Oh I had fun with this colour scheme for Christmas.

Handmade Christmas Card using Stampin' Up! Dashing Deer, dies and Merry Christmas to All

It's a happy day today as our son is home from is African adventure. He's had an amazing time swimming with whales, lassoing buffalo, bird spotting, and seeing many of the stunning wild animals there.  It's good for Mum to have him home safe though.

Back to today and Sylvie set a fun challenge for our fortnightly Christmas Card Club today.  we've used non traditional Christmas colours.

I've gone a bit wild on the pink and purples, but I think I quite like it and it's cooled down a bit with lots of white space.

I first coloured a stitched circle with my alcohol markers, mine are Stampin' Blends and I used a cross section of shades.  I coated the circle in Wink of Stella so that it sparkles and I've added a simply stamped deer from the Stampin' Up! set Dashing Deer and I've die cut it with the coordinating Detailed Deer Dies.  I stamped the deer in Lovely Lipstick which is one of those colours that can be red or pink depending upon what you team it up with.  My die cut flowers are also Lovely Lipstick and the rhinestones are from a pack of really LUSH, did you get that LUSH, Noble Peacock rhinestones in the annual catalogue.  They are  Gorgeous Grape but you also get Old Olive, Blueberry Bushel, Melon Mambo and Pretty Peacock in the pack of 140 rhinestones, almost as good as real diamonds.  I also added some rose metallic thread on the outer edge of the die cut circle.

I used my stamp positioning tool (Stamparatus) to get the two stamps of my sentiment exactly where I wanted them.  The happy and Christmas are part of the festive set Merry Christmas to All which is perfect for creating just the sentiment you want with lots of individual word stamps and also a coordinating die set called Merry Christmas Dies.  All can be seen in my Stampin' Up! Shop.

I"m off now to look at the other lovely ladies of CC Club creations and hope you'll pop by them too.

Enjoy the remains of this weekend and best wishes for the week ahead.

Hugs Zoe x

Love Stampin' Up! products you really should consider this membership offer. 

Christmas in July - trees

Christmas in July for Christmas Card Club Challenge - Trees

Stampin' Up! will launch its winter catalogue in September so with just a few sets in the catalogue this challenge from Christine has not been as easy as you would initially think with a simple Christmas theme of  'Trees'.  However where there's a will there's a tree!  

I've made a very simple card using the new Heirloom frames dies and embossing folders.  I added some Versamark ink to the embossing folder before adding my die cut frame to the folder.  Once dry embossed I added silver embossing powder to the frame for heating.  It has a enhanced the dry embossed texture, not perfectly but just enough to highlight the detail of the frame.  Using the middle die cut section of the frame I've added a silver heat embossed tree from the Rooted in Nature set, a Stampin' Up! favourite, and a gold heat embossed sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings.  I've layered the image and frame onto a matt layered dry embossed with the Subtle 3D folder which does exactly as its name suggests - adds a subtle texture.  

A trio of rhinestones give a little more sparkle for a finishing touch.   

For beginner stampers you could cut a frame using a trimmer and stamp a pattern onto it, or indeed use a ruler and pen to create a frame directly on your card or then cut out with paper snips. 

It's been a very busy fortnight for us getting Charlie ready for a very important interview which he did really well in and also getting kit sorted for his trip to South Africa to research elephant migration patterns, bird counts and also some open water diving.  Our first message from him said "here safe, bags arrived too, at camp probs wont talk much!'   I guess I should be pleased to know he is there safely.  Teenage boys hey......

There's more inspiration for Christmas card making on my fellow Christmas Card Club ladies blogs so do take a look as July is traditionally a good month for early prep for the festive season and getting your handmade cards made.  

Thanks for popping by. 

