Thursday, November 05, 2026

Christmas Icons 1

Hello,

welcome to my little crafting place

I've started my Christmas card making in earnest now. Well, I'm trying to but I'm easily diverted!

I thought I'd try out an idea I had to use smaller Christmas icons from my various die sets, so set about a mammoth session of die-cutting and getting the little items ready to use.

During which process my work space looked like this!

What do you think of the magnetic board my OH made on his 3D printer? As my Spellbinders magnetic diamond is always full I needed extra space!

Most of the dies are from Spellbinders - some from new sets, some from older ones. Several are from a couple of Simon Hurley sets from last year . There are also a few dies from a Craft AddictionsUK set

Sentiments are also Spellbinders - they are either BetterPress, of Glimmer, used with my hot foil system and gold foil

Here are a couple of my first finished cards using less traditional colours; pastel blues, pinks etc, but with the addition of gold for a more Christmassy feel

Doing the prep takes a bit of time, but then you can get on and put quite a few together in a fairly short length of time, which always feels good when you're trying to get an nice big pile ready to send!

I've more to share, but I'll save them for another time

The following list is where some of the dies I've used for these cards are from, it's not complete because some are no longer available

from Spellbinders

Snowman Scene Etched Dies by Simon Hurley S4-1324

Simon's Snow Globe

Mantel Village Etched Dies by Simon Hurley SKU:S4-1395

Mantel Decoration by Simon Hurley

Holiday Hugs Sentiments BP-386

Christmas Wreath Add-Ons by Suzanne Hue SKU:S6-219

other:

Star punches

Glitter card and other kinds of speciality card

Gold twine

Just a Note

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THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store
- you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site

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Thank you so much for coming by, please do leave a message if you can!

Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

Kathy xx

Tuesday, November 03, 2026

Autumn Wreath for October CCC

Hello,

Its reveal time for the October Card Chain Challenge. You can see them all HERE.

This time I've sent my card to Gail in the Norway, and received this beautiful card from Majda in Slovenia. I don't think I've ever had any post from Slovenia, so this is exciting and what makes the Card Chain Challenge so special

For my card I chose to use the themes of Autumn and Friendship, plus the colour palette from the options

Colour Palette Option

(Exact matching is not required.)

Sketch Option

(Orient as desired.)

Theme Options: Let's Get Spooky / Fall / Friendship

Product / Technique Options: Crepe / String Block Stamping

I started by covering both sides of a sheet of 80gsm white card with lots of different Autumn ink shades. They all blend into each other for a more realistic shading, then I die cut lots of leaf shapes.

Using a few shades of blue ink I coloured the white card blank until I got a shade of blue I liked.

The layers of twiggy wreath were cut from brown card and arranged in a rough circle,then the leaves and other items were added.

I used spare inked card for the AUTUMN letters plus some extra layers cut from thicker card.

I also added a stamped sentiment matted onto gold card

To join in the chain for November add your link to the list - you will send a card to the person who signed up before you. then wait to receive one from the person who signed up after you. Don't worry, instructions are sent out to everyone who joins the chain

I used:

Spellbinders

Mini Fall Blooms Etched Dies

Flowers, acorns, pine cones, twiggy wreath and Larger leaves all from Spellbinders sets from a few years ago

'A Happy Hello' sentiment from Whimsical Wishes Clear Stamp Set STP-270

AUTUMN letters are an old Sizzix set

80gsm white card

Blue and Autumn Versa cube ink pads

Brown, white and yellow card

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Just a Note

If you buy paper craft goodies, such as dies, stencils, stamps etc you may like to use my Spellbinders link

THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store
- you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by

Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

Kathy xx

Friday, October 30, 2026

City Holiday Shadow Box Picture

Hello,

welcome to my little crafting place

I've been having some fun making cards using various die sets in Yana's wonderful Everyday City Holiday range but this time although this was intended to be a card it took on a life of its own and eventually became a shadow box picture!

Most of the dies used are from the City Holiday collection but once I'd made the house I added a few extras, such as some larger trees, the snowman and Santa’s Sleigh

There's a fair amount of white glitter card in here too, some of which is just hand-cut to make the snowy humps and bumps.

