Simple on Saturday - Beautiful Blue Blizzard

My lovely friend, fellow demonstrator and teamie Kate Martin CASEd these Beautiful Blizzard cards of mine shared here... and she die cut some blue (non SU!) foil snowflakes.... which gave me an idea....

And I had pulled together my 20 Shimmer Paint Uses document... which in turn made me create my little Pool Party Shimmery Stampin Spot... both of which you can find by clicking here...

Put these 2 ideas together and this is what you get... though I do have to admit that I should have made a Balmy Blue Shimmer Stampin Spot as then the colours would have all gone together better! Job for another day!

So thank you Kate for inspiring the blue snowflake twist to my card... which I achieved simply by colouring in my die cut snowflakes with my Night of Navy Stampin Blends - some in Dark and some in Light to get the 2 shades....

But a quick note... colouring in all the foil panel before die-cutting wouldn't work so well!! The Blends work well on a small area such as one snowflake but not a large area... as they tend to "split"

And oh! There is a 3rd twist to this card variation... I used Frost White Shimmer Paint for the random snowflakes on the Night of Navy card blank... instead of the Champagne Mist used previously...

Wonder if you can see the difference... Champagne shimmer and sparkle to left and Frost White pearlescent sheen to right...

Shimmery Beautiful Blizzard for Merry Monday...

A simple little duo of cards for you today to introduce 2 new up and coming products in the Autumn Winter Catalogue...

First up ... I am delighted to say that Shimmer Paint is back!! This time it will be available in 4 colours... returning Frost White & Champagne Mist and 2 new colours Vegas Gold and Bright Copper...

For those of that missed this product the first time round... you are going to love Shimmer Paint... it is THE way to add a subtle shine and shimmer to almost anything... without the mess of glitter! Daub it! Spritz it! Paint it! Stamp It! A lot more about this small but wonderful range coming soon... though read on for how I used it for these cards...

Secondly... we have a new snowflake die and stamp set coming your way.... Beautiful Blizzard stamps and Blizzard Thinlits dies...

And I am delighted to report that the die worked wonderfully - using Champagne Foil - with the Precision Base Plate... and the Die Brush... no poking necessary... yay! And look at all those snowflakes - in 6 different sizes - in one pass... Fabulous!

So back to the cards...

First up the Night of Navy card blank... so you can see the Shimmer Paint on the card blank... 

I used the Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint... which gives a beautiful shiny and subtle warm silvery glow wherever it is used... 

I gave the bottle a good shake to mix up all the glittery goodness... and used a Sponge Dauber to pick up the ink from the lid... dabbed it onto my rubber stamp... and stamped fairly quickly so it didn't dry out... And note that the ink dries quickly on the card too...

I found that I could re-apply 3-4 times onto the stamp from the Sponge Dauber before I needed to re-load... and as (on this occasion) I wasn't too bothered about totally complete snowflakes... I also found that I could stamp a couple of times without re-applying...

I also stamped the snowflakes onto the main mat... which doesn't show up very well! But it is beautiful in the flesh...

Note that the Balmy Blue background "blizzard blotch" stamp was stamped off onto scrap paper before stamping onto the card...

Greeting stamped in Night of Navy. Night of Navy card mat on the white card - but Champagne Foil mat on the Navy card...

And spot that the die-cut snowflakes are finished off with a white Basics Self Adhesive Sequin

Memories & More Merry Little Christmas Gift Card Holder

So when I made these using Petal Garden and the Striped Treat Bags... I decided that they would make for a great quick wrapping idea for all the gift cards I send this year... but using the Merry Little Christmas Memories & More Card pack instead... further details in the earlier post...

So more to follow using other cards in the pack... but I thought I would share the first as no doubt it will be very last minute when I get to do the others...

And before I leave... remember that Free Shipping on ALL orders starts at 11pm tonight, Sun 26 November GMT for us in the UK... any order value... direct ship by UPS to your door within 4-8 days... Ends Monday 27 November 10.59pm...

Click here for my Online Store... and don't forget to enter this month's Stampin Rewards Host Code 392YRRXW for a free gift and the new mini catalogue(s) from me to arrive in December...

Or a few hours left if you still have your eye on a reduced item in the Online Extravaganza Sale... ends 10.59pm GMT tonight! But do bear in mind that if the overall saving is less than £4.95... you would be better to wait a minute for Free Shipping from 11pm...

Year of Cheer 20th Wedding Anniversary Double Display card

Very quick share today... as I am up to my eyeballs in spray paint!! Minor exaggeration there... but more on that another day...

Here is the finished 20th Wedding Anniversary double display card I made for Jon using the Year of Cheer papers...

Want to make one of your own? Tutorials are linked in this post here...

A Birthday version shared here... And a christmas version shared here...

Last of the series... and Round Up...

Oops... got so carried away sourcing and buying for a special christmas project or two... I nearly forgot to post!

Year of Cheer papers brayered in Pool Party... rest of details as this post...

Which completes the series of five simple cards featuring coloured Year of Cheer and Merry Little Labels... with a few Foil Snowflakes thrown in for good measure...

