5 MINUTE CHRISTMAS CARD

QUICK XMAS CARD 

Stickers are a great way to make super-quick Christmas card.  A matted sticker and a gold panel with a torn strip of patterned paper is all that you need for Marilyn's 5 minute card.  The base is a white textured (PL1) card from Regal Craft Cards

CHRISTMAS CARD WITH KITE FOLD MOTIF

TEABAG FOLD MOTIF

 .....And here is an example of the second teabag fold from the October demo and the posting I did a couple of weeks ago.  Eight little kite shapes are arranged edge to edge, and taped down to a base.  Its easiest if you start by fixing the four opposites and then filling in the gaps - you're more likely to end up with good spacing if you do.

I've cut a V into some gold cardboard as a base and mounted the whole thing onto red.  The background is die-cut from red card using a Couture Creations die and stuck down over Forest green.  The whole thing is then mounted on a white textured card.

Its really quite a simple card but looks quite effective.

SPARKLELIGHT FAIRY CALENDAR

SPARKLELIGHT FAIRY CALENDAR

If you combine a calendar with a card, it can stay up all year, instead of just a day or two around Christmas or birthdays.

Regal's stepper card base gives the structure to this card.  Then I've covered parts with gold butterfly sparklelight, added a base picture from a 3d sheet (so I can use all the other parts on another project), added a small and large butterfly from another die-cut sheet stuck together with a foam dot for depth, and finally a small calendar.  All of the bits are available from Regal.  This is a really quick project - in fact most time was devoted to assembling the various bits and pieces!

They also have a selection of 2015 calendars out and ready for your craft projects so check out their website and get busy!!

CHRISTMAS CARD WITH CIRCLE MOTIF

CIRCLE FOLD TEABAG CARD

I posted instructions for this simple circle fold a couple of weeks ago, so thought I'd better pop a card up with a finished example too.

As you can see I've just used a simple paper - gold on one side and white on the other, and without any pattern to distract, the form is really evident.  I promise the middle was just lovely but if it had been a bit dodgy, the gold split pin would have covered it.  I used Kaiser paper as background and border, but if I was doing this card again, I'd skip the dark green edge and use real lace or paper lace, probably in gold to link it in with the motif.  The greeting is off a sheet available from Regal, and I've coloured three little silver rhinestones as a feature.  Again, if I hadn't done this for a demo ("See how you can colour your rhinestones with alcohol markers") I would have chosen red for all three.

I guess that's the idea of a lot of the cards on the blog (the ones I make anyway).  They aren't perfect - just a starting point to get you thinking of what you do and don't like so that you can create something wonderful of your own.

IRIS FOLDED CHRISTMAS TEAPOT

Although this iris-folded teapot (the pre-cut cards, NO55 are available from Regal Craft Cards), was not made specifically for Christmas, the red, white and gold colour scheme could easily fit the bill.

Japanese papers are lovely, but expensive, so iris folding is a good way to use up small leftovers for maximum impact.

The maker of this card is a bit of a mystery - no one at work remembers....but if this is your card and you'd like to claim credit please let me know and I'll happily update the post!!

Whoever made it has adapted an iris folding template designed for a circle, and added a handcut corner.  The bottom is a strip of paper with two hole-punched circle at either end.  If you wanted to add a tiny sprig of holly to the side of the lid and an appropriate greeting, it would make a great seasonal card.

TWO SIMPLE TEABAG FOLDS

TWO SIMPLE TEABAG FOLDS

Here as promised are close-ups of the two folds I used during October's Christmas Card demo.

For the Circle fold you begin (not surprisingly) with a circle.  Fold it in half, then unfold.  Using the line you've made in the paper as the base, fold up a little bit of each side as shown in Fig.1.

Turn the shape over, then fold both sides to the middle line.  The little folds you made in step 1 will pop out to form "petals." (Fig.2).

Its a good idea to wait until you're happy with the end result before squashing the folds down firmly, as sometimes a little bit of adjustment is needed.

The second fold is easier.  Just take a square.  Again, fold it so that you have a middle line down the diagonal, then fold the edges to this line to make a kite shape.  There are lots of different ways to use this basic shape with just a little modification, e.g. turning up the edges, opening one edge etc.

To make a motif from either of these folds its just a matter of placing them side by side and sticking them down.  Again, its worth fiddling around with placement until you're totally happy (and/or use a folded circle or square base underneath as a guide) before you get out the glue or double sided tape.

If you find the middle of the motif isn't quite what you'd hoped, a large rhinestone, split pin or punched shape will cover quite a bit.  (Its OK.....its a "design feature")  Good Luck!  I'm happy to help you with the folds (or show you some more) in the shop as long as you're happy to wait between customers!

EMBROIDERED CHRISTMAS CARDS

EMBROIDERED CANDLES

 Sandra Bell made these delicate cards from the book Embroidery on Paper:  Alphabets and Festive Motifs by Joke and Adriaan De Vette. (Available from Regal Craft Cards).  Her care and attention to detail are obvious.

Sandra has used a variety of metallic threads and added small red star stickers to decorate these cards, obviously destined to very special people.

PINE CONES

BELLS

ZIGZAG CHRISTMAS CARD

ZIGZAG CHRISTMAS CARD

One of Regal's red zigzag cards has been used as a base for this Christmas card (you can get them in other colours too).  The tree is a cut out (also available from Regal) and coated with a (possibly overenthusiastic) coating of Snowtex.  I've coloured the trunk (which was a Kraft brown) with black marker pen so it matches in with the Kaiser background paper.  The black edging was drawn in (with the help of a ruler) with the same pen.

A piece of textured white cardstock takes up about the bottom third of the front panel.  The "peace" is a die cut from a Kaiser pad but you could easily substitute a stamp or sticker.  Black adhesive pearls complete the card

This is a fairly simple example, but Regal's range of zigzag cards are great for those who enjoy doing a lot of decoration - there are at least three panels to work with - more if you count the backs!  You can also secure the front panel along the base and left hand side with double sided tape and make a pocket for a gift voucher.