Day 14 - "L"

When I was in primary school, bubble writing was all the rage and learning how to do it was essential for playground kudos. Four decades later and my hours of bubble-writing practice have paid off, allowing me to create my very own candy cane alphabet. Hooray for 80's pop-culture!

YOUR TURN: Create a project using the letter "L" as your prompt.

Upload a photo of your creation to the

Challenge Gallery

INSPIRATION WORDS:

Lights, list, log, love, lettering, layering, letterpress, lever card, latch card, lavender, lemon, lilac, Lord, lamb

Day 3 - "C"

After putting my candy cane cards together, I realised that they would probably be aniseed flavour rather than peppermint. It would be quite a surprise to bite down on what you thought was a minty candy only to receive a mouthful of black liquorice! 

YOUR TURN: Create a papercraft project using the letter "C" as your prompt.

Click on the link below to add a photo of your creation to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

INSPIRATION WORDS:

Christmas, Christ, Christmas tree, candy canes, chocolate, cardinal, candles, centre-step card, circle card, concertina fold card, canvas, chalk, chipboard, colouring, clear, Copic, crayon, crochet, celadon, cerise, charcoal, copper, cream, crimson, cyan.

Digital Stamps:

Day 30 - Do What You Love

It's hard to believe that we're already at the end of another Month of Holiday Cards challenge... they seem to go by faster and faster each year. For the final challenge I want you to create a project that makes you happy. Grab your favourite images and sentiments and the mediums you most love to use and create something that makes you smile.

YOUR TURN: Create a card or papercraft project that brings you joy.

Click the link below to add a photo of your creation to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

Digital Stamps:

Day 22 - "T"

It's no secret that I love a good two-fer set of cards!

I started by colouring the large image from the Candy Canes set with my alcohol markers. After cutting the image in half, I fussy cut one half nice and close to the lines so no border remained. I used a black marker to colour around the other half of the picture and then fussy cut, leaving a small border. It's interesting to see how different they look with that one added step.

YOUR TURN: Create a card using the letter "T" as your prompt.

Click the link below to add a photo of your creation to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

INSPIRATION WORDS:

Three Wise Men, twinkle, turkey, tidings, tinsel, toys, tree, trimmings, teal, turquoise, tutorial, techniques, tent card, tilt card, tri-fold card, two-fer cards

Digital Stamps:

Day 16 - Non-Traditional Colours

Today we're creating cards and papercraft projects that use non-traditional holiday colours. As you can see, I had a difficult time deciding on what I wanted to use... so I just used them all!

YOUR TURN: Create a project using non-traditional colours.

Click the link below to add your project to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

Digital Stamps:

Day 29 - "Z"

Z-Folds are super easy to make and always look fabulous stood open for display. Happily, they also take care of the "Z" prompt each year, which is always a tricky one right at the end of the challenge!

YOUR TURN: Create a card using the letter "Z" as your prompt.

Click on the link below to add your creation to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

INSPIRATION WORDS:

Z-fold, Z-box fold, Z-fold slider card, zentagle, zzzzz (as in snoring)

Stamps:

Day 28 - CAS Design

It's another non-letter day, and this time I'm asking you to create a clean and simple (CAS) style card. Clean and simple cards generally feature lots of blank space with no patterns, textures, images or embellishments, although it can be of any colour.

YOUR TURN: Create a CAS style card or papercraft project.

Click the link below to add a photo of your creation to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

Stamps:

Day 16 - "N"

 No-line colouring is a technique where the image is stamped or printed in a very light coloured ink that practically disappears once the image is coloured. I have a short tutorial right HERE for anyone who'd like to give it a go.

YOUR TURN: Create a card or papercraft project using the letter "N" as your prompt.

