then it was a case of gluing the background picture to a DL base card, adding the gold letters and star, and then decoupaging the two kings, the shepherd and the angel with a little silicone glue to give them some dimension.

All this was a bit time consuming but once I was happy with how it came together, I made three more identical ones very quickly, and would be able to make more just as easily if I need them.

I know there is more detail here than some of you need to see, but I know some folk like to see how a card is made so hopefully I have answered all your questions.

Now it is time to link up to the Rudolph day Challenge at Scraps of life by Scrappy Mo.

Rudolph Day Challenge # April 2023

A while back I bought a simple cutting die from a well-known Chinese outlet, so this month I gave it its first trial. This is the card I made.

I liked the simplicity of the image so I decided to find other ways for using it. In the end I made six cards, all similar yet all different. For some I used the die cut-outs, and for others I used the negative space on a contrasting mat. It was a good way to use up a few snippets of paper, and I raided my stash for sentiments, ribbons etc. I made a collage of the six cards to show how versatile the little die is.

So now I will link this up to Rudolph Day Challenge #April over at Scrappy Mo's blog. See you there?

Rudolph Day Challenge #March2023

This month I tried something a bit different for me, as I wanted some 'almost' one layer cards for ease of posting, which is getting to be a bit of a nightmare internationally.

I don't see a lot of digistamps that I like but there is one designer I return to over and over and her name is Jan Mahew. So I chose three of her stamps, which are fun and relatively easy to colour, and printed them at A5 size. Then I used my copic markers to colour them. I printed them again and cut out the main characters as a mask so I could dust a little distress ink around them and take the bright white off the backgrounds, and then scanned them into my computer. 

In photoshop I opened a backing paper from my library and added a mask, (bought from a scrapbook site but I am not sure which one). I imported one of my coloured images and clipped it to the mask and flattened it to save as a jpeg. I did this for all three images choosing different backing papers for each one and then I printed them out three times each.

Finally I cut each one to fit a standard card base and just added a stamped sentiment, some glitter glue and a few peel-off snowflakes. 

As these are now stored on my computer I could print off more if I needed them.

I also realised I still have the original three coloured images and although they are bigger than my final print outs, I think I could use them without a backing paper, and just add a simple frame, and I will have three more cards. I don't like to waste anything so I will see what I can do.

I am linking these to the Rudolph day Challenge over at Scraps of Life with Scrappy Mo.

Rudolph Day Challenge 2023# February

Usually my February entry is a card made from a recycled one I received. This year I had very few suitable salvaged pieces, but I did keep two lovely images of robins, and these are the cards I made.

For the one on the left I used a new doiley die from China trimmed to suit my need, and some digital background paper from my files.

The one on the right has a new die cut frame and a recycled card base that was complete with the gold corners.

As I sorted out the mess on my desk I found a few previously cut pieces, as well as some older cards kept from previous years, so I sorted them out and tried to make a card from each one, or a from a combination of them.  When I recycle cards I always make sure mine look very different from the original, and always add some form of my own crafting. 

I was pleased to use up so many pieces, and ended up with a set of nine cards. (2 above plus 7 below). You should be able to click on this picture to enlarge it and see them better. 

I used too many dies, stamps and papers to list but if you would like to know what any of them are, please ask.

Now I will link them up with the Februaury Rudolph Day Challenge over at Scraps of Life by Scrappy Mo, and see what everyone else has made.

Rudolph Day Challenge #January 2023

I have made a good start to my 2023 collection of cards. I often buy Christmas related items, stamps, dies, papers etc, too late to use them so at the start of a new year I look for things that have not been used. This month I have gone with a set of cutting files from DreamOnPrint. They were a bundle including a long advent calendar, several small ornaments and the one I chose to use which is a set of Cathedral Windows depicting parts of the nativity story. They were intended to be cut from lightweight wood or heavy card for a large wall display, but I decided to down-size them to fit on a DL card. 

I used an odd piece off-white card for the base, and various snippets of brown and gold card for the elements.

I liked the result so I made five more using some 300g bright white card for the bases, and a mixture of oddments for the rest of the layers. I did make sure to use the same colour pieces for the three windows on each card. 

Many years ago, maybe twenty years, I bought my first cutting machine, a Craft Robo, at a craft show at NEC Birmingham, and because it was at a show, I was given a whole range of paper and card and some cutting files to start me off. Among the paper was a lot of thinnish gold paper that may have been plastic, because it was textured but it had no fibres, and therefore it cut beautifully. I have used it for odd things over the years and for these cards I used up all the last little pieces, just managing to cut all the window frames, trees and stable scenes, one at a time. The grid on the cutting mat makes it possible to put these scraps in just the right place to match the position of the image in the software. I am sad it has all gone, but at least I made good use of every little piece.