Zoe x

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Christmas Card Club - Children at Christmas

Our lovely Kate, has chosen the theme of Christmas with children for us this fortnight. At first I was stumped but then remembered I had a stamp from a very long, long time ago that was this small boy excited about his Christmas gifts.  It is from my stash and not even sure where it came from. However it goes well with the Ready for Christmas Stampin' Up! set.  The sentiment is part of the set and is stamped in Poppy Parade with the flourish in Garden Green.  I used the tree and staircase to create a scene and having created a paper mask of the boy was able to stamp the tree and stairs before stamping the boy.  I did however stamp the boy again onto thick white card stock so that I could use my Stampin' Blends to colour him in.  I then fussy cut him out and I'm afraid I took off his arms and legs which he regained when I added the cut image over the top of the stamped one. It also helps to add a little depth doing this.  I found that my stamparatus helped enormously for stamping the stairs and tree and getting them in the right position.  I used 3 shades of green for the tree and added some silver pen, a gold foil star and red rhinestones for the Christmas treatment.  Turned out fine in the end for Kate's theme and after all you often hear folk say "Christmas is for the children". 

The Ready for Christmas stamp set is retiring at the end of this month along with many other Stampin' Up! sets from the annual and Spring/Summer catalogues. If you haven't bought your favourite stamp set yet be sure to check out the retiring products in my Stampin' Up! Shop. 

Thanks for popping by.

Zoe x

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Christmas Card Club - Festive Foliage with Winter Woods

Stampin Up Winter Woods stamp set and In the Woods Framelits perfect for Christmas Cards

I've had fun experimenting with ink, sponges and masking to make this card and have enjoyed being able to take the photo outside whilst the weather continues to be pleasant. Although it does seem odd taking photos of Christmas cards in the warm sunshine.  

This one is for our fortnightly Christmas Card Club Challenge and it was my turn to choose the theme. I opted for Foliage and as soon as I saw this new Winter Woods Stampin Up set I knew I'd finally picked a sensible theme rather than those I've selected in the past and struggled to create with. I love this single tree stamp which is perfect for using the masking technique. I stamped it on scratch paper and then cut it out, a little laboriously with scissors, but also very therapeutic.  I stamped the first tree on the left onto Crumb Cake card and used Old Olive and Garden Green inks. The stamp itself is so clever as it's made to give depth to the tree, but if you ink with one colour and then add some darker shade with a dauber it looks even better.  I moved to the right using the mask to cover the previous tree and if there was a gap after stamping I just moved the mask and stamped again. Now how did you do that Zoe to get it in the same place I hear you say! Well I used my stampartus positioning tool to get it where I wanted it.  I'm so glad Stampin' Up! created their version of this tool and that they asked lots of demos for their comments and suggestions it's just perfect for perfect stamp placement.  

Now you may not be a fussy cutter, but I like it and hence the trees were all cut out with scissors just like the  mask.  Then to disguise some of the tricky bits which are tiny I used a dauber to add a gentle covering of Old Olive ink to bits I just couldn't quite fussy cut well.  I sponged it over the whole piece too to just lightly shade the bits of crumb cake showing through.  

My background is with the Stampin Up Buffalo Check Background stamp available to order from Tuesday. Again this is great when used freehand or to build up deeper shades on the stampartus where you can ink the same design multiple times.   I've added some new Suitre Specialty washi tape strips and some striped burlap, I love this as it adds more texture and has more colour to it. 

The sentiment is from the same Stampin Up Winter Woods set and it is heat embossed in black onto some Wood Textures designer paper.  I've stamped and sponged some extra pine pieces to add a little detail. These were die cut with coordinating In the Woods framelits.  Stampin Up have acknowledged that sometimes with itty bitty dies it could take you a lifetime to cut all the pieces you need and so they have tripled and doubled up on some of these small dies in the set so you can cut several at one time. How sensible is that! 

Learn to make Christmas cards with Zoe Tant

I like the vintage feel of this card with all it's smudging and it reminds me of log cabins and ski trips. Not for me this year as fingers crossed my snapped achilles will be repaired very soon, but skiing will be out this winter.  

As you know there are several ladies in our Christmas Card Club so do visit them via the CC Club tab at the top of this page and see their fabulous designs too for more inspiration.  