Click on the link below to add a photo of your creation to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

INSPIRATION WORDS:

North Pole, noel, nativity, naughty, nice, nutcracker, northern lights, no-line colouring, napkin fold, never ending card, naples yellow, navy, neon

Stamps:

Day 7 - Complementary Colours

Our first non-letter prompt for this year's challenge is to use complementary colours, which are colours that sit opposite each other on the colour wheel - red and green, blue and orange, purple and yellow.

YOUR TURN: Create a project using complementary colours.

Click the link below to add your project to the challenge:

CLICK HERE

Stamps:

Sweet and Sparkly

Beautiful shades of pink, pretty ribbon bows and plenty of sparkly glitter makes for one fabulous Christmas card. Deanne has coloured and fussy cut the decorated candy cane from the new set to adorn the front of her holiday creation.

Deanne's Blog

Layer Upon Layer

Some images are just made for layering, like the new bouquet of candy canes from the Candy Canes set. I printed the image several times, fussy cut the elements and then built up the image for a three dimensional look.

Stamps:

A Bouquet of Candy

Kathy has coloured the candy cane bouquet from the new Candy Canes set to create this stunning card. The shadows and highlights she's added really give depth and dimension to the image, which really looks as though it's been fussy cut and popped up from the background. 

Head over to Kathy's blog to see more of her beautiful work.

Kathy's Blog

Tutorial - Gift Card Treat Box

I love a cute little treat box or a sweet gift card holder at this time of year, so combining both is twice the fun! You can fill the box with sweets or a small present and slip a gift card or some cash in the side pocket... perfect for all the teenagers in your life!

NOTE: I used a sheet of A4 card stock to create this project. If you cannot purchase card stock in A4 size where you live, simply cut a piece of 12"x12" card down to 111/2" x 81/4".

TEMPLATE

1. Place the card stock horizontally on your score board and score at 23/4", 71/4", 81/4", 10" and 11".

2. Turn the card stock so that it's now vertical on your score board, with the last score line you made in step one, closest to the top. See the photo below.

3. Score 13/4" from the left edge, starting at the top of the card stock and ending at the fourth score line. Repeat on the right hand side.

4. Place the card stock horizontally on your cutting mat and cut away sections from all four corners. The left hand corners are cut 13/4" from the top and bottom edge to the second score line. The right hand corners are cut 13/4" from the top and bottom edge to the first score line you come to. (NOTE: The cutting lines should line up with the score lines added in step 3).

5. Cut along the score lines as shown in the image below. You should now have three tabs at the top and three tabs at the bottom of your card stock. These pieces will form the top and bottom closures for your box.

6. Trim the two outer tabs on the top and bottom of the card stock to 1/2" tall.

7. Score the centre tabs, top and bottom, 3/4" from the edge of the card stock. Fold along all the score lines pressing firmly with a score tool.

8. If desired, round off the corners of each tab with a corner punch or small pair of scissors.

9. The first section of card stock will fold over to form the pocket for a gift card. As you can see in the photo below, it is much larger than a standard gift card, which will make it difficult to slide the card out of the pocket. To make it smaller, cut off a triangle of card stock from the top, left-hand corner, starting at the first score line and ending at the left side of the card stock.. It doesn't really matter how large the triangle is, but for reference, I came down about 2" from the top.

10. OPTIONAL. Cut a long, narrow window from the centre panel of the box and add a piece of acetate over the top. My window is 3/4" wide and 33/4" long.

11. To decorate, add patterned paper to the different sections of the box. Place one piece on the second panel, keeping in mind that when the pocket is glued shut you will only see the top part of the paper.

12. Flip the card stock over to decorate the outside of the box.

13. Decorate the front panel as desired, then add a strip of glue or double sided tape along the bottom and side edge to create a pocket. Secure it to the second panel.

14. Fold the last panel back and apply glue or double-sided tape to the entire length. Fold it over so that the folded edge lines up with the edge of the pocket you created in step 13. This will form the box.

15. Tuck in the tabs and close the top and bottom of the box. Add your gift card and fill with candy before giving it to someone special!

Stamps: