Candy Cane Lane - A Round Up Post

Again the 4 for 3 Paper Offer excuse for a quick round up of Candy Cane Lane projects shared so far... Just click on the photo to go to the original blog post...

The Birdhouses...

The House Duos...

The Large White Wrapped Gift Box...

The Fold It Flip It (FIFI) Mini Book... tutorial on its way...

And lastly the House & Trees Card...

Still loving these papers - just finished another card using these papers today...so more to come!

Seasonal Bells Part 3 - Not for Christmas again...

Now you may be noticing a bit of a theme with my copper foil Seasonal Bells creations!

Same layout... ever decreasing mats... Well this is why! One for the more frugal crafters....

Cut a Copper Foil mat... mine is 13.8 x 9.5cm which was for my Pine Boughs embossed card shared here.... 

And carefully "gut it"... ie cut a 1cm wide frame within it ... That becomes the second mat... Repeat and get the third mat. Size your white panels to fit...and there you have it 3 card mats from one piece of the stunning copper foil. 

Or in longer speak... just for the first "gutting"...

(1) Line up your foil mat at 1cm on the Top Bar of your trimmer... say PORTRAIT first...

(2) Cut from 1cm to 12.8cm (ie 1 cm from the bottom)

(3) Turn 90 degrees so now LANDSCAPE. Cut from 1cm to 8.5cm (ie 1 cm from the bottom)

(4) Turn 90 degrees so PORTRAIT again. Cut from 1cm to 12.8cm

(5) Turn 90 degrees so LANDSCAPE again. Cut from 1 cm to 8.5 cm

Added All God's Grace stamp set to the mix here for the Christening card... 

And amazingly... the 3rd and smallest mat was also the perfect size for our notecards! Ignore the fact that this mat is Cherry Cobbler... I just forgot to take a photo of the notecard with the foil mat!

Seasonal Bells Part 2 - Not just for Christmas!

One for Christmas... 

One for Mr & Mrs and Wedding Wishes...

What's not to love... a set that can be used all year round... 

So great to have some bells... actually I think there may be a song in there...

Seasonal Bells Part 1

Quick share of a quick little christmas card...

Copper embossed Seasonal Bell and greeting... Copper embossed & Cherry Cobbler Holly Berry Happiness/Builder Punch bow... Cherry Cobbler mat on a Whisper White notecard

Not to self to take another photo or two... be back soon!!

Tweaking the Candy Cane Lane Birdhouse Card

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my birdhouse card yesterday... I am glad so many of you like it as much as I do...

So yesterday I admitted that I had already been tweaking my Candy Cane Lane Bird House card... so I think you may like this one too...

I just grabbed some watercolor paper, Pool Party ink and an Aquapainter...and gave it a good old random watercolor wash...

Everything else the same as yesterday's card... though I did forget to tell you a few details yesterday...

Greeting inked up with Pool Party ink pad, then inked up Christmas with a Real Red marker pen...and the rest with an Early Espresso marker pen...

The Seasonal Bells plant pot described in more detail  here... but I used Early Espresso card and ink...

And the Soft Suede wood post is wood-textured by stamping the Timeless Textures wood effect stamp in Soft Suede

And oh ... the inspiration for this card came when I was making this one...

Now which do you prefer? Wash or white!?

And oh... you may have noticed that the white version has had a little dressing up too... care of Fine Tip glue and clear Mica Flakes on the roof...

Candy Cane Lane Christmas Birdhouse...

Quick share today... birdhouse from Candy Cane Lane papers... greeting from Tin of Tags... birds from Thoughtful Branches... bow from Holly Berry Happiness... and pot from Seasonal Bells... Come back tomorrow for more details as to how...

Love it so much I have just made another on the same theme today... will be back to share that one soon when I have had a chance to take some photos!

Remember 56 houses in a pack of papers... that is a lot of easy cards!

New Autumn Winter Products Blog Hop Today

Hello and welcome to The Craft Spa for the Jems Monthly Blog Hop featuring new products from the Autumn Winter (aka Holiday) catalogue.

Now really I should have called this post... Here are a Few of my Favourite Things... as in true Amanda style I have combined my 3 favourite new stamp sets! And all on a wreath...

So the wreath is produced using Holly Berry Happiness... perfect 2 step stamps for the job... and comes with a matching punch...

Gold embossed very large greeting from Wonderful Year... available in wood and clear mount

White embossed Seasonal Bells on gold foil... available in wood and clear mount...with a matching punch too 

See that shine on the bells....

Then back to Holly Berry Happiness for the stamped and punched holly leaves and berries to finish off the bells

All mounted onto an Extra Large Square card to keep it simple but to give the WOW factor... 

And now it is time to pass you onto Julie... who has something special in store for you...

Or if you are going backwards... here is Sarah's blog for yet more loveliness...

Thoughtful Branches Holly

And here is the last of my topiary trio... a holly bush dressed for Christmas...

Spot the details...

You probably won't be able to see this detail... but the leaf canopy is domed... adding real texture to the card. 

Really easy to do... after you have used your Big Shot Die Brush to remove all the die cut scraps... turn the leaf canopy over on the mat and give it another brush (or 3)... everything all pops up ( well down actually!)  to form the dome shape... 

It is also easy to glue down that way - just Tombow or Precision Tip Glue around the edges and be careful to leave the dome shape in the centre as you stick it down...

A double spoiler alert now... a red glitter-embossed Holly Berry Happiness punched bow... yes glitter embossing powders are coming your way... My initial glitter-embossing wasn't so deep in colour ( I think my Versamark needed a re-ink!)... so  - rather than go upstairs to get the Versamark refill - I cheated! I stamped the bow in Real Red, then I stamped over in Versamark, applied the Red glitter-embossing powder and heated to melt...worked a treat! Lovely and glittery

And 1/8" hand punched circle red glimmer paper berries...

Another Seasonal Bells punched and trimmer plant pot - a different bell this time! And banner again from Seasonal Bells...

And a tree trunk from a Soft Suede sliver stamped with the woodgrain effect stamp in Soft Suede from Timeless Textures...

And if this is the first of the Topiary Trio you have come across - and some of the new Autumn Winter/Holiday product names are new to you! Please feel free to go back a few days worth of blog posts when more is revealed...

Thoughtful Branches - Happy Christmas Topiary

I guess that some of you will have guessed where I might go next after yesterday's post....

Well... it is August... it is Stampin' Up! pre-order month for us demos... and I do so enjoy my Christmas makes...

So here is my Thoughtful Branches topiary bush all dressed up for Christmas... with some more Autumn Winter Catalogue Sneak Peeks!

Plant pot and banner from the Seasonal Bells stamp and punch Bundle... available from 1st September

Bows from Holly Berry Happiness stamp and punch Bundle. And note... this punch also punches Baby Bear's Bow.... Yay! Available from 1st September.

Oh and little robins from Thoughtful Branches. Available August only...

Thoughtful Branches Topiary - and Spoiler Alert!

So I was asked for a Welcome to your New Home card... for someone into topiary.... so it had to be... 

The August-exclusive Thoughtful Branches was still out...so I stamped and die cut 3 leaf canopies... hand trimmed 2 of them to smaller sizes...and there you go... Love it!

The greeting and banner is from the Banners For You bundle

And Spoiler Alert.... 

There is also a Sneak Peek from the new Autumn Winter Catalogue on here.... so look away now if you don't want the spoiler......

Life saver when my pre-order box turned up!! This bush was in a cupcake base up till then.... this plant pot is SO much nicer...

Still not sure? Well... it is a punched bell... with a couple of snips... and turned upside down...perfect!! From the up and coming... Seasonal Bells... (no link as this item is not available until 1st September!)

Think you are going to like these bells!!! Stamp set, Punch or the Bundle... And definitely not just for Christmas... 

I can see a Seasonal Bells Class Kit coming on soon.... but do remember to buy your Thoughtful Branches THIS month... it is a keeper!!

Unless that is... anyone would like a Thoughtful Branches Class Kit this month!!?? I could do that even though I am not running a physical class.... mmm... Contact me here for more information