EASY MERRY CHRISTMAS CARD

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Tania has made another lovely card using a Regal cut out - this time a Christmas tree.  These can be bought in Kraft brown as shown as well as a thick gold or silver, and come in situ in all their three panel Christmas tree cut out cards.

Red adhesive pearls, stripey twine and green inked edges all add to the effect.  If you haven't made your Chrismas cards yet, here is a  simple but effective idea.  Its not quite a five minute effort, but if you cut all the components in groups, the assembly wouldn't take very long, especially as the "hard cutting" the tree) has already been done for you !

CHRISTMAS CARDS - ONE CARD TWO WAYS

ONE CARD TWO WAYS

This is one of my favourite Regal cards - it can be used in all sorts of ways but here are a couple of quick examples for Christmas.

Both use a Sizzix die to cut the grid - one from gold, the other rom red.

The first card features metallic red paper, Sparklelight stickers and some corner peel-off.  The second uses paper from a Kaiser pad and (even although they are a little bit hard to see) small rhinestones at the junction of the "petals" in the lower right hand corner.

The cards can be used either way up, and you can get them in candy pink, lime and white as well, so there's no need to stick to traditional Christmas colours if you want to branch out a bit.

BLACK AND WHITE OWL CALENDAR CARD

BLACK AND WHITE OWL CALENDAR CARD

Here is another example of a calendar using Regal's Stepper Card as a base, and one of their little calendar pads.

SIDEVIEW OF REGAL STEPPER CARD

The diecut owls are a bit scary...kind of a mad hybrid owl/penguin.  The rhinestone eyes add to the effect, which wasn't exactly what I was aiming at but it does make me smile so its all good!

Someone mentioned that a side view of the stepper card would be a "good idea" - so here it is!!

POP UP BOX CARD

BOX GARDEN CARD

Trudy Meijer made this lovely foldable card.  Although its not on a Regal card base, she did make the point that Regal sells large pieces of cardboard in the printery, which are needed to make this style of card.

I'm doing the Regal Christmas card demo today (Thursday 23rd) between 10 and 3 so if you can pop in, that would be lovely.  I'd really like to make one of these, as it would make a terrific Christmas card for a special person,  but fear it would take most of the time.  I'm also fairly confident that it wouldn't turn out nearly as nicely as Trudy's example, which she has decorated with die-cuts, stickers, stamps and more in conjunction with some very pretty layered papers.

This style of card is very popular at the moment and you can find instructions on-line (look at the Splitcoast Stampers site or just search for "Pop up Box Card") but Trudy tells me that she worked this out for herself!  I am suitably impressed.

BEADED CHRISTMAS STARS

BEADED CHRISTMAS STAR

As Christmas draws nearer we know you are looking for extra card ideas, so from now until Christmas, I'll do my best to at least occasionally pop up some extra cards through the week.

The first Bonus posting is of cards embroidered by the very talented Sandra Bell.  The patterns are from Embroidery on Paper - Alphabet and Festive Motifs by Joke and Adriaan De Vette, available from Regal Craft Cards.

I've had the good fortune to see these cards "in reality" and believe me, they are as neat, as they appear on the screen, and even more beautiful as the metal threads and beads shine under the light.

BEADED CHRISTMAS TREE

PHOTO CALENDAR IDEA

REGAL CRAFT PHOTO CALENDAR

Regal have their 12-month calendar available again this year.  It has lots of space for notes, room for a 6 x 4 inch photo or decoration,borders that can be coloured, and room to add extras such as die-cuts and stickers, as I have done in this example.

The calendars can be used a variety of ways - add photos and either keep or give as gifts E.g. photos of local landmarks for interstate or overseas friends, photos of the family for grandma, or photos of the garden and visitors (like this kookaburra which conveniently and literally did sit in the old gum tree in our backyard when I happened to have the camera with me!) to bring a bit of outdoors inside.

Another way to use them is as a record of the year.  Pick your best photo each month and then add journalling to the bottom, marking special dates with a little note on the calendar.

You can, of course, skip the photo altogether, get out your craft supplies and go wild!!!  Its up to you.

COUNTRY-STYLE APPLE CARD

COUNTRY STYLE - APPLE

Tania has assembled this lovely country-style card using one a variety of papers and Regal's cut-out apple shape.  The apple is available in a Kraft brown by itself or comes included with their three-panel white textured apple cut-out card (NO57).

Notice how Tania has inked the edges of the papers with chalk ink which helps add dimension and blend the colours.

A knot of raffia is the perfect finish

BLACK AND WHITE WEDDING CARD2

NON-TRADITIONAL WEDDING CARD

Marty has used stamps from Stamp-It and papers from Kaiser, on a black Regal singlefold card base to create this special wedding card.

If the couple for whom the card is intended aren't the white lace and pearl types, there are plenty of alternatives and this is an example of one non-traditional approach.

Note the way that Marty has used several greetings, matting two for added impact, and the way that he has framed the third by tearing the top paper and inking the edges.

This card would be quite quick to make, and by choosing another colour of base card from Regal's extensive range, and using matching papers and inks, the design could be adapted to reflect the bride or groom's favourite colour, or the theme they have chosen for their big day.