To finish my cards I stamped a simple sentiment at the top using a very old Inkylicious stamp.

And now I have a set of six cards to start off my collection.

Now I shall link ip with Rudolph Day Challenge# January  and

The Snippets Playground

Rudolph Day Challenge# November 2022

Well my cards are mostly written and all the ones for UK and other countries have been posted, so this month I have made something a bit different. I used svg files bought from a designer on Etsy, and uploaded them into my silhouette Cameo machine. It was in a good mood and cut everything very well, with none of the usual problems.

I chose this Nativity scene and as I had quite a bit in stock, I used some Vanilla American craft card. The style of sculpture is called slice-form, and it it consists of many layers of card, (about 32 layers in this one), which are interlocked using carefully placed slots. It is fiddly to do, and annoying sometimes when as you put one piece in place, another pops out again. But it gradually stabilises as the shape is completed.  Mine had a small LED light base , purchased from Amazon, placed underneath it. 

This is the view from the top, so you can see how the layers fit together.

I was quite pleased with the result, but once I understood how it worked, I wanted to have another go, so I asked my husband Chris to chose another design, and he chose this one. I bought a pad of white 216gm card for this, and as it is a sphere without any construction for a base under it, the light shines though better, and I actually like this one the best. 

Although not a card, these do fold flat to go in a large envelope so could be posted, and it also makes it easy to store for another year.

I am linking this with Rudolph Day Challenge over at Scrappy Mo's, and also with 

ABC Cristmas Challenge # W is for white.

Rudolph Day Challenge# October 2022.

Here are my cards for Rudolph Day this month. I have been sorting through my files and came across this cut file from Dreaming Tree and decided it deserved a turn to be used. I am wary because it has several layers and I have to watch the weight of my cards for posting to UK, but I do hand deliver some locally  so I decided to go ahead.  Each card has three layers on the front plus three for the banner, and inside there are four layers plus the star. 

As with all the Dreaming Tree files I have bought, it cut well on my Silhouette Cameo machine and went together easily - they do have a good assembly video on their site if you need it.

I used three shades of plain card for the base cards, white and cream pearliosed paper and two types of mirri card and managed to make six cards in three colourways.

Inside the card there is a fancy panel to write on and the cameo image seen through the 'window' on the front.

I am entering this in Rudolph Day# October 2022 over on Scrappy mo's blog, and

 ABC Christmas Challenge which this month is U for an Unusual colour. I hope my green card qualifies.

Rudolph Day 2022# September

 A couple of months ago Sue used some images and dies from a company called Carnation Crafts. I have not visited this site for years and had forgotten how much I liked them - though some of their designs may be a bit 'fussy' for some folks. They sell a large range of dies, and for most of them you can also download a printed image to cut. Unfortunately the company is based in UK so I am wary of ordering from them in case I get caught for high import duties. But I did buy just a couple. 

But the last time I visited their site I found they now have a 'digital market' section where you can buy a selection of their designs as SVGs which can be used on most electronic cutters, including my Silhouette cameo. Unlike many cutting files, which only give the outline and inner windows of a piece, these have the option to cut the detail which are just lines, but do enhance the finished image. So yes, I did treat myself to a few, and here are the cards I made to try them out. 

These are using the robin family. An advantage of a cutting machine over dies is that you can choose what size the image is, so my first card uses a large robin which has three decoupaged layers. I used some torn paper effect circles to cut the window frame, and torn paper square fames from the silhouette store. The branch is a part of the cutting file for the robin.

The paper is an oddment from a pad and I no longer know its name, and the surround is embossed with my snow fall folder. I don't know the make and am not sure it is still available, but I use mine a lot.

I finished the card with random drops of glitter glue, and a peel-off sticker. (I have straightened it since I took this photo!).

For my second card I again cut images from the robin family set. The brown lines you can see on the robins are tiny cut lines which make their feathers so much more realistic.

The white frames are another set from the same company, and I used the silhouette software to make a matching base card and mat. The sentiment was a file in my silhouette library. I again added a small amount of glitter glue and some snowflakes from silver holographic vinyl. They have picked up some blue in the photo but really they are fairly white.

I can see me using these print and cut files more in the future, and I already have several designs to try.

For now I will link up with September Rudolph Day Challenge over at scraps of life with Scrapy Mo.