Who doesn't love a freebie!!

I just adore the effect of these new papers that I got free from Stampin' Up!.  They are 6x6 sheets of printed vellum with 24 sheets in a pack.  Their name says it all really ' Sheer Perfection Designer Vellum Stack'.

I've used just under half a sheet and popped it face down on my piercing mat. I used a stylus to 'colour' the leaves turning them white by applying gentle pressure on the stylus.  Flip it over again and you've got embossed leaves.  I've matted the piece on to a piece of soft sky card stock and then added a basic grey and smoky slate banner, the thank you is part of the Stampin' Up! set An Open Heart.

The Wren is part of the same set and appealed to me as today I get quite a few of them visiting my garden and in the past I was a Jenny Wren in the Royal Navy.  This one is stamped with tuxedo black memento ink onto whisper white card stock and yes I cut her out with scissors not a die!!

And to close I'd just like to say 'Friday is my favourite F word!'

Zx

Christmas Card Club - Poinsettias

I've been so busy with classes and stampin' parties this past fortnight I completely lost track of our next Christmas Card Club Challenge set by our lovely organiser Margaret. Margaret is a big fan of Poinsettias and she asked us to use them on our card in whatever colour combo we wanted. I'm a bit traditional with them and so I've stuck with gorgeous shades of red using my cherry cobbler blendabitlities to colour my flowers and also the holly berries along with the rich golden centres that Poinsettias have in daffodil delight and old olive for the  holly leaves.  I also covered a couple of the blooms with Versamark and embossed the surface with clear embossing powder to give some more depth.

I started out stamping the holly onto very vanilla card stock and coloured it in. I carefully cut out the image, but inevitably the stems were thin and weak and there was a substantial amount of vanilla showing. So  I thought about how I could have the holly without the vanilla and decided to stamp in Staz On ink on window sheet and colour on the back again with my blendies! I cut the window sheet to fit the flap I created with my Stampin' Up! trimmer.  The card base came to me from Sue who was at my class last week. She'd made some super cards using this type of card base.

My sentiment is 'large' and is from Seasonally Scattered a stamp set that was in the Autumn/Winter Stampin' Up! UK catalogue.  It too is stamped in Staz On.

Now I hope you'll visit the other ladies in the Club who are detailed in my side panel.  I've visited most of them already and I have to say they've done a fantastic job with Margaret's challenge and you will be inspired by how many different and stunning ways you can feature Poinsettias on your Christmas cards.

Back with more soon. Zx

Challenges
CHNC - Anything goes
Sweet Stampin' - All or nothing