And so now onto something completely different! As I have been very very busy behind the scenes...

Year of Cheer & Merry Little Labels Part 2

Well I lied when I said I had made 2 of the brayered Year of Cheer cards on Thursday's post... I actually made a few more!!

This one is on a standard A6 card blank (again with a 10cm piece of paper) ... so US Letter nearest equivalent being A2 sized with 4" paper...

And uses just half a Foil Snowflake... so you can have 2 for your money...

Rest of the details as per Thursday's post... though I punched a Basic Black 2 1/4" circle to frame the Merry Little Labels greeting instead...

Year of Cheer & Merry Little Labels

With a good dose of Foil Snowflake thrown in for good measure!

Simple but sweet... and fast! So I made two! Which do you prefer? Black or Pool Party card...

Not recognise the paper? It is the Year of Cheer gold foil & white check piece (top right)... liberally dosed with black ink using a brayer... and then wiped off with a tissue to avoid inky fingers! So shiny still! Such fabulous papers!!

10.5cm square card with a 10cm paper panel (or 4 1/4" card with 4" panel if you are using US Letter sized card)

Merry Little Labels greeting gold embossed and punched out with the 2" Circle Punch... Pool Party mat punched out with the 2 1/4"Circle Punch...finished off with a Pool Party 3/8" Shimmer Ribbon bow...

I prefer the Pool Party in the flesh... but looking at just the photos... I prefer the black!

What's in your Mini Pizza Box....

First of all ... a little update to my pizza box shared here... just the addition of the thin gold Year of Cheer washi tape above and below the thicker one ... makes it really pop!

But you should have seen everyone searching through the box trying to find the very thick gold rimmed washi tape!!

And after searching high and low for something sweet to pop inside as a treat... an almost great creative moment and a laugh for you...

So I found some Frangipannes which are the perfect size... that don't look particularly inviting... but that tasted delicious!

But I wanted to decorate them slightly! There is a white icing disc on the top... so I thought "I could stamp on that".... so I grabbed some food safe pens out of the cake decorating box (years of dust on that box!!) and carefully applied the red pen to a stamp... tried it out on a piece of paper and it worked!!

So over I went again... and stamped on the icing disc... #bigfail... what looked flat wasn't... so only part of the stamp image appeared!! Such a shame...

So I just punched a Year of Cheer snowflake and popped that on for display purposes!!

And I don't need to worry about anyone else eating the paper disc... too nice to get through this evening!! I am in need of a treat!!

And you can have another laugh on my behalf... I didn't want to get my Pizza Box dirty!! So I chopped up the plastic tray that 3 Frangipannes came in and made sure it fit!!

But back to mini cards and envelopes to pop in now!!

Season & Year of Cheer Double Display Card

So a remake was on the cards for this one... something for Christmas this time... but using the same Year of Cheer papers, Foil Snowflakes, Clear Faceted Gems and the old favourite Large Square Double Display card fold... 

But a few other details changed as I went along...

Seasonal Layers snowflakes die cut from the Champagne Foil before assembly...

And if you look closely... some of the snowflake waste was used as pin/brad heads at the corners and centres... perfect little detail... so they are all getting saved now!

Die cut Stitched Frames circle used for the greeting.... which is from Watercolor Christmas...and heat embossed in copper... 

Large Foil Snowflakes cut and stuck the other way round...

Year of Cheer Anniversary Cards

Remember this card... well here are a couple of alternatives made by friends...

They were so happy to get some anniversary cards made when they were expecting all Christmas makes!  Especially Heidi whose 26th Anniversary was that day!! Phew...

Click here for more details on the card including the links to the Tutorials for the Card Fold... 

Mini Pizza Boxes anyone?

Just in case you have missed them in the new Autumn Winter catalogue... here is a very quick project made with the fantastic new white Mini Pizza Boxes...

Designed to clothe and present very small square cards with the matching new 3" Square Whisper White Envelopes as a gift... or to pop a cookie in (or something) as they have a protective coating and are food safe...

But before I start on the details... a question for you! I have found a new editing function to "enhance" my photos... I am not sure which is best so this is a test post... so which do you prefer...?

The enhanced version... brighter & sharper but a bit "brasher" to my eye...

Or the non enhanced version... better shows the more subtle gold foiled finish of the snowflake... but looks hazy in comparison!?

Back to the project.... so this decoration was quick and simple... when armed with a few wonderful new products!!

Year of Cheer Washi Tape wrapped round the sides...

Quilt Top embossed Thick Whisper White card square on the lid... plus a gold Foil Snowflake...

Then a 1 3/8" punched snowflake from the Year of Cheer papers... and a Gold Faceted Gemstone at the centre...

Finished off with a gold embossed greeting from the Tabs for Everything set die cut with the smallest die in the Lots of Labels set...plus a small 1/8" Gold Ribbon bow as the very final touch...

Here they are in the blank...

And here are a few more projects to give you some more ideas...

Really love these... and I have quite a few ideas running around in my head using these boxes... just need to find some more hours in the day to create them.... maybe in October!