Here's to a great week ahead. 

Hugs all Zx

This book full of seasonal loveliness is live on Tuesday 5 September.

If you don't have a demonstrator and would like a copy please email me at zoetant@live.co.uk

or shop with Zoe Tant Stampin Up Online Shop

Christmas Card Club - Apron of Love for Christmas Baking Theme

Stampin Up! Apron of Love arrived this week just in time for Maureen's challenge for our jolly Christmas Card Club.  She asked us to use the theme of Christmas Baking and this set just leapt out for me.  I've also used the Stampin' Up! favourite Cookie Cutter Christmas set to include a peeping gingerbread man to compliment the sentiment which is from a set I've had for years.

My colour choice is cherry cobbler, garden green, crumb cake with touches of silver with a metallic foil doily, foil utensils and some silver metallic enamel shapes.  I used the stitched shape dies teamed with layering square dies to cut and mount the sentiment.

You'll see that some of the pieces of the lovely apron are very fiddly and so to make it easier to adhere them I first added some multipurpose adhesive sheet to the reverse of my designer paper so that once die cut they already had adhesive on the back and all I needed to do was peel off the backing paper to stick them onto my card.  It makes it so much easier than adding wet glue or fiddling with glue dots.  An assortment of adhesives makes life so much easier don't you think!

To bring the apron to life I added various glue dots or stampin dimensionals to give a bit of a 3D effect layering the utensils and the pockets.  I love the sweet oven gloves one is from the Apron of Love stamp set, the other I stamped with a stamp from Timeless Textures after I had die cut them both.

I love Christmas bakes and hope you do too, so please be sure to visit the other ladies and see their Christmas bake cards.

Happy Sunday and best wishes for a crafty week.

Zoe x

Supplies available in Zoe's Stampin Up online shop

Apron of Love photopolymer stamp set 145835
Apron Builder Framelit dies 145661
Apron of Love Bundle with 10% discount 145986
Metallic Foil Doilies 138392
Metallic Enamel Shapes 141678
Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets 144106
Layering Squares Framelits 141708
Stitched Shapes Framelits 145372

 Shop now until 31 March and you could earn free stampin up stamps and accessories

visit my shop or contact me for details 07717855179 or zoetant@live.co.uk

Challenges

CHNC - ATG #369

The Corrosive Challenge - ATG

The Merry Christmas Challenge #3 - ATG

Christmas Card Club Challenge - Sentiments

The weeks are ticking by and the festive season is fast approaching.  However the Christmas Card Club are getting organised with our fortnightly challenge.  This time Sylvie has asked us to create a card with the sentiment as the focal point.  I love simple and you don't get much simpler than kraft and white card stock.  I've used the Stampin Up stamp set Peace This Christmas to create a simple stamped frame for my sentiment from the same set.  Along the bottom I have gold embossed the border stamp and I've added a petite bow in the gold metallic edged ribbon which is wonderful for all sorts of cards and projects, especially Christmas.  There are the inevitable rhinestones for my bling festish too!  

I love the effect of layered stitched shapes on the layering circles dies which help to make the focal point sentiment 'pop'.  

Inks used are Stampin Up early espresso, garden green and craft whisper white pigment ink. 

Have a great Sunday and week ahead.  Mind out for the ghosts on witches on Tuesday. We've been invaded by cheeky, naughty spirits this weekend with my neice and nephews.  So much fun.  

Take care all

Zoe x

Stampin' Up! Thailand Achiever's Blog Hop

Welcome to our final achiever's blog hop named Thailand.  We're sharing some favourites from the winter catalogue this time and I've got a card to share that has lots of sparkle and uses a handful of products including Snowflake Sentiments and Merry Mistletoe stamp sets and the fabulous snowflake embossing folder called Winter Wonder.  Regular readers know I love a bit of bling and this has a handful of basic rhinestones with a large silver faceted gem certainly satisfy that need and a couple of strips of silver glimmer paper.  

