Search This Blog

Translate

Friday 3 December 2010

Heating Up with Southern Girls on a Christmas themed Dutch Dare!

I made a lot of LOTV cards recently, making 4 sets of 5 cards each; 20 in total, using their pre-coloured images.  It taught me something.  I put quite a lot of effort into making those cards even though I didn't have to actually colour the images and yet I still made them more quickly than that amount of detail would normally take me. It's because I spend ages trying to work out what to do when I make a card and then more time trying to find and match the bits I want to use (papers, cardstock and decoration) and then hours playing with the design or experimenting with embellishments and all to make just one card. 
Making multiple cards the same means that I only have to do this once.  It also makes much better use of the images and stamps that I buy because at least I know I'm going to use them several times instead of just once and then forget I own them.  After spending time to work out what I need and how I want my card to look, I go into production mode - cut 5 of these and 5 of those and then make a little assembly line.  I can let one thing dry while I'm working on a different part of another card and with so many Christmas cards to make, working with the LOTV images gave me a Eureka moment which I can now make good use of.
Now these makes for Southern Girls where the theme is "it's heating up" (not round these parts its not!) and Dutch Dare who want simply a "Christmas or Winter themed" project still took me a very long time although the design is very simple.  I stamped my Papermania Baubles 5 times with Versamark and heat embossed just the baubles.   Then I cut out all the baubles and coloured them with spica pens in red and gold.  I restamped the image 5 times with Black Versafine, used a bit of glaze on the top of the baubles where they would show above and then stuck my embossed versions over the top slightly raised with silicone glue.  Some red pearlescent card, two overlapping ribbons and a bow and voila...5 more cards. 
The sentiment is part of the stamp so no extra work required there.  I think they look elegant and - thanks to Mina who taught me how to sharpen my scissors - the cutting of the baubles wasn't all that difficult or arduous even though it was the longest part of the job and there were 35 of them.  Five cards was definitely enough!
Sorry about the horrible photo quality!

18 comments:

Dawn B. said...

What beautiful cards.. I Love the bow with the ornaments.. It is so pretty. Such a great set of Christmas cards.. You put so much work into these.. Love them..

lalkygirl said...

fantastic set of cards lesly,very classy and i love the baubles,
happy crafting
tracey x

pickle said...

Absolutely beautiful set of cards Lesley...The colourway is very striking!!

I noticed you asked a question on my candle post. In answer I get my candles fro m Ikea . The ones I used in the post are £1.29 each .

Hope that helps
Kerry

Dena said...

Oh wow, I'm sure 5 was enough. That's a lot of cutting, but oooooohhh so gorgeous! It is a beautiful stamp, but you took it to new heights!!! Wonderful card!
Hugs, Dena

Mina said...

Im so pleased it worked Lesley, see I do have good ideas now and again lol...your card sets are perfect, love the baubles
Mina xxx

Mrs A. said...

Love the effect you have acheived. So when do you go into mass production mode?Lol.

Julie said...

These are indeed gorgeous and absolutely immaculate is the word that springs to mind!! I saw them in the flesh and they definitely have the WOW factor-stunningly elegant!! Juliexx

Louise F NZ said...

WOW! what totally stunning, elegant cards. Just beautiful. wish I was on your Chrissie card list! Thanks for joining us at Southern Girls Challenges.

Lorraine said...

wow these are stunning you have inspired me to get this stamp out beautifully made and gorgeous colours xx

karenw said...

Such a lot of effort - all worth it for the final effect - just wonderful. Love the bauble so much, thanks for playing along with us at southern girls. x

carol said...

Your cards are just devine,id love to be on your christmas list.Thanks so much for shareing them with us at Southern girls

Patricia Mae said...

Very pretty Christmas cards, Thanks for joining us at Southern Girls, I hope to see you again.
~Patricia

Anonymous said...

WOW! Such gorgeous popped out embossed ornaments girl!!I LOVE IT!!

Yenni Natalia said...

wow! simply get stunned by the details of the card :) love the pop out :)

thanks for playing along with Dutch Dare Challenge..hope to see you again on the next challenge :)

hugs
yenni

Faye said...

Oh Lesley, I love this, it's wonderful. xxx

Julie said...

These make such a beautiful collection of cards!,thank you for sharing them with us at Southern Girls,enjoy your weekend,Julie.x

Unknown said...

Wow! These cards are absolutely stunning! Thanks for sharing your talent at Southern Girls and good luck!
Alicia xx

Unknown said...

Hi there, saw your blog and was so impressed that I am a follower of your work now. These cards I like the most, so elegant and original, love them very much. Congrats for winning the candy from Janiel, have fun with it,
Ageeth x