The snowy night background is some of the sheet of black card I attacked with Splatter White - mentioned in an earlier post.

from Spellbinders

On this card:

Wrapped Up City Holiday S4-1574

Christmas City Holiday Die set S7-277

Everyday City Holiday Die Bundle
includes
Everyday Awnings S3-579
Everyday Windows, Curtains and Flower Boxes S4-1537

Splatter White Opaque Watercolor SCS-328

Snowman Scene Etched Dies by Simon Hurley S4-1324

Full 48 ColorWheel Cardstock Pack 8.5" x 11"

Other:

Bazzill Black and White card

Gold card

White and Red Glitter card

FYI

You might also be interested in these matching sets for Yana's City Holiday:

Holiday Hugs Sentiments BP-386

Mansard Roof S4-1575

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store
- you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by, please do leave a message if you can!

Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

Kathy xx

Friday, October 23, 2026

Pooh and Friends Birthday

Hello!

and welcome to my little crafting place! Here's where I share the things I've been making, and sometimes other bits of waffle!

A few weeks ago it was my Great Niece's 4th birthday and the perfect excuse to get out all the Winnie the Pooh dies that Spellbinders and Simple Stories have brought out in the last year or so. These sets are based on the 'real' Winnie the Pooh - wonderful line drawings by E.H. Shephard, so much better than the Disney ones!

I decided to make a pop out card that folds flat to go in an envelope.

All the character are in here, even little Roo - though he's very small and I should probably have put him nearer the front, if you look closely at the next picture you'll see him with his bib on and holding out his cup ready for his 'Strengthening Medicine'!

Tigger is there chasing butterflies, and lovely Eeyore looking glum, but no doubt putting a positive spin on a burst balloon and and empty honey pot.

I love the little extras you get in the Classic Pooh Birthday Accessories

die set. There are banners, cakes, little gifts, party hats and streamers all perfect for a birthday celebration.

The only dies not in this wonderful collection is the little cloud (actually left over from another project) and the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment, which is also Spellbinders but one of those ancient ones which is the perfect fit for so many cards!

The last photo shows how it folds flat enough to go in a normal envelope.

The background papers are from a delightful digital collection: Honey Digital Paper, by Butterfly Graphics

I used:

Pooh & Piglet Etched Dies from the Say Cheese Classic Pooh Collection

Tigger & Eeyore

Pooh & Piglet

Classic Pooh Birthday Accessories

Pooh’s Alphabet Number & More

Card from the

Full 48 ColourWheel Cardstock Pack 8.5" x 11"

Honey Digital Paper, by Butterfly Graphics

Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate Link to the Spellbinders store
- you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you c use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you so much for coming by.

Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself,

Friday, October 16, 2026

Snow Problem

Hello,

Thank you for visiting my crafting place.

Yet more cards using Spellbinders' Lolli and Grace Festive Snowman (S7-305) and Festive Snowlady (S7-306) dies - they are easy to use and really versatile.

This time a couple of shaped Snowlady cards - see earlier posts for more info

Items from Spellbinders

Lolli & Grace Festive Felt Christmas

Festive Snowman (S7-305)

Festive Snowlady (S7-306)

pink card from

Full 48 ColorWheel Cardstock Pack 8.5" x 11"

Other:

Blue Glitter card

Black, Gold and White card

Anne Oliver's Video Tutorials:

Introduction Video

Snow Lady
Snowman

Stocking
Santa

Just a Note

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THIS is my Affiliate link to the Spellbinders store
- you can use it to access the store whenever you buy from Spellbinders
It doesn't cost you anything, but I may get a little reward for pointing you there.
There's a UK based shop now, so you can use the 'Visit Our UK Store' button at the top right of any page on the Spellbinders site

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much for coming by, please do leave a message if you can!

Happy Crafting, Take care of yourself, and please come back soon!

Kathy xx

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Hello Mr Snowman

Hello,

Thank you for visiting my crafting place.

This time I've more cards to share using Spellbinders' Lolli and Grace Festive Snowman (S7-305) and Festive Snowlady (S7-306) dies - they are easy to use and really versatile.

I thought I'd have a bit of a play with the basic snowman shape this time so instead of using the whole snowman base, this time I cut a circle aperture in my 12x12cm card front and used the circular layer from the Snowlady set to make the body. I cut the body from white glitter card and tucked it inside the aperture, then added a gold card circle glued to the inside of the card.

I used a mix of glitter card and plain matte card to cut the remaining elements and arranged them to create a waving snowman.

I drew (you can tell!) his features and used black gems for the buttons

The second version is similar, but I've used a teal coloured card and put the sentiment in his waving hand.

Both cards have sentiments from Simon Hurley's Joyful Christmas (BP-389) Betterpress set. You can use them with ink and the Betterpress, or like I do with a hot foiling system. I used white foil on black card for these.