I've stamped in basic grey ink on a thick whisper white card base then added the embossed snowflake layer which is basic grey card too.  A simple message is added in basic black ink.  This is a simply created card perfect for making lots to send to all your friends.  

Enjoy the hop and the inspiration from lots more demonstrators from around the world of Stampin' Up!. 

You are currently with me, Zoe Tant from the UK.

See you soon and thanks for visiting me.  Zx

Christmas Card Club

Happy Sunday everyone! The sun is out here and I hope it is with you.  Our Christmas Card Club challenge this fortnight is set by Rachel who has asked for magical, mystical cards which I've struggled with which is silly really as all of Christmas should be magical at the very least.  However I got an idea in my head and have run reasonably successfully with it, although I'm not entirely happy with it.  I wanted to create a circular scene and add watercolour and then a sparkly shadow of the trees.   It's almost there, but not quite.  Any tips gratefully received.

Stampin' Up! sets that I've included are Lovely as a Tree, Colourful Seasons and Watercolour Christmas for the sentiment.  I've stacked the image onto dapper denim circles for an on trend look although I know that the trend is really to stamp over the edges of die cut letters and shapes.  I've used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to add the shadow in very pale soft sky ink and then a fine tip glue pen to add dazzling diamonds glitter.  A litter embossing paste to give the effect of snow drifts at the bottom of the trees.

Please do visit the challenge members from the link at the top of my blog Christmas CC for more inspiration as this theme opens so man doors and I'm sure you'll be inspired.

You may not be aware but the Stampin' Up! Winter Catalogue launched on 1 September and you can see all the festive, autumn/winter and halloween goodies by clicking HERE.

If you prefer a paper copy then please do email me at zoetant@live.co.uk and I'll get one in the post to you.

Thanks for popping by and enjoy Sunday and have a great week.

Zx

Christmas Card Club - Christmas Carols

It always seems a little odd when the sun is shining outside and I can hear the baby birds squealing for their parents to bring more food, that I am then making Christmas cards, but come December 5th ish I'm pleased as I did as realise I need to get them posted.  The consequence is I'm here sharing my latest card for the Christmas Card Club with Christine's challenge.  She set us the task of taking our inspiration from a Christmas carol and mine is 'Joy to the World'.

Using my Stampin' Up! large letter dies I've cut the word joy in gold foil card and then very gently added some pine fronds from the foliage perfect Stampin' Up! set Peace This Christmas which will appear in the new Stampin' Up! 2017 - 2018 catalogue.  It also has the very delicate star stamp and I've also used some pearls and new gold faceted gems that you are going to adore for adding some sparkle to your projects.

Please do visit the other ladies in our challenge group to see their cards and if you think you'd like to join our merry band please do let one of us know.

Happy Sunday

Zx

Christmas Card Club meets MAWTT

I'm catching up slowly with life and am beginning to feel like I'm on the mend so  I've killed two birds with one stone today to make my sketch card for Moving Along With The Times and also the festive bird theme in our Christmas Card Club set by Valery aka Mrs A.

I've used the Candy Cane Lane Designer Series Papers which you can buy during October and get a free pack for every 3 bought. There are 8 different packs to choose from so you can save yourself £10.  There's a new shopping rewards code which you need to add to your online order of £25 -£149.99.  Your order ships to you, but I'll send you a thank you gift separately for shopping with me.

To shop just look here in Zoe's Stampin' Up! shop.

Choose from 8 different designs including the two christmas sets below

 Candy Cane Lane 141981 

Presents & Pinecones 141986

In my design I've also used the Holly Berry Happiness stamp set and Holly Berry builder punch to decorate around my hand carved Robin stamp and add the festive bows.  I'll be using these items in my upcoming Stamp a Stack of Christmas Card events.  Check out my classes page for details or invite me to come and teach the class to you and your friends for a fun afternoon or evening.

Please take a look at the other Festive Birds cards in Christmas Card Club and join us for our sketch challenge at MAWTT.

Thanks for your patience while I've been absent. I'm hoping to be more consistent now.  Take care all